East Hampton Town

Human Services Grants

    Nonprofit organizations hoping to get grants next year from East Hampton Town for human services projects have until tomorrow to submit an application to the town Human Services Department. The application calls for the submission of a project description and budget, financial data on the organization, and other details. Among the nonprofits given grants in the town’s 2012 budget are the East Hampton Food Pantry, Montauk Youth Association, and Project MOST.

    The applications will be analyzed by the Human Services Department and forwarded to the town board for review during the preparation of the 2013 budget, which will begin soon.   

East Hampton Town

Space for Cell Towers

    Using maps of the cellular communications equipment sites that the various cell companies have throughout East Hampton Town, Councilwoman Theresa Quigley has suggested the town board seek to pinpoint gaps in coverage areas and identify town lands where cell towers could be erected.

    The councilwoman presented the idea to the town board at a work session on Tuesday. After finding potential sites for new equipment installations, the town could approach the wireless companies to see if they would be interested in leasing a location, she said.

Booze Limits on Beaches?

    A regulation proposed by a constituent could be a good one to help curb what some have called excessive drinking at beaches, particularly Amagansett’s Indian Wells, Councilwoman Quigley said this week.

    Rather than banning drinking on the beach, the town board could, she said, limit how much alcohol one person could possess to, for instance, a six-pack of beer or one bottle of liquor or wine. While Councilman Dominick Stanzione questioned the enforceability of such a measure, Ms. Quigley called it a “middle ground.”    J.P.

New York State

Eradicating Invasives

    On July 24, Governor Cuomo signed legislation that aims to protect New York’s waterways and natural habitats from the negative environmental effects of invasive species. The law, which will take effect 180 days after its signing, grants the State Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Agriculture and Markets authority to regulate the sale, purchase, possession, introduction, importation, and transport of invasive species, such as hydrilla, the emerald ash borer, and the Asian long-horned beetle.

    Proponents believe that the new legislation — which contains provisions to educate the public, as well as hold violators accountable — will save taxpayers millions of dollars.

Seagrass Protection Signed Into Law

    Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced that Governor Cuomo has signed the Seagrass Protection Act, which Mr. Thiele co-sponsored.

    The legislation will give the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation the authority to designate seagrass management areas and develop management plans to address site-specific threats, regulate coastal and marine activities that can harm seagrass and seagrass restoration efforts, identify water quality impacts on seagrasses, and expand seagrass education efforts.

    Seagrasses function as habitat and nursery grounds for numerous commercially, recreationally and ecologically important fish and shellfish species, including the Peconic Bay scallop, according to a release from Mr. Thiele’s office. They also serve an important role in the nutrient and carbon cycles and provide a food source for fish and waterfowl. Increased nutrient loadings, decreased water quality and clarity, large phytoplankton blooms, habitat degradation, fishing gear and boating activities, and climate change have contributed to seagrass declines in New York and throughout the world.

    The county-funded scallop restoration project now in its eighth year has been successful at beginning to bring the East End scallop population to the robust density seen before the mid-1980s.

    This year, those monitoring scallops within the greater Peconic Estuary are seeing a dramatic increase in the population. They are seeing vast sets of bug (juvenile) scallops, and adult scallops in numbers that rival pre-brown tide populations in some places.

    Beginning in 1985, a series of invasions by Aureococcus anophageferrens, brown algae, all but destroyed the resource. Early efforts to bring them back were frustrated by the inability of a disparate brood stock to breed, and this was compounded by the fact that scallops live for only 18 to 22 months, and usually reproduce only once.

    Then, in 2004, a county-funded program tried to give scallops a boost by creating protected areas and then seeding them with enough scallops to practically guarantee breeding success. The theory was that spat generated within the spawning sanctuaries eventually would be carried hither and yon to form new “natural” sets.

    It’s worked, Stephen Tettlebach, a professor of biology at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, said on Tuesday.

    “We’ve been diving and looking at the spat collectors” — the fine screens used to count scallop spat that attaches to them — “and it’s huge, huge, way more than we’ve been seeing. We’ve seen a new record every year. Last year we caught 80,000 spat across 25 sites in the bays over a five-and-a-half-month period. This year, in our first sampling of 25 stations we had 131,000 — huge numbers. That’s the fruit of all that labor,” Mr. Tettlebach said on Tuesday as he was preparing to take the second count of the season.

