Hot Off the Presses!  Southold Zoning Update Project

Take a look at the latest Town of Southold Release on Zoning here and the complete Zoning Update here.

Original Article:  East End Beacon by Beth Young, April 23, 2025

The ink was barely dry on the first copy of Southold Town’s new zoning code update when Town Supervisor Al Krupski walked into a meeting of business leaders at Raphael Vineyards Tuesday morning and proudly placed it on the bar as attendees were walking in.

“It’s still warm,” he said of the 190-page document, fresh from the printer.

By the end of the day, the town’s zoning update website, southoldzoningupdate.com, got a fresh redesign, and the Public Review Draft of the new code, along with a new interactive map showing how the zoning would change, had been uploaded for the public to see.

Mr. Krupski opened the meeting — convened by the Southold Town Economic Development Committee to explore synergies between business organizations — by promising wryly that “I am from the government and I AM here to help you.”

The last time Southold did a major overhaul of its zoning code was in 1971, before planners had begun to understand the isolation of suburban sprawl, before walkable hamlet centers and smart growth principals were part of planners’ toolkits, and before words like short-term rentals, solar farms, co-working and even doggy day care had entered the planning lexicon.

After finishing an update of its Comprehensive Plan in 2020, Southold’s Planning Department and its consultants, ZoneCo., have been working since 2022 to craft the new code, backed up by the community’s desires and needs that were articulated in the Comprehensive Plan.

“The zoning update started a couple years ago and it’s something we’re committed to working with the community on,” said Mr. Krupski at the forum. “If you look at the old code and the old zoning map and the proposed code and map, it’s not [a choice between] A or B. You’re not going to pick one or the other. You’re going to look at the old one and say ‘what works in that?’ You’re going to look at the new one and say ‘Are these suggestions helpful or not?” And if they’re helpful we’d like to hear ‘hey, that’s a good idea. We’d like to support those changes.’ If they’re not helpful, we’d like to hear that too…. Tell us if this would be a better definition for that use, or this would be a better use in that zone. Look at it as a work in progress, and we need the community’s help.”

A rough draft of the new code was released in early March, but it has since undergone revisions to become this new “Public Review Draft” released this week. The new draft will be the subject of 11 informational forums this spring, followed by formal public hearings later this summer and into the fall, with the hopes of being adopted in the winter of 2025-2026.

The new code streamlines the usability of planning regulations that had before been added piecemeal over the last 54 years, and adds several “overlay districts” for things like groundwater protection, community housing, preserved land, historic preservation and coastal resilience.

Among the highlights, a new hamlet mixed-use district, formerly called “hamlet density,” would “allow for compact, walkable developments that support local business while preserving the town’s small-town and rural character” and a new transitional district would “transition between commercial and residential areas in a context-sensitive manner that provides for commercial uses in residential-scale structures,” according to ZoneCo.

The code also includes new regulations requiring large stores and retail centers to put most of their parking to the side and rear of the buildings, defying the eastward march of the strip malls that define western Long Island.

Southold Town Planning Director Heather Lanza, who has been overseeing this process since its inception, said at a town board work session in April that ZoneCo. is working on a handbook to accompany the draft.

“We asked the consultant to take the existing uses and explain what’s different in each zone, because that’s important,” said Ms. Lanza at the work session. “A summary document I’m working on is also pointing out the big differences.”

Eleven public forums to discuss the code are being scheduled for the upcoming weeks, including meetings focused on each of the hamlets in town that has a civic association (Southold and Peconic have a combined civic association, as do Mattituck and Laurel).

Meetings to give a general overview of the Zoning Update will be held on Monday, May 12 at the Southold Town Recreation Center at 970 Peconic Lane in Peconic from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and via Zoom only on Wednesday, May 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m..

The Southold-Peconic meeting will be held at the Southold Town Recreation Center on Tuesday, May 20 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Orient meeting will be held on Saturday, May 24 at Poquatuck Hall, 1160 Skippers Lane in Orient from 9 to 11 a.m. The New Suffolk meeting will be held on Saturday, May 31 at the Peconic Community School, 27685 Main Road in Cutchogue from 9 to 11 a.m.

The Cutchogue meeting will be held on Thursday, June 5 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., also at the Peconic Community School, the East Marion meeting will be held on Saturday, June 7 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the East Marion Firehouse, The Mattituck-Laurel meeting will be held on Monday, June 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Veterans Beach community room at 11280 Peconic Bay Boulevard in Mattituck.

The Greenport Hamlet meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 25 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Peconic Landing Auditorium at 1500 Brecknock Road in Orient. Southold Town’s zoning applies to all areas of Greenport outside of the incorporated village.

The Fishers Island meeting will be held on Saturday, June 28 at the Fishers Island Community Center from 9 to 11 a.m.

A business-focused forum will be held on May 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Southold Town Recreation Center at 970 Peconic Lane.

The full meeting schedule is online here.

The downstairs area of the Town Hall Annex, the former Southold Savings Bank lobby on the corner of the Main Road and Youngs Avenue in downtown Southold, will be open at set hours , including some evenings and weekends, throughout the upcoming months with informational displays and planning staff on hand to answer questions. We will update this post with the hours of operation when that information becomes available.

“I think that will be helpful too,” said Mr. Krupski. “Feel free to go to the bank building in the hours that they’re open, and someone will be there to answer your questions.”

Read Our Past Coverage of Southold’s Comp Plan & Zoning Update