Noise, Noise, Noise

It was hard to miss the utter frustration in East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc’s response to recent prodding letters from the supervisors of Southampton and Southold towns, urging the town to “take action” to address the new onslaught of noisy air traffic headed to East Hampton Airport.

It’s not like East Hampton Town has been sitting on its hands. The airport has been the Town Board’s primary concern for years, and it has taken a particularly headstrong route through the court system, trying various legal tacks to get to the point where it can control its airspace. That included actually closing the airport, temporarily, in a last-ditch effort to reopen it as the facility the town wants it to be — a move that ran afoul of the courts.

So the communications from Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russel, urging their colleagues to “take whatever action you can,” as the letter from Schneiderman and his town colleagues put it, may have put voice to some genuine grievances, but with little effect. What more could East Hampton Town possibly be doing?

Not long after the letters were delivered, Van Scoyoc and the town were in court pleading for a quick turnaround on a request, filed with the state’s appeals court, for stays of a pair of Suffolk County Supreme Court decisions. As it stands, any progress will need to be made in front of a judge. Until then, East Hampton has just as much control over the situation as Southold or Southampton — which is to say, none.

Who would have predicted that East Hampton Airport would evolve into such a thorny annoyance? The small airport, for years, was a small-craft pilot’s refuge and a minor transportation hub for the wealthy. The arrival of helicopter commuting from Manhattan, at a price point that made it defensible versus a three-hour-plus summer car ride, was the disruptor.

There is a regional impact, as the complaints show. It’s folks in Noyac, Sag Harbor, Hampton Bays and on the North Fork who are getting the brunt of the “November route” impact, which brings the swarm of noisy helicopters overhead. But there hasn’t been a real conversation of a regional solution; Schneiderman, for one, has also paradoxically opposed the town’s efforts to take control of JPX traffic, for fear that new limits would mean more traffic at the helipad in Southampton Village or at Gabreski Airport.

East Hampton, meanwhile, spent more than $3 million from the airport revenues on legal fees in 2022, and it expects to spend a similar amount this year to try to seize some control over its operations. The airport is as busy as ever, so the expenses are covered — a vicious circle that won’t change soon, further frustrating neighboring towns.

That’s the subject of one of the court cases the town wants to see addressed quickly: Opponents have tried to get the courts to invalidate the use of airport revenue, rather than tax revenue, for the legal fight.

It’s notable that both the “November route,” which takes helicopters over Shinnecock Inlet and the Peconic Bay shoreline, and the “Echo route,” which is an over-water route using Long Island Sound, are the work of the Eastern Regional Helicopter Council, not the town. They are voluntary, as are all routes outside of five miles of the airport. The council urged pilots to use three different routes, though Noyac residents can confirm that November has been the preferred one this summer.

“Noyac is not a doormat and it’s about time our Town Council stood up for us,” said Elena Loreto, chairwoman of the Noyac Civic Council. “East Hampton should be told to keep their garbage to themselves.”

Van Scoyoc throws up his hands. “We have no control over the airport. I guess they still don’t understand that.” Designating routes has only landed the town in courts that have been less than receptive to its arguments.

“I don’t believe, personally, that there is any fair route,” he added — which is the punchline. Even if East Hampton Town could mandate a route, the frequent helicopters would torment someone, and it would be seen as unbalanced.

Until the arrival of electric helicopters, which might well trade the thundering, percussive engines for something a little less objectionable, neighboring towns need to do more than send letters piling on East Hampton. If they truly want to serve their constituents, they’ll sit with East Hampton officials — and maybe their own attorneys — to see if this truly regional problem requires the affected towns to get actively involved, in court if necessary, to try to force a reasonable compromise.

Till then? All these calls for East Hampton to “do something”? Just more noise.