Gardiners Bay homeowners sue East Hampton over proposed wall of boulders

The owners of a house on Gardiners Bay wants to build a 110-foot wall of boulders as protection from the water.

Because East Hampton codes prevent the couple from installing the barrier, they are now suing the town, according to the East Hampton Press.

The town’s zoning code bans the construction of such hardened shoreline protections, though the town did grant a variance to a neighbor to build such a revetment in 2012. The local homeowners association also received a variance for a barrier to protect a nearby road.

The homeowners suing the town bought the house at 153 Mulford Lane in 2017 and quickly went to the zoning board for a similar variance. They were were denied in September, after drawn out deliberations. Meanwhile, the  state Department of Environmental Conservation signed off on the revetment.

A town attorney said the proposed wall doesn’t meet federal standards and could hamper public access to the shoreline. But Brian Matthews, an attorney representing the homeowners, called the wall construction an emergency and the town’s actions “the most blatant disregard of property rights I have ever seen.” [East Hampton Press]