East Hampton Town negotiating new deal with Maidstone Gun Club, closed since stray bullet complaints

The Maidstone Gun Club is close to finalizing a new lease with the Town of East Hampton, which could pave the way for the shooting range to reopen without an outdoor rifle range despite neighbors’ safety concerns, club and town officials told Newsday.

The gun range has been closed since seven neighbors sued the Maidstone Gun Club in 2022, alleging the club and town, which owns the 97-acre property, did not adequately mitigate their safety concerns. That negligence, neighbors in Wainscott claimed, led to stray bullets flying from the site and hitting their homes on multiple occasions dating back to 2004. Attorneys for the club have denied many of the allegations in court papers.  

Some residents are fighting back as the club eyes a reopening, arguing it should be shut down once and for all. But club leaders say the town and community can co-exist so long as safety measures are included as part of the new lease agreement.

The Maidstone Gun Club has leased the 79-acre property for $100 a year since 1982. Club officials have been negotiating a new long term lease agreement since the prior one expired in October 2023.

The range remains closed under a temporary restraining order granted by Suffolk State Supreme Court Justice Christopher Modelewski in 2022. 

“The plan is to keep the outdoor rifle range closed indefinitely,” Ryan Horn, the club’s director, said in an interview.

Patrick Derenze, a spokesman for the Town of East Hampton, confirmed the lease negotiations Friday and said the club exercised its right to renew the lease.

“As part of exercising the tenant’s option, the town has negotiated lease renewal terms with increased rent and enhanced safety protections, among other things,” Derenze said in an email.

But some residents have urged the town to reject a new lease.

“Since 2004, we’ve been shot at by multiple bullets … It’s not going to stop,” Roxana Pintilie, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told the town board during a meeting in April. “We live in the basement of our home because of that gun club. Do not sign that lease.”

Investigation cites range

Concrete tubes used to discharge weapons would also be removed, along with other updated protocols, court documents show. “A lot of these changes won’t be undertaken until after either litigation is concluded and the lease is signed because it’s a big outlay of expense,” Horn said.

A 2023 East Hampton Town Police Department investigation backed up many of the neighbor's complaints. It concluded there was a “great probability” that a .30-caliber bullet that nearly missed two contractors and struck a Wainscott home in August 2022 came from the club’s range, where two people were shooting assault rifles.

The concrete tubes, the report said, “showed evidence of bullets skipping and potentially leaving” the property.

Horn said the lease renewal comes with a “huge rent increase,” but he and town officials declined to share specific numbers. Town and club officials declined to provide a timeline for a new agreement to be signed.

Court challenge pending

Opponents of the gun club have suggested that the town pursue other tenants to rent the property. But Derenze said use of the property is “limited” because it is zoned for recreation.

Meanwhile, the case is pending in Suffolk Supreme Court and appears headed toward a settlement, according to court documents. Attorneys for five of the plaintiffs declined to comment on the matter this week.

Jonathan Wallace, an Amagansett-based attorney, joined the case in March to represent two of the seven original plaintiffs who alleged they were excluded from key discussions.

Modelewski ordered Wallace removed from his courtroom in late March, court records show, after he repeatedly complained that he had been excluded from negotiations. Wallace has since filed a motion calling for the judge to recuse himself from the case.

“The only request we are making is to be treated on a parity with the other parties and to sit at the table,” Wallace said in an interview. “I find it very perplexing that the parties are not permitting that, and the judge has not intervened to protect us.”

Horn said he’s optimistic about the club’s future as a haven “for the common man” and that the safety and well-being of club members and residents is “paramount” in the ongoing lease renewal and court settlement discussions.

“Shooting bows and arrows and firearms is not only a constitutional right, but it’s a national pastime and something deeply rooted in the heritage and culture of the East End,” he said. “It’s cheaper than therapy.”