Maidstone Seeks Coop Okay

Representatives of the Maidstone Club, the private club situated on more than 200 oceanfront acres in East Hampton Village, will ask the village’s zoning board of appeals for a special permit to construct a 300-square-foot chicken coop when the board meets tomorrow.

According to the application, the chicken coop is intended for children’s educational purposes, said Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman. The project would also require approval of the design review board.

Arthur Graham, who was recently elected to the East Hampton Village Board and is a member of the Maidstone, emailed The Star on Tuesday to say he believes the coop’s primary purpose would be “egg production and educational purposes, for the kids in junior activities.” It would be in the same area as an existing beehive and vegetable garden, he wrote, near a pond constructed in recent years as part of an extensive upgrade to the club’s irrigation system.

“As I understand it, there would not be a rooster in the area because they would not want the eggs to be fertilized, and who wants to hear a cock-a-doodle-doo all day long,” Mr. Graham wrote. He cautioned, however, that he was not party to the plans and was not speaking on behalf of the club.

The zoning board will meet at the Emergency Services Building, at 1 Cedar Street, tomorrow at 11 a.m.