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A barrage of arguments was made this week against a proposal to limit the number of vehicles allowed at the Picnic Area beach, echoing those at two earlier hearings held by the Southampton Village Board in May.
It was the first time, however, that no one rose to argue in favor of a limit on vehicles.
The Village Board is considering capping, at 175, the number of vehicles that may access the Picnic Area at any given time. The limit would be in effect between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It’s a move prompted by a lawsuit filed by homeowners along the stretch of beach, who say the village permitting the practice is unfair to those who own properties along that stretch and affects their own enjoyment of the beach.
The Picnic Area is the only stretch of ocean beach in Southampton Town where people are permitted in summer to drive and park on the beach between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., as long as they have a current village beach driving permit.
Residents like Francis Adamczeski, a regular user of the Picnic Area, and Phil Gay, a Water Mill resident and the owner of East End Clambakes in Southampton, had voiced their opposition at the previous two hearings, and did so again last Thursday, June 9.
Jim McLauchlen, who works in his family’s real estate business in Southampton, said the 17th century Dongan Patent guarantees all of the residents of Southampton access to the beach, but that the right is being stripped away.
In 1985, Mr. McLauchlen said, residents were able to drive west on the beach from Halsey Neck Lane to Shinnecock Inlet. By the mid-1990s, the distance of drivable beach was cut in half twice, so that off-road beach enthusiasts could drive only from Road F to the county park.
“This whole meeting is preemptive, based on a threat, and it’s wrong. That’s not the way this is supposed to work,” Mr. McLauchlen said. “Punishing the rest of the community for a couple of bad apples, if in fact they exist … that’s not right.”
Southampton Town Trustees President Ed Warner also spoke in opposition to the limits the village has proposed. He said people who move to the South Fork are attracted by the things they see that the locals cherish, but then want to change what they have.
“I’ve never been at the Picnic Area in my life,” said Mr. Warner. “I do respect everybody here, and I do want them to cherish what they have. Going forward, if we lose this beach for beach driving, what is next?”
Richard Yastrzemski, a Village Board member, told those in attendance that their arguments did not fall on deaf ears. “Tonight’s comments, I will admit from this group, got more business-like, fact-based—and that’s good,” he said.
While Mr. Yastrzemski said he is not a regular at the Picnic Area, he added that he likes having the ability to drive on the beach. “It’s about protecting those rights,” he said. “That’s what I firmly believe. Where does it stop?”
The meeting was originally planned as a third and final public hearing on the proposed limit, with the anticipation that an environmental impact study would be completed, but a study was not completed.
When everyone who wanted to speak had finished, Mayor Mark Epley made a motion to close the public hearing—but an outcry from members of the public convinced him to keep it open until the environmental impact study is presented at the next meeting, on June 21 at 5 p.m. It is not yet known if the meeting will take place at Village Hall or the Cultural Center on Pond Lane, which is where last Thursday’s meeting was held to accommodate a larger crowd.
Greg Wehner on Jun 14, 2016