East Hampton Town’s 2024 draft capital plan — a wish list of 85 construction, upgrade, or acquisition initiatives with an estimated total cost of just over $15 million, much of it allocated to the Highway, Police, and Parks and Building Maintenance Departments — was presented to the town board on Tuesday.
The draft plan includes 25 fewer projects than 2023’s capital plan did, but is projected to cost $906,600 more. The 2024 plan proposes to issue $9.876 million in new debt, while the town will retire $11.31 million in principal debt this year. Grant funding is expected to offset the cost of some projects.
The plan includes $2.56 million for several special projects, with most of that sum allocated to Montauk.
The Ditch Plain coastal restoration project in Montauk, following severe damage to the beach and dunes during winter storms, will receive a tentative $1.75 million outlay. The cost has been estimated at $3 million to $5 million. The town board is “hoping that we’re going to get matching funds from New York State, but we haven’t heard that yet,” Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said. The town does not bond to purchase sand, she said, “because, unfortunately, it could be here today and gone tomorrow, depending on the storms and Mother Nature.”
Another $500,000 is allocated to the Montauk Playhouse, where an aquatic center and multiuse cultural center are to be constructed, on top of an earlier $5-million appropriation.
The heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system at police headquarters in Wainscott “is the big one,” James Pincott, the town’s capital projects manager, told the board. Coming in at an estimated $2.2 million, it will entail “a full replacement of the HVAC system with heat pumps and energy-recovery ventilators.” The upgrade aligns with the town’s goal of transitioning away from fossil fuels, but, in addition, the existing ventilation systems were “probably not” installed or insulated properly, Mr. Pincott said. “This proposal would not only replace the HVAC with a cleaner energy, but it will also replace the ventilation to recoup a lot of that air and also avoid the problems of potential for mold and things like that in the future, which is imminent if we leave it alone.” Another $75,000 is allocated for an HVAC upgrade at the Montauk Playhouse.
Also requested under the Buildings and Grounds rubric are $170,000 worth of pickup trucks with dump beds to replace aged vehicles, and $75,000 each for a custodial van and a plumbing van. A $50,000 allocation for townwide Americans With Disabilities Act improvements is among the department asks, as are $50,000 each to replace trash receptacles in Montauk, replace cemetery fencing throughout the town, and for various town building updates. For $40,000, the parking lot at the lifeguard office and dory barn beneath the Lamb Building in Amagansett can be replaced. “It’s been crumbling for some time,” Mr. Pincott said.
Chief Michael Sarlo of the Police Department listed 18 items to the board. The department needs $320,000 for communications-site improvements, and fleet-vehicle replacements will require $300,000. The department’s computer hardware is on an annual upgrade schedule “as we continue to modernize and upgrade,” the chief said, “whether it’s our records-management system or even just our operating system. . . . That’s just an ongoing rolling cost.” The draft capital plan allocates $200,000 to that end.
“We have a building we’d like to build somewhere within our campus, most likely in the impound yard, which we’ve already started to field some plans and estimates on,” Chief Sarlo told the board. “We’re kind of out of space to store some of our larger-scale equipment,” such as the mobile command unit, emergency services unit van, and police dive truck. “We’d like to have them all under one roof, climate controlled, safe, right at headquarters for emergency response teams to be able to grab and go.” The draft plan lists $100,000 to construct a vehicle storage building on the impound property.
On behalf of the Highway and Sanitation Departments, Stephen Lynch discussed construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Stephen Hand’s Path, Long Lane, and Two Holes of Water Road in East Hampton. The draft capital plan allocates $1.55 million toward the project. The Highway Department also seeks $350,000 for road construction, $300,000 for drainage projects, and $150,000 for truck refurbishment.
The Sanitation Department seeks a new grinding machine, or grinder, at an outlay of $1 million. “I try to replace that every five years,” Mr. Lynch said. “We get a grant every 10 years from the [New York State Department of Environmental Conservation] for 50 percent of the cost. The reason I do it every five years is that’s when the warranty expires on the motor,” which two years ago cost $500,000 to replace, he said. “It has to be replaced every five years, and every 10 years we get 50 percent back.” Also sought are two payloaders at a combined cost of $420,000.
John Rooney, the superintendent of the Recreation Department, told the board that among its plans are a renovation of the public bathrooms at Abraham’s Path in Amagansett, a $450,000 project; $260,000 for engineering for design and construction of a multisport field and pickleball courts at the Stephen Hand’s Path playing fields in Wainscott; and $102,000 for expansion design plans and needed renovations at the Lt. Lee Hayes Youth park, also in Amagansett. Two pickup trucks for lifeguards will require an additional $128,000.
Board members were generally supportive of the department heads’ requests. Becky Hansen, the town administrator, also told the board that she had received a last-minute request from the fire marshal for an additional vehicle, at an estimated cost of $80,000. She will attend Tuesday’s meeting of the board, allowing it to deliberate for a week. “If there’s anything else that you would like included or addressed next Tuesday, please let me know by Friday,” she said, “so that we can have that discussion again next Tuesday.”
