With the new year approaching, East Hampton Town officials have looked ahead to the $4.6 million they estimate the town will receive annually from the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund for water quality improvement, or $152 million over the life of the program.

The community preservation fund is derived from a 2-percent transfer tax on most real-estate transactions. Voters in the five East End towns, for which it was established, overwhelmingly approved a referendum last month to extend the fund through 2050, and to allow up to 20 percent of the money to be used for water quality projects.

As a result, beginning in 2017, the revenues the towns receive will be able to be tapped for clean water initiatives as well as preservation of open space and historic or recreational properties. The projects must fall within parameters described in the law voters approved and included in town water quality improvement plans.

The East Hampton Town Board approved such a plan this year, making wastewater treatment systems, pollution prevention, stormwater diversion, aquatic habitat restoration, and similar projects eligible for funding.

With recent Suffolk County approval of two “new-generation” sanitary systems, the town board is expected to design a program that would provide financial assistance or rebates, using the fund, for property owners to install advanced systems. The systems are seen as key to improving and protecting water quality by treating wastewater and removing much of the nitrogen, which is the cause of much of the pollution, before it seeps into the ground and surface waters. Areas around harbors are likely to be targeted, although the details have yet to be discussed.

The five East End towns have derived more than $1 billion since the fund was initiated in 1999. It has enabled East Hampton to preserve more than 2,000 acres of open space as well as historic and recreational properties.

Overall, however, the fund has had an average decline for the year so far of 7.3 percent. In November alone, the five towns collectively received $7.4 million compared to $9.5 million during November 2015, a 22-percent drop.

East Hampton, whose revenue from the fund peaked in 2014, at $32.3 million, shows a small decline so far this year, 2.7 percent, or $25 million in comparison to $25.7 million in the same period last year. Revenue in Southampton Town dropped by over 11 percent in this period, but Riverhead, Shelter Island, and Southold Towns had increases. Southold had the largest increase, 5.82 percent or $5.6 million.

  In a press release early this week, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said the overall decline in the regional fund could “be attributed to the Hamptons, primarily the Town of Southampton, which has seen revenues dip by $6.29 million.”

A request from the owners of one of the last undeveloped beachfront parcels on Marine Boulevard in Amagansett to add a second story to an already approved one-story residence was denied on Dec. 13, at the year’s final meeting of the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals.

Much of the property at 161 Marine Boulevard is duneland, where a building setback of 100 feet is normally required. In April 2012, the owners, a limited liability company called Pandion, received approval to construct a house with decking about 40 feet from the dune crest. Both the East Hampton Town Planning Department and the town trustees opposed the application, and none of the members who voted to approve it are still on the zoning board.

The applicants were hoping to modify the 2012 decision without having to go through another public hearing.

In a memo dated Dec. 5, Brian Frank, the town’s chief environmental analyst, told board members that they should look to the wording of the 2012 approval, particularly the sections of it regarding Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations. The decision, written by the then-attorney to the board, Robert Connelly, noted in particular that “the current FEMA requirements preclude the construction of a two-story residence on the subject parcel.”

The 2012 board had wrestled with the location of the house, wondering if moving it about eight feet closer to Marine Boulevard would be beneficial. It ended up siding with the applicant’s argument that such a move would create the need for the kind of septic system not approved by Suffolk County.

Now, however, according to Mr. Frank, Pandion seeks to move the house seven feet closer to the road, while increasing building coverage from 2,202 square feet to 2,432 square feet, and total lot coverage from 4,726 square feet to 5,374. “There are a number of inconsistencies and apparent contradictions with the modification and the board’s [original] determination,” he concluded.

Board members agreed, voting 4-0 to reject the request. David Lys had to leave the meeting before the vote was taken. Cate Rogers summed up the feeling of the board, saying the requested modification was “too contrary” to the original approval.

One problem the board is likely to take on in the new year is the practice by landowners of getting approvals for variances or special permits but failing to act on them, and then requesting extensions. Several such requests were before the board that night. One, by a Montauk man, Thomas Muse, involved an approval granted 14 years ago, a point Roy Dalene questioned.

