East Hampton Town

Aircraft Noise Study

A study of noise over East Hampton and surrounding areas from aircraft using the East Hampton Airport got one step closer to fruition on Tuesday, when a committee that reviewed consultants’ proposals made a recommendation to the town board as to whom to hire.

Proposals from Young Environmental Sciences and from Harris, Miller, Miller, and Hanson, both of which have done other airport-related work for the town, were both deemed to be satisfactory, with some differences between the two firms, Pat Trunzo, a review committee member, told the town board at the work session earlier this week.

Ultimately, he said, the group voted, 4 to 2, to recommend Young Environmental Services, as their price, at $59,261, was less than the other firm’s $112,000 estimate, and they would provide two things Harris, Miller, Miller, and Hanson did not offer: an interactive, web-based noise map, and direct future access to a database of the information compiled as a result of the study.

Supervisor Stresses Farming

The future of the approximately 19-acre property on Montauk Highway in Amagansett, which was bought by the town after a large luxury senior citizens housing complex was proposed for the site, will be for agriculture, Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell stressed on Tuesday.

The town will begin next week accepting proposals from farmers and others seeking land for agricultural pursuits. A detailed proposal describing what agricultural activity is planned along with other information such as a financial plan and the farmer’s experience and background, will be required.

Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management, said that he has already been contacted by a number of people interested in using the land, whose activities represent “quite a large range, from microgreens to llamas and sheep.”

The property, which has been known as “555” in reference to its Montauk Highway address, needs a new name, Supervisor Cantwell said Tuesday. He suggested Amagansett Farm.

A hearing on a new plan to curb drinking at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett by banning alcohol during lifeguarded hours only on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays through the rest of the summer is expected to be scheduled for July 17. But, by the time a new hearing is held and the law put into effect, there will be only a few weekends left of the summer season.

The East Hampton Town Board already held a hearing on an alcohol ban that would have applied to Atlantic Avenue Beach, as well, and would have been in effect every day of the week. The proposal was scaled back in the face of opposition by the East Hampton Town Trustees, who have jurisdiction over those ocean beaches based on a Colonial-era patent. Town board members agreed to go along with what the trustees have said they would support, though several did so reluctantly and with disappointment.

The compromise includes reducing the area of beach where the weekend ban would be in effect to 1,000 feet in each direction from the beach road-ends.

“I think it’s the best we’re going to achieve, working together with the trustees,” Supervisor Larry Cantwell said Tuesday. “It addresses the problem where it’s occurring, at this specific beach.”

Residents have been complaining over several seasons about rowdy summertime crowds at the beach. Access to the parking lot has been restricted, and the situation there, which some deemed “chaotic,” is more orderly.

Extending the alcohol ban to the neighboring Atlantic Avenue Beach was proposed to prevent the crowd from simply shifting to another beach.

“I’m disappointed that we’re at July 1, and there is still nothing in place,” said Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc. By the time a new law is in place, in early August or later, he said, “this year’s done, without any meaningful change.” He said he would prefer to adopt the law proposed by the town board, and consider revising it for next year.

Councilwoman Sylvia Overby also said she was disappointed. “We did hear from our constituents,” she said, referring to the many people who asked the board to do something to tamp down the situation. “They are the same as the trustees’ constituents. I guess the trustees heard something different,” she said.   

Frustration boiled over as a group of commercial shellfishermen confronted the East Hampton Town Trustees Tuesday about the efficacy of the town shellfish hatchery’s annual seeding program, which the trustees help fund. The meeting was marked by multiple angry exchanges and those in the small room in the town’s Lamb Building on Bluff Road, Amagansett, talking over one another. When the shouting was over, all agreed that a survey after the seeding was completed would be in everyone’s interest.

The hatchery, on the shore of Fort Pond Bay in Montauk, was established in 1989, four years after algal blooms began sweeping through local waterways and decimating shellfish. Its staff of five, two of whom work part time, oversee the spawning of millions of clams, oysters, and scallops, which are then put in Northwest, Three Mile, Accabonac, and Napeague Harbors as well as Hog Creek and Lake Montauk.

“There are large amounts of clams that are being put out in these places, millions of seeds,” Greg Verity, one of the angry baymen, said. “They’re simply not there, they haven’t been there for five years.”  He added that the seeded clams that are found look noticeably different from those that grow naturally.

Deborah Klughers, a trustee, said there were many reasons why the seeded clams would be hard to find, such as recreational clammers, those harvesting without a license, natural die-off, predators, and the spraying of insecticides to reduce mosquitoes. “Our aquaculture program is, I’d say, the finest on Long Island,” she said.

