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There was less than smooth sailing for one Bridgehampton resident’s plans to revive the Mecox Yacht Club at town-owned property at the end of Bay Lane in Water Mill, as several neighboring residents lined up to criticize the proposal at a Southampton Town Board meeting Tuesday.
Jeff Mansfield of the Mecox Sailing Association, which is slated to manage the property as a nonprofit, came before the board in hopes of entering into a license agreement to resurrect the club—an organization that once taught children how to sail small sailboats two decades ago, he said. The club would include a sailing school and sailboat racing and would serve as a boating organization for people of all ages.
Part of the proposal for the property would include clearing about 6,000 square feet of vegetation... more
Jeff Mansfield of the Mecox Sailing Association, which is slated to manage the property as a nonprofit, came before the board in hopes of entering into a license agreement to resurrect the club—an organization that once taught children how to sail small sailboats two decades ago, he said. The club would include a sailing school and sailboat racing and would serve as a boating organization for people of all ages.
Part of the proposal for the property would include clearing about 6,000 square feet of vegetation... more
That a group of city folk would hire a Melville attorney who then argues with a straight face that sailing club with 16 sunfish sail boats could somehow "destroy" a public resource is so absurd it defies comprehension.
This attitude is so enraging to me--and I'm sure ...more anyone else who grew up out here--and knows anything about the old "yacht" club. a scrappy shack from which local kids learned to sail and had fun on the bay without "destroying" anything or bothering anyone. My goodness, these goons make it sound like the end of Bay Lane is going to look like the King Kullen parking lot! If there were ever more than 3 cars down there at any one time I'd be shocked.
GET A LIFE!
The plan calls for striping the street and turning Bay lane at the end in to a parking lot.In addition it calls for Porta-potties to be placed at the site. how would you like porta-poties on your street. Sounds like a really bad idea. As far as the NIMBYs comment ...more it is unappreciated. we are a community and we should behave like one.
Possibly its time for a sanity check here. I don't think that anyone would disagree with a sailing club for children,That is not at all the point. I live in watermill. i have seen lots of change in the time that i have lived here. Some has been good and some that i shake my head at. This one boggles me. Why would the town want to clear 6000 yes 6000 feet of wetlands for the benefit of 30 very special families that will have "exclusive" memberships to this club.On top of this ...more they will take a quiet street on Bay lane and turn in into a parking lot...stripes and all. Lets get all the truth out here. i salute the 70 families on Bay lane that want quiet enjoyment of there homes. Sincerely Concerned family
1) Your memory of the club as it existed before is exactly what is envisioned now.
2) It's 6,000 sqft, not 6,000 acres. And included in that area is the club shack, the side of the road and the same area alongside the shack (that is overgrown now) where the boat racks used to be and will be located again under the new plan.
3) There is no parking lot planned for the area.
4) It's not an ...more exclusive club for "30 special" familles as Mr. White contends above. He makes it sound like The Bridge or the Shinnecock Golf Links!This "club" is the antihesis of excusive. That's the point. Show up, store your boat, learn to sail. Have fun.
I live on Mecox Bay full year and I think your PR firm is disgusting. Stop stuffing our mailboxes with illegal flyers!!
Like Emily Litella on SNL, (RIP):
"OH...You mean 60 x 100 feet, not 6000 acres and that includes the shack ? NEVERMIND !" HaHaHa !
If I'm not mistaken this is the same road that the apple picking farm is on? Would the sailing club be more disturbing than that place when all the ...more day trippers come out. Hey in for a penny in for a pound.
1 This is not horsemill where there is apple picking. That might be a better site. This is on Bay lane which is ONLY residential.
2. The town is basically giving this to the yacht club for free.
3.Who decides what lucky family's get to enjoy sailing lessons. Today anyone can sail, kayak etc.
LETS GET THE REAL TRUTH OUT THERE.
are you a PR firm employee?
