Bamboo Taboo Tabled In East Hampton Village

Bamboo lovers can keep their stalks for now. The East Hampton Village Board had been considering a ban on the plant, but decided to put it on hold following a work session discussion on Friday.

The plan was for a complete ban, plain and simple, that would have been added to the village code. Under that scenario, bamboo could not be planted, maintained or “otherwise permitted to exist” by property owners or tenants. The village attorney, Linda Riley, had drawn up code amendments and a public hearing was ready to be scheduled.

Elbert Edwards, a board member, was first to balk. “I think it’s excessive to ban it completely,” he said on Friday. It makes a good buffer between commercial and residential properties, for instance between the American gas station and a house on Montauk Highway, he said.

In September, two residents of Dayton Lane had complained to Village Administrator Larry Cantwell about a neighbor’s bamboo invading their yards. Sag Harbor Village was considering establishing a bamboo setback to keep spreading species at bay, and East Hampton officials thought they might follow suit with an outright ban.

When board members asked him on Friday about public input, Mr. Cantwell said he had also heard from a resident who liked his neighbor’s spreading bamboo and thought a ban was a bad idea.

Board members talked about taking a softer approach. “What in-between mechanism might we be able to achieve?” asked Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr.

Among the suggestions were letting bamboo stand as long as it stays on its owner’s property or letting it stand, and stray, if the neighbors don’t object.

No, said Ms. Riley: “We’re talking about criminal violations of law.” To enforce the first option, the village would have to “be prepared to prove that it has encroached” with surveys and code enforcement officers stepping in.

“Bamboo police?” the mayor suggested, joking.

And “you can’t prohibit it depending on whether or not a neighbor likes it,” she said. “You can’t have the neighbor acting as the building inspector.”

“It’s either prohibited or it’s not,” Ms. Riley said.

She also pointed out that neighbors who are disturbed by encroaching bamboo “can take it up civilly as a practical matter.”

“If the neighbors have some other recourse, I’m not sure we need to legislate it,” said Barbara Borsack, a board member.

Mr. Edwards agreed. Mayor Rickenbach suggested that the village put a bamboo ban “on hold and see if we get any public input.”