Government

A proposal that would allow outdoor dining to become a post-pandemic fixture in East Hampton Village's commercial district and at its historic inns was introduced at a village board meeting on Thursday and will be the subject of a public hearing on Friday, April 16. 

The theater provided a first glimpse of architectural renderings of the new complex it will build in Sag Harbor, and announced that Friends of Bay Street is seeking to purchase and tear down 2 Main Street, an adjacent building that is home to the K-Pasa restaurant and the Espresso Da Asporto and the Yummylicious! food shops. 

A disagreement about safety has led to a standoff between the Bay Street Theater, which is seeking to hold its summer season in a tent in Steinbeck Park, and the Sag Harbor Village Board, which has thus far nixed the plan, citing concerns about noise, crowding, traffic flow, and other quality-of-life issues.

In a striking reversal of former President Trump's energy policies, the Biden administration announced on Monday a set of actions that would significantly expand offshore wind projects, including the creation of a new wind energy area in the New York Bight and the acceleration of the permit process for other projects along the Atlantic Coast.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has introduced legislation to facilitate the development of community choice aggregation programs in the Long Island Power Authority's service territory. Community choice aggregation, C.C.A., allows a local government to procure electricity and/or natural gas on behalf of its residents, businesses, and municipal accounts from a provider other than its current utility.

The new owner of the Palm restaurant and Huntting Inn in East Hampton Village wants to add a pool with a hot tub, cabanas, and a patio to the property, and to renovate the building, which dates to 1699, to make it accessible to people with disabilities.

New rates for federal flood insurance that were to take effect today are on hold after Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the majority leader, objected. Mr. Schumer said that the rate changes, intended to more accurately reflect risk, would increase costs to residents of Long Island.

Nominating petitions for three East Hampton Town Democrats who hope to force a primary election in June — Jeff Bragman, John Whelan, and Rick Drew — were delivered to the Suffolk County Board of Elections last week, and the would-be candidates, two of them incumbents, were upbeat this week about their prospects. 

The East Hampton Town Trustees have given unanimous approval to the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, a group of pondfront property owners, to employ an aquatic weed harvester to extract plant material from the pond this summer, continuing an action that in the past has had measurable results in discouraging the harmful algal blooms that have fouled the 380-acre water body over the last several years.

The New York State Legislature voted on Tuesday to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use, joining a growing cadre of states that see green in the leaves and flowers of cannabis. Local reaction ranges from concerned to "cautiously optimistic."

The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has admonished East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana for “inappropriate political activity” during the 2019 election campaign. The matter was first reported in The East Hampton Star.

The East Hampton Town Board voted unanimously last Thursday, with one qualifier, to amend the town code pertaining to landscaping and gardening by restricting the use of leaf blowers.