Woodsman, Spare That Tree & That One, Too

By Jaime Felber

Over the past decade, urbanization of the Hamptons has exploded and along with it, has come new and stricter zoning regulations in relation to developing residential land. As the McMansion became the new trend, so did the town and village boards realize that, if not stopped, the rural tranquility and serenity that defined the Hamptons for so many years will be lost forever.

Scattered around the Hamptons are areas designated by the local governing bodies as protected land, where no houses may be built and no land may be cleared. The idea is to protect both the natural habitat of the local wildlife, as well as preserve the general aura and aesthetics of the Hamptons themselves.

It's impossible to categorize exactly what the rules and regulations for residential property are in the Hamptons, as the area that falls under East Hampton and Southampton jurisdiction differs in regulations over clearing land and house sizes.

Throughout the Hamptons, the sole source of drinking water is the underground aquifers. Clearly, to maintain the wellbeing and prosperity of the residents, both for current and future generations, the aquifers must be kept pure. In Southampton, in order to guarantee this, all land purchased within the Town must go through the Southampton Planning Board to apply for permits for any changes to the lot. No building, sub-dividing, or clearing may be undertaken without permission from the board.

For residential lots, the amount of disturbance of natural vegetation is limited. This is to ensure that water recharge is kept at a stable and sustainable level, as well as regulate whether any land is designated for use with pesticides or fertilizers.

In East Hampton, the laws are slightly different. Rather than looking after the aquifer, the town focuses much of its attention to harbor protection overlay laws. These focus more on the preservation of beach vegetation and coastal land. Specifically, south of Bluff Road in Amagansett requires a special permit before any changes may take place. The same can be said for any beach land, dune lands -- both primary and secondary -- or any property within 150 ft. of wetlands.

In relation to residential land that does not fall under the above jurisdiction, East Hampton Town passed a new zoning law in 2004. The law refers to the clearing of properties upwards of 1/4 size acre. The allotted land that can be cleared is in relation to the size of the property. For example, on any property sized between 11,000-19,999-square-feet, 10,999-square-feet, or 75% of the property may be cleared, according to whichever is greater.

The notion of clearing the greater figure contrasts strikingly with problems that many landowners have faced when building structures on their property. The East Hampton zoning code states that on a lot less than 40,000-square feet, 5,999 or 20% may be cleared, whichever is less. The logic behind this returns once again to the concept of Southampton's strict regulations on residential land. Since the usage of the land directly affects the water recharge, there have to be limits on the amount of land that will no longer be used to replenish the ground. Obviously, houses are not particularly conducive to allowing water to seep through them.

The initial thought would be that these laws are very difficult to regulate. Once planning permission has been accepted, it is not commonplace for Town Board Members to patrol the streets looking for clearing offenders. However, in recent years, this problem has been addressed through the use of high-definition aerial photographs. While it may take a year or two to catch certain offenders, by comparing the photographs over consecutive years, it has become easier to identify land where excessive and illegal clearing has taken place.

Of course, nowadays, rather than what land you're invading, it's more important to check on the possibility of any endangered wildlife in the area.

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