Government

The New York State Department of Transportation is finally saying “mission accomplished” on a significant road repair project at the intersection of Stephen Hand’s Path and Route 114 in East Hampton.

After five businesses initially expressed interest in bidding on a new five-year lease for East Hampton Village’s Main Beach concession, only two bids were received by the deadline on Tuesday.

In the ongoing struggle over the offshore wind industry in the United States, the Danish energy company Orsted has won the latest round, with a federal judge issuing a preliminary injunction on Monday allowing construction to resume on its Revolution Wind farm.

Two candidates are vying to succeed Carole Brennan as town clerk: Michael Hansen, a technology consultant running as a Democrat, and Jeff Miller, fresh from the village’s Public Works Department, on the Republican line.

A public hearing for an environmentally sensitive lot on Gerard Drive began at the Z.B.A. last week with Denise Savarese, the board’s vice chairwoman, giving Eric Brown, the attorney representing MV Realty Group, a tongue lashing.

J.P. Foster, a Republican candidate for the East Hampton Town Board, and Jeff Miller, the party’s candidate for town clerk, will host a campaign fund-raiser on Wednesday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Bostwick’s on the Harbor in Springs. 

If passing a tree protection ordinance in the Town of East Hampton is set to be a war between environmentalists and developers, Jaine Mehring’s presentation before the town board on Tuesday was the first salvo. 

James Lima Planning and Development has been recommended to help East Hampton Town identify potential zoning code updates, coastal hazard and climate risk reduction strategies, and the restoration of natural resources to support Montauk’s economic infrastructure and tourism industry in connection with a $600,000 state grant the town received for a sustainable community project in downtown Montauk. 

An as-yet-unsigned Sept. 10 stipulation of settlement between the Maidstone Gun Club and seven Wainscott property owners who reported finding bullets lodged in their houses and were granted a temporary restraining order barring use of the club’s facilities in 2022 outlines terms under which the club could reopen. 

Nearly a dozen residents urged the Southampton Town Board last week to switch the designation of an 8.3-acre preserved farmland parcel across from Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack to open space. Sagaponack Mayor Bill Tillotson and David McMillan Jr., a member of that village’s board, opposed the change.

The New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division has rejected an appeal by the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals of a lower court ruling that overturned the Z.B.A.’s denial of a proposed dock on the east side of Three Mile Harbor. 

Some surprising eateries are looking to operate the concession at Main Beach in East Hampton. Bids for the five-year lease are due on Tuesday.

A Long Island Rail Road strike set to begin today, which would have caused a complete shutdown of the largest commuter rail service in the country, was averted earlier this week after representatives from the unions threatening to strike asked President Trump to intervene to force contract negotiations to continue.

Mayor Jerry Larsen will appoint Jason Tuma to the East Hampton Village Board at next week’s meeting, filling the slot made available when Sarah Amaden announced her departure earlier this month. 

Martin Culloton's short tenure as East Hampton Town's director of code enforcement will come to an end on Wednesday.

Some businesses on Amagansett’s Main Street took a financial hit from Metallica’s late-August concert, and residents complained.

Mayor Jerry Larsen took umbrage at comments made by the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee chairwoman, Anna Skrenta, that the town Democrats were under no obligation to support his campaign should he win the primary.

J.P. Foster, a Republican candidate for town board, faced sharp questions and skepticism over remarks he made to The Star regarding the Maidstone Gun Club when he spoke to the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee on Saturday.

Revolution Wind, owned by Orsted and Skyborn Renewables and under construction in federal waters not all that far from South Fork Wind, has sued the Trump administration following an August stop-work order. The 65-turbine installation is 80-percent complete.

The Coast Guard has unveiled the buoys it plans to eliminate in a modernization plan, drawing negative reactions from commercial fishermen and other boaters, the chief harbormaster, and the town trustees.

East Hampton Town made multiple hires this week to address its recent staffing shortages, from the Building Department to the tax receiver’s office.

The sole bid that the Army Corps of Engineers received to dredge the Montauk Inlet as part of the long-awaited Lake Montauk Harbor navigation improvement project was well over the anticipated price and left the federal government $1.1 million short. East Hampton Town opted this week to fill the funding gap with money received through its host-community agreement with South Fork Wind.

The Suffolk County Legislature unanimously passed legislation on Sept. 3 that aims to protect “working waterfronts” from further development.

Eighteen months after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that “Today, at long last, we flip the switch and turn on the future,” the Trump administration is systematically switching that future off in favor of the past, in the form of fossil-fuel energy.

Last week, four days after 287 members of the Devon Yacht Club met to discuss the club’s long-projected relocation, expansion, and rebuilding, the East Hampton Town Planning Board determined that the ambitious plan will not require a detailed environmental review. The board’s decision came against the backdrop of a yacht club membership in revolt.

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who is rumored to be mulling a 2026 run for East Hampton Town supervisor, said last week that he had not “made a final decision” and won’t do so until after the election this November. Supervisor Kathee-Burke Gonzalez, a Democrat, is running unopposed on this year’s ballot. When she wins, however, it will be only for a one-year term because of a change in the state election calendar.

The East Hampton Town Board has negotiated “important provisions” in connection with a lease renewal for the Maidstone Gun Club in Wainscott, which has been closed for almost three years and remains the subject of litigation brought by several residents who say bullets fired from the club have hit their houses.

A lawsuit and a countersuit between the two architects behind R2 Architecture, the venture that designed the East Hampton Town senior citizens center planned on Abraham's Path in Amagansett, have further delayed the long-stalled project and could result in cost increases for the roughly $30 million project.

Faithful followers of government and school board meetings on LTV’s government and education channel in East Hampton Town or fans of LTV’s public access shows like “Hello Hello,” “Two Jews Making Food,” or “Meet the Mayor” may have been bewildered this week to find the programming suddenly gone from Altice/Optimum’s Channels 20 and 22.

The East Hampton Village Board intends to extend the hours in which parking at two of its beaches is limited to residents and nonresidents who buy a beach parking permit.