Wealthy Hamptons homeowners are brawling with blue-collar locals over an old East End tradition — cruising an Amagansett beach in trucks and SUVs on summer Sundays.
Citing careening vehicles, overcrowding, and public urination and defecation, the homeowners want trucks and SUVs banished from the 4,000-square-foot spit known as “Truck Beach” and are taking their case to court in June.
Seething beach drivers, meanwhile, claim the affluent Hamptonites are trampling their rituals with money and influence.
The fight is heating up as the court case approaches, with ban proponents cold-calling town residents and sending petition squads into the streets.
Attorney Cynthia Carew was called on a Sunday this month.
“They were trying to get people to sign their petitions with bad information,” Carew said. “It was insulting.”
Cindi Crain, who sits on the board of Crain Communications, owns a home in the area and has been a vocal backer of the vehicle ban at Napeague Beach. She told The Post that her 8-year-old son was nearly hit by an SUV.
“Just get it away from our kids,” Crain said. “It’s really unsafe. It’s really unsanitary. There are other places they can do this, less inhabited areas.”
The homeowners claim they own the access rights to the secluded stretch and believe the courts will eventually back them up.
East Hampton Town officials dispute that claim and are considering condemning the area in order to fend off a potential power grab.
“This is a traditional use of that beach that we are trying to protect,” said East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell. “Public access to the beach is a paramount issue here.”
The beach drivers say they represent East Hampton’s backbone — fishermen, volunteer firefighters, teachers, cops — and their customs should be respected.
“These are people who have been here for generations,” said Nicole Castillo. “We go with our children. It’s an insult to suggest that we are exposing them to danger.”
Crain’s opponents note that she operates a luxurious African safari business that touts beach driving and “exclusivity.”
“I guess it’s OK there but it’s not in her back yard,” Castillo said.
Crain called the comparison “apples and oranges,” arguing that the safari business champions environmental conservation and that vast African savannas can’t compare to tiny Long Island beaches.
She denied that the dispute pitted locals against interlopers.
“Listen, no one is trying to keep people off of these beaches,” she said. “We want to share the beach. We just want the trucks and SUVs off. I pay the same share of taxes as the guy driving on the beach.”
Fisherman Nathaniel Miller, 37, says his family goes back 13 generations in East Hampton — and he has pictures of his parents using vehicles at Napeague Beach.
“People come here and they don’t want anyone around them except themselves,” he said. “Everyone wants their lobster but they don’t want to smell the bait.”