    Mr. Tettlebach said baymen were reporting large numbers of bug scallops well outside the spawning areas. Bugs measuring 6 millimeters three weeks ago were now 15 millimeters, he said. The county scallop monitors regularly check the waters of Orient Harbor, Hallock Bay, Northwest Harbor, Southold Bay, and Hog Neck Bay, all of which have spawner sanctuaries.

    The marine biologist said he was not sure if last winter’s mild conditions have played a role. “It may have contributed to better reproductive conditions.” Dives made by his team last spring showed “the highest adult densities since the early ’90s, not just in one place but in several bays. We felt those densities were above critical mass — 35 to 30 percent higher than when the spawner program began — needed to get a really big spawn. That’s what’s going on now.”

    The scallop season for state waters will start on the first Monday in November, Nov. 5. Town waters will be open to scallop fishermen on Nov. 19.

    East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson raised the idea of “sponsorship of town assets” at a town board meeting on Tuesday, after receiving an inquiry from someone who wanted to make a donation to have a town nature preserve named after themselves.

    Mr. Wilkinson suggested that the town could also offer, for money, opportunities to name public streets.

    “I’m a little bit concerned about how you would implement that,” Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said during a short board discussion of the idea. “I’m concerned about community character,” said the councilman, a former member of the town planning board. “We take place names very seriously here. We have a historic and community outlook, and for somebody to come in and just throw some money around, and have things named after them, that would be something I’d be concerned about,” he said.

    “I’d hate to see us start to sell out to that kind of thing,” said Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, also a former member and chairwoman of the planning board.

    Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said that the town does accept donations of benches and the like, with plaques indicating that they are “in memory of” someone.

    In addition, she said, Kim Shaw, the new town natural resources director, and Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management have discussed with her, and will propose to the board, a program through which individuals or organizations could sponsor a nature preserve, by pledging to care for it.

    But, Ms. Quigley said, “there are issues,” such as, “Does it create the feeling of ownership?” over public lands.

    Mr. Van Scoyoc said he does not object to the idea of accepting contributions to help with the care of parks or preserves according to duly adopted management plans for the sites, similar to the “adopt-a-highway” program. Any signs erected would, in that case, say “sponsored by” versus renaming a site after someone, he said.

    “This individual was inclined that their name be up on the asset,” Mr. Wilkinson said, at first declining to provide further details. Later, he said, the person who approached him had offered money in order to have naming rights for a tract of oceanfront town land on Napeague. The plot is the same area that neighbors hope to have designated as a nature preserve. The neighborhood group told the board at the same meeting on Tuesday that it would give the town $25,000 for the land’s upkeep if it is made a preserve.

    “I’m against the trend of naming things after living people,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said, “because their records are not complete; their lives are not done.”

Such a process, Ms. Overby said, could “memorialize someone important to the sponsor,” and not necessarily important to the community.

    “To the extent that the motivation for doing this is fiscal . . . that we’re trying to raise money, let’s pursue the idea,” Councilman Dominick Stanzione said.

    “Are we discussing a concept, or a specific proposal?” Mr. Van Scoyoc asked. “It’s a concept, Peter,” responded Mr. Wilkinson. “But the individual came to me. I’ll have that individual come to the board.”

    Ms. Quigley pressed for a general discussion of the idea. “I think that talking about it generically is better than having an individual come,” she said. “Are we comfortable with sponsorship, and if so, how? I would like to at least look at the options and see how it might work,” she said.

    A third Montauk nightspot that has been cited for several noise violations this summer will be the subject of an East Hampton Town Board hearing to determine if its town music permit should be suspended. Ruschmeyer’s on Second House Road has received five citations for noise violations, two more than the number that triggers a permit hearing, according to the town code. The hearing will be scheduled for an upcoming town board work session.

    Town regulations require a bar/tavern or restaurant where any type of music is to be played indoors or out to obtain an annual music entertainment permit. Violations can be punishable by a fine of $1,000 to $5,000, up to 15 days in jail, or both.

    Should an establishment receive three summonses for any violation of the town noise ordinance within a year, the law calls for the town board to determine, after a hearing, whether it should limit, suspend, or revoke the music license.

