Surf Lodge reaches $100G deal with East Hampton

The long battle between East Hampton Town and the Surf Lodge over noisy crowds and nearly 1,000 code violations has ended with a record settlement.

Edgemere Montauk Llc, the former owner of the popular Montauk bar, had received nearly 700 town code violations last year between May 28 and Sept. 16 over noise, crowd and parking issues. The problems led to a public outcry, and the town ended up serving repeated summonses for the violations.

On Monday, the new corporate owner, Montauk Properties, pleaded guilty to 100 of those violations and the agreed to pay a $100,000 fine, the largest in town history, according to Supervisor Bill Wilkinson.

"That's a six-figure settlement," he said. "It's a behavior-modifying sum."

In exchange, the town dropped the other charges and cleared Edgemere for the remaining legal problems.

Wilkinson said he believes the fine will go a long way toward tamping down complaints this summer about the establishment.

More than that, he added, new owner Michael Walrath has deep roots in the community. "He has a house in Montauk, he has a boat in Montauk," Wilkinson said. "He wants to be part of the community."

The violations in the guilty plea were 83 for lack of a site plan approval, 14 for illegal clearing of wetlands, two for overcrowding, and one fire code violation.

The firm's power to resolve all outstanding violations was stipulated in the settlement before Town Justice Catherine Cahill.

Between the time the violations were served and the case was settled, the new owners agreed to remove the outdoor hot dog wagon that helped draw the crowds.