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Georgica Pond

Bodies of water of Suffolk County, New YorkEast Hampton (town), New YorkLagoons of New York (state)

Georgica Pond is a 290-acre (1.2 km2) coastal lagoon on the west border of East Hampton Village and Wainscott, New York, and was the site of a Summer White House of Bill Clinton in 1998 and 1999. The lagoon is separated by a 50-foot (15 m) sandbar and is managed by the East Hampton Trustees who monitor a cycle of draining the lagoon and replenishing it with Atlantic Ocean water. The Lagoon consists of 6 finger like coves shooting out from the main body of water, Georgica Cove, Eel Creek, Goose Creek, Talmage Creek, Seabury Creek, and Jones Creek. Celebrities on its banks include Steven Spielberg, Ronald Perelman, developer Harry Macklowe and formerly Martha Stewart and Calvin Klein.Bill and Hillary Clinton stayed at the Spielberg home during the summer vacations in 1998 and 1999. Rumors circulated in 1998 that the Secret Service had drained the pond looking for submarines after the lagoon drained shortly after Clinton's visit. Groyne jetties at the pond have been accused of causing beach erosion in Southampton, New York as they are thought to interrupt the normal east to west flow of sand in the longshore drift. Dunehampton unsuccessfully attempted to incorporate in part to have legal standing in the debate. Likewise, Sagaponack, New York incorporated for the same reason. In the 1960s and 1970s, Georgica Pond was involved in a tradition known as "letting" that was carried out by local Indigenous peoples. This entails discharging fresh water from the pond into a bay or ocean. This was an issue primarily because it was thought to disturbs the pond's ecosystem and lower the water table in the area. This addition of saltwater and anadromous species into the pond could be detrimental to the Pond's living ecosystem. However, in the Georgica Pond case, "letting" done in the late 1980s and 1990s relieved flooding and made the pond more ecologically sound. It was found that letting seemed to be an overall benefit to the pond's ecology. It was also found that letting made flooding less frequent and lessened the magnitude of the flood.Georgica Pond is where the famed Grey Gardens estate is located. A sandy area near the pond is a nesting ground for the piping plover.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Georgica Pond (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Georgica Pond
Briar Patch Road,

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N 40.938156 ° E -72.229614 °
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Briar Patch Road 106
11937
New York, United States
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East Hampton Airport
East Hampton Airport

Town of East Hampton Airport (IATA: HTO, ICAO: KJPX, FAA LID: JPX) (prior to May 19, 2022 its name was East Hampton Airport and its codes were KHTO/HTO) is an airport located in the Wainscott section of East Hampton, New York, just west of East Hampton Village. The airport is owned and operated by the Town of East Hampton.Effective May 19, 2022, the airport went from a public to a private airport according to FAA records. However, enforcement of the change of the private rules was delayed by a temporary injunction at the request of aviation users of the airport. On October 19, 2022, Paul J. Baisley, Jr., Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court Civil Parts of the 10th Judicial District in Suffolk County, New York, made the order permanent because the town did not analyze the proposed restrictions under New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act or submit a study in compliance with the federal Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990. The town is debating whether to appeal the ruling. In the meantime the new codes and the FAA documents indicating it is a private airport remain in place.The airport, which opened in 1937, predates all of the major airports on Long Island including those in New York City and has long been used by celebrities, Wall Streeters, and the wealthy visiting the Hamptons. The airport's commercial commuter traffic is mostly between East Hampton and New York City, which is 100 miles away. The airport codes changed on May 19, 2022, from KHTO to KJPX. The airport name also changed from East Hampton Airport to Town of East Hampton Airport. This was part of a plan to convert the airport from a public airport to a Town-owned private airport and the FAA description of the airport now says it is private. The move to restrict general aviation use was blocked by a last-minute restraining order to sort out numerous legal suits. However the code and name change were approved by the FAA and put on official maps.The move to privatize the airport would permit the airport to get prior permission for aircraft to fully use the airport's facilities. The closure is aimed at controlling a dramatic increase since 2014 in commuter helicopter traffic after Blade made it much easier for individuals to book seats on chartered helicopters at a set price and schedule. The town allowed FAA grants to expire in September 2021 and that cleared the way for the Town rather than the FAA to govern the airport. The Town earlier had lost court cases to impose its rules including a curfew since the FAA rules prohibited the move. The move avoids the calls to close the airport altogether. Helicopter flights take 32 minutes between Manhattan and the airport while driving time from Manhattan via the Long Island Expressway and the two-lane Montauk Highway can take 3 hours or more.