Some Hamptons villages debate size limits on new home construction in local neighborhoods

Three villages in Long Island's Hamptons region are looking to slow down, or even stop, a growing trend of constructing ever-larger homes on small plots of real estate.

These aren't the mansions that adorn opulent multi-acre estates along the Atlantic Ocean. Critics instead are talking about homes being built in historic downtown neighborhoods.

It's an issue that communities across the country have wrestled with in recent years. From affluent Southern California communities to the suburbs of Washington, D.C., officials have struggled for years with balancing development and preservation.

On Long Island, the village of East Hampton has enacted zoning laws aimed at restricting the size of new homes in certain neighborhoods. Southampton is considering similar action and the nearby village of Sag Harbor is mulling a construction moratorium on large homes.