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ACAC Weighs Hamlet Study

By
Christopher Walsh

The Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee voted on Monday to inform the East Hampton Town Board that it is considering whether to request a hamlet study in which problems related to housing, wastewater, transportation, utility lines, and beaches would be identified and addressed.

The resolution, approved unanimously, came after monthslong discussions in which members agreed that problems should be foreseen rather than reacted to. “There seems to be enough support to at least keep the conversation going,” Kieran Brew, the committee’s chairman, said. “I don’t think we’re making any demands right now.”

 East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, the town board’s liaison to the committee, had advised the group to be on the record as weighing a request for such a study.

Affordable housing for year-round residents and overcrowded houses, particularly in the summer, have long been topics of the committee’s deliberations. Apartments above businesses in the hamlet’s commercial district have been eyed for possible affordable housing. But, Mr. Brew said, “the county has flat-out said it is not going to approve any more septic wastewater processing within the downtown district of Amagansett until we come up with a more effective plan” for wastewater. The town board is now reviewing a draft of a wastewater management plan, which was recently prepared by a consultant, Pio Lombardo of Lombardo Associates.

Mr. Cantwell told the committee that recommendations on  the potential leasing of 18 acres on Montauk Highway now known as Amagansett Farm were likely to be presented to the town board early next year by Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, and Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management. Of the proposals received, three finalists were chosen and asked to provide additional details. Although he did not name the finalists, he said, “Everyone will have a chance to understand better what the proposals are, with the clarifications,” at a public meeting.

The town is under no obligation to rent out the land, he said, “but there is a substantial building there that is going to have to be cared after and maintained, and it’s a wonderful 18 acres of land.” 

A mention of Monday’s announcement by County Executive Steve Bellone that a plan to install cameras to monitor vehicles in school zones had been abandoned led to a discussion of speed limits. Residents of some narrow streets both in and outside of Amagansett have at times asked for  lower speed limits than the state minimum of 30 miles per hour. Because East Hampton cannot set a limit lower than the state minimum, Mr. Cantwell said, he had asked State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. to consider introducing legislation “that would give a town such as ours the authority to lower to 20 miles per hour where it was appropriate, under certain conditions.”

Such a move would be popular in the community, Mr. Brew said, and he suggested the committee write to Mr. Thiele expressing support for such legislation. Tom Field, however, a committee member, objected, saying the committee ought not advise any government entities except the town board.

Mr. Cantwell suggested that the committee instead write to the town board asking it to encourage Mr. Thiele to introduce the legislation. Over Mr. Field's objection, the committee voted in favor of the letter.

 

 

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