Cornelia Dodge

Significant threats include a transient summer resort population that is absent in the winter months. Due to the short summer season, many storefronts are only occupied on a seasonal basis. This gives The Plaza area of the village an abandoned look during the winter months. Retailers say the short season renders year-round stores economically unfeasible.

 

This, combined with the above average low-income population of Montauk, and the short supply of affordable housing, renders The Plaza Area of Montauk difficult to effectively revitalize in a way that serves both the year-round population and the summer vacationers.

 

This ‘feast or famine’ short season makes every planning consideration, from utilities to parking, hard to manage effectively, and renders the suburbanization so often feared by planners an empty threat.

 

Montauk’s greatest asset is its environment and protected lands. Even this is under threat: rising waters threaten the hotels that populate the south side of the Plaza Area, and mitigation efforts by the Army Corps have been met with outrage by the year-round local community.

 

The groins that were first proposed to protect the beach would scour the shore west of the Plaza, and the sand-filled geo-bags installed by the Army Corps have been exposed by the wave action of the rising water.

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Increased density in The Plaza area could merely provide a 100 year solution to the problems the oceanfront hotels face. Climate change presents a persistent threat to The Plaza.