Public Hearing Scheduled for Hampton Bays DGEIS

 The Southampton Town Board voted Tuesday to schedule a public hearing on the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for Hampton Bays.

The much-anticipated hearing will be held on Feb. 1 at 6:00 p.m. at Southampton Town Hall.

Community members were pleased to see the study, which will guide the town's zoning future, moving forward to the next stage.

"I am looking forward to reading the study," said Eve Houlihan, a Hampton Bays resident who was part of an ad hoc committee that worked with the town to create the study. "I will be interested in seeing it and reading it line-by-line."

Dr. Bruce King, head of the Hampton Bays Civic Association, said he too is interested in reading the study and had in fact, gone down to town hall on Tuesday afternoon to obtain a copy, but was told it was not yet available.

"They only had one copy," said King.

Now that a hearing has been scheduled, town officials say the study will be made widely available to residents and be placed on the town's website.

Once he receives his copy, Dr. King said he plans to focus on its contents and discuss them with fellow civic members at the civic association's January meeting, which will be held on January 17 at 7:00 p.m.

"This is a big one," said Dr. King.  "We need solutions to our density problem. Hampton Bays has too much density."

The DGEIS, according to Freda Eisenberg, assistant town planning and development administrator for the town, has been in the works for since 2008 and is the culmination of intensive efforts by the town and community to address density and traffic within the hamlet.

If it is adopted, it will become part of the town's Comprehensive Master Plan update, according to Eisenberg. 

However, before the town can adopt it with accompanying new zoning regulations, it must first be subject to a public hearing.

The DGEIS is expected to provide a plan to promote hamlet-scaled commercial uses; increase green space though open space acquisitions and the creation of a Good Ground park area; provide an access lane at Bittersweet South Extension; and add diagonal parking in the commercial corridor.