Taking on Motel Changes
East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the Town Hall legal team are on the right track in looking at how to amend town law to head off further conversions of hotels and motels into hybrids that include nightclubs and accommodations. According to the town, there are some 70 hotels here whose owners might someday seek to expand into the lucrative bar trade, which could create traffic, crowds, noise, litter, and, in some cases, water pollution problems, which have already been the result.
In one sense, a new law should not be needed since the rules already in place would seem to have precluded changes of the scale seen, for example, when Montauk’s 30-something-room Ronjo Motel morphed into the 300-plus person Montauk Beach House and pool club. The thing is, without very specific, hardline prohibitions, almost anything is possible, depending on who is setting the tone on Pantigo Road. Details on the changes are yet to be finalized, but, in concept, it is an idea well worth supporting.