The numbers are staggering: Allowed just 75 seats, a Montauk restaurant hot spot added an outdoor canopy and tables to host up to 508 guests. Elsewhere in Montauk, a plan presented to the Town of East Hampton for a 39-seat restaurant was a ruse, with the apparent intention of the hospitality bros building it to accommodate as many as 450 people, including on a rooftop bar and D.J. venue. In both cases, town officials are talking tough and it’s about time.
Montauk is not the only part of town where bars and nightclubs are pushing the limits, seemingly confident that there will be little in the way of consequences. For one thing, outdoor activities are only marginally regulated. Some establishments have doubled or tripled or more their alfresco seating while both county and local officials looked the other way. Vague rules are partly to blame. Misplaced priorities are another. Too many town residents believe they will be dragged through a regulatory labyrinth if they so much as want to add a deck but that businesses will always get a free pass for far more. True or not, this is a harmful perception that undermines trust between the public and both elected and career officials.
Barlume Beach on Montauk’s East Lake Drive, which had permission for 75 seats, is now the target of a town lawsuit. According to the allegation, it had 96 seats indoors and 412 outside, nearly five times its legal allotment. Barlume had also added a new bar without town approval.
At Este, a restaurant and bar under construction in downtown Montauk, progress has resumed after the town lifted a stop-work order it put in place to confirm that it had not exceeded a height restriction. The Planning Department has sought answers from the private investors who backed the project, specifically regarding differences between what was approved and what is being built. So far, the investors have been cagey, answering, in essence, “We don’t know yet” when pressed for details about noise and the frequency of so-called special events.
Barlume Beach and Este are high-visibility examples of the problem. Lightly regulated kinds of businesses, notably those with agricultural designations under state law, can host as many patrons as their grounds can hold provided there is no roof — or canopy — over their heads. Parking mayhem often results. In the near future, the town will have to address the outdoor-capacity loophole. In the absence of action, we can only assume that even more outlandish expansion will be coming in the months and years ahead.