East Hampton Town Board Votes Unanimously To Privatize Airport

EAST HAMPTON, NY — The town board voted unanimously Thursday to privatize East Hampton airport.

The airport will be deactivated and permanently closed on February 28 and will reopened as new, private-use facility on March 4. The date was chosen after discussions with the Federal Aviation Administration and a review of airport operations at the East Hampton Airport, officials said.

The planned closure and opening will cause little disruption to aviation during the time period because the dates are traditionally times when there has been low levels of flight activity, town officials said.

The new, private use airport will be subject to local control; the town plans to implement a
prior permission required framework, meaning advanced permission will be required before an aircraft may use the private airport.

The PPR framework will initially mirror that of a public use airport, but "substantive restrictions" will be implemented prior to the 2022 season in conjunction with a data collection period, as per the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act.

"This framework provides the town with flexibility to control the use of the air navigation facilities to respond to the community’s concerns while also allowing certain aeronautical uses to continue," the town said.

The town board said they believe obtaining flexibility is necessary to ensure quality of life from Wainscott to Montauk.

“We are embarking on an important step in the town’s efforts to address aircraft noise, traffic, and other environmental and safety concerns in East Hampton. Operation of a private-use airport will enable us to review and analyze potential changes to airport operations and make adjustments to address long-held community concerns,” said Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc.

The town board plans to work with aviation counsel, consultants, stakeholders, and the
community to craft the PPR rules for the 2022 season.

Community members will have an opportunity to weigh in on the proposed PPR rules and related environmental studies before they are put in place at upcoming public meetings.

All written comments and proposals will be considered once the town board
has issued its draft scoping outline, officials said.

Some PPR options being considered include noise-based permissions that would limit or eliminate "noisy" aircraft; aircraft-based permissions, such as limiting or eliminating jets, helicopters and/or seaplanes; operator-based permissions that would limit or nix commercial operations; curfews; and environment-based permissions, with restrictions on leaded fuel and incentives for electric aircraft, the town said.

The news of privatization sparked questions from elected officials and residents, with some saying they believed the airport should be closed permanently.

For years, public has sounded a rallying cry, saying that allowing the airport to continue operating as it has been is unacceptable, and that traffic volume, noise, environmental, and safety concerns must be addressed, officials said.

East Hampton Town gained the ability to adopt airport use restrictions, transition to a private airport, or even to close the airport altogether, with the Sept. 25, 2021, expiration of grant assurances, or agreements with the FAA. However, to ensure all the grant assurances were extinguished, the airport must close for a period of time.

A previous attempt by the town prior to the expiration of the grant assurances, to institute a curfew and other use restrictions, was overturned by the court in 2017.

The decision to close the East Hampton Airport and open the new private use airport as a publicly owned private facility comes at the end of a year-long public engagement process, with envisioning sessions designed to gather and disseminate information to the public; share essential facts related to conditions at the airport; facilitate discussion and consensus building on future plans for the airport, and to solicit and compile public input and alternatives for board consideration and review, the board said.

In 2021 the town board also held eight board work sessions with professional consultants on the airport; conducted four public listening workshops, which drew more than 300 participants; held one-on-one meetings with stakeholders and interest groups, and, during the 2021 summer season, conducted an airport user survey.

The board also commissioned and reviewed a number of in-depth studies and analyses on noise and operations, an economic study, an environmental study, and a zoning and planning review, by professional consultants.