Government

The United States Coast Guard has awarded an $8.8 million contract to AO Facility Contractors of Easton, Pa., to repair 17 single-family residences in East Hampton and Springs. 

Christopher Gallant, the Democratic candidate to challenge Representative Nick LaLota in New York’s First Congressional District, has announced that he will not participate in a debate with Mr. LaLota ahead of the Nov. 3 election. 

A nor’easter that as late as Sept. 23 was expected to largely miss Long Island instead spun up the coast, veered west, and impacted the East End last weekend with inches of rain and wind gusts that reached over 80 miles per hour, downing trees, pushing boats aground, flooding low-lying areas, and leaving 450 residents without power by Monday.

"Calvary has done nothing to the land next door," the Rev. Trevon Fergerson said. "Nothing will be done to that land unless the church agrees with it. Until a meeting is had and a vote is carried and reflected in our trustees’ minutes, nothing will be done with the property next door.”

The owner of a Cove Hollow Road property received a building permit for a 75-foot-long, 15-foot-high, five-foot-wide “accessory structure.” To a neighbor, that feels a lot like a wall, no matter what it's called.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James have announced that New York State and seven other state attorneys general are suing to block the federal government from paying $1.4 billion in taxpayer money to offshore wind developers in exchange for canceling offshore wind projects and reallocating the money to fossil fuel plants. 

East Hampton Town wants to buy 38.3 acres of the Wainscott Commercial Center, the 70.5-acre former sand mine at 104 Wainscott Northwest Road, just north of the 7-Eleven gas station in Wainscott, and it’s willing to spend over $36 million to do it.

In a letter on Tuesday, East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez told NextEra Energy to cease operations at its 3 Cove Hollow Road East Hampton Energy Storage Center by Friday.

The League of Women Voters will sponsor a virtual debate between candidates for the New York State Senate’s First District on Monday on SEA-TV, and election threats will be examined Wednesday. 

Proposed East Hampton Town legislation that would automatically deny building permits that had not been reviewed within 90 days from the submission of a completed application will be the subject of a public hearing next Thursday, but it has already raised legal questions. 

The East Hampton Village Board discussed prohibiting swimming pools at inns in the historic district last week, but Mayor Jerry Larsen suggested tabling the matter pending resolution of a lawsuit brought by the Huntting Inn in 2024, after the zoning board of appeals refused to approve its application for a pool, spa, and patio. 

Over 30 residents spoke at the Sept. 17 East Hampton Town Board meeting, and none were particularly happy. 

“We accept,” Mayor Jerry Larsen told Rachel Cooper, executive director of the Ladies Village Improvement Society, when she detailed a proposal that would see the planting of more than 30 new trees, many of them cherry trees, in Herrick Park. 

“Builder’s error” was the excuse that Ocean View Holdings L.L.C., better known as Marram, a hotel at 21 Ocean View Terrace in Montauk, used to defend a handful of poolside cabanas that were each placed five feet closer to a dune crest than what the zoning board of appeals had originally approved in 2024.

Kenneth Collum, East Hampton Village’s longtime fire marshal, retired on Friday, when he was recognized with a proclamation at the village board’s meeting. 

Rich Schaffer, the Suffolk County Democratic Committee’s controversial chairman, on Tuesday retained the position he has held for 26 years, fending off a challenge from Kathryn Casey Quigley, chairwoman of the Southold Town Democratic Committee.

Long-simmering plans for the Sag Harbor building nicknamed Fort Apache, at 2 Main Street, and the Water Street Shops on Long Island Avenue came into focus this week at a village planning board meeting, when a first look at a new layout was offered.  

Designed to create “both drive-by and walk-through experiences,” the previously blank sod surrounding East Hampton Town Hall has been replaced by native plants, flowers, and a world of insects and birds.

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted unanimously to permit the construction of another water-filtering, nutrient-eliminating oyster reef in Georgica Pond. 

The new owner of the recently restored 1896 Queen Anne-style house at 30 Huntting Lane in East Hampton Village is seeking variances to make alterations to a garage built before the zoning code took effect, and to install swimming pool equipment within the required rear yard setback.

The proposed New York Health Act, which would create a universal single-payer health plan providing comprehensive health coverage for all New Yorkers with no co-pays, deductibles, or out-of-network costs, could see passage in the upcoming legislative session, advocates say. 

A meeting of the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee saw spirited argument for and against a proposed parking lot at the Springs Library.

A once-tabled discussion about stormwater runoff in Sag Harbor’s Azurest neighborhood has re-emerged this month, and village officials seem poised to reopen the dormant studies.

Questions remain about the potential human health impacts of contaminated drinking water at four Suffolk County Water Authority wells closest to the East Hampton Energy Storage Center, but it is clear that the source of the forever chemicals in the water was a fire-supression agent used to extinguish a 2023 fire there.

Seven weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections and with three states having already mailed ballots to voters, the Supreme Court on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s effort to restrict voting by mail. 

First-offense fines for careless or fraudulent home improvement contractors could increase fivefold, from $1,000 per violation to $5,000, after the East Hampton Town Board supported suggestions from the license review board to better protect homeowners from incompetent work and deceptive practices.

After the Trump administration denied New York State’s appeal for a major disaster declaration following the February blizzard that caused more than $168 million in damages statewide, local officials can't help but wonder what the future holds.

“We recognize that our earlier understanding was incorrect,” Patrick Derenze, the town’s information officer, said of the Building Department’s Richard Normoyle. “We acted to address the issue and ensure compliance with state requirements.”

Investigation blames chemical response to 2023 fire at Cove Hollow Road energy center, and not battery storage, for tainted drinking water wells nearby.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule imminently on the legality of the Trump administration’s effort to restrict voting by mail, a plan that as of yesterday remained in limbo due to lower court rulings. Should the Supreme Court side with the administration, critics say, massive voter disenfranchisement is the likely outcome.