As East Hampton Town continues to negotiate the terms of its lease renewal with the Maidstone Gun Club, there has been at least one positive development in the ongoing legal battle between the club and a group of neighbors, according to the town attorney, Jake Turner.
"The court authorized the club to demolish the rifle range, conduct environmental remediation, and engage in safety measures," Mr. Turner wrote in a text on Thursday.
The news came in an order to show cause and was signed on Tuesday by New York State Supreme Court Justice Christopher Modelewski.
Nothing else changes as far as the 2022 temporary restraining order that seven Wainscott property owners were granted against the club, which has been closed since then. The gun club's lease expired in 2023.
According to previous reporting in The Star, Mr. Turner has indicated that the club will see "a material rent increase" when the 30-year lease of 97 acres of parkland is renewed.
The club had been paying only $100 a year.
"We are continuing to negotiate terms of the lease renewal with the club," Mr. Turner said by text. "In addition, there are motions with the court that must be decided."
At a League of Women's Voter's debate on Wednesday night, each of the three candidates called for the lease to be renewed, for environmental remediation to be conducted, and for the club's safe operation to be confirmed before it's allowed to reopen. If there was a difference in the candidates' positions, it was about the acreage.
J.P. Foster, the Republican challenger, said "I think they should renew the lease the way that it is."
However, Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte and Councilwoman Cate Rogers both left open the possibility of reducing the acreage allotted to the gun club.
"The size of the acreage that's leased is something we should discuss," said Mr. Calder-Piedmonte.
"We don't have a lot of municipally owned land," said Ms. Rogers. "I'm supportive of taking a look at the 97 acres to see what can be carved out for the gun club in a safe way."
In an interview on Thursday afternoon, East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo made clear that he'd like the club to reopen so his officers could train there.
While he didn't explicitly call for a reduction of acreage, he said his officers only used the pistol range and showed an image on the map of how little space it took up.
"That's the gun club," he said, displaying a sea of green treetops. "That's the police range," he said, pointing to a relatively small area within the sea that looked like open dirt. "That's all I need."
"Between the town police, Sag Harbor, and East Hampton Village, probably 140 East End law enforcement officers use that range. Every day they have to go to Southampton to train, they're not in our jurisdiction. Sending them there is very inconvenient. We've never had a single complaint about rounds leaving our part of the range," he added, highlighting that the police portion of the club is closer to houses.
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm looking out for my ability to regularly train my police officers to keep them proficient in their use of their firearms. The whole idea of having a local E.S.U. team [emergency services unit teams respond to emergencies that are outside the scope of a regular police officer] is an immediate response and not having to wait for the county police or someone else to come, and my E.S.U. team is in Westhampton."
