Government

Members of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council's fisheries advisory board strongly objected to the council's conclusion that the South Fork Wind Farm's new "minimization alternative" -- 12 wind turbine generators instead of 15, reducing its footprint -- and a $12 million fisheries compensation package, are consistent with the state's Ocean Special Area Management Plan.

The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court has ruled that the Department of Environmental Conservation overstepped its authority in granting more width and more depth for the Sand Land mine in Noyac.

The East Hampton Village Board approved an agreement that will allow Tesla, the electric vehicle company, to operate charging stations in the municipal parking lot on Osborne Lane.

Protection and remediation of water bodies were on the agenda at last Thursday's meeting of the East Hampton Town Board. Public hearings on proposals to expand the water protection district and award grants to six projects drew only positive comment from the public and the board. 

After Sag Harbor Village began charging for parking spaces in the Long Wharf lot on Friday, residents and visitors said they were dismayed that yet another cost has been added to daily life on the South Fork.

The East Hampton Town Trustees' virtual meeting on Monday will include a presentation on the acoustic telemetry studies and trawl surveys associated with the South Fork Wind farm's export cable, which is to make landfall at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott. Researchers from Stony Brook University, Monmouth University, and Cornell Cooperative Extension will discuss their findings.

The East Hampton Town Planning Department gave a qualified recommendation for the town board to approve the use of an aquatic weed harvester to remove macroalgae from Georgica Pond this year, but wants more collaboration with the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, which operates the harvester, "to get a better handle on how the project can go forward and reap the benefits it's provided and ensure there aren't any adverse impacts that haven't been identified."

The annual sand replenishment at the ocean beach in downtown Montauk is complete, East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc told his colleagues on the town board on Tuesday.

A new East Hampton Town law prohibiting the use of gas or diesel-powered leaf blowers rom May 20 to Sept. 20 went into effect on Thursday. The law also established a licensing requirement for commercial landscapers engaged in property maintenance, and is intended to encourage "green" landscaping practices, such as electric leaf blowers, which are free of emissions and quieter than their fossil fuel-powered counterparts.

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.