People love and remember the Mecox Bay Yacht Club because it was a great moment for the community and is remembered with fondness and a bit of romance. What was beautiful about it was that it seemed to have developed according to Harry Ludlow and others spontaneously. There wasn't a town meeting or an RFP in those days it was simply built because where there is a will there is a way. Even the name "the mecox bay yacht club" was ironic ...more and a bit of a joke. There were no yachts. No commodores. There was no fancy clubhouse - it was a shack. The club "closed" 20 years ago. Since then the club went away and the era of the romance and active Mecox/Bridgehampton yacht club community ended while the memory lived on in all of those who were taught to sail there.
In those 20 years a new community developed - many homes have been built around the area some of them huge and expensive. There’s a school bus now that goes down Bay Lane because there are school kids that get picked up on this street. Where the yacht club once thrived windsurfers, sailors, kayakers, clammers, bay men, jet skiers, neighborhood children, even occasionally sunbathers (even teenagers making out in their cars) have spontaneously grown into a new community. Because we're all human beings communities develop spontaneously just as the yacht club did decades ago.
Now the people who were part of a community 20 years ago want to reclaim what they had out of good wishes, memories and an excellent desire to turn back the clock to a simpler time and make it live again to the benefit of everyone’s children. A lot of the ad hoc good-humored quality is gone because now when you want to do something at the end of Bay Lane you have to wade thru DEC regulations, town meetings and neighborhood complaints. Emblematic of their desire is that the entire presentation of the mecox yacht club is based on a map from 20 or 30 years ago and doesn't remotely resemble what the neighborhood looks like now.
Why should a community that exists now be displaced by one that existed before - decades ago? What is the sense of imposing the past on the present no matter how romantic it might be? If it were abandoned that might be a good idea. But its alive and well – why would you deny the present users of this area.
When the Shinnecocks talk about owning all of Southampton and taking it over don't people scratch their heads and say huh? Restitution to Native Americans aside - it is patently nonsensical that an ancient community would reclaim the present.
This isn’t “second home NIMBYs screwing over locals” this is the present saying to the past you had your time and time has passed. The community that has grown and developed in the last 20 years has the right to grow and develop in its own unique way.
Nobody is asking for anyone to be "displaced" - it's called sharing the resources. Is sharing such an abhorrent concept to you? What's next, a locked gate across the entrance to Bay Lane? I think you'd probably get behind a campaign for that. Keep the local riff-raff at least a half mile away.
how about letting up on the amount of fertilyzer you dunp in the bay to keep your "preferred vegetation" green?
if this is town property then it should be available to all town residents to use- and i don't care who lives on the block and doesn't like it. too bad. its enough to make you want to gag
I did not hear anyone complaining about that monstrosity. I received no flyers in my mailbox to show up and oppose that.
The hyposcrisy runs deep on bay ...more lane..........
#2 - I use the Bay all time time and I almost never see anyone using that entry for windsurfing, kayaking or kiting. And no one sunbathes down there. People walk there dogs down there to pee on the beach and thats about it. The fishermen will have plenty of parking since they usually show up at 4:30 am to work.
And if that road can't handle traffic, why are there 30 landscaping ...more vehicles on the roads on summer thursdays and fridays?
The only argument you have which holds water is the port a potty situation. Perhaps a shelter can be built to hide them from view?
It's really too bad there is an element of divisiveness in the equation of restoring a little history and equal access to the bay. The ...more comment about doing this at Scott Cameron and using "clearing the wetlands" as a ploy sounds pretty disingenuous to me. The "disrupt a neighborhood" statement is the real deal here.
Is anyone focusing on the pre existing use of MYC? Remember, no one is asking for a full scale marina here!
After reading all of the negative commentary on such a relatively low impact use (sailing-OMG) I wouldn't be surprised if DUNEHAMPTON tries to rear it's ugly head again. Maybe SABA should help.
i think its the latter- we are not stupid- we can read. vegetation does NOT mean wetlands. if in fact you are opposed to destroying vegetation, then don't cut your grass or pull weeds from your garden.
If you read the permitting process @ http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/6359.html
it can easily be seen what types of activities are permitted within tidal wetlands.
Coming up with bogus complaints, especially the comment about the applicant's purported "connections" ...more seems to further show that you are against any activity in "your" neighborhood. Since when is Bay Lane a private road? SABA better stand ready to defend again!