Government

In a little over a year, East Hampton Town's Zoning Code Amendment Working Group has walked a tightrope between business interests, builders, real estate people, and others who fear over-restrictive zoning, and those who want the code strengthened to preserve what they say is a town that is quickly losing, or has already lost, its character. In the process of deciding what to change, compromise has begun to emerge.

John Avlon and Representative Nick LaLota, who are opponents in New York's First Congressional District race, called for unity and de-escalation of political hostilities in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump.

Sartiano's, the ultra-upscale Italian restaurant owned by Scott Sartiano, owner of the private membership club Zero Bond in New York, is now taking reservations at the Hedges Inn for its new 80-seat summer pop-up. East Hampton Village officials are keeping a watchful eye on it, even appealing to the State Liquor Authority to question the establishment's liquor license.

Former President Donald J. Trump was shot at a rally in Butler, Pa., early Saturday evening. Shortly after the shooting, Representative Nick LaLota, a Republican who in January endorsed President Trump, and his opponent in the First Congressional District race, John Avlon, a Democrat, released statements.

Owners of four properties on Soundview Drive in Montauk found little support for their request to have the East Hampton Town Board grant a code change that would have made it easier for them to armor their properties with coastal erosion structures.

“For existing rooms in existing houses” was the common refrain at the Sag Harbor Village Board meeting Tuesday night, when a resolution allowing short-term room rentals in owner-occupied residences was unanimously approved.

Lt. Chelsea Tierney of the East Hampton Town police talked with the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee on the subject of e-bikes, which may replace gas-powered leaf blowers as the summer’s number-one irritants. There are rules for e-bikes, though many riders (and their parents) seem not to know them.

Faced with the daunting task of implementing the Wainscott hamlet plan adopted by the East Hampton Town Board in 2019, a trio of consultants advised the board to focus on the relatively easy stuff — things like burying the lines, installing sidewalks, and planting street trees — along Montauk Highway from West Gate Road to Hedges Lane.

The East Hampton Town Architectural Review Board granted a rare height variance to Bobby Flay, the celebrity chef and cookbook author, for a 7,405-square-foot barn he plans to reconstruct on his Stony Hill Road property in Amagansett.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has authorized East Hampton Town to remove, or "alienate," two acres of nature preserve from its parkland holdings with the hope that Suffolk County will further explore placing a roundabout at the East Hampton intersection where North Main Street meets Three Mile Harbor and Springs-Fireplace Roads. 

Former Representative Tim Bishop has endorsed Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni in his bid to represent the First District in the New York State Assembly — Fred Thiele’s seat.

On Saturday, two days after President Biden and former President Trump met in Atlanta for the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle, the president and Jill Biden were in East Hampton for a fund-raiser at the home of Barry and Lizanne Rosenstein, co-hosted by several high-powered business executives and celebrities, all the while hearing calls from prominent members of the Democratic Party to step aside and let someone else lead the ticket.