Seeking a site for the construction of a sewage treatment facility, the East Hampton Village Board narrowed the options down to two village-owned properties at a meeting on Friday. In the running are a vacant lot just north of the railroad trestle on North Main Street, and the Accabonac Road parcel that is home to the Department of Public Works.
A sewage treatment facility would not only reduce the nitrogen in wastewater that adversely affects ground and surface water, but would allow new restaurants and other food businesses to open in the commercial district, and for second-story apartments on Newtown Lane and Main Street to be used as affordable housing.
In 2019, the village hired the Nelson, Pope, and Voorhis engineering and environmental planning firm to develop a plan for a facility. On Friday, Thomas Lembo, a partner in the firm, told the board that, although the entire village could benefit from being connected, the need is greatest in the commercial district, where the average daily flow is about 17,000 gallons per day, and where density exceeds the standard set by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services. "You're severely limited by those flow rates there," he said.
The D.P.W. property is large enough for a full-scale sewage treatment plant that could process up to 60,000 gallons of wastewater flow per day, Mr. Lembo said. The North Main Street lot could accommodate one that could process up to 30,000 gallons per day. Both would have the capacity to process wastewater to the point that it meets the state's drinking-water standards.
The cost of building a full-scale plant that connects to the commercial core would be about $12.53 million, according to the firm.
Mr. Lembo said he did not yet have a cost estimate for the smaller facility, which would consist of a 200-square-foot laboratory building and a 300-square-foot shed for mechanicals. Most of the other infrastructure would be underground. "And the only time this would be noticeable to neighbors, other than looking at it, is when the sludge is removed?" asked Arthur Graham, a trustee. "That's correct," said Mr. Lembo. "And that typically only happens once a month."
At the suggestion of Mr. Graham and Rose Brown, another trustee, the board agreed to ask East Hampton Town if it would be interested in sharing the cost of building a full-scale plant at the D.P.W. lot so that it could connect nearby town properties, such as the Windmill Village apartments, to the plant. While it awaits the town's response, Nelson, Pope, and Voorhis will test the groundwater depth at the North Main Street property to determine whether building a sewage treatment facility there is feasible.
At a meeting on April 1, Mayor Jerry Larsen introduced a proposal that would lift the existing bans, imposed by previous boards, on smoking and drinking alcohol on village beaches (a proposal that is not what it sounds like at first). On Friday, the mayor explained why it is necessary. The East Hampton Town Trustees own the beaches, not the village, he pointed out, and the trustees never approved either ban. "In 1977, the village board created a ban on alcohol in public places, which does not include the beaches, [but] somehow over the years it morphed, and it was being enforced," he said. The village was forced to take action, he said, "because it's a huge liability to be issuing summonses . . . that you have no authority to issue."
In 2018, the village board banned smoking on village beaches without the town trustees' approval, Mr. Larsen said. Whether it was a mistake or intentional, "once we know about it, we can't allow it to go forward, we have to correct it." In an interview on Monday, Ms. Brown, who was on the board when the smoking ban was enacted, said the village attorney at the time had advised that the ban was legal. "We had the best intentions, and meant no disrespect to the town trustees," Ms. Brown said.
The new proposal, which has been approved by the trustees and, after a public hearing at which no one voiced objections, by the village board as well, bans the possession and consumption of alcohol on the beaches during times when lifeguards are on the beach, or, for beaches without lifeguard stations, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. No more than a gallon container of alcohol will be allowed on the beach at any time without a special permit. Smoking a cigarette, pipe, cigar, "or similar smoking substance" and vaping continues to be prohibited at "any beach pavilion," and in parking lots, but will be allowed at a distance of more than 300 feet from the entrance to the beach, and more than 20 feet from another person.
The board has also approved a proposal to implement paid parking regulations, and to require dog owners or those in custody of a dog to immediately pick up its feces on sidewalks, public and private streets, public property, and on private property when the owner has not granted permission.
Two new police officers, Armann Gretarsson and John Clark, have been hired. Public hearings on a proposal to clarify the specifications for the construction of curbs and gutters, and one to increase the cost of an excavation permit and prohibit placement of rock walls, fences, shrubbery, trees, or other vegetation in a village right of way were scheduled for May 21.
Mayor Larsen announced that Village Hall, which has been closed to the public since the fall, will reopen on May 1 at 9 a.m.
Billy Hajek, the village planner, gave an update on the Town Pond dredging. "It's moving along really well," he said; as of April 1, more than 3,625 cubic yards of material had been removed. The town board has agreed that community preservation fund money could be used to finance the $867,000 project.
