It’s been nearly a year since Southold Town first unveiled its proposed Zoning Update, which has been in the works now for the better half of a decade after the 2020 adoption of the town’s Comprehensive Plan.
When the first draft of the massive overhaul was unveiled to the public last year, reactions were all over the map. It was a lot to digest, and despite the town Planning Department’s best efforts to provide hamlet and industry specific information at a series of forums last year, it’s still not clear to the public how this Zoning Update will change the way Southold looks, feels and functions.
Potential changes to that first draft — allowing restaurants and retail businesses back into a zoning district along the town’s major artery roads, and removing the proposed restrictions on lot coverage by impervious structures — are troublesome. They are sure-fire ways of hastening the town’s march toward suburbia.
And there wasn’t enough in the new code, for our liking, to encourage the development of hamlet centers, a hallmark of smart growth that would be a shot in the arm to underutilized business districts like downtown Cutchogue or even Southold and Mattituck, while still encouraging the preservation of the rural areas surrounding these downtowns.
The changes along what had been called “corridor business” districts — now changed back to their original name, “general business,” in particular, were made at the urging of businesses that would like to see intensified use of their properties on the bucolic arteries running east to west down the length of the town. This is the reality of the North Fork’s future. Are we prepared?
Meanwhile, the folks over at the Group for the East End had outlined several items they were surprised to see didn’t make it into the Zoning Update — Aquifer Protection and Coastal Resiliency Overlay Districts, a tree code and clearing restrictions and a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Code.
Last year, we heard from the Planning Department that the overlay districts were awaiting updated maps. At the pace the Zoning Update is going, those maps may be ready by the time it is adopted.
Southold is the last town on the East End to still have a moratorium on applications for BESS systems in place. The town’s reasoning, at first, was that it was waiting for New York State to adopt new codes after several BESS fires throughout the state in 2023. The state adopted those codes in July of 2025, but we haven’t heard a peep since from Southold Town Hall about drafting its own BESS code, which could very easily be modeled on codes already in place in Riverhead and Southampton.
The town’s BESS moratorium, extended each year since 2023, is due to expire this April, and the Town Board has just scheduled an April 21 public hearing on extending it for another year. We can only presume, with no new BESS code in the works, that it is the town’s intent to continue to kick this can down the road.
Meanwhile, the town’s Tree Committee proposed codes that would limit lot clearing and protect historic trees way back in December of 2024. These types of codes are not out of the ordinary on the East End, and they’re designed to protect against the clear-cutting of lots, which are often a shock to the character of neighborhoods.
While the town recently changed its building department fees to double the cost of lot clearing prior to receiving site plan approval, this does not apply to the clearing of lots where no site plan is required.
Former Southold Town Councilman Bill Ruland, may he rest in peace, used to serve as a moral compass for the Southold Town Board, reminding them consistently that their work was being done to serve the people who live in Southold.
We recently heard Mr. Ruland’s ethos in the words of members of the town’s Short Term Rental Task Force, whose 2024 recommendations to create a permit system for short term rentals (which are currently banned) are now being turned into town code.
In addition to updating the short-term rental code, we hope this year that the Town Board also takes up the now well-aged recommendations of its BESS Task Force and its Tree Committee.
These are piecemeal efforts, yes, but they are ones that are of great interest to the public and would show that Southold is still serious about listening to the concerns of people who live here.
Keep Independent News on the East End
The Beacon is able to provide all of our content online free of charge thanks to support from our readers. Be a vital part of keeping our community informed!
Advertisement
