East Hampton Billionaire Homeowners Temporarily Dodge Bullet As Town Agrees (After Being Roped Into Federal Court) To Three Week Delay In New Airport Rules That Threaten To Kibosh Their Helicopter Commutes In/Out Of NYC & Ruin Their Summer (Just In Time For Memorial Day Weekend!)

In East Hampton, Long Island, Bloomberg reports:

• Some of New York’s wealthiest will be able to start their summer this weekend with a helicopter ride to a favorite eastern Long Island vacation spot.
  
  The Town of East Hampton agreed to delay new rules on noise limits that would have sharply curbed access to the town’s airport as a federal judge weighs a challenge to the restrictions.
  
  The new limits, which were to go into effect Tuesday, would’ve prohibited most helicopters from flying more than one trip a week during the summer season, “effectively shutting down commercial charter service,” helicopter operators said in a lawsuit seeking to block the measure. The summer season in northern U.S. typically begins with the Memorial Day long weekend, which starts May 23 this year.
  
  While there are other airports in the region, the East Hampton airport has by far the most helicopter landings, according to town officials.
  
  U.S. Judge Joanna Seybert in Central Islip said she would rule on the helicopter noise rules by June 8.
  
  The median price of all Hamptons homes that sold in the three months through March was $920,500, with homes priced from $1 million to $5 million accounting for 38 percent of the sales. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was among those selling last quarter, getting $2.98 million in February for a four-bedroom waterfront cottage in Quiogue.
  
  The case is Friends of the East Hampton Airport Inc. v. Town of East Hampton, 2:15-cv-02246, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Central Islip).

Source: Billionaires Can Start Summer With Hamptons Chopper Ride.

For an earlier post on this story, see East Hampton Billionaire Homeowners Under Attack As New Rules Threaten To Restrict Their Noisy Helicopter Commutes To Work Into Manhattan To Once A Week ('High Fliers' May Now Be Relegated To Using Seaplanes Or, Worse, Limo Service, Subject To Traffic Jams).