ALBANY: Uncertainty on Beach-Driving Bill, Westchester assemblyman makes coastal issue his own; trustees object

State legislation that could restrict beach driving is being roundly criticized on the South Fork as either an attempt to privatize a common resource, or a way to allow any New York resident onto

the East Hampton and Southampton beaches.

The law would require the State Department of Environmental Conservation to restrict vehicle access to "coastal erosion hazard areas . . . unless a municipality can show that [its beach-driving law] is consistent with protecting the health and safety of surrounding property and the public." The ecology of coastal areas would also have to be assured.

Trustees in both towns say the state has no authority to enforce the changes even if they did become law.

"I believe this is an issue of removal, not protection," said Scott Strough, president of the Southampton Town Trustees. The bill, being debated in both houses of the Legislature, was introduced by State Senator Charles Fuschillo, a Republican from Merrick.

Richard Brodsky, a Democrat from Hartsdale in Westchester County, and a candidate for state attorney general, is its Assembly sponsor. Mr. Strough said he suspected that wealthy Southampton residents had encouraged the bill sponsors.

Mr. Brodsky sharply denied the allegation yesterday, saying that he was the victim of character assassination.

"The bill doesn't bar people from the beach. It guarantees beach access for the first time. The purpose is to ensure equitable access, care of the beach, and public safety. Mr. Brodsky said.

He said the measure was supported by the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and the Adirondack Council.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill McGintee spoke at a meeting of the town trustees on Tuesday evening at Town Hall and said that State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. was spearheading an effort to defeat the bill.

"Thiele said to take this seriously," the supervisor told the trustees. He said that during a recent meeting of East End supervisors and mayors, a resolution was passed to oppose the amendment. He asked the trustees to join the town board in a joint statement of opposition. The trustees agreed. Both boards will send their own letters to Albany as well.

Sportfishing organizations including the Montauk Surfcasters Association and the Long Island Beach Buggy Association are also up in arms.

"The wording is peculiar," Mr. McGintee said. On the one hand, the state is saying it is giving up authority as part of its program to transfer control of vulnerable coastal areas from the State Department of Environmental Conservation to local governments. "Now these guys are saying we want to say what goes on there," Mr. McGintee said.

Mr. Strough said that the coastal erosion hazard area is "the entire South Shore from Brooklyn to Montauk from the high water line landward above the crest of the dune into the secondary dunes where building is precluded. It includes areas where driving is not allowed. It's the same everywhere on Long Island. It's already regulated. It's absolutely false that vehicles hurt beaches. We are the board that the D.E.C., Department of State, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Army Corps, and county consult with to deal with coastal matters in Southampton. There is no question in my mind that this is an attempt to take the common man off the beach," Mr. Strough said.

As for the foreshore, he said the public is guaranteed access in Southampton and East Hampton towns by virtue of Colonial-era patents that supersede state authority. In addition, he said that last year, the state signed away its authority over the coastal erosion hazard area in Southampton after reviewing and approving of the town's plan to manage it alone. East Hampton has been in the process of taking on the same responsibility.

Assemblyman Brodsky said that once the amendment was in place, if a review by the D.E.C. found a town's beach-driving policy to be adequate, nothing would change. However, the bill also says that for a beach-driving policy to be deemed acceptable, "access must be provided to all persons and the vehicle access must apply equally throughout the municipality."

"It's all or nothing," Tom Knobel, an East Hampton Town Trustee and chairman of the town Republican committee, said at Tuesday's meeting. According to the proposal, if a town's beach-driving policy is deemed not acceptable, nobody would be able to drive the beach except emergency vehicles. On the other hand, if the policy passed state muster, then anyone with a state beach-driving permit could use it. "That's how I read it," Mr. Knobel said.

Yesterday, Mr. Thiele said he felt confident that the measure was not likely to be voted on in the Senate, although it remained on the Assembly calendar.