Controversy and talk of compromise dominated a lively meeting of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee Monday night, with two surprise guests in attendance whose comments changed the tenor of the evening’s first half, and several residents of the Dolphin Drive-White Sands neighborhood on Napeague demanding answers later about trucks on the beach.
The evening’s speaker, Lena Tabori of ChangeHampton, was there seeking ACAC’s support in her organization’s campaign against gas-powered leaf blowers, which she said have become “massively more powerful” in the last five years, with “legal, economic, and health” consequences.
“Every time you have to refill it, it simply drips with gas, which seeps into our soil above the aquifer,” she said, pointing also to carcinogens escaping into the air and into the lungs of the workers “and anybody near them,” traveling “up to 800 feet and through windows and walls.”
ChangeHampton is calling on the town for a year-round ban on leaf blowers, which are currently prohibited from May 20 to Sept. 20. As of Tuesday, there were 842 signatures on the group’s petition, not counting the 20 or so added by ACAC members that night.
Ms. Tabori had begun taking questions when one of the two men in the rear stood up, identifying himself as Brian Stanis. “Have you ever used a gas blower?” he asked her.
“Only electric,” she replied.
“The colder it is, the less the battery lasts,” he went on. “During a nor’easter in that ban time, the town lifts the ban — the electric equipment doesn’t have the power to clean it up.”
Mr. Stanis, a landscaper who, according to his website, Hamptons Ground Care, has a staff of 16 working from Southampton to Montauk, said he had no problem with the town’s three-month ban, and the man with him, Brian Caputo, agreed.
“But batteries only last two seasons,” Mr. Caputo, president of Gbc Grounds Care in East Hampton, said. “And we have to run a truck all day long to keep the batteries charged. I have gas blowers 15 years old and using them six days a week.”
“Wow,” Ms. Tabori said, shaking her head.
“Those [battery-powered] machines can be comparable for the first 45 minutes, then it dies off,” Mr. Caputo continued. “And crews will need double the amount of time, which will cost homeowners more. How many batteries will they have to bring to keep them running all day? It’s not worth it. The technology’s not there yet. The gas you need is minimal compared to the number of batteries you have to drag around.”
“And I have hundreds of clients who say, ‘Just get it done,’ “ put in Mr. Stanis.
“So you’re saying that despite the enormous progress in the last five years, there hasn’t been enough?” said Ms. Tabori. She “didn’t realize there would be a dialogue,” she remarked, smiling. Nevertheless, she repeated, “Things have changed dramatically.”
“I think we could compromise,” said Mr. Stanis. “Six and six [months]. In winter, electric is a problem. But it works great for a light cleanup.”
“There’s an obsession with clearing leaves,” commented Jaine Mehring. “There’s also a thing called a rake! The best thing we could do is leave the leaves on the ground.”
Several people objected to that, citing rats and bugs; several others objected to the objections.
Councilman Tom Flight, the town board’s ACAC liaison, had the next-to-last word. “Understanding the impact on landscapers is critically important,” he said.
“But there are landscapers who are not unhappy,” said Ms. Tabori as she left the podium.
ACAC’s yearslong effort to bring better lighting to Amagansett Main Street has drawn comment recently from the hamlet’s library, historical society, and village improvement society, all of which, said Mr. Flight, have expressed “major concerns” with the current approach. Their primary worry, he said, is to avoid changing “the nature of the hamlet,” as well as to ensure there will be no damage to tree roots when new lampposts are installed. The Amagansett Village Improvement Society in particular has also asked that tree trimming be undertaken before any construction begins.
It is now suggested to put flags out where the proposed fixtures would go, Mr. Flight said, so that “people can walk around and see, is there adequate lighting here already.” Also, whether existing fixtures might be “retrofitted” with additional lighting, in order to avoid putting in more poles.
Sidewalk lighting is another possibility, said the councilman. (Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who was also in attendance that evening, observed at that point that “the town may have to do a change order” if its engineers go ahead with modifications.)
AVIS, the historical society, and the library have invited the community at large to attend a broader discussion of the lighting plans, on Monday in the Amagansett School’s gym, by which time it is hoped that the flags, or stakes, may be in place. An article on that forum appears elsewhere in today’s paper.
There followed an animated exchange about trucks — hundreds of them, according to agitated speakers — taking over the beach to the west of Dolphin Drive this summer. (They used to go east, toward the state park line at Hither Hills, but could not do so for much of the summer because of plover nests.) A sign on Atlantic Drive restricting access to the sand west of that road end, which is mainly used by residents of the area, was mysteriously removed — by whom, no one seemed to know — before the season started.
Councilman Flight opened the discussion by reading a letter from the town trustees to the town board, stating that the situation was causing “great stress” to the community and asking that the missing sign be restored. He would take the trustees’ request to the town board, Mr. Flight said, noting that the beach in question is a town beach and that it was “hugely important” that all town residents have access to it.
He acknowledged, however, that “if you are there with your grandchildren, this [the trucks] is something you might find challenging,” and promised to explore other solutions. “Maybe there’s a way, maybe a Sunday, when the beach is closed,” he said, suggesting the parties might somehow compromise.
“This is the narrowest part of the Island,” said a woman named JoAnn, “the distance between the ocean and the bay is less than a fifth of a mile, it takes me 206 steps to walk from the beach to the highway. If that water comes down from this area, it blocks Montauk Highway. This is the most fragile part, and you’re putting 2,000 trucks on there this summer?”
Mr. Flight said he was “well aware” of that, and would speak with the town’s nature preserve committee about it, though there were other places in town just as problematic. “I mean, it’s like there are many things that could shut that road down,” he said.
“It seems ridiculous in summer to have anyone driving trucks on the beach,” another woman remarked.
“The numbers are gigantic,” someone else exclaimed.
“Renew the signage,” Ms. Mehring suggested.
“Obviously, people need to find a place to park,” said someone in back, pointing out that “there’s a lot of land slightly to the west of where we live and maybe the town could find a long-term solution and convert some of that land to public parking for East Hampton Town residents. Or maybe we could look to the state to make a deal.”
“They do not want to park in a parking lot,” a man protested. “They want to drive on the beach.”
“If you say, there is no beach driving, you are taking away a resource from many, many residents in the town,” Mr. Flight told the room. “How do you find that compromise?”
“I can’t believe you don’t know who removed the sign,” someone persisted.
“I honestly do not know,” said the councilman.
Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez, speaking quietly but firmly, broke in. “The town removed the sign,” she said. “Marine Patrol removed it, because it wasn’t in line with town code.”
There was a pause while the room took this in.
“My goal is to get this resolved by next summer,” said Mr. Flight.
