Letters

This past Thursday, culminating over a year’s worth of work, process and planning, Southampton Village was able to approve and adopt an arts and culture overlay zoning district in parts of our downtown. Earlier this month, I also had the opportunity to present this to the Suffolk County Planning Commission, who approved this unanimously.

The purpose of the arts and culture overlay district is to ensure that the zoning code is supportive of arts and cultural uses, galleries and art stores, community-oriented spaces and offices, as well as artist studios and residences. This district includes all of Jobs Lane, the business district portions of Hill Street, portions of Windmill Lane, and extends south onto Pond Lane to the Southampton Cultural Center.

In addition to existing uses, the new zoning will allow for libraries, museums and galleries, as well as performance space for music and performing arts, motion pictures and other live performances, plus studio space for art, music, fashion and performing arts.

In addition, the district, with a special use permit, will allow for “live-work” space for artists and business owners on the upper floors of buildings, so long as they meet health criteria. The live-work space adds a new form of housing to the area for artists, and the special exception has clear criteria that should help streamline the approval process.

One of the most important aspects of the overlay is that it now limits the use of buildings 6,000 square feet and larger to arts and culture, while also allowing for food and beverage use that accompanies the arts. This is critically important, because it preserves buildings dedicated to the arts, such as the Southampton Arts Center, the former Rogers Memorial Library or the movie theater. This is significant, because it essentially saves the movie theater and ensures that luxury condos or big-box retailers, which do not fit the character or fabric of the village, will never go there.

I wanted to thank our director of planning, Alex Wallach, Frank Fish and Noah Levine from BFJ Planning, the Building Department, our village attorney, and Village Clerk Cathy Sweeney for their help and assistance on this overlay district. We are pleased to be able to deliver on this type of work for the village that helps preserve the best parts of our community, adds clarity to the zoning code and creates new opportunities for the future.

Jesse Warren

Mayor

Southampton Village