    The board had planned to have a hearing on Aug. 14 on the Sloppy Tuna, which is in downtown Montauk, but learned this week that the bar did not have a music permit. It did, however, receive at least four citations for violating the town noise ordinance this summer and has addiionally been cited for not having the permit

    Similarly, after noise violations were issued to the Montauk Beach House, also downtown, it was discovered that no music permit had been issued for that establishment, either. That situation is complicated by the fact that the section of the town code requiring music permits refers only to permits being issued to a “bar/tavern” or restaurant. The Beach House is classified as a motel. The legality of its bar and other uses of the property is the subject of another story in this issue of The Star.

    The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals made a public determination on the night of July 24 on a second request to build a pool on a Beach Hampton property.

    On May 8, a month after a contentious hearing during which several neighbors spoke in opposition, the board denied Andrew and Dana Stern’s application for a 512-square-foot pool on their 12,628-square-foot property at 8 Treasure Island Drive. The vote was 4 to 1, with only Don Cirillo voting in favor.    

    This time the application was for a smaller pool, at 387 square feet. Key to the new plan was the lack of a setback variance. The original application called for a 20-foot setback from the front yard line, where 30 feet is the standard. The modified plan would not require that variance. Instead, the Sterns would need only a natural resources special permit to go ahead with their project.

    The Z.B.A. chairman, Alex Walter, had given a strong indication, when turning down the original proposal in May, that a modified plan could well win board approval.

    In letters of opposition, neighbors again criticized the plan, stating that a pool would not fit in with the character of the neighborhood. However, when the board deliberated on the matter during a busy session that included three public hearings, the new, smaller plan met with unanimous approval.

    “The natural resources permit is only for the beach grass in the backyard,” Mr. Cirillo said.

    “They did what they had to do,” said Bryan Gosman, a board member.

    In absentia, Lee White, who was skeptical of the original plan, also embraced the new one, in a letter conveyed by Mr. Walter. The vote to approve was unanimous.

    On the same night, three public hearings were noncontroversial. There was no opposition, and the town planning department embraced all three.

    The first application involved a pool on Cedar Drive in Springs. Elisa Burriesci, speaking with her husband, Frank, by her side and their newborn baby asleep in a baby carrier, told the board they had been given a wedding present in June 2011 of a new pool, and had hired a contractor who began to demand cash from them instead of checks, and left before the job was finished, having installed the pool too close to the property line. They produced letters of support from neighbors.

    Joel Halsey of the planning department weighed in that the back-line variances sought, of seven to 15 feet, should be granted.

    Next up was Joel Horowitz of 230 West Lake Drive in Montauk, who wants to add a 380-square-foot bedroom  to his second floor, essentially by enclosing a deck.

    Laurie Wilshire of Land Planning Services told the board that while this action triggered the need for a 48-foot variance from the required 100-foot setback from wetlands, as well as an 8-foot pyramid variance that otherwise would limit the height of the addition, in fact the addition fit inside the building’s pre-existing envelope.

    Richard A. Hammer of Biondo and Hammer, representing Mr. Horowitz, told the board the building was one of the original Carl Fisher boathouses on Lake Montauk, and noted that the application had the support of the neighboring homeowner.

    Lisa D’Andrea, an environmentalist for the planning department, said the plan was a net benefit to the lake and the surrounding area because it included moving the old septic system farther away from the water.

    The third hearing was for a proposed 444-square-foot slate patio to be built at 30 Oyster Shores Road in East Hampton, at a house owned by Vincent Sama.

Ms. D’Andrea spoke for the planning department again, voicing support for the plan, contingent upon re-vegetation.

    The board kept the public record open for two weeks on the Sama property to allow the East Hampton Town Trustees to weigh in on the proposal.    

    East Hampton Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley will ask for a vote tonight on a resolution directing the town’s airport manager and consultants to begin compiling the data that could help the town gain Federal Aviation Administration approval to restrict helicopter use of the airport.

    Ms. Quigley said at a town board meeting on Tuesday that she had discussed with Peter Kirsch, an aviation attorney working for the town, his statement that the town could begin now, even while under F.A.A. strictures tied to federal airport grants, to pursue potential use restrictions that could reduce helicopter noise.

    “It’s a statement to constituents saying we are indeed taking action,” she said.

    The town’s ability to enact  airport use restrictions has been central to a discussion among the board, airport users, and members of the community affected by airport-related noise. Noise-control advocates have taken the position that meaningful local control of the airport will only be possible when the town gets out from under F.A.A. rules, which will expire in the coming years if the town takes no more F.A.A. money. The town board voted late last year to submit an application for a new F.A.A. grant to design an airport perimeter fence, while laying out a plan, with Mr. Kirsch’s help, that members said would include effective F.A.A.-sanctioned noise-control measures.

