Government

Just in time for leaf-blowing season, Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed off on an electric-landscaping rebate program, which allows for point-of-sale rebates to institutional or commercial applicants purchasing eligible lawn care devices, including mowers, hedge trimmers, and, yes, leaf blowers.

The Sag Harbor Village Board seems poised to place seasonal bans on gas-powered leaf blowers, following the lead of East Hampton and Southampton Towns and Villages.

“I think he would like the fact that part of the land is being preserved,” John Tintle said about his father, William Tintle Jr., who purchased the property in 1986. “I think he would just like that something’s happening, because it was frustrating for a long period of time, where there was nothing to talk about.”

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen is under no illusions about his chances as a write-in candidate for town supervisor, and he hasn’t been actively campaigning, but still, “If it was successful, it would be wonderful,” he said.

The next in the “No Kings” series of nationwide protests against the Trump administration’s policies and executive overreach, amid fears of democratic backsliding, happens on Saturday.

The East Hampton Town Board split 3 to 2 on a resolution determining that legislation enabling rent-restricted employer-sponsored housing would have no environmental impact.

Incumbent state senator and his challenger dig into affordability, environment, tax relief, data centers, health care, and cooperating with ICE in virtual debate.

There will be attempts to undermine the midterms but they will fail, one election expert said at a forum last week. Another pointed out that the Trump administration doesn’t care what the law says. Both urged strong voter turnout.

East Hampton Town released its tentative budget last week, at $118,910,330, an increase of $8.2 million, or 7.44 percent over the 2026 budget. For the third consecutive year, it pierced New York State’s 2-percent tax levy cap.

The East Hampton Town Board is mulling over legislation that would abolish the board of three elected assessors, instead moving to a model where there is just one board-appointed assessor.

The two battery energy storage facilities in East Hampton Town, jointly owned by NextEra Energy and National Grid, have been temporarily shut down.

The United States Coast Guard has awarded an $8.8 million contract to AO Facility Contractors of Easton, Pa., to repair 17 single-family residences in East Hampton and Springs. 

Christopher Gallant, the Democratic candidate to challenge Representative Nick LaLota in New York’s First Congressional District, has announced that he will not participate in a debate with Mr. LaLota ahead of the Nov. 3 election. 

A nor’easter that as late as Sept. 23 was expected to largely miss Long Island instead spun up the coast, veered west, and impacted the East End last weekend with inches of rain and wind gusts that reached over 80 miles per hour, downing trees, pushing boats aground, flooding low-lying areas, and leaving 450 residents without power by Monday.

“Calvary has done nothing to the land next door,” the Rev. Trevon Fergerson said. “Nothing will be done to that land unless the church agrees with it. Until a meeting is had and a vote is carried and reflected in our trustees’ minutes, nothing will be done with the property next door.”

The owner of a Cove Hollow Road property received a building permit for a 75-foot-long, 15-foot-high, five-foot-wide “accessory structure.” To a neighbor, that feels a lot like a wall, no matter what it's called.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James have announced that New York State and seven other state attorneys general are suing to block the federal government from paying $1.4 billion in taxpayer money to offshore wind developers in exchange for canceling offshore wind projects and reallocating the money to fossil fuel plants. 

East Hampton Town wants to buy 38.3 acres of the Wainscott Commercial Center, the 70.5-acre former sand mine at 104 Wainscott Northwest Road, just north of the 7-Eleven gas station in Wainscott, and it’s willing to spend over $36 million to do it.

In a letter on Tuesday, Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez told NextEra Energy to cease operations at its East Hampton Energy Storage Center at 3 Cove Hollow Road by Friday.

The League of Women Voters will sponsor a virtual debate between candidates for the New York State Senate’s First District on Monday on SEA-TV, and election threats will be examined Wednesday. 

Proposed East Hampton Town legislation that would automatically deny building permits that had not been reviewed within 90 days from the submission of a completed application will be the subject of a public hearing next Thursday, but it has already raised legal questions. 

The East Hampton Village Board discussed prohibiting swimming pools at inns in the historic district last week, but Mayor Jerry Larsen suggested tabling the matter pending resolution of a lawsuit brought by the Huntting Inn in 2024, after the zoning board of appeals refused to approve its application for a pool, spa, and patio. 

Over 30 residents spoke at the Sept. 17 East Hampton Town Board meeting, and none were particularly happy. 

“We accept,” Mayor Jerry Larsen told Rachel Cooper, executive director of the Ladies Village Improvement Society, when she detailed a proposal that would see the planting of more than 30 new trees, many of them cherry trees, in Herrick Park. 

“Builder’s error” was the excuse that Ocean View Holdings L.L.C., better known as Marram, a hotel at 21 Ocean View Terrace in Montauk, used to defend a handful of poolside cabanas that were each placed five feet closer to a dune crest than what the zoning board of appeals had originally approved in 2024.

Kenneth Collum, East Hampton Village’s longtime fire marshal, retired on Friday, when he was recognized with a proclamation at the village board’s meeting. 

Rich Schaffer, the Suffolk County Democratic Committee’s controversial chairman, on Tuesday retained the position he has held for 26 years, fending off a challenge from Kathryn Casey Quigley, chairwoman of the Southold Town Democratic Committee.

Long-simmering plans for the Sag Harbor building nicknamed Fort Apache, at 2 Main Street, and the Water Street Shops on Long Island Avenue came into focus this week at a village planning board meeting, when a first look at a new layout was offered.  

Designed to create “both drive-by and walk-through experiences,” the previously blank sod surrounding East Hampton Town Hall has been replaced by native plants, flowers, and a world of insects and birds.

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted unanimously to permit the construction of another water-filtering, nutrient-eliminating oyster reef in Georgica Pond.