Proof of Prejudicial Treatment by East Hampton Town!

It has long been our contention that the East Hampton Town has singled us out and victimized us. They took out an injunction to shut down our business because we did not have a certificate of occupancy. We applied for one and, as the courts have just ruled, the Town illegally withheld it and then used the lack of one to close us down. They forced us to spend close to $100,000 in legal fees to defend ourselves against their actions. Now, while looking up an application for a new ice skating rink submitted by our direct competitor, East Hampton Indoor Tennis, we discover that they have been operating their business without the benefit of a certificate of occupancy for years! The Town has not taken any action against them, let alone shut down their business. They do not have a certificate of occupancy for their indoor tennis building and swimming pool, and many other things on the property.  (We are using this information to illustrate the Town's unfair treatment of Buckskill Winter Club.  We do not mean to imply that East Hampton Indoor Tennis is in any way responsible for the Town's actions and we do not intend to get them into trouble.  Many businesses in the Town of East Hampton operate without a C.O. and the Town never gets an injunction to shut them down.) In contrast, our business has been shutdown for not having a CO for a temporary seasonal ice rink (it's not even a building!). We do have a CO for the building, the parking lot, the decks, the tennis courts and fences etc. This is such clear proof that the Town (especially Bill McGintee) has some ulterior motive in their unfair treatment of us. You should be outraged that your elected officials behave in such an arbitrary and prejudicial manner. This could happen to you!

Click on the link below to the planning board's website and read it for yourself (once you get to the website scroll down and click on EHIT ice rink, under the site plan review heading, at the bottom of page 5 under "open applications".) 

http://www.town.east-hampton.ny.us/plbd11_07_07.cfm

Here is a copy of what you will find there:

Page 5 of 8 

November 7 EHIT Ice Rink-Bowling Complex

Open Applications on this Parcel 

There are several site plan approvals that were granted by the Board for this site in recent 

history.  A certificate of occupancy has not been obtained for any of those site plans:   

• 4/21/05 Site Plan- Bubble over four existing tennis courts, 40’12’ restroom, 50’x20 

shed, 50’x20’ pool with 16 additional parking spaces and relocation of existing shed 

and playground; 

•  5/11/06 site plan/special permit to replace existing bubble with metal building for 

six tennis courts, modify shed size and remove and replace one outdoor asphalt 

tennis court, associated bleachers, and walkways with two tennis courts and add 

four grass parking spaces;  

• 5/24/07- Hampton Country Day Camp- relocated camp entrance and drop off/pick- 

up area, addition of paved area with benches by drop-off pick-up area, 

modifications to existing maintenance road, addition of four locker room buildings 

, a shed-like structure, new basketball court, two small ga-ga courts and three 

paved rest areas.   

SHUT DOWN! 

The East Hampton Town Board used your tax dollars to shut down our ice rink!

The rink was granted a building permit in January 2005. We financed the building of the rink with our own money - unlike the roller rink in East Hampton. It was built according to the building permit but the Town has arbitrarily refused to issue a certificate of occupancy. They have unlawfully refused to provide any reasons why the certificate of occupancy has not been granted or given us the opportunity to fix any problems. They have now got an injunction to shut us down on the grounds that we do not have a certificate of occupancy (which they refuse to issue)! We do not understand what their motivation could possibly be.

We believe the Town's actions are unfair, unlawful and not in the best interests of the community. They have lied and misrepresented the situation. They have gone out of their way to close down one of the only affordable, family-oriented, community-minded winter recreational facilities in town. It makes no sense.