East Hampton moves to privatize town airport by summer 2022

East Hampton Town could begin transitioning its airport to a private facility this winter by temporarily closing it in February as part of a broader and ongoing effort to reduce noise and environmental impacts, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said in his recent State of the Town address.

East Hampton can legally close its Wainscott airport — which offers easy air service between New York City and the East End but has prompted years of quality-of-life complaints — after mandates tied to Federal Aviation Administration grants expired in September. But town board members have recently said they favor first enacting greater local control following a series of public workshops and studies last year.

Town officials have been meeting with FAA representatives to discuss the legal framework for transitioning the airport to private use, Van Scoyoc said Jan. 4 during his annual address.

"Our intention is to move to a prior-permission required model for our airport, which we believe will give the town the most flexibility in crafting restrictions that balance the needs of the entire community," the supervisor said. "We expect to begin the transition this winter, so that these new restrictions will be in place for the upcoming summer season."

A temporary closure was publicly discussed as a mechanism for reclassifying the public airport as private during an October town board work session with the town’s aviation attorney, William O’Connor of Palo Alto, California-based Cooley LLP. Van Scoyoc said on Jan. 7 that the town would probably close the airport for some time in February and keep it closed for the shortest length possible. The town has not arrived at an exact number of days yet, he said.

A day earlier during a town board meeting, Van Scoyoc said there is still a possibility of permanently closing the airport in the future.

The FAA would not comment on what restrictions could be enacted at the facility until the agency has more specific information from the town.

There were 32,298 takeoffs and landings at the airport in 2021 up 8% from 29,820 in 2019, according to East Hampton Town. There was 25,404 takeoffs and landings in 2020 when flights fell during the height of the pandemic. A study commissioned by the town and released in May found that 2019 airport visitors generated $7 million to $20 million in spending in the town, or 1% to 3% of all sales that year.

Airport advocates and Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, a former East Hampton supervisor who grappled with the issue during his tenure from 2000 to 2004, have said a temporary closure could bring risks, including lawsuits thwarting the facility’s reopening.

"I am concerned that temporary closure of the airport could result in prolonged or even permanent closure as a result of litigation," Schneiderman wrote in a Dec. 10 letter to Van Scoyoc.

Erin King Sweeney, executive director of the airport advocacy group East Hampton Community Alliance, said the organization is committed to working with the town, but does not support a temporary closure.

"Without question, there is going to be an onslaught of litigation [if the airport temporarily closed]," said King Sweeney, a former Hempstead Town councilwoman who now lives in North Carolina. "It’s going to be a variety of cases, property interests … and that is just going to tie everyone up in knots."

Schneiderman in his letter said he would support asking the FAA to allow the town to move to private use without temporarily closing the facility.

He also noted that traffic could increase at surrounding airports and heliports including Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach and Montauk Airport, an outcome supported by a traffic diversion study commissioned by the town last year.

The news that the town will not immediately shutter and repurpose the airport property comes as a disappointment to activists who have sought to close it for years, citing the noise, danger of low-flying planes and fuel emissions.

"To me, keeping, maintaining an airport, even for recreational use is a needless luxury that the planet can no longer afford," said Barry Raebeck, director of the Coalition to Transform East Hampton Airport, which supports closing the facility.

Still, he said it was encouraging the town was moving "to deal with at least part of the problem."

"[When] they actually announce precisely what they’re going to do and then a means of enforcing what they implement, [then] we will know if it really is viable or not," Raebeck said.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.