Westhampton Beach Village Board Approves Special Exception for Condo Plan, Green Lights Outdoor Dining Plan

The Westhampton Beach Village Board last week unanimously granted a special exception permit for a 45-unit condo development, approved a measure to continue allowing local restaurants to use village sidewalks for outdoor dining, and promoted a police officer to the rank of sergeant.

With a dozen or so members of the Village Police Department lined up in the meeting room at Village Hall on Thursday, January 5, Police Officer Kevin Klokel was appointed to provisional police sergeant, at a semi-monthly salary of $6,328.40 — and to the applause of the other officers and friends and family members attending the meeting.

Police Chief Steven McManus, prior to awarding Klokel his sergeant’s shield, extolled his time of service with the department and his qualifications leading to the promotion.

Klokel was hired in 2018, after working as a part-time officer for several law enforcement agencies, the chief noted.

“He quickly established himself as a proactive officer with the knowledge to get the job done,” the chief said. “In 2022, Kevin was assigned to criminal investigations, where he quickly established relationships with neighboring agencies and worked together with them to close several important cases that had been unresolved here in the village. In all, Kevin made 14 felony arrests in the past year, closing out over 21 felony cases.”

Klokel has been instrumental in upgrading the department’s information technology platforms, the chief noted, developing a quick expertise in the systems.

“Additionally, Kevin has training and certifications in basic criminal investigations, evidence collection, interrogation and interview,” the chief added. “He’s a marine law enforcement officer and is one of the department’s field training officers. Kevin also participates in the East End Law Enforcement Ring Task Force and is a part-time task force officer for the United States Marshal’s Service.”

Klokel was then sworn in by Village Clerk-Treasurer Elizabeth Lindtvit, and congratulated by Mayor Maria Moore and the other members of the Village Board.

“I just wanted to say thank you to you and the board,” Trustee Stephen Frano added, addressing the mayor, “for the unwavering support you have given to this department over the last couple of years. Thank you very much. It’s much appreciated.”

Following a very brief presentation by attorney Jim Hulme, representing developers WH Equity Group, as part of a continuation of a public hearing on the developer’s proposal to build 45 condominium units, including seven designated for affordable housing, on 8 acres north of Montauk Highway between Depot Road and Old Riverhead Road, just south of the Patio Villas development, the Village Board unanimously approved a special exception application allowing the project.

It still must receive final approval from the Village Planning Board before it can move forward. The Village Board has held a number of hearings on the project in previous months.

“We had a very extensive and useful discussion the last time we were before the board,” Hulme said. “I think there were two or three specific areas that the board requested we take a closer look at, having to do with the disbursement of the affordables within the project, the size of those units relative to the size of the market rate units, as well as some issues concerning the entrance.”

Hulme explained that the seven affordable units will now be distributed among four of the buildings in the project, and their size will be just less than 70 percent of the size of the market rate units.

“I think the big thing,” he said, “at least from our perspective, is moving the Depot Road entrance farther north.”

Traffic impact had been a concern of neighbors in previous discussions, and led to the elimination of a planned entrance on Old Riverhead Road, leaving Depot Road as the only entrance now, with a right turn only exit, also onto Montauk Highway.

“I think your comments have just made the project that much better,” Hulme told the board.

Board members agreed that their concerns had been addressed. “I think we’re good,” Moore said.

Anne Smalley, a Patio Villas resident and a frequent critic of the plan, repeated earlier concerns about the density the project would add to the area, adding to traffic problems. She also said the real estate market has been declining and questioned whether the developer would be able to sell the condos once they were built.

“The market is going down,” she said. “I don’t know if the buyers they are building for are going to come running out to buy since the market is not very good right now. I just hope it’s not going to be another scar on the land surrounding us at Patio Villas with mud puddles and piles of dirt and unfinished houses.”

Moore noted that the village receives performance bonds from developers that are only released once the project is completed. “It forces them to finish construction,” she said. “We can’t guarantee that they’re all going to be sold, of course.”

“Nobody can guarantee that,” Frano added.

Moore also added that the property was zoned for six units per acre, and that the developer was not seeking to expand the yield of units.

“What’s before us is not ‘should that be allowed,’” she said. “That’s already allowed. This is privately owned property, and it’s zoned for this use.”

The board also approved a code change to allow restaurants and other businesses to utilize the village right-of-ways, or sidewalks, to set up outdoor dining during the season.

The new code is an extension of permissions that were given to village businesses during the height of the pandemic and early lockdowns. Following state guidelines under emergency executive orders, the businesses were allowed the outdoor dining option in order to keep operating. Those executive orders have since expired, but the outdoor dining was very popular in the village, prompting the board to want to make it a permanent option.

Under the new code approved last week, business owners will have to first receive Planing Board approval and then Village Board approval for their outdoor dining plans the initial time they apply, but they can reapply in subsequent years without having to seek Planning Board approvals.

Chairs, tables and benches can sit in the right-of-way, as long as a 5-foot-wide section of concrete sidewalk is left unobstructed for pedestrians to walk along. Additionally, the business owners must obtain and maintain a certificate of insurance naming the village as an additional insured.

They must also seek approvals from the Suffolk County Department of Health and the State Liquor Authority. Garbage receptacles must be provided by the restaurants for the disposal of trash, and no permanent structures blocking the sidewalk will be allowed.

“We liked it and the restaurants liked it,” Moore said of the outdoor dining during the pandemic. “I just think it’s something we should try. It worked during the pandemic.”

“It’s a nice feeling being a reasonable community that you have offered this,” Trustee Rob Rubio said. “It’s nice to have that. It makes us better as a community.”