A.
The Town Board finds that old filed maps, as defined in Article XI of the Town of Southampton Zoning Ordinance, will constitute, as they develop, a substantial share of all residential subdivision development in the Town. Further, as a result of the adverse impacts described in the Zoning Ordinance with reference to inadequate subdivision layouts, potential stormwater drainage problems, poor soil quality and consequent tendency for soil erosion and sedimentation, potential discontinuous street system and inadequate public improvements, lack of planning for and provision of playfields, parks and open spaces, the overall impact on residents living in such areas, as well as on all residents of the Town, will be to deteriorate the character of neighborhoods and the community, to decrease potential developed property values and to create hazards to safety and public health. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide for the future orderly growth and development of the Town, particularly within the Old Filed Map Overlay District and its environs, affording adequate facilities for the housing, transportation, distribution, comfort, convenience, safety, health and welfare of its population; to avoid those adverse impacts described; and to assure achievement of a desirable residential environmental quality in the old filed map subdivision plats.
B.
This goal shall be implemented by requiring appropriate design and public improvement construction through the authorized jurisdiction of the Planning Board. The procedures shall be similar to those utilized in the review and approval of proposed new land subdivision plats.
C.
Further, this article deems that all building sites located in the Old Filed Map Overlay District shall be integral elements of the old filed map in which they are located and that, in the aggregate, all the owners of such building sites shall be deemed to be the subdivider for the purpose of discharging the responsibilities related to the development thereof.
D.
In the procedure under this article, it is the intention of the Town Board that all financial obligations which are customarily the responsibility of the subdivider shall be borne by the building site owners in the old filed map subdivision plat on a fair and equitable basis. These obligations shall include all the initial costs associated with the surveying, planning and engineering, as well as those costs associated with public improvement construction and corollary expenditures necessary in the development of new land subdivisions that conform to the rules and regulations for subdivision of land in the Town of Southampton,[1] including the Town public road and improvement standards.
E.
With the enactment of this article, the Building Inspector shall only issue building permits to owners of a building site with a full development right, as provided for in the Old Filed Map Overlay District, where the building site is situated in an old filed map or section thereof approved for development by the Planning Board. Further, any such owner of a building site shall have discharged his financial obligation as subdivider and satisfied such other requirements as the Planning Board may have imposed as a condition of its approval.
F.
This article establishes methods for funding of public improvements over a period of time so that the Planning Board can prepare a program for financing which will apportion the financial obligations among the building site owners on a fair and equitable basis to the extent possible. However, the Town Board recognizes that the costs for the initial surveying, planning and engineering and for the initial required construction work may exceed the amount of any one owner's pro rata financial obligation. If such owner chooses to apply for development approval on his own, rather than obtaining the participation of additional owners as applicants for development approval, such owner will have to assume such additional amount of the costs as the Planning Board cannot grant approval for the development of a subdivision plat or section thereof without certain prerequisite and essential work having been done by the applicant. This article does authorize a preapplication conference to assist an owner in deciding what course of action to take.