WE have over 700 signed petitions. Comments are important from local residents. | EDITORIALS | A Different Kind Of PDD There is a great deal of ambivalence about planned development districts, the hocus-pocus change-of-zone power wielded by the Southampton Town Board, and much of it is embodied in the latest project to step forward for serious consideration, Bridgehampton Gateway. This cluster of eight parcels, covering 13 acres across from Bridgehampton Commons, has been reworked by town planners and the property’s owners, with input from some in the hamlet, as a single complex of commercial and residential space. The centerpiece of the PDD proposal would be an Equinox gym, and also would include some additional retailers, totaling about 90,000 square feet of commercial space. There also would be 30 apartments, most of them set aside as affordable housing units. PDDs were a key issue in the 2015 town campaigns; ultimately, the Democratic candidates all won seats, and each has suggested a one-year moratorium on new PDD applications while the rules for the special zoning are reworked. But that won’t impact the proposals in the pipeline, including Gateway. This project has always been something of an outlier among PDD proposals recently approved (at the Shinnecock Canal area) and under consideration (The Hills at Southampton), in that it has had the active involvement and tacit support of the local Citizens Advisory Committee, and it includes a healthy measure of affordable housing at a time when it’s intensely needed. Pitched for the first time more than a decade ago as a way to help create a “gateway” to Bridgehampton’s business district, it targets parcels that offer little under current zoning, except appliance stores and car dealerships. But PDDs remain a tough sell, and last week’s hearing showed that serious opposition is coalescing. The most compelling argument came from Larry Penny, a Noyac resident who was East Hampton Town’s natural resources director, who worries about the impact on several small ponds near the site. As more and more small water bodies are suffocated by development, worries about runoff from a busy paved retail center should be taken seriously by the Town Board. There will be a variety of other issues to contend with. First, as always, will be worries about traffic impact along a particularly important stretch of Montauk Highway. It will be a fraction of the size of the Commons across the street, but it still will add to both the volume of traffic along a key stretch and the potential for slowdowns. It’s also a fair question to ask: Is this really the “gateway” that Bridgehampton wants? Is the Commons really a blueprint for development to the point where it should be echoed on the south side of the street? Two things set this proposal apart. One is that, unlike with other PDD concepts, this one has its roots in Town Hall—it was an idea actively pursued by the town rather than the developers. In that way, it is much closer to the original concept of how a PDD should happen. Second, it does offer a mix of much-needed affordable housing with commercial development; so many times, the town has allowed businesses to expand, and never has there been an effort to link those expansions to new housing opportunities for people who will fill those kinds of jobs. Gateway could well establish a precedent, allowing the town to mandate apartments with any new commercial construction—and finally begin to address the chronic absence of workforce housing. At the same time, are 30 apartments enough of a community benefit to justify exactly the kind of suburban development that seems exactly what most Southampton Town residents say they don’t want? Jay Schneiderman appropriately is moving slowly with Gateway, inviting more input—and it’s a project that clearly requires a great deal more consideration. In many ways, it strikes at the heart of why PDDs are so toxic right now: It’s not just a change of zone, but a much bigger change, for better and worse.