Enforcement of East Hampton Town’s code was a success in the summer of 2023, the director of ordinance enforcement told the town board on Tuesday, with cooperation among the department, the fire marshal, the police, and other departments “at an all-time high” in his tenure.
“All the cooperation, it works across departments,” Kevin Cooper told the board. “It’s so much easier to investigate cases when I have the other departments and I use them.”
The number of problematic commercial establishments were cut in half, from eight in the summer of 2022 to four this year, he said, and there was also a reduction of complaints about residential rental properties.
“I think a lot of the residents got sick of the renters coming in. By the end of August, they were like, ‘Enough,’ and we started getting a lot of calls.”
The department expanded night coverage to Thursdays this summer, with two inspectors, Mr. Cooper said, and he hopes to expand that to three next summer. Weekend night coverage was expanded to at least five inspectors or officers, and sometimes as many as seven.
A comparison of Memorial Day to Labor Day in 2022 and 2023 shows an increase in complaints, from 717 to 753, with zoning, noise from residences, and leaf blowers responsible for more complaints, by far, than other categories.
Zoning complaints include things like construction performed without a building permit and the felling of trees, and Mr. Cooper said “problematic contractors” will soon be brought to the licensing review board. Zoning complaints were steady at 186 both this summer and last.
“It’s really kind of getting out of control, the liberties that the contractors are taking,” he said. East Hampton saw the most such complaints in the summer of 2023, with 63, up from 34 in the previous summer. There were 56 such complaints in Springs, up from 48, and 40 in Montauk, down from 49. Zoning complaints fell in Amagansett, from 25 to 20, and rose in Wainscott from four to seven.
There were 27 stop-work orders issued in the summer of 2023, up from 20 the previous summer.
Residential noise complaints rose from 110 to 126. The most were logged in East Hampton, 47, up from 33 in the summer of 2022. In Springs, the number rose from 28 to 33. In Amagansett, residential noise complaints held steady at 24.
Ordinance enforcement officers work until midnight, Mr. Cooper said, but will remain on duty until 1 or 2 a.m. to assist police officers on a busy night.
Complaints about the use of leaf blowers, which is prohibited between May 20 and Sept. 20, fell from 108 to 94 from the previous summer to the most recent.
“It’s a game with the landscapers,” Mr. Cooper said. “I extend my hours during the week till past 6, sometimes 8 o’clock, because they thought that we only work till 4 and a lot of them were coming out later.” He said he had visited every commercial landscaping office to distribute a flier that details when the blowers are and are not permitted.
Peace and good order complaints, which cover quality of life actions such as open containers of alcohol, littering, and public urination, were up to 65 in 2023 from 41 the previous year, Mr. Cooper said, with Amagansett (38) and Montauk (26) accounting for all but one of them in 2023.
Over all, complaints in Amagansett and Montauk are triple those in Wainscott, East Hampton, and Springs in the summer, Mr. Cooper said. “Those are our busiest hamlets in the summer.”
Rental registry complaints numbered 18 in Springs this summer, down from 26 in 2022; 15 in East Hampton, up from 14 last year; 11 in Montauk, down from 20 previously; six in Amagansett, up from four, and one in Wainscott, down from two.
