East Hampton Town’s Water Quality Technical Advisory Committee, charged with considering the merits of applications to fund water quality initiatives and issuing recommendations to the town board, endorsed nine such projects and grant funding totaling $2.24 million on Tuesday.
In 2016, voters approved a referendum to allow up to 20 percent of community preservation fund proceeds to be used for water quality initiatives each year. The town issues a biannual request for applications to fund projects ranging from wastewater treatment improvement to aquatic habitat restoration and abatement of pollutants from point and nonpoint sources. The town board, based on the committee’s recommendations, votes on approval of the expenditures.
In the second round of 2023, a request for applications was issued on June 1; they were due on Aug. 1. Fifteen applications were received, Mellissa Winslow, a senior environmental analyst in the town’s Natural Resources Department, told the board. Nine projects, five of them septic system upgrades, were deemed complete and recommended for grant awards.
The Clearwater Beach Homeowners Association was recommended for a $63,446 grant to convert an existing asphalt parking lot to a permeable surface to reduce stormwater runoff from directly entering Hog Creek. The parking lot is pitched toward the boat launch on Hog Creek, Ms. Winslow said, and the conversion is expected to reduce some 15,500 gallons of runoff from a one-inch rainstorm.
The Springs Presbyterian Church requested $322,200 to upgrade a conventional septic system with an innovative-alternative system and a stormwater control system to redirect runoff so it does not enter Accabonac Harbor. The new septic system is expected to result in a nitrogen reduction of 191 pounds per year. The committee recommended awarding the amount requested as the church is a nonprofit organization and thus eligible for full funding.
The committee recommended an award of $199,615, of $412,900 requested, to Pharao Beach Inc., a waterfront residence and eight cottages at 3 South Lake Drive in Montauk, also to replace an existing septic system with three innovative-alternative systems. Upgrading to advanced treatment will result in a reduction of 195 pounds of nitrogen per year. Commercial properties, especially those on the waterfront, represent some of the largest sources of contamination to priority water bodies, Ms. Winslow said. As a commercial property in a priority area, Pharao Beach Inc. is eligible for 65 percent of installation costs.
Another commercial septic system upgrade was recommended for the Springs General Store, directly adjacent to Accabonac Harbor. The proposal is to upgrade the existing system to an I.A. system and request funding for revegetation of the site. A reduction of 68 pounds of nitrogen annually is predicted. The property was one of the first applications to the committee, in 2019. The project was recommended but the applicants were not awarded enough money to move forward. The committee recommended awarding $109,639, or 65 percent of installation costs for the I.A. system. The revegetation component did not qualify for funding.
Another septic system upgrade was recommended for 177 Main Street in Amagansett, the former Main Street Tavern and soon-to-be home of Rowdy Hall, where the conventional septic system is failing. A reduction in nitrogen of 406 pounds per year is expected to result. The property was awarded funding in 2021 but later changed hands. The new owners want to move ahead with the plans, Ms. Winslow said, and the committee was recommending $100,500, or 50 percent of eligible installation costs.
The Harbor Marina, on Three Mile Harbor Road in Springs, is also to see a septic upgrade to I.A. systems serving the marina, restaurant, and residence. The upgrade is to result in a reduction of 323 pounds of nitrogen annually, “significant nitrogen reduction in a pretty critical area,” Ms. Winslow said. A grant of $105,196, or 65 percent of installation costs, was the recommendation.
An application for funding to install a permeable reactive barrier behind a new bulkhead at the residential property at 60 Harbor View Lane in Springs was looked on favorably, the committee recommending an award of $198,000. Earlier this year, a representative of Peter Mendelman, the property owner who with his family owns several marinas on Three Mile Harbor including Harbor Marina, sought the town trustees’ permission for an emergency bulkhead replacement.
The location is a hotspot of groundwater flow with high nitrogen inputs, according to a Peconic Estuary Partnership study. The permeable reactive barrier, which would be installed and monitored by Cornell Cooperative Extension, would prevent an estimated 513 pounds of nitrogen per year from seeping into the harbor.
The New York State Center for Clean Water Technology was recommended for $112,101 to install automated monitoring devices in eight sites in the town to measure performance of I.A. systems using remote sensors. Sites in priority areas will be chosen based on criteria approved by the committee. “We think it’s a very worthwhile endeavor,” Ms. Winslow said.
Finally, Sag Harbor Village was recommended for a grant of just over $1.03 million to continue expansion of its wastewater management district to include more residences. The village was awarded funding in earlier rounds for engineering design for in-street piping to collect and convey 9,800 gallons of wastewater per day from “sewershed L” to its sewage treatment plant, and, in a second phase, installation of street-to-residence piping. This third phase would add an additional 33 properties in East Hampton Town and seven in Southampton Town (the village straddles both towns), conveying 12,562 gallons of wastewater per day, Ms. Winslow said.
A public hearing on the committee’s recommendations will be held at an upcoming meeting.
