Government

Legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul last week expands what ambulance services can charge for, and recoup, from patients. No fire department on the East End has ever billed patients, and the new tweak to the law doesn’t seem to be influencing any to change that policy.

After several years of lobbying the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for money to improve Long Island Rail Road infrastructure and expand commuter train service on the South Fork, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced Wednesday that $260 million has been added to the M.T.A.'s capital plan to do just that.

Sag Harbor Village is reviewing bids for work to connect two sewersheds to the village’s wastewater treatment system, all of which came in higher than expected.

After two and a half years in front of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals, the Huntting Inn’s quest for a pool and other improvements may fail. The reason? The Z.B.A. may not have the authority to grant the approval, even if it saw fit to do so.

The Springs General Store achieved a victory at the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals last week, being granted its request for a natural resources special permit. It was needed because parking, fencing, and decking would be installed within 150 feet of wetlands. Don’t expect them to start churning out coffee and egg sandwiches just yet, however. The store still needs site plan approval from the town’s planning and architectural review boards.

The bridge that spans the outflow from Pussy’s Pond in Springs into Accabonac Harbor off Old Stone Highway will soon be repaired, and an eighth-of-an-acre sea of phragmites removed.

Bringing out young voters 18 to 25 had been critical to President Biden’s win in 2020. Since his surprise announcement that he would not run again this year, many young Democratic-leaning voters have, according to pollsters, felt more energized — including those right here on the South Fork.

Recognizing the challenges of housing costs even for people earning too much to qualify for affordable housing, East Hampton Town's housing director and Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte floated the idea of employee housing overlay districts that might “provide an avenue for private development of a needed form of housing.”

Spring is associated with cleaning, sure, but the East Hampton Town Litter Action Committee sees no problem with celebrating the first day of autumn with a good once-over. On Saturday, as part of National CleanUp Day, committee members will hit the roadsides for this year’s sprucing.

After a recent move to increase density allowances from eight units an acre to 12 for senior-citizen-only affordable housing developments, the East Hampton Town Board this week discussed making the same adjustment on any affordable housing parcel.

During Monday’s meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee, Eric Schantz, East Hampton Town’s director of housing, gave community members the opportunity to weigh in on affordable housing — and the apparent lack of it in their hamlet.

Richard Warren had come to Monday night’s meeting of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee prepared with whiteboard, blueprints, facts and figures, to discuss the modernization of the 108-year-old Devon Yacht Club. What Mr. Warren, president and owner of the environmental planning firm Inter-Science Research Associates, was not prepared for was the dustup that followed his presentation.