Dan's Papers - March 21, 2008 - The Dawn of Another Day Camp

It seems like the folks on Buckskill Road are always getting yelled at for something. When Buckskill Winter Club decided to create ice skating facilities a few years back their neighbors were up in arms. There were complaints about the traffic, the children and the sound of machinery humming at all hours of day and night. The Winter Club has spent years defending the facilities, but since they operated it without receiving a Certificate of Occupancy for the rink the Town has shut them down.

Just down the road there was a minute spark of a controversy when The Racquet Club of East Hampton decided they could do better if they turned their tennis club into a summer camp. With the name Hampton Country Day Camp, they put their initial plans into action in 2006, but now it seems like the operation is going to go forward. At a Town hearing last week, neighbors voiced their opinions on the change of zoning. Like always, some of the residents were for the camp, others were against it. The racquet club people took all the concerns into consideration and have altered their plan to meet requirements of the Town and soon it seems like they'll be able to break ground on the project, which is supposed to take four years to complete.

The camp is designed to host 360 kids and 90 counselors on a daily basis from the end of June to the end of August. Some residents were upset about the potential traffic problems that could occur during the morning drop-off and the afternoon pick-up. But a full traffic survey that was conducted determined that there will not be any real impact on the driving conditions on or around Buckskill Road. Along with traffic, there has been an argument about the noise. The sounds of 360 children yelling and screaming with joy as they hit their first T-ball, swim their first lap, serve their first ace. Well, if you live within earshot of the new facilities, you also live within earshot of the East Hampton Airport and noise is part of your life. Any number of complaints can be made but not much is going to come of it - just ask the neighbors of Sportime in Amagansett. They sent out petitions and all that jazz but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

With this camp looking to pull in over 360 students the question could be raised: How many camps do we need in the Hamptons? While it seems like there are plenty here already that teach tennis, swimming, teamwork, acting and the arts, obviously there appears to be a need for more. And the need may be well founded. Any parent on the East End, local or summerfolk, will tell you that you must plan ahead if you want to get your child into a "good" camp - some of them fill up by the end of March. It may be an indicator of the burgeoning population on the East End. But that is a different article.

In any case, camps are an incredibly important aspect of the summer on the East End. Say what you want about parents abandoning their children for the day as they shop, tan and drink Mai Tais all afternoon, but it's in camps like this one where children learn sportsmanship, communal existence, athleticism, the arts and many of other rudimentary skills that contribute to a solid base for their futures. The only real downside with this new camp for the average East End resident is that there are going to be a lot more parents milling about town with nothing to do. Maybe we should make a camp for adults too?