East Hampton to begin permanent shutdown of town airport in Wainscott

East Hampton Town has asked attorneys to begin the process of closing its Wainscott airport after a “mountain of litigation” prevented the town from instituting local regulations at the facility this summer to limit aircraft takeoffs and landings.

Residents have complained increasingly in the past decade about noise and traffic from airplanes and helicopters. The airport is open year-round, but air traffic accessing the airport increases dramatically between May and September — the Hamptons summer season. The monthly number of flights increased from a low of 890 in February and December of 2021, according to town records, to a high of 6,138 last August. A total of 32,298 flights operated at the airport in 2021, town statistics show.

A study commissioned by East Hampton and released in May found that in 2019, pre-pandemic airport visitors generated $7 million to $20 million in spending in the town, or 1% to 3% of all sales that year.

William O’Connor of the Palo Alto, California-based firm Cooley LLP said during a Tuesday town board work session that East Hampton faced a “frankly remarkable” amount of litigation from pro-airport interests opposed to the town’s efforts. He characterized it as a small group of people with “seemingly unlimited funds” trying to control the airport by filing lawsuits, three of which resulted in the issuance last month of a temporary restraining order halting the town’s plan.

“Given the overwhelming mountain of litigation filed by airport users challenging the town’s efforts to strike a … balance of operations, we have been asked to begin the process of understanding and completing the steps to permanently close JPX as soon as legally possible,” O’Connor said.

JPX is the airport’s code.

O’Connor added the town could consider reopening an airport with “common sense regulations” in the future.

Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, who was not at Tuesday’s meeting, could not immediately be reached for comment.

East Hampton was permitted to legally close the facility following the expiration of mandates tied to federal grants in September. Instead, earlier this year officials announced that they would transition East Hampton Airport, a 35-minute air ride from Manhattan. A new facility with a “prior permission required” model for takeoffs and landings was presented as a compromise. Proposed restrictions included curfews, limiting certain noisy aircraft and prohibiting the largest jets, generally excluding those designed to carry at least 12 passengers.

Three groups of petitioners have argued that privatizing would hurt companies flying charters, private jets and helicopters into and out of East Hampton and would increase air traffic in neighboring communities, notably Montauk. The plaintiffs include the helicopter ride-share service Blade, local residents, East End Hangars and Hampton Hangars, which sublease space at the airport, and others.

“The town cobbled together a plan to privatize the airport that could not survive any degree of legal scrutiny — which is why the court ruled in favor of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the town and which was upheld on appeal,” the plaintiffs in the East End Hangars lawsuit said Tuesday in a statement. “Instead of bringing the community together to address the shortcomings of their plan, the town is ignoring the TRO and threatening to shut down the East Hampton Airport, which is an economic engine for the East End and which 80% of town residents want to remain open.”

Van Scoyoc has repeatedly said the community is unhappy with the status quo and that the town retains the right to close the airport if it cannot achieve meaningful reductions in noise and traffic. Some on the town board have agreed.

“It’s the community’s desire for a balanced airport,” said Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez. “If that can’t be achieved, we may be left with no other choice but to look at closure.”

The news was immediately lauded by anti-airport activists who had characterized the town’s planned regulations as not going far enough.

“These folks refuse to consider any meaningful restrictions, and at the hint of even modest restrictions … they’re suing the town,” Barry Raebeck, director of the Coalition to Transform East Hampton Airport, which supports closing the facility, said during the meeting.

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.