Amagansett Residents Call for a 'Land of Know'

Amagansett residents continue to sound off about the East Hampton Town Board's decision to approve a mass gathering permit for the music festival in August, and now a lawyer's gotten involved.

East Hampton Town Hall was filled to capacity at a meeting of the board on Thursday night, though it was a mixture of people who came for the music festival and for those who came about accessory apartment legislation.

About 20 residents were represented by attorney Jeffrey Bragman, who told the board that the mass gathering permit for MTK: Music to Know should not have been issued for Ocean View Farm because it is a commercial assembly in any area that is not zoned for such.

"The code distinguishes that kind of event from a social event and basically tells you that assembly for commercial purposes is the sale of goods or service for pecuniary gain," he said "That’s what this rock concert is about; it’s a profit making venture. This board has admitted that by issuing a commercial mass gathering permit."

"If you could issue a mass gathering permit for any profit making venture anywhere in the town you could bust the zoning code at any location in the town," Bragman continued.

Several speakers also asked the town board to rescind the permit, again, even though previous requests have not yielded a result.

While the organizers have promised $100,000 to a charity, Bragman said it has not been guaranteed in writing. And of the promise of jobs and internships for teenagers, he said, the jobs would be meanial. "My suggestion is let’s give them internships, bring them down to town hall, bring them down to the ZBA, bring them to the planning board. Let’s let them learn about government, democracy, and protecting our environment."

He also said that there was not adequate acreage for parking and that the town board had not properly noticed the community before and after making its decision.

"We're not about East Hampton being a town of no: 'N-O.' We're about East Hampton being a land of know: 'K-N-O-W.' As in know before you go."

While he contended 19,000 tickets would be sold for around $1.9 million, the organizers and their employees, who also attended the event, said that figure was not entirely accurate.

Chris Jones, one of the organizers from Sag Harbor said, "That isn’t gross profit that’s gross revenue. Gross revenue is a multiplier of ticket sales by the number of people. The number of people is 9,500 people. So you arrive at a gross revenue number. You then deduct all the multiple things from that event and that arrive at profit number."

Ellie Jannetti of North Haven, who is working full-time with Jones on sales and community outreach, said that only 9,500 people would be attending the two-day festival because each ticket is for two days. She described it as a "a very upscale event" that she would bring her three children to.

However, Susan Bratton of Amagansett said that even as someone who attends music festivals around the country regularly, she was still concerned about its implications on the community. "This is somewhat like buying a house sight unseen by an inexperienced real estate broker," she said.

She recalled waiting in 110 degree heat for four hours on a line to get into the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in California and a bunch of "drunk and stoned kids" pushed her into a gate as they were trying to get in. "What happens when the music stops?"

But, Brian Powell, a young man and recent East Hampton High School graduate, said, "That's California, this is East Hampton."

"What I pictured was that polo crowd, something I could go to with my mother, with my family."

John Broderick, a concert designer who has worked for Tim McGraw, Metallica, and Madonna and lives in Amagansett, said "even by the most rudimentary standards" the festival was not well planed. "This is the wrong promoters, the wrong crowd, the wrong place . . . and we feel wronged."

The town board did not respond to any of the public comments.