Government

Taking note of a proliferation of seaplanes amid the swarm of aircraft flying over East Hampton in a typical summer, the town board is discussing prohibiting seaplanes within 1,500 feet of any town shoreline.

Retail food stores will be allowed to provide seating for up to 16 people, under a law passed on Friday by the East Hampton Village Board at a meeting held via teleconference. 

Beaches raise the question of safety not only for beachgoers but for lifeguards, and the town is pondering whether or how it can keep beaches and parks open while protecting employees and the public and avoiding a subsequent wave of Covid-19 infection.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and Councilman John Bouvier have endorsed Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming’s candidacy for the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said last week that he will issue an executive order to expand absentee voting in the state’s June 23 primary elections.     

The East Hampton Town Trustees approved a water quality assessment program proposed by Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences when they met via videoconference on Monday.     

The East Hampton Town Board moved on Tuesday toward adopting community choice aggregation, in which a town, or group of towns, hires an administrator to issue a competitive bid and choose a supplier for electricity, natural gas, or both.

East Hampton Town’s government is calling on residents to wear coverings when venturing out in public, following federal recommendations, but also asked for donations of masks and gloves for grocery store workers.

A statement issued from Town Hall on Saturday morning referred to the federal Centers for Disease Control’s recommendation that people wear a cloth face covering to slow the spread of the Covid-19.

There were welcome hints of normalcy during the East Hampton Town Board’s meeting on Tuesday despite its five members’ remote participation via videoconference.

The East Hampton Town Board and residents are angry and dismayed by the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s March 30 issuance of a modified permit that allows an East Hampton mining company to expand a pit.

Southampton Town is weighing in on short-term rentals in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Supervisor Jay Schneiderman directing the ordinance enforcement division to crack down on illegal rentals during April.

East Hampton Town’s essential services are functioning, despite mandates to reduce staffing and implement the social distancing practices critical to controlling the now-explosive growth in COVID-19 infections in the tristate area. 

“We need to support those on the front lines of crisis, particularly the health care workers,” Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said. “None of us have direct experience with this, even in my 27 years of government experience I’ve never faced anything like it.”

Survey work for the proposed South Fork Wind Farm’s transmission cable route in Wainscott, which was to begin on Monday, has been put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perry Gershon, who is seeking a Democratic Party primary win to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District, has announced the suspension of his petition gathering and public events.

Arthur Graham, an East Hampton Village trustee since 2017, declared his candidacy for mayor in June’s election on Monday. He joins Barbara Borsack, the deputy mayor, and Jerry Larsen, a former East Hampton Village police chief, in the village’s first contested mayoral election since 1992.

The airport itself has not closed and flights can still come in and out.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Town of East Hampton on Friday declared a state of emergency, canceled most meetings, and announced initiatives to allow essential government functions to continue while minimizing face-to-face contact and residents’ need to visit Town Hall and other town facilities. 

The public has been invited to vote on student-made bumper stickers submitted to a contest sponsored by the Town of East Hampton Anti-Bias Task Force. They are on display in the foyer of Town Hall.     

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has asked the East Hampton Town Board to halt the planned demolition of the Springs house and studios of the Abstract Expressionist artists James Brooks and Charlotte Park.     

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said that advisories related to COVID-19 will be posted to the town’s website, ehamptonny.gov, and reminded residents that they can sign up for alerts via text message.

As one of the warmest winters in memory nears an end, the Town of East Hampton’s energy sustainability committee looks toward a looming deadline: the town’s goal to meet 100-percent renewable energy consumption, communitywide in all sectors, by 2030.     

A group of Springs property owners sued the Town of East Hampton last week over a plan to relocate the town’s shellfish hatchery from Fort Pond Bay in Montauk to 36 Gann Road.

The East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to authorize an agreement with Orsted and Eversource Energy, partners in the proposed South Fork Wind Farm off Montauk, to conduct survey work for the 15-turbine installation's cable route in Wainscott.

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming and her potential opponent come November, Representative Lee Zeldin, have garnered new endorsements.

Despite a massive die-off of bay scallops in the Peconic Estuary last fall, many waters under East Hampton Town Trustee jurisdiction, though by no means all, were of a high quality in 2019.     

The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced in January that it would not perform the independent Superfund evaluation that many Noyac residents had hoped for. 

Yearly maintenance dredging at Georgica Pond — up to 15,000 cubic yards of sand — is nearing completion.

The Southampton Town Board, using money from the community preservation fund, voted last week to purchase two parcels in Shinnecock Hills, in an area believed to be ancient burial grounds of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. Members and supporters of the Nation had lodged strong protests over housing construction at a nearby site.     

A proposal from AT&T to build a 50-foot-high freestanding “campanile” to house cellphone antennas, at St. Peter’s Chapel on Old Stone Highway in Springs, took a big step forward on Feb. 26, when the East Hampton Town Planning Board determined the project would not have a negative impact on the environment.