Government

East Hampton Town officials are encouraging Springs residents to visit the town’s website by Wednesday to take a nine-question survey that will assist them in applying for $4.5 million in state money for the hamlet.

Given a chance to make comments on recent legislative suggestions about the zoning code in East Hampton Town, the planning board, at its Sept. 25 meeting, chose to focus instead on a suggestion that wasn’t made: changing the least flashy but perhaps most consequential zoning tool at the town’s disposal, the table of dimensional regulations.

The just over $103.72 million preliminary budget that Rebecca Hansen, the town administrator, presented to the board this week brings the town’s projected expenses above $100 million for the first time, because of an over $8 million spending increase.

East Hampton Town will hold a hearing on Oct. 17 on what would be the largest community preservation fund purchase in its history, $56 million for 30 acres south of Wainscott Main Street. 

"Because of the weather, the only day we could go out clamming was Friday. We were out there for five hours," said Michael Fromm of Amagansett, whose efforts paid off when he emerged the overall winner of the East Hampton Town Trustees' 33rd Largest Clam Contest on Sunday.

Endorsements have been rolling in for both sides in the race for New York State’s First Assembly District seat, in which Stephen Kiely, a Republican and Conservative candidate, and Tommy John Schiavoni, a Democratic and Working Families candidate, are vying to succeed Fred W. Thiele Jr.

Draft legislation that would move the start of the scallop season here from the third Monday in October to the Sunday after the first Monday in November was floated by Nicholas Coritsidis, an assistant town attorney, at last week’s town board work session. It would take effect in both East Hampton Town and town trustee waters. A public hearing on the proposal will be held at the board’s meeting next Thursday.

Solar energy on a first-come-first-served basis? It may sound unusual, but that’s what’s on the table for residents and small-business owners in Southampton’s half of Sag Harbor Village and other nearby parts of the township, through a solar project being constructed at the North Sea Transfer Station.

Gibson Lane beachgoers erupted in applause last week when the Sagaponack Village Board announced that Southampton Town parking permits will continue to be valid when the village takes over maintenance of the beach next summer.

The Sagaponack Village Board pushed back at perceived misinformation surrounding the proposed 100-foot cellphone tower set to be built behind Village Hall at a board meeting last week.

Eventually, a major hurricane is coming, and Montauk — whose lifeblood is the ocean — is not ready. If the hamlet is hit by a truly big hurricane, it won’t be able to just get back to its feet and walk on. To make even a dent in the task of full recovery will require an army of dedicated experts, officials, and residents — and a yacht-load of money.

Artificial intelligence and deep-fake internet content have become huge talking points in this year’s race to the White House, and the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork is doing its part to counter them.