Government Briefs 12.22.16

East Hampton Town

Organizational Meeting

The East Hampton Town Board will hold its 2017 organizational meeting at Town Hall at 10 a.m. on Jan. 3, just before a work session.

Seeking a Perennial Garden

Matthew Lester of Boy Scout Troop 298 in East Hampton, who is a beekeeper, wants to plant a garden of perennials at the East Hampton Farm Museum on Cedar and North Main Streets. Along with Prudence Carabine, who oversees the farm museum for the town, he described his proposal to the town board last Thursday. The plantings would be chosen to provide food for the bees throughout the year, with plants that bloom in spring, summer, and fall, he said.

For Coastal Management

A town committee focused on developing long-range strategies for dealing with coastal issues in the face of sea level rise, increased erosion, and flooding continues to meet monthly and has divided the town into nine coastal areas, or reaches, for research, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc reported to the town board this week. Information will be compiled on each parcel within the sectors, he said. The process will result in a Coastal Assessment Resiliency Plan, called CARP, which will guide coastal management decisions.

About the Old Fowler House

Outdoor cleanup has been completed around the former George Fowler house on Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, which was purchased by the town for historic preservation. The house, believed to be the only surviving 19th-century dwelling of a member of the Montaukett tribe, was moved from Indian Field in Montauk to the area once known as Freetown.

Councilman Van Scoyoc said at a board meeting on Tuesday that stabilizing the rundown structure is the next goal before full restoration, and that a management group for the property could be formed. The site is “likely to become an interpretive site,” he said, highlighting the history of the Montauketts and of Freetown.

Reports of Shoaling

The town’s Marine Patrol has taken soundings in the Lake Montauk inlet after reports of shoaling there that could interfere with navigation. The inlet is dredged every five years by the Army Corps of Engineers. The last dredging was only two years ago, Supervisor Larry Cantwell reported this week, but the shoaling could indicate that it needs to be done more often. The sounding reports were sent to the Army Corps, he said.