Thiele Tells LIMBA Housing Is Key East End Strength & Concern

New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. (D-Sag Harbor) on June 21 headed west to talk about “East End Economic Opportunities” at a Long Island Metro Business Action (LIMBA) meeting, describing housing as helping drive the economy — and a principal problem.

Thiele, who has represented the Hamptons in the Assembly since 1995, discussed the recently upended congestion pricing plan and public transportation, along with affordable housing and wastewater infrastructure. LIMBA Chairman Ernie Fazio welcomed Thiele and a crowd of around 20 at the Candlelight Diner in Commack. The assemblyman told LIMBA that the East End economy has been “booming” since the pandemic, boosted by residents spending more time in the region — and the second home industry.

“People say it’s seasonal,” Thiele, chairman of the Assembly’s Local Governments Committee, said, “but I don’t know what season it is, because people are living there year-round.”

While Thiele said second homes strengthen the local economy, he also described an affordable housing shortage as “one of the biggest problems on the East End” because “local families are finding it increasingly difficult to afford a home on eastern Long Island.” This leads to staffing shortages at hospitals, schools and local businesses.

“Workers have been less willing to make the drive in the trade parade from western Suffolk to eastern Long Island in recent years,” Thiele said.

He earlier said that critical East End issues include “the role of local government in the State’s effort to address the affordable housing shortage and providing the necessary assistance to municipalities.”

Thiele has been helping raise funds to spur the creation of new East End housing.

He said revenues from the Community Preservation Fund, collected through a 2% real estate transfer tax on home sales, have helped preserve over 13,000 acres of land and generated more than $2 billion in revenues since first implemented 25 years ago. First-time home buyers are exempt from the tax.

Thiele said in 2019, before the pandemic, the fund generated $77 million, down from the past. Two years later, he said, it nearly tripled to $221 million. “That has been the basis of the (East End economy),” Thiele said. “It’s a real estate-based economy. Based on the June traffic — which feels more like July or August — everyone’s expecting a good season.”

Thiele also discussed possible developments at the Stony Brook University Southampton campus, where he said 400 graduate students are studying health sciences, environmental sustainability and fine arts. Southampton Hospital is now under the Stony Brook umbrella as well.

However, the campus also includes abandoned and condemned buildings, such as dormitories and the former administration building. Thiele said he is upset to see “abandoned” property on the campus, adding there is “a lot of potential” to transform these buildings into affordable housing.

Thiele also outlined other options for the campus, including building a state-of-the-art hospital to replace the 100-year-old Southampton Hospital as well as using underutilized properties for affordable housing.

He said that plan could be jumpstarted with state legislation. He also said Stony Brook University is looking into sending out a request for proposals for a public-private partnership to develop the unused, former dormitory area on the campus.

“There is a potential to build a self-sufficient community with housing,” Thiele said. “To Stony Brook’s credit, they are developing a plan for the overall campus.”

If the hospital and housing projects can move forward, Thiele said he would call on the Long Island Rail Road to return the train station to the campus. Thiele also supports additional rail infrastructure to expand the existing South Fork Commuter Connection by adding more trains to the South Fork. “We’re trying to get more cars off the road,” he said. “County Road 39 is a nightmare.”

Thiele five years ago convinced the LIRR to establish the South Fork Commuter Connection from Speonk to Montauk. Since then, two more trains are running eastbound during the morning and westbound during the afternoon, he said. “That train has been incredibly popular,” Thiele said. “People tell me, ‘We love it, we want more of it.’”

He, however, said there is only one track. If there were an additional track, trains could run every half-hour instead of every two hours.

The towns also have funding to provide last-mile transportation, Thiele noted. A bus picks up commuters and drops them off at places of employment. “People need to get to work in a timely fashion and should try to live where they work,” Thiele said.

He also talked about the importance of wastewater infrastructure, weeks after important legislation was signed into law regarding this topic. He has called the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act “the most important environmental measure to be approved for Suffolk County since the Pine Barrens Protection Act in 1993.”

The Pine Barrens Act protected 100,000 acres of land, including Suffolk’s groundwater recharge areas, still impacted by past development. The Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act, recently passed by the Assembly and Senate and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, addressed the need to protect, preserve and clean water.

The legislation, subject to approval by the Suffolk County Legislature and a countywide referendum, would create a Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Fund to be funded by a .0125% increase in the County sales tax to expire in 2060.

Twenty-five percent of the existing Sewer Taxpayer Protection Fund also would be dedicated to the new fund to upgrade existing individual septic systems.

The plan, if approved by the legislature and through a referendum, would generate $3 billion to $4 billion in new local funding for water quality restoration.

Half the fund would expand wastewater treatment systems and half would replace old cesspools and septic systems with high-tech nitrogen removing systems.

This legislation also would give Suffolk County the authority to create a county-wide wastewater management district. Thiele believes that would provide an efficient approach to managing wastewater across the county.

“Clean water is not a luxury item. It is a necessity,” Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, has said. “This legislation is a critical and necessary step to allow the public to vote for investing in clean water.”

Others have outlined the need to take action, including by passing this referendum, to address concerns that developed over decades.

“We must work to ensure this measure is placed on the ballot and approved by voters in the fall,” Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, has added.

Numerous business groups also support this legislation, which would provide funds to expand sewers and otherwise manage water quality. Vision Long Island Director Eric Alexander has said the plan “has the support of numerous local chambers, civic organizations and municipalities who will be instrumental in building public support for a referendum in the fall.”

He cited the need for the “advancement of wastewater treatment projects and” and a focus on “the quality of our drinking water.”