On the Agenda East Hampton Town Board May 21, 2013

Hello Fellow East Hampton Residents: Happy Memorial Day and weekend to all. Enjoy the beginning of the season and I hope you get an opportunity to participate in one of the many events planned in our town to celebrate those who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Tomorrow is the last work session in May and it will be held at Town Hall at 159 Pantigo Road in East Hampton and aired live on LTV, Channel 22. Our next work session will be Tuesday June 4th at 10:00 a.m. in East Hampton Town Hall. As usual, the meeting will begin with public comment.. After public comment, the Board will discuss the agenda items below. Noise Legislation The town board is reviewing the noise ordinance. The prior code was difficult to enforce and sometimes left a person/entity in the position of being in violation of the noise law even when there was no noise at their establishment. This is because the old code did not account for “ambient” noise, which is noise in the immediate surrounding area. The town board will hear from a noise expert on the issue of how noise is assessed. The draft new code is hoped to give those called to the scene of a potential offense better ability to issue a citation that will be upheld before a court. Fourth Quarter 2012 and First Quarter 2013 Financial report The Town’s chief financial officer, Len Bernard, will present the town’s financial reports. Springs Housing The people of Springs bear an inordinate share of the housing of residents of East Hampton. The area has the highest number of smaller lots, the lowest percentage of preserved lands, and the result is a disproportionate impact on the hamlet in terms of housing and crowding of the homes. In addition to this, there are many concerns of illegal overcrowding. The town board will look at various options to see if the town can strengthen its laws to ferret out those illegally overcrowding a home with the hope of decreasing the already overcrowded hamlet. Ditch Plains The sand at Ditch Plains has eroded away to the point that the shore line is down to the glacial rocks. We are advised that this situation makes the beach untenable for a town bathing beach. We are being told that the beach might have to be closed. Inasmuch as we the town are struggling with too few opportunities for bathers to swim at guarded beaches, and inasmuch as the town has accepted bids from vendors to set up at that beach, any potential closing of the beach raises issues and concerns and the town board will discuss those issues at tomorrow’s work session. Coastal Erosion Committee Recommendations The coastal erosion committee met for several months and came to the town board with suggestions for action to alleviate coastal erosion in downtown Montauk. Those suggestions were presented to the town board in mid-March and were unanimously approved. The town board asked the planning department and the town attorney’s office to come up with action steps to implement the suggestions from the committee. The planning department and the environmental department have been working on that issue and will be presenting their suggestions to the board. Airport Routes The Town will discuss airport routes. Deer Survey Results The Town has been working on a deer management plan for over a year. After listening to the recommendations of a committee which discussed the issues, the Town approved having aerial images done to assess the numbers of deer in the town. Not only will such a process determine whether the deer are merely being shoved into new territory or are increasing, but it will give the town a baseline off of which to measure any success of any plan to mitigate the deer issues, should any steps be warranted. Dioguardo EAF The Town received an application from the owner of the land on which Cyril’s is situated, Dioguardo, for a change of zone. The town held the hearing. Many people came out and spoke. The town must weigh the statements and evidence presented and part of that process is to come up with and analyze an environmental assessment report (EAF). The town asked the planning department to come up with an EAF, and that information is to be presented at the work session. UR Mapped Roads in Maps 284 and 483 The Town has approximately 330 miles of road within its 73 square miles. Of those roads, approximately 30 are “urban renewal roads.” These urban renewal roads are parts of subdivisions created many years ago. Those subdivisions contain roads, which were part of the lands owned by the developer and laid out by that developer. In the 1970’s the Town used a section of the State law, the Urban Renewal law, to upgrade those subdivisions to ensure that each of those 20x100 lots could not be built on, but rather that any home would need at least 7 (?) such lots. In addition, the law required that anyone building in these subdivisions pay a proportionate share of paving the otherwise unimproved roads. The roads are private, but no one is really in charge of maintaining them. In an effort to provide a procedure to ensuring the roads are safely maintained, the town held many hearings on whether to set up road districts to have all the residents of any “urban renewal map” area pay the cost of upgrading the roads to town highway specifications and bring the roads into the highway system so that the town could ensure they are properly maintained. In the meantime, the process is still not complete, and the town will discuss what the delays are and what we can do to move the process along. Thank you for your commitment to our community. Your representative, Theresa Quigley