Crabby Cowboy Asks for Dredging Approval

Whether to allow new dredging at the slips in an East Lake Drive marina on Lake Montauk was debated at an East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals last week. At the end of the session, the waters for the applicant, Richard A. Gibbs, were somewhat murky, with the window for dredging closing on Jan. 14.

According to town records, the first building permit for the property was issued in 1957 for what became the Sea and Sky Motel and restaurant. Mr. Gibbs’s name first appears on town records in 1996, when he applied to the architectural review board for signs for the 2,400-square-foot restaurant, now renamed Crabby Cowboy Cafe.

The property, opposite the Montauk Airport, consists of two parcels: one slightly under four acres between East Lake Drive and Lake Montauk, the other a bit less than seven acres totally underwater. Certificates of occupancy were issued in 2002 for the motel and restaurant as well as for a one-family house and a horse barn. Not included, however, Brian Frank, the East Hampton Town Planning Department’s chief environmental analyst, told the board this year, was the 22-slip marina.

Mr. Gibbs already has a permit from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation for multiyear maintenance dredging, though within narrow parameters, but he needs a town permit as well. He was represented at the meeting by Drew Bennett, an engineer.

The Z.B.A. had approved a similar application from Mr. Gibbs in 2006, allowing him to dredge up to 1,000 square feet of sediment to a depth of six feet below mean low water and to make several other improvements.

The problem, according to Mr. Frank, is that Mr. Gibbs far exceeded the dredging the board had approved, and Mr. Frank said it was done in a way that ignored mitigating conditions the board had required in 2006. He said the board had called for a 25-foot-wide vegetated shoreline buffer, and he added that in some cases the slips had been dredged down to 10 feet in 2010. 

Mr. Bennett criticized Mr. Frank, saying that he was “not flexible enough” because major events, such as hurricanes, can radically alter the depth of sediment and change what is required for maintenance. Mr. Gibbs had received building permits for the work, which remained open, but never obtained certificates of occupancy.

John Whelan, the Z.B.A. chairman, told Mr. Bennett that if the board were to approve his application, it would only be after the remaining issues, such as the missing buffer, as well as nonconforming lighting and parking now on the site, were corrected.

An apparent practice of obtaining extensions of time for building permits rather than final certificates of occupancy drew the ire of another speaker at the meeting, Jeremy Samuelson of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, however.

“Why are we considering this application?” he asked. He said that the “endless extensions” of time for building permits were a way of avoiding needed compliance and conforming to approved site plans, which certificates of occupancy entail.

“In addition to ignoring the 2006 requirements,” he said, the 2010 operation drew some of the largest fines for dredging violations in the history of the state. He said those fines were in the area of $150,000. “They didn’t even bother to update their survey,” he told the board, concluding, “Please move slowly.”

The board agreed to keep the record open until Nov. 10 to allow an updated survey to be introduced, and for Mr. Bennett and Mr. Frank to go over the proposal together.

Another application on the agenda on Oct. 27, came from the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, which is proposing the addition of three buildings on its 22.5-acre property on Daniel’s Hole Road in Wainscott. The project calls for a 8,860-square-foot dog training center, as well as two 4,771-square-foot sanctuary buildings, one for cats and one for dogs.

The cats, in particular, will be very appreciative of having separate facilities from the dogs, Sara Davison, who recently announced her retirement as director of the organization, told the board.

ARF needs to obtain variances for coverage and clearing before it can proceed. If approved, coverage would exceed the 80,000-square-foot code limit by about 11,600 square feet. Because the property is zoned for residential use and is in a water recharge overlay district, clearing is limited to about one acre, while ARF is asking to be allowed to have total clearing at well over four acres. The property was originally zoned commercial industrial, and had been cleared to a bit over 14 percent. In 2005, it was rezoned to five-acre minimum house lots.

ARF also has a site plan before the town’s planning board, which cannot act until the matter of  variances is settled, although the planners had already sent the Z.B.A. a letter indicating support.

Ms. Davison told the board that ARF has a no-kill mandate for the animals it takes in, hence the need for more space. She explained that all animal waste is hauled away from the facility.