East Hampton Town

MTK Festival Ponies Up

    East Hampton Town has received a $100,000 check from the MTK: Music to Know Festival, which promised to make a donation of that amount for distribution to local charities in exchange for receiving a mass-gathering permit for the event. The two-day concert and “lifestyle” festival will take place at East Hampton Airport on Aug. 13 and 14.

    Chris Jones, an organizer of the event, confirmed this week that the organization had given the town a certified cashier’s check. It has reportedly been placed in an escrow account. The town board is to make the final determination about how the money will be distributed among a list of local nonprofit groups, including the East Hampton Day Care Center and several food pantries.

    Also this week, the town board agreed to pay a $35 court cost for the withdrawal of a lawsuit initiated by Amagansett residents against the town over the issuance of a permit to have the concert in that hamlet. The plaintiffs withdrew the suit in light of the change of venue.

New Head of Buildings and Grounds

    Tony Littman has been appointed head of the town’s buildings and grounds maintenance unit. A longtime employee in the Parks and Recreation Department, his title is now town maintenance supervisor.

East Hampton Town

A New Deer Committee

    Councilman Dominick Stanzione will convene a committee to develop a plan to address deer herds and their effect on the town, including the proliferation of deer fencing. Mr. Stanzione said he would include members of the East Hampton Group for Wildlife, the East Hampton Sportsmen’s Alliance, the town nature preserve committee, and farmers. Councilwoman Theresa Quigley has suggested that a landscaper be included as well.

Sick Days for Injured Cop

    Colleagues of Vincent Rantinella, the East Hampton Town police officer who was injured in a collision with a drunken driver on his way home from a Memorial Day weekend shift, which included an extra Stop-D.W.I. patrol, would like to donate their unused sick days to him. A lengthy recovery time out of work, perhaps up to a year, is expected.

    East Hampton Town Police Chief Eddie Ecker asked the town board to pass a resolution approving the donations on Tuesday. Mr. Rantinella, he said, was expected to be discharged from the hospital that day and has a good prognosis, but he will have a “long haul” of rehabilitation because of injuries to his right ankle and heel. For the last three years, Chief Ecker said, Officer Rantinella was the top officer in making drunken driving stops and arrests.

    Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said he is exploring whether, under a provision of the labor laws, Mr. Rantinella might be eligible for workers’ compensation payments, as his injuries occurred on his way home from work.

Amsterdam Beach Trails System

    A plan is taking shape for a trails system through the Amsterdam Beach property in Montauk, which is jointly owned by East Hampton, Suffolk County, and New York State.

    Andy Gaites of the town’s Land Acquisition and Management Department outlined the proposal for the town board on Tuesday. Using segments of existing trails, an approximately two-mile loop could be established that would wind along the bluffs overlooking the ocean, traversing some the property’s highest points for “some spectacular views” of the ocean, according to Mr. Gaites. A portion of the trail where the topography gets lower would allow access to the beach. The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society would undertake maintenance of the trails, Mr. Gaites said.

    The plan includes putting a parking area at a corner of the property adjacent to Montauk Highway, but town board members asked if additional parking could be placed in the interior of the site, allowing those who cannot walk the two-mile trail better access.   

    An alliance between East Hampton Town and the Family Service League, a nonprofit group that offers counseling and other social services to town residents, promises to result in expanded programs for families, youths, and the elderly.

    Town Councilman Dominick Stan­zione, who brokered the arrangement, and Karen Boorshtein, the president and chief executive officer of the Family Service League, reported on Tuesday that, in addition to this year’s $50,000 town grant, the league will benefit from moving its East Hampton offices from private quarters on Newtown Lane to the Podell House on Accabonac Road, which is owned by the town. The house had been used for an adult day-care program, which now takes place at the town senior citizens center on Springs-Fireplace Road.

    A lease has not been finalized, but the anticipated annual rent of approximately $37,500 will result in significant savings over the league’s present costs, Mr. Stanzione said.

