Government

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted on Monday to conduct an aerial drone survey of approximately 50 miles of shoreline, a companion to the recently commenced on-the-ground survey of docks in waterways under their jurisdiction.

The subcontractor that will perform the onshore cable installation for the South Fork Wind farm plans to use an approximately one-acre area at the end of an abandoned East Hampton Airport runway, adjacent to Industrial Road in Wainscott, as a laydown area. 

"Right now, our village code, and our zoning code specifically, lacks any regulations pertaining to wireless facilities," Billy Hajek, the East Hampton Village planner, told the trustees. "We've been able to get by without it, but as the population increases there's going to be more demand for wireless facilities."

The East Hampton Town Board, citing rising instances of overclearing of parcels during building construction, voted last Thursday to increase the fees for vegetation compliance reviews. The vote followed an Aug. 16 discussion during which an assistant town attorney and Natural Resources Department official relayed numerous examples of overclearing.

The new Three Mile Harbor development, expected to be completed within 18 months, will feature 10 one-bedroom, 29 two-bedroom, and 10 three-bedroom apartments across five two-story residential buildings. Officials broke ground on Aug. 17.

Nicholas LaLota, the chief of staff to the Republican majority in the Suffolk County Legislature, is now the Republican Party nominee to represent New York's First Congressional District. He will face the Democrat Bridget Fleming, a county legislator, in the general election.

East Hampton Village will soon be home to an enormous platinum bull, in the form of an art installation by the sculptor Enrique Cabrera that will graze for a time in Herrick Park.

The East Hampton Town Board, citing inflation and its potential impact on employee recruitment and retention efforts, announced a one-time supplemental payment to employees on Thursday. The payments will total an estimated $660,000 and will come from surplus funds. 

After yet another hour in front of the town planning board last week, all that stood between Hero Beach, Montauk’s westernmost resort, and its application to convert two units into a kitchen was a handful of words and two lawyers.

A March 2018 lawsuit filed against East Hampton Town on behalf of Wainscott residents whose wells were discovered to be contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) is treading water as hundreds of similar lawsuits make their way through the court system.

The East Hampton Town Trustees have commenced a survey of docks in waterways under their jurisdiction, a plan agreed upon shortly after the nine-member body approved construction of an 80-foot dock in Three Mile Harbor in October and subsequently enacted a 12-month moratorium on new docks catwalks, floating docks, floating structures, and floating platforms.

Christopher Clapp, who chaired East Hampton Town’s Water Quality Technical Advisory Committee since its inception, has left the committee as he takes on the role of executive director of the Ocean Sewage Alliance.