    “I support [Ms. Quigley’s resolution] wholeheartedly,” Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the board’s liaison to the airport, said Tuesday. “It is a necessary precursor, and it really expresses the intent of the board and its understanding that we can begin to act now on airport noise — it is part of an airport master plan. It shows that we want to pursue access restrictions and use restrictions.”

    Ms. Quigley warned that the board must be careful not to jump to conclusions about whether the data on noise would ultimately warrant such restrictions. The resolution calls for Jim Brundige, the airport manager, and DY Consultants, a firm that has worked with the town on airport matters, to “assess and evaluate data that has been (and continues to be) collected on noise and operations at the airport for the purpose of providing recommendations to the town board.”

    After data from the summer season has been processed, it calls for a report to be prepared within the next three to six months, with conclusions about “whether the data can justify a restriction on operations by helicopters at the airport and, if so, what restriction would be most effective in light of the available data,” and the fiscal impact of adopting restrictions.

    Ms. Quigley’s proposal also calls for Mr. Brundige to recommend a procedure for public involvement in the decision-making.

    Mr. Stanzione said the noise data analysis was part of the town’s overall airport management plan, “the end point of which is, if necessary, we will pursue access and use restrictions under F.A.A. grant assurances — under current law.”

    A recent State Supreme Court decision dismissed a challenge to the town’s adoption of an updated airport master plan, paving the way for the F.A.A.’s full approval of a plan listing future airport projects, Mr. Stanzione said. He said the board should proceed with submitting grant applications to obtain more federal airport money. Several pilots who spoke on Tuesday urged the board to get repairs to runway 4-22 under way.

    Ms. Quigley is also asking for the town board’s support  of a plan to install fencing that will control access to the tarmac, requiring the public to access the airfield only through the terminal building.

    A second resolution she will offer tonight directs the airport manager and consultants to develop a plan for fencing and policies that will address perimeter security, create one or two access points for  controlled access by authorized personnel, and create the public route through the terminal.

     In a release issued Tuesday, Representative Tim Bishop vowed to protect the mortgage interest and charitable contribution tax deductions that are slated to end next year.

Mr. Bishop said that curtailing or eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would reduce the value of housing nationwide, put more homeowners under water, and take the wind out of the recovery.

Citing a study estimating that eliminating the charitable contribution deduction would mean the loss of as much as $150 billion in annual giving, he said social service organizations are already strained by government budget cuts and increased demand for services, and the deduction should be kept in place.

Mr. Bishop, a Democrat, criticized a Republican plan to scale back or eliminate deductions, credits, and exclusions. He specifically found fault with House Republican Paul Ryan’s 2013 budget plan, which he said would extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and lower taxes for the wealthiest Americans while providing virtually no tax cuts for lower-income families.

Mr. Bishop recently proposed an amendment that would have preserved the mortgage interest and charitable contribution deductions in a tax-reform package, but the measure was shot down along party lines.

    In preparation for the coming hurricane season and other potential emergencies, Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst has urged residents by press release to sign up for the town’s emergency communications services. The goal is to establish methods of contact for the dissemination of important and time-sensitive information.

    Individuals and businesses in the Town of Southampton can log on to a secure server through the town’s Web site, SouthamptonTownny.gov, and add or update their contact information. Those without Internet access can call the Suffolk County Office of Emergency Management to supply their information over the phone. Ms. Throne-Holst has promised that the data collected will be used only in emergencies and other instances when communication is vital.

    Portions of the town’s Web site are being overhauled and will soon have links to Facebook and Twitter accounts, so that “friends” and “followers” can access real-time updates regarding emergencies as well as less critical happenings.

    A recent six-hour traffic backup from the closure of two lanes of County Road 39 was cited as an example of how the town needs to be able to send updates via social media regarding detours or closures resulting from road work, accidents, or special events.

    CodeRED, on the other hand, is limited to emergency situations. Residents who register for notification by way of it will be able to receive customized prerecorded messages at home and work or by cellphone. The service can deliver millions of calls, e-mails, and text messages, or it can single out specific neighborhoods, ZIP codes, or commuters.

