Government

An apparent effort by the billionaire investor Michael Novogratz to enlarge one of his Amagansett properties by adding an unopened road to it was stymied last week by a stop-work order.

East Hampton Town officials will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the newly completed Manor House condominium apartments on Accabonac Road in East Hampton at noon tomorrow. The town oversaw construction of the 12-unit complex to create affordable housing opportunities for residents.

Less than two weeks after voting to award nearly $400,000 in grant funding for four water quality improvement projects, the East Hampton Town Board heard recommendations from its water quality technical advisory committee to fund upgrades to sanitary systems on municipal properties.

“We are in a deep hole, and we are still digging,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Monday. “Soon it will be too deep to escape.”

Suffolk County Health Department officials detected nitrates and manganese above water quality standards in some of the 102 private wells it had tested in an area surrounding the closed landfill and at least two commercial composting or mulching operations along the Springs-Fireplace Road corridor in East Hampton and Springs as of Nov. 15.

Native pines will rise once again on town lands where the trees had been devastated by the southern pine beetle, a pest that is having less and less of an impact in East Hampton each year since it first began wreaking havoc on the trees in the fall of 2017.

East Hampton Town is hoping to finalize the purchase of 12 acres of land off Pantigo Road, on which it plans to develop affordable housing, by the end of this week, Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday.

Subject to congressional approval, the Town of East Hampton will allocate a total of $125,000 in community development block grants for 2020, the town board agreed last Thursday.

Laura Ahearn, an attorney and social worker from Port Jefferson, has announced that she is a candidate for the State Senate seat held by Kenneth P. LaValle, a Republican also from Port Jefferson.

As it was expected to do, the East Hampton Town Board awarded grant funding for four water quality improvement projects last Thursday, following a recommendation made last month by the Water Quality Technical Advisory Committee.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced on Friday that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation to identify lands at risk from sea level rise or flooding as eligible sending districts.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board made it clear last week that it will approve an application from the Peconic Land Trust to build a 4,000-plus-square-foot barn at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett.

When Christine P. Scalera retires from the Southampton Town Board at the end of December, she will not be leaving Town Hall. She has been hired as a deputy town attorney, a position she held previously.

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Accabonac Harbor is listed as “impaired” for shellfishing and as “stressed” for public bathing. As part of a local effort to boost the health of the harbor, the Accabonac Protection Committee, Concerned Citizens of Montauk, and East Hampton Town are teaming up to host a question-and-answer session for homeowners next Thursday about septic system and cesspool replacement.

Time is short to send feedback to Suffolk County as to where best to position lease sites for its Aquaculture Lease Program in Peconic Bay and Gardiner’s Bay, several residents told the East Hampton Town Trustees on Monday.

Several years after a movement took shape to preserve and restore the house and two studios at the 11-acre Springs property once belonging to the Abstract Expressionist artists James Brooks and Charlotte Park, the East Hampton Town Board voted to authorize the town’s Department of Land Acquisition and Management to seek bids for their demolition.

Frank Cilione, an owner of 44 Three Mile Harbor Road, the site of several former nightclubs and at present the East Hampton branch of the Spur co-working space, wants to demolish the building and replace it with a 21,000-square-foot structure with a retail store, office space, and work force housing.

The East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to increase incentives for property owners to replace conventional septic systems with new, low-nitrogen systems approved by the Suffolk County Health Department.

Weeks after a re-election campaign that saw her win 60 percent of the vote over her Republican challenger, Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming announced on Tuesday morning her intention to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York's First Congressional District next year.

Some of the South Fork’s most prominent elected officials, a group of nine women who hold public office here, came together last Thursday for a bipartisan call to action. Their goal was to inspire a demographic that may not yet identify with a particular party line — high school girls — to someday run for office.

Members of the East Hampton Town Trustees disagreed among themselves on Friday on the merits of Suffolk County’s Shellfish Aquaculture Lease Program in Peconic Bay and Gardiner’s Bay, leaving John Aldred, the trustees’ representative to the county, uncertain as to what he should recommend to administrators conducting a 10-year review of the program.

The mystery of the EH Fusion Party’s robocall effort in the closing days of the campaign for East Hampton Town offices may not be resolved, but the consultancy responsible for disseminating the party’s final pitch to voters shed some light on that odd wrinkle in this year’s unusual election campaign.

The five companies holding leases in New England waters designated for offshore wind farms have announced a uniform turbine layout proposal to the United States Coast Guard that stipulates one-nautical-mile spacing between wind turbines.

By a lead of just 27 votes, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana prevailed in her re-election campaign, defeating her Democratic challenger, Andrew Strong, to win a fifth four-year term on the bench.

Thomas (Tommy John) Schiavoni, a Southampton Town councilman who lives on North Haven, announced on Saturday that he is a candidate for the New York State Senate’s First District seat held by Kenneth P. LaValle.

The East Hampton Town Board will vote tonight on a resolution to request that the Long Island Rail Road reduce by $1 the South Fork Commuter Connection fare for passengers traveling between Speonk and Montauk.

With little discussion, the East Hampton Town Board voted on Tuesday to approve the town’s 2020 operating budget.

East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana has apparently prevailed in her re-election campaign, narrowly defeating her Democratic challenger, Andrew Strong. 

The East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to accept the donation of a park bench in memory of Stuart B. Vorpahl Jr., a fisherman, historian, town trustee, secretary of the East Hampton Baymen’s Association, and a descendant of one of East Hampton’s oldest families.

Evaluating and choosing from among as many as 18 candidates every two years is no easy task, and Francis Bock, the clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees, is among those calling for staggered elections for the trustee board, so that fewer candidates will stand for re-election simultaneously.