A couple who live next to Herrick Park in East Hampton Village filed an Article 78 petition in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Sunday seeking to stop the village from building lighted pickleball courts in the park.
In the petition, which names the village, its board of trustees, and Mayor Jerry Larsen, Michael and Barbara Bebon also allege that the village plans to build an ice skating rink and a permanent concert stage in the park, directly adjacent to their house at 93 Main Street.
The village board voted for the Herrick Park changes in March and said at the time that they hoped the construction would be complete by summer. At an April 6 special work session, however, the board removed the pickleball striping on the tennis courts after hearing complaints from neighbors.
"It doesn't mean we're getting rid of pickleball altogether in the park, just at that location," Marcos Baladron, the village administrator, said at the work session. "We're being sensitive to the neighbors' feedback. We're going to find an alternate location."
"By adopting this new plan, I think the neighbors will be happier," Mayor Larsen said at the meeting, adding that before a new location was agreed upon, "it will be presented to the public and we'll take input before any of that is implemented."
It's not clear if the neighbors will be happier.
The petition specifically mentions the April 6 work session, which lasted all of eight minutes. "The board hastily and surreptitiously convened for the sole purpose of adopting a 'negative SEQRA declaration' with respect to Herrick Park Phase 1A revisions in a weak, thinly veiled post hoc effort to respond to petitioner's objections and belatedly comply with SEQRA."
"The Phase 1A construction of illuminated pickleball courts and further 'Phase' plans to erect and install an ice skating rink and a concert venue in Herrick Park blatantly violate both the procedural and substantive requirements of SEQRA, New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act," it states.
Additionally, the Bebons pointed to the hypocrisy of the village in not following its own proposed legislation regarding the noise created by pickleball courts on residential properties. The legislation is similar to that passed by Sagaponack a year ago, and would require property line setbacks, sunken courts, and sound attenuating fences. The village legislation also does not allow pickleball courts to be lighted.
The village's "plan for pickleball in Herrick Park obviously flies in the face of what it is seeking to require of village residents on private property," reads the petition.
It also alleges that the plans for ice skating and a concert stage violate the village's February 2002 Environmental Impact Study, "and the specific restrictive covenant language in the deed to Herrick Park in that profiteering of any kind is not authorized in the park."
In a March 22 email from Mr. Bebon to Mayor Larsen, after the mayor had visited Mr. Bebon's house and showed him the Herrick Park plans, he wrote, "Currently the park is a peaceful place where people bring their kids and the school children come over for recess to play. It is not Disney World. And there absolutely should not be a concert stage built next to my house or anywhere else in the park; it is not a concert venue."
In his petition, Mr. Bebon seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop work at the park. Mayor Larsen, in a phone call, said Wednesday afternoon that it had been denied. A call to the petitioner's lawyer to verify that claim was not immediately returned.
"We expect this will be dismissed once we answer it," said Mayor Larsen. He said the next step was that the village attorney, Lisa Perillo, would submit paperwork to the court by May 4.
