They have yet to see it in final form, but the East Hampton Town Trustees were generally supportive Monday evening of a proposal that would prohibit seaplanes from operating in any way in town waterways.
John Jilnicki, the town attorney, addressed the trustees, who have jurisdiction over most of the town's waterways, beaches, and bottomlands, via video conference, telling them that the town has had increasing concerns about escalating seaplane traffic in areas outside the East Hampton and Montauk airports. (The next day, a consultant told the town board that aircraft operations at East Hampton Airport have increased significantly in each of the last five years, with complaints about seaplanes up a stunning 435 percent in 2019 over 2015. That story is reported elsewhere on the site.)
The town code at present prohibits seaplanes from landing, taking off, or taxiing in certain designated waterways. They are Three Mile Harbor, Fort Pond, Northwest Creek, Napeague Harbor, Wainscott Pond, Georgica Pond, and Hog Creek. Exceptions are made for government, medical, police, or military emergencies, and for emergency landings, for waters abutting Gardiner's Island and taxiing onto beaches fronting Gardiner's Bay. "Historically, the number of seaplane landings to and from Gardiner's is fairly minimal," Mr. Jilnicki said.
The town's jurisdiction extends 1,500 feet from the shoreline, beyond which are New York State waters.
The town's concerns, Mr. Jilnicki said, are for making the waterways safe for recreation or other purposes, eliminating a distraction to quiet enjoyment of the shorefront, and removing a danger to the environment.
The proposal essentially adds seaplanes to an existing prohibition on helicopter operations anywhere but at the airports and on Gardiner's Island, he said.
Under the proposed legislation, the penalty for a first offense would be a fine of between $1,500 and $5,000. Subsequent violations within 18 months would be subject to a fine of $5,000 to $10,000.
"I agree with the town board," said Tim Garneau, a trustee. "This is a good quick nip in the bud to stop this." Susan McGraw Keber said the trustees should write to the town board in support of the amendment to the code.
Mr. Jilnicki said he would send an updated version of the legislation to Chris Carillo, the trustees' attorney, for distribution to the trustees. Francis Bock, the trustees' clerk, said they would discuss the updated version before sending a formal response.
Also at the meeting, Ms. McGraw Keber and John Aldred discussed mosquito larvae sampling in Accabonac Harbor, a pilot program launched in 2017 that has resulted in a significant reduction in the application of methoprene, a larvicide, by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works' vector control division. Trustees and other volunteer citizen scientists sample waters in the marsh at locations that are mapped via a smartphone app. The data is forwarded to vector control, where officials use it to make decisions as to where and when to treat an area.
The marsh was flooded during sampling on July 6, Mr. Aldred said. "As a result, we did find late-stage larvae," he said, and the county scheduled aerial application of larvicide later in the week. Sampling will resume on Monday, depending on weather conditions.
