Storefront Vacancy Registry Proposed; Traffic Still a Hot Topic at Southampton Village Board Meeting

Southampton Village officials are considering updating its code to add a vacant property registry, with a public hearing on the matter set for December 8 at 6 p.m.

At the most recent Village Board meeting on November 10, Mayor Jesse Warren explained that the idea of creating the registry, focusing on vacant storefronts, was something he proposed to the board as a measure to help encourage landlords to operate in good faith and create something of an equitable playing field when it comes to small-business owners and retail operations looking to set up shop in the village.

Warren said that, considering the state of the market and the desirability of Southampton Village as a place to set up a retail business, a vacant storefront says something about the owner of the storefront.

“People want to be here,” Warren said of the downtown. “If you have a vacant storefront, the landlord either doesn’t want to transact or wants quadruple what the market rate is.”

The proposed vacancy registry would require any landlord with a vacant storefront to fill out a form at the building department. The only way a landlord would be issued any kind of citation would be if they failed to register their vacant storefront.

Warren has his own retail operation in the village, and is passionate about the issue.

“The market is very hot right now, and everyone is trying to buy commercial real estate in our downtown,” he said earlier this week. “If you’re not transacting, it’s because you probably want to charge more than what the market is. Some people want to charge anywhere from $300 to $500 per square foot.”

Warren said the registry would likely include a small fee to participate, and a fine or citation for failing to register. State law prohibits the village from instituting a vacancy tax, so the registry would be another way to try and encourage landlords to be more equitable in their business dealings.

Warren said that while he was eager to see what the public might have to say about the proposal at the upcoming hearing in December, he feels that it will be well received. “I surveyed businesses owners, landlords, and real estate brokers and generally found there was a large consensus of support for this,” he said. “Especially from tenants and business owners feeling pressure from landlords that want to raise their rent.”

Warren said the creation of the registry could also potentially have the additional benefit of letting business owners considering setting up shop in the village know which buildings are vacant and give them a way to try and reach those landlords.

In an attempt to create a more seamless process for residents and other applicants who need to go before various village land use boards for certain projects, the Village Board passed a resolution at Thursday’s meeting that clarifies an order of procedure.

The new measure states that if a resident is seeking a decision that requires the involvement of the Zoning Board of Appeals, they must go before the ZBA first before going in front of any other boards, like the Architectural Review Board or Planning Board.

The measure is meant to make things less complicated, confusing and cumbersome for residents, according to the mayor.

“We believe it’s a good practice to have an order of operations for the land use boards,” Warren said. “It made little sense that historically there was no order. It clearly makes the most sense to start with the ZBA.

“We want to get all the boards on the same page,” he added. “We hope that this will be applauded by many applicants because it makes their process more clear and defined. In the past, many applicants wouldn’t know what boards to go to first.”

Several residents spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, expressing their desire for the village to continue to take measures to alleviate the stifling rush hour traffic, with many expressing their satisfaction with the two-week pilot program Southampton Town instituted last month that prevented right and left turns onto Hill Street as a way to prevent that traffic from going through residential neighborhoods.

While many agreed that the program was successful in helping to alleviate the traffic and create a more sensible flow, the issue of sustainability — particularly related to the cost of operating it — remains. Frank Horowitz, a resident of Lee Avenue, said he enjoyed the “weeks of bliss” that the pilot program afforded him, because it kept commuters from speeding through the residential street where he lives, but he acknowledged that having police officers stationed in the area five days per week to enforce the traffic restrictions was likely not a long-term answer. He asked if the board was working toward a “cheaper solution” to the problem, and wanted to know when the board would share more results about observations from the program and feedback from police, and also wanted to know “what’s next.”

Mayor Warren said he’s been hearing from many residents that they liked the pilot program, and said he also spoke to non-residents who go through the village during their commutes who were in support of it as well. He said that while reviews were initially “mixed,” now that the program is off he’s primarily hearing from people who want to bring it back.

Warren said he anticipated the issue coming up again in the spring, when traffic picks up in intensity again, and said he and the trustees would “go back to the drawing board” and share more results from the program at that time.

Another issue brought up by many residents during public comment was the proposed Liberty Gardens affordable housing development on County Road 39. The development, if it is granted the zoning change it has sought from the town, would be built on 5 acres behind the Southampton Full Gospel Church on County Road 39, which is under the purview of the Southampton Town Board because it is primarily on town land, but includes a small portion of village land and borders the village. Many village residents have expressed concern about the impact the development would have on traffic, water quality and more, and they’ve also taken issue with the fact that the engineer for the proposed development, Nelson Pope Voorhis, is the same firm used by Southampton Village, which they believe presents a conflict of interest.

Mayor Warren said essentially that he agrees, and said at the meeting that, to that end, the board was planning to hire a different firm to independently evaluate the environmental impact study that was done for the development by NPV.

“They should not have been working for an applicant on a parcel of land that is adjacent to the village,” Warren said.

The board approved a request from the Southampton History Museum to immediately disperse $75,000 that had been set aside in the three-year capital budget to continue beautification and upgrade work being done at the museum. Sean Deneny made the request on behalf of the museum after a short presentation outlining the work that has already been done and work that still needs to be completed to finish the beautification process at the museum, which includes fixing fencing and other landscaping elements on the property, creating an outdoor educational space, and building a pergola.

On Thursday, November 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Southampton Arts Center, Warren will participate in a panel discussion on water quality hosted by the League of Conservation Voters and Roux Environmental Consulting and Management. The discussion will focus on ongoing and future water quality work in Southampton and on Long Island. The audience will hear from experts on the importance of protecting valuable water resources, what can be done to continue that work, and how that effort will impact generations of Long Islanders. Warren will discuss work he has done and work he’d like to do to improve the Village of Southampton’s water quality.