Skip to main content

Airport 'Workshops' Begin

Wed, 09/08/2021 - 15:38

The first of four public workshops on a re-envisioning of East Hampton Airport will be held tonight at 7. It will be a virtual workshop, held via Zoom video conference, rather than in person at the LTV Media Center in Wainscott, as initially planned. Owing to a significant uptick in the rate of positive Covid-19 tests at the testing sites at the East Hampton Town Hall campus and in Montauk, the town board and other boards and committees have reverted to virtual meetings.

Each airport workshop will begin with a brief presentation, followed by time working in small groups, allowing participants to voice their concerns and opinions about the future of the airport. They will have similar content and format, with the understanding that participants will not be expected to attend more than once.

Additional workshops will happen tomorrow, on Monday, and on Sept. 20. All will start at 7 and last about two hours. Registration and links to the virtual workshops can be found on the town's website.

Peter Flinker, a consultant to the town, told the town board last month that the workshops will "provide as wide an opportunity for people to participate as possible, but over a short period of time. Everyone who wants to will have an opportunity to speak." Comments can also be sent to [email protected] or mailed to Carole Brennan, the town clerk, at 159 Pantigo Road, East Hampton 11937.

Mr. Flinker and Lisa Liquori, another consultant to the town, will develop a summary report based on the workshops and information already presented at work sessions.

The town board has been analyzing and discussing the airport and its future via fact-finding presentations, listening sessions, and other outreach focused on sharing and discussing facts and gathering ideas and opinions from stakeholders and the public at large. Presentations have included reports by consultants in environmental resources, economic analyses, land use and zoning, and airport planning and operations, including diversion.

The board intends to reach consensus built on a common set of facts. It is seeking to identify key issues of concern and to gather public input on a range of opinions — whether the status quo is acceptable, whether a modified or closed airport would be preferable, or, if some modification is desired, what would need to change.

But any decision as to the airport's future will not have been made upon the expiration, this month, of federal grant assurances, board members have said, given the need to better understand the implications or repercussions of whatever may be its decision. Should restrictions on airport operations be imposed, they can also be adjusted, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said.

A decision and enactment of any changes before the end of 2021 would be optimal, he said, well ahead of next year's summer season.

Villages

East Hampton Readies for Fourth Pride Parade

As East Hampton prepares for its fourth annual Pride Parade, set to kick off in front of the Presbyterian Church on Saturday at noon and culminate in an afternoon of “celebration, family fun, and live musical performances” in Herrick Park, organizers are anticipating their largest and “most vibrant” showing to date. 

Jun 5, 2025

No Impact Man Now Coaches Execs

Colin Beavan, formerly “No Impact Man,” now an executive coach, is offering a way to direct the great abundance here — of money, of celebrity, of influence — for a better world. He will lead three gatherings aimed at “those ready to step out of the noise and into meaningful, catalytic connection.”

Jun 5, 2025

Item of the Week: The Old Amagansett Train Station

This photo from The Star’s archive shows the gambrel-roofed Amagansett station built in 1911, in use until the early 1960s, and famously the departure point of the 1942 Nazi saboteurs.

Jun 5, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.