East Hampton residents speak in favor of increasing senior housing maximum density

Long Island Morning Edition

The Riverhead Town Board is set to adopt the town’s new comprehensive plan during a special meeting called for 6 p.m. Wednesday…that’s tomorrow evening.

The plan, which will help guide town policy for the next 15-20 years, includes recommendations on a range of issues, the most impactful of those being how land across the town should be used and what development should be allowed or prohibited, incentivized and discouraged. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the comprehensive plan draft and other documents related to the plan are available to view and download on a dedicated website, townofriverheadcomprehensiveplanupdate.com.

The new plan will replace the existing comprehensive plan, which was adopted by the Riverhead Town Board in 2003. The update has been a long time in the making, with the Town Board first approving a contract to develop the update with consultants AKRF in 2019. After more than two years of what town officials said was slow progress, the Town Board canceled the contract with AKRF and hired a second firm, BFJ, to take the plan over the finish line.

After the plan is adopted, Riverhead Town officials will decide whether to update town laws and regulations to implement the plan.

For the last four and a half years, town officials have discussed and debated the future of the plan with residents, local business leaders and land owners.

The Town of Riverhead held several public input sessions and accepted written comments from residents, town advisory committees and other interested parties. The town held a hearing on the plan in May.

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A public hearing last week on a proposal to remove a triangular patch of land between the southern terminus of Three Mile Harbor Road and Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton from the town’s nature preserve holdings, the purpose of which would be to allow space for construction of a roundabout at the awkward intersection of those roads with North Main Street and Indian Hill Road, saw several residents speak against the proposal, while others spoke in favor. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that a roundabout would serve as an effort to address traffic delays and public safety, as southbound vehicles on Springs-Fireplace Road must navigate through a busy intersection with both northbound traffic from North Main Street and southbound traffic from Three Mile Harbor Road, all with no traffic lights and challenging sightlines. Construction of a roundabout would require use of at least a portion of parkland at the site. New York State Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed a bill enabling the alienation of the approximately 2-acre piece of land designated as parkland. The town acquired the property known as the Sherrill Triangle from the East Hampton Lions Club in 1971, and an adjoining northerly parcel from Edwin L. Sherrill in 1972. They were later combined. Should the East Hampton Town Board approve the parkland alienation, it would become subject to a November referendum seeking voters’ approval to swap the parcel needed for the roundabout with another parcel, at 16 Swamp Road.

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New York breweries and distilleries are cheering a brand new bill that allows them to directly ship alcohol to consumers. Vaughn Golden reports in THE NY POST that the measure — which was temporarily in place during the COVID-19 pandemic — removes a restriction that prevented small distillers, breweries and cideries from shipping their goods directly to consumers and across state lines.

The newly signed law gives manufacturers of beer, ciders and liquor the same ability to ship their goods as winemakers have been able to do since 2005.

The new law also allows New Yorkers to order from other states as long as they have similar laws also letting their residents purchase from New York manufacturers.

The bill was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul Sunday before she travelled to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago…where Governor Hochul addressed the DNC last night.

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A public hearing on a proposal to increase the maximum density of affordable senior housing developments from eight to 12 units per acre brought a capacity crowd of residents to the East Hampton Town Board’s meeting this past Thursday, with 10 of them speaking in favor of it, and none opposed.

Those who spoke to the board put a human face on what can be an existential crisis for senior citizens in dire financial straits, some speaking almost poetically about how much they have gained — and how much they have lost, in terms of worry and fear — in securing an affordable housing unit. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the East Hampton Housing Authority, in partnership with Georgica Green Ventures, recently completed the 50-unit Green at Gardiner’s Point affordable housing complex in East Hampton and is screening applicants for occupancy.

The authority’s presently occupied properties are not age-restricted, but the percentage of senior citizens living in them is high, said Katy Casey, its executive director. More than 20 percent of East Hampton Town’s residents are 65 or older, she noted, and 11.7 percent of residents live below the poverty line.

In East Hampton, senior citizen housing is reserved for those 62 and older.

