At its November 17, 2016 meeting, the East Hampton Town Board (Town Board) unanimously adopted a local law that temporarily suspends the authority of the East Hampton Town Planning Board to grant certain site plan and subdivision approvals for properties located on or adjacent to Montauk Highway in Wainscott. The moratorium applies to non-residential Central Business or Commercial Industrial zoning districts or properties in residential zoning districts used for non-residential uses. The moratorium lasts for one year.

Purpose of Moratorium

The purpose of the moratorium is to allow the Town to complete its Wainscott Hamlet Study and to implement recommendations from that study. The Wainscott Hamlet Study will evaluate future commercial needs of the community in accordance with the goals set forth in the Town’s 2005 Comprehensive Plan.

According to the local law, Wainscott, as the entry point into the Town, experiences extremely high traffic volumes. In particular, traffic jams along Montauk Highway are causing impacts to residential neighborhoods, as motorists seek alternate routes through the area. The Town claims that development of commercial property along Montauk Highway in Wainscott will exacerbate the traffic logjams and increase risks to pedestrians.

The Town anticipates that the study will recommend the creation of a walkable hamlet center, rather than the current sprawl of commercial sites along Montauk Highway. The Town is concerned that without the moratorium, any traffic mitigation and pedestrian safety recommendations arising from the study will not be implementable if development continues unabated in the interim.

Exemptions

The local law contains exemptions. If a site plan or subdivision application has undergone a public hearing and has been approved prior to the effective date of the moratorium, the project can proceed.  In addition, the local law contains an undue hardship exemption. In order to qualify for the undue hardship exemption, the applicant has to demonstrate to the Town Board that (1) the failure to grant the exemption will cause the applicant undue hardship that is substantially greater than the harm to the general public by granting the exemption, (2) the proposal will not have adverse effects on the Town’s goals, and (3) the proposal is in harmony with the existing character of the Town.

It will be interesting to see what recommendations emanate from the study and which ones the Town ultimately implements.