Government

The Long Island Rail Road began work this week to extend the siding at the Southampton station in order to provide additional space for crews to stage trains, manage train movements, and reduce delays.

Local environmental and civic organizations have joined together to sign a letter signaling their opposition to proposed changes to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act that would make certain projects exempt from review. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s intention to delay implementation of the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act has dismayed local officials and activists who decry the move at a time when the federal government is hostile to renewable energy and barely acknowledges climate change. 

Este, a two-story restaurant under construction in downtown Montauk, has approval for a roof deck and a modest seating plan, but a purported investment packet describes something much different.

The March 28 No Kings rally at East Hampton Town Hall was not the largest of the three such events held there in the last year, but as one of some 3,300 actions across the United States and around the world, it was part of what may be the largest single-day protest in the nation’s history. 

A suspended East Hampton Town Building Department office assistant and a former building inspector who resigned earlier this year were indicted on multiple counts of bribe receiving and official misconduct for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for expediting building permits and certificates of occupancy in 2024.

A five-year plan launched by former County Legislator Bridget Fleming to renovate the exterior of the historic Cedar Island Lighthouse at Cedar Point Park is inching closer to its anticipated completion in 2028.

According to numbers provided by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the majority of the almost 700 geese found dead in and around Georgica Pond over the last couple of weeks, the victims of avian flu, were buried on the East Hampton Village Department of Public Works property on Accabonac Road.

In a tele-town hall last week, Representative Nick LaLota defended the war in Iran amid the Trump administration’s shifting rationales and objectives, said he had no role in a no-bid contract awarded to his brother, and broke with the president on Obamacare and offshore wind, with qualifiers.

Construction is “well underway” at the long-term parking area at the end of Lumber Lane in East Hampton Village, and a barn for the Fire Department’s antique trucks and equipment has quickly arisen adjacent to the construction site.

Familiar faces showed up at a public hearing last week in front of the East Hampton Town Board regarding the John Osborn Homestead on Main Street in Wainscott. Their message? “It’s the view, stupid.”

A new petition to ban gas-powered leaf blowers in the Town of East Hampton is circulating, at potentially the right time to gain real traction.

“We ask you to do the right thing,” Minerva Perez, the executive director of Organizacion Latino Americana, pleaded through tears to the East Hampton Town Board last week, as she pushed the board to discuss what’s become known as the East End Public Safety and Accountability Law.

A proposed addition to the East Hampton Village Code says that village personnel “shall not use village resources, equipment, property, databases, or funds to investigate, detain, question, arrest, or transport any individual solely for purposes of federal civil immigration enforcement, except pursuant to a judicial warrant or as otherwise required by law.”

Rising temperature and chlorophyll, decreasing salinity, high nitrogen levels, dense blooms of Alexandrium and Dinophysis, blue-green algal blooms, and some fecal contamination characterized town water bodies in 2025, according to Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University.

“There is no single solution to the housing challenges we face, which is why we continue to explore a range of options,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said at the start of a town board work session with an agenda heavy on housing matters.

In the last few years, e-bikes have exploded in popularity, and the surge has caused some safety issues. Many municipalities, East Hampton Town among them, intend to implement new laws to keep up.

In the Democratic primary race for town supervisor, the incumbent, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, touted a series of endorsements from party figures this week, while her opponent, Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, said the only endorsements that matter will be those made by voters.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board scheduled a public hearing on the Hamptons Pride memorial planned for the Wainscott Green for April 8 at 6:30 p.m.

The East Hampton Town Trustees responded to intense criticism over their disposal of Canada geese suspected to have died of highly pathogenic avian flu, also known as bird flu.

Three months after Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that would have provided for reinstatement and acknowledgement of the Montaukett Indian Nation, the New York State Assembly unanimously passed a new bill to that end.

Those walking bay beaches on the South Fork may find debris from oyster farms, bulkheads, docks, boats, or moorings that were damaged or destroyed by this winter’s deep freeze, and there’s a concerted effort underway to recover at least some of it.

Enticing private investors and employers to build housing units was a focus at a recent East Hampton Town Board work session, when the board discussed how best to build affordable housing in the town.

As in past years, the East Hampton Town Trustees voted last week to permit the use of an aquatic weed harvester in Georgica Pond this year and through 2030, in what is seen as an effective means to discourage the harmful algal blooms that have beset the pond starting almost 15 years ago.

As summer traffic season nears, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council is asking the question that everyone else is thinking: Is there any way to ease some of the congestion on the most traveled routes on the East End? As it turns out, the council has some ideas, and they include expanding ferry service.

Adam Potter’s frequently derided plan to build an 81,257-square-foot mixed-use building on Bridge Street in Sag Harbor found its way to the village zoning board of appeals this week, where several residents spoke out against the proposed redevelopment of the lots.

Sag Harbor Village Mayor Thomas Gardella has taken heat over a social media post called insensitive to the L.G.B.T.Q. community.

East Hampton Town collected more than $11.7 million for the community housing fund last year, for a total of almost $25.19 million since the program was implemented in 2023.

It’s official, Sag Harbor residents of the East Hampton Town side of the village will have to pay the full nonresident price to park at Southampton Town beaches come summer. The Southampton Town Board decided on March 3 to eliminate a special parking accommodation that has been on the books since 2021.

Two members of the East Hampton Town Police Department, Lt. Kenneth Alversa and Officer Daniel Munoz, attended the town’s Latino advisory committee meeting in an attempt to assuage concern and to discuss the role local police may or may not play in easing tensions created by potential ICE actions.