“The finest on Long Island?” Mr. Verity responded angrily. “Where are all our clams? Where are all our commercial shellfishermen?” He said he had asked John Dunne, the hatchery’s director, if a survey had been done, but the answer was no. “Millions of clam seed, all this money spent. Where is it? Because I can’t find it. . . . It should be a top priority to find out whether this stuff is living or not before they continue to put the stuff in the same places.”

 Anthony Sciffedi, another fisherman among the half-dozen who sat in the room or crowded into its entryway, agreed that a survey was needed. “It’s nice that we’re trying, but it’s getting less and less and worse and worse,” he said.

Stephanie Forsberg, a trustee who has a doctorate in marine science, reviewed the reasons for the decline of shellfish. “I’ve worked specifically on climate change and how that was affecting our local bay scallop, oyster, and clam population. . . . I’ve written several papers on this and have to say it’s scary, what we as society are doing, not just locally but globally. It has to do with ocean acidification, with pollution, with spraying.” Dr. Forsberg detailed the water-quality monitoring implemented last year with Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University. “The thought is, if we can get this data, we can go back and work with our constituents, our other levels of government — the town board, and higher; go to the county, go to the state, and start being part of the solution. I hear you, but you can’t just point at the hatchery.” But she was frequently interrupted, prompting the ire of Diane McNally, the trustees’ presiding officer.

“Don’t interrupt the clerk when she’s speaking,” Ms. Forsberg later told Mr. Verityas he spoke over Ms. McNally. “What would you like us to do?” Ms. McNally asked. “Ask the town to remove the support of the aquaculture facility?” Mr. Verity repeated that, at the least, he wanted a survey.

Order deteriorated as others spoke over one another. “Hey!” Ms. McNally yelled, banging a gavel hard on the table. “Enough! What I am going to ask is if you have a concern, put it in writing so I know specifically what your concern is, how you’d like us to address it.”

Mr. Dunne said the hatchery distributes maps that indicate the quantity of shellfish seeded in particular waterways. “I’m not sure what other proof you need other than a nursery and field full of clams, numbers in our annual report, on our maps,” he said. “I have no incentive to make this stuff up.” Because his staff is minimal, Mr. Dunne said the hatchery must rely on anecdotal information from commercial and recreational fishermen. He had recently heard positive reports, he said, “but it also concerns me that there’s six, seven of you here that are having problems finding clams. . . . I’d be more than happy to do surveys, but honestly, the time to do surveys is the fall when everything is seeded.”

Mr. Verity continued to interrupt until Brian Byrnes, a trustee, told him, “This can’t continue like this. Otherwise, we will have to ask you to leave. I don’t want to do that, but I will.” Mr. Verity said he didn’t want the aquaculture program to be disbanded, but “I want there to be somebody to show me that this stuff is there.” 

“We will all try to work together,” Ms McNally said. “We can at least modify our policies and procedures, but you have to realize, the number of recreational shellfishers are increasing exponentially.” The trustees are concerned, Mr. Byrnes said, “and frankly a little alarmed, and will get to the bottom of it one way or another, because that’s what we do.”

The East Hampton Town Trustees own and manage the town’s waterways on behalf of the public, as set forth in the Dongan Patent of 1686. They have debated the proposed ban on alcohol in several of their meetings, and have split on whether to support any ban, with a majority opposed.

At the trustees’ meeting on Tuesday, Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, proposed a further compromise, should her colleagues agree. “We’re looking at 1,000 feet east or west of the road end at Indian Wells only, weekends and holidays only, during lifeguarded hours only,” she said. In addition, “We’ll verbalize the fact that it’s going to be difficult to enforce a new law without enforcement on site.”

She also said the trustees would insist on a provision that the ban expires upon the summer season’s conclusion.

Six trustees voted in favor, with two, Stephen Lester and Tim Bock, opposed. With a majority vote, Ms. McNally said, “We’ll send a letter to the town board.”

• RELATED: Town Hall Debate on Alcohol Ban at Beach

A per-gallon fee added to the cost of aviation fuel at East Hampton Airport will be doubled, to 30 cents per gallon, beginning Tuesday. An East Hampton Town Board majority agreed to increase what is known as the “flowage” fee at its meeting last Thursday despite repeated pleas from Cindy Herbst of Sound Aviation Services, one of two businesses that sell fuel at the airport. The fee had remained static for 22 years. 

Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell cast the sole vote against raising the fee. Though he called an increase “justified,” based on the number of years since it was increased, he said it was unfair to enact a 100-percent hike all at once.

