East Hampton Town Government & the Wainscott Community Explained
A small group of wealthy second-homeowners are bankrolling a campaign to incorporate Wainscott as a separate village. Unable to make an effective case against the South Fork Wind Farm’s proposed underground cable, and having failed to offer a viable alternative route, they are now demanding that the residents of the Wainscott School District foot the bill for their a new village in their misguided attempt to stop the South Fork Wind Farm.
Realizing that they cannot achieve this by admitting their true motivation, they are hurling numerous, untrue, and irresponsible allegations about. In fact, Wainscott has had a long, mutually beneficial relationship with East Hampton Town.
Farmlands
For decades, the East Hampton Town government has aggressively pursued the acquisition and preservation of Wainscott’s historic farmlands, using every possible means to achieve that community goal: Community Preservation Fund funds, County Farmland Preservation funds, and the town-wide tax base. The wind farm nay sayers urging incorporation seem to be ignorant of this town record, or they are choosing to ignore the facts.
Planning & Zoning
Large Lot Zoning: Some of the toughest, most restrictive zoning laws in the country apply to Wainscott. These were adopted by the Town Board against intense opposition. Subdivision and condominium developers have pretty much given up on exploiting Wainscott because of the Town Board’s (both Republican and Democratic) commitment and actions to preserve the rural character of historic Wainscott.
The Commercial Area
The current Town Board recently adopted a plan for the future of Wainscott (the Wainscott Hamlet Study), after many months and close consultation with the Wainscott community. That plan calls for almost half of the old “Digate Sand and Gravel Pit” to become a community Park. The developer of that 70 acre property in the Wainscott commercial district is asking for approval of 50 commercial/industrial sites as part of an intense redevelopment proposal currently before the Town Planning Board. How will an incorporated Wainscott manage the certain litigation to come?
The entire south side of Route 27 was zoned “Heavy Commercial Industrial” until the East Hampton Town Board rezoned the area and created a green belt. East Hampton Town Boards have worked for years to improve land-use patterns in the commercial district of Wainscott which predates zoning. That effort is ongoing and is frequently challenged in court by developers. This costly litigation is currently paid by the large tax base of East Hampton Town. Can the small tax base of an incorporated Wainscott afford to continue this defense without sticker-shock tax bills to future Wainscott tax-payers?
The East Hampton Airport
We note that the major donors and organizers in the incorporation effort use the airport in corporate jets to reach their summer homes. They make vague promises about “gaining greater control of the airport.” But what do they mean by that? Can we really trust them to do the right thing at the Airport? Current and successive Town Boards have worked long and hard to gain control of air traffic—including helicopter traffic—using every possible means. Currently, air traffic is controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has opposed every Town effort to rein in noise and air traffic. But the last of the Town’s grant obligations with the FAA expire in September 2021, and the Town has indicated that they will then consider every option, including curfews, restrictions, and even closing the airport. Are proponents of Incorporation trying to seize control of the airport in order to prevent these restrictions?
Clean Water
When it was discovered that local Fire Departments had used a toxic foam in training sessions at the airport, the current Town Board moved quickly to secure the installation of public water mains to the affected areas in Wainscott. The cost of this installation was $12.6 million, and the Town’s share of the cost was $7.5 million.
East Hampton Town sought and received over 5 million dollars in grant funds to help offset the costs of the installation of 8-1/2 miles of water mains throughout Wainscott. The rest of the costs were shared by the whole Town.
The Town opted to make this a town-wide debt service obligation, even though New York State Law requires that any service benefiting only a section of a Town should be paid for by taxpayers in a Special District which includes only the taxpayer’s resident in that district.
And the list goes on...
The proponents of an incorporated Wainscott have one goal: to stop the installation of an underground utility cable beneath Beach Lane – the shortest and least disruptive terrestrial route to the ultimate destination at the Cove Hollow utility substation.