The East Hampton Town Trustees voted to further extend, albeit briefly, the moratorium they enacted in 2021 on new construction of residential docks, catwalks, floating docks, floating structures, and platforms when they met on Friday.
A one-year moratorium on permitting and approval for construction of such structures was enacted in November of 2021, following a contentious 5-to-3 vote by the trustees to permit construction of an 80-foot floating dock on Three Mile Harbor, the first such approval in more than three decades. The trustees agreed to conduct a survey of all such structures in waters under their jurisdiction during the moratorium. A year later, in the fall of 2022, with the survey incomplete, the trustees extended the moratorium for another year.
On Friday, John Aldred told his colleagues that the survey has largely been completed, but that a subgroup of four trustees, the trustees’ attorney, and a staff member have conferred “to talk about what we’ve been seeing” and any related issues the board should consider. “This probably will take another couple of meetings of the small group to go through these points, consolidate them a little bit, and come up with recommendations for the entire board to mull over.”
The extension is also “to give the public a chance to weigh in on the points that we’re bringing up,” he said. The trustees voted to extend the moratorium, which was to expire next month, through Dec. 31 of this year.
The moratorium does not apply to duck blinds or upweller systems, which are used in shellfish aquaculture.
The trustees banned applications for docks in most waterways under their jurisdiction in 1984, extending the prohibition to all but the eastern shore of Three Mile Harbor in 1987.
Mr. Aldred listed several points needing consideration, with a full discussion of them to occur at the board’s next meeting, on Monday. The public will be invited to weigh in, and a vote on any policy decisions was tentatively set for Dec. 11.
The most important question, he said, was whether or not the trustees should extend a new-dock prohibition to the eastern portion of Three Mile Harbor, the only part of any water body under their jurisdiction where a prohibition is not in place.
Other considerations included whether or not the trustees would change how they calculate annual fees from a structure’s lineal length to square footage. Seeking a clear definition of pilings is another, along with a policy on the seasonal removal of them and fees for their existence in trustee waterways. “Right now, I think we only charge for freestanding pilings,” Mr. Aldred said, “but there are other types of pilings: some securing the floating sections of docks, some integral to any fixed portion of a dock.”
He asked whether the trustees should standardize “whether people have to remove their floating docks in the winter, or are we going to leave it basically the way it is, which seems to be irregular: Some people are leaving them in, some people are taking them out, presumably based on what they were told through their original permits.”
The trustees should also define a policy regarding docks that have been permitted, and annual fees paid, but not yet constructed. “Will we give a timeline for installation?” he asked. “Will we allow it to stand? Will we pull the permit right away?” There seem to be several dilapidated and unusable docks in trustee waters, he added. “What are we going to do about that?” A policy must also be defined for structures over marsh for which no permit exists, he said.
Should the trustees require a property owner with a dock, catwalk, or floating dock or platform to notify the trustees of the new owner upon transfer of the property? “If somebody sells their property,” Mr. Aldred said, “sometimes we don’t know about it until we try to send the old owner the permit, and it’s kind of difficult for the office.”
Docks have been prohibited in Georgica Pond since 1984, he said, but “there was a carveout made by a past board subsequent to that prohibition” that allowed staircases leading to a platform that floated when the pond’s level was high and sat on the bottom when it was low. “We subsequently permitted at least one on the basis of that precedent,” he said. “Should the prohibition stand for those structures as well?”
Finally, there are questions as to bringing current permittees into compliance with regard to the size of docks that are different from what was permitted; future unpermitted expansions, and a future inspection schedule and how it would be implemented. It could be done in house, contracted to another entity, or conducted through aerial photography, he suggested.
The six trustees present voted unanimously to further extend the moratorium.
Also at Friday’s meeting, which was moved from the second Monday of the month as that day, Oct. 9, was Columbus Day, the trustees voted, again unanimously, to delay the opening of scallop season in town waters until Nov. 12. New York State has set Nov. 6 as the opening day for the harvesting of scallops, but the trustees typically open their waters shortly after the state does to allow additional time for scallops to spawn.
Although bay scallops may once again be few and far between this season, they may be taken from town waters from sunrise on Nov. 12 through sunset on March 31, 2024. Mr. Aldred wondered aloud if the trustees should recommend to the town attorney’s office to amend the town code to call for the opening of scallop season in town waters one week after the opening of state waters “so we don’t have to remember to read this resolution every year.”
