Westhampton Beach Village Board Considers 45-Unit Condo Development

The Westhampton Beach Village Board continues to weigh whether to grant a special exception permit for a developer’s plan to build 45 condo units, including seven designated for affordable housing, while some residents raise objections.

The applicant, WH Equity Group LLC, seeks to develop 8 acres that are north of Montauk Highway between Depot Road and Old Riverhead Road and south of Patio Villas, an existing condo neighborhood. The Village Planning Board previously granted WH Equity Group’s proposal preliminary approval, but the Village Board also has a say over whether the number of units and the plan overall is acceptable.

The application has already been through the State Environmental Quality Review Act process with the Planning Board. That process led to a planned entrance on Old Riverhead Road being eliminated. Now the only entrances will be on Depot Road and Montauk Highway, but traffic remains a concern of the Village Board and members of the public. The other sticking point is the density.

Jim Hulme, the attorney for the applicant, told the board that the proposal did not cause the existing traffic conditions and cannot cure them. “Our goal is to make sure that our project does not detrimentally impact the existing conditions,” he said.

Hulme said in addition to the traffic mitigation measures in the plan, the project preserves “well developed and appropriate landscaping” and does not use all of the lot coverage that the village code would allow.

“I would describe it ‘bucolic,’” he said in his presentation to the Village Board on December 1. “It’s going to be a credit to the area, a credit to the community. And I don’t think a reduction in the density will make it any prettier or any more open. Especially since we’re talking about numbers of units, not the overall size of the buildings.”

He noted that for each affordable unit in the plan the developer is allowed to have one additional market-rate unit.

Mayor Maria Moore questioned the size of the affordable units when compared to the market rate units, calling it a dramatic difference. The affordable units, all two-bedroom units, range in size from 927 square feet to 1,920 square feet.

Trustee Stephen Frano raised a concern over the Depot Road entrance. He said the entrance is too close to the Montauk Highway intersection and suggested eliminating a two-unit building that’s close to Depot Road so the entrance could be farther north. The entrance, as currently proposed, would be about 130 to 150 feet from Montauk Highway.

The applicant’s team noted if those two market-rate units are eliminated from the plan, two affordable units will also be eliminated. That would bring the project size down to 41 units, including five affordable units.

Hulme defended the proposed location of the Depot Road entrance. He indicated that traffic studies, discussions with the Planning Board and discussions with the village engineer support that location.

But Frano said the distance is too short, as cars make a right off Montauk Highway and onto Depot Road.

“Part of the reason that we’re expanding the turning lanes there is for that very reason, and the conclusion that was reached was that that would more than absorb our traffic …” Hulme said. “I get that the traffic’s really bad sometimes, but the traffic is not that bad all the time. And in fact, it’s not bad at all most of the time.”

The application’s team also suggested the site plan could be reconfigured so the road could be pushed farther north while the two units are pushed farther south, closer to the proposed clubhouse.

Hulme said this proposal is in harmony with the village’s zoning plan and said it would be hard for the board to find that multifamily was not appropriate for the location.

Anne Smalley, a Patio Villas resident, was among the speakers at the hearing who were critical of the plan. She implored the Village Board members to reject the plan.

“We are already filled to the brim, and just because there might be a little space left in the community, it doesn’t mean we have to fill it with more people, more homes and more cars,” Smalley said. “We are overstuffed. The quality of life, the burden of traffic and services, and the impact of these projects currently on the table on the residents really concerns me.”

Terry Ryan, another Patio Villas resident, was also concerned about increased density from this proposal and other new developments. “It’s so many new homes in one spot, it’s overwhelming,” she said.

Ryan turned to the applicant’s team and said: “I’m sure it’s going to be beautiful and I wish you the best of luck, but it’s too dense to put right there on Montauk Highway when you’re coming into this town. People have a perception of coming to the Hamptons and then they just see these blocks of homes there. I think aesthetically it’s just going to be so unattractive.”

The public hearing was kept open to continue in January.