A.C.A.C. Restroom Is ‘Ready to Go’
Just as long-awaited plans for a public restroom in Amagansett’s business district parking lot near completion, with bids for construction to be opened today, opponents of its location reopened the debate at Monday’s meeting of the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee.
As she has previously, Tina Piette, an attorney whose office is adjacent to the parking lot, registered objections. Cynthia Young, director of the Amagansett Library, where the group’s monthly meetings are held, agreed that the building should be moved to the northerly end of the lot, noting that the location was directly behind the library.
A public restroom has been on the committee’s agenda for several years. East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, the town board’s liaison to the committee for the last year, has kept the members informed of plans, displaying blueprints at its November meeting and saying construction was “ready to go.” Ms. Piette and another Amagansett resident, Rachel Gruzen, spoke in opposition to its location at that time.
In 2009, when the site plan was reviewed by the planning board, it was in a different spot in the lot, Ms. Piette said. She also questioned the cost of the project. “I’m saying, let’s hold off here, take a deep breath, and not put something that people are going to regret 5 years, 10 years from now. It’s not proper for the community.”
Ms. Young, who is not a member of the committee, said the members of the library’s board are acutely aware of the need for a public restroom, but, she said, they are concerned about safety. “I don’t want a public restroom where moms, strollers, babies, kids are going to be,” she said. “More than anyone here in this room, I understand we need a bathroom. I’m just asking. . . .” Ms. Piette finished the sentence: “To consider the back.”
Kieran Brew, the committee’s chairman, told Ms. Piette that the matter had been “discussed and discussed and discussed, voted on, and decided. Your points are very valid, but I think the ball is out of this court. We’ve passed it off to the town.”
Although the committee has intermittently discussed the need for a hamlet study, “The bathroom was separated from that because it was such an urgent need,” Mr. Brew said. A subcommittee voted on the location months ago, he said, adding that Ms. Piette “could have gone to those meetings. That’s where these decisions were held. . . . Our part of the process is finished.”
Michael Cinque, who owns Amagansett Wines and Spirits on Main Street, spoke in favor of the location, and said the Main Street merchants he had spoken with “love the idea. . .so some people can use it. Why are we going to hide it?”
New site plan approval is not necessary, Mr. Cantwell said, noting that after bids are opened “we’ll have a much better idea” of the cost.
On Tuesday, Mr. Cantwell said, “You always run the risk of someone that’s not happy with any particular aspect of what you are doing,” but “I have the sense that this has the C.A.C. and the community’s support. We’re going to continue to move ahead, step by step.”