Wi-Fi at East Hampton Town Beaches, Parks: Necessity or Nuisance?

Beaches around East Hampton Town would get free Wi-Fi under a proposal floated by Councilman David Lys this week, a service that he said would be a public convenience and a safety boost across the town.

Lys proposed putting out a request for proposals from Wi-Fi providers to license the right to install their own internet equipment at a collection of town bay and ocean beaches and parks and recreational facilities. By contracting with a licensee, the service could potentially be provided at no cost to taxpayers — the benefit to the licensee being that they would collect email addresses from those who logged into the service. Lys said he would want the actual connections to be free of charge.

“Amid COVID, I think what we all realized is that it’s critical to have wireless connectivity,” Lys said.

The internet connectivity would also provide some of the infrastructure for the town to potentially add security cameras at some of the locations, especially those that have had vandalism issues in the past.

Initially, Lys proposed that the request for proposals should call for service to be provided at Atlantic Beach in Amagansett, Maidstone Park in Springs, Gin Beach in Montauk, the Montauk skate park, Ditch Plains and the Stephen Hands Path ballfields.

Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said that she thinks that the town should be looking past a limited number of locations proposed by Lys’s pilot plan to a more comprehensive coverage.

“I think this is something we need to provide,” she said. “I would add Indian Wells, the beaches on the bay side where you’ve got our nipper program going on. I think any beach that has a lifeguard should have service. If we’re putting a lifeguard at a beach, it’s because that’s where people come, and anywhere that people gather, that’s where we should have Wi-Fi.”

Lys said he hopes that a request for bids will draw interest quickly and that if a contractor can be chosen by spring the equipment could be in place by the start of the summer season.

Councilwoman Sylvia Overby was the lone voice of skepticism among the board members, saying that she thinks there are some who would prefer that beaches be something of a sanctuary from the connectivity world. She worried that some people with Wi-Fi powered smart phones might be more disruptive to others who come to the beach as a respite of tranquility.

“If you build it, they will come,” she said. “Every kid has one of these.”