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Government

C.C.O.M. to Investigate Sources of Pollution in Fort Pond

Dubbed the “Save Montauk’s Waters” campaign, the plans to help the beleaguered water body were equal parts education and action. “The ultimate goal of this study is solid, evidence-backed recommendations for remediation of toxic blue-green algae and pathogenic bacteria in the pond, that will be cost effective and long lasting,” said Rebecca Holloway, Concerned Citizens of Montauk’s manager of environmental advocacy.

Jul 10, 2025
Complaints About Duryea's Piling Up

East Hampton Town has asked a New York State Supreme Court judge to hold the owner of Duryea’s, on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk, in contempt of the court’s May 2019 orders allowing a certificate of occupancy to remain in effect, order the removal of a new parking lot and deck that were constructed without proper permits, and allow the town to resume enforcement of its ordinances.

Jul 10, 2025
Kudos for Mile Hill Road Buy

“We actually lived off the land. We didn’t have electricity until I was 12. We had cows, steer, pigs. I milked the cows,” said Larry Koncelik, speaking at a public hearing before the East Hampton Town Board on the proposed purchase of a 9.35-acre parcel at 43 Mile Hill Road, along Northwest Harbor.

Jul 10, 2025
Large Sandbags Outstay Their Welcome

Experts disagree on whether Nicholas Grecco’s house at 117 Bay View would become a new feature of Napeague Bay without its wall of geocubes, essentially huge sandbags, strung and piled atop one another, protecting the house from wave attack.

Jul 10, 2025
Support for Georgica Cove Purchase

After a positive public hearing last Thursday before the East Hampton Town Board, it appears another major community preservation fund purchase is close. The deal is a complex arrangement between the town, East Hampton Village, and the Peconic Land Trust, with the majority of the $55 million purchase price — $35 million — coming from the land trust.

Jul 10, 2025
Trump Talk: Orders Are ‘Comically Illegal’

The “apparent decline in our civil liberties and the unusual and extraordinary accretion of executive power that we’ve seen since Donald Trump was inaugurated” were considered with a mixture of gloom and optimism alongside denunciations of the conservative majority on the United States Supreme Court and a spirited call for citizen action to defend democracy at “Guardrails on Democracy,” the first Hamptons Institute discussion of the 2025 season.

Jul 10, 2025
Village Noise Laws: 'What’s the Real Target?'

Simmering discontent with the effort by East Hampton Village officials to publicize code amendments passed over the winter that require service workers to register with the village and curtail noise by tightening the hours during which such work can be done came to a boil at the village board’s July 2 meeting, with an attorney and the director of a Latino advocacy organization forcefully criticizing what they deemed insufficient outreach.

Jul 10, 2025
Support for Employer-Owned Housing Proposal

A private developer's plan to build 47 two and three-bedroom units on Pantigo Road and sell them as condominiums to local businesses for workforce housing “deviates from nearly every affordable housing development that exists in the town,” said Eric Schantz, a principal planner for the East Hampton Town Planning Department.

Jul 3, 2025
Town to Loosen Accessory Unit Restrictions?

The East Hampton Town Board moved closer to loosening restrictions on homeowners who want to build accessory dwelling units on their properties, but not before two members of the public spoke out against the proposals.

Jul 3, 2025
Winkler Booted From Montauk Commercial Dock

East Hampton Town has ordered Christopher Winkler, a Montauk fisherman who was convicted in 2023 of falsifying records in order to sell fluke and black sea bass in quantities that vastly exceed legal limits, to vacate the slip at the hamlet’s commercial dock where his trawler, the New Age, has been docked for around 40 years.

Jul 3, 2025
A Mix of Gloom and Hope for Democrats

East Hampton Town’s Democratic Party candidates launched their 2025 campaign on Monday with a gathering marked by gloomy assessments of Democrats’ status at the national level mixed with encouraging signs of resistance. At home, they enjoy a supermajority on the town board and among the town trustees, with some incumbents running unopposed for re-election.

Jun 26, 2025
Budget Approved, With ‘a Lot of Cushion’

The East Hampton Village Board voted to approve a $30.7 million budget for the next fiscal year that includes a tax increase of 1.28 percent for village residents.

Jun 26, 2025
Coast Guard Seeks Town Water Grants

It might be surprising to learn that the Coast Guard, which has a station in Montauk, owns 17 houses in Springs. Perhaps even more surprising was the news last week that it would like to upgrade the septic systems at all 17 properties, and will seek grants from the town to do so.

The total cost of the project is $1,688,962 or an average of $99,000 for each property. However, according to Kim Shaw, the town’s environmental protection director, that figure includes some items that are not eligible for town funding.

