Government

A proposed .5-percent real estate transfer tax to fund community housing will be on the ballot in East Hampton in November and the town board and pro-housing community groups are getting the word out about the proposal and its anticipated benefits.

East Hampton Town’s 2023 budget, still in its tentative form, continued to take shape this week, with minor adjustments to funding for community organizations and for the Marine Patrol, Highway, and Land Acquisition and Management Departments among the tweaks being considered.

The Sag Harbor Village Board of Trustees proposed a new law on Tuesday, which would create an overlay district in what the board called its “historically black beachfront communities.” Before the proposed amendment to the village code can take effect, however, it will have to go through a public hearing, on Nov. 8.

The East Hampton Village Board is looking at a speed limit change on village roads, allowing dogs on leashes in Herrick Park, and pickleball court installation regulations.

Wireless communication in Springs will be the hot topic at three meetings this week. There's an East Hampton Town Planning Board hearing on an application for a 185-foot-tall tower at Camp Blue Bay; the town board will discuss the subject at its work session on Tuesday, and the lobbying group Accabonac Strategies will update people that evening on its advocacy for activation of the 150-foot-tall tower on Springs Firehouse grounds.

Two teenagers were shot on Sunday near the Shirley residence of Representative Lee Zeldin of New York’s First Congressional District while he was campaigning in the Bronx. His teenage daughters were home, and he said later that a bullet was found about 30 feet from where they had been sitting.

The 14 East Hampton Town residents who were issued summonses for trespassing on the Napeague ocean beach popularly known as Truck Beach during a protest last October have a hearing date in Southampton Town Justice Court.

Informational forums on the Nov. 8 ballot proposition that will ask voters to approve a .5-percent real estate transfer tax that would go toward a community housing opportunity fund will be held in East Hampton Town Friday and on Oct. 15.

The East Hampton Town Board finds it necessary “to raise wages significantly in order to try and stay competitive within the market," Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said of the town's 2023 budget, which would grow by 5.6 percent over the current budget, to $90.36 million if adopted.

The new owners of the Springs General Store are eager to get to work converting a storage shed on the property into a tiny wine store, but questions about accessibility for the disabled and exactly what type of drinking would be allowed at the site have slowed the progress of their application before the East Hampton Town Planning Board.

The campaigns of Gov. Kathy Hochul and her challenger, Representative Lee Zeldin of New York’s First Congressional District, touted dueling polls last week. Both put the incumbent in the lead, but by widely differing margins. 

As part of an effort to create more affordable housing, the director of East Hampton Town’s Planning Department issued a slew of recommendations to the town board on Tuesday aimed at expanding incentives for residents to offer affordable accessory apartments for rent.