Government

The Sag Harbor Village Board is getting closer to finalizing a proposal to charge for parking on Main Street and in the Long Wharf parking lot between Memorial Day and Columbus Day weekends.

With a lack of Covid-19 vaccines making it nearly impossible for many of those deemed eligible to receive their first shot, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sought to wrangle control of the state's vaccine supply away from the federal government, and streamline the distribution process this week.

A provision of East Hampton Village law that prohibited its inns from holding special events outdoors was struck down by State Supreme Court Justice Martha L. Luft in a Jan. 6 ruling in a lawsuit the owners of the Hedges Inn, a popular wedding venue, brought against the village.

Despite the lingering skepticism of one elected official and the opposition of some Wainscott residents, the East Hampton Town Board is poised to complete easement agreements with the developers of the proposed South Fork Wind farm to allow the wind farm's transmission cable to land in Wainscott and run to the Long Island Power Authority substation in East Hampton.

The governor appealed to Pfizer amid ongoing frustration with the Trump administration, complaining on Monday that the federal government dramatically increased vaccine eligibility last week while distributing fewer doses to the state.

The East Hampton Town Board appears likely to amend the town code to prohibit seaplanes, with a few narrow exceptions, from taking off or landing in town waters.  

Seeking to prod more East Hampton Village residents and business owners to replace conventional septic systems with low-nitrogen ones, the village board intends to require upgrades when a conventional system fails, upon property transfer, and when a business seeks site plan review of proposed construction. 

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen scrapped a proposal to charge for additional hours of parking on the streets of the commercial district and in the Reutershan and Schenck parking lots, and is now proposing to charge non-village residents for each hour of parking in the lots, and to forgo allowing any additional hours for street parking.

Representative Lee Zeldin, one of President Trump's most loyal allies, is facing calls for his resignation in the wake of the Jan. 6 armed attack on the United States Capitol, an act of domestic terrorism intended to overturn the certification of electoral votes that was underway.

East Hampton Town's energy sustainability advisory committee has recommended requiring a warning sticker on fuel pumps, drawing a connection between filling vehicles with fossil fuels and climate change. 

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc and two of his colleagues on the town board have condemned the Jan. 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol.

During meetings this week, the East Hampton Town Board and the town trustees both aired the easement agreements they have separately negotiated, but not yet finalized, with the wind farm's developers. 

Representative Lee Zeldin, who for the last four years has demonstrated near-absolute fealty to President Trump, abruptly shifted his tone with a late-night statement on Thursday in which he acknowledged that President-elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be inaugurated on Jan. 20. 

East Hampton Town's energy sustainability committee concluded its work for 2020 with a recommendation to the town board that it adopt the NYStretch Energy Code, a statewide model for jurisdictions to use to accelerate the drive to carbon-neutral building.

Both in and outside of local government, there is a belief that the simultaneous campaigns of as many as 18 candidates is a confusing and clumsy exercise.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation on Dec. 23 giving the New York State Public Service Commission the authority to require the Long Island Power Authority and its service providers to implement recommendations made in any audit where fraud, abuse, or mismanagement is found.

The East Hampton Town Board delivered broad outlines of its goals for 2021 at its organizational meeting on Tuesday. The year that may see an end to the coronavirus pandemic that has now upended life in the town for almost one year.

An effort by some residents of Wainscott to create an incorporated village in a 4.4-acre expanse of that hamlet moved forward on Dec. 30 with the submission to East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc of a petition with over 200 signatures.

The East Hampton Town Trustees will devote their meeting on Monday to hearing public comment on draft agreements with developers of the proposed South Fork Wind farm, to be constructed approximately 35 miles off Montauk Point. The meeting, which will be held virtually and broadcast live on LTV, will start at 6 p.m.

U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin of New York’s First Congressional district voted late on Wednesday against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

A drive-through Covid-19 testing site is scheduled to open at East Hampton Town Hall on Wednesday. The outdoor site, which will be open seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., has been established in response to the surge in coronavirus transmission across Long Island and in New York State. 

Representatives from Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource Energy will take part in a virtual meeting to address questions and concerns about the turbine installation's onshore and near-shore footprint.

By year's end, East Hampton Town's Human Services Department was on track to have provided around 57,300 meals, more than in the prior three years combined. It also makes thousands of wellness calls, coordinates with the Family Service League to provide free mental health counseling, provides virtual activities, and offers a support group via teleconference for those caring for a loved one, all in the service of keeping the town's senior citizens safe, nourished, and healthy. 

The East Hampton Town Board concluded its 2020 meeting schedule with public hearings on curbing the use of gas and diesel-powered leaf blowers, opponents of which decry the ubiquitous landscaping equipment's noise and environmental pollution.

With many parts of the Town of East Hampton at moderate, high, or extreme risk of flooding, the planned October start of the project's implementation was prominent in "Montauk's Coastal Resiliency and the Future of Our Beaches," a Dec. 16 webinar hosted by Concerned Citizens of Montauk.

The developers of the South Fork Wind farm will conduct site assessments and soil borings as part of survey work having to do with the wind farm's onshore transmission cable installation starting as soon as Jan. 4.

Federal lawmakers on Monday passed a $1.4 trillion general appropriations bill that includes a provision to halt the public auction of Plum Island, the pristine 840-acre island that is officially part of Southold Town but is owned by the federal Department of Homeland Security.

An agreement that would see the Town of East Hampton reap an almost $29 million payment from the developers of the South Fork Wind farm in exchange for allowing a 138-kilovolt cable to be buried under town highway rights of way, from Beach Lane in Wainscott to the Long Island Power Authority substation in East Hampton, was unveiled this week. 

Significant changes are in store in Wainscott, the "gateway" to the Town of East Hampton. One already visible manifestation of change is the Wainscott Green, the 1.1-acre park that was dedicated in a Dec. 6 ceremony to the late Rick Del Mastro, a former chairman of the hamlet's citizens advisory committee who died in April.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced last week that the state's $226 billion Common Retirement Fund will transition its portfolio to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. A review of investments in energy sector companies is to be completed within four years, using minimum standards to assess transition readiness and climate-related investment risk.