The problem, board members agreed, is that while zoning laws change over the years, approvals have been treated as if they last forever. John Whelan, the chairman, gave the example of swimming pools, where setback laws have changed with the passing of time.

The board did okay Mr. Muse’s request, but Mr. Whelan said he would start to flag aging applications for extensions of time to get building permits and certificates of occupancy. Elizabeth Baldwin, the attorney to the board, encouraged members to discuss the matter in the new year.

East Hampton Town is to become the first “small community” on Long Island to be certified as a clean-energy community by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, an agency that provides financial incentives for smart-energy usage to municipalities, homes, businesses, and other entities. 

The certification, for towns with fewer than 40,000 permanent residents, means East Hampton will likely receive a $100,000 grant for clean energy projects.

Typically, the state requires a municipality to meet 4 of 10 criteria to be named a clean energy community, but East Hampton has met 6. Among them are “clean fleet,” which entails installing an electric vehicle charging station and bringing alternative-fuel vehicles into the town fleet; “energy code enforcement training,” in which code enforcement officers are familiarized with energy-related best practices, implementation, and inspections; “benchmarking,” tracking and reporting energy usage in town buildings, and adopting the state’s Unified Solar Permit policy as a local law to “reduce costs and delays for solar projects.”

If the town receives the grant, it will have 90 days to submit a proposal for how the money will be used, followed by six months to actually begin the project and three years to complete it. 

Meeting on Tuesday, town board members suggested using the money for projects such as rooftop solar technology for town buildings or upgrading drafty old windows.

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals voted Tuesday to deny an application from a couple who bought a house on Marine Boulevard in Amagansett in February and were hoping to replace it with a larger one. While the vote was 5 to 0 to deny, two board members found some merit in the proposal. 

The house now on the 36,000-square-foot lot is 3,800 square feet in size, and Sandra Leong and Robert Gelfond, who paid $11 million for the property, had proposed to tear it down and build a 5,236-square-foot, two-story house, with 1,372 square feet of decking and an 846-square-foot swimming pool, in its place. The new house would be closer to Marine Boulevard than the one there now. 

Under Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations, the new house would have to be raised, which triggered the need for several variances related to the pyramid law, which is designed to prevent structures from looming over their neighbors. 

The applicants were caught “between a rock and a hard place,” David Lys said. Both he and Theresa Berger liked the fact that there would be a modern septic system, among other things, and both board members seemed inclined to approve the pyramid requests, as required by FEMA. However, a request to exceed the allowable gross floor area by 115 feet was a non-starter for both.

Cate Rogers warned that approval of the proposal could lead to similar requests from other Marine Boulevard homeowners, and could end up creating a “wall of houses” looming over the street. John Whelan, the chairman, agreed with Ms. Rogers, calling the proposal a “bellwether application.” 

During a Nov. 1 hearing on the application, Roy Dalene, a board member, had pressed the applicants on the location of various structures, in particular the pool. “I don’t think I got a satisfactory answer,” he said. The vote was 5 to 0 to deny the floor area variances, and 3 to 2 to deny the others.

Also on Tuesday, the board unanimously approved a request from the owners of 57 Cedar Street to be allowed to maintain an 18-century timber-frame  saltbox as an accessory structure. The 942-square-foot house, now being used for storage, was in danger of being torn down, under town regulations that limit accessory structures to 600 square feet or less. 

Mr. Dalene, calling the application “very unique,” suggested that the town might want to revisit village regulations designed to prevent the demolition of such historical structures.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board meeting on Dec. 7, which included public hearings and site plan reviews, was unusually contentious. Debated at length were a proposal to build a 2,800-square-foot barn on an 11-acre parcel, which is part of the 35-acre Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett, and a site plan for the Arbor, a Montauk restaurant.

The barn planned by the community supported agriculture farm is bordered on three sides by Old Stone Highway, Side Hill Road, and Deep Lane, and on land donated 27 years ago to the Peconic Land Trust by Deborah Ann Light. 

Robert Schwagerl, who owns a house on a private part of Quail Hill, is a designer who once headed the town’s architectural review board. He told the board that he did not oppose a barn but found the location troubling. “Deborah wanted this to be a small farm with a small facility,” he said, alleging that a dirt access road had been created illegally and that building the barn in the proposed location would mean cutting down a stand of cedar trees. The property abuts his  property, as well as his brother’s.

