Another Step

On Tuesday, the East Hampton Town Board announced that it would formally add the Sag Harbor Community Housing Trust property on Route 114, adjacent to 8.5 acres of land the town has already earmarked for affordable housing, to a proposed zoning overlay district allowing for the construction of apartment-style housing.

Planners noted that the argument against adding the parcel to the overlay was that the housing trust property’s existing stock of cottages already allowed more dense development, with stand-alone housing, than could be accomplished with the overlay district. However, by adding the housing trust’s 2-acre property, it can be developed in tandem with the town’s land, and the resulting number of rental apartments would be greater than the number of stand-alone houses under current zoning.

Perhaps just as important, this wise move also reaffirms the East Hampton Town Board’s commitment to partner with the Housing Trust in developing a robust housing plan just outside of Sag Harbor Village. In 2019, when the town purchased the former 2.6-acre Triune Baptist Church property for housing, part of what made that deal so sweet was that it could be combined with the 2 acres right next door. The town would go on to buy additional acreage; with the Housing Trust property, over 10 acres now earmarked for housing.

For the Housing Trust, this partnership is critical — without it, the nonprofit remains severely limited in what it can accomplish on its own small acreage, a challenge it has faced since it purchased the eight cottages in 2014 for just under $1.3 million. At the time, it was the rare multi-family property in or around Sag Harbor saved from being gobbled up by the single-family homeowner market.

Collaboration between municipalities, between municipalities and nonprofits, and public-private partnerships all will be necessary if we are to even try to dent the housing needs on the South Fork. It was a crisis prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the last two years only increased the cost of housing and living on the East End.

As Sag Harbor Village readies its own zoning changes to support housing creation within its two square miles — a first attempt by village officials to be an active part of the solution — the East Hampton Town Board’s commitment to the Route 114 project in its entirety is another step in the right direction.