SOUTHAMPTON
Making Development Decisions Fair and Predictable
Riverside
Hamlet Center
Riverside
Town of Southampton
2006
The Town of Southampton takes pride in its wealth of vibrant, mixed-use centers that provide social and economic focus to effectively foster a true sense of place. It is being honored this year for the development of a new Hamlet Plan that will bring this traditional sense of identity to Riverside.
While the Town’s vision of a new mixed-use hamlet center alone is commendable, this plan goes beyond. The process was initiated by specific property owners and the community at large. They educated each other and successfully forged consensus on the best possible alternatives for land use and transportation.
Beyond the focus area, careful consideration was given to the hamlets context, including current and existing development plans for the surrounding region. The Town of Southampton has been among the most progressive on Long Island in incorporating design standards into their plans. The Riverside Hamlet Center Plan is no exception, directing the incorporation of such standards into its Mixed- Use Planned Development District (MUPDD ) zoning overlay.
In all, the plan is comprehensive yet easy to comprehend. What’s more, the consideration given to implementation significantly increases the probability that it will actually be realized. Preferred development options, including public amenities, are clearly identified. Guidelines are given for how adjacent properties could be involved, including proposed roads and pedestrian links that would weave the new center into the greater region. Action steps for both short and long term implementation are straight forward and realistic.
While some may charge that the specificity of this type of plan is limiting, in actuality it empowers developers to advance creative projects. Direct insight into community needs and desires is readily available, preferred amenities are clearly delineated, and development realities are well
Making Development Decisions Predictable and Fair
Town
of Southampton
2004
The Town of Southampton is being recognized for its efforts to amend its zoning code to steer new development away from greenflelds and to permit greater flexibility in land use while raising expectations for design. Southampton’s 1999 Comprehensive Plan Update proposes codes that permit a mix of uses, primarily for areas of transition between downtowns and single-use areas, such strip and shopping centers and residential areas. New zoning classes take matters such as traffic generation into consideration, and exchange flexibility of use for standards in design.
Hamlet office/Residential (HO) zoning would replace the current Office District (OD) zoning in areas of the Town where such uses, scale of development, and project design are deemed more compatible to the surrounding community character. HO would generally allow offices, housing, and low-traffic generating retail and service uses such as those now allowed in office districts, i.e. antique stores, galleries, standard sit-down restaurants. High traffic/impact uses would not be allowed, i.e. video stores, liquor stores, fast food establishments, laundromats, dry cleaners, and gas stations.
The Design component of the HO zoning seeks to yield buildings that appear more residential. Recommendations intended to keep buildings to a more residential scale and style include reduced lot coverage, small building footprints (maximum building size up to 3,000 square feet as permitted uses and up to 6,000 square feet as special exception uses), residential style windows and entries, pitched roofs, and discrete signage. Parking would not be permitted in the front yard and residential style setbacks for parking in the side and rear yards will be required. Other means by which the proposed zoning seeks to ensure compatibility between uses include possible restrictions on hours of business and times of delivery., lighting, noise and odor generation.
The proposed Hamlet Commercial/Residential (HC) zoning is recommended in transition areas that frame hamlet centers zoned Village Business. It would involve much the same design and performance standards as HO zoning, but would also allow by special exception some commercial and retail uses allowed in the Village Business districts.
It is the intent of these regulations to authorize the Building and Zoning Division, in limited circumstances, to increase the permitted residential density of certain individual lots and lands proposed for development as of right for two family dwellings. The proposed regulations also allow the construction of three and four-family residential buildings with the purchase of development rights or Pine Barren Credits (PBC). These regulations provide greater flexibility that will provide a wider range of new housing opportunities, including housing that is affordable to moderate-income individuals or families, in the downtown hamlet areas. These residential buildings will be subject to the dimensional and design standards set forth in these regulations in order to insure that their appearance will be compatible with the surrounding hamlet character.