Andrew Strong, the attorney representing the trust, said cedars would not have to be cut down. The barn, he said, “is going to be tucked into the cedar trees and partially shielded from view.” He also said a 1968 aerial photograph of the site showed an existing dirt road.

“The building of this barn supports one of Deborah’s wishes,” Layton Guenther, the farm’s manager, said. She noted that the farm now uses a 30-by-40-foot structure that was designed for boats.

Nancy Goell of East Hampton, who is on the board of both the trust and the farm, spoke in support of the proposal. “The barn is placed well. This farm has grown from 35 families now to 250. Many children come to learn how food is grown. We need this farm,” she said.

The board is expected to take up the matter at a forthcoming meeting.

A site plan that already had been the subject of a public hearing was back on the agenda. The Arbor restaurant, opposite the train station in Montauk, is owned by Marc J. Rowan, a billionaire who has been buying properties on and near Fort Pond Bay. The site plan seemed to be headed for board approval on Nov. 16, when Tina Piette, the attorney representing Mr. Rowan, objected to three conditions. They involved an outdoor circular bar and whether patrons with drinks in hand would be allowed to move onto a landscaped area near Flamingo Avenue. The board and the applicant had very different views of what had been agreed upon previously.

Ms. Piette reiterated her opinion that prohibiting patrons with drinks from going from the bar to the adjacent landscaped area was onerous. Apparently restaurant patrons ­sometimes have to wait outdoors before being seated. “Where are people going to wait?” Ms. Piette asked. “Isn’t there a hostess?” Nancy Keeshan, a board member who lives in Montauk, responded. 

“What is the issue with the condition that would restrict the dining and consumption of beverages from an area where you say they aren’t going to be?” Michael Sendlenski, the town attorney, asked. He said that if a patron with a drink stepped onto the lawn, he or she would be in violation of the site plan. “That is what we are talking about, exactly,” Ian Calder-Piedmonte, a board member, said. Ms. Piette responded, “I think that puts somebody serving at that bar, a hostess or waitress, in the unfortunate position” of having to tell patrons they cannot step onto the lawn. Mr.  Calder-Piedmonte then asked if a barrier, shrubbery or a fence could be installed to prevent customers from wandering onto the lawn. 

Also in dispute is whether the outdoor bar would be only a service bar for the waitstaff. “If patrons are going to the bar, and ordering drinks, that is not a service bar,” Margueritte Wolffsohn, director of the Planning Department, said. According to the Planning Department, such a use would change the designation under zoning from a restaurant to a bar/tavern, or add bar/tavern as a second use, which could affect sanitary flow and required parking. “I don’t know why someone would want to do a circular bar, unless they wanted to use the entire area,” Job Potter, a member of the board, said. The board was scheduled to take up the matter again last night.

The board also heard from a representative of AT&T regarding construction of a cellphone tower or, alternatively, a campanile concealing a tower on the property of St. Peter’s Chapel in Springs. The board voted to wait for the town’s architectural review board to weigh in before deciding on the merits of the proposals. 

There also was little debate on another matter that night — the subdivision of 40 former farmland acres between Wainscott Hollow Road, north of Wainscott’s Main Street, and Sayre’s Path. Once owned by Ronald Lauder and then by a limited liability corporation, plans for the subdivision have been the subject of two successful lawsuits against the town. 

In 2009, the board voted to deny a site plan after finding fault with the location of a 14,500-square-foot house. That decision was tossed out in 2011 by the New York State Supreme Court’s civil branch as being arbitrary and capricious. In 2014, Mary Jane Asato, the L.L.C.’s attorney, presented the board with a new proposal for seven buildable lots and a large agricultural reserve. In 2015, the board deadlocked on the proposal, which, among other things, called for a long driveway off Wainscott Hollow Road to access several of the house lots, which fronted on Sayre’s Path. The 3-to-3 deadlock would have been broken by Diana Weir, who had been against the new layout but was absent when the  vote was taken. At the time, Ms. Asato warned the board, “My remedy is to basically challenge it through the courts.” Earlier this year, Justice James Hudson found for Ms. Asato’s clients. 

