Civic Group Sues Town Over Longest Residential Dock on Lake Montauk

As promised, a Montauk civic organization filed suit against East Hampton Town after the Zoning Board of Appeals granted a variance for a 15-foot extension on Lake Montauk's longest residential dock, a 149-foot dock off the property of former New York Post publisher Peter Kalikow.

After claiming at a that there were 800 citizens "opposed to this project who will fight it tooth and nail," the Concerned Citizens of Montauk allege that in granting a variance for the dock, the ZBA failed to adhere to the State Environmental Quality Review Act by not requiring an environmental impact statement before approval.

The variance was granted unanimously at a June 28 hearing.

According to the State Department of Environmental Conservation website, SEQRA "requires the sponsoring or approving governmental body to identify and mitigate the significant environmental impacts of the activity it is proposing or permitting."

Kalikow's attorney stated at a hearing in late March that his client needs a long dock because his boat skims the bottom of the shallow lake as it approaches shore, particularly in low tide. Adding onto it, he said, would prevent damage to the bottom of the lake.

But whether the results of the project would infringe further upon the local environment is what CCOM wants to know.

"The ZBA cannot continue to pile known impacts on top of known impacts, continue to permit the degradation of critical habitat, and then claim they have no responsibility for the collapse of these already-imperiles natural systems," said Bob Stern, CCOM president. "We had to file this suit."

The organization also announced that another lawsuit against East Hampton Town for attempting to sell off Fort Pond House Park has remained on course after a New York State Supreme Court judge determined the plaintiffs had proper standing.