Government

An application for a four-lot commercial subdivision in East Hampton that has been stalled for the past six years over road access issues was the subject of heated controversy at an East Hampton Town Planning Board meeting on June 22.

Legislation was passed by the New York State Legislature last week placing a 2-percent cap on real property tax increases or limiting them to the rate of inflation, whichever is smaller. Intended to relieve taxpayers’ burdens.

    With the stroke of a pen on June 9, the Town of East Hampton endorsed the right of a Montauk mechanic to ply his trade on the otherwise gentrified shores of Fort Pond Bay.

Wind at Iacono Farm

    The owners of the seven-acre Iacono Farm on Long Lane in East Hampton want to put up a wind turbine like the one that was erected this year on the nearby Mahoney farm. The East Hampton Town Board recently received a letter from an attorney for the Iaconos apprising the town of the idea. Although the town code requires that the town board issue a permit for wind turbines, New York State Agriculture and Markets law, which supercedes town law, gives farmers the right to put wind turbines on their land.

    An application for the Hula Hut, a new bar on the horizon at the Montauk Marine Basin on West Lake Drive, was set in motion at the East Hampton Town Planning Board meeting on June 15.

    Proposed by Linda Calvo, the Hula Hut is to be in a 224-square-foot converted office trailer. It would have eight or nine bar stools, a railing where people could set their drinks, benches, and three picnic tables.

A grievance against East Hampton Town filed on behalf of union members who work in the town Highway Department alleges that the highway superintendent’s hiring of two temporary workers is a contract violation.

At a work session on Tuesday night, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals reached a compromise with a family that wanted to keep a deck and pergola.

    An alliance between East Hampton Town and the Family Service League, a nonprofit group that offers counseling and other social services to town residents, promises to result in expanded programs for families, youths, and the elderly.

East Hampton Town

Grant for Photovoltaic System

    A grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will reimburse East Hampton Town for the installation of a solar photovoltaic system at the Lamb building in Amagansett, which houses the Department of Housing and Community Development.

    The Suffolk County Legislature reversed itself on June 7 and will not transfer ownership of Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf to the village for $1 as it had proposed six months ago.

According to County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, the idea of unloading the wharf was initially floated by the County’s Department of Public Works. Mr. Schneiderman said the department had been unhappy about spending $100,000 a year on the pier’s maintenance and “not getting anything from it.” Under a long-standing agreement, the village has levied fees for the use of the dock.

A draft list of local charities that could become beneficiaries of a donation from the MTK: Music to Know festival was discussed by the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday.

With the New York State Senate expected to vote on a same-sex marriage bill this week, Kenneth P. LaValle, who represents eastern Long Island, remains opposed to the measure in any form.

Things have finally been pinned down and repayments between funds outlined following an extensive forensic accounting effort to sort out financial transactions between town funds during the last administration.

East Hampton Town

A New Deer Committee

    Councilman Dominick Stanzione will convene a committee to develop a plan to address deer herds and their effect on the town, including the proliferation of deer fencing. Mr. Stanzione said he would include members of the East Hampton Group for Wildlife, the East Hampton Sportsmen’s Alliance, the town nature preserve committee, and farmers. Councilwoman Theresa Quigley has suggested that a landscaper be included as well.

Sick Days for Injured Cop

After razor-thin loss in 2010, G.O.P. Congressional candidate will try again.

A proposed amendment to East Hampton Town’s home improvement contractors law, discussed by the town board on Tuesday, would extend a...

East Hampton Town

Citizens Welcome

County Legislator Jay Schneiderman of Montauk will face off against Cornelius Kelly of Westhampton Beach, a Republican, this fall in his re-election bid for the...

In what Tom Twomey, the chairman of the East Hampton Library's board and an attorney, called "a landmark decision for the state and for the country," the State Supreme Court has granted the library permission to construct a 6,800-square-foot addition in the back of the building.

The federal Department of Commerce announced on Tuesday that just under $650,000 in fisheries-related fines would be returned to...

East Hampton Town

Digging Into Soil Tests

    Recent soil tests at the East End Community Organic Farm, which is on town-owned property on Long Lane in East Hampton, will be the subject of an East Hampton Town Board discussion. The levels of arsenic in soil at the farm, remaining from past agricultural applications, have been a concern for years, and members of the East Hampton Citizens Advisory Committee had recently requested a new round of tests.

The East Hampton Town Republican Committee is holding a meet-the-candidates brunch on Sunday from...

With pollutant levels in bays and other surface waters on the rise, tied largely to septic systems, Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said Tuesday that...

At a town board session on Tuesday, the East Hampton Group for Wildlife offered to raise money and help the town secure grants to pay for a...

A storm of protest blew up on Thursday when Montauk residents got wind that the Ditch Witch had lost in its bid to remain where it had been for years.

Thomas Burke and Rebekah Baker’s request for a zoning change that would allow the historic Jeremiah Baker house on Amagansett’s Main Street to contain one of a...

    The East Hampton Town Republican Committee made its 2011 nominee selections official this week, with Richard Haeg of East Hampton and Steven Gaines of Wainscott locking hands with Supervisor Bill Wilkinson at the top of the ballot. In an unexpected move, the Republicans also endorsed Stephen Lynch of East Hampton, the Independence Party nominee for highway superintendent. He will face off against Scott King, who is the incumbent and garnered criticism for his allegedly contentious relationship with town employees.

Grievance Day

    The 2012 Town of East Hampton assessment roll has been completed and can be examined at the office of the town assessors on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. until Tuesday. The Board of Assessment Review will meet on Tuesday at Town Hall from 10 a.m. to noon, 2 to 4 p.m., and again from 6 to 8 p.m. to hear and examine all complaints or grievances in relation to assessments.

Seek Food and Tire Bids

Arthur French handed the East Hampton Town Board a check for $11 at a meeting last Thursday night. “That’s my tax savings,” he said, telling the board to...

    In the near empty confines of Town Hall on May 4, the East Hampton Town Planning Board approved the Reform Club’s application to erect two small sheds on its property on Windmill Lane in Amagansett.

Questions as to whether the changes to the property and its structures — changes that began in 2007 a year after Randy Lerner purchased what had been a modest seasonally operated inn — should have triggered site plan review by the board were rendered immaterial by the vote.