Wainscott to Town Board: Ask Music Festival for More Dough

Wainscott residents don't think a $100,000 charitable donation is enough if the musical festival organizers want to disrupt a busy summer weekend.

In a letter on Monday, the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee has recommended the East Hampton Town Board ask for more money.

"We agree with the board's decision to request a contribution and we believe that this type of monetary contribution should be requested of all large mass gathering events that will negatively impact the hamlets," wrote Chairwoman Diana Weir. The committee felt the $100,000 that Chris Jones and Bill Collage agreed to for the first permit they applied for-- the one that still stands --  in Amagansett was :extremely low."

Following an outcry from a group of Amagansett residents, Jones and Collage have asked to of the two-day musical festival from   to the town-owned in Wainscott. Their commercial mass gathering permit application for the airport is still pending and being reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The town board is also reviewing the environmental impacts.

Despite the move to relocate the concert, last month against the town and organizers on grounds that the permit was issued illegally and without proper review.

The board approved a permit for the Amagansett location in December, and, as part of the agreement, required a $100,000 donation to an East Hampton charity. According to the Wainscott committee, the contribution should be commensurate with the event's scale and the amount they stand to profit from, she said. They have asked the town board to request more of a contribution.

Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who read the letter to the board at Tuesday's work session, said he and the council members would take their recommendations under advisement for this permit as well as future ones.

By phone on Tuesday afternoon he said it was likely the organizers would be making a donation to the airport and that their overall contribution to the town would be in excess of $100,000.

"The WCAC is agreed that we are not categorically opposed to allowing large scale events to be held in the town and specifically in Wainscott," Weir wrote, noting that the committee had had "a lively discussion" on the topic at its meeting on Saturday.

Weir told the board the committee was unable to make recommendation on whether or not to support the festival due to lack of information. They wanted to know the the "music genre, the finances and profits to be derived, the financial stability of the promoters and their experience in producing this type of large scale event . . . "

The members were concerned, Weir said, about the impact and disruption to air and street traffic since the festival would be going on between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. But, Weir wrote, "We are fully aware that these events bring much needed revenue to many other businesses in town and that we are largely a tourist economy."

The committee also requested that if the festival is approved and moved to Wainscott that the board commit to rotating large-scale events throughout the hamlet "so that not all the negative impacts are imposed on only one hamlet to the benefit and relief of the other hamlets."

Reached by email, Jones said he was traveling and would be unavailable to comment until his return next week.