    Recent town budget cuts had resulted in a reduction by more than half over the last two years in the annual town grant to the league, while at the same time the town’s Human Services Department had become smaller.

    The agreement, Mr. Stanzione said at a town board work session on Tuesday, is “an opportunity to work this out” in a way that will benefit both entities and their clients.

    The league will now provide mental health services for senior citizens, crisis intervention services, and services for children, families, and adults with severe mental illness. Licensed professionals from the league will work with the Human Services Department and its director, Diane Patrizio, on staff training and case management, and partner on geriatric programs, including mental health counseling, bereavement services, and computer training.

    The affiliation is “just the kind of thinking that is necessary if a private not-for-profit is going to survive,” Ms. Boorshtein said Tuesday.  Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson called it “another example of two-plus-two equals six.”    J.P.

    The Suffolk County Legislature reversed itself on June 7 and will not transfer ownership of Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf to the village for $1 as it had proposed six months ago.

According to County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, the idea of unloading the wharf was initially floated by the County’s Department of Public Works. Mr. Schneiderman said the department had been unhappy about spending $100,000 a year on the pier’s maintenance and “not getting anything from it.” Under a long-standing agreement, the village has levied fees for the use of the dock.

Mr. Schneiderman said that while the reasons for going back on the proposed deal were unclear, a number of legislators just “weren’t ready to give it up.”

While he didn’t think the county expects to make money on its owning Long Wharf, officials hoped it could be self-sustaining. The legislator noted that “only the golf courses make money” for the county.

Mr. Schneiderman said that the status quo remains at the wharf. “The village will continue to collect revenue and the county will continue to pay,” he said.

The decision to accept the county’s offer had caused considerable hand-wringing among Sag Harbor officials, who expressed concern about the long-term costs of maintaining the structure. Ultimately, they agreed that the benefits of ownership outweighed the risks, particularly the threat of the pier’s falling into a developer’s hands.

At the time, Mayor Brian Gilbride said, “I don’t want to be the mayor who lost Long Wharf.”

East Hampton Town

Grant for Photovoltaic System

    A grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will reimburse East Hampton Town for the installation of a solar photovoltaic system at the Lamb building in Amagansett, which houses the Department of Housing and Community Development.

    The town board is expected to award the bid for installing the system to GreenLogic, a Southampton renewable-energy company. The cost will be $117,867. Because that bid is lower than expected, Councilwoman Julia Prince said Tuesday, it will leave about $70,000 that can be used to place solar panels on another town building, perhaps the one housing the Montauk police precinct headquarters.

Artists Want Duck Creek Barn

    Town board members seemed agreeable to a request from the East End Artists Alliance to use the barn at the town-owned Duck Creek Farm as a studio and exhibit space and base an office there. Councilwoman Theresa Quigley relayed the request to the board at a work session on Tuesday.

    The property, a historic farm near Three Mile Harbor, was owned at one point by John Little, a well-known artist who made the barn his studio. The town bought the site several years ago with money from the community preservation fund. At the time, allowing a variety of community groups to use the property was discussed, as the only other meeting space in Springs available to community groups, Ashawagh Hall, which is privately owned by the Springs Improvement Society, is often fully booked.

    Board members said Tuesday that an agreement outlining just what will be allowed to take place should be drawn up before granting use of the barn to the Artists Alliance. Art exhibits could be allowed, but sales would not, according to the rules governing preservation fund properties.

Not So Sloppy, After All

    The owners of the Sloppy Tuna, a downtown Montauk bar that took over the former Nick’s, have offered to pay for landscaping around the town’s new public bathrooms, which are across the street. The restrooms were installed this year to serve the nearby ocean beach, in compliance with Suffolk County Health Department regulations that require beaches with lifeguards to have public bathrooms.

    Councilwoman Julia Prince, who has been overseeing the project, said the donors will have landscape professionals prepare a planting plan for the town board’s approval. They will pay for the installation as well. Several weeks ago, Supervisor Bill Wilkinson relayed a request from the Sloppy Tuna proprietors that the bathrooms remain open at night for their patrons’ use, in return for a payment to the town, but that suggestion was rejected out of hand. The bathrooms are expected to be finished and open soon.     J.P.