    In praising the emergency preparedness measures, Southampton Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming said William Wilson, the chief of police, did a “stand-up job” during Hurricane Irene last year, especially amid budget and staff cuts. She said town leaders got out ahead of the storm and made the rounds. With regard to evacuations, shelters, and communications, she said, “the town is extremely effective.”

    The East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals had a busy session Tuesday night at Town Hall, holding three hearings for variance and special-permit applications  and handing down two decisions.

    One hearing was somewhat unusual: a request for a variance from the town code to allow a house with a second floor that does not have access from inside. This is at odds with a code provision, aimed at preventing illegal apartments, that reads, “There shall be at least one common entrance on the ground floor, through which every room, other than a utility room, shall be readily accessible by passage through the interior of the residence.”

    Such is not the case in a Napeague house at 90 Shore Road.

    Glen Pushelberg and George Yabu, prominent Canadian interior designers, are “ninety-nine-point-nine  percent finished” with the construction of a house that has separate entrances for the first and second floors, said their attorney, Richard A. Hammer. Instead of an interior access, there is a wide spiral exterior staircase.

    Mr. Hammer recalled that he had first gone before the Z.B.A. in 2009 to present the original plans for “what was essentially a knock-down and rebuild.” He pointed out that the plans clearly showed the exterior staircase.

     “It was missed by the planning department, the zoning board, the architect, and the building inspector,” said Mr. Walter.

    “It is basically a series of off-set boxes,” said Mr. Hammer, adding that the downstairs has no kitchen facilities.

     “It is a beautiful house, there is no doubt about it,” said Mr. Walter. “But at the end of the day, there is an outdoor kitchen. What is to prevent somebody from renting the downstairs as a separate entity?”

     “That is not the intent of the current owner,” Mr. Hammer replied.

    “We all know that [the design] stays with the house, not the current owner,” Mr. Walter said.

    “Unfortunately, we just missed this,” Mr. Hammer said.

    The board explored with the attorney possible remedies, but Mr. Hammer pointed out that a lot of steel had been used in construction and the cost of bringing it into compliance would be prohibitive. “It is a one-of-a-kind house. Anything you do would be to its detriment,” he said.

    Tyler Borsack of the town planning department said the department took no position on the matter. The board kept the hearing open for three weeks to allow comment from the East Hampton Town Trustees, who own the land on which the house is built.

    Another appeal, also for a structure already standing, came from Lauren and Neal Rose of 12 Ocean Lane in Amagansett’s Beach Hampton neighborhood. The Roses have a 160-square-foot deck on their 12,000-square foot property that sits too close to wetlands at 86 feet away, 14 feet short of the standard. It is also 10 feet closer to side property lines than required.

     “It’s my fault,” Mark Lazarovic, the father of Laura Rose, told the board. Mr. Lazarovic, a builder, said he did not realize he needed a permit for the small deck area.

    Don Cirillo, a board member, observed that the area in question was not visible from neighbors’ houses. No one spoke in opposition.

    Tuesday’s third hearing involved a request from Inergy Propane, which, according to Bloomberg News, is a billion-dollar propane distribution business that recently purchased both Pulver Gas and Schenck Gas, to place a 256-square-foot mobile trailer on their industrially zoned Montauk property at 72 Second House Road, also known as Industrial Road. The land already has two 30,000 gallon  propane tanks on it. The trailer would sit 57 feet from wetlands, where 100 feet is required.

    John Ryan, speaking for the company, explained that when it purchased Schenck Gas (it did not purchase Schenck Fuels, which is still an independent company) it expanded its work force by five, leading to the need for a base in Montauk, one with self-contained sanitary facilities but no cooking facilities and no sleeping quarters.

    “It’s like a locker room,” Mr. Cirillo said. The board is expected to rule on that application and the Roses’ on Tuesday.

    Also this week, the board okayed two applications, neither of which was controversial. Elisa and Frank Burriesci of Cedar Drive in Springs will be able to keep their pool, despite its being too close to the property lines, provided that if they sell their house they must move their pool equipment. Several neighbors had written to support their request.

    Joel Horowitz of Montauk will be able to put a 387-square-foot addition on his historic West Lake Drive property to accommodate his growing family, as he had asked. The house is near wetlands, but a neighbor who is an environmental activist, Richard Kahn, endorsed the plan on the grounds that, when combined with a planned new septic system, it would benefit Lake Montauk. The town planning department also recommended approval.