East Hampton Village-owned properties such as Main Beach Pavilion, where raccoons are now running rampant, and the East Hampton Historical Society’s headquarters, which is structurally unsound, are in immediate need of repair, Fred Verity, the village’s facilities manager, told the village board last Thursday.
After beach season is over, raccoons, as well as feral cats from a nearby colony, access the beach pavilion through an open space that needs to be sealed, he said. Mayor Jerry Larsen said he visited the building recently, and before entering, “You have to make a lot of noise to make sure the raccoons aren’t in the same room as you.”
The pavilion is home to the Chowder Bowl concession, and the presence of the critters and the waste they leave behind is a health hazard, he said. The gas main at the building also needs to be replaced, Mr. Verity said.
The historical Osborn-Jackson House at 101 Main Street, which serves as headquarters for the East Hampton Historical Society, is so unstable that a brace had to be installed in the building, Mr. Larsen said. “We need to address this in a much larger fashion, and quite a bit of money will be needed to do the job,” Mr. Verity said. The first phase of the project, which would include shoring up the house’s foundation, will cost between $80,000 and $100,000. The full cost of repairs will likely be about $300,000, he said.
David Collins, the superintendent of public works, said most of the village’s 13 Sea Spray Cottages at Main Beach, “which are constantly getting beaten by wind, rain, and salt” also require significant repairs, including roof and deck replacements, and, in one instance, the rebuilding of a foundation. “We’ve kind of been patching things together for a number of years, and it’s catching up to us,” he said. “We need to address some of the major issues.”
In his first few months in office, Mr. Larsen has repeatedly said that previous boards did not provide enough money for infrastructure repair. In the current budget, created prior to his election, just $5,000 was allocated for maintaining the Osborn-Jackson House, he said. The last time the building had structural repairs done, Mr. Verity said, was in the 1990s. Later in the meeting, the board agreed to issue a request for proposals from construction companies to cover repairs.
A proposal to create a bioswale, a natural drainage system designed to reduce stormwater runoff, on village-owned property on Methodist Lane, has the funding it needs to move forward, said Mara Dias, a water quality manager with the Surfrider Foundation. The $127,000 project, which was first proposed in 2018 and will be financed by private donations, is a collaboration between the Surfrider Foundation, the Ladies Village Improvement Society, and the Piazza Horticultural Group in Southampton.
The property on Methodist Lane, which is now a lawn, is in the Hook Pond watershed. More than 66 percent of water samples taken at the site show elevated levels of bacteria, said Ms. Dias, and at Hook Pond, it is nearly 80 percent.
The bioswale would consist of a variety of native plants with deep root systems that absorb water and filter out pollution, as well as a pollinator garden, a meadow, 20 trees, and a wetland area.
The same groups have developed a bioswale on the village green near Town Pond, and “there’s hardly standing water there anymore,” said Ms. Dias.
”I’m 100 percent behind it,” said Mayor Larsen. The board plans to approve the project at its Dec. 18 meeting.
The dredging of Town Pond will begin shortly, said Mr. Larsen. The $863,500 cost of that project is likely to be fully funded with money from the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund.
The board discussed installing a pedestrian crosswalk on Main Street between Guild Hall and the East Hampton Library, and asked Police Chief Michael Tracey to see if the Department of Transportation, which oversees the state road, would consider it.
Despite the presence of recycling bins at village beaches, Mr. Larsen said the village doesn’t actually do any recycling. “The cans at beaches go into one big pile, and go into an incinerator,” he said. “I find that disturbing.” The board approved a request to accept bids from companies that will provide recycling services.
Chris Minardi, the deputy mayor, proposed that food trucks be allowed to operate at Two Mile Hollow and Georgica beaches. “I know there’s a demand for it,” he said. A public hearing will be scheduled for a future meeting.
As part of a celebration of the centennial anniversary of the village’s incorporation, Mayor Larsen proposed honoring 11 former mayors by installing ceremonial street signs on the roads where they live or lived. He plans to begin in January by honoring Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., the longest-serving mayor in village history, who resigned last December, by installing a sign on Maidstone Avenue.
A public hearing for a proposed law to add a stop sign on the west side of the intersection of Accabonac Road and Collins Avenue, thereby making it a three-way stop, will be held at the Dec. 18 meeting.
At the beginning of last week’s meeting, the mayor led a moment of silence for Robert (Bo) Lawler, a 40-year member of the East Hampton Fire Department, who died last week (an obituary appears elsewhere in this issue). “I can’t say enough nice things about Bo and his family, he’s going to be sorely missed,” said Mr. Larsen.
Sandra Melendez, a trustee, said that although the annual Santa Parade has been canceled because of the pandemic, the village and the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce plan to offer some holiday cheer by showing drive-in movies at the Main Beach parking lot. Information about the events will be on the Chamber of Commerce’s website, she said.
