Government

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create “both drive-by and walk-through experiences,” the previously blank sod surrounding East Hampton Town Hall has been replaced by native plants, flowers, and a world of insects and birds.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

“We’re saying, ‘All right, no more bamboo,’ ” the East Hampton Town attorney said as the town board discussed draft legislation that would prohibit planting of the fast-growing invasive.

David Browne, who served as the chief fire marshal for East Hampton Town from December 2010 until this year, has been appointed East Hampton Village’s chief fire marshal. 

Brinkmann’s Hardware, which owns six locations across Long Island, is in contract to purchase a building on Pantigo Road in East Hampton, where it hopes to open its next store adjacent to Domaine Franey Wines and Spirits. 

Last week, Representative Nick LaLota joined his Republican colleagues in a mostly party-line vote to extend the postponement of protections for the North Atlantic right whale until 2035. 

With Election Day fewer than eight weeks away, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork will cover the East End with voter information tables this month and has issued a schedule of debates. 

Rooming houses, containing a maximum of 16 beds and a minimum room size of 70 feet, with shared cooking and bathroom facilities (one bathroom per six occupants), are now legal in East Hampton Town, following a unanimous vote of the town board last Thursday to change the zoning code and create a new use for “accessory staff housing.” 

A renewed effort to protect trees located in town-owned rights of way was before the East Hampton Town Board this week, and all agreed the proposal needed a little “finessing” ahead of a second discussion, which could happen “in a couple of weeks.” 

What if the problem at the future Este restaurant in downtown Montauk was the fact that it is being built on property that was meant to remain undeveloped? A new petition asserts just that and asks East Hampton Town to impose a stop-work order. Attorneys for the developers say the questions are moot.