New Community Center And Affordable Apartments Eyed For Bridgehampton

A new 13,000-square-foot Southampton Town community center replete with 15 or 16 affordable apartments may be on the horizon for Bridgehampton.

Members of the Southampton Town Board discussed the concept during their Thursday, August 11, work session. At the table were Housing Director Kara Bak, Planning and Development Administrator Janice Scherer and Town Engineer Thomas Houghton.

The goal of the confab was to solicit the sense of the board on the concept. Members were unanimously supportive.

“I’m all for it,” Councilwoman Cynthia McNamara said. “We need to do more stuff like this.”

Councilman Rick Martel appreciates the dual use of the building. “I think it’s low impact to the community,” he said, adding, “It’s a step into the future for us.”

Built in 1986, the current community center is showing its age, and, said Houghton, is “underutilized.” Located on 3.5 acres on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, it would be demolished to make way for the new center and apartments.

Given the high price of housing on the East End, Supervisor Jay Schneiderman noted that “We’re looking at our own lands to see if there’s anything we could do” to provide more affordable housing, Additionally, he noted that areas east of the Shinnecock Canal are where the demand is greatest.

No plans or illustrations were available, but there will be a concept sketch for the public to view as the process moves forward for the needed zoning change.

First up is a code tweak to permit housing at the site — it’s currently not allowed. Schneiderman wants to have a public hearing to garner input from the community before incurring the expense of hiring an architect and designer. An affordable housing overlay may be added to the parcel, Scherer said.

Grants may be available to defray building expenses if units are dedicated for seniors or developmentally disabled residents. Schneiderman said he prefers the units be used for workforce housing rather than senior dwellings.

“I’m leaning toward not restricting it to seniors,” he said. “We really need workforce housing.”

While opponents who come out against such housing generally worry about increased students and the impact on the local school districts, Scherer noted the Bridgehampton School District is not overcrowded.

“We’re not talking about some big apartment building,” the administrator added.

The property’s look and feel from the street won’t be different from what’s there now — “only nicer,” Scherer opined.

The goal is to shift from the 1980s industrial design to one that reflects the residential, shingle style of the nearby Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center, Houghton said. Bringing the building into the future will mean sustainability features, like solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations, will be included.

Rent payments for the apartments could cover the debt service on their construction cost. Bak said a one-bedroom could go for $1,450 a month for eligible low-income residents, and $1,904 for moderate-income individuals.

There will be a small sewage treatment plant on the site, “but we haven’t really ‘flushed’ that out yet,” Scherer punned.

“I feel like we have almost a moral obligation to move forward,” Schneiderman said, as he asked colleagues on the dais to weigh in.

Councilman John Bouvier offered that the plan is a minor project toward the goal of solving a major problem. “The project is a good start,” he said. “It integrates and fits well into the community.” Plus, he added, town officials have always had a goal of distributing affordable dwellings throughout the town.

To that end, Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni pointed to larger-scale projects proposed in Sag Harbor Village and East Hampton Town, just over the border. He was hopeful more housing near the eastern portion of Southampton Town would help.

Adam Potter, the face of Friends of Bay Street, is proposing a mixed-use development with 79 units of affordable housing and 30,000 square feet of commercial space on Bridge and Rose streets in downtown Sag Harbor Village.

In East Hampton, a community housing project envisions up to 60 affordable units. Earlier this spring, members of the East Hampton Town Board voted to add an affordable housing overlay to property off State Route 114 in the Wainscott School District, just outside of Sag Harbor.

Schiavoni emphasized that the Bridgehampton project would be built regardless of whether the Community Housing Fund referendum is approved in November. But the money it amasses through a half percent tax on real estate transfers could be used for construction, it was noted. Rent money would then go back into the fund.

The board voted earlier this summer to send the proposed CHF to the Suffolk County Board of Elections for placement on the ballot.

“I’d like to see the people who live here volunteer for the Bridgehampton Fire Department and Ambulance. They need people,” Schiavoni said.

“This could be a model we could do on properties this size and with this many units,” Schneiderman concluded.

Currently, the town requires any developer to set aside 20 percent of units as affordable when residential projects are proposed. Scherer noted that during a recent discussion with the Suffolk County Planning Commission, when she told them the town requires 20 percent set aside, “They suggested increasing it to 30 percent.”

Accessory dwelling apartments are the best way to address the need to provide affordable units, Schneiderman put forth. If a homeowner creates an apartment within an existing footprint, “Nobody would know it’s even there,” he said. Scherer reported her department received pushback from potential creators of accessory apartments when it comes to finding income-eligible tenants. People don’t want to be told to whom to rent.

The supervisor asked for a full-bodied discussion of the accessory apartment program to be scheduled. “I want to make it as easy as possible to do it,” he said.