Sound Aviation assists in running the town-owned fuel farm at the airport and sells most of the fuel sold there. Ms. Herbst appeared at Town Hall with a number of its employees, and she introduced them all to the board. She said doubling the fee would have such a severe negative effect that the business could be forced to lay off employees or close.

The town board has been reviewing sources of airport revenue following a citizens committee report that concluded the facility could be self-sustaining and that the town could make needed repairs without Federal Aviation Administration money. Accepting federal funds ties the town to agreements, or “grant assurances” with the F.A.A., which, it is believed, could make it more difficult to enact local restrictions designed to minimize noise.

 “The initiative is really about increasing revenue and trying to get our airport in order,” Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said during the meeting. “We believe that we can move forward on repairs without F.A.A. funding and being beholden to F.A.A. rules.” He went on to say the town “has a responsibility to provide the fuel farm with up-to-date equipment . . . and we need to be able to fund that. Again, this is really about revenue, and trying to make the airport safe.”

Ms. Herbst said the business could not absorb the increased fees, and that if the cost were passed on to customers, they would go elsewhere to buy fuel. She asserted that the committee’s finance report was based on faulty information.

“Reconsider your increase to a manageable one,” she pleaded, asking in addition that the increase be phased in to give the business time to plan for it. She asked the board to “consider each of the people whose jobs you could be impacting tonight.” Maureen Quigley, a longtime employee, told board members they were “jeopardizing our jobs and our stability.” Ms. Quigley detailed how Sound employees are often involved in ordering fuel, performing required tests upon its delivery, and doing other administrative tasks for the fuel farm when town employees are not available.

Other speakers also spoke on behalf of Sound Aviation, calling it a mainstay of the airport and saying they would buy fuel elsewhere, where it is cheaper, should the cost rise here. Gregory Gordon told the board the increase was “not going to make you money, long term,” and even said it would “eventually bankrupt the airport, which may be the goal; I’m not sure.” He was applauded when he said, “I think you’re making a big mistake in passing the law.”

Kathleen Cunningham, who heads the Quiet Skies Coalition, an East Hampton group fighting for noise reduction, said that while she appreciated Sound Aviation’s concerns, it was “really important for the town to properly manage that airport.” Aviators concerned about Sound Aviation could “buy local,” she said, paying a bit more for fuel in order to support the business.

On the other hand, in a recent letter to the town board, Jeffrey Smith, vice president of operations at the Eastern Region Helicopter Council, not only criticized the town board for the direction it is taking on the airport but questioned the conclusions of the committee about the airport’s economics. In following the committee’s recommendations, he said the board “is heading toward restrictions and/or bans of helicopters, seaplanes, and jets.” That, Mr. Smith charged, will “eventually end in ruin” for the airport and could result in fewer visitors to the area if their ability to avoid traffic on the roads be curtailed.

“Did the committee actually conclude that eliminating the right of travel, the choking of small businesses, and the elimination of jobs would come without opposition?” he wrote. He added that legal fees, such as those already incurred from the town’s aviation consultant, Peter Kirsch, were not factored in to the equation.

Mr. Smith went further in a recent article on the National Business Aviation Association website. According to the article, the helicopter council “is among the aviation organizations fighting to maintain access to New York’s East Hampton Airport . . . even in the face of adverse court rulings and ongoing pressure from local residents who complain about noise from helicopters, jets, and seaplanes.”

“They’ve already increased landing fees 20 percent for jets and helicopters,” said Mr. Smith in the article. “The numbers don’t add up. They’re trying to limit or eliminate helicopters and jets, but more than 50 percent of their revenue comes from those aircraft. They’re trying to kill the airport.”

The helicopter council has also expressed concern about the effect on helicopter operators in terms of time and cost of a route change advocated by Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Tim Bishop. This week, the Federal Aviation Administration extended for two years a mandate that helicopters follow a route over water, one mile off Long Island’s north shore between waypoints in Huntington and Riverhead, which was due to expire in August.

Mr. Bishop and Mr. Schumer had urged the F.A.A. not only to extend the rule but to add a requirement that eastbound helicopters fly past Shelter Island and Orient Point before turning toward South Fork airports. In a press release, they said they would continue to press for that modification, in order to address continuing noise “when helicopters cross land on the North Fork in order to land at South Fork airports.” That change would likely send helicopters over areas of East Hampton not severely affected by aircraft noise previously. Senator Schumer said in the release that “the route should be extended so that helicopters fly almost entirely over the water from Manhattan to eastern Long Island.” The representatives also pledged to continue an effort to establish another mandated helicopter route along the south shore.

