The East Hampton Village Board discussed prohibiting swimming pools at inns in the historic district on Friday, but Mayor Jerry Larsen suggested tabling the matter pending resolution of a lawsuit brought by the Huntting Inn in 2024, after the zoning board of appeals refused to approve its application for a pool, spa, and patio.
Along with Deputy Mayor Christopher Minardi and Trustee Carrie Doyle, said Mr. Larsen, he’d recently met with residents on Hook Pond, James Lane, “and even Ocean [Road], with complaints about a variety of things.”
The village’s historic inns “are an important part of the history of East Hampton that need to be protected and preserved,” Ms. Doyle said. “But we do hear from residents,” and “one of the most vociferous collective voices I hear is, are the inns for the residents or the visitors? Is the village focusing too much on the visitors to our village rather than the people who actually live here, whose quality of life is directly affected by these inns?”
The village’s comprehensive plan is in the latter stages of its first update since 2002, but inns “are not really addressed” in a draft of that document, she said. “I think that people want us to discuss what should the rules be that govern the inns. We know that they’re already nonconforming in a residential area. The concern of the residents that I’ve heard is that pools become a focal point. . . . If there’s a pool, a bunch of people gather around,” with noise the inevitable consequence.
Neighbors of inns “are concerned,” Ms. Doyle continued. “The argument is, we don’t need to provide pools for entertainment, that [inns] should just be so people could use our village.” The village’s current stance, Mr. Larsen said, is that “the inns do not have the ability to apply for a pool. . . . We found that legislation and we applied that to the Huntting Inn, which we can’t really go into,” citing the litigation. Lisa Perillo, the village attorney, cautioned board members against discussing the matter.
“None of the other inns have the ability, except for the Hedges Inn,” the mayor continued, citing that establishment’s history with the village code. In 2018, following neighbors’ complaints about noise and traffic, village officials denied the Hedges Inn permits to host outdoor tented weddings and special events, on the grounds that outdoor dining exceeds the property’s legal commercial use in a residential zone.
The Hedges Inn sued the village board and the Z.B.A. seeking to reverse the decision, accusing the village of arbitrary and capricious enforcement of the zoning code. A State Supreme Court judge then ruled in the inn’s favor and invalidated the village law.
The Hedges Inn is the sole exception to the prohibition of swimming pools, the mayor said, owing to the lawsuit, which, he said, stemmed from “an inappropriate action that the village board had taken prior to us being in office. To resolve that lawsuit, I signed a document that allowed the Hedges Inn to apply for a pool.” A pool there is not guaranteed, he said, but “they have the right to go before the Z.B.A., which the other inns do not have the right to do.”
“I think your idea,” he told Ms. Doyle, “was to create legislation that would completely ban pools from inns. It’s kind of redundant.”
“That wasn’t my idea,” Ms. Doyle replied. “My idea was that we should hear from the community and see what they think.”
The Huntting Inn’s 2024 litigation is “still in its initial phases, believe it or not,” Ms. Perillo said. The comprehensive plan “is supposed to be our guidepost for potential changes to zoning and code revisions of this kind of thing.” Changes to the zoning code, she said, should be contemplated in the context of the updated comprehensive plan.
The Hedges Inn came under scrutiny in 2024 as a rumored site of a Hamptons outpost of the Manhattan members-only club Zero Bond, which spurred the village board to prohibit the establishment of nightclubs in the historic district. Village officials had fretted about “a major problem coming to East Hampton,” the mayor said. “We came out very strong about that as a board, and we created legislation to stop the late-night activities.”
Last year, the Hedges Inn was sold to Andrew and Sarah Wetenhall, owners of The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Fla. There is no pending application by the inn for a pool, Ms. Perillo noted.
“But as I mentioned,” Ms. Doyle said, “I do hear from residents in other pockets about issues with inns and the future of inns.”
The mayor suggested that the board explore a potential overlay district governing inns, but, “We should table it until the lawsuit” — the Huntting Inn litigation — “is over.
