Lawsuit eyes Kalikow's Lake Montauk dock

East Hampton's Zoning Board of Appeals is being sued by Montauk's largest civic group over its approving a request by Peter Kalikow -- former head of the MTA and past owner of the New York Post -- to expand his Lake Montauk dock.

"I fear the ZBA may have set a horrible precedent enabling the transformation of southern Lake Montauk from a critical habitat struggling to function into a dead body of water ringed with enormous docks," said Robert Stern, president of the Concerned Citizens Of Montauk.

He said no formal environmental review of the dock proposal was done and the existing dock, built in the mid-1990s under a special permit, was responsible for the loss of an acre of eel grass.

But Eric Bregman, Kalikow's attorney, said the 15-foot extension of the dock would, if anything, improve the water quality by eliminating the problem of silt being stirred up at low tide, when boat propellers can touch the bottom of the lake.

"It's only because his boat sits on the bottom at low tide. . . . His boat has a 31/2-foot draft," Bregman said. He added that the depth of the lake was 5 feet when the dock was built, and now can get as low as 3 feet.

Bregman said he had not seen the lawsuit, and could not comment on any specific charges in it.

Carl Irace, attorney for the East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals -- an independent town agency -- said it also had not been served. "I can't comment on pending litigation," he added.

The zoning board approved the dock addition on June 28. The citizen's group lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court on July 28.

In its lengthy decision to approve the permit to expand the dock and move a boat hoist on it, the zoning board noted that the expansion would not interfere with navigation and would improve water quality by reducing or eliminating turbidity and damage to the lake bottom.

A special permit is needed to expand the 149-foot-long dock, which is more than 1,100 square feet, because, since 1966, residential docks in East Hampton are limited to 400 square feet.