Dan's Papers - June 29, 2007 - Skating at Buckskill

Head down to the Buckskill Tennis Club in East Hampton today and you'll see a peaceful scene -- people enjoying the wonderful sport of tennis. It's a picturesque place, with a wonderful clubhouse, friendly instructors and a cute little snack bar that serves, among other things, popcorn. The tennis club stands in a residential neighborhood, but was grandfathered into the area because the club was there before the houses were. It's one of those special, not over-the-top places that add history and flavor to the area in a similar way the Devon Yacht Club does to Amagansett.

The neighboring homes that surround Buckskill enjoy the popping sound of tennis balls against tennis rackets. They enjoy the summer action, the white clothes and the tennis camps. Having the Buckskill Tennis club nearby puts a smile on the faces of the surrounding homeowners.

But when winter rolls around, the neighbors change their attitudes. During the wintertime, the Buckskill Tennis Club transforms into the Buckskill Winter Club. You will hear tales from neighbors about a monstrous ice machine that is used to freeze a giant ice rink the size of four tennis courts. The sound of the ice machine can be heard throughout the entire neighborhood as truckloads of teenaged boys show up in ice hockey gear, hooting and hollering. The Buckskill Tennis becomes Buckskill Hockey in the winter and it drives the neighbors nuts. So of course, they do what anybody would do. They complain about it.

In 2005, the East Hampton Town Board gave the approval to Douglas and Kathryn DeGroot to build a regulation size rink to combat boredom for kids and adults alike during the winter months. But once the rink went up, the hundreds of noise complaints came in and the town went back on their word and told the DeGroots they'd built too big of rink. The DeGroots stood firm, and that same winter were given numerous citations for having their rink running without a Certificate of Occupancy. Last winter, anticipating problems, the DeGroots filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court to overturn the C. of O. issue. And so, with a judge's help, they ran an ice-rink legally, pending the result of that lawsuit. And the neighbors complained again.

The DeGroots have agreed to build another structure to house the ice machine that makes so much noise and put it in the basement with soundproofing materials, but they need site plan approval in order to do that, which means that the board would have to legally accept the rink. Quite the conundrum.

It is difficult to gauge the complaints of neighbors. There are some neighbors that are career complainers. They complain if you have a dog, they complain if you don't. They complain if you build a fence to high or too low. But it would appear that the ice machine does make a significant amount of noise, which has been confirmed by sound specialists hired by the town. Adding music to the ice rink would also increase the noise level and leaving the rink open at night would also make for a reasonable and understandable case for keeping it from being open.

The sound of children laughing, well, that's a different story.

It is interesting to point out that this particular part of East Hampton has a lot of other noise problems besides an ice-rink. It is less then a mile away from the airport, so you can expect to hear the sounds of helicopters and jets flying overhead in the summertime on a daily basis and practically hourly on the weekends. It is also the detour route for big, loud trucks that are too big for the trestle that overpasses Stephen Hands Path, which means that the rumbling of trucks can be heard daily by most neighbors as well.

It is also interesting to point out that this ice rink is wonderful and is by no means out of character for the Hamptons. Anybody that says that it is not characteristic to this area is crazy. The snack bar serves Italian hot chocolate, little girls get ice dancing lessons while their mothers watch through sliding glass doors from inside the lodge next to a fire, talking with the other mothers. Ten-year-old hockey players with red cheeks walk inside and take off their gear after skating around for hours on end. Young couples skate 'round the rink hand in hand, dressed in winter outfits. Elderly couples even venture out onto the ice to show the grandchildren their moves. And behind the counter inside the lodge, a skilled skate sharpener gets behind a grinding wheel as sparks fly off of the blades. It's just a beautiful scene and is one of the only real places that kids can go for good, clean outdoor fun come wintertime in the Hamptons. To shut this place down would be nuts. It adds value to the community.

So, for crying out loud, will somebody put the stupid ice machine under the ground, dim the lights, keep the music off, close it at 7 p.m. and call it a day? Can't we all just get along?