Stay tuned for more updates.
WE’RE NOT SITTING STILL FOR MORE TRAFFIC!
Thank you! More than 500 people wrote letters of concern and opposition to the Town Board of East Hampton. Now we need to let the Town Planning Board know how devastating the Wainscott Commercial Center will be to our community. Let your voice be heard. Take action. Please ask the East Hampton Planning Board to protect our drinking water and Georgica Pond, and to prevent increased traffic.
WHY SAY NO TO THE LARGEST COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL SUBDIVISION ON THE SOUTH FORK?
If you drive from Bridgehampton to Montauk (and drink local water) you will be negatively impacted by the Wainscott Commercial Center. If approved, the 70-acre development, to be built on the former Wainscott sand and gravel pit, will become a 50-lot industrial/ commercial subdivision twice the size of Bridgehampton Commons. Studies predict an increase in traffic by an estimated 600 trips per hour during peak weekday and weekend hours. Trucks will feed onto Route 27 at the intersection of Old Montauk Highway/ Wainscott Stone Road, and the traffic bottleneck at the light in Wainscott will only become worse. Our community, our quality of life, our drinking water, and our environment are all at stake.
Reasons to stop
the wainscott
commercial center
01
MORE TRAFFIC IN THE WORST INTERSECTION IN EAST HAMPTON
Montauk Highway in Wainscott is already the most heavily travelled part of this highway in East Hampton. This intersection at the light in Wainscott received an “F” grade.*
New York State Department of Transportation
02
WHEN THERE'S AN EMERGENCY WE'RE STUCK
Imagine ambulances and emergency vehicles that already are stymied by traffic, and can’t get to where they need to go.
03
TRACTOR-TRAILERS – LOADS OF THEM
600 new trips per hour will be generated during peak weekday and weekend hours. There will be significantly more trucks on our small narrow roads, including residential and historic back roads. Draft Environmental Impact Statement
04
BAD FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES
Local businesses will lose hours and employees may opt to no longer contend with heavier traffic. Hiring will become even more difficult. Frustrated shoppers will likely go online if the drive gets any worse, and real estate values will be negatively
impacted.
05
GULP! DON'T DRINK THE WATER
Our community’s largest water source will be further compromised. “Wainscott is unique in the town of
East Hampton for its groundwater, having the largest volume of ground and drinking water resources in the entire town.”
Wainscott Comprehensive Plan; East Hampton Town Water Resources Management Plan.
06
OH NO! NOT ANOTHER TRAFFIC LIGHT
At full build out, it is likely that an additional traffic light or traffic
circle will need to be installed.
Draft Environmental Impact Study
07
NO! THERE'S NOT AN APP FOR THAT
The developers state that people can use an App to avoid backed up traffic conditions. We know better.
Draft Environmental Impact Study
08
BYE-BYE TURTLES
Groundwater under the sand pit flows directly from the proposed development site into Georgica Pond. The average
travel time of groundwater to the pond is 6.6 years. The projected pollution will degrade water quality and the environment. Draft Environmental Impact Study
“...operations along Montauk Highway are at or near failure under existing conditions..."
LK McLean Associates, Inc., Traffic Report.
WHAT IS THE COALITION TO STOP THE WAINSCOTT COMMERCIAL CENTER?
We are a group of well-known local organizations and individuals who have joined together to stop this industrial development.
We want what everyone wants: Traffic that flows. Water that’s clean.
ORGANIZATIONS
Build.In.Kind/East Hampton, Defend H20, Group for the East End, Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, ChangeHampton, Perfect Earth Project, Surfrider Foundation, Eastern Long Island Chapter, Wainscott Heritage Project, Wainscott United, The Peconic Baykeeper.
INDIVIDUALS
Jose Arandia & Sheeran Patrick, Annabel Barger, Kathleen Begala & Yves Istel, Larry Cantwell, Steven Caputo, Andrew Casden, Ronnie & John Crain, Lynn Cronin & Howard Fine, Lori Anne Czepiel, Jim Daigle & Lynn Zanda, Barbara & Dennis D’Andrea, Rob Davis, Sara Davison, Cynthia Del Mastro, Virginia Edwards, Quincy & Hersey Egginton, Deb Foster, Karen & Barry Frankel, Carolyn Logan Gluck & Marshall Gluck, Beth Gordon, Louise Grenquist, Woody Heller, Carole Slater Hirschen, Eleanor & Leigh Hoagland, Abigail & Sam Holland, Judith Hope, Katy Kamen, Judith Lanier, Dana Lee, Esperanza Leon, Phyllis & Bernard Leventhal, Anthony Liberatore, Marian Lindberg, Pat Loret de Mola & Victoria Butt, Anne & Alain Louvel, Angel Lupercio, Susan Macy & George Mittendorf, Pamela & Michael Mahoney, Tanya & Richard Nevins, Marilyn Ornati, Larry Penny, Anne Porter, Susan & Barry Raebeck, Tessa Raebeck, Kathy Rayner, Deidre & John Renos, Jayne & Richard Rosenhaus, Barbara Schultz, Bruce Wayne Soloman & Kurt Fisher, Julie & John Stoner, Sally Sunshine, Dianne Wallace, Essie Weingarten & Massimo Sortino, Edwina von Gal, Emily Wright
References Cited:
- East Hampton Town Wide Wastewater Management Plan. Lombardo Associates, Inc. June 8, 2015
- DEIS. (Draft Environmental Impact Study) Wainscott Commercial Center Preliminary Subdivision.
Nelson Pope Voorhis. July 16, 2020 updates - Town of East Hampton Comprehensive Plan. 2005
- Wainscott Hamlet Plan. Dodson & Flinker, Inc., Fine Arts & Sciences, LK McLean Associates, Inc. May 2020