New York State

Food Bill Advances

    The New York State Senate passed the Buy From the Backyard Act on Monday to promote the purchase of food grown or produced in the state. The bill requires state agencies with food contracts to buy at least 20 percent of their food from New York sources. State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, who voted for the bill, said, “If every household in New York spent just $15 per week on local food, we could pump $5.5 billion into New York State’s economy.” He added that Suffolk is the largest agricultural county in the state. The bill has been sent to the Assembly.

Wind at Iacono Farm

    The owners of the seven-acre Iacono Farm on Long Lane in East Hampton want to put up a wind turbine like the one that was erected this year on the nearby Mahoney farm. The East Hampton Town Board recently received a letter from an attorney for the Iaconos apprising the town of the idea. Although the town code requires that the town board issue a permit for wind turbines, New York State Agriculture and Markets law, which supercedes town law, gives farmers the right to put wind turbines on their land.

    Town officials said at a meeting on Tuesday that it is likely that the turbine on the Iacono land, like that on the Mahoney site, can be constructed without a town permit.

    Stephen Mahoney had approached town officials with his plan, but, said Councilman Dominick Stanzione Tuesday, that was primarily to provide an opportunity for discussion of a revamped town wind energy policy. A permit was, however, issued.

    Mr. Stanzione, who has been representing East Hampton on a multi-town task force on municipal wind energy regulations, noted that the Suffolk County Planning Commission has identified East Hampton as “the best possible wind source on Long Island.”

Grass or Grapes

    Proposals from two potential lessees of town-owned acreage at Roberts Lane and Cedar Street in East Hampton were discussed at a town board work session on Tuesday. Aidan Furlong of Hamptons Grass and Bamboo described how he would use the site to grow rootstock of native grasses (but not bamboo), without the use of any herbicides or pesticides. He said a deer fence would not be needed. In his proposal he offered to pay the town $200 an acre to lease the land.

    Richard Principi, with his sister, Yvonne Velasquez, and a cousin, Richie Pisicano, a vineyard manager at Wolffer Estate Vineyards in Sagaponack, told the board that the soil at the property is ideal for growing grapes. The grapes would be sold to wine producers, they said, and eventually used by the Principis themselves in conjunction with a winery on family land in Amagansett. Occasional pesticide applications, and a deer fence, would be needed, they said. The Principi proposal included an offer to pay rent of $150 an acre for the first five years, and then $200 and $300 an acre for five-year increments afterwards.

    The town Purchasing Department, which vetted the proposals, had recommended leasing to Mr. Furlong, but Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley, citing an interest in helping the vineyard industry grow in East Hampton as it has on the North Fork, asked for further consideration by the board.

Accessibility at Town Hall

    Changes to the Town Hall campus, including the construction of the new justice court building and the Town Hall complex created from historic buildings, have resulted in problems with accessibility for the handicapped, Richard Rosenthal, a former member of the town’s disabilities advisory committee, told the town board last Thursday.  Though there are handicapped parking spaces near the courthouse, Mr. Rosenthal said, there is no access from the parking area to the sidewalk around the building. And, he said, the doors into the courtroom are “really dangerous.”

    The reconfiguration of the main Town Hall offices eliminated handicapped parking spaces near the building, he said. In the main Town Hall meeting room, there is supposed to be an assistive listening device for those with hearing problems, he also said. Town board members promised to address the issues and to “rekindle” the town’s disabilities advisory board.  

    An application for the Hula Hut, a new bar on the horizon at the Montauk Marine Basin on West Lake Drive, was set in motion at the East Hampton Town Planning Board meeting on June 15.

    Proposed by Linda Calvo, the Hula Hut is to be in a 224-square-foot converted office trailer. It would have eight or nine bar stools, a railing where people could set their drinks, benches, and three picnic tables.

