Government Briefs 08.07.14

East Hampton Town

Seeking a Truck Law Compromise

A committee comprising homeowners and local contractors who could be affected by proposed limits on the parking of commercial vehicles at one’s house will meet to seek a compromise after both sides spoke passionately at a July 17 hearing on a possible new law.

Homeowners have been complaining to the town board about the proliferation of businesses operating in residential zones, which is largely prohibited, while contractors told the board that the ability to keep at least some of their work equipment or trucks at their residences is key to their economic survival.

Supervisor Larry Cantwell and Councilman Fred Overton will meet with the new group and attempt to broker a consensus.

New York State

State Money Sought for Montauk Beaches

Additional state funding for the Montauk downtown beach rebuilding project, for which the Army Corps of Engineers has proposed spending $6.3 million on dune reconstruction and beach fill, is key for “a project that would substantially increase the level of flood and erosion protection” for the area, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. wrote in a July 23 letter to the governor.

He requested $3.1 million in state money so that the Army Corps could “create a larger project with a longer life expectancy that would significantly increase the protection of the vulnerable downtown Montauk area.”

State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle also wrote to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to ask for supplemental money. “I have great concerns that without an additional contribution from the State of New York, the success of this project will be limited,” Mr. LaValle wrote. The Army Corps’s proposed solution “is going to have limited results,” he said.