Architectural board refers Heatherwood mixed-use plan in Hampton Bays to planning board

Heatherwood representatives presented a downtown Hampton Bays mixed-use proposal at 166 West Montauk Highway that the company said follows the Hampton Bays pattern book and places about 11,000 square feet of commercial space at the street with rental housing above and a rear townhouse district. "We are very excited about the project that we want to present today in downtown Hampton Bays," said Sean Sally with Heatherwood during the board presentation.

The applicant described a walkable design with retail activating Montauk Highway, parking and staging from Lamplight Circle, and a townhouse cluster of about 15 homes to the north. Landscape architect Bob Rottenhauer said the landscaping would use a mix of native and evergreen plantings to provide screening while allowing views: "we've got about 50% from I guess 45% are native plants right now," he said, and noted roughly a third of the planting palette would be evergreen to screen amenity areas from apartments.

Board members praised the contextual design but pressed the applicant on circulation, construction staging and streetscape details. A board member asked whether construction traffic would use Montauk Highway; the applicant said construction access would be staged off Lamplight Circle and that the town's outside consultant had reviewed and found the traffic study supporting the project's negative declaration to be accurate. The board also discussed future signage and monument height and noted lighting will be reviewed by the Planning Board under the town's dark-sky rules.

On a motion to send the application and site-plan materials to the Planning Board for further technical review, the Architectural Review Board voted in favor and carried the motion. The applicant will return to Planning with responses to questions on circulation, signage and lighting.