Government

As the town prepares to start clearing next month at the Amagansett site where the new center will be built, the two people who spoke at a public hearing on the project both said the town may be moving too fast and that there are questions that should be answered first.

The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals was busy making up for lost time at its December meeting Friday, its November session having been canceled. Its first discussion peripherally involved a property on West End Road owned by Harry Macklowe.

After months of discussion prompted by a fatal fire in Noyac last summer, the Sag Harbor Village Board has amended its seasonal-use dwelling-unit law, resolving Tuesday night to require the addition of a rental registry permit. The intent of the new law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, is to ensure the safety of rented properties, in accordance with New York State Code.

A plan to alleviate chronic flooding and improve safety by constructing a traffic circle at the five-way intersection between Fort Pond and Fort Pond Bay in Montauk was hashed out at Tuesday’s meeting of the East Hampton Town Board.

When East Hampton Town Supervisor-elect Kathee Burke-Gonzalez is sworn in next month, one of the first changes that will be seen at Town Hall is a resumption of the town board’s Thursday evening meetings. 

The East Hampton Town Trustees codified new policies on docks and other floating structures in waters under their jurisdiction, including a prohibition on construction of any new residential piers or fixed or floating docks in the entirety of Three Mile Harbor.

The East Hampton Village Board spent last Thursday’s work session making small adjustments to sections of the village code, most involving beach regulations, and some pertaining to the code of ethics involving East Hampton Village ambulance volunteers. Rounding out the discussion was a measure allowing “dead spaces” over garages or pool houses to be insulated.

Town, county, and state officials were in a celebratory mood last week at Town Hall, toasting the electricity that began flowing from the South Fork Wind farm through 78 miles of underwater cable to a LIPA substation here.

East Hampton Town’s senior purchasing agent recommended to the town board on Tuesday that the town become a Green Purchasing Community, a New York State program that confers buying guidance through state-approved specifications.

History was made in the United States House of Representatives on Friday when Representative George Santos of New York’s Third Congressional District, following the issuance of a damning Nov. 16 report by the House Committee on Ethics, was expelled by his colleagues less than halfway through his first term.

A $600,000 grant from the New York State Regional Economic Development Councils “to plan for the sustainable future” of Montauk’s downtown will help East Hampton Town develop strategies for dealing with the nuts and bolts of climate adaptation.

The Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee held its last meeting of 2023 in person at the Wainscott Chapel on Saturday, taking the opportunity to thank three officials who are retiring.

East Hampton Town Democrats’ lopsided victories in the Nov. 7 election are official, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections’ results issued this week. 

Salt marsh areas of Accabonac Harbor could see a restoration effort beginning next fall, if the Nature Conservancy’s proposal to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the funding of five such projects on Long Island is accepted. 

Two years after enacting a moratorium on construction of new residential docks and other structures on waters under their jurisdiction, a committee of the East Hampton Town Trustees shared its recommendations for a new policy with the full board. 

The East Hampton Village Ambulance Association, an independent nonprofit, petitioned the Suffolk County Supreme Court on Nov. 15 to ignore a statute of limitations that would prevent it from suing East Hampton Village for what the association alleges was a takeover of its ambulance service certificate and its bank account. 

The East Hampton Town Board heard recommendations for allocating an expected $120,000 for community development for projects ranging from solar panels to an outdoor table for chess.

The design development phase of East Hampton Town’s new 22,000-square-foot senior citizens center is all but complete, leaving the town board to decide on a few remaining details as it seeks to balance up-front costs for the $31.6 million project with its goals for a net-zero facility and minimal maintenance of its components. 

In the last year, speed bumps have appeared with increasing frequency across the East End, and if recent village board meetings in Sag Harbor and East Hampton are any indication, more are on the way.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Clean Slate Act into law last Thursday, saying that “the best crime-fighting tool is a good-paying job. That’s why I support giving New Yorkers a clean slate after they’ve paid their debt to society and gone years without an additional offense.”

The $95.46 million budget, a 5.3-percent increase over the adopted 2023 budget, was the subject of a Nov. 2 public hearing that drew no comment. Changes from the tentative to the preliminary budget that the board agreed to had a minimal impact on tax rates.

More than two dozen residents of Montauk spoke at a hearing last Thursday on a management plan for Arthur Benson reserve, more of them in favor of a plan to use goats and machinery to remove invasive species at the roughly 40-acre strip between Montauk Highway and the ocean but also many others who said the plan was for aesthetic and not environmental reasons.

The Montaukett Indian Nation has again been denied official recognition, with Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoing a bill that would have restored the tribe’s status as a sovereign Indigenous nation. “To do it during Native American History Month? It’s inhumane and cruel and racist,” said Sandi Brewster-walker, the executive director and government affairs officer of the Montaukett Indian Nation.

Rowdy Hall's septic system is failing, but the restaurant will no longer benefit from town money now that the East Hampton Town Board has withdrawn a resolution that would have approved a $100,500 grant for its replacement.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Monday the completed installation of the first of 12 turbines for the South Fork Wind farm, which will be the first completed utility-scale wind farm in the United States in federal waters.

A sidewalk to nowhere and an asphalt berm blocking access to a parking lot are only the two biggest problems with the recently built Beckmann Commercial Building at 94 South Euclid Avenue in Montauk, an East Hampton Town planner told planning board members at their Nov. 15 meeting, where the construction was the main topic of discussion.

A man charged last year with violating East Hampton Town’s rental registry law has succeeded in having evidence from Airbnb suppressed, with Town Justice Lisa R. Rana ruling that it was improperly obtained.

The five original sites making up East Hampton Town’s emergency communications infrastructure have been upgraded and are operational, as is an additional site off East Lake Drive in Montauk and a temporary installation on Gann Road in Springs, the latter pending a permanent tower at Camp Blue Bay in that hamlet.

As East Hampton Town officials labor to alleviate the scarcity of affordable housing, the president of a nonprofit community development organization pitched its assistance to property owners in financing the creation of accessory dwelling units.

Following the recently retired judge Paul Baisley’s referral of Daniel Rodgers for disciplinary consideration to the Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District — which Mr. Baisley made on the day of his retirement, Aug. 31 — Mr. Rodgers has filed suit, alleging “significant personal and professional harm.”