    The Marine Basin’s owners will need two special permits — one to have a tavern or bar at the marina and another for a multiple-business complex, because they are proposing a third use on the property. They also need a natural resources permit because the proposed bar is within 150 feet of Lake Montauk.

    In a previous application, the planning board recommended that Ms. Calvo move the trailer and a proposed deck closer to the existing bathrooms and farther away from the lake to avoid needing a variance. For this revision, Ms. Calvo complied with the planning board’s request and chose to eliminate the deck. “We needed a handicap ramp. No deck, no ramp. Therefore, I can save myself considerable money,” said Ms. Calvo.

    The planning board is waiting on a modified site plan without the deck. This one will also detail the area where people will stand at the bar, parking, and lighting.

 “At this point, the applicant is handling the wrap-up elements,” said Eric Schantz, a town planner.

    The fact that there are 208 parking spaces at the marina helped to appease the planning board’s concerns that this bar, if it were to become popular, would not have enough parking to accommodate its patrons.

    Planning board members worried that the Hula Hut could become the next Cyril’s, a popular bar on the Napeague stretch where legions of bargoers spill out into the parking area on busy summer afternoons.

    The board was also concerned about noise.

    Ms. Calvo assured the planning board that she did not want to be at the bar all hours of the night, “I plan to close at 9 during the week, 10 or 11 on weekends,” she said.

    However, once a permit is issued, as Eileen Roaman Catalano, a board member pointed out, owners tend to do whatever they want. “It is not what you tell us, it is whatever could happen,” she said.

    Ms. Calvo said that many marina users have kept their boats at the Montauk Marine Basin for 30 years. “It is a totally different entity than the Surf Lodge. The owners of the marina do not want there to be something like that,” she said.

    Initially, Ms. Calvo plans to serve pre-made sandwiches, and eventually, she would like to have steamed fish and vegetables on the menu, but to do that, she would first need approval from the Suffolk County Health Department.

    The East Hampton Town Architecural Review Board will review the Hula Hut application tonight at 7 p.m. Ms. Calvo will also need approval from the town’s zoning board of appeals. A public hearing on her planning board application will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

    County Legislator Jay Schneiderman of Montauk will face off against Cornelius Kelly of Westhampton Beach, a Republican, this fall in his re-election bid for the Second District seat, one he has held since 2003.

    The Suffolk County Republican Committee nominated Mr. Kelly, who is 39, on May 25 at its convention in Hauppauge.

    The challenger describes himself as a former bond analyst. He managed billions of dollars in securities at firms like Credit Suisse, and worked at Standard and Poor’s. He graduated with an M.B.A. in finance and economics from New York University and in 2005 founded Liberty Property Services, an insurance company he continues to own and operate. He said he comes from “a strong Republican family.”

    Mr. Kelly believes in “strong, efficient, limited government” and low taxes as a mechanism for job growth. He made the case his work managing cash flows was sure to help him take a prominent role in righting the county’s finances. He called Mr. Schneiderman too comfortable an incumbent.

    “It has to be said this seat has not seen a challenge in many years, and that fact has not been in the best interest of the voting public,” Mr. Kelly said. “So I am excited for the opportunity to give voters a real choice. I have a strong track record of working hard in the private sector and getting positive results. I am a small-business owner and father, and I understand the needs of families and our community. I will bring new energy and a fresh set of ideas to the debate.”

    Mr. Schneiderman, for his part, said he knew little of Mr. Kelly and expected voters to reward him for his record.

    “He doesn’t have a record; I’m running on mine. I don’t know anyone else who has as long of a streak of tax cuts as I do,” he said.

    Mr. Kelly argued that a key rationale behind his candidacy is that Mr. Schneiderman’s relationship with the rest of the Legislature has been strained by his repeated changes of party affiliation over the years.

