Build.in.Kind: Jaine Mehring on overdevelopment

 Build.in.Kind: Jaine Mehring on overdevelopment

Over – development in East Hampton and other east end towns is the subject of Jaine Mehring’s blog “Build.in.Kind.com”.

Mehring writes: “Aggressive building is of a scale and in a style far out of proportion and context with the character of the surrounding streets and neighborhoods.

A surge in lot subdivisions is driving rapid densification where there had been a sense of open space. 

The effect on our natural  resources is severe, as each year, miles of woodlands, dune land, wetlands and native vegetation are excavated.

It compromises quality of life for human residents and is devastating for our wildlife and biodiversity;

Francesca spoke with Jaine Mehring this week.  Here is the  conversation:

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Affordable Housing for Sag Harbor meets opposition

Eastern Long Island and in particular the South Fork Towns of East Hampton and Southampton have a housing crisis.

 

People who work there in schools, hospitals and the service industry can't afford to live there.

 

Eastbound morning traffic and westbound evening traffic - known as the 'Trade Parade' is glacial.

 

Last week voters in 3 east end towns approved a measure designed to help finance affordable housing  by taxing a portion of first time home sales.

 

But there are obstacles to achieving the goal of constructing affordable dwellings—not least of which is finding sites where building new housing and retail space doesn’t harm the environment or surrounding businesses and residents.

 

In historic Sag Harbor village, where home prices and store rentals have climbed in recent years - a proposal for 79 affordable apartments above retail space in the downtown area has met with opposition from residents concerned with environmental and other impacts in the area.

Host Francesca Rheannon talks with Sag Harbor resident Katherine Levy.

 

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More Information about the Sag Harbor affordable housing proposal can be found in the article Affordable Housing Pitched in Sag Harbor  in the July 8 2022 issue of the East End Beacon and  the East Hampton Star 

and 27east.com

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Community Housing Funding for the East End

 

On Long Island's East End, schools, hospitals and other public services rely on a workforce that can’t afford to live where people work. Rents can easily reach $6,000 or more for a two bedroom house–and that’s just for the nine months of the off season. Year-round housing is even more difficult to find. With summer housing out of reach to anyone except the wealthy, year-round workers find themselves without housing just when rents are the least affordable.

 

As a result, the daily so-called “trade parade” of workers driving in from the west adds hours to long commutes – and people have been quitting their jobs in droves: teachers, health care workers, firefighters, police, shop clerks, local government staff and more. Help wanted signs are everywhere, with fewer workers willing to brave the commute or able to afford the rents.

 

On November 8 voters will decide on legislation that would allow the towns of 

East Hampton, Southampton, Shelter Island and Southold to each establish a Community Housing Fund funded by a half percent addition to the existing 2% real estate transfer tax that funds the Community Preservation Fund.

 

Last year, State legislation authorizing the Fund was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul. The bill was sponsored by State Assemblymember Fred W. Thiele, Jr. and his counterpart in the State Senate Anthony Palumbo.

 

The legislation mandated that Towns would have to first adopt a Community Housing Plan and a local law establishing the fund. That’s already happened. But a final step remains: a referendum by the voters to approve the legislation. That’s on the ballot November 8. 

 

This week I spoke with Sean McLean, managing partner of the development firm "MPACT Collective" about his experience with affordable housing development in the town of Southampton, New York.  The firm is focused on addressing development with a commitment to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Mpact Collective is working with the village of Sag Harbor on similar plans for affordable housing–plans that approval of the referendum will make much easier.

  LISTEN here

New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act

New York State's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act  
was signed into law in July of 2019
 
The legislation requires New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and no less than 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.

But fossil fuel interest are working to slow down or stop the implementation of the law.

Host Francesca Rheannon talks with Betta Broad of New Yorkers For Clean Power about the gas industry's disinformation campaign against state plans to implement the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. 

Listen here:

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More information:

New Yorkers For Clean Power

New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act

NYSERDA - New York State's Energy Research and Development Agency

Anne Rabe - New York Public Interest Group - New York's Climate Legislation

Anne Rabe - New York Public Interest Group - New York's Climate Legislation

According to the New York Public Interest Research Group - or NYPIRG:

New York's Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law three significant climate bills this month that help place New York in the national forefront on energy efficient standards, expansion of geothermal renewable energy, and a just transition for geothermal and solar union jobs.

The laws are

the Advanced Appliance & Buildings Standards Act,

the Utility Thermal Energy Network & Jobs Act

and a bill that will require prevailing wages for solar panel renewable energy jobs. 

Other legislation supported by NYPIRG but not passed yet include the 

all electric buildings act, it would require that small buildings be all-electric by 2024and also a law to require more electric car charging stations.

Host Francesca Rheannon talked recently about this legislation with Anne Rabe the environmental policy director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

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Change-E-Hampton NY

 A group of East Hampton residents say they are alarmed by global warming and in particular about species collapse. 

They say that our lawn culture is poisoning us and insects in our yards  and killing the planet.

They are calling for habitat restoration and healthy yards, which means

re-imaging our landscape together with our landscapers.

Sustainable Long Island's Francesca Rheannon spoke this week with Gail Pellett of Change-E-Hampton NY, organizer of the group.

 Here is our conversation

Renewable Heat Now Campaign

 

Renewable Heat Now is a campaign organized by several organizations including the Alliance for a Green Economy, New Yorkers for Clean Power, Earthjustice, and the New York Public Interest Research Group.

 The groups have joined together to accelerate the adoption of ground-source (or geothermal) and air-source heat pumps to reduce the amount of fossil fuels used to heat and cool our homes and workplaces in New York state.

Host Francesca Rheannon talked recently with Billi Roberti of Huntington - an activist with the campaign.

Listen here:

More about the Renewable Heat Now campaign can be found on-line at RenewableHeatNow.org