Lines Drawn in Sand on Napeague
A group of Napeague residents who have been fighting against beach driving on the shore near their neighborhood and the summertime gathering of vehicles at what has become known as Truck Beach stepped up its campaign this week with the release on its website, safebeach.org, of a video showing the area clogged with cars.
In a press release, the Safe Access for Everyone group says the video demonstrates “atrocities” related to beach driving, saying the beach is “being used by drivers as a toilet, for boozy tailgating, and a parking lot by more than 100 S.U.V.s on summer weekends.”
The move comes after a recent East Hampton Town Board vote authorizing a $320,000 bond to pay for appraisal, planning, and other services by consultants as the town moves forward to condemn the land in question, approximately 4,000 feet of oceanfront.
Ownership of that property is at issue in two lawsuits brought by Seaview at Amagansett Ltd. et al. and White Sands Motel Holding Corp. A trial is scheduled to begin in June.
Notwithstanding the legal action, the town moved in 2014 to begin the eminent domain process to acquire the disputed property, in order, officials have said, to assure continued public access to the beach.
According to SAFE, the condemnation will “waste millions of tax dollars.”
The East Hampton Town Trustees, who are co-defendants in the lawsuits, have agreed to shoulder half the condemnation costs.
Should the condemnation proceed, the cost to purchase the land would be set by a judge; estimates of that cost by the town and the members of SAFE differ widely.
A claim by plaintiffs that some of the Napeague property owners own the beach to the high-tide line was upheld by a court decision in June. But the town and the trustees claim that public access was still guaranteed under the terms of the deed.
The lawsuits and condemnation pit the members of SAFE against those of another local organization founded specifically in response to the Napeague beach situation, Citizens for Access Rights, or CfAR.
Its members are among those who frequently drive to and gather at the Napeague beach.
According to SAFE, “S.U.V.s are decimating dunes that protect East Hampton residents from storms, and are destroying the habitat of the piping plover, an endangered bird species.”
Another concern, according to Cindi Crain, a SAFE founder and spokeswoman, is the safety of children and other pedestrians on the beach where cars are parked and traversing.
The group has suggested moving truck access to the beach to a state beach nearby, or to a stretch of Napeague oceanfront near the town’s South Flora nature preserve.