East Hampton Town Board to vote on temporary closure of airport

The town of East Hampton is set to vote Thursday to temporarily close its airport.
The noise from air traffic going to and from the East Hampton Town Airport has been a sense of frustration for homeowners for over 20 years.
Joanna Grossman lives a mile north of the airport and says she is concerned about the pollution to Long Island's drinking water because the airport is located on top of an aquifer.
"In all airplane fuel, there are contaminants and also the maintenance of the airport," Grossman says. "The scrubbing of the engines does require the use of dangerous chemicals."
The East Hampton Town Board is planning to vote yes to deactivating the East Hampton Airport.
East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc says the plan is to reopen it as a private use airport, giving the town more control to enact use restrictions.
"That will specifically be designed to address the greatest issues that we have regarding, volume of traffic, noise, environmental impacts and safety concerns," Van Scoyoc says.
President of Blade Urban Air Mobility Melissa Tomkiel says deactivating the facility won't stop people from flying to neighboring towns.
"The issues associated stem from noise and environmental issues," Tomkiel says. "We are around the corner from transitioning our fleet to all electric aircraft. These aircraft are silent in flight and they're emission free."
Under the plan, Van Scoyoc says the town can close the facility permanently if an airport with restrictions does not work out.
A vote is schedule at Thursday's 11 a.m. meeting.