Government

The East Hampton Town Planning Board met last week to finalize the subdivision plans for 395 Pantigo Road, the town’s 16-lot affordable housing project. The houses will line a cul-de-sac with a working name of Cantwell Court, after Larry Cantwell, who retired as East Hampton Town Supervisor in 2017 after a long career serving both the village and the town.

Closed session to get legal advice on dock matters.

Statistics and observation indicate fewer recreational boats in East Hampton Town waters in 2023 than in the four previous years, a trend that may track that of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The federal Department of the Interior announced its approval on Tuesday of Revolution Wind, a 704-megawatt offshore wind farm about 15 nautical miles southeast of Point Judith, R.I. It is to provide electricity sufficient to power more than 350,000 residences in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The New York State Supreme Court judge who imposed a temporary restraining order preventing East Hampton Town from closing its airport and reopening it with restrictions imposed on flight activity, and later held the town in civil contempt for violating that order, ruled last week that the town must pay almost $178,000 in two plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees within 30 days.

A hearing in New York State Supreme Court in Riverhead regarding the Maidstone Gun Club in Wainscott, which remains shuttered under a temporary restraining order imposed in December, was adjourned at the request of attorneys for the plaintiffs, a group of seven nearby property owners seeking the club’s permanent closure, “so that the parties may engage in settlement discussions.”

John Rooney, East Hampton Town’s superintendent of recreation, told the town board on Tuesday that the popularity of the Montauk Run for Fun race each Thanksgiving Day, proceeds of which are donated to the town’s food pantries, has caused logistical difficulties and increased costs, thus decreasing the amount that can be donated.

In an attempt to clear up what it has described as “considerable confusion” about its lease agreement with East Hampton Town, the Maidstone Gun Club last Thursday sent a letter to the East Hampton Town Board proposing improved safety features and oversight at the facility.

If the East Hampton Town Board adopts a recommendation put to it on Tuesday by its energy and sustainability advisory committee, then by Jan. 1, 2025, all new construction or large renovations in the town will have to be electric throughout. That includes heating and cooling systems, hot water heaters, and stoves. The action is intended to speed the transition from fossil fuels to green renewable energy sources.

As evidenced by the book-size Planning Department memo that delves into all the nooks and crannies, the private 400-member Devon Yacht Club's proposal to redevelop its site on Abram's Landing Road in Amagansett is a complex one.

A July 31 financial assessment and opinion issued by the Moody’s financial rating agency in advance of a debt sale by East Hampton Town determined that the town’s finances are “very healthy” and that “leverage and fixed costs are quite moderate.” Moody’s maintained the town’s Aaa rating, the highest it issues.

“When you think about a country that could be defined as divided, you come out here and it reminds you of our great history,” Governor Hochul said at a ribbon-cutting Wednesday in Montauk to celebrate the completion of several restoration projects strengthening and preserving the iconic 18th-century structure.

The Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, now predicts a 60-percent chance of between 14 and 21 named storms, of which six to 11 could become hurricanes, and two to five of them major hurricanes. An outlook issued in May predicted just a 30-percent likelihood of an above-average hurricane season.

Two Republican Party fund-raisers will happen on the South Fork this week.

The East Hampton Town Board voted to accept the donation of a drone by New York State when it met last Thursday, intending to use the craft to monitor the waters off the town's beaches for sharks.

Two public hearings held on July 26 before the East Hampton Town Planning Board drew scant comment, though both concerned projects that are large and potentially impactful for their neighborhoods.

There’s talk lately that artificial intelligence is going to wipe out the human race. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if first it mowed our lawns? That’s the idea behind Greener, a Southampton company recently hired by East Hampton Village to cut two parcels of village-owned lawn at Village Hall and the Isaac Osborne House with robotic mowers.

Farrell Companies was before the Southampton Town Planning Board on July 13 with two intertwined applications that could result in 156,162 square feet of self-storage space spread over four buildings at 251 Butter Lane. To put that into perspective, the Home Sweet Home storage facility application that has been tied up in knots before the East Hampton Town Planning Board for the last few years is asking for 55,000 square feet of building.

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals approved, in late July, plans by Carissa's Bakery to make improvements to its building and add housing for workers above a new structure proposed for an adjacent lot, which is to be merged with the main lot.

A plan to employ goats to remove invasive species in the Arthur Benson Preserve on Old Montauk Highway that Concerned Citizens of Montauk pitched to the East Hampton Town Board last month may sound quaint, but the board lightly tapped the brakes on the proposal on Tuesday when two residents pushed back on the idea, citing a judge’s 1994 ruling that prohibits fencing or any other structures on the roughly 40 acres south of the roadway and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. 

Getting to the groundbreaking for the Montauk Playhouse Community Center’s new aquatic center was reminiscent of the concept of “third places,” said Sarah Iudicone, the Playhouse Foundation’s president. After home and work, “third places play an important part in our identity. They allow us to open ourselves up, learn more about the people around us, and deepen our civic engagement. And because of all of your support, Montauk is going to have a new third place.”

The Sag Harbor Village Board took a first step toward returning to the planning board authority over special exception use permits for buildings greater than 3,500 square feet in the newly created Waterfront Overlay Protection District. It reverses an action that dates back to January 2022.

The New York State Supreme Court judge who has consistently sided with plaintiffs in lawsuits that have blocked East Hampton Town from closing and reopening its airport as a private facility and implementing flight restrictions there handed the town a victory last Thursday, denying the plaintiffs’ motion to require the town’s outside counsel to return to the airport fund money received for work performed after he imposed a temporary restraining order to halt the town’s plans in May 2022. 

East Hampton Town’s Ordinance Enforcement Department issued a stop-work order at the 50-unit affordable housing complex under construction on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton on Tuesday after a heavy rainfall that morning led to runoff pouring down from the site and onto Three Mile Harbor Road. 

The East Hampton Town Board held a public hearing last Thursday on proposed amendments to the town code that are intended to tighten control over the massive geotextile sandbags that are used to protect waterfront properties from erosion. 

Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Joseph Santorelli dismissed Michael Bebon’s lawsuit against East Hampton Village regarding pickleball at Herrick Park last week, but that didn’t stop Mr. Bebon and a phalanx of lawyers from showing up at Monday’s village board meeting to draw another line in the park’s sandbox.

The East Hampton Housing Authority’s five properties will soon see the installation of solar panels that are estimated to produce a combined 927 megawatt hours annually. Once the buildings have been solarized, residents will receive at least a 15-percent reduction in their electricity costs.

On a visit to the East End last week, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced proposed legislation that would regulate perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — of a class of chemicals known as PFAS — which have been determined to be dangerous at any level of exposure.

East Hampton Town is "leading by example with upgrading our town-owned municipal facilities to innovative alternative, low-nitrogen sanitary systems,” according to the environmental analyst with the Natural Resources Department. Five upgrades have been completed and many more are in the works.

Adam Potter has tabled controversial plans for a 79-unit downtown affordable apartment building with 34,000 square feet of retail space, and said he will instead submit plans to Sag Harbor Village for a building with 39 residential units and a third of the retail space originally proposed.