The Heart of the Hamptons food pantry proposed at a former village ambulance barn on Meeting House Lane came much closer to fruition Tuesday night as the Southampton Village Board adopted a law that cuts out a special exception to allow food pantries in the village.
The Village Board voted following public hearings in which a number of Meeting House Lane residents and property owners spoke out against allowing a food pantry at that location.
Anton Borovina, an attorney representing a group of neighbors opposed to a food pantry in that location, questioned the legitimacy of the board’s actions.
“There is frankly no doubt in my mind that what I am witnessing is unlawful spot zoning action by this board, and you know it,” Mr. Borovina told the board members. “This whole proceeding is designed for one purpose only: that is to do whatever is necessary to allow a specific use on a specific parcel of land without any prior studies whatsoever, and you know that’s true. It is misrepresentation to the public if you say otherwise.”
Stephen Jones, a planning consultant from Bayport brought in by Mr. Borovina, told the board that the food pantry law would have “a substantial environmental impact” and he urged the village to examine what the impacts of a food pantry on Meeting House Lane would be before approving the Heart of the Hamptons, such as traffic, noise, and outdoor storage area for pallets, dumpsters and equipment.
“Both your comprehensive plan and your zoning code are very firm against introducing nonresidential uses into residentially zoned neighborhoods,” Mr. Jones said.
“I’m just concerned about what’s going to happen with my village,” Meeting House Lane resident Kathryn Abugel said. “I have lived here for almost 30 years, and I don’t understand how a pantry, a food pantry, could even be discussed being in place in this beautiful village.”
She said Meeting House Lane is highly trafficked and expressed concerns about more trucks using the road to make deliveries to a food pantry.
“I think that this is really disrespectful to all the people that live here, and I also would like to understand how they think that they can do this without doing their due diligence, without going through due process without checking out to see what the traffic looks like,” Ms. Abugel said.
Resident Jennifer McFarlane was also concerned about traffic, as well as process. “I am wondering why we are not going through the normal procedure,” she said. “It seems very absurd that no other options have been explored. … I don’t think this is democracy at work. … I would just like to understand why anybody in their right of mind thinks that this is a good location for a food pantry. I would like to see that. Where is that explanation? Because I think a food pantry is a great idea, but of all the locations, this must be the worst choice.”
Kimberly Allan, a former Village Board member, said the Village Board members are simply not experts and should not be the sole deciders. She urged that applications go before the Zoning Board of Appeals and other land use boards. “Those boards, they ask the proper questions, and they bring in the proper experts on traffic, on septic, and light pollution and air pollution and setback and siting.”
Resident Justena Kavanagh, who noted that she owns five apartments on Meeting House Lane, objected to allowing the food pantry on the street. “Meeting House Lane is a densely populated residential street filled with homes and apartments,” she said. She called the lane a main thoroughfare for working residents and a main artery for ambulances, fire trucks, emergency service vehicles “and now the trade parade of trucks and cars directed there by navigation apps.”
She said the Heart of the Hamptons would further exacerbate the traffic problem and said the Village Board is refusing to study the impacts the facility would have on the community.
“By bypassing the zoning board on this matter, whose primary role and expertise is to examine and grant variances and special use exemptions, the board is in defiance of the intent of the village codes,” Ms. Kavanagh said.
Jim McFarlane, a Meeting House Lane property owner, said the proposed law is for “the purpose of establishing a phony legal basis with which to place the Heart of the Hamptons in the former ambulance barn.” He told the Village Board that the neighbors are “determined to use any means at our disposal to finally have you do a thoughtful and careful appraisal of the future site of the Heart of the Hamptons.”
Mr. McFarlane also questioned whether the Heart of the Hamptons should be located anywhere in the village, not just on Meeting House Lane.
Meeting House Lane resident Dinah Maxwell Smith asked for the board to hold off on a vote. “There is a serious change in process and policy, and every member of this board has the responsibility and duty to make a fully informed decision based on study, review and input from the community you are elected to serve,” she said. “I ask that you perform that comprehensive review and share the enclosed finding with the public prior to taking any actions to amend our zoning code.”
Heart of the Hamptons Executive Director Molly Bishop said it is unfair for residents to say that their questions have gone unanswered. She noted that the food pantry has been the subject of meetings and hearings for more than a year. “We have answered all of these questions,” she said. “The residents just don’t want to absorb the answers because they don’t fit within their talking points.”