East Hampton Town will seek proposals for the use of its new tract of public land in Amagansett, 19 acres of open space and farmland along Montauk Highway where a luxury senior citizens housing development had been planned.

The property was purchased this spring with $10.1 million from the community preservation fund for “the preservation of agricultural open space and recreation,” according to a town board resolution approving the deal.

Supervisor Larry Cantwell said Tuesday that a draft request for proposals is being prepared by Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management, and would be discussed by the town board at an upcoming meeting. The board, Mr. Cantwell said, is “focusing on an agricultural use for the property that includes the building and the land.” The site contains a stable and a residence and is set up as a horse farm.

However, he said, the call for proposals will likely not narrowly define the types of proposals that could be submitted for the board’s review. The more specific the request, Mr. Cantwell said, “the less opportunity for people to come in with ideas.”

This week, Peter Garnham, an Amagansett resident who is active in the local farming community, expressed his concern in a letter to the editor and in an interview by phone that the South Fork Country Club, which has a clubhouse and 18-hole course on Old Stone Highway, has the Montauk Highway property in its sights as a location for a driving range.

“We cannot afford to lose any more farmland,” Mr. Garnham wrote in his letter to The Star. “At a time when there is great demand for fresh local produce, it would be a mistake if the opportunity to return this land to productive organic farm use is abandoned.”

He asserted that the terms of the request for proposals have been “rewritten to favor an application” by the golf club. “It’s possible that those of us who opposed [the land’s] development could be dealt a sharp disappointment,” Mr. Garnham wrote.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Bob Maroney, the country club’s general manager, said that “at this point, the club really doesn’t have anything to say.”

Asked whether a bid by the club to use the town land would be entertained, Mr. Cantwell reiterated that the call for proposals will be “broad,” but “agriculturally focused.” The board, he said, “can always negotiate, focus, or restrict” what can happen on the property before entering into an agreement for its use.

The East Hampton Town Board will hold hearings next Thursday on several property purchases with the community preservation fund. Land in Northwest, East Hampton, at 32 and 36 Mile Hill Road, owned jointly by family members through the estate of Mary Whelan, is proposed for purchase at $4.8 million. The 18 acres would be preserved for open space.

In Montauk, three lots are being looked at for open space. A lot just shy of an acre at 28 South Federal Street, owned by Steven Bitondo, is proposed for purchase at $325,000. Also to be discussed is the purchase of just over half an acre at 36 South Geneva Court, owned by Elizabeth Vermilyea, for $330,000, and a .67-acre lot at 20 Brisbane Road, owned by Maryanne Dunne, Dolores Albert, and Beverly Gimon, for $662,500.

Several community preservation fund land purchases in Montauk were approved by the town board at a meeting last Thursday, following public hearings. The board will move forward with the purchase of an acre at 38 South Greenwich Street, owned by Anthony and Irene D’Agostino, for $345,000; the purchase of .55 acres at 15 Furness Road, owned by Fred Pedersen, for $250,000, and the purchase of a .35-acre lot at 148 Greenwich Street, owned by Virginia Colombi-Carbone, for $275,000.

All are in the Lake Montauk watershed area, where all vacant lots have been targeted for purchase. The town board will hold a hearing next Thursday on the addition of all of those vacant lots to the community preservation fund project plan, a precursor to their possible purchase.

The hearings begin at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

Last week, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals considered a six-foot-wide boardwalk. Next week, it expects to come to terms with bodies six-feet deep.

Last week’s application is from a couple who want to install a six-foot-wide, 848-foot-long boardwalk from their house, at 2 Tyson Lane, through the dunes. Patrick B. Fife, the couple’s attorney, explained that each uses a wheelchair and needs assistance to get to the beach. The roughly eight-acre parcel on which the house sits is owned in part by the Nature Conservancy, which neither supported nor opposed the proposal. But the hearing lasted three hours.

The property is in what is the Double Dunes, Brian Frank, the Planning Department’s chief environmentalist, said, which extends 2.8 miles from Further Lane and Tyson Lane all the way to the western part of Bluff Road, and covers about 100 acres. In a memo to the board, Mr. Frank wrote that the land is ecologically important and shelters many forms of wildlife and plants.

The planned width of the boardwalk “exceeds the four-foot width consistent with coastal access policies and the past practices of the board,” he wrote. He also objected to the particular chosen path, which, he said was along a current footpath. This was disputed by another representative of the applicants, although Cate Rogers, a board member, and John Whelan, the chairman, pointed out that the survey submitted with the application uses the words “along existing footpath” five times.

