
Supporters of an ambitious plan to reconstruct a six-mile stretch of ocean beach from Water Mill to Sagaponack say that the vast majority of the property owners within the project’s reach see the pressing need to restore the once broad beaches and are willing to ante up the lion’s share of the nearly $24 million it will cost to get it done.
That will be important, because Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said at a hearing on the proposal last Thursday evening, August 30, that if the Town Board approves the project later this month as expected, it will call for a referendum of support among the 125 property owners who will be asked to foot the bill. The matter would have been subject to a permissive referendum, whereby opponents could have petitioned for a public vote, but the board instead will go directly to the public for approval.
A few of those property owners, most notably the family of Sagaponack farming scion John C. White and officials of The Bridgehampton Club, have raised issues of fairness with the formulas used to compute the taxes each property owner must pay for 10 years to fund the work, if it goes forward. In both instances, the argument of the property owner is that they have signed away their rights to develop the property for the potentially giant profits of residential development. In the case of the club, the development rights were donated in 1995, and in the Whites’ case, the development rights to the farm field were sold for millions of dollars from the town’s Community Preservation Fund. Therefore, they argue, they have less to protect than some of the owners of homes worth tens of millions of dollars that surround them.
The Whites’ condition is seen largely in a sympathetic light by those supporting the project, and town officials are working to try to find a way for the Whites to free themselves from the more than $60,000 per year they would have to pay in new taxes. The club’s situation is looked upon with less compassion, partly because the club and it’s membership are seen as able to bear the financial burden, and partly because the beach is a considerable asset to the club and available for substantial improvements should the club members choose to expand its facilities.
The beach rebuilding project proposal calls for some 2.5 million tons of offshore sand to be pumped onto beaches from Flying Point Beach in Water Mill to the East Hampton Town line in Sagaponack Village. The project would be funded by bonds issued by the town and repaid over 10 years, with the taxes levied on the property owners. The town, which owns five public beaches in the project reach, would pay about 11 percent, or around $3 million.
Most of those who have voiced objections to the project—just a half dozen or so homeowners in total, the organizers of the effort claim—are homeowners who say the beach and dunes in front of their properties is wide enough to protect their homes from storms, and they don’t want to pay to protect others’ property.
But in the case of the Bridgehampton Club and the White family, the issue is the formulas used to calculate each property owner’s tax burden.
In Bridgehampton, the tax is calculated solely according to linear footage of beachfront of each property: about $90 per foot, per year. The average property in Bridgehampton has about 150 feet of frontage.
The Bridgehampton Club, which owns 13 acres of land and 579 feet of beachfront just to the west of Ocean Road in Bridgehampton, is on the hook for a little more than $498,000 over 10 years, should the project be approved as proposed. Bridgehampton Surf & Tennis, just up the road, has about 120 feet more frontage and will pay about $100,000 more over the life of the loans.
But The Bridgehampton Club’s property is assessed at just $1.2 million because of the easements barring development on its grounds that came with the donation of development rights, while the very similarly sized Surf & Tennis property is assessed at $35 million. That disparity is why the club says the tax formula is unfair—and also why the erosion district organizers say it is the only fair way to proceed.
“We jumped through the corporate hoops and … we gave the land to Peconic Land Trust,” former club President Otis Pearsall said from the airy card room of the club’s tiny, covered pavilion near the ocean hidden behind a wall of heavily vegetated dunes.
“Is this going to bankrupt anybody? No,” current club President John Millard added, acknowledging that the cost of the project would raise the annual fees for the club’s 270 members, which already are about $5,000 per year, by only about $150. “But that’s not the point we’re making. The point we’re making is that we want to be treated fairly.”
Article states:
"The town, which owns five public beaches in the project reach, would pay about 11 percent, or around $3 million."
By the Town, you mean the taxpayers. It would be added to our tax bills for us to pay back - it's not like it's going out of some special fund that already exists.
Funny how supportive this article is of the project and how it neglects to mention that the actual taxpayers will be on the hook for that $3 million.
Who ...more is the mayor of Sagaponack Village who will benefit vastly from this deal? Oh that's right... the former owner of Southampton Press and the father of the current owner. But there's no reason to disclose that, right? Even though you did on the previous article after I brought it to your attention?
All I'm asking for is a little forthright disclosure, that's not a lot.
The real question is why are taxpayers paying any of this, The beachs will come and go no sand on the beach will reverse erosion for more than a short time. By the way the same people that want taxpayers to contribute want us not to use the shoreline and some how believe they own the watefront. ...more Vote no on this one this is welfare for the rich. .
Thanks.
"P1zzing Into the Wind" is better.
"Band Aids Delude?"
This replenishment project is going to fail eventually, and everyone should read the article posted by Mr. Z. It is surprising that the editors have omitted a link above to ensure that readers hear both sides of this issue. Hopefully nepotism is not the reason for the omission.
The Army Corps of Engineers has failed to stabilize beaches and harbors all over the ...more country for many many decades. The breakwater at Santa Barbara harbor at Santa Barbara. The breakwater south of LA, parallel to the beach.
The jetties at WHB and Georgica, and the list goes on . . . . They all failed to accomplish their goals!
"You Can't Fool Mother Nature" -- in this case Mother Nature created Long Island VERY RECENTLY in geologic time when the glaciers scraped New England and bulldozed the remains south to form LI and the various islands leading to Cape Cod which was also formed then.
Well now geologic time has done its thing, and Mother Nature's Sea is showing its own part in this fantastic opera which is Vibrant Living Life on Earth. She is taking Long Island back into her bosom.
HUMAN BEINGS CANNOT STOP THIS PROCESS!
In thousands of years (if we live that long after trying to man-handle Mother Nature -- if we can stuff the nuclear and atomic bomb genies back into the bottle) ..........
Long Island will not exist at all!
Get that sad truth through your thick skull and, as they say, "deal with it."
This project is doomed to fail from the start.
What a tangled web we weave!
Have a good long weekend.
If the private homeowners really want to protect THEIR property, let them pony up the dollars.
I doubt if they have deep enough pockets to cover ALL of the costs incl. those listed above.
The Town's plover patrol removes the fencing as soon as the birds have fledged - the County leaves theirs up all year but it's set back quite far from the ocean.