By Kathleen Cunningham
The consultants hired by the Village, BFJ Planning from New York, have continued their work to update the Village’s Comprehensive Plan, partnering with the Village’s Comp Plan Steering Committee. A public workshop held on March 6, 2026 at the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street was well attended with fifty-seven attendees. VPSEH had good representation there, with a majority of our Board of Trustees in attendance, as well as many Society members, and representatives from sister organizations such as the LVIS and the Historical Society. The PowerPoint presentation presented by the consultants that evening which summarized the work to date, can be reviewed at this link.
Overall, thus far, the Plan seems to reflect most of the concerns that VPSEH has voiced as part of the process to date though there is still room for improvement. Issues for which VPSEH has advocated emerged from the meeting which we were gratified to see included. Chief among them is inclusion of a Vision Statement, which serves as the guiding principle for all recommendations to follow in the Plan itself. Additionally, the deadline for public input was extended for one month, until April 30th, so please make sure to read the plan and make your recommendations before that date. Comments can be submitted in writing via US Mail or online here.
Several members of the public offered salient and important comments, some of which centered on issues already identified in the plan, but one commenter addressed the absence of quiet in Village life and how noise in general has increased over the decades. Light trespass was another issue raised by attendees. Both noise and light can disrupt not only the peaceful enjoyment of home and property, but the breeding cycles of nighttime dependent flora and fauna, which has serious environmental impacts. We hope to see recommendations on how to govern these issues included in the new draft of the Plan.
The first of two important issues of prime concern for the VPSEH is the establishment of an Historic Planning department in Village Hall or, in the best case, an Historic Planning Commission. This is suggested in the Draft Plan, and would support the Design Review Board by specializing in Historic District applications and help to add more historic designations to our community among other responsibilities related to historic preservation. East Hampton’s unique heritage and sense of place is manifest in its preserved historic character and is what anchors not only our identity, but real estate values, which have skyrocketed over the decades. The other critical issue is the Draft Plan’s emphasis on development in the Gingerbread district, including a proposal for a sewage treatment plant, about which some on the VPSEH Board have mixed feelings. On its face, a sewage treatment plant would be a huge benefit to purifying waste water which has a negative impact on our surface water bodies and drinking water. However, siting a plant will be a big challenge and the impacts on village streets including residential properties will be extraordinary. Moreover, the development that such a plant might create, will be unmanageable because of a significant, long standing, well established deficit of parking spaces, even for present uses in the commercial core. VPSEH is not anti-development, but uses require parking spaces. With a current 1700 space deficit, creating more uses requiring parking seems impractical.
VPSEH crafted its own comments on the Draft Plan, developed by our Comprehensive Plan Update committee which included Trustees, Gene E. Cross, Jr., Bruce A.T. Siska and Peter M. Wolf. The committee conducted a careful review of the Draft Plan and submitted comments which were discussed and edited, approved by the Board, save those of our members already serving on the Steering Committee, who had no input, and then submitted to the Consultants. Those comments are a part of the public record.
The next step is for the Steering Committee to work with the consultants to integrate these newer issues brought up during the public portion of Public Workshop #3 into the draft Plan which will be issued for public comment and a public hearing, likely held sometime during the summer.
We are eager to see what the next iteration of the plan includes regarding these vital aspects of Village life. Please stay tuned and plan to participate in this important public process.