Village Studies Signs, Flood Zone Building

East Hampton Village's transportation committee, which came up with the idea of mechanical gates at the Reutershan parking lot to enforce time limits, has gone back to the drawing board.

Headed by Elbert T. Edwards and David Brown, Village Board members, the committee includes representatives of the East Hampton Business Alliance, Chamber of Commerce, the Circle Association, and Village Preservation Society.

The group is meant to be a "short-term" committee, according to Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. Its goal is to come up with a better way to enforce two-hour parking in the business district and engender more cooperation from business owners and employees in parking their cars in the long-term lot near Lumber Lane.

Sign Laws

Also at work recently has been the village planning and zoning committee, which has recommended a series of code changes governing signs. The changes, for which a public hearing will be held on April 17, came out of an effort to clarify laws already on the books, Linda Riley, the village attorney, said this week.

One amendment would prohibit "internally illuminated signs," while allowing signs to be externally lit "only by a white, steady, external, stationary light . . . shielded and directed . . . that no glare shall extend beyond the property lines. . . ."

A second proposed amendment defines a "window sign" as "inside (within no more than four feet) or outside of any window or door of any building which is visible from a sidewalk, street, or other public place, not including merchandise on display."

Sign Details

Such a sign, the proposed law says, cannot measure more than 25 percent of the window area.

Exceptions include decals no larger than two square feet, signs about special sales or events, visible for no more than 21 days in a three-month period, and no larger than a quarter of the window area, and signs stating hours of operation, no larger than one square foot.

Controversy erupted among business owners the last time the village proposed amendments to its sign regulations, concerning neon and window signs, about 18 months ago.

The planning and zoning committee also is poised to review possible changes in the Village Zoning Code to reflect the Village Board's formal adoption, last Thursday, of an Open Space Plan.

Flood Zones

The committee is comprised of the heads of the village's boards, Donald Hunting of the Planning Board, Carolyn Preische, Design Review Board, and Thomas Gaines, Zoning Board, plus Thomas Lawrence, the building code enforcement officer, Larry Cantwell, the Village Administrator, Gene E. Cross, the planning consultant, and Ms. Riley, the village attorney.

The board is scheduled to meet on Friday, March 20, at 11 a.m. at the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street, when a public hearing will be held on its flood-damage prevention law.

In line with the New York State Environmental Conservation Law, Article 36, the law governs construction standards in various flood zones. The village is required either to adopt it, or a more stringent law, Ms. Riley said. The state recently updated its flood-zone maps, she added.

Getty Station Plan

In other village news, the Design Review Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on an application from Power Test Realty Limited Partnership, the Getty station on Montauk Highway and Toilsome Lane, to replace its concrete islands, install new gas pumps and lights, create a new concrete traffic mat, and convert one unleaded gas tank to diesel, and one middle-grade gas tank to high grade.

The gas station is a pre-existing, nonconforming use of property in a residential zone, and the new lighting plan is designed to diminish the impact on nearby properties.

The Review Board meets at Village Hall.