Government

East Hampton Town’s forests are under assault from multiple species, the town board was told on Tuesday, and while invasive insects are a major component of the ongoing threat to them, “more aggressive deer management” was the recommendation to alleviate forest degradation.

A proposed amendment to the East Hampton Town code would allow volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers with two years of qualifying service to apply for a partial tax exemption.

In a pilot composting effort aimed at diverting, recovering, and reusing residential food scraps to create compost and return it to the soil, East Hampton Compost will receive food scraps at farmers markets in Springs and Sag Harbor to start.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board held a “wrap-up discussion” on June 28 about a stripped-down site plan application from Rita Cantina, the Mexican restaurant located in a residential neighborhood in Springs. In order to speed approval, the restaurant has removed several proposed points of contention, among them an outdoor patio with seating area, parking for catering trailers, grills, and lighting.

“I am extremely concerned now about how it might affect public safety at the main artery to Montauk,” East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys said of the trees on Napeague killed by an infestation of southern pine beetles in recent years.

The 5-megawatt lithium-ion battery energy storage system that caught fire at a Cove Hollow Road, East Hampton, substation on May 31 will be out of commission for an unknown length of time, but while its owners say there are no safety or power concerns for residents, proponents of renewable energy are concerned that the fire will fuel calls for a moratorium on further installations.

A new 185-foot tower to house emergency communications and personal wireless equipment, a component of East Hampton Town’s long effort to upgrade its emergency communications infrastructure, has been installed on the Camp Blue Bay property in Springs. The goal is for it to be operational by next spring.

A newly installed 262-kilowatt solar system array is now operational at Hither Hills State Park in Montauk, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation announced last week. It's projected to generate 360,000 kilowatt hours per year, covering the park’s entire electricity use and saving around $45,000 annually on electricity costs.

Congestion pricing, a new tolling plan that targets New York City’s Midtown Manhattan and aims to ease traffic congestion while simultaneously decreasing pollution, is on the horizon. The program will charge drivers a fee upward of $23 to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.

Following an inspection, the New York State Department of Transportation and the Long Island Rail Road have closed the bridge at Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett due to structural problems. It is the second closure of the bridge in less than two months.

In recent months, judges have twice overturned East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals decisions regarding natural resources special permits, and that could have significant ramifications moving forward, as the town zoning code gets chipped away by the Suffolk County Supreme Court.

It was never going to be easy for the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals to rule against the Shagwong Tavern in Montauk. This week after wrestling with language and the weight of history it sided with the tavern, deciding in a split vote that the Shagwong is not a nightclub even when the tables are pushed aside for dancing, but that it still must comply with fire codes.