Free Wi-Fi is up and running at East Hampton Village's Main Beach and is coming soon to its other beaches and commercial district but with a requirement that did not sit well with two village trustees.
In March, the board approved a license agreement with Saunders Broadcasting Corp., which operates the Hamptons.com website, to provide free Wi-Fi at the village's beaches. On Friday, Steve Glick, senior vice president of advertising and marketing at Saunders and Associates real estate company, said that the company is still working on providing the service at Egypt, Wiborg's, Two Mile Hollow, and Georgica Beaches. At Two Mile Hollow, it is waiting for Optimum, an internet provider, to run a cable to the area, and at Georgica, it has been struggling to find a spot for the equipment that will provide coverage over the dunes. Rose Brown, a trustee, noted that the village had begun providing Wi-Fi at Georgica Beach last year, and had a flagpole installed to hold the equipment.
Saunders Broadcasting Corp. plans to expand the free Wi-Fi to the commercial district in the coming weeks. "It's been a significant investment installing this equipment, adding additional antennas, and making sure the Wi-Fi is working with the most powerful network possible from Optimum," Mr. Glick said.
In return for the service, he asked the board to allow the company to require users to provide email addresses. Upon logging on to the Wi-Fi, users will be greeted with a solicitation to receive emails from hamptons.com, which will debut a redesigned website on July 1, he said. Anyone who does not wish to receive the emails can opt out, and Saunders will not sell the addresses to other companies.
Ms. Brown and Arthur Graham, her colleague, worried that people might be reluctant to enter their email addresses because they don't want to be inundated with unwanted emails. "I'm really concerned about the harvesting of emails," said Mr. Graham, who asked that the agreement expressly forbid Saunders from selling the addresses.
"The whole reason that we have initiated this program is so that someone in an emergency situation can use the Wi-Fi to dial 911 and call the police," said Ms. Brown. "If someone goes to one of our beaches and they don't really want to put their email in, it's kind of counterintuitive to what we're trying to do."
"If people have a problem with it, they don't need to use the Wi-Fi," said Chris Minardi, the deputy mayor, who, along with Mayor Jerry Larsen and Sandra Melendez, a trustee, was in favor of allowing it. "I don't think we should expect Saunders and Hamptons.com to provide this huge service to us for nothing in return," Mr. Larsen said.
Ultimately, Ms. Brown and Mr. Graham gave their approval. "I think [the] service is valuable to village residents and visitors, and if people have to submit an email to get free Wi-Fi I'm not happy about it, it's not what we talked about, but I understand that maybe that's kind of the cost of doing business," said Mr. Graham.
In other news at the beaches, Ms. Melendez announced that the village will hold weekly musical events this summer at the Main Beach pavilion on Tuesdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. starting July 6. Nancy Atlas, a singer-songwriter, will be the first performer. "This is a win, win, win," Ms. Atlas said of the events. "This has been such a brutal year and a half for the arts."
In an effort to prod more East Hampton Village residents to install low-nitrogen septic systems, the village board is moving forward with a proposal that would require homeowners to upgrade to a low-nitrogen system when a conventional system fails. At a meeting on Friday, the board scheduled a July 30 public hearing on the proposal.
Nitrogen from conventional septic systems has been tied to ground and surface water pollution, and, in February 2019, the village passed a law that requires the installation of low-nitrogen systems for all new residences and for existing ones that expand by 25 percent or increase the number of bedrooms.
At a board meeting in January, Kevin McDonald and Christopher Clapp of the Nature Conservancy, and Sara Davison, the executive director of the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, had asked the board to broaden the law. "We don't want to see people replacing a conventional system
. . . with something in kind, when there's the ability to do something better," said Mr. Clapp.
Mr. McDonald and Mr. Clapp had also recommended holding commercial properties to the same requirement, but the proposed law focuses only on residences. A recommendation to require that a conventional system be replaced upon property transfer is also not included.
Jack Patricof, director of the Mayor's Youth Council, an organization Mr. Larsen has started to encourage civic involvement among young people, announced that the group will begin picking up litter from the commercial district, and on Ocean Avenue, on Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. starting July 7. Those who would like to join the effort can do so by calling Village Hall.
The board eliminated a code provision that requires applicants seeking to use Herrick Park to get permission from the East Hampton School District. The school district had been given rights to use the park for a certain period of time when the Neighborhood Association granted the property to the village, said Vincent Messina, the village attorney, but that time has now expired. "All this does is it makes the code conform with the reality, that the deed covenant is no longer applicable," he said.
Two other public hearings will be held on July 30. One is for a proposal that would require event caterers to be licensed by the village, and one is for a proposal to change the name of Cross Road, a one-way street between Georgica and Apaquogue Roads, to Privet Lane.
The board approved the promotion of East Hampton Village Police Detective Jennifer Dunn to sergeant. Ms. Dunn started as a public safety dispatcher in 2006, joined the police force full time in 2013, and was promoted to detective in 2018. "When I was chief, I was the one who hired Jen, and I'm very proud of that, and very proud of her today," said Mr. Larsen.
The board accepted Geraldine Merola as a new member of the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association, and Michael Esposito as a new member of the East Hampton Fire Department Engine Company No. 2.
