"When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect"
--Aldo Leopold
News Items
B.I.K.Quick Takes
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2/18/22: Gov. Hochul has removed from the state's budget a proposal for affordable housing mandating local governments to allow accessory apartments in residential areas normally zoned for single-family usage. Here in EH, we need to have some thoughtful discussion about how accessory apts might be used as an option to help create more affordable housing. But is is also easy to see how such apts could be abused/used as non-affordable seasonal rentals. So for now, its good that individual communities can figure out the right models to deploy
2/17/22: Newer developments about the airport. Town shifts closing/reopening dates out until May. Read the new EHTB Resolution here.
2/14/22: EH TOWN BUILDING PERMITS: The numbers are in: for the full year 2021, the Town of East Hampton issued 2,003 building permits in total. That is a 25% jump vs. the 2019 pre-pandemic rate. Annual BP numbers began surging midway through the last decade, and are now closing in on double the 1,068 number the Town averaged annually from 2012-2014.
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Within that total BP number, the Town issued 188 "New Home" permits in 2021 vs. 83 in 2019. That 2021 number contrasts with the 100 or so run rate over the prior ten years -- an increase of 80%. Letters of Buildability also doubled in 2021 vs 2019.
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The Town issued 1,600 Certificates of Occupancy (CofOs) in 2021, about double the number granted in 2019 and averaged annually for much of the prior decade. Stay tuned for our upcoming B.I.K. blog post about what these numbers tell us...and what they don't.
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2/3/22: New developments regarding the Town plans to close and reopen the EH Airport in late February/early March. Read the FAA and Town letters. 27E Coverage
2/16/22: EH TOWN ROOFTOP SOLAR SYSTEM INSTALLS: The Town has reported that 165 rooftop solar systems have been installed in East Hampton since the Solarize East Hampton program was started in 2018, with 63 completed in 2021. How do we think about these numbers in the broader context If we compare those installations with what we estimate as the 6,750-7,050 Building Permits, and the 4,150-4,270 Certificates of Occupancy the Town issued cumulatively over the same period? Are these Solarize East Hampton related installations the only ones happening? Are there many others happening through other construction and installation vendors? Or are we as a Town lagging?
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We recommend the Town should be tracking and reporting on all solar and other energy savings component upgrades related to new builds, rebuilds and renovation activity,