Hampton Bays School District Files $10.6 Million Notice Of Claim Against Town Over Illegal Rentals

The Hampton Bays School District filed a notice of claim against Southampton Town last week, detailing plans to sue the municipality for more than $10.6 million—citing the town’s failure to enforce laws against long-term residential use of hotels and motels in the hamlet.The notice of claim—a first step toward a potential lawsuit—lists 18 Hampton Bays addresses that are “causing (and continuing to cause) damage to the Hampton Bays Union Free School District (and consequently its taxpayers) in unrecovered pupil costs.”The claim, which was filed on January 23, notes that the district spent more than $10.6 million on the education of students living in the illegal rentals since the 2012-13 school year, and the cost is growing daily.Board of Education President Kevin Springer, whose signature is on the claim, declined to comment when reached on Monday morning. The Board of Education’s attorney, Mark Rushfield of Shaw, Perelson, May & Lambert, LLP in Poughkeepsie, also declined to comment.Likewise, Town Attorney James Burke did not respond to requests for comment this week.The claim notes that the Board of Education fully intends to move forward with the lawsuit if the town doesn’t pay the district $10.6 million in damages.Illegal rentals in Hampton Bays have been a controversial issue in the hamlet for years.Fed up with the town’s inaction to regulate long-term stays at the Bel Aire Cove Motel in Hampton Bays—one of the addresses listed in the claim—the Concerned Citizens of Hampton Bays funded a study in 2016 to show how the extra use of the motel’s septic system was polluting nearby Penny Pond.Michael Dunn and Robert Liner, president and vice president of Concerned Citizens of Hampton Bays, said at the time that their group was so concerned about the pollution from the illegal use of the motel that they were able to gather $5,000 to hire an environmental engineer—P.W. Grosser Consulting Inc., based in Bohemia—to conduct a water quality study.Mr. Dunn also sits on the Hampton Bays Board of Education.Concerns over the illegal long-term rentals of motels and overcrowding of residences have repeatedly been aired by Hampton Bays residents at Board of Education and civic meetings for years—and have also been frequently brought to the attention of the town.In fact, Steven Troyd, a 28-year law enforcement veteran with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was appointed to head the municipality’s newly created Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness last year, in part, to help the town crack down on code enforcement efforts—specifically on overcrowding.Within two months of starting his position, Mr. Troyd led a four-day operation that resulted in more than 200 code violations being issued in 42 homes and motels in Hampton Bays and Shinnecock Hills.Maria Hults, a longtime Hampton Bays resident who handles public relations for the Hampton Bays Civic Association, said she wishes something was done about the illegal rentals before it got to the point that the school district felt it needed to file the notice of claim against the town.“I think it’s a terrible situation all the way around,” Ms. Hults said. “It’s bad for the students, it’s bad for the school—I don’t know what the solution is.”Ms. Hults suggested that the root of the issue may lie in the courts and code enforcement, who are giving only “light fines” to offending landlords.“I think code enforcement has to happen,” Ms. Hults said. “People should be living to code everywhere ... Something has to be done about it, and I don’t think the children should be the ones to pay for it.”