The planning board had little appetite for another review of the subdivision when it came back on Dec. 7. “It is pretty clear that we have to approve something,” Mr. Calder-Piedmonte said. Approval, however, will now await an assessment by an independent engineer

East Hampton Town

C.P.F. Buy in Buckskill

The $8.6 million purchase of more than 25 acres of woodland in East Hampton’s Buckskill area will be the subject of a hearing at the Town Board’s next formal meeting tonight at 6:30.

The property would be purchased for recreation. At 138 and 148 Buckskill Road and 58 and 66 Towhee Trail in East Hampton, it is owned by Buckskill Realty, a limited liability corporation, and by the Pasquale J. Trunzo and Nancy T. Trunzo Qualified Personal Residence Trusts. 

The land has a residence, pool, two barns, and associated structures. All but one barn would be removed at the seller’s expense before the purchase. The town wants to retain one barn for use in association with the recreation to take place on the property, and for equipment storage, and will pay for it separately with $131,000 in capital funds. The open acreage will be purchased with money from the community preservation fund. 

The Bottom Line on Taxes

The 2017 tax warrant for East Hampton Town has been completed, and taxpayers can expect to receive property tax bills in the mail next week. Those eager to know the bottom line before that occurs can get the information from the town tax receiver. An online payment system is expected to be operational today.

Less Coursework for Contractors

A proposed revision to the requirements for an East Hampton Town home improvement contractors license, which is required of those who do business within the town, would change the rules regarding continuing education for contractors. At present, every board member of a company seeking a license must meet a requirement to complete at least 10 hours of coursework every two years on topics related to the construction field.

That is unnecessary and problematic, Hope DeLauter, a town attorney, told the town board on Tuesday, for larger companies with office and other staff members who are not directly involved in overseeing or doing construction. Under the proposed change, which will be the subject of a hearing at a future date, a company will be able to designate one person to complete the training. 

Two Park-Like Proposals

Recommendations from a town property management committee are forthcoming regarding both the former Boys Harbor camp property in East Hampton and the Brooks-Park site in Springs, which was home to James Brooks and Charlotte Park, two Abstract Expressionist artists.

The committee has discussed transforming the mess hall at the former camp into an open-air pavilion that could be used, much like the one at Maidstone Park, for get-togethers by members of the public who reserve the site, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, the committee liaison, reported at a board meeting this week. The camp’s 58 acres, which contain dirt roads and trails on largely flat topography, could be an ideal spot for a paved trails system accessible to the disabled or those less able to traverse woods terrain, the councilman said — a type of park that has been the subject of recent discussion.

At the Brooks-Park property, two studios used by the artists are to be preserved, but renovations will be undertaken after the future use of the site is better defined. An “important first step,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said, is to enter into a license agreement with a private group that advocated preservation of the site and would administer activities there. 

Bid for Airport Fuel Farm

The town will solicit bids for the construction of a new fuel farm at East Hampton Airport to replace the existing fuel facility, which was built in 1997. The new one would increase the amount of fuel on hand. It is proposed to include two 15,000-gallon tanks for jet fuel and one 12,000-gallon tank for aviation gas; the current facility has a 12,000-gallon tank for jet fuel and an 8,000-gallon tank for aviation gas. It would be gated, fenced, and set back farther from the road. The total estimated cost for the construction is $1.6 million, which will be paid out of airport revenues. J.P.

New York State

To Combat Ocean Acidification

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has signed into law a bill establishing the New York State Ocean Acidification Task Force. Senator Kenneth LaValle, a Republican, and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, a Democrat, were the bill’s sponsors. 

The 14-member task force is charged with identifying the factors contributing to ocean acidification, which threatens the ecological health and productivity of coastal waters, and suggesting ways of addressing the threat. Members will also recommend new standards to better protect marine life, animals, and plants.

