Government

East Hampton Town’s chief building inspector, Richard Normoyle, will receive a bump in pay in 2027, part of a larger focus strengthening the department and increasing its funding.

“You can use this for the next 10 years and beyond, hopefully, to start to check off some of the things that are priorities for the community,” Noah Levine of BFJ Planning told the East Hampton Village Board as it reviewed a draft comprehensive plan.

As the leaves began to fall, a dozen East Hampton Town residents appeared at a town board meeting to call, once again, for a year-round ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.

In East Hampton, early voting is at Windmill Village on Accabonac Road from Saturday through Nov. 1.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and her challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, came out swinging in their only debate on Oct. 13, the governor repeatedly tying Mr. Blakeman to President Trump and ICE actions, while he hammered her on taxes and the cost of living.

Republican candidates may be facing political headwinds nationally, but here on Long Island polls suggest the two G.O.P. congressional incumbents will win re-election, and that goes for the two Democratic incumbents, too.

Adam Potter, the owner of the properties at 5 and 11 Bridge Street in Sag Harbor, has filed suit against seven village officials in connection with the proposed development of the lots, asking the courts to award him up to $25 million for actions he alleges impinged on his constitutional right to equal protection under the law.

In order for the town’s $36 million purchase at the Wainscott sand pit to go through, both the Peconic Land Trust and the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation must raise $15 million in private funding by Dec. 31.

Dozens of metal poles are sprouting up across East Hampton Town this fall. These “small cell” towers, each 42 feet tall, are the first of 192 planned across the town, most of them in Springs and Northwest, and they’re catching residents off guard.

At a town hall-style meeting last week about drinking water contamination resulting from a 2023 fire at a battery energy storage facility in East Hampton there was an acknowledgement that Suffolk County’s investigation into the source of the tainted water, and its understanding of “the plume,” is mostly complete.

The director of Common Cause New York and election experts and voting rights advocates said last week that while this year has seen “an unprecedented effort to mess with our elections and scare and confuse people about the voting process,” a statewide effort to train and organize volunteers will ensure that New York voters can vote with ease and confidence.

According to a Planning Department memo dated for Oct. 21, when the planning board will next meet to discuss the modification request, if approved, much of the 1844 historic structure might need to be rebuilt.

After a majority of the East Hampton Town Board seemed supportive of a law to change the timeline by which the town is expected to generate a building permit once a complete application is submitted, a public hearing will likely be held before Thanksgiving.

The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals resolved to do a lot of walking when it met on Oct. 9, with one member insistent on visiting three of four properties that were the subject of new applications heard that day.

Just in time for leaf-blowing season, Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed off on an electric-landscaping rebate program, which allows for point-of-sale rebates to institutional or commercial applicants purchasing eligible lawn care devices, including mowers, hedge trimmers, and, yes, leaf blowers.

The Sag Harbor Village Board seems poised to place seasonal bans on gas-powered leaf blowers, following the lead of East Hampton and Southampton Towns and Villages.

“I think he would like the fact that part of the land is being preserved,” John Tintle said about his father, William Tintle Jr., who purchased the property in 1986. “I think he would just like that something’s happening, because it was frustrating for a long period of time, where there was nothing to talk about.”

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen is under no illusions about his chances as a write-in candidate for town supervisor, and he hasn’t been actively campaigning, but still, “If it was successful, it would be wonderful,” he said.

The next in the “No Kings” series of nationwide protests against the Trump administration’s policies and executive overreach, amid fears of democratic backsliding, happens on Saturday.

The East Hampton Town Board split 3 to 2 on a resolution determining that legislation enabling rent-restricted employer-sponsored housing would have no environmental impact.

Incumbent state senator and his challenger dig into affordability, environment, tax relief, data centers, health care, and cooperating with ICE in virtual debate.

There will be attempts to undermine the midterms but they will fail, one election expert said at a forum last week. Another pointed out that the Trump administration doesn’t care what the law says. Both urged strong voter turnout.

East Hampton Town released its tentative budget last week, at $118,910,330, an increase of $8.2 million, or 7.44 percent over the 2026 budget. For the third consecutive year, it pierced New York State’s 2-percent tax levy cap.

The East Hampton Town Board is mulling over legislation that would abolish the board of three elected assessors, instead moving to a model where there is just one board-appointed assessor.

The two battery energy storage facilities in East Hampton Town, jointly owned by NextEra Energy and National Grid, have been temporarily shut down.

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.