Jun 26, 2025
Noise Over New Village Contractor Laws

The East Hampton Village Board was criticized at its meeting last week for not doing enough to communicate two new laws that have been ensnaring landscapers and contractors since the middle of May. One requires service workers to register annually with the village at a cost of $250. The other, a noise ordinance, shortens hours for certain landscaping and construction activities between May 15 and Sept. 15.

Jun 26, 2025
Trustees Support a Georgica Cove Land Buy

The East Hampton Town Trustees will write a letter to the town board supporting the purchase of two parcels fronting Georgica Cove by the Peconic Land Trust, which is at present in contract, and the simultaneous sale of an easement to the town and to East Hampton Village to ensure their preservation in perpetuity.

Jun 26, 2025
Village Weighs Shorter Terms for Appointed Boards

The East Hampton Village Board has posted new dates for public hearings on a plan to trim term limits for the zoning board of appeals and the planning board from five years to three. Those hearings will now be held on July 2.

Jun 26, 2025
Water Warning at Ditch Plain Beach

While conditions had improved by Monday, last weekend, the Surfrider Foundation’s Eastern Long Island chapter, which partners with Concerned Citizens of Montauk and the Peconic Baykeeper in sampling and analyzing local waters, canceled an International Surfing Day meetup that was to happen that day at Ditch Plain Beach, citing alarmingly high levels of Enterococcus bacteria in the water.

Jun 26, 2025
Court Orders Beach Privileges Returned

The Suffolk County Supreme Court on June 12 ruled against East Hampton Village, ordering it to reinstate a Main Beach parking permit and beach locker to David Ganz after they were revoked a year ago by Marcos Baladron, the village administrator.

Jun 19, 2025
Onward, Amagansett Lighting

The East Hampton Town Board will likely issue a bond covering increased engineering costs in connection with a new lighting plan for Amagansett’s Main Street, a project which has been at least five years in the works.

Jun 19, 2025
Sage Advice: Prepare Before the Disaster

County emergency personnel lay out where to go, what to do and have ready, and officials to call in the event of inevitable natural disasters here.

Jun 19, 2025
‘No Kings’ Rallies Were Festive but Anxious

Hefty crowds showed resolve at the “No Kings” rallies in East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village on Saturday, a protest against the Trump administration that coincided with a parade ostensibly to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Continental Army, Flag Day, and the president’s 79th birthday.

Jun 19, 2025
An Ivy ‘Emergency’ on Main Street

East Hampton Village will spend $61,634 to repair the ivy-covered trellis in Millstone Park on Main Street after it fell over during a storm last month. 

Jun 12, 2025
Fishing Group Renews Effort to Stop Empire Wind

The Long Island Commercial Fishing Association is among the groups calling for a renewed halt to the construction of the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm, which was the subject of a stop-work order in April that was lifted just a month later. 

Jun 12, 2025
Local Officials Address ICE Rumors

While rumors abound, and a real "if there's smoke there's fire" sense descends across the East End, so far, "We have no confirmation of any formal ICE activity within our jurisdiction," East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said in a statement Thursday.

Jun 12, 2025
No Kings Day Brings a Raft of Actions Here

As the pace of events in Los Angeles quickens this week, with the Trump administration and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California facing off over the former’s deployment of National Guard and United States Marine troops to quell protests against immigration enforcement actions, East Hampton Town and municipalities throughout the country will see what is being called a nationwide day of defiance. 

Jun 12, 2025
Sag Harbor Elections on Tuesday

Elections for Sag Harbor Village mayor and two village trustees will take place on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Sag Harbor Fire Department headquarters off Brick Kiln Road, but in each case, incumbents are running unopposed. 

Jun 12, 2025
The Tallest of Them All

The tallest structure in East Hampton Town, a 352-foot tower near the intersection of Abraham’s Path and Springs-Fireplace Road, could soon be removed, and there are no plans right now to replace it. 

Jun 12, 2025
Town Set to Preserve Mile Hill Road Parcel

The East Hampton Town Board passed a resolution last Thursday to hold a public hearing on July 3 on a planned $16 million community preservation fund acquisition at 43 Mile Hill Road in the Northwest area of East Hampton. 

Jun 12, 2025
Updated Brewery Plans Still Irk Neighbor

Updated plans for the proposed Toilsome Farm Restaurant and Brewery are circulating at the East Hampton Village Design Review Board, and a neighbor who has already sued over the proposed project is raising alarms again. 

Jun 12, 2025
As Hurricane Season Arrives, Are We Ready?

The Atlantic hurricane season officially started on Sunday, and with predictions of an above-average year amid substantial staffing and budget cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, East Hampton Town, like the entire East Coast, enters a perilous six-month span. 

Jun 5, 2025