Suburban Sprawl For Amagansett? It's Up To You


by Mike Bottini, Environmental Planner


If the hamlet of Amagansett continues to develop under current zoning laws, the result will be ugly commercial highway sprawl. There are already eight small clusters of commercial development, each separated by residential zoning, along the highway corridor between East Hampton Village and Napeague:

  1. Pantigo Place (offices, beverage store, deli, fish market, restaurant)
  2. Stern's area (offices, bank, restaurant, proposed A&P superstore)
  3. Franklin Triangle (paint store, bagel store, fitness center, tackle shop, Chinese take-out)
  4. Brent's (deli, surf shop, nursery, restaurants)
  5. central business area
  6. Amagansett Farmer's Market and Ocean's Restaurant
  7. IGA shopping center
  8. Gray's (deli, auto repair shop)

Under current zoning laws, most of these eight clusters could either: 1) expand their commercial uses onto vacant land, or 2) intensify their existing commercial activities through re-development (such as changing nurseries to high-traffic retail stores). There have been several recent re-zoning requests that could aggravate some existing highway corridor problems and alleviate others, depending on how the requests are handled. The Town Board hired a team of consultants last year to update the Amagansett portion of the East Hampton Comprehensive Plan. The team will produce the Amagansett Hamlet Study, which will make recommendations for resolving current and future issues, such as traffic flow, safety, community character and aesthetic problems. Their report is due to be released this Spring.

Meanwhile, Group for the South Fork is working to produce drawings of the Amagansett study area in order to show what the hamlet will look like if we do nothing about current zoning laws, and what it might look like if other zoning options are used. The Group's goal is to increase the public's understanding of the planning options for Amagansett.

Thanks to a grant from The Winston Foundation, Group for the South Fork was able to hire Donna Plunkett, a registered landscape architect, to work on this project. Ms. Plunkett, who formerly worked with the Regional Planning Association on the Pine Barrens Plan, will produce visual renderings of the Amagansett Hamlet area. Through this grant, Group for the South Fork will work with the local community to choose a better future for Amagansett.

What You Can Do About Development In Amagansett:

Attend one of the public meetings on the Amagansett Hamlet Study. For information on location, date and time, contact Mike Bottini at Group for the South Fork at 537-1400, extension 3007.