The East Hampton Town Trustees unanimously approved a resolution on Monday that sets a new application fee for docks, floating docks, platforms, walkways, and/or bulkheads in waters and on bottomlands under their jurisdiction. It is specifically aimed at modifications made to structures without trustee approval.
The move follows a two-year inventory and survey of residential docks and related structures intended to identify noncompliant and unpermitted structures. That survey prompted an update to management policies and efforts to enforce compliance.
The endeavor to inventory and survey the structures itself followed the 2021 moratorium on permitting and approval for construction of new residential docks and similar structures, which itself followed a split vote to permit construction of an 80-foot floating dock on Three Mile Harbor, at the time the first such approval in more than 30 years. The trustees banned applications for docks in most waterways under their jurisdiction in 1984, extending the prohibition to all but the eastern shore of Three Mile Harbor in 1987.
At the end of 2023, the trustees updated their policies to create uniformity in residential dock management across all harbors and for all residential dock agreement holders.
Based on aerial photography and other surveys, some docks and related structures have been in place for a long time but were never included in trustee records, John Aldred told his colleagues on Monday. “In a case like that, we’d be likely to accept the fact that it’s larger,” he said.
Altered docks and related structures fall into two categories, Mr. Aldred said: Those that appear to have been modified prior to the 2021 moratorium, and those modified after. Both, he said, should be subject to an as-built fee, subject to acceptance by the trustees.
The resolution stipulates that, effective Saturday, a dock owner receiving a notice that a dock is incongruous with trustee records, or the owner voluntarily submits a permit application that falls under that category, will be afforded the opportunity to apply to reconcile by submitting an application, supporting documentation, and the standard $125 application fee. If the trustees determine that unauthorized improvements were made after the moratorium was implemented but nonetheless approve the alterations, a one-time as-built permit fee of $8 per square foot will be assessed, or a flat fee of $600, whichever is greater.
In addition, if unauthorized improvements have been in place for two or more years prior to Saturday, the standard dock fee of $1 per square foot will be charged for the entire structure, backdated for up to two years.
Should the applicant deem the terms unacceptable, the dock must be returned to its prior dimensions and/or configuration.
If unauthorized “or otherwise questionable” improvements are approved by the trustees and the improvements were made at an indeterminate time before the trustee dock survey and/or moratorium, or the trustees determine that they are minimal, and/or inconsistencies cannot be reconciled, the entirety of the structure will be subject to the standard $1 per square foot annual structure fee as of Saturday and also backdated two years.
Should the trustees reject an application, the dock’s owner must bring the structure back to its originally permitted dimensions and/or configuration, “which is probably more expensive than paying the fees,” said Jim Grimes of the trustees.
Improvements or alterations proven to be previously approved or otherwise in compliance with trustee permits and policy are exempt from the new fee schedule.
