Residents Cry Out Over Helicopter Wine Tasting Event Planned For North Fork

MATTITUCK, NY — A planned helicopter tour to a local North Fork vineyard for a wine tasting event has some residents seeing red.

According to a post on the BLADE website, the tour is scheduled for Sunday and is slated to leave from BLADE Lounge West at West 30th Street in New York City at 10 a.m. and fly to Shinn Estate Vineyards for a wine tasting, arriving at the Mattituck airport at 10:40 a.m.

Tickets for the helicopter ride are listed at $345.

Some residents were livid over the prospect of yet another seaplane or helicopter flying overhead and shattering their bucolic quality of life for the purpose of a wine tasting.

But the helicopter is not allowed to land at the airport, according to airport representatives.

Although residents and town officials first stated that they believed that developer Paul Pawlowski was the new owner of the airport after its sale — and Pawlowski said, in a previous 2016 interview with the Suffolk Times that he and his business partner in Sports East Steve Marsh had purchased the airport after Jay and Cyndi Wickham sold the airport — Pawlowksi denied ownership on Sunday.

"I am not the owner of the airport," he said. "However, neither the owner nor myself had any previous knowledge of this promotion by BLADE and Shinn. We knew as much as anyone that read the promotion," he said.

According to Pawlowksi, "Mattituck Airport LLC is the owner. I am a neighbor to the airport and have an appreciation for aviation and what Parker Wickham created for our town," Pawlowski said.

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said the airport encompasses a few parcels in different corporate ownership, including Mattituck Airport LLC and Landing Strip LLC.

An email to the airport was not immediately returned.

Russell, who initially said Pawlowski was the owner, said Pawlowski had notified BLADE and told them "that they are not permitted to land there." He added that Pawlowski is "directly involved" in issues to do with the airport and said, "Either way, he acted quickly and I'm grateful as I'm sure the community is."

Laurel resident Margy Pisani, who lives on Peconic Bay Boulevard, and looks out over the airport, said she was upset by the idea of helicopter wine tasting tours. "Helicopters pollute our air and water. They disturb the tranquil quality of life we wish to preserve on the North Fork. We are already besieged by helicopters, sea planes, and private jets crossing over our homes en route to the South Fork. We need to control our destiny here on the North Fork."

Southold Town Councilman Bob Ghosio, liaison to the town's helicopter noise steering committee, spoke out on the proposed tour Sunday night.

"We have been told that they have not been given permission to land at Mattituck. So I don't know how BLADE can be booking flights to land there. One thing we don't need is more helicopters over our homes and landing at the wineries themselves shouldn't be an alternative. With Supervisor Russell's support, I've asked the town attorney to look into our land use codes to see if helicopters landing at wineries is even possible under current town code," he said.

Landing at the winery itself is something Randy Frankel, who bought Shinn Estate Vineyards in April, said absolutely will not happen.

"I would never have a helicopter land on my vineyard. I would never allow a helicopter to land on my property unless it was an emergency. Why would I risk damage to the vines?" he asked.

Frankel also asked why he'd upset his neighbors. "So 4 people can come? I have 412 people here on the weekend, do you think I really care about 4 more?" he asked.

Russell said, however, that in his view landing a helicopter is "not a permitted use in an agricultural conservation zone. Further, development rights on that farm had been bought by the taxpayers years ago. This would be a violation of the easement. If the intent is to land helicopters on that land, immediate and severe action should be taken to stop it."

The supervisor said he would be discussing the issue with the Southold town attorney Monday to discuss options.

Frankel, who grew up in New Jersey and is a former Wall Street financier, as well as an investor in the Tampa Bay Rays, said once he saw the beauty of the property and the North Fork, purchasing Shinn with his wife Barbara was a "no brainer."

The issue of helicopter noise on the East End is one Frankel said he is personally familiar with.

Frankel said he has homes on the South Fork, North Fork, and in Miami. "I am certainly aware of the excessive noise that goes on." Helicopters and sea planes, he said "fly over both of my homes. I'm certainly in tune to it. It's a sensitive issue, one we all have to pay attention to. It appears to just be getting bigger and bigger."

But, Frankel added, "I can kind of see why."

Case in point, Frankel said leaving his vineyard Sunday, he was stuck in the barrage of traffic for 45 minutes, just to drive 3 miles at 6:30 p.m. "It was dark out. I never saw so much going on," he said. "People were making illegal U turns and trying to snake out some other way," he said.

"This is just a one time thing"

Of the BLADE event Sunday, Frankel said the company reached out to him. "This is just a one time thing," he said, adding that between 2 and 6 guests are expected to fly in for the wine tasting and will land at around 11 a.m. at the Mattituck Airport, where someone would meet them to drive the few miles to his vineyard.

When told that the aircraft might not be allowed to land, Frankel said, "I could care less. I am not going to try and figure out if they did their homework."

He did say, however, that he believes he has seen aircraft taking "off from there in the past 4 weeks," although that was not confirmed.

He reiterated, "They won't land on my vineyard. That's not going to happen."

The wine tasting, he said, "Is a one time arrangement right now."

As for noise from helicopters and seaplanes, he said, "It depends on how I feel that day. If I'm drinking red wine and watching a quaint seaplane on a good day," he said, it may not be bothersome. On a day when he's not in the best of moods, he said, it may make him angry.

But one thing is certain, Frankel said. "We live in the New York area. We are going to have to deal with parking, with noise. It is what it is."

Frankel, who said he has donated thousands of dollars to local charities since coming to the East End, added, "I plan on being a good neighbor."

Media representatives for BLADE did not immediately return a request for comment.

Patch file photo of a helicopter from a previous story about helicopter noise on the East End.