Thank goodness concerned citizens are showing up in court when the Surf Lodge case is on the docket, demonstrating their interest in its outcome. Three-plus years in and the bar/restaurant has yet to pay fines for the 686 charges filed against it. Violations include conducting work without a building permit, no certificate of occupancy, no site plan approval, illegal clearing of wetlands, and overcrowding. This case just keeps dragging on with another adjournment granted Monday. Next court date? March, if you can believe it.

Here’s what’s particularly disappointing: The Surf Lodge could have stopped amassing violations years ago. (For that matter, East Hampton Town could have put a stop to the violations back then as well.)

CCOM has been long monitoring this problem. In fact, we’ve been on these types of issues since we formed in 1970 to prevent 1,400 tract homes (and 1,400 septic tanks) from being developed in the irreplaceable aquifer that is now preserved as Theodore Roosevelt County Park.

Despite mischaracterizations by some, CCOM is PRO business and PRO property improvement. Here’s our directive: Whatever is done must not hurt Montauk’s preserved parkland, damage its wetlands, or pollute its water. That’s it.

In short: Good citizens don’t cram in more than the environment can safely handle and they don’t dump junk coming from their properties onto their neighbors’. That’s just basic decency, right? Are you listening Surf Lodge?

Bob Stern
President, CCOM