Letters to the Editor: CPF Water 11.03.16

Important Proposition

Amagansett

October 27, 2016

Dear David:

On the Tuesday ballot, voters must approve or reject a bill concerning the hugely successful community preservation fund. The language differs slightly among the five towns (Southampton, East Hampton, Shelter Island, Southold, and Riverhead), but the gist is exactly the same:

To extend the real estate transfer tax that goes to the community preservation fund (due to expire in 2030) to the year 2050. And to approve use of up to 20 percent of the annual income for water quality improvement projects. It should be noted, however, that the plans provide broad guidelines for improvement projects and that specific projects must be approved individually before implementation. Each town will have a technical advisory committee to review projects before they are approved by the board. 

After careful consideration, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons has agreed to support passage of this important proposition. Here are the reasons:

Each town has prepared a water quality improvement plan that details the problems, priorities, and means by which the problems will be approached. Approval of this referendum will provide the funds for the towns to implement these plans. 

Extending the program for an additional 20 years will assure the towns’ abilities to engage in long-range planning regarding water remediation, as well as for land-preservation purposes.

This proposition acknowledges that a combination of land and water are critical to maintain the Hamptons’ quality of life and health. We urge voters to vote “yes” on the proposition. And by the way, to vote on it, you must turn the ballot over! Propositions are printed on the reverse side.

Sincerely,

JUDITH SAMUELSON

Co-president

League of Women Voters 

Of the Hamptons

Back of Ballot

East Hampton

October 31, 2016

Dear David, 

Our community preservation fund and its proposed expansion to include funding of water quality projects are as important on a local level as climate control is on a worldwide level. Acquisition of land by the town to prevent development protects our groundwater supply; however, even if all of the undeveloped land in the Town of East Hampton were acquired by the town and not built on, we would still have a significant threat to our drinking water and the waters of our bays, the latter by reason of the runoff of nitrogen and sewage byproducts and other pollutants.

 Upward of half of residential sewage is produced by inadequate cesspools and septic systems that many homeowners cannot afford to rectify. The town needs to be able to help such people and Proposition 1 will allow for this as well as for the funding of projects to prevent the pollution of our bays and estuaries that are so essential to our fishing industry and recreation. 

Accordingly, I encourage all voters to be sure to vote in favor of Proposition 1, which is on the back of the ballot.

David J. Weinstein 

Vote Yes

Amagansett

October 31, 2016

To the Editor:

Amagansett is poised to be ruined. With the astonishing amount of development potential of numerous projects, not only is the village about to be wrecked, but also the water supply of the entire town. 

We must stop these ill-conceived projects and reduce, not increase, density. Our water supply, the Stony Hill aquifer, depends on it. This tiny little aquifer supplies almost all of the water for two-thirds of the Town of East Hampton, but ridiculous demands are being put on it. We are at the tipping point of poisoning our water supply, but the town seems to be doing little about that. The aquifer cannot sustain the present amount of development that we have.

The groundwater is being poisoned one flush at a time. Yet the town wants to dump another high-density project on us after we just absorbed the East niniHampton Housing Authority’s 40-unit senior citizens project. Nobody is against fair housing, but to threaten the water supply of most of the people of the town for a project that can be placed anywhere else in the town is insane. There has never been a water study of the effect of the senior citizens project, which should be done before any more development is done across Montauk Highway. 

The Bistrians are demanding a greedy price for their farmland, but who can be surprised. They have acted as bullies forever. Nevertheless, nothing but the future of Amagansett is at stake here. This land must be preserved.

So what can we do? All citizens of East Hampton who care about the quality of their water must vote yes on Proposition 1 by flipping over their ballot and voting yes to extend the Community Preservation Fund and also to allow a small portion of it to be used by the town to utilize a brilliant new denitrification technology to clean up areas that are being poisoned by our nitrogen. The reason the bays are now poisoned is because the groundwater that flows into them is full of nitrogen. Well, this new technology, which will shortly be available for every house, can clean up the nitrogen before it leaves your house.

This technology will take years to implement, but it is our best chance to clean up our poisoned water. In the meanwhile, our town board must take preserving our aquifer seriously and get to work to improve their lackluster performance in protecting our aquifer. We must give them the tools they need to clean up our water. Vote yes on Proposition 1 by flipping over your ballot and voting.

Sincerely,

Alexander Peters

President

Amagansett Springs 

Aquifer Protection