Town Board Green Lights Shark Attack Sounds Party with New Parking Plan

The East Hampton Town Board held an emergency meeting Wednesday morning to sort out a last-minute glitch in plans for the Shark Attack Sounds party at the Montauk Yacht Club on Friday.

The board rescinded a mass gathering permit for 3,900 people that it issued in a 3-2 vote late last month, and then approved a new permit, with amendments to the parking, in a vote by the same margin.

New information came to light this week that the off-site parking approved for Rita's Stables in Montauk was actually not allowed there after all. Thomas W. Horn, an attorney for fashion photographer Ben Watts, the organizer, showed the board that other provisions have been made for parking — at an open field on Montauk Highway in Amagansett, the property used for Soldier Ride parking where luxury senior housing is currently being proposed.

"Seventeen buses will transport guests from the Amagansett site and a shuttle will patrol Montauk for those already in the hamlet who can then board for the short ride to Star Island," Horn said by email Wednesday afternoon.

According to organizers, the party is sold out as of Wednesday afternoon.

After the hour-long meeting to hash out the problem, Deputy Supervisor Theresa Quigley, who voted in favor of the permit, again, said the new plan is an inferior one. "I don't think it's optimal. But I think that it's offered something. The police thought they were adequate and who am I to second guess the police?" she said.

The party has many objectors due to the amount of guests expected and noise, among other issues. Last year, Shark Attack Sounds was held at Rick's Crabby Cowboy, and it was shut down after officials said it spun out of control, clogging East Lake Drive. This year's party is said to be donating a portion of the funds to the Montauk Playhouse.

Reached at the yacht club, Lloyd Van Horn, the general manager, said the party is well thought out. "I just feel like we want to do an event of the size and prove its minimal effect on the town."

Quigley said she voted in favor of the permit for the party, now in its 11th year, because she shared the philosophy of the two other board members who voted to approve it, Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilman Dominick Stanzione. "We're a tourist community. This is what happens during this high season," she said.

Wilkinson said previously that he did not feel the town could prohibit a party from taking place at the yacht club, a commercial establishment with a good reputation.

The real question, Quigley said, is: How did this happen? "I think somebody fell down on the job. It's not our jobs to review all of the aspects of the application. It's our job is to see whether it's going to create a problem," she said. "If we can't trust our employees to do the jobs, and we're going to do it, then why are we paying them?"

The caveat approved in the first permit remains — the music must be shut off by 11 p.m. The original application requested music be allowed until 2 a.m. The party can go on longer, but the music has to end then.

The permit also allows for 20 tents, a lighted stage, and 32 portable toilets.

The plan also includes a multi-level security presence and sobriety checkpoints that will keep intoxicated guests from attending. Arrangements have been made for two emergency medical technicians and an ambulance to be on duty throughout the party. According to the permit, they will keep in contact with East Hampton Town police and Montauk Fire Department ambulance company.

With reporting by Andrew Lenoir