Ocean acidification is primarily caused by increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel emissions and deforestation. As the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide rises, more is absorbed by the ocean, where it reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid, leading to a decrease in pH. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the ocean’s acidity has increased by 30 percent. This increased acidity decreases the amount of carbonate, a vital component in shells and skeletons for marine species including shellfish, crustaceans, coral, and plankton. 

Such changes in ocean chemistry may have far-reaching ramifications for the sustainability of the world’s fisheries. 

Ocean acidification can be further exacerbated by runoff and nutrient influx from land. According to the Maine Ocean Acidification Commission, “Scientific data indicate that the rate of acidification is at least 100 times faster at present than at any other time in the last 200,000 years and may be unprecedented in earth’s history.” 

The Atlantic Ocean along the Northeast’s shore may be particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification, because carbon dioxide is increasingly soluble in cold water.

The removal of more than 55,000 pounds of macroalgae from Georgica Pond last summer is likely responsible for a substantial reduction this year in levels of toxic blue-green algae, and should be repeated next year, the East Hampton Town Trustees were told on Monday.

Sara Davison, executive director of the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, summarized a report stating that the pond, which the trustees have closed to the harvesting of crabs and other marine life for much of the last three summers, had some of the lowest levels of the toxic algae, also known as cyanobacteria, measured on Long Island this year. At the same time, dissolved oxygen in the pond remained at safe levels, and there was no observation of fish or other wildlife kills. 

The mechanical harvester operated between May and September. The 55,740 pounds of organic material, which releases nutrients that are believed to contribute to cyanobacteria blooms, represented up to 10 percent of the pond’s nitrogen load for July and August and 20 percent of the phosphorus load for the same period, according to the report, which was prepared by Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Dr. Gobler has been monitoring water quality for the trustees for several years and more recently was retained by the foundation, a group of pondfront property owners. The harvested material was taken by truck to the town’s recycling center for composting. 

“Dr. Gobler is a conservative scientist, and he feels that more data is needed,” Ms. Davison told the trustees. “But when you remove that much nitrogen and especially that much phosphorus, he thinks that it could have had an impact on the lower blue-green algae blooms. We’re heartened by the result of the first year of data, and we’d like to come to you to do it again one more year and see what it does.” Ms. Davison said that a smaller harvester would be used next year to allow operation in straits and very shallow water. The State Department of Environmental Conservation would have to issue a new permit, and the town would have to reauthorize use of a motorized craft on the pond. 

“It’s only one year’s data,” said Bill Taylor, a trustee, “but it’s very good data. . . . There’s other factors that could be in there, but this is worth pursuing.” 

Ms. Davison asked that the buoy that transmitted temperature, salinity, algae, and other data be returned to the pond next year, and relayed additional remediation proposals from Dr. Gobler. These include sampling and analyzing sediment from the pond to determine if it is releasing nutrients, which would aid in identifying areas where dredging would be most effective, and a study and inventory of the fish and crabs in the pond. Colleagues of Dr. Gobler at Stony Brook would perform both, she said. Ms. Davison also proposed testing for fecal bacteria, and said that Dr. Gobler can identify its source. Testing for fecal matter from humans, geese, birds, deer, and dogs would help to determine nutrient loading from surface water runoff versus septic systems, for example, she said. 

Another priority for 2017, Ms. Davison said, “is to work with homeowners in the immediate watershed to upgrade their septic systems.” Preliminary reaction has been “very positive,” she said. Lastly, the foundation is set to install a permeable reactive barrier, a vertical trench placed near the shoreline that intercepts nitrogen groundwater, and is working to identify a site for a second barrier.

East Hampton Town

Budget Adopted

With a vote last Thursday, the East Hampton Town Board adopted a $76 million operating budget for 2017, following a hearing on Nov. 3.

The budget relies on raising $53.7 million in taxes, which is $22,349 below the maximum allowed under a state-mandated tax levy cap. 

Moratorium Okayed

A one-year moratorium on development along the Montauk Highway corridor in Wainscott was enacted through a town board vote, also last Thursday. 

The moratorium will forestall new development and redevelopment in the business section of the hamlet while a planning study is completed and policies and regulations shaping future development are presented.

Wood Lot Lane

A road in Northwest Woods called Main Street will now be called Wood Lot Lane, in order to avoid confusion with Main Street in East Hampton Village.

