Talk It Through

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen pledges to keep an open mind and to tweak a proposal he unveiled last week to create a 10 p.m. curfew for restaurants in the village’s historic district — which is good, because while the measure has some good points, it raises far too many questions to pass as a finished piece of legislation.

At a time when restaurants are still in the churn from the COVID-19 pandemic and facing an uncertain, trying path forward, it would border on reckless to undertake any major rethinking of the way they are permitted to operate — all to limit the potential impact of just one establishment seen as potentially problematic.

That’s the Hedges Inn, and what’s driving the mayor’s preemptive strike is a rumor that an exclusive Manhattan “supper club” has designs on making a summer outpost there, which would create a late-night summer scene for members or subscribers. That would mean a “restaurant” would end up being something very different — and it would be in the middle of the most historic part of the village.

“When I was police chief, there were restaurants that came to town that wanted to do late-night partying,” Larsen told his Village Board, saying he wanted to give Village Police “more tools to keep these places under control or, even better, out of our historic districts.”

The problem: A curfew would impact three other inns with restaurants, making them close at a time that seems woefully early for late diners, not late-night revelers. And if the measure is badly worded, it also would potentially throw a costly monkey wrench into summer benefits by nonprofit organizations like Guild Hall and Mulford Farm, or St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, which could well face similar time limitations on more traditional summer events, not to mention special events like New Year’s Eve gatherings that would bother no one.

Attorney Chris Kelley, who represents the Hedges Inn, as well as St. Luke’s, correctly termed it “a proposal that is in search of a problem,” and likened it to using “a cannon to kill a butterfly.” His observation that state courts have preempted municipalities from limiting the hours of a food and beverage business — only the New York State Liquor Authority has the right to set such limits — seems close to a trump card.

It’s fair to give the mayor credit for seeing a potential problem and wanting to get out in front of it, rather than letting something get established and then try to put an end to it, which can be tough to pull off. On the other hand, the mayor’s proposed curfew assumes the absolute worst from an establishment that has yet to even sign an agreement — a time when there is plenty of time for negotiation, and to begin setting some limits to avoid friction later.

The Village Board will hold a public hearing on a new proposal at its next meeting on May 17 — we have no way of knowing what that proposal will look like, if it will be effective or even legal, or whether it will set East Hampton Village up for a long court battle. It could well be that the “threat” to the village is overstated and exists mostly in residents’ fears of the unknown.

Kelley’s presence at the Village Board meeting on behalf of the owners is a sign that there’s still room for discussion, and for cooler heads to prevail. It might well turn out that a sweeping new curfew, which catches more fish in the net than it intends, is not the most effective strategy in the end. Certainly, there are predatory businesses that have their eye on East Hampton. Rumors suggest that one of them is preparing to wreak havoc.

But maybe this is a problem that can be headed off with something old-fashioned: a conversation.