Paddle Diva Brings Lawsuit

Gina Bradley, the owner of Paddle Diva, is taking on the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, challenging the board’s ruling that its paddle-boarding classes, held at the Shagwong Marina in East Hampton, as well as its rental and sale of boards, are illegal under the town code.

The board voted in late October to uphold a determination by Ann Glennon, the town’s head building inspector, that such activities were an illegal expansion of use under the code. The board finalized that decision at the beginning of December.

Ms. Bradley’s legal team is challenging the ruling in State Supreme Court in Riverhead. In her request for judicial intervention, Dianne K. Le Verrier of Jordan & Le Verrier characterized the ruling as either “erroneous” or “arbitrary and capricious,” meaning it was not based on facts. Her client is requesting a stay on enforcement until the challenge is decided. According to the court filing, Ms. Bradley has rented a 200-square-foot office at the 42-slip marina since 2012. Her Article 78 action claims that the zoning board, “apparently succumbing to neighborly opposition, arbitrarily rendered a results-driven determination which misinterprets the town code.” The code mirrors the Coast Guard definition of a “vessel,” which is broad enough to include paddleboards.

Ms. Bradley is claiming that the zoning board “engaged in a tortured analysis of the code to conjure a fictitious requirement that ‘vessels’ be tied to boat slips,” which is something that is not done with paddleboards.

In addition, she charges that board members exceeded their authority by delving into details about parking and sanitary conditions at the site, saying that such matters are for the planning board to consider. “Parking and sanitary flow are not zoning issues,” she claims. “The zoning board hung its hat on the fact that paddleboards, like many other types of watercraft, are not ‘stored in designated slips.’ ”

The town attorney’s office does not comment on pending or current litigation.