East Hampton plan bans empty store windows

Memorial Day is two weeks away, and the busy summer season in the Hamptons is just around the corner. But the elegant Village of East Hampton is already thinking about the dreary days of fall, when stores will close and empty windows once again will be seen on Newtown Lane.

After two years of trying to get business owners to keep up appearances on their own, the village is proposing a tough new law that would make having an empty store window a code violation -- one punishable with fines of up to $250 a day.

The measure would force store owners to put merchandise, art works or other displays in the windows of empty shops to give at least the appearance that something is going on. The legislation might be the first of its kind -- East Hampton Village officials say they know of no other municipality on Long Island with such a requirement.

On Friday, the village board will hold a public hearing on the measure, which would require any store vacant for more than two weeks to have a display in every ground-floor or first-floor window facing the public right of way. If graphics or posters are used, they must be placed at least four feet from the window.

Nearly two years ago, the village notified all commercial property owners and tenants that empty store windows can detract from the overall character of the area, while "papered-over windows and disheveled empty storefronts diminish the life and vitality of the street."

The village's 12-page guidelines for vacant or closed stores -- hammered out in meetings with businesses and store owners -- show proper ways of filling vacant windows, but the guidelines are strictly voluntary.

The proposed new code would make the guidelines mandatory.

Village Administrator Larry Cantwell said the new code has been discussed with local business owners, and most agree with its goals. "We'll hear about it at the public hearing," he said. The village board meets Friday at 11 a.m. in the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street.

Vacant storefronts are a common concern on Long Island, and a number of municipalities encourage store owners to make empty storefronts more attractive. In Northport, for example, while there is no village code requiring it, the village has worked with property owners to put pictures in vacant windows.

In Riverhead, East End Arts holds a window-decorating contest each December which fills dozens of empty store windows with drawings and pictures and sculptures. In Westhampton Beach, a similar village-sponsored holiday decoration contest has been held in December for a half-dozen years.

With Deborah S. Morris