The East Hampton Town Board discussed myriad topics related to Montauk, from boat slips to beach parking to traffic and drainage along Fort Pond, at its meeting in the hamlet on Tuesday.
At the Montauk Playhouse, where construction of an aquatics and cultural center is underway, Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez reported that subcontractors inadvertently damaged fuel lines connecting two oil tanks last week, causing a heating fuel spill. A press release after Tuesday’s meeting reported that “The matter is now largely resolved.” The spill was reported to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and a D.E.C. officer advised excavating any soil that smelled of oil. That soil was removed and contained, and a soil sample taken Tuesday was determined to be clean.
The town processes about 200 mooring permits per year, at present through the town clerk. On Tuesday, Councilman David Lys and Timothy Treadwell, the senior town harbormaster, suggested the process be moved out of the clerk’s office and to the town harbormaster’s office instead. “Permits were handled by the clerk’s office but enforced by the Marine Patrol office. We’re looking to consolidate those efforts,” said Mr. Lys.
“It will aid enforcement,” explained Mr. Treadwell. “It will help the Marine Patrol officers interact in a positive way with the boating public, because we’ll be more interfaced with them through this process.” In the future, permitting will be done online, through the town’s open.gov portal.
A public hearing and resolution is required to change the permitting authority. Ms. Burke-Gonzalez suggested the board notice the hearing tonight, so it could be held in early February, making it possible that permits could be handled by the harbormaster as early as March.
Mr. Lys also led a presentation reviewing the paid parking that was instituted for the first time last spring at a handful of Montauk locations. At Kirk Park, he reported 3,151 transactions. In the right-of-way parking areas where previously there had never been paid parking, he reported 2,857 transactions, netting the town $72,000 in nontax revenue.
“Once we worked out the bugs, it was a very smooth season,” said Sgt. Ken Alversa, speaking for the town police. “Any additional growth would be greatly welcomed.” In fact, Mr. Lys said the plan was to bring ParkMobile, the app that handles parking payments, to the Atlantic Avenue Beach parking lot and another “right-of-way” parking area that includes nine spots at South Emerson Street. Additionally, license plate readers could enforce parking at Indian Wells, Wainscott beaches, and the Northwest Woods bay beaches. Councilman Tom Flight wondered if they could be used to enforce East Hampton Town Recycling Center passes as well. Sergeant Alversa told him that was a possibility.
The raised revenue “Allows the town to put some money into beautification, specifically into downtown Montauk,” Mr. Lys said.
Councilman Flight, who lives in Montauk, expressed concern that there had been a “knock-on effect on other parking lots in town.” He specifically worried about the parking lot bound by South Embassy Street and South Euclid Avenue, behind what will soon be Montauk Chemists, the new pharmacy. “I think it’s going to see a huge amount of traffic,” he said, hoping to find a balance between long and short-term parking in the lot. “I want to ensure that residents with mobility issues are able to park near the pharmacy.”
Meanwhile, Jim Grimes, an East Hampton Town Trustee and Montauk resident, shared Councilman Flight’s concern about that lot and voiced others about a parking area on South Erie Street, bordering a playing field. “It’s unsavory what goes on back there,” he said, with Uber drivers and “people smoking weed.”
Mr. Grimes also had a lot to say about plans to update an intersection at Industrial Road and Second House Road, where he runs his business. “We’re happy with the plan right now,” he told the board.
The site is complicated by poor drainage that leads to ponding in the roadway that at times doesn’t dissipate for weeks. Then there is the speeding around a turn made blind by phragmites growing unchecked in the corner of Fort Pond. The PSEG substation is nearby and Jim Peterman, a consultant with L.K. McLean Associates, told the board that when it was constructed, it had to be raised to keep it above the flood plain, which exacerbated flooding from the runoff. As a result, the utility company is to pay for a portion of the improvements.
The water table is only two feet below the roadway, which is already constrained by four huge transmission lines that leave the substation and pass under the intersection. “The majority of power to Montauk runs underneath there,” Mr. Lys said.
He introduced a plan to the board for roadway improvements that would “formalize” a small island in the middle of the exchange and create two drainage outfalls fed by an asphalt curb, which would guide water to be filtered through a planted roadside gully before draining into the pond.
“This is designed for a two-inch rainfall,” said Councilman Flight. “If we’re seeing six-inch events, we’re still going to see significant flooding here.”
“But it will dissipate,” Mr. Peterman said. “Right now, it stays for a week. With five inches, it will stay for an hour.”
“So, the duration of a flooding event is what we can mitigate, versus flooding events themselves,” said Mr. Flight.
“This is not going to be a perfect plan,” Mr. Lys said. “This is going to be a better plan.” Stop signs may be added as well on the north side of Second House Road, and the southwest side of Industrial Road. However, the board put off deciding on the traffic calming portion of the plan. Members agreed on the design to address flooding and Councilman Lys told them he hoped construction, which will take three months, could begin in October.
In non-Montauk news, Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez announced that tree clearing had begun at the Center for Modern Aging and Human Services, the name given to the new senior citizens center that will be built on Abraham’s Path in Amagansett.
Reed Jones was appointed to the planning board to finish out the final year of Samuel Kramer’s term. Mr. Kramer left the board after not being reappointed chairman.
