Recommendations
Urban planning that includes the tenants of the ‘New Urbanism’ should be considered for Montauk’s Plaza Area. Rather than the Community Preservation Fund (CPF) buying vacant lots and keeping them as open space, the Town of East Hampton should encourage development of infill on these lots with appropriate sympathetic mixed use storefront retail and housing. Allowing the proprietors (or simply tenants) of these retail establishments to live atop their establishments may help to avoid the closure of stores in the off season, while at the same time providing some units of affordable housing.
The fact that 70 percent of Montauk’s land is already protected necessitates more compact, higher density smart growth. This is doubly true in The Plaza area, which draws many visitors to its hotels, motels, bars, restaurants and shops. Increased density with uninterrupted storefronts will add to the sense of vitality so sought after by The Plaza area’s visitors.
Here are the recommendations for The Plaza's preservation plan:
1. The existing 50-year-old-and-older building stock should be protected by creation of a downtown historic district, as it is this eclectic mix that gives The Plaza area of Montauk its sense of place. “Historic Resource Surveys should be integrated as planning tools and expanded to include context statements, cultural landscape components, and historic interiors (Page & Turnbull, 25)." The National Register of Historic Places eligible building stock must be protected from demolition by the town; creating a National Register District in The Plaza area of Montauk could help mitigate this threat.
2. Like any comprehensive plan, a preservation plan should depend a great deal on community involvement from inception to execution. A good plan includes a long-term concept accomplished in increments.
3. Recent efforts to make East Hampton Town a Certified Local Government (CLG) will encourage adaptive reuse. Reuse of historic buildings, with compulsory design review by East Hampton Town’s design review board, combined with tax-abatement incentives and federal and state tax credits which are antecendent to the creation of a historic district will stimulate investment and preservation efforts.
4. The Town of East Hampton still counts among its goals the aquisition of remaining open space in the hamlet of Montauk. The preservation of vacant space in The Plaza area is not critical. The well-intentioned but misguided preservation of open space in The Plaza Area must be reconsidered, and the single use commercial zoning of The Plaza Area changed to mixed use.
5. Sensitive form-based infill that respects the scale of the village will reinvigorate the area and solve some of the housing problems single use zoning has created. Pre-existing one and two-story buildings should be allowed to go to two and possibly three stories to enhance affordable housing opportunities. These apartment-style dwellings will give an alternative to the working families driven out of town by the high price of single-family residential real estate.
6. Currently, the only affordable housing options in Montauk through The Town of East Hampton’s Housing Authority are The Avallone Apartments, surplus federal military housing converted into two 2-bedroom and 15 one-bedroom apartments located near the train station and between Montauk village and the harbor. The Plaza Area of Montauk currently has no affordable housing options. The Town of East Hampton might consider providing more affordable housing by building infill on vacant lots it may acquire through the CPF in the future. This would enhance the year-round presence of people in The Plaza area, and provide the uninterrupted ‘street walls’ proven to reinvigorate a community.
7. The Plaza area of Montauk should be completely overhauled, with a new higher density redevelopment plan designed according to the tenets of New Urbanism and with the input of the community through town meetings and organized design charettes. The possibility of re-reouting the main highway around the north side of town, and reclaiming the resulting open space for public use and the relocation of hotels should be considered.
8. The surfing, fishing and beaches around The Plaza area of Montauk keeps it viable. By encouraging higher density in the central business district, these cultural resources can more easily be preserved. The funding of new high-tech septic systems by the Community Preservation Fund has recently been approved. This new infrastructure should be encouraged as it will make a positive contribution to increasing the density of The Plaza while protecting the ecologically fragile surrounding environment from harm.
9. Transporatation to and from East Hampton Village should include either a light rail system adjacent to the current Long Island Railroad tracks or a regularly scheduled shuttle bus to East Hampton. This would alleviate automobile traffic and parking considerations in The Plaza area. Current Suffolk County bus service is woefully inadequate. Complete streets including bike paths and bike sharing/parking areas should also be executed.
10. Lastly, all sustainability efforts should be encouraged and rewarded. Re-use of materials, installation of solar panels and other enviornmentally sensitive development options should be rewarded with tax abatements and other incentives.
The irony that the great success of Carl Fisher’s historic vision of a resort has resulted in the eradication of affordable living spaces for the local year-round community is addressed by these recommendations.
The great natural beauty of the Montauk area that continues to draw ever greater numbers of visitors every season despite high prices and lack of affordable housing options for those employed by Montauk’s service industry has already been addressed through parkland conservation. The addressing of the above humanistic concerns is the next logical step.
The development of a transient short-term rental culture through real estate rental sites like Homeaway and VRBO make short-term rentals more and more attractive to summer visitors. For these short-term tenants, combined with those who patronize The Plaza area’s many motels, high prices make a shorter visit a better economic alternative. The greater efficiencies of the Internet make finding short-term rentals ever more attractive and feasible, resulting in greater crowding every year.
If things continue as they are, it is questionable if The Plaza area of Montauk will continue to perform as a real village at all, or become merely a resort-facsimile theme park that comes alive every June-September as a service to it’s summer clientele.