Southampton Town hopes to encourage more affordable housing east of Shinnecock Canal

The Town of Southampton is hoping to encourage more affordable housing east of the Shinnecock Canal, where housing costs price out much of the wealthy area's workforce.

The town established a new zoning district that allows projects with 10 to 35 affordable housing units in areas zoned for businesses and single-family homes. The overlay district can be granted by the town board on a case-by-case basis to projects that are subsidized by the town’s Community Housing Fund, which generates its revenue through a half-percent real estate transfer tax.

Several areas in Southampton Town rank among the highest in the country for median home prices. The area has primarily single-family homes, about half of which are second homes for seasonal residents, according to a town housing study.

Leaders on the South Fork say more affordable housing is needed so year-round low- and middle-income workers can afford to live in the communities they work. Southampton officials particularly want to see more affordable housing east of the Shinnecock Canal, the township's geographic midpoint, and where home prices are highest.

The town board voted unanimously to approve the overlay district at its Dec. 9 meeting.

Councilwoman Cyndi McNamara, who spearheaded the legislation, told Newsday: "It's not often as legislators that we get to do something that will have such an impact for such a long time, and I'm looking forward to seeing the projects come in and start to get built.”

Town officials said they hope to use the overlay district to expedite projects that don't comply with existing zoning laws, which would otherwise require a lengthy approval process — or might never be built at all.

'Growth management'

The zoning will allow for a more “equitable” distribution of affordable housing throughout the town, while also keeping projects in character with the surrounding area, said Janice Scherer, the town's planning and development administrator. 

Some residents have criticized the town for concentrating its dense housing projects west of the canal, where many workers commuting to jobs in eastern Southampton and East Hampton Towns already live. Southampton officials hope that building more housing east of the canal will help to curb commuter traffic on heavily used roads like County Road 39.

Scherer pointed to Sandy Hollow Cove Apartments, a 28-unit complex designed in the style of a manor home in Tuckahoe, as an example of the type of projects officials hope to encourage more of.

“It's really about growth management,” Scherer said during a hearing on the measure last month. She said the new zoning law will help “offset” the impact of the town's high land prices, which are caused in part by its own land-preservation efforts. The town has purchased more than 4,000 acres of farmland and historic property for preservation — taking that land off the market for new housing.

More projects on tap

The town has approved CHF grant money toward several affordable housing projects proposed east of the Shinnecock Canal — in the hamlets of Tuckahoe, Water Mill, Shinnecock Hills and North Sea. But the town must grant the developments overlay zone status to move forward, Kara Bak, Southampton’s director of housing and community development, told Newsday. Those projects would add a total of 58 units of various housing types, including single-family homes, townhouses and apartments, she said.

Voters in Southampton Town approved the Community Housing Fund by referendum in 2022. The fund has generated $39 million since May 2023, according to Bak. The town has spent or committed $27.5 million — primarily to cover new housing developments, she said.

Housing subsidized by the fund must be affordable for households making between 60% and 130% of the Long Island area median income — or $106,860 to $214,370 for a family of four.

The overlay district measure makes an exception for projects exclusively for seniors or people with disabilities, which may serve households below 60% of the median income.

Projects approved for the overlay district must be screened by the town’s Community Housing Fund Advisory Board. If recommended to advance, the project would be presented to the town board at a work session, where the civic group local to the project area will have an opportunity to weigh in.

Traffic worries persist

Gayle Lombardi of Hampton Bays told the board that she’s worried about the impact the district could have on her home hamlet, just west of the Shinnecock Canal. She said new high-density housing will bring more people to the town, making traffic worse — not alleviating it.

“The community character is lost, the traffic continues to increase and these comprehensive reviews are long overdue,” she said. “You can’t continue to stuff 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5-pound bag and not expect them to burst.”

Bak said applicants to affordable housing programs are typically current East End residents, or people who were priced out of the area and want to return.

The resolution passed by the board repealed and replaced the town’s Affordable Housing Overlay District, which required the developed property to be at least 220,000 square feet.

The new district allows projects on property of at least 60,000 square feet. Projects that seek to use the overlay district cannot have frontage on County Road 39 — the town’s main arterial road and business corridor.