This pool is making waves in the Hamptons.
East Hampton Village residents are trying to defeat a proposal by the landmark Hunting Inn to add a swimming pool on its property, arguing the proposal would destroy the neighborhood’s historic character.
“About 50 neighbors and concerned residents wrote letters in opposition to the pool and hot tub,” Brent Feigenbaum, 64, who lives next door, told the Post. “I believe this is the largest campaign of opposition in the history of the village.”
Critics snort, saying they don’t want to set a precedent for puddles turning Main Street into “Jersey Shore.” The inn is home to The Palm Restaurant.
“It doesn’t fit the atmosphere of East Hampton Village,” Feigenbaum argued, and he worries about more commercial pools opening “all over Main Street.”
Another concern is: “Who’s going to monitor it? Who’s going to monitor the noise levels, who’s going to be coming and going at night, who’s going to be staying there?”
Representatives from the Hunting Inn went before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Review again last week to try to keep the plan alive.
The latest application calls for a 10-by-20 pool and a 10-by-10 hot tub to be installed behind the inn’s wooden guest house.
“This is an amenity for hotel guests. It’s not open to the public, so it’s not a swimming club,” said Martha Reichert, an attorney representing Landry’s Co., the national hospitality group that owns the inn. She noted plans include installing an automatic pool cover, setting pool hours and removing pool lights.
“Guests at The Palm aren’t going to order a steak and then take a dip in the pool,” Reichert said.
“This is a small town, a charming, quaint, historic inn, hundreds of years old, and yet it has never had a pool or a hot tub,” Feigenbaum argued.
The story begins The East Hampton Star reported.
