Southampton Village officials are considering a change to the village’s weapons laws to allow residents the opportunity to hunt deer on their land with a bow and arrow.

Mayor Mark Epley began a discussion of the idea at the Village Board’s monthly meeting on Thursday, October 8, suggesting the village allow residents to kill deer to cull the local population. He said deer pose a health threat in the village because they carry ticks and cause car accidents.

To permit hunting, the Village Board would have to adopt changes to the local laws regarding the discharging of weapons. Currently, weapons—including a bow and arrow—cannot be discharged within 500 feet of a dwelling, roadway or building.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, or DEC, allows property owners to obtain nuisance permits to lawfully shoot deer on properties that are normally not designated for hunting, Mr. Epley explained. The permits allow property owners to shoot deer within a 500-foot radius of their homes if they receive permission from all neighbors within that area.

But the village code is so prohibitive of firing weapons that it makes the nuisance permits useless, Mr. Epley said. Two village property owners have nuisance permits but cannot fire their weapons because of the law.

Mr. Epley said that the village would allow residents to only use bows, not firearms, to shoot the deer, and he pointed out that the villages of Quogue and North Haven allow deer hunting. There have been 175 deer killed in Quogue since the program for hunting began there in October 2007, though there has been some debate over how effective the hunting has been. Some residents have speculated that there are more deer in Quogue now than there were before the hunting began.

According to the DEC website, archery is the only permitted method of hunting deer from October through December. There is a shotgun season in January.

DEC spokesman Bill Fonda said anyone who obtains a nuisance permit also needs to be a hunter licensed with New York State, and the DEC inspects the property of anyone applying for a nuisance permit to ensure that hunting there would be safe.

“It’s not like we’re going to have open deer hunting season in the village,” Mr. Epley said.

Mr. Epley said he attended a DEC seminar on deer management in Southold earlier this year.

When the mayor brought up the idea at Thursday’s public meeting, Trustee Paul Robinson voiced strong opposition. “I don’t think it’s appropriate in the village,” he said. “I’m not going to vote for this.”

Trustee Nancy McGann said she would need more information on deer hunting before she made a decision.

Even so, Mr. Epley explained that property owners and residents have come into Village Hall asking about what they can do to deter deer from their property. He added that deer have also caused numerous car accidents in the village.

Deer hunting would most likely not happen in the densely populated areas of Southampton Village, such as the neighborhood around the hospital. At his own home, the mayor said, he would need permission from at least 20 to 25 of his neighbors before he could shoot a bow and arrow.

Most likely the owners of any farms within the village, and perhaps some residents of the Southampton estate section, would look to secure permits, Mr. Epley explained.

Gary Goleski, the village highway department superintendent, said that other methods of controlling the deer population are costly. Deer sterilization costs nearly $1,000 per animal, he said. Trapping and hiring a sharpshooter also are alternatives.

Affordable Housing

Also at last week’s meeting, the Village Board heard from Southampton architect David Rose, who reviewed his plans for building as many as three affordable homes on Bailey Road.

The board is currently contemplating a zone change for the 1.64-acre parcel on the road, which is currently in a residential zone that requires building lots be nearly an acre in size. The zone change would permit the creation of three building lots at the site, each at just over half an acre.

Mr. Rose, who is donating his services for the project, explained that half-acre lots would fit in well with the existing homes on Bailey Road. Many of the homes on the road are on lots smaller than a half acre, he said. “Seventy percent of the lots are [equal to] or smaller than the properties they’re creating in the subdivision,” Mr. Rose said.

Mr. Rose noted that he has tentatively found contractors who would donate their services to building the homes, a way to save the village money and keep the cost of the homes even lower.

John Bennett, a Southampton attorney representing residents of Bailey Road, spoke out against the plans, explaining that the road is too small to accommodate three more houses. He also demanded that the village complete an environmental impact statement as well as allow him and his clients to comment on it.