Increased Police Presence as 4th Nears
It’s been almost a year since Montauk residents stormed a meeting of the East Hampton Town Board clamoring for action after a Fourth of July weekend when crowds overwhelmed the hamlet, prompting complaints about noise, public drunkenness, share houses, and overcrowded clubs.
This year, while acknowledging continued challenges in dealing with a swollen summer population, town officials expect a number of new laws, policies, and procedures to tone down and maybe even avert mayhem.
So far this year, East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said in an email on Monday, noise complaints are “down significantly. Many hotel and retail business people have commented that weekday business is better and the family atmosphere is returning.”
Party scene chaos last summer in Montauk was the subject of so much media coverage that the Montauk Chamber of Commerce produced a video touting the hamlet’s traditional, family-friendly atmosphere.
Coordinated enforcement efforts across town agencies have been beefed up with additional staff in “an efficient and effective process,” according to Mr. Sarlo. He has also taken to making personal, on-the-ground surveys of the Montauk weekend scene.
“On my rounds this past Saturday night, I saw a fire marshal outside one bar, two code enforcement officers on foot handling taxis near another, a Marine Patrol truck at a beach access, and several of our foot patrols on Main Street. Consistent presence and enforcement have been key,” he said.
A cross-section of town department heads, staffers, and elected officials has been meeting regularly, as has a committee including Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and Councilman Fred Overton that vets requests for permits for large gatherings.
The latter effort, which has been in place for several seasons, has helped the town avoid the general chaos, traffic congestion, and strain on resources, including traffic police, that simultaneous large events can cause, officials say. Unlike the past, when just about every fund-raising organization or party host was assured a town permit, the committee has turned down requests, including permits for the Shark Attack party hosted by Ben Watts and, recently, a permit for filming a new Bravo TV reality show based in Montauk.
“We are really dealing with a tremendous amount of people and a wide variety of issues,” Chief Sarlo said.
More Policing
Following last year’s complaints, the town board authorized overtime for key enforcement personnel and put money in the budget for new staff. Weekend enforcement in Montauk had already been stepped up before the Fourth of July last year, Chief Sarlo said, but “the increased staffing and overtime support . . . allowed us to take that another step further, which gave us quite a bit more presence and has continued to be a positive step in calming the overall atmosphere. The crowds are still big, and offenses have not gone away, but the overall feeling is that safety and good order are improving steadily.”
Diane Hausman, who heads the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee and is an owner of a Montauk motel, said Tuesday that “we’re hoping” for a successful, problem-free holiday weekend. The Police Department, she said, “has been working extremely hard” to turn the tide against rowdiness. Nonetheless, she said, the Sands has hired private security for the first time since her grandparents ran the place in 1951.
Increased enforcement began in May this year, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said, with, for instance, fire marshals dispatched every weekend night and at other times to see if bars and restaurants were complying with maximum occupancy and other safety laws.
The Ordinance Enforcement Department has investigated an increasing number of cases, which last year was up 50 percent from 2013. Enforcement officers also have received professional training on the use of new, sophisticated noise meters, and will have another training session soon, David Betts, the town director of public safety, said Tuesday.
The police, who routinely report infractions of State Liquor Authority licenses to that agency, made more than 60 referrals last year, and, said Mr. Cantwell, coordinated with county and state agencies on drug, driving-while-intoxicated, and liquor license enforcement efforts.
The town’s inquiries to the liquor authority this spring into whether businesses offering live music had proper S.L.A. designation to do so caused a number of places to suspend music until they could amend their licenses, an administrative, but necessary, detail. Local musicians subsequently complained about heavy-handed town tactics, particularly just before their prime moneymaking season began on Memorial Day.
To Rein in Nightclubs
In early September, the board passed a law requiring bars or nightclubs that can legally accommodate more than 100 people to use a mechanical or electronic counting device to keep tabs on the number of patrons allowed inside.
Another new law, designed to rein in the transformation of hotel restaurants and bars into nightspots that draw in customers who are not hotel guests, which has been the source of problems in Montauk neighborhoods, was put in place last July. It prohibits hotels in residential areas from adding new restaurants and bars. Any in a nonresidential district must obtain a special permit and meet standards such as locating their dining area away from neighbors.
Complaints about share houses and short-term house rentals, fostered through online booking sites such as Airbnb, have also been a source of contention. Following hearings and considerable opposition, the town board established a rental registry earlier this year requiring landlords to obtain a registry number before renting property and to file information about lease agreements. The board reasoned that having information about approved rentals would enable better identification of illegal rentals and allow summonses against them. To date, more than 2,800 registry numbers have been issued.
Growing numbers of people partying on the beaches day and night have also caused concern and complaints about rowdy behavior and detritus from beach fires. Last summer the board mandated that beach fires be built inside fireproof containers, and it issued a permanent ban on drinking alcohol on high-season weekends when lifeguards are on duty at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett, which had become a popular party spot.
The town board also extended no-parking zones along Edgemere Road in Montauk near the Surf Lodge, a popular club, and outlawed parking on the dirt road leading from Edgemere to the Montauk Firehouse to address congestion and pedestrian safety. It also reacted to the use by Gurney’s Inn of nearby residential streets for employee and valet parking by banning on-street parking in those areas.
Rules for Taxis
To address taxis from out of town wreaking havoc, the town board revised a licensing law requiring cab companies operating here to have a business office in the town. That made drivers for Uber, the app-based ride-summoning service, ineligible, making waves last summer as the company mounted a campaign to get its customers to lodge complaints against the town for “banning” Uber. Every vehicle used as a cab must now be inspected prior to licensing; a system for background checks on drivers, which must be coordinated with the state, is still pending.
In addition, proposed traffic laws to tame some taxicab practices will be the subject of hearings next Thursday. One would prohibit parking taxis and waiting for fares on any public road in Montauk, or in the public parking lots at Kirk Park or on South Euclid Avenue, except when dropping off or picking up passengers. Another would clarify prohibitions against stopping in travel lanes, on sidewalks, and the like.
Another hearing next week will be on a modification of the town’s public assemblies law to make it clear that noise from parties — even those held under a town permit — cannot exceed the levels allowed under the town’s noise ordinance, unless specifically exempted.
Another Montauk issue involves eateries that have outdoor seating, with or without official permission, and those that co-opted parts of sidewalks. The town board asked a citizens committee to look at the issue and held a hearing earlier this month on a trial program legalizing al fresco dining in downtown Montauk. Technically, the seating that has proliferated on public property outside takeout shops is not permitted and recommendations for what to do about it are forthcoming.
Trouble Spots Targeted
In an email this week, Supervisor Cantwell also pointed to board action that increased fines for various violations, including littering, and successful prosecution by the town — including some in State Supreme Court — of citations for zoning violations, public safety infractions, and overcrowding and illegal occupancy of single-family houses. Mr. Cantwell said that in response to the town’s enforcement efforts “a number of establishments have changed their operations,” while others were starting afresh under new management, including Harbor Raw Bar, Ciao, Cyril’s, and Sloppy Tuna.
“We have more work to do,” Mr. Cantwell said in the email. But, he said, “we are beginning to make good progress toward restoring peace and good order in our community.”