Government

The East Hampton Town Board voted unanimously to opt out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries or on-site consumption licenses on Dec. 2.

Neighbors, members of the public, and members of the Long Pond Greenbelt made their voices heard last Thursday as the Southampton Town Planning Board reviewed a Verizon application to locate a 153-foot communications monopole on land owned by the Village of Sag Harbor off the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.

The Sag Harbor Village Board heard the pros and cons of allowing cannabis sales within village limits, and despite the vocal support of many callers who favored “opting-in,” the board unanimously voted against dispensaries and lounges, for now.

The Suffolk County Board of Elections issued the official results of the Nov. 3 election on Monday, adding the count of absentee ballots to the certified totals. The nearly six-week delay between the elections and their certification was due to a hand count of ballots in Southampton, Southold, and Shelter Island Towns, officials said last week.

Officials of East Hampton Town’s land acquisition and management department had warned in September of the likelihood of an expansion of the southern pine beetle infestation that impacted western parts of the town, and now the beetles have been detected in New York State parkland at Napeague.

The East Hampton Town Board has settled on an architecture and engineering group to design a new senior citizens center on Abraham's Path in Amagansett. R2 Architecture and the town will next look to the community for ideas about how the facility can best meet the needs of older residents.

The East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to appoint Jeremy Samuelson as director of the Planning Department. Mr. Samuelson will succeed JoAnne Pahwul, who retired in June.

Mr. Samuelson’s appointment is effective tomorrow, at which time he will be placed on an unpaid leave of absence through Jan. 2, with a start date of Jan. 3, according to the board’s resolution.

A private gallery operating in an East Hampton Village museum within a district on the National Register of Historic Places may test the limits of preservation rules.

The East Hampton Town Board’s 3-to-2 vote last month to acquire three parcels totaling 1.92 acres on Green Hollow Road in East Hampton, using $4.2 million from the community preservation fund plus a $2.645-million donation from several unidentified neighbors, was again criticized by members of the public at the board’s meeting last Thursday.

The longstanding question of how to complete the upgrade of East Hampton Town’s emergency communications system moved forward on separate fronts on Tuesday when the town board agreed that the best spot to put temporary communications equipment appeared to be Maidstone Park.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Tuesday permitting Suffolk County to lease underwater lands previously ceded to it by New York State for the purpose of kelp and other seaweed cultivation.

The East Hampton Town Board held two public hearings last Thursday, one involving two amendments to the town’s code of ethics and the other to create a Bureau of Administrative Adjudication that would make it easier to pay fines for minor violations of the town code.

The stretch of Route 114 from the South Ferry in North Haven to Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton “has been the full-employment act for front-end alignment mechanics on the East End for too long,” Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said, but that’s about to change, as the road is set to be repaved in the spring for the first time since 2005.

The East Hampton Town Board is revisiting a plan to revitalize the southern part of Lake Montauk and the beach at the end of South Lake Drive with an eye to making better use of the space, maximizing parking, capturing and treating stormwater runoff by promoting infiltration and natural treatment, and removing invasive species.

Energize East Hampton, a town campaign to boost environmentally friendly technology initiatives in houses and businesses, will hold a virtual talk on “green heating and cooling” methods on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

East Hampton School District officials wanted their affordable housing forum on Tuesday to be a brainstorming session focused on solutions and proposals, and from innovative financing and land use ideas to promises of partnership from elected officials to participation by community members, that’s just what they got.

The evolution of the village property at 8 Osborne Lane in East Hampton, wedged between the railroad tracks, the middle school, and another village property on the corner of Newtown Lane, entered a new phase recently as Tesla Motors Corporation completed the physical installation of 12 supercharging stations.

The East Hampton Village Board voted unanimously on Nov. 19 to relax rules limiting the size of cellars in houses, and at the same meeting voted against allowing cannabis dispensaries and consumption establishments within the village.

The South Fork Wind farm took another step toward fruition on Monday when the New York State Public Service Commission approved its developers’ environmental management and construction plan.

In a split vote last Thursday, the East Hampton Town Board authorized a $6.845 million purchase of three parcels, comprising 1.92 acres on Green Hollow Road in East Hampton, using $4.2 million from the community preservation fund and a $2.645 million donation from several neighbors whose identities were not disclosed.

The South Fork Wind farm, which would be New York State’s first offshore wind farm, took another major step forward on Wednesday when the federal Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a favorable Record of Decision, a move that concludes the project’s federal environmental review. 

The East Hampton Town Board is expected to opt out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries or on-site consumption licenses.

The owner of Sunset Cove Marina, on Folkstone Creek off Three Mile Harbor in Springs, plans to convert a portion of the marina to a commercial oyster growing operation.

Attorneys for East Hampton Town are opposing a motion by plaintiffs in the long-running Truck Beach conflict to move the Oct. 17 trespassing violations of 14 protesters from the town justice court to Suffolk County Supreme Court, which would consolidate those violations with the plaintiffs’ pending motion asking that the court hold the town in contempt for not actively prohibiting the public from accessing the beach.

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted unanimously on Monday to enact a one-year moratorium on construction of docks, catwalks, floating docks, floating structures, and floating platforms in trustee waters.

East Hampton Town is set to proceed with the creation of an administrative adjudication bureau to expedite processing minor code violations, allowing people to pay fines for them by mail or online, rather than having to appear in town justice court.

A Nov. 9 announcement that the Long Island Power Authority and the New York State Department of Public Service had agreed on a new management contract with PSEG Long Island came with reassuring words from LIPA officials but also continued criticism from government officials and activists.

The tanks holding effluent from the pump-out boats operated by the East Hampton Town Trustees in Three Mile Harbor and Lake Montauk are undersized and in need of replacement, representatives of the town’s water quality technical advisory committee told the town board.

Two weeks after a tense debate and vote to allow an 80-foot dock in Three Mile Harbor, the East Hampton Town Trustees moved toward enacting a moratorium on the construction of docks and floating structures in all waters under their jurisdiction while they develop a policy on them.

Current operations at East Hampton Airport and spending by passengers to and from it generate between $19 million and $25 million in economic output and account for 170 to 260 full-time equivalent jobs for the town, but passenger spending represents just 2 to 3 percent of taxable sales in the town, consultants told the East Hampton Town Board.