Government

After hearing a report from Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences on the impact of wastewater on the village’s drinking water and water quality in Georgica and Hook Ponds, the East Hampton Village Board voted on Friday to create a central sewer committee with Mayor Jerry Larsen as its chairman.

Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott asked the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division on Monday to block the installation of a transmission cable connecting the South Fork Wind Farm to the electric grid until the court ruled on the group’s appeal of what it calls the state’s improper approval of its route through the hamlet.

By an 8-to-1 vote on Dec. 15, the Long Island Power Authority’s board of trustees approved a new contract with PSEG Long Island, which operates and maintains the electrical grid on its behalf.

Supporters and critics alike called the new Operation Service Agreement an improvement over the previous contract, though the critics say it falls short, particularly in setting the utility on a path to becoming a fully public power authority operated and managed directly by LIPA.

With the East Hampton Town Board’s unanimous vote on Tuesday to approve an agreement to put an emergency communications tower at the Camp Blue Bay property on Flaggy Hole Road in Springs, a collective sigh of relief could be heard elsewhere in the hamlet as residents’ five-month struggle to prevent the tower from being erected in a wooded area in their neighborhood had officially succeeded.

With water levels at Town Pond noticeably low, and residents beginning to wonder whether the situation is related to a recent dredging, the village board voted last week to ask the town for $163,985 more from the community preservation fund to rectify matters.

Consultants to the town who have spent the last few months fact-finding on the future of East Hampton Airport reported to the town board on Tuesday about community support and opposition, and the economic implications of closing the airport or, alternatively, imposing certain restrictions.

A local law that would give East Hampton Town regulatory powers over mining, mulching, and composting operations and require the monitoring and reporting of any impacts to groundwater drew strong support from environmental advocates at a public hearing last Thursday. Representatives of a local business engaged in such operations, however, vigorously criticized the proposal.

With a Sag Harbor moratorium on waterfront building set to expire in February, the village board said last week that it intends to vote on a proposed waterfront zoning overlay district at its Jan. 11 meeting.

Projects that will protect or improve ground and surface waters may be eligible for funding under the water quality portion of East Hampton Town’s community preservation fund.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has completed its environmental review of potential impacts from offshore wind energy leasing activities in the New York Bight, off New York and New Jersey, and has issued a finding of no significant impact.

The new owner of the former Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Cafe in Montauk has big plans for the property, but they are far too big, the East Hampton Town Planning Board told his attorney last week.

Starting Monday, Dec. 20, East Hampton Town's Covid-19 testing will move to the East Hampton Center for Humanity, the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons, at 110 Stephen Hand's Path.