Maidstone Granted Exemption

East Hampton Village golf clubs and municipal properties will be exempt from a proposed law banning the use of gas-powered lawn equipment during the summer, and will remain exempt from an existing law that regulates the hours for its use.

Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. had said at a village board meeting on April 4 that the employees of golf clubs and municipal properties should not be exempt from laws that apply to homeowners and professional landscapers.

The current code states that between June 1 and the second Friday of December, a homeowner’s or tenant’s use of gas or diesel-powered lawn equipment is limited to Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.; on Saturday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., and on Sunday and federal holidays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Landscaping employees must follow the same restrictions on weekdays and Saturdays, but on Sundays and federal holidays as well.

At last Thursday’s board meeting, seeking to make a case for why golf courses should remain exempt, Kenneth Koch, general manager of the Maidstone Club, described what was involved in maintaining a 206-acre course. The grounds crew, he said, starts work at 6 a.m. to get landscaping done before golfers tee off at 7:30. “That’s primarily a safety issue,” said Mr. Koch. “People hitting golf balls at people riding on mowers wouldn’t be a good thing.”

Mowing one fairway takes about a half-hour, he said, and after the grass is cut, the clippings that end up in the course’s more than 100 bunkers must be removed with blowers. “They can’t be raked out,” he said. 

If the crew were not allowed to start work until 8 a.m., said Mr. Koch, tee times would have to be pushed back and scheduling conflicts would arise. It was possible that the club might no longer be able to provide time for outings benefiting groups such as Guild Hall and the Retreat, he said. 

Mr. Koch said he was “sensitive to the desire for quietude,” and the club is using electrically-powered equipment for smaller jobs such as maintaining the Maidstone’s beach area, but the technology to handle an expanse as large as a golf course “is not quite there yet.” 

Mayor Rickenbach said he understood why the club needed the exemption, and he agreed that it should remain, as did the rest of the board. 

Although the mayor said he wanted the village to lead the way on transitioning to the use of electrically-powered equipment, board members ultimately decided that it should continue to be exempt from the current code and from the proposed amendment. Village employees, however, will be asked to adhere to an unwritten policy to use electric equipment when possible. Mayor Rickenbach also encouraged Scott Fithian, the superintendent of public works, to increase the amount of battery-operated equipment the village has on hand. 

The board also decided to add a provision that will permit homeowners to use gas-powered equipment for cleanup after a major summer storm.

Public hearings were held on two proposed laws, one that would ban the intentional release of balloons, which have proven detrimental to marine life, and one that would prevent utility companies from excavating roads that the village has recently repaired. 

No one voiced opposition to either, and the board enacted the laws later in the meeting. They will take effect in about two weeks, after they have been filed with the state.

The board announced‚ in a roundabout fashion‚ the appointment of a new village beach manager. On the day’s agenda was the hiring of seasonal beach employees, “as per Beach Manager J. Tulp’s memo.” Newt Mott was the most recent beach manager. Becky Molinaro Hansen, the village clerk, confirmed later that day that James Tulp had been appointed to the job, but provided no further information.

Last summer, a number of female lifeguards accused the beach managers of sexual harassment, stemming from incidents in which managers asked the women to model the bikinis they had chosen as their new uniform. After she conducted a six-week investigation, Ms. Molinaro Hansen found there was insufficient evidence to conclude that anyone’s conduct had risen to the level of sexual harassment, but she concluded that the swimsuit selection process “should have been handled better” by the beach administration, including Mr. Mott.

At the end of last Thursday’s meeting, Donald Horowitz, a co-owner of Wittendale’s Florist and Greenhouses on Newtown Lane, told the board that the village’s annual spring fair, which has been held on Mother’s Day weekend since 2017, has had a detrimental effect on his business. The fair takes place on Newtown Lane, which is closed to traffic for the event.

“It’s a huge hardship to have the road closed,” said Mr. Horowitz. For florists, he said, the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend is comparable to Black Friday for other retailers, but in the last two years, with the fair held that day, Wittendale’s has had a dearth not only of Mother’s Day shoppers but of people gearing up for the spring planting season. The main problem, he said, is that customers cannot park in front of the store. His delivery trucks have also been delayed by the road closure, he said. He asked the board to move the fair up a week, or to hold it in Herrick Park.

Board members sympathized with his predicament. Although it was too late to change the date of this year’s fair, which will be held on May 11, they recommended that Mr. Horowitz meet with Chief of Police Michael Tracey, who will help him find a way to provide better access to the nursery.

As for the scheduling of future fairs on that weekend? “It won’t happen again,” said Mayor Rickenbach.