Government Briefs 06.12.14
East Hampton Town
Hearing on Beach Drinking
The East Hampton Town Board will hold a hearing next Thursday on a law that would ban drinking at Indian Wells and Atlantic Avenue Beaches in Amagansett during the hours that lifeguards are on duty, on the beach within 1,500 feet of the road endings.
The town trustees, who own the ocean beaches in the town, outside of Montauk, on behalf of the public, have opposed enacting the ban at both beaches, saying it is needed at Indian Wells only, and had suggested limiting the ban to weekends and holidays, within a smaller swath of beach. In response, town board members whittled the affected beach area from 2,500 feet on either side of the road end to the 1,500-foot boundary, after holding a hearing in April on the original proposal.
The proposed new law is in response to a growing number of complaints about summertime drinking, crowds, and behavior at Indian Wells Beach. Changes have been made to the configuration of the beach parking lot entry in order to address some of the safety and crowding issues. The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.
Three C.P.F. Purchases a Go
Several property purchases using the community preservation fund were approved by the East Hampton Town Board after hearings were held last Thursday.
The town will buy 2.9 acres at 85 Bull Path in East Hampton from John Conran for $1.1 million, 3.6 acres on Fentwood Road in Montauk from Celia and Costas Paleologos for $870,000, and 7.2 acres of land at La Foret Lane and Stony Hill Road in Amagansett from Sasfox Associates for $3.6 million.
The latter purchase drew some criticism from one speaker at the hearing, David Buda, who said that it was incorrectly described as contiguous to other preserved lands and that as part of a residential subdivision it would primarily benefit the adjacent homeowners, including Alexander Peters, the seller.
Jeremy Samuelson of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk supported the purchase, on behalf of his organization and the Group for the East End, calling the woodland above a drinking water aquifer “a critical resource for our community,” and the aquifer protection a “pressing environmental issue.”