    “Jay has talked a big game when it comes to solving our homeless sex offender issue, and talked a big game on revenue sharing, but he hasn’t gotten any legislation signed into law. He hasn’t gotten the job done. The reason for this is simple — Jay has been a political opportunist since he entered office and isn’t viewed as trustworthy or dependable by his fellow legislators,” Mr. Kelly said, referring to Mr. Schneiderman’s pet causes: ensuring that countywide sales tax revenue for public safety is distributed evenly to eastern Suffolk, and spreading the burden of housing homeless sex offenders to communities outside his district. They have been housed in trailers in Riverhead, leading to many complaints from residents.

    The incumbent was not registered with any party when he was East Hampton Town supervisor, though he ran on the Republican and Conservative Party lines, before registering with the Independence Party a few years ago. This time around he intends to run on the Independence, Democratic, and Working Families lines.

    When asked whether his history of party changes had made him less effective, Mr. Schneiderman insisted that the opposite was the case.

    “I have great working relationships with both sides of the aisle. I’m considered a swing vote that makes legislation happen. Since I’ve been independent, I’ve passed more bills than before,” he said, indicating a law to phase out the sex offender trailers that he passed over County Executive Steve Levy’s veto not long ago. The bill, which establishes a new program to house the offenders in supervised shelters throughout the county, has had its implementation held up by Mr. Levy, though additional veto overrides have allowed it to move forward.

    “The best way to get rid of the sex offender trailers is to get a new county executive,” Mr. Schneiderman said. Mr. Levy announced earlier this spring that he will not seek re-election. Steve Bellone, the town supervisor of Babylon, a Democrat, and County Treasurer Nancy Carpenter of West Islip, a Republican, are the two front-runners to succeed him. Both have said they support sharing the burden of housing the sex offenders more broadly.

    Mr. Schneiderman went on to say he has a bill on the floor of the Legislature to codify equal revenue sharing for public safety that has the support, for the first time, of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association. He said his recent procurement of more than $1 million to widen County Road 39 in Southampton was an example of his effectiveness.

    Mr. Kelly “can make the case that my party switch somehow made me less effective,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “I think it made me more effective. I seem to be able to work with both sides. He sounds very partisan to me.”

East Hampton Town

Citizens Welcome

    J.B. Dosantos, a co-chairman of the East Hampton Citizens Advisory Committee, has invited residents of East Hampton Village, Northwest, Freetown, and the surrounding other neighborhoods to take part in the discussions at the group’s monthly meetings. Prospective new members will be welcomed at its Monday, June 13, meeting in Town Hall at 7:30 p.m. Voting members are appointed by the East Hampton Town Board, and while holding no authority, the committees often the first venue where community concerns are brought to the attention of elected officials and town departments.

New Business Committee

    After two business summits to discuss the concerns and needs of East Hampton business owners, the East Hampton Town Board is set to impanel a committee that will be asked to analyze existing businesses in the town and potential business opportunities.

    East Hampton Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley has compiled a list of potential committee members, half of whom are local business owners and the other half second-home owners, who will be asked to make recommendations to the board on “how to marry the concept of our environment — which is crucial to who we are — and the open space concept with the viability of the community economically,” she said at a Tuesday work session.

    Board members are to review the candidates before making appointments. Town Councilwoman Julia Prince suggested Tuesday that the group include year-round residents who are not members of the business community, in order to represent the wishes and needs of locals, such as a desire for a better supermarket here, she said.    J.P.

New York State

Gas Price Gouging?

    Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. accused major gasoline suppliers of price gouging during Memorial Day weekend on Tuesday, which he said was a violation of the state’s ban on zone pricing and was intended to take advantage of the spike in tourism.  He pointed to a nationwide decline in gas prices over the past month and the decrease in the price of oil (down to about $100 a barrel) and questioned why South Fork gas prices seem “frozen in time,” still 20 cents or so higher than the rest of the county.

    “It is obvious that when it came to gasoline prices in one of the most popular vacation communities in America, ‘Big Oil’ has chosen to not only ignore the zone pricing law but also repeal the law of supply and demand,” the assemblyman said in a statement.

    Mr. Thiele promised to contact the state attorney general and also said he was introducing a bill into the Assembly to clarify the nature of zone pricing and provide new protections for wholesalers who are overcharged.