Revisions of Lighting Code Proposal Offered
Nine months after business owners and their representatives expressed displeasure at proposed amendments to the East Hampton Village lighting code, prompting the village board to table them, the board took up the amendments at a work session last Thursday.
The proposed amendments to the code, which was enacted in 2004, were intended to curtail light “trespass,” regulate lighting deemed needless, maintain the village’s rural character, and save energy. The amendments would have required lighting deemed nonessential to be off between dusk and dawn. Lighting in violation of light-trespass limits could have been ordered removed or altered. The amendments also would have prohibited foliage illumination and “wall washing” by spotlights on nonresidential properties.
On Thursday, Becky Molinaro, the village administrator, reported that she had circulated revisions to the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, East Hampton Business Alliance, and East Hampton Library, as well as board members. The dusk-to-dawn prohibition of lighting in the commercial district deemed nonessential has been removed from the proposal.
The amendments now require conformance at the time a fixture or bulb is repaired or replaced, rather than upon the effective date of the legislation, a provision that Elbert Edwards, a village trustee, said would eliminate another of the business community’s objections. Ms. Molinaro told the board that the business community appears to accept the revisions. Mr. Edwards agreed, noting that no one had come to the work session to discuss the revisions, in contrast to the initial public hearing in January.
Dennis Fabiszak, director of the library, had asked that the board consider a limit of 3,500 Kelvin (a measurement used to describe the hue of a light source), rather than the 3,000-Kelvin limit in the revised proposal. The board indicated a willingness to adopt his suggestion.
“If everyone is comfortable,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said, “we can notice for a hearing.” The hearing is likely to be held at the board’s meeting on Nov. 20.
Discussion then turned to the proposed engineering projects to deal with wastewater and improve the quality of Hook and Town Ponds, which a consultant had presented to the board last month. The village, Ms. Molinaro said, has applied to the county and state for grants to offset the cost of groundwater and wastewater treatment systems. “Hopefully, by the end of the calendar year we will hear from one or both,” she said.
Nonetheless, “the assumption would be, to offset matching amounts the village would have to put up, the village would have to borrow,” she said. She recommended that the board amend the capital plan it had updated in May to include the projects. Board members agreed.
The mayor called water quality “one of the cornerstone issues on Long Island,” saying that the board “is committed to, as applicable and fiscally responsible, deal with some of the issues regarding remediation — bringing back quality and aesthetics.” Board members are cognizant of the significant cost, he said, but “we’re not going to spend money willy-nilly.”
Scott Fithian, the superintendent of public works, told the board that new drainage systems have been installed on Georgia Road near the intersection of Cove Hollow Road as part of a separate storm sewer system program, known as MS4. The project is intended to mitigate stormwater runoff entering Georgica Pond. “It’s working quite well so far,” Mr. Fithian said.