With Memorial Day Weekend upon us, an East Hampton Town Board meeting last Thursday featured a growing focus on the coming beach season. The meeting was not a busy one, with three public hearings at which no one spoke.
The most activity came after the board approved a special event permit to allow the East End Surf Club, co-owned by Michael Poli and Pat Fallon, to teach surf lessons at Ditch Plain Beach in Montauk. Starting yesterday and continuing through Oct. 31, those lessons will be allowed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and until 5 p.m. on school days.
It appeared, however, that for group lessons, from June 30 to Sept. 2, the board approved a maximum of only 21 students in the water at once, down from 31 last year. “A maximum number of students/instructors in the water is not to exceed 21 at any one time for private and/or group surf lessons combined,” read the special permit.
The two owners, who were not at the meeting but called in immediately after that decision was announced, objected strongly.
Mr. Poli told the board they were “blindsided” by the reduction. “If we are scaled back in any way, it impacts our ability to make a living out here.”
“They provide a service,” said Chris Poli, Mr. Poli’s mother. “They actually teach our kids water safety, and now you’re making it so there are less kids that are going to get this training. This resolution that was modified has a very negative direct impact.”
“The only time that we would need that 31, as previously agreed on in past years, would be during that camp,” said Mr. Fallon. “It’s not like we’re hindering public access to waves here. It’s not like we go in the water and tell people they need to get out.”
Councilwoman Cate Rogers explained in a text, however, that in fact they’d been approved for the same number as previous years. In the first half of the day, she wrote, during group lessons, they’re allowed 14 students and seven instructors in the water. The other half of the day, when they’re doing private one-on-one lessons, they’re allowed a maximum of 10 people in the water, five students and five instructors. “So max 31 combined between the operations, but they don’t operate at the same time,” she wrote.
The board also approved a special event permit at Ditch for CoreysWave L.L.C., allowing a maximum of only 10 students and 5 instructors in the water at a time. “The surf lessons have specific requests based on their business model and the particular beach,” wrote Ms. Rogers. “It isn’t one size fits all. Ditch Plains Beach is the only beach where there is more than one operator.”
One of the public hearings addressed new town code that, if passed, will exempt East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue and Auxiliary Squad members from 10 per cent of their state property taxes. Volunteers must have two years of qualifying service to apply for the exemption, and their principal residence must be in the town.
The law is intended to encourage volunteerism. In 2023, the last time the town updated the membership list, there were roughly 50 volunteers.
Also beachy was the board’s approval of a M.U.L.E. (multi-use light equipment) utility vehicle for town lifeguards. (Because it costs over $20,000, a resolution was necessary for its purchase.)
Less so was the acceptance of a donation of a boulder and memorial plaque from Andrew Sabin to honor Ronald Lauder’s sale of 66 Wainscott Main Street, to the town. Mr. Lauder purchased the 30-acre parcel in 2021 for $66 million and sold it to the town in 2024, for open space, water quality, and historic preservation, at a cost of $56 million, taking a $10 million loss. The town used Community Preservation Funds for the purchase.
Speaking of the C.P.F., the board also approved its use in the acquisition of 351 Old Stone Highway in Springs, and agreed to hold a public hearing on the Parsons Dodge Homestead Management Plan, another C.P.F. parcel, on June 5.
