Democratic candidate for Southold Town Board Alexa Suess believes affordable housing is the paramount issue facing the town. A Greenport native and small business owner for a decade, she hopes to be a voice for young, working-class people in the community.
The 2012 Greenport High School graduate owns Main Street studio Common Ground. Her perspective on Southold’s changing economic and community landscape is shaped by deep local roots.
“I spent my childhood on the docks while my father worked on boats,” she said. “I look at the docks now, and they’re not filled with 20-foot boats, or charter fishing boats. In the case of Greenport, it’s a lot of really, really big yachts.”
If elected, she would aim to increase attainable housing in town.
“We are lacking what a lot of economists call the ‘missing middle,’” said Ms. Suess, 31. That “missing middle” would fill small housing developments like the Cottages in Mattituck — a 22-unit affordable housing development — or smaller apartment complexes of four to six units.
Ms. Suess, whose Greenport business employs two full-time workers, supports pending affordable housing developments Carroll Avenue in Peconic and the Love Lane Apartments in Mattituck.
Further solutions would be for Southold Town to accept the state designation as a pro-housing community, a designation East Hampton Town and Greenport Village accepted in the last two years. The designation would give Southold access to funding for consultants and data collection, which she feels is “key” to addressing the issue.
Stricter short-term rental laws are also in Ms. Suess’ sights to increase the housing stock available to year-round residents. She believes the current two-week minimum for rental permits is too short.
“This is a complicated issue,” she said. “Airbnbs and Vrbos are part of our tourism economy so we can’t get rid of them entirely, but I think we should cap them — ideally per hamlet.”
Ms. Suess expressed support for the town’s current hotel moratorium in relation to the ongoing zoning code update. However, she is “not necessarily against hotels,” favoring them over short-term rentals to house tourists.
Housing goes hand in hand with local business interests on the North Fork. Ms. Suess pointed out that nearly 75% of workers are employed by small businesses.
“You need people, ideally small business entrepreneurs, to invest in this place because they will care about our communities, [the economy], and they will be invested in this place,” Ms. Suess said. “You need year-round people here to be invested to be a community. Otherwise, we’re just Disneyland.”
Moving forward, Ms. Suess said it is important to proceed with care to preserve Southold’s local character and economy when handling development pressures, especially from outside investors.
“We’re sort of selling ourselves out to the wealthiest people with the loudest voices,” she said. “And we have to be incredibly careful with how we proceed with that, because we can’t sell the North Fork to the highest bidder.”
This story is part of The Suffolk Times’ 2025 election coverage. Visit suffolktimes.com for more on this year’s candidates.