Concerned particularly about emergency responders heading to the wrong location if called to a particular address, the board voted to make the change las Thursday. 

App for Airport Parking

A payment system for long-term parking at East Hampton Airport has been instituted, as previously announced. Beginning this week, drivers may use Passport, a mobile payment app, to purchase, monitor, and manage parking. 

Use of the app is being offered “to make the transition to paid parking as seamless as possible,” James Brundige, the East Hampton Airport manager, said in a press release. The app can be downloaded without charge from either the iPhone app store or Google Play. Users will also be able to manage their parking online at ppprk.com.

New York State

Speed Limits Lowered

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation allowing the villages of East Hampton and Sag Harbor to reduce the speed limit on certain streets where other traffic-calming measures cannot be implemented.

State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle and State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. authored the legislation, which will allow East Hampton Village to lower the limit on King Street, McGuirk Street, Middle Lane, Mill Hill Lane, and Meadow Way to 20 miles per hour. Sag Harbor Village will reduce the speed limit on Main Street, Bay Street, Madison Street, and Jermain Avenue, also to 20 m.p.h. Both villages had approached the legislators with the request.

Narrow and congested roadways can be dangerous, especially in the summer season, and traffic-calming measures are not always feasible or desirable. Lowering the speed limit, according to a statement from the legislators, is the best way to achieve the safest streets possible for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Marc Rowan, an investment billionaire whose plans for the several commercial properties he has bought in Montauk have had the attention of East Hampton Town planners for quite some time, may have been expecting formal planning board approval of a site plan for his Arbor restaurant on Nov. 16, but it was not to be.

Arbor is at 240 Fort Pond Road, on low-lying land opposite the train station. Questions that had been raised about whether its septic system was illegal were set aside after long discussion when the board’s attorney, John Jilnicki, said only the Suffolk County Health Department had jurisdiction in the matter.

 Everything seemed ready until Mr. Rowan’s attorney, Tina Piette, sent a letter to the board on the day final approval was expected, objecting to three points in the determination.

One of Ms. Piette’s objections concerned a condition that “no music or entertainment is to take place upon the outside deck.” She also objected to a clause saying only wait staff could use an outdoor service bar, and to another that said patrons could not carry drinks onto the landscaped areas or the parking lot. 

“There are reasons why I am not agreeing to this condition,” Ms. Piette said about the music ban. “I did not agree to the condition when it was discussed. I was in the audience. There was no formal vote. This condition came as quite a surprise to me today. I didn’t think there was a consensus, and I certainly didn’t stand up here and say, ‘Yes, that’s fine.’ ”

She argued that the ban on outdoor music was based on a 1983 site plan that had been approved for a former restaurant at the site and noted that the code regarding music had changed since then.

The point about the outdoor service bar did not appear to be a major roadblock, however. She had written to the board back in September, saying, “Patrons waiting for seats at a table may be served there. However, there will be no barstools.”

With regard to the prohibition on customers carrying drinks outdoors, Ms. Piette said, “I do not want to put the applicant in the untenable position of banning patrons from standing, however briefly, on lawn and landscaped areas with a drink in their hand.”

“I do have to say, put this on the record, that it puts the person in control of the restaurant in the position that if somebody steps outside of this” — she pointed to a large diagram — “non-defined line for any reason, to make a telephone call, to perhaps pick up their children” in a troublesome position.

“A plan like this represents a negotiation, an agreement between the board and an applicant,” said Job Potter, a board member, about guests with drinks outdoors. He called that condition  “an important part of the negotiation.” He also objected to Ms. Piette’s “coming back at this late date.”

“Your objection has been heard. We will look at the file,” said Nancy Keeshan, the panel’s vice chairwoman, who took over the meeting after Reed Jones, the chairman, complained that it had been a long negotiation. He had to leave, he said.

“I do not understand,” Ms. Piette said, asking if the application was going to have to undergo another site plan process? “No,” Ms. Keeshan responded. “You’ve been heard, which is what you requested, right? We are going to review it, and that is what we will be doing at our next work session.”

