Government

The proposed New York Health Act, which would create a universal single-payer health plan providing comprehensive health coverage for all New Yorkers with no co-pays, deductibles, or out-of-network costs, could see passage in the upcoming legislative session, advocates say. 

A meeting of the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee saw spirited argument for and against a proposed parking lot at the Springs Library.

A once-tabled discussion about stormwater runoff in Sag Harbor’s Azurest neighborhood has re-emerged this month, and village officials seem poised to reopen the dormant studies.

Questions remain about the potential human health impacts of contaminated drinking water at four Suffolk County Water Authority wells closest to the East Hampton Energy Storage Center, but it is clear that the source of the forever chemicals in the water was a fire-supression agent used to extinguish a 2023 fire there.

Seven weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections and with three states having already mailed ballots to voters, the Supreme Court on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s effort to restrict voting by mail. 

First-offense fines for careless or fraudulent home improvement contractors could increase fivefold, from $1,000 per violation to $5,000, after the East Hampton Town Board supported suggestions from the license review board to better protect homeowners from incompetent work and deceptive practices.

After the Trump administration denied New York State’s appeal for a major disaster declaration following the February blizzard that caused more than $168 million in damages statewide, local officials can't help but wonder what the future holds.

“We recognize that our earlier understanding was incorrect,” Patrick Derenze, the town’s information officer, said of the Building Department’s Richard Normoyle. “We acted to address the issue and ensure compliance with state requirements.”

Investigation blames chemical response to 2023 fire at Cove Hollow Road energy center, and not battery storage, for tainted drinking water wells nearby.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule imminently on the legality of the Trump administration’s effort to restrict voting by mail, a plan that as of yesterday remained in limbo due to lower court rulings. Should the Supreme Court side with the administration, critics say, massive voter disenfranchisement is the likely outcome. 

“We’re saying, ‘All right, no more bamboo,’ ” the East Hampton Town attorney said as the town board discussed draft legislation that would prohibit planting of the fast-growing invasive.

David Browne, who served as the chief fire marshal for East Hampton Town from December 2010 until this year, has been appointed East Hampton Village’s chief fire marshal. 

Brinkmann’s Hardware, which owns six locations across Long Island, is in contract to purchase a building on Pantigo Road in East Hampton, where it hopes to open its next store adjacent to Domaine Franey Wines and Spirits. 

Last week, Representative Nick LaLota joined his Republican colleagues in a mostly party-line vote to extend the postponement of protections for the North Atlantic right whale until 2035. 

With Election Day fewer than eight weeks away, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork will cover the East End with voter information tables this month and has issued a schedule of debates. 

Rooming houses, containing a maximum of 16 beds and a minimum room size of 70 feet, with shared cooking and bathroom facilities (one bathroom per six occupants), are now legal in East Hampton Town, following a unanimous vote of the town board last Thursday to change the zoning code and create a new use for “accessory staff housing.” 

A renewed effort to protect trees located in town-owned rights of way was before the East Hampton Town Board this week, and all agreed the proposal needed a little “finessing” ahead of a second discussion, which could happen “in a couple of weeks.” 

What if the problem at the future Este restaurant in downtown Montauk was the fact that it is being built on property that was meant to remain undeveloped? A new petition asserts just that and asks East Hampton Town to impose a stop-work order. Attorneys for the developers say the questions are moot.

East Hampton Town legislation is on the table that would give the Building Department 90 days to issue a building permit after receipt of a complete application that includes approvals by any outside agencies. Otherwise, “the application shall be deemed denied and the applicant may apply to the zoning board of appeals for review or to the Supreme Court of the State of New York to compel such review.”

The East Hampton Town Board is expected to pass a new law this evening changing the allocation of accessory dwelling units across the town from 40 per school district to a number tied to each hamlet’s buildable lots. The plan found unanimous support when the board met on Tuesday.

When the Suffolk County Democratic Committee holds its 2026 convention this month, committee members will vote on who will lead the committee going forward: its longstanding chairman, or a challenger who pledges to end what she calls a culture of patronage and corruption. 

In the touchy matter of chemical contamination of drinking water wells, the town board’s Cate Rogers asked that Simon Kinsella be disinvited from Saturday’s Wainscott C.A.C. meeting, citing a need for sound information.

A long-contaminated tract of land behind the business district in Sag Harbor could become the site of new mixed-use development, but the plan is facing pushback from residents who fear the project could not only change the character of the village itself but disturb contaminants and threaten public health.

When it comes to the proposed Maycroft Club, an offshoot of the Sag Harbor Yacht Club seeking to convert an existing Bay Street house into a place for offices and meetings, neighbors say nay, but neighboring yacht club members are all in.  

Beach driving drove public comment at a recent East Hampton Town Board meeting, when seven residents from the White Sands neighborhood asked the board to do something about the amount of truck traffic on their stretch of beach in Amagansett.

The East Hampton Village Board voted to accept a $12,000 donation from the East Hampton Village Foundation for the installation of yet another Flock Safety automated license plate reader, with some pushback from residents, and also voted to appoint a Flock advisory task force.

“This is the second application we’re discussing this evening from the same applicant where plans submitted to the Planning Department showed one thing and then the Building Department plans showed something else,” said Tina Vavilis LaGarenne, the town’s planning director, as the planning board looked at two projects in Montauk by the team behind Este restaurant.

Representative Nick LaLota won’t be “unwinding a promise” made earlier this year to provide federal money to municipalities like East Hampton Town and Village, but on a visit to Sag Harbor he again made it clear that as long as they have versions of an East End Public Safety and Accountability Law limiting participation with civil immigration enforcement on the books he will not fight to get them more federal dollars.

In the coming years, the Long Island Rail Road’s Montauk branch will see upgrades aimed at improving service and reliability, including an extension of additional track at the Amagansett station, that will allow more trains to run on the branch.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a below-normal Atlantic hurricane season, but one member of the East Hampton Town Board had a very long list of questions for the town’s emergency preparedness coordinator this month, appearing skeptical as to the town’s readiness for a crisis.