Town Faces Suit On Fort Pond Plan

BY KATY GURLEY

Two non-profit groups and several local citizens have teamed up to sue East Hampton Town in state Supreme Court, asking a judge to rule that Fort Pond House and Park in Montauk must be taken off the market and be reopened to the public. The suit alleges that it was illegal for the town to put the property up for sale and close it.

Until the town closed the Fort Pond House and park in July, citing safety and other violations, the house and park had been used as a nature center. The property is owned by the town, but, until it was closed, was managed by the Third House Nature Center of Montauk, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. The house and a pond are on 4 acres of property. The house was used to hold educational, environmental, cultural and historic programs, free for the community.

The other non-profit plaintiff in the suit is the Concerned Citizens of Montauk. Individual plantiffs are Ed Johann and Roger Feit, a volunteer for the Boy Scouts, which used to attend programs at Fort Pond House. “We are saddened that it has come to this. We didn’t want to sue to the town, but we felt we had no other choice,” said Mr. Johann, president of Third House Nature Center. “My hope is that it doesn’t get sold and it is preserved for the future.”

When Republicans won control of the Town Board last year, they proposed selling the property to help offset the town’s estimated $30 million deficit. The town bought the Fort Pond House property, for more than $800,000, to preserve it in 2003. In June, the proposed sale was introduced as a last-minute resolution at the end of a board meeting and passed by a 3-2 vote. Julia Prince and Pete Hammerle, the Democrats on the board, voted against it. Ms. Prince said at the time that she was not informed of the resolution by the Republican Board members before the meeting.

No public hearing on the proposed sale was held.

Mr. Johann said he and several residents and organizations in East Hampton and Montauk requested in writing that the board publicly address the matter, but they got no response.

“They appeared to have closed down the house and the park and just walked away.”

The suit alleges the town acted illegally in the following ways:

The Town Board violated the New York State Open Meetings Law by adopting a “stealth resolution,” identified only by a number, not by purpose, without discussion in a public forum;

The board violated the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act by not reviewing the environmental impacts of closing or selling the property; The board violated its own “Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan” by not holding a “consistency review” prior to listing the property for sale and closing it; The board violated the “Public Trust” Doctrine, a common law in New York State, by listing Fort Pond House Park for sale and permanently closing it without first obtaining authorization from the State Legislature.

Councilwoman Julia Prince said she would like to have the board hold a public conversation about the potential sale of Fort Pond House and Park, but couldn’t comment specifically on the allegations in the lawsuit. Supervisor Bill Wilkinson did not return messages and calls for comment from The Press.