Government

East Hampton Town’s purchase of a parcel adjacent to Herrick Park in East Hampton Village using community preservation fund money has hit a snag over the future use of the property.

As Covid-19 cases have risen, demand for testing has too, with long lines reported at East Hampton Town’s test site at its Center for Humanity on Stephen Hand’s Path, run by CareOne Concierge, and the town warning that results may be slower in coming — and that testing materials are in short supply. The facility was closed Thursday to patients seeking tests for that reason.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Dec. 22 that is intended to clear a path for community choice aggregation programs in the Long Island Power Authority’s service territory. The new law is to go into effect 90 days after the bill’s signing.

A deteriorating bulkhead on Lake Montauk and lingering questions about a large yoga pavilion are the main sticking points for a proposed “artists’ retreat” that would involve the complete reconstruction of 17 cottages and a large single-family house at 31 East Lake Drive in Montauk.

Ed Michels, East Hampton Town’s senior harbormaster, will shift to part-time service in 2022.

As Covid-19 cases have risen, demand for testing has too, with long lines reported at East Hampton Town’s test site at its Center for Humanity on Stephen Hand’s Path, run by CareOne Concierge, and the town warning that results may be slower in coming — and that testing materials are in short supply. The facility was closed Thursday to patients seeking tests for that reason.

East Hampton Town’s governing bodies will hold organizational meetings for 2022 next week, and some new elected officials will be sworn in on Friday.

By an 8-to-1 vote on Dec. 15, the Long Island Power Authority’s board of trustees approved a new contract with PSEG Long Island, which operates and maintains the electrical grid on its behalf.

Supporters and critics alike called the new Operation Service Agreement an improvement over the previous contract, though the critics say it falls short, particularly in setting the utility on a path to becoming a fully public power authority operated and managed directly by LIPA.

With water levels at Town Pond noticeably low, and residents beginning to wonder whether the situation is related to a recent dredging, the village board voted last week to ask the town for $163,985 more from the community preservation fund to rectify matters.

With the East Hampton Town Board’s unanimous vote on Tuesday to approve an agreement to put an emergency communications tower at the Camp Blue Bay property on Flaggy Hole Road in Springs, a collective sigh of relief could be heard elsewhere in the hamlet as residents’ five-month struggle to prevent the tower from being erected in a wooded area in their neighborhood had officially succeeded.

Consultants to the town who have spent the last few months fact-finding on the future of East Hampton Airport reported to the town board on Tuesday about community support and opposition, and the economic implications of closing the airport or, alternatively, imposing certain restrictions.

With a Sag Harbor moratorium on waterfront building set to expire in February, the village board said last week that it intends to vote on a proposed waterfront zoning overlay district at its Jan. 11 meeting.