Civic groups ask Town Board to take action on large houses

A seasonal bungalow razed to make way for a year-round home. A historic cottage leveled and replaced with something much larger.

Sound familiar?

It does to virtually every civic group within Southold Town — and they are pressuring the Town Board to take action on house size.

Members of the Orient Association, East Marion Community Association, Cutchogue Civic Association, New Suffolk Civic Association and Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association, appealed to the board during a work session Tuesday, arguing that while each hamlet organization must contend with its own unique issues, house size transcends geographical boundaries.

“We believe that house size limitation is one of the issues among many that brings together many aspects of preserving community character,” said Orient Association president Drianne Benner. “As houses grow incrementally larger, with no constraint or little constant, the nature of that community character that we love is beginning to change.”

Full article in Suffolk Times

Join Orient Association

Donate to the Orient Water Project

Happening Now

Orient Water Project Recommendations Survey

The OA Water Committee recently met with consultants at CDM Smith to discuss present and future recommendations that the community should consider to sustain the health of our water resources. While the consultant has analyzed historical data from private well testing performed by Suffolk County Department Health Services, we do not have much information about how folks in the community are coping with issues of contamination and reliability. The Committee wanted to hear directly from residents about their experience and practices with their well water.

Summer 2023 Newsletter

We hope you are all enjoying the cool and peaceful days of spring as we approach the busy summer months.Kicking off the summer season, after a long hiatus the first in-person Annual Meeting of the Orient Association will be held on Saturday, May 27th at 9:30 am in Poquatuck Hall.Members of the Orient Association will be voting on a new slate of officers and Board Members will be introduced.

Why Should We Care About Code Compliance? June 11, 2023

The town code includes regulations about many things that affect us including short-term rentals; building size and construction, noise; our visible environment including signs, lighting and dark skies; RV, trailer and boat storage; landscaping and dumpsters. Code compliance and enforcement (or lack of it) often comes up in our community meetings. It impacts many of the things that recent surveys say we value. Learn how code enforcement works and some ways it might be improved, and your role in ensuring compliance and enforcement.