Amid a squabble about East Hampton Village charging the town building permit fees for the addition of pickleball courts at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter and renovations at the Peach Farm House, at the Town Hall campus, both within village boundaries, comes the discovery that the town has no certificate of occupancy for Town Hall on file with the village.
A Freedom of Information Act request to the village produced a C. of O. for Town Hall from 1961, when the town paid $2 for the document. That was the last time it was updated.
However, around 2007, the town accepted 11 historic buildings from Adelaide de Menil and her husband Edmund Carpenter, after they sold their 40-acre Further Lane property to the billionaire Ronald S. Baron for $103 million. The buildings were moved to 159 Pantigo Road and transformed into the Town Hall we know today.
“We don’t have a record of a building permit here,” said Joe Palermo, the village’s chief building inspector, who worked for the town until April of this year.
Patrick Derenze, the public information officer for the town, produced a C. of O. dated Nov. 17, 2010, corresponding to a May 7, 2010, “campus sanitary plan” survey stamped “Received” by the Suffolk County Health Services Office. However, it was on file with the town and unsigned by then-chief building inspector Tom Preiato.
Mr. Preiato, reached via text on Monday, could not comment on its validity.
“The only C. of O. we have was for the original Town Hall, which was condemned and razed.” For the current Town Hall, “We don’t have plans, inspection records, no building permit,” said Mr. Palermo.
When asked how that could be the case he mused, “In the past, municipalities generally tried to help each other out.”
That does not seem to be the case now.
“Prior to the Y.M.C.A. pickleball courts and the Peach Farm House restoration, I don’t recall needing to go to East Hampton Village for a permit,” Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez wrote in an email, noting that the town, in 2016, had waived all fees for the Northwest Fire Department substation.
“If there was a past understanding, it should have been documented,” said Marcos Baladron, the East Hampton Village administrator. “We’re either going to be sister municipalities or we’re not. This year has been about realizing we don’t have a cooperative municipality next door.”
Relations between the town and village have soured noticeably since the spring, when negotiations over emergency dispatch contracts fell apart. In October, Mayor Jerry Larsen made clear his intentions to run for supervisor and to primary Ms. Burke-Gonzalez in the spring if he is not the chosen candidate of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee.
“I don’t believe this is about the campaign,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez wrote. “I believe this is about the village collecting every cent of revenue they can. I have a great working relationship with every other elected official, including Sag Harbor Village Mayor Tom Gardella, Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker, County Executive Ed Romaine, New York State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni, and Gov. Kathy Hochul.”
“Yes, we’re going to require them to get a C.O. and have inspections to make sure they’re safe,” said Mr. Larsen. “We are simply applying the same permit rules to the town that every resident follows. After the town supervisor tried to tax village residents improperly, sued our Fire Department, held secret talks with fire districts, and refused to contribute to the Friends of Georgica water-quality project, the town needs to stop asking for favors until it starts acting like a good neighbor.”
According to New York State code, a C. of O. is required to legally occupy any structure.
“They really should get a C. of O.,” said Mr. Palermo. “The code is there to keep buildings safe and in compliance. The fact that this is a public building makes this more of a safety concern. They hold public meetings. We have no record of a building permit for the construction that was done there. I don’t even have a recent survey on that property. It’s been flying under the radar all these years.”
Mr. Palermo emailed Richard Normoyle, the town’s principal building inspector, on Friday, with a list of documents the village would need in order to make a final inspection of the Town Hall.
“In part, we need to see the ‘as-built’ plans. We don’t have a record of the layout of the buildings,” said Mr. Palermo.
“The great news for the town is that they’ll be dealing with the village’s Building Department — and we can’t wait to show them what a well-oiled machine looks like,” said Mr. Baladron. “Our turnaround times will make them feel like it’s a Christmas miracle.”
The village recently charged the town $1,340 for permit fees at the Peach House and another $2,730 for the Y.M.C.A. pickleball courts. The fees were approved at last Thursday’s town board meeting and will be paid by the engineering consultants L.K. McLean Associates, which will seek reimbursement from the town later.
The fees came to light at the Nov. 12 town board work session, during a capital plan update by James Pincott, the town’s capital projects manager.
He explained that construction for both projects was being held up until the fees were paid.
“Can you say that again?” asked Councilman Tom Flight. “Have we previously been charged building permit fees by the village?”
“Not that I understand,” said Mr. Pincott.
“Any explanation given as to why they did that at all?” asked Mr. Flight.
“No,” said Mr. Pincott. “Same thing with the Peach Farm House.”
“We’ve always wanted a great relationship with the town,” said Mr. Baladron in an email, “but frankly it’s tough when they file a lawsuit against our Fire Department for hundreds of millions of dollars and then cry foul when the village presents them a standard $3,000 building permit fee. It’s a bit tone deaf.”
In 2020, before Mr. Baladron was administrator, the town sued the village over forever chemicals that were stored and used by its Fire Department when training at the East Hampton Town Airport. The chemicals, used in firefighting foam, were found in private wells throughout Wainscott in 2017.
That situation was the opposite of the Town Hall situation: the village was operating its Fire Department on land owned by the town.
It cost the town $7 million to extend a Suffolk County Water Authority line nine miles into the hamlet, an act deemed “necessary” by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The D.E.C. designated the airport and the East Hampton Fire Department station and fire training facility on Industrial Road in Wainscott a superfund site due to the presence of forever chemicals in the soil and groundwater. It concluded that the firefighting foams used by the Fire Department caused the contamination.
Through the lawsuit, the town hopes to recover the past and future costs associated with remediating the human health and environmental issues stemming from the contamination. It is also seeking punitive damages and reimbursement for the litigation costs.
“East Hampton Village, which owns the East Hampton Fire Department, holds tens of millions in available insurance coverage,” Jake Turner, the town attorney, wrote. “However, these funds have not yet been utilized for the water line extension or remediation. The town maintains that the taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill when the village’s insurance is available.”
“The town has on multiple occasions sought to resolve this dispute, but the village has been unwilling to collaborate or otherwise discuss a resolution,” he wrote. “The town will continue to vehemently pursue all of its rights and remedies to ensure that the taxpayers are not on the hook.”