Mr. Frank and the representative also disagreed about whether rolling the boardwalk over plants would constitute clearing, which is prohibited on the dunes. In the end, the board asked for a new survey that clearly delineates the proposed path and also asked that the path itself be staked, so that members can do a field inspection. The record will be open until July 15.

Among the matters on next week’s agenda, at the board’s meeting at Town Hall on Tuesday, is an application from Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor, which wishes to expand its cemetery on Route 114 into an adjacent, roughly one-acre parcel. Eventually all of the property would be cleared for burials. However, because the land is in a water recharge district clearing is strictly limited. An even more worrisome challenge, though, is that the practice under Judiac law is to bury the dead in simple wood coffins.

The town code explicitly requires that the “creation or expansion of a cemetery in the water recharge overlay district, shall only be approved upon condition that internment caskets be encased in watertight liners to restrict the entry of body decomposition and embalming chemicals into local ground or surface waters.” In a memo to the board, Eric Schantz, a planner for the town, said the requirement for watertight liners was “moot” because embalming fluids are not used in Jewish burials. He did not address the matter of body decomposition, however, apparently leaving it up to the board.

Also on Tuesday, Lee White rejoined the board after being appointed by the East Hampton Town Board to replace  Bryan Gosman, who resigned recently.

East Hampton Town

Stop-work Order Upheld

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals has upheld a stop-work order issued in January by Tom Preiato, the town’s chief building inspector, rejecting an appeal from the owners of Cyril’s, the bar and restaurant on Napeague. The board concluded on June 17 that Mr. Preiato was correct in finding that “the applicant did not have the proper permits and approvals to remove two 2,000- gallon underground fuel tanks from the subject premises.”

The town and the restaurant’s ownership group, led by Michael Dioguardi, are engaged in lawsuits against each other in New York State Supreme Court in Riverhead which could determine the future of the establishment. The next hearing date in court is July 7.  T.E.M.

Interim Tax Receiver

The East Hampton Town Board appointed Rebecca Rahn as interim tax receiver last Thursday night, at an annual salary of $62,000. An East Hampton resident since 2008, Ms. Rahn, who is married and has two children who attend the East Hampton Middle School, worked most recently as the manager of finances and human resources for Naturopathica in East Hampton. She has a degree in finance and accounting from Westwood College and a degree in biology from Middlebury College.

Ms. Rahn replaces Monica Rottach, whose management of the tax receiver’s office came into question early this year when it was discovered that nearly a quarter of the annual town tax bills had not been mailed out, and that payments that had been made were not being deposited in a timely manner.

Gansett Committee Remade

The town board made new appointments to the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee last Thursday night. The new members are Tina Piette, Marc Shultz, Jeffrey Reich, John Jaxheimer, Beverly DiSunno, and former Councilman Dominick Stanzione. Wendy Dellapolla, Jeannette Schwagerl, and Ed Gifford were removed from the committee.

Ms. Piette owns property in both Amagansett and Springs, and is a member of the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee. She was appointed after a short discussion among board members about allowing a volunteer to serve on more than one hamlet advisory group. While Ms. Piette offered to resign from the Springs group in order to join the committee in Amagansett, where she resides, the majority of the board found that unnecessary.

About Appearance Tickets

Next Thursday, the town board will hold a hearing on a town code amendment expanding the list of town officials authorized to issue appearance tickets for violations of state or local laws. According to the proposal, the list would be expanded to include the directors of public safety and code enforcement, ordinance enforcement officers and the chief town investigator, all of the building inspectors and fire marshals, harbormasters and bay constables, and the animal control officers and animal shelter supervisor.

J.P.

New York State

Region’s C.P.F. Takes in $38 Mil

The 2-percent real estate transfer tax adopted by the five East End towns produced more than $38 million in the first five months of 2014, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. reported in a release this week. The amount is up slightly, by just over 5 percent, from that raised during the same period last year. The money is used by the towns to buy land for open space, recreation, farmland, and historic preservation.

Over the last year, the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund, which receives the money from the tax, has provided more than $97 million to the towns; $923 million has been generated since its inception in 1999.

In East Hampton, the transfer tax raised $11.6 million from January through May this year. The highest revenue from the tax flowed into Southampton Town, at $22.5 million, while Riverhead and Southold received $1.5 million and $1.7 million, respectively, and Shelter Island received $820,000.

An Army Corps of Engineers’ amphibious vehicle known as a LARC, for Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo, will be out in the ocean and along the beach between Ditch Plain and the eastern edge of Washington Drive in Montauk today in preparation for the design of a beach protection and reconstruction project.

The “vehicle is designed to allow surveying in the water, across shoals, and even through the surf zone up to the base of the beach dunes,” according to a release.