With a change in the zoning code to allow greater density, the town’s existing senior-citizen affordable housing developments — the Windmill Village I and II complexes in East Hampton and the complex at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett — could see an additional 54 units, the board was told.

“An additional 54 people will have a safe and affordable place to live as opposed to waiting, worrying, struggling” indefinitely, said Michael DeSario, a former chairman of East Hampton Town’s senior citizens housing complexes.

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Former Rep. Tim Bishop, a Democratic National Convention delegate, these days is an enthused member of the party chorus boosting his former close House colleague who’s newly on the ticket for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Dan Janison reports in NEWSDAY that Bishop, 74, of Southampton, represented the 1st Congressional District for six terms. He said that he first met Walz in the summer of 2006, the year of the latter’s first successful run for Congress. Walz also served six terms in the House before becoming governor of his state. The overlap brought them together on committee work and legislation, including bills affecting transportation, agriculture and veterans.

"I think the public is getting to know who he is — humble, down-to-earth and hardworking and funny as hell," Bishop told NEWSDAY on Sunday. "He’s a really, really good guy. Every now and then, someone comes along not only good at policy and good at politics but just a first-rate human being. He’s someone you’d be lucky to have as a best friend."

Bishop, who served through 2015, sees what other party stalwarts see as a big advantage: Walz comes from a Midwestern state, which figures to be valuable in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he said. Bishop blasts Walz’s GOP rival JD Vance for trying to besmirch the governor’s military record, and insists the Democrat is "the real deal."

As for CD1 which includes the East End, the Democrats have been trying to get the seat back since Republican Lee Zeldin defeated Bishop in 2014, which was the second time Zeldin challenged him. These days, Bishop is a distinguished visiting lecturer at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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Tomorrow afternoon, the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton presents –

A Visit with WLIW's Ann Liguori, author of Life on the Green, Lessons and Wisdom from Legends of Golf

That’s tomorrow from 1pm – 2:30pm in the Morris Meeting Room of the R.M.L.

In her new book, renowned sports talk show host and interviewer Ann Liguori shares insights and life lessons from twelve of the most interesting and compelling figures in the history of golf. Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, Nancy Lopez, Dottie Pepper, Amy Alcott, Gary Player, Ben Crenshaw, Jan Stephenson, Padraig Harrington, Annika Sorenstam, Renee Powell and Jack Nicklaus reveal fascinating stories about their lives and careers on and off the course. There is something for everyone as these legends touch upon the universal themes of passion, integrity, sportsmanship, fear, success, humility, goal setting, preparation, positive thinking and family life.

Ms. Liguori will be available to sign books afterward.

There is no charge for this event. Registration is suggested.

For further info and registration click here.

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The securing of a federal grant last month to restore three coastal wetlands in Suffolk County is the start of a lengthy process to make sure the work doesn't do as much harm as good. Tracy Tullis reports in NEWSDAY that the selection of the sites — Cupsogue Beach Marsh in Westhampton, Scully Marsh in Islip and the East Islip Preserve — and securing of funding represent years of advance work, including collecting data on tidal flooding, risk assessments and a cost-benefit analysis. The cost of restoring Cupsogue, for example, is estimated at $2 million, with losses averted totaling $50.6 million.

Now that the funding is secured, the next step will be surveying and modeling, which will continue until February. Then comes conceptual design of different alternatives starting this fall and continuing until next spring. Finally, environmental review and permitting is expected to last from January to September 2025. The earliest possible date to begin construction is spring 2026.

That’s nearly four years from the germ of the plan to breaking ground.

For many environmental restorations, the preparation takes far longer than the job on the ground. "You don’t want to screw up the wetland in trying to restore it," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment in Farmingdale. These projects generally require years of planning: applying for funding; hiring an environmental engineering firm; conducting site surveys; developing proposals for restoring the site; submitting proposals for public comments; and seeking more funding to carry out the work itself.

Any work conducted in and around streams or wetlands must be reviewed and permitted by the appropriate agency, such as the Department of Environmental Conservation or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over tidal wetlands.