Government

Two years after banning the intentional release of balloons, the East Hampton Town Board appears poised to go further by also enacting a ban on the sale and distribution of filled latex and Mylar balloons.

On Wednesday for the first time since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo imposed an executive order 13 months ago requiring face coverings in public, people could go into a store or a walk down Main Street without a mask -- provided they were fully vaccinated. The change comes as the number of vaccinated people continues to grow and the infection rate across the state and here in Suffolk County drops to levels not seen since September and October.

The proposal from the Promised Land Kelp Company is for an initial pilot program at locations in Napeague Harbor, Three Mile Harbor, and the near Northwest Harbor County Park to determine the optimum site for growth, followed by a long-term program at the site that proves to be best. "These areas have historically been nonproductive shellfishing areas, especially for bay scallops," according to a letter from the company.

Effective Wednesday in New York, people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer need to wear masks or physically distance, both indoors and out. Immunocompromised and unvaccinated people should continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing, and masks will still be required in schools and correctional and health care facilities, on public transportation and in nursing homes and homeless shelters.

East Hampton and Sag Harbor Villages will begin charging for some prime parking spaces in their commercial districts in the coming days, and both will use ParkMobile, a smartphone app-based payment service. 

When the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jon Bon Jovi walked up to a microphone at a benefit concert at an East Hampton sports complex on Friday, he might not have imagined that he was also stepping into a potential ethics controversy.

Consultants hired by the town to study aircraft activity at East Hampton Airport, including noise complaints and the potential economic impact of closing the airport, told the town board on Tuesday that after four consecutive years of increases, the number of flights between July 2 and Sept. 30, 2020, was 35 percent lower than in 2019, but because of the pandemic, "2020 was a unique year, and it's a bit of an outlier."

A proposal that would impose term limits on East Hampton Village's elected officials, a tentative budget for the next fiscal year, and the impact of the state's marijuana legalization were discussed at a village board meeting last Thursday. The board also announced that a public hearing will be held on Friday, May 21, on a proposal to convert parallel parking spaces to angled, drive-in ones on parts of Newtown Lane.

Amos Goodman, a former chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, last week pleaded guilty in Suffolk County First District Court to one misdemeanor and three violations after being charged in 2018 with 20 felonies when, during his time as chairman, he was accused of forging signatures on candidate petitions for an East Hampton Town special election.

James Larocca, a Sag Harbor Village trustee, is challenging Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy in the June 15 election. The mayor "ran on the promise of developing an overarching master plan, and the absence of such is one of the biggest problems we have in combating this wave of money and developers that are now swarming all over the west side of town," he said.

Members of the public will have a chance to comment on the East Hampton Town Airport on Tuesday during a board work session that starts at 11 a.m.

It's a drop in the fishing bucket, but New York has begun to distribute $6.7 million in relief aid to the state's seafood, marine commercial, and for-hire fishing industries after excessive business losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the coming weeks, award recipients will receive a letter accompanied by a check, based on reported economic loss experienced in 2020 compared to the previous five years.

East Hampton Town's water quality technical advisory committee issued recommendations to a supportive town board on Tuesday to fund six projects using money from the portion of the community preservation fund allocated to water quality improvements.

The news on Monday of a "major reopening" of New York State came not a moment too soon for the South Fork's caterers and restaurateurs, for whom the pandemic represented an unprecedented disruption of business but who now must move swiftly to book and prepare for summer events while keeping an eye on state guidance that remains fluid.

An East Hampton Town advisory committee convened last year to address beach matters has recommended a cautious approach to the looming summer season and the continuation of protocols established last year, affecting entrance, egress, and activity on beaches, as well as parking and comfort stations.

The Town of East Hampton has won a $5.6 million award from New York State for a planned affordable housing project on a 14.2-acre parcel on Three Mile Harbor Road. 

The East Hampton Town Board voted on Tuesday to appoint Kevin Cooper, a 32-year veteran of the New York Police Department and New York City Transit Police, as director of code enforcement.

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, flanked by Democratic and labor leaders, announced her candidacy for the Democratic Party’s nomination for New York’s First Congressional District on Monday.

Citing continuing downward trends in New York State’s Covid-19 infection and hospitalization rates and seven million of its residents being fully vaccinated, an upbeat Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Monday “a major reopening of the state” on May 19. 

Sag Harbor Village residents weighed in on Bay Street Theater's plan for a new theater, the departure of the 7-Eleven, and proposed restrictions on waterfront development at a public hearing held in John Steinbeck Waterfront Park last week. "We cannot control who can buy what, we can't control who can sell what, but what we can do is control the use, the size, the scale, and most importantly, the character of what is put on any property," said Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy.

President Biden's announcement on Earth Day that the United States will cut greenhouse gas emissions to 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade was hailed by South Fork activists this week as commensurate with the urgency of the climate crisis.

Following C.D.C. guidance, New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated will no longer be required to wear masks outdoors, "except in certain crowded settings and venues," and to make it easier to get the vaccine, the state is opening all of its mass vaccination sites to walk-ins. 

As downtown Montauk continues to wait for a long-promised federal government effort to protect its eroded ocean beaches, the Army Corps of Engineers has delayed the project to 2023. This has spurred Concerned Citizens of Montauk to gather almost 1,200 signatures on a petition demanding the project start this year, as the Army Corps had previously signaled it would.

The solar array is to be situated at the North Sea Transfer Station, a former landfill. The town announced the request last Thursday, Earth Day.

A multiyear effort to save the Springs house and studios of the Abstract Expressionist artists James Brooks and Charlotte Park may yet have a happy ending, despite a demolition permit, approved by the architectural review board in January 2020, that is "still on the table," according to a co-chairman of the East Hampton Arts Council.

A renewed push to seek a not-for-profit entity to manage the property follows Preservation Long Island's issue of an "alert" status as to the structures' potential demolition, and the organization has asked the town to rescind the demolition permit.

The developers of the South Fork Wind farm filed an Environmental Management and Construction Plan for the proposed installation with the New York State Public Service Commission on Tuesday.

A proposal that will allow East Hampton Village restaurants, including those at its historic inns, to operate outdoor dining areas, and one that will allow the village to sell monthlong nonresident beach parking permits, were approved in party-line votes at a village board meeting on Friday.

Two areas off the South Shore of Long Island that had been identified as potential federal lease areas for development of offshore wind will not be considered for leases, an official of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said last week.

A request from State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele and environmental advocates that East Hampton Town allocate 2 percent of funds it receives from the Peconic Bay Region's Community Preservation Fund to the Peconic Estuary Partnership was endorsed by the town board on Tuesday.

Seeking a site for the construction of a sewage treatment facility, the East Hampton Village Board narrowed the options down to two village-owned properties at a meeting on Friday. In the running are a vacant lot just north of the railroad trestle on North Main Street, and the Accabonac Road parcel that is home to the Department of Public Works.