By Hank Russell
The five East End town supervisors met at East Wind in Wading River on July 9 to share the latest developments in their towns during the Long Island Association’s (LIA) State of the East End event. Among the topics they discussed were affordable housing, dealing with traffic and the local economy.
East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez noted that her town was the first pro-housing community on Long Island. As part of the plan, she said, she is looking to increase the density for affordable apartments from one-half to one-fourth of an acre.
“We’re 90-something percent built out,” Burke-Gonzalez said. “There’s not a lot of land available.” She also suggested building manor houses with four apartments each. The problem is that there is nothing in the town code that allows for affordable housing.
Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski said accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in his town “does help spread out housing throughout the whole town, so it just doesn’t dominate one area [of the town].” However, Krupski said, “It‘s been a limited success so far.”
Krupski said the town has used money from the Community Housing Fund — a fund shared by the five East End towns for the purpose of providing affordable housing — to subsidize such units “and keep them affordable in perpetuity.” He is also proposing the construction of “caretaker units” in local businesses. The purpose is to have an employee stay there at all times. “It would also alleviate quite a lot of traffic,” he said.
Amber Brach-Williams, the supervisor of Shelter Island, said development is limited, both by the size of the town and the residents’ unwillingness to see change. “The biggest impact of the ferry is that we have to self-limit in how we can grow,” she said. “We can’t have big-box stores.”
She said the town board will review Shelter Island’s site plan. “We need to keep Shelter Island as it is: to have moderate growth and monitor it carefully.”
The next topic was the traffic situation. “I believe it’s a challenge,” Maria Moore, Southampton Town’s supervisor, said, adding that Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine had promised to help with alleviating the traffic problem, but it was “very big and very far off.”
Moore touted public transportation, which she called “very important,” and considered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) South Fork Commuter Connection to be very vital. “Without the South Fork Commuter Connection, we’d be in real dire straits,” she said.
Riverhead Town Supervisor Timothy Hubbard said his town “works very well” with the town of Southold “with the traffic issue.” Together, they have employed such tactics as traffic cones, traffic cops and the prohibition of left-hand turns. “But there is still a high volume of traffic.” Krupski said Southold has encountered many problems with traffic due to special events, parades and road closures.
On small businesses and legacy industries, Krupski noted the economics of produce on local farms. “Because we are on an island, things are more expensive,” he said. “There’s been a big shift in agriculture because of it. We’ve also seen people change the way they eat.”
“We support buying local,” Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard added. “We try to promote the mom-and-pop shops as much as we can.” He said the smaller shops “took a hit” when the national big-box chains moved in, but, now, “more people are moving away [from the big-box stores] because they just enjoy the personal service from the mom-and-pop shops.”
Hubbard also noted the tourist spots that Riverhead has. “People used to drive to the south shore. Now they’re driving into Riverhead because of our attractions,” he said. Among those attractions are Splish Splash, the Long Island Aquarium, the wineries and the farms.”
When asked how the supervisors work with each other, Moore replied. “We have a great relationship [with each other].” She said that, although each town is unique in its own way, they have the same issues such as public safety, infrastructure and traffic.
Hubbard echoed Moore’s sentiments. “We are all very different towns,” he said. “But … we have the same issues. … Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, at the end of the day, a good idea is a good idea.”