Government

Len Bernard, East Hampton Town's budget officer, had no shortage of news when he addressed the town board on Tuesday. He presented a draft three-year capital plan, spoke of next month's final payment on deficit financing related to budget mismanagement between 2005 and 2008, and announced his retirement, set for July.

Representative Lee Zeldin often touts the fact that an index determined by the Lugar Center and McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University ranks him as the 12th most bipartisan member of the House. This week, 259 of his constituents asked the center to exclude him and others who voted against certification of the electoral votes from its next Bipartisan Index.

The Suffolk County Water Authority has proposed the construction of a two-million-gallon tank in Wainscott adjacent to East Hampton Airport to supply water and provide additional capacity during times of peak demand, the town board was told on Tuesday.

Two days after being released from Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where he had spent nine days fighting Covid-19, Village Mayor Jerry Larsen discussed the status of proposals for paid parking and the construction of a wastewater treatment plant, the recent increase in fees for beach parking and several other permits, the tensions that have arisen at village board meetings, and more.

Appellate judges reversed much of a 2016 State Supreme Court decision on Wednesday, ruling that property owners along a stretch of ocean beach on Napeague known as Truck Beach do, in fact, own the beach. On Friday, the town said it would appeal or move to condemn that stretch.

As East End residents face an ongoing lack of access to the Covid-19 vaccine, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and other local officials vented their frustration this week with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's handling of the state's vaccination program, and offered recommendations for fixing it.

Motivated by opposition to a plan to land the proposed South Fork Wind farm's export cable at the ocean end of Beach Lane, a group called Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott is leading an effort to create an incorporated village in a 4.4-square-mile expanse of that hamlet. A petition supporting that move was submitted to the supervisor, as required by state law, on Dec. 30.

To prevent oversized buildings along the waterfront, the code would set a maximum height of 25 feet and two stories, unless the developer provided public waterfront access and at least three other benefits, such as installing environmentally-friendly building systems and sustainable landscapes, producing renewable energy, conserving water, or preserving historic resources.

"Montauk's skate park could become a destination," said John Britton, the father of an 11-year-old skateboarder who is working with Councilman David Lys to advocate for a renovation and expansion. 

The East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday discussed a plan to amend the town code to tighten restrictions on the use of leaf blowers, with a divided board debating even greater constraints than were proposed at a public hearing in December.

After receiving feedback from Sag Harbor Village residents and business owners on a proposal to charge for parking on Main Street and in the Long Wharf lot between Memorial Day and Columbus Day weekends, the village board decided to hold off on including the Main Street spaces, Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy announced on Monday.

Charging "bad faith, authoritarian motives, and irrationality," Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in State Supreme Court, Riverhead, against the East Hampton Town Board, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, and South Fork Wind. The action follows the town board's Jan. 21 approval of an easement allowing the developers of the proposed South Fork Wind farm to land an export cable on a Wainscott beach and then bury it under town-owned roads on its way to a Long Island Power Authority substation in East Hampton.

The New York State Department of Transportation issued a stop work order to the Shinnecock Nation last Thursday, demanding an end to the recent construction of the second of two controversial billboards on either side of Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays

Data released Monday by New York State shows the seven-day average rate of positive Covid-19 cases in Suffolk County has been ticking downward now for nearly a month. The rate reflects the number of cases that are positive as a percentage of the total tests administered.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc will hold a hearing on the petition for the incorporation of Wainscott on Friday, Feb. 5. Signed by more than 200 people, the petition is the first step toward the creation of a new village of Wainscott. If it is deemed legally sufficient, the question of incorporation will be put to a vote by residents of the proposed village.

Following his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, 22 active and retired lawyers, most of them Representative Lee Zeldin's constituents, filed a complaint with the Attorney Grievance Committee for the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in Albany, charging violation of "the most fundamental ethics rules."

With the Town of East Hampton and the town trustees' votes to execute agreements with the developers of the proposed South Fork Wind farm, and the state Public Service Commission's review of the project nearing conclusion, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued a draft environmental impact statement, a requirement of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Both Southampton Town and New York State have taken steps toward enacting new legislation on monitoring sand mines aimed at ensuring the safety of the underlying aquifer from contamination.

After several years of discussion, debate, and public comment, the proposed South Fork Wind farm has come closer to reality. Both the East Hampton Town Board and the town trustees have voted to execute agreements with the developers allowing the wind farm's export cable to make landfall in the town and travel below ground, along town roads, to a Long Island Power Authority substation in East Hampton.

Proposals to charge for prime parking spaces in East Hampton and Sag Harbor Village are receiving mixed reactions from the villages’ business owners. Some think it's "dreadful," others foresee minimal impacts.

For East End residents hoping to book an appointment online for a vaccination at Stony Brook University, the nearest state-run site, the message has been a consistent: "No appointments available." On the websites of urgent care facilities in Riverhead and Huntington run by Northwell Health, which is overseeing vaccine administration on Long Island, the message is even less encouraging.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc and Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez both announced their intention to run for third terms this week. 

A contractor hired for an East Hampton Town public works project in 2017 has pleaded guilty to underpaying his employees and falsifying payroll records, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini announced Friday.

Projects that will protect or improve ground and surface waters may be eligible for funding under the water quality portion of the town's community preservation fund.

Disagreements about charging for parking in the commercial district, the financing of a centralized sewer system, and increasing fees for lockers at Main Beach erupted into heated discussions at an East Hampton Village Board meeting on Friday.

After several years of heated debate, the East Hampton Town Board voted on Thursday to execute an easement and host-community agreement with the developers of the proposed South Fork Wind farm. Under the agreement, the developers of the offshore turbines will pay the town almost $29 million over the installation’s 25-year lifetime. 

East Hampton Town's Anti-Bias Task Force condemned the Jan. 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol, rejecting "in the strongest terms possible the despicable symbols of hate on display that day, including nooses, Confederate flags, and neo-Nazi slogans."

A long-planned project to protect the Montauk Lighthouse and its outbuildings from shoreline erosion moved toward fruition. The estimated two-year project to safeguard the national historic landmark is expected to start this spring.

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen announced a plan to reconfigure parking spaces on Newtown Lane and along the perimeter of the Reutershan parking lot from parallel to angled drive-in parking at a board meeting on Friday.

Oyster farmers denounced efforts to restrict their activities in Gardiner's and Peconic Bays and boaters pressed their complaints that the floating gear some farmers use presents a hazard to navigation and an aesthetic nuisance when the Suffolk County Shellfish Aquaculture Lease Program's 10-year review board met on Friday.