“In other words, we are not going to change it today on the fly,” Diana Weir, another board member, added.

The next board meeting is scheduled for Dec. 7.

East Hampton Town

Merit Pay for Heads of Departments

After approving merit-based salary increases for union employees covered by a recently ratified Civil Service contract, the East Hampton Town Board has proposed that nonunion department heads also receive extra pay based on good performance.

A hearing on the proposal, outlined in a new local law, will be held at Town Hall tonight at 6:30. The law lists and defines a dozen “performance evaluation” criteria, from quality of work to productivity, initiative, reliability, accountability, integrity, and ethics. Other criteria include communication, constituent service, problem-solving and decision-making, creativity and innovation, teamwork, management, and leadership. 

The bonuses would be awarded at the discretion of the town board to department heads “who have exhibited extraordinary performance above and beyond their job description during the evaluation period.” The law is designed to “incentivize” such behavior, according to the draft. 

The heads of most departments would be eligible. Ineligible, “due to the nature of their positions,” would be the police chief, town attorney, budget director, chief auditor, and director of public safety. 

The proposed law also sets out a point scoring system to be used by the town board in evaluating merit awards. Evaluation periods would run from Nov. 1 through Oct. 31 of the next year. The board may choose to issue awards to one or more department heads, or none, in any period. The awards, of up to $5,000, would be issued between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31.

Apartments in Outbuildings

A hearing will be held tonight before the East Hampton Town Board on a proposal to allow affordable rentals in outbuildings on lots of an acre or more.

Building an accessory apartment at an existing residence has been allowed since 1984, with a maximum of 20 allowed in each of the town’s five school districts, or 100 throughout the town. However, only a small number of them have actually been built, according to building permit records. As a need remains for affordable housing, the town’s community housing opportunity fund committee recommended the revision to the law to allow residential rentals in outbuildings.

Should the revised law pass, homeowners, who must live on site if an affordable apartment is created, may opt to live in the apartment and rent the principal residence instead. 

 Town officials held a hearing on the revisions earlier this fall and have since made changes to the proposal, including instituting the one-acre minimum lot size for detached  rentals, based on concerns about overcrowding on smaller properties. 

The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.  

Airport Improvements

State legislation that will allow the Town of East Hampton to finance improvements at the East Hampton Airport over 30 years has been signed into law by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Currently, bonds for airport improvements must be paid back within 10 years. In seeking to gain more local control over the airport, which must be run according to Federal Aviation Administration rules, town officials had planned to stop taking F.A.A. money for airport improvements. The state legislation will allow the town to finance needed work more easily. Senator Kenneth P. LaValle and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. co-sponsored the legislation.

Response to Racist Fliers 

Responding to the recent distribution of fliers for the Ku Klux Klan and another white supremacist group at several locations here, the town’s anti-bias task force has called them “unsettling and disappointing,” and a cause of “alarm and fear.”

The task force reiterated its mission to “address concerns of hate rhetoric that [appear] to be on the rise nationally,” noting in a release that it supports “education, understanding, and community awareness.” The task force’s next meeting, which is open to the public, will be on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Town Hall. J.P.

New York State

Offshore Wind Site Auction

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has submitted documentation and a bid deposit to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to take part in a Dec. 15 auction for a 79,350-acre wind energy area 12 miles off the Long Island coast, putting it on track to be the first state entity to participate in such an auction. 

The agency submitted qualifications and financial forms for the online auction, with asking prices set by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. In recognition of public comments regarding the potential benefits of public entities winning the lease area, such as reduced costs and greater certainty for developers, the bureau is offering a 10-percent nonmonetary credit to qualified bidders who meet the definition of a government authority. NYSERDA has submitted the required documentation and requested the credit.

“Offshore wind is crucial to meeting New York’s ambitious energy goals under Governor Cuomo,” John B. Rhodes, the agency’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement issued yesterday. “If NYSERDA is successful in the bidding, we will engage all involved stakeholders and ensure that offshore wind in New York is developed responsibly and in a way that balances the needs of all constituents, including coastal communities and the fishing and maritime industries. We will also ensure that the site will be developed competitively for the greatest benefit for all New Yorkers.” C.W.