East Hampton moves to add airport tower

East Hampton's Town Board has taken the first steps toward creating a seasonal control tower at its town-owned airport, authorizing preliminary work needed to get federal approval and voting to negotiate with a consultant that can do the technical work needed before the tower can start operating.

The groundwork for setting up a control tower came when the Federal Aviation Administration recently approved the airport layout plan. It was the first such comprehensive plan approved since 1989.

Now, the town board has authorized its airport engineer to work with Robinson Aviation, a Virginia-based airport services firm, to get all the needed FAA approvals to operate a Mobile Seasonal Air Control Tower.

The control tower would actually be a mobile trailer, packed with high-tech communications equipment and aviation radars, with a clear line of sight to the airport runways. The 560-acre airport has three runways, although one is no longer used. Its controllers would govern the space within 10 miles of the runways, up to a half-mile high.

Nearly two years ago, the town board accepted a Robinson Aviation proposal to staff a seasonal tower, with the cost -- then estimated at more than $150,000 -- to be paid from airport landing fees and other revenues.

In a 5-0 vote, the board agreed Thursday night to authorize the work, which includes line-of-sight-analysis of the mobile tower but getting the change in FAA airspace classification, and also voted to negotiate with DY Consultants of Garden City to provide the town with planning and environmental consulting services for the tower.

Councilman Dominick Stanzione, who introduced the resolutions, said he expected the tower to be in operation next year.

In the past, discussions about airport improvements have generated controversy in East Hampton, because some town residents fear that any improvements will lead to an increase in noise and airport use.

This week, the East Hampton Aviation Association, a group of fliers who use the airport, ran a full-page ad in a local weekly, assuring town residents that the control tower would mean less noise on the ground because the FAA would control the air space.

The airport is classified as uncontrolled airspace, which allows pilots to take off and land at will when visibility is one mile or more, or by using instrument landing equipment.

There's no regular commercial service, but charter, seasonal and helicopter services are frequent between May and October, and the airport logs about 16,000 landings and takeoffs a year.