East Hampton Village plan ignites debate

Sometimes, a "for sale" sign is just a sign. But in elegant East Hampton Village, it's turning out to be a whole lot more.

What started out earlier this year as an effort by village officials to make their community more attractive by creating a uniform look for those signs -- same shape, size and placement -- has opened the door to a debate about what the signs do, how they do it and what might happen if they're changed.

The next chapter in the debate comes Friday at 11 a.m., as the village board introduces its latest version of a sign code -- one that will likely be followed by a public hearing in March.

"We're now talking about signs 18 inches by 18 inches, and we're lowering their height from four feet to three feet," said village manager Larry Cantwell.

Currently, East Hampton Village allows real estate "for sale" signs that are up to 7 square feet, and restricts them to a height of 4 feet. There are no restrictions on sign colors. The proposed new sign law notes that "the board finds that 7 square feet is unnecessarily large and the posting of such large signs makes a poor impression on passersby."

Some in the real estate community find they don't like the proposed changes.

"It reduces my ability to brand my company and for individual agents to have their name and cellphone number on the sign," said Judi A. Desiderio, chief executive of Town and Country Real Estate on Main Street in the village. "When you drive by, you might not even notice it."

The village has already abandoned one proposed restriction -- to have every real estate sign be the same color, a requirement in Westhampton Beach. Their signs are all white, with blue lettering.

East Hampton Village takes pride in being one of America's earliest English settlements, and the idea of tightening up the real estate sign code came from Mayor Paul Rickenbach Jr. He wants to improve the look of the village and has support from several real estate firms.

"I do not have a problem with it," said Stuart Epstein, managing director of Devlin McNiff Halstead Properties in East Hampton. "In the eyes of the village, what currently exists is too big and too in your face and not appropriate. The people who are charged with looking at the overall appearance and safety of the village . . . in their eyes, the current situation is not good."

East Hampton Village isn't being flooded with "for sale" signs. But, they're not an oddity, either.

In the last quarter of 2011 -- according to a Town and Country study -- there were 47 properties sold for a total value of $172.9 million, including two houses that sold for less than $500,000. The entire Hamptons market saw sales of 1,390 homes -- worth nearly $2.4 billion -- the study noted.

Once the village decides how big real estate signs should be, how they should be mounted and how far from the curb they will go, there will be one final decision to make -- whether they are parallel to the curb or at an angle to it.

Village officials plan to give real estate firms 90 days to implement the new code, once it is passed. There has been no decision regarding possible penalties.