Government

“I don’t feel like anybody can put me in a box,” said J.P. Foster, the sole Republican candidate for East Hampton Town Board this year. “I don’t feel like I fit in a Democrat or a Republican box. I fit in an East Hampton box. If there was an independent box, that’s where I’d be.”

The East Hampton Town Board was cautiously supportive this week of placing further restrictions on short-term rentals. “We are looking at commercial investments in our residential districts by investors who only seek to make profit and are not looking at being part of this community at all,” said Councilwoman Cate Rogers.

Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker, a Democrat who is seeking a second term in the 2nd District, and her Republican challenger, Raheem Soto, spoke of their records and policy agendas in a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters on Monday.

In the first of three profiles of candidates running for East Hampton Town Board, The Star talked with Ian Calder-Piedmonte, an incumbent Democrat seeking his first full term after first being appointed and then winning a special election in 2024.

The brilliant early-autumn weather provided a perfect backdrop for Saturday’s dedication of Rickenbach Park, the expansive lawn bordered by Pantigo Road, Accabonac Road, Methodist Lane, and Hook Mill Road in East Hampton Village, named in honor of the village's longest-serving mayor, Paul F. Rickenbach Jr.

The East Hampton Village Board accepted the resignation of Sarah Amaden and appointed Jason Tuma to fill her seat. At the same meeting, the board acknowledged the retirement of J.P. Foster, a public safety dispatcher for more than 35 years.

The closure of Montauk Airport will lead to more traffic at East Hampton Town Airport. The big question is “How much?” That question was left unanswered at last week’s planning board meeting, as Montauk Airport Inc. got a preliminary review of its proposal to turn the airport into four large residential lots.

Crows, foxes, dogs, trucks, truck tracks, people. Oh, and ghost crabs. These have been some of the threats to East Hampton Town’s piping plover population in 2025 (ignoring habitat loss), according to Samantha Schurr, an environmental analyst in the Natural Resources Department.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has issued a warning to New York State residents about “scammers” who are spreading false information about the inflation reduction refund checks that are being sent to more than 8.2 million households. 

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork will host five virtual and live debates starting on Monday and continuing through Oct. 23. 

The New York State Department of Transportation is finally saying “mission accomplished” on a significant road repair project at the intersection of Stephen Hand’s Path and Route 114 in East Hampton.

After five businesses initially expressed interest in bidding on a new five-year lease for East Hampton Village’s Main Beach concession, only two bids were received by the deadline on Tuesday.

In the ongoing struggle over the offshore wind industry in the United States, the Danish energy company Orsted has won the latest round, with a federal judge issuing a preliminary injunction on Monday allowing construction to resume on its Revolution Wind farm.

Two candidates are vying to succeed Carole Brennan as town clerk: Michael Hansen, a technology consultant running as a Democrat, and Jeff Miller, fresh from the village’s Public Works Department, on the Republican line.

A public hearing for an environmentally sensitive lot on Gerard Drive began at the Z.B.A. last week with Denise Savarese, the board’s vice chairwoman, giving Eric Brown, the attorney representing MV Realty Group, a tongue lashing.

J.P. Foster, a Republican candidate for the East Hampton Town Board, and Jeff Miller, the party’s candidate for town clerk, will host a campaign fund-raiser on Wednesday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Bostwick’s on the Harbor in Springs. 

If passing a tree protection ordinance in the Town of East Hampton is set to be a war between environmentalists and developers, Jaine Mehring’s presentation before the town board on Tuesday was the first salvo. 

James Lima Planning and Development has been recommended to help East Hampton Town identify potential zoning code updates, coastal hazard and climate risk reduction strategies, and the restoration of natural resources to support Montauk’s economic infrastructure and tourism industry in connection with a $600,000 state grant the town received for a sustainable community project in downtown Montauk. 

An as-yet-unsigned Sept. 10 stipulation of settlement between the Maidstone Gun Club and seven Wainscott property owners who reported finding bullets lodged in their houses and were granted a temporary restraining order barring use of the club’s facilities in 2022 outlines terms under which the club could reopen. 

Nearly a dozen residents urged the Southampton Town Board last week to switch the designation of an 8.3-acre preserved farmland parcel across from Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack to open space. Sagaponack Mayor Bill Tillotson and David McMillan Jr., a member of that village’s board, opposed the change.

The New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division has rejected an appeal by the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals of a lower court ruling that overturned the Z.B.A.’s denial of a proposed dock on the east side of Three Mile Harbor. 

Some surprising eateries are looking to operate the concession at Main Beach in East Hampton. Bids for the five-year lease are due on Tuesday.

A Long Island Rail Road strike set to begin today, which would have caused a complete shutdown of the largest commuter rail service in the country, was averted earlier this week after representatives from the unions threatening to strike asked President Trump to intervene to force contract negotiations to continue.

Mayor Jerry Larsen will appoint Jason Tuma to the East Hampton Village Board at next week’s meeting, filling the slot made available when Sarah Amaden announced her departure earlier this month. 

Martin Culloton's short tenure as East Hampton Town's director of code enforcement will come to an end on Wednesday.

Some businesses on Amagansett’s Main Street took a financial hit from Metallica’s late-August concert, and residents complained.

Mayor Jerry Larsen took umbrage at comments made by the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee chairwoman, Anna Skrenta, that the town Democrats were under no obligation to support his campaign should he win the primary.

J.P. Foster, a Republican candidate for town board, faced sharp questions and skepticism over remarks he made to The Star regarding the Maidstone Gun Club when he spoke to the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee on Saturday.

Revolution Wind, owned by Orsted and Skyborn Renewables and under construction in federal waters not all that far from South Fork Wind, has sued the Trump administration following an August stop-work order. The 65-turbine installation is 80-percent complete.

The Coast Guard has unveiled the buoys it plans to eliminate in a modernization plan, drawing negative reactions from commercial fishermen and other boaters, the chief harbormaster, and the town trustees.