Government

The town board unanimously passed the East Hampton Public Safety and Accountability Law this week, making clear that the federal government has every right to enforce its laws but clarifies the role of local law enforcement when such actions occur.

Several applications from East Hampton and Southampton shellfish farmers will be under discussion Monday in Riverhead, for a county lease program that has proven controversial.

According to recent filings made to the Suffolk County Board of Elections, East Hampton Mayor Jerry Larsen has returned $33,000 in donations made to his Jerry Larsen for Town Supervisor campaign following the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee’s accusation after his January filing that he had accepted donations over the legal limit.

Twenty people spoke at an East Hampton Town Board public hearing last week on a potential 13.5-acre land acquisition in Wainscott, most in favor of the town’s plan to use $3.975 million in community housing funds to buy the parcels at 549 and 550 Wainscott Northwest Road.

Only two people spoke in favor of legislation that would allow “employer sponsored” housing to be developed within East Hampton at a public hearing last week: the prospective developer and his lawyer. Seven residents spoke against the proposal.

Richard Normoyle, East Hampton Town’s principal building inspector, spoke about 2025 accomplishments and 2026 goals at Tuesday’s town board meeting in Montauk, but all anyone wanted to hear was how long it will take to get a building permit if they were to apply for one today.

Seven potential water quality improvement grant projects were introduced to the East Hampton Town Board last week and two either directly or indirectly benefit Rita Cantina, the Mexican eatery in Springs that has been a party in a multiyear lawsuit against the town and has consistently angered close neighbors.

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted unanimously to allocate $89,100 for a 2026 water quality monitoring program as proposed by Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez Monday morning, just two days before her high-stakes debate with East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who has run a tough Democratic primary race against the incumbent.

East Town Councilman Tom Flight called on the town board to hold a public session to offer updates and answer questions about the long-simmering situation at the Building Department, while a new lawsuit points to continuing long wait times for building permits.

A recently expanded beach near Gosman’s Dock is expected to attract more beachgoers this summer, and that’s one reason members of the Montauk C.A.C. voted overwhelmingly against a regulation at the small parking lot there.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced $3 million in awards to 14 Long Island aquaculturists in a second round of the Long Island Aquaculture Infrastructure Grant Program.

The Sag Harbor Village Planning Board dealt a blow to Adam Potter’s plan to redevelop several lots on Bridge Street last week when it denied a request to review two of the components of the project separately.

A potential strike by the Long Island Rail Road’s unionized work force could happen on May 16.

A 185-foot-long wall of geocubes in front of a house at 393 Cranberry Hole Road, washed for over eight years by the rising and falling waters of Gardiner’s Bay, could soon be removed from the shoreline.

When Councilman Tom Flight and Councilwoman Cate Rogers fell into a debate last week about proposed income limits for a pilot program that would provide community housing fund grants for the construction of affordable dwelling units, or A.D.U.s, it was a sign of how far the town has come, in just the last year, to incentivize residents to build them.

What appeared to at first be a benign application for a building permit in Sag Harbor Village turned into anything but last week at the zoning board of appeals meeting — with the applicants accusing board members of privately opposing their project and the owner of the property accusing the applicants of forgery.

Town residents can now go online to apply for beach parking and beach driving permits, both of which are free.

A vote that would have amended and ostensibly weakened the 53-year-old Endangered Species Act was scheduled by House Republican leadership for April 22 but was not held, after enough rank-and-file Republicans, including Representative Andrew Garbarino from Long Island’s Second District, spoke out publicly against its provisions.

The New York State Democratic Committee issued a list of elected officials in Suffolk and Nassau Counties who have endorsed Gov. Kathy Hochul for re-election, in an announcement that coincided with the launch of an effort to tie Nassau Executive Bruce Blakeman, her Republican opponent, to President Trump.

Seasonal bans on gas-powered leaf blowers differ from one municipality to another, and there's a growing call for gas blowers to be phased out completely in favor of electric ones.

An East Hampton Village resident who successfully sued the village for revoking his permit to park in one of the lots at Main Beach and ordering him to clear out his locker at the Main Beach pavilion suggested last week that he might sue the village for defamation of character, libel, and slander.

Sag Harbor Village adopted its 2026-27 budget on April 17, ushering in an 8-percent tax rate increase. The $17.6 million budget is up over 10 percent from last year.

The East Hampton Village Board has codified that village personnel will not participate in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, nor assist civil immigration enforcement efforts, nor will village facilities be used to detain people solely for civil immigration enforcement absent a judicial warrant.

An attorney for a group opposed to a renewed lease for the Maidstone Gun Club in Wainscott, which has been closed since November 2022, asserted that the town has executed that lease with the club while the town attorney said this week that is not the case, but that the parties remain in active negotiations.

After a presentation this week, the East Hampton Town Board now has more data to back up what residents have been saying for years: “Man, helicopters are annoying!”

Emily Fisher, an experienced hand with the town, has been appointed the new head of its Human Resources Department.

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork will host a program on serving on a town board advisory committee on Monday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the East Hampton Library.

Plans for a sculpture area celebrating the history of the L.G.B.T.Q.+ community on the Wainscott Green — once the site of the Swamp nightclub — received support at a town planning board meeting on April 8, as it has from the town board and architectural review board.

It’s unclear who will win the June 23 Democratic primary for East Hampton Town supervisor, but one thing about the 2026 supervisor race became clear last week: As in 2025, there will be no Republican candidate on the November ballot.