The Orient Plan Examples of Propositions

The goal of the Southold Town Comprehensive Plan is to develop policies that reflect the will of
the Southold community as a whole. It is not meant to be law or regulation. Once the Southold
Comprehensive Plan is adopted and the policies outlined, Town staff, advisory committees and
others will work to craft specific laws and regulations to implement those policies. Before they
are adopted, the proposed laws or regulations will be the subject of public hearings.

That will take a good bit of time since there are so many issues raised in the Town
Comprehensive Plan. But even before new laws are proposed, the policies outlined in an
adopted Town Comprehensive Plan can serve to guide the Boards and officials who have
discretion in implementing existing law and regulation. For example, the Zoning Board of
Appeals must take into consideration Town policy as it considers requests for variances. If a
request runs contrary to adopted policy, the ZBA may reject it.

Similarly, the Orient Plan will seek to identify those specific issues that the vast majority of our
Hamlet community wants to be adopted as policy. These are not meant to be specific law or
regulation, but a statement of principle that will lead to law and regulation, and which will be
considered when discretionary decisions are made.

The following are examples of the types of policy objectives that could be put to the community
as propositions for approval or rejection. They are meant to be illustrative only, not specific
recommendations of the planning group.

Theoretical Examples of Policy Propositions

1. Limit overall housing size (usable square footage) to maintain scale in keeping with
current community character. This shall be in addition to maintaining lot coverage,
setback, height and other limitations.

2. Include covenants in deeds requiring active farming for all purchases of development
rights on lands currently being used for agricultural purposes.

3. Limit development and commercial activity so that there is no material increase of

vehicular traffic on Main Road in Orient.

These are hypothetical examples of the types of policy statements that will be offered to the
Orient Community as propositions to vote up or down. Those propositions that receive broad
support from the community will then be communicated to the Town as the wishes of our
hamlet, and we will work with the Town to bring about adoption as official Town policy for the
hamlet. Once adopted, these policies would eventually lead to specific law or regulation.

The ultimate laws and regulations are not being proposed or put to the community at this time.
These will need much more development and input from various community groups before
adoption. However, just as an example, the following are very basic hypothetical laws (or
portions of laws) that might be considered after the policy is adopted.

The following are some basic theoretical examples of the types of laws that might be developed
based on the policy examples. Please remember that these are just examples, they are not
meant to be the actual positions or statutes that will be proposed.

Theoretical Examples of Policy Propositions with Sample Laws

1. Limit overall housing size (usable square footage) to maintain scale in keeping with
current community character. This shall be in addition to maintaining lot coverage,
setback, height, and other limitations.
[Illustrative examples, not for actual vote]
a. No construction of a new or modified residential dwelling shall be approved that would
result in that dwelling exceeding 6,000 square feet of usable space. AND/OR
b. No construction of a new or modified residential dwelling shall be approved that would
result in that dwelling being more than 125% of the size (usable square footage) of the
average of all houses within xxx feet of the proposed construction.
c. Exceptions to above types of rules - Dwellings may exceed the above size limitations
when no part of the dwelling is visible from any street or adjacent dwellings without
adding any additional landscaping. Pre-existing landscaping shielding such oversized
dwellings from view must be maintained.

2. Include covenants in deeds requiring active farming for all purchases of development
rights on lands currently being used for agricultural purposes.
[Illustrative examples, not for actual vote]
a. Every purchase of development rights for lands that have been used for farming at
anytime within the five years preceding purchase shall require that active farming
continues on a regular basis; AND/OR
b. No farmlands for which development rights have been purchased shall materially alter
the overall appearance of the land visible from public roads in a manner that shield the
fields from view.

3. Limit development and commercial activity so that there is no material increase of

vehicular traffic on Main Road in Orient.
[Illustrative examples, not for actual vote]
a. Every proposal for residential or commercial building, development, change of zoning or
change of use shall include an analysis of traffic implications for the completed project;
no project that materially increases the overall level of traffic on Main Road in the Hamlet
of Orient shall be approved by the Building Department, the Planning Board, the Zoning
Board of Appeals., or the Town Board AND/OR
b. No business operation in a Marine I or Marine II zone shall add facilities or capacity in a
manner that would materially increase vehicular traffic on Main Road in the Hamlet of
Orient; no governmental agency, including the Building Department, the Planning Board,
the Board of Trustees, the Zoning Board of Appeals, or the Town Board shall approve
any such expansion.

Please remember that the examples of statutes are only illustrations, are not being proposed,
and will not be put to a vote as part of the Orient Plan process. Actual laws based on any policy
propositions adopted by the community and the Town would need much more input from various
departments, interest groups, and public hearings.

Implementing the Orient Plan

Once we have identified the key policy positions supported by a substantial majority of
the community, we will seek to have the Town adopt these principles. We have not
predetermined a particular approach that the Town should take in doing this.
Alternative Approaches to Implementation
We are aware of a number of ways this could happen, and there may be others. For
example, the Town may conclude that one or more of our propositions would be good
for all of Southold. If so, they could incorporate it into the Towns Comprehensive Plan,
in which case we would also be covered.
The Town might also choose to adopt our propositions as policy just for Orient, and
incorporate them in a Hamlet subsection of the Comprehensive Plan, or in an
addendum. If that were to happen, the policy could be applied to Orient when decisions
are made by deliberative boards, such as the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of
Appeals or the Trustees. But the policies would serve as guidelines rather than firm
statutory rules.
Just as with the Towns Comprehensive Plan, full, binding implementation of these
polices would still require the passage of laws or regulations by the Town. Some of the
propositions might be the subject of new statutes that specifically limited their effect to
the hamlet of Orient. Southold already has some location specific laws, such as the
Fishers Island Harbor Management statutes.
Overlay Districts
A technique used by other towns in Suffolk is the creation of one or more Overlay
Districts. These districts are created for specific purposes, such as preservation of
farmland. An overlay district is like a layer that sits on top of an area that is already part
of one or more standard zoning districts. The rules of the overlay district either
supersede one or more of the rules of the underlying district, or create requirements or

safeguards that are in addition to those of the underlying zoning district. In some cases
overlay districts reduce restrictions, in some cases they impose additional restrictions,
or they may do both.
For example, the Town of East Hampton has several overlay districts including a Harbor
Protection Overlay District, which designates certain areas of the Town as part of this
zoning as well as their regular zoning. The laws regulating this district require more
stringent control of water and wastewater, including the mandatory upgrade of septic
systems under certain circumstances, and different setbacks from those required in
other zones.
Similarly, the Town of Brookhaven has overlay districts, including the Route 25A
Hamlet Center Overlay District. This set of laws makes a number of changes that are
limited to the designated areas of the Town, including rules to prevent future
commercial sprawl by limiting the size and location of large format retail stores.
The advantage of overlay districts is the ability to expand or shrink the portions of the
Town governed by the rules of the overlay district as needs and circumstances change.
It also allows the Town to implement layers of regulations or permissions without
creating dozens of subcategories of standard zoning districts.
As we stated, we are not committed to a particular approach. The first step is define
what we want. Then we will work with the Town to find the best way to implement what
we need.