Government

The East Hampton Village Board voted to accept a $12,000 donation from the East Hampton Village Foundation for the installation of yet another Flock Safety automated license plate reader, with some pushback from residents, and also voted to appoint a Flock advisory task force.

“This is the second application we’re discussing this evening from the same applicant where plans submitted to the Planning Department showed one thing and then the Building Department plans showed something else,” said Tina Vavilis LaGarenne, the town’s planning director, as the planning board looked at two projects in Montauk by the team behind Este restaurant.

Representative Nick LaLota won’t be “unwinding a promise” made earlier this year to provide federal money to municipalities like East Hampton Town and Village, but on a visit to Sag Harbor he again made it clear that as long as they have versions of an East End Public Safety and Accountability Law limiting participation with civil immigration enforcement on the books he will not fight to get them more federal dollars.

In the coming years, the Long Island Rail Road’s Montauk branch will see upgrades aimed at improving service and reliability, including an extension of additional track at the Amagansett station, that will allow more trains to run on the branch.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a below-normal Atlantic hurricane season, but one member of the East Hampton Town Board had a very long list of questions for the town’s emergency preparedness coordinator this month, appearing skeptical as to the town’s readiness for a crisis.

The environmental impact statement prepared by Adam Potter for his prosed three-story mixed-use building on Bridge Street in Sag Harbor was rejected by the Sag Harbor Village Planning Board on Tuesday night after parts of it were called “insufficient” by the board’s engineer.

New York’s statewide ban on partnerships between federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement that allow designated officers to perform immigration enforcement functions — known as 287(g) agreements — took effect on Tuesday. Nassau County had been one of two counties in the state that refused to comply, until yesterday.

A plan that could yield up to 60 housing units on six acres owned by the Calvary Baptist Church drew strong opposition even before it was submitted to the East Hampton Town Planning Department. 

The East Hampton Town supervisor has given NextEra 30 days to revise its emergency action and safety plan for the battery energy storage facility on North Shore Road in Montauk, and 60 days to “design and install engineering controls that capture and hold all fire water and all fire-related runoff,” among other demands.

The East Hampton Town Trustees have assessed fees for five docks that had been modified without trustee approval. 

East Hampton Town’s financial statements were given an unmodified opinion by its auditor, meaning its financial records are fair and correct.

An application before the village Z.B.A. that would see the installation of a detached arbor and sign featuring a clock resembling a Rolex watch face at the Odd Fellows Hall building on Newtown Lane was again received skeptically.

The Springs Brewery has been in front of the East Hampton Town planning, zoning, and architectural review boards for five years, trying to get the nod for a proposed brewery at 847 Springs-Fireplace Road. Last week it got a final approval from the A.R.B.

Ahead of a scheduled East Hampton Town Planning Board meeting Wednesday night, after The Star went to press, the Planning Department issued a memo hammering home that proposed septic and parking were insufficient and could not be approved for the restaurant in downtown Montauk. 

The potential construction of a parking lot at the Springs Library, which proponents say would alleviate the current shortage of parking in the area, was endorsed by six residents, and opposed by three others, when the East Hampton Town Board considered the proposal this week.

In Sag Harbor, where Adam Potter plans a mixed-use building with 48 apartments and ground-floor commercial units on Bridge Street, attention has turned to an upcoming planning board review, a zoning board inquiry, and an impending public hearing marking a state review of his cleanup plans.

The challenges to trees on the East End are many and protections few. The East Hampton Town Sustainability Committee seeks to change that. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has added New York’s First Congressional District to its Districts in Play program, which identifies what it considers competitive Republican-held or open House seats for resource allocation and planning.

After public hearings and multiple changes to a law that would allow employer-sponsored rent-restricted housing complexes to be constructed in East Hampton Town, the town board had a final discussion and moved closer to a September vote.

Gov. Kathy Hochul visited the Montauk Lighthouse over the weekend to sign new protections for whales into law by way of the Whale Awareness Act.

A month after questions were first raised about the status of the state building code certification of Richard Normoyle, East Hampton Town’s chief building inspector, New York State has yet to respond.

A discussion about adding up the deer in East Hampton Town ended instead with plans for how best to subtract them at Tuesday’s town board meeting.

The East Hampton Town Trustees debated their policy on moorings in waters under their jurisdiction, focusing on permit holders in Northwest Creek and their unused spaces.  

What seemed like a straightforward proposal for legislation that would establish a lawn-irrigation conservation policy devolved into questions about intent and enforceability at Tuesday’s town board meeting.

Concern about a plume of contaminated water that has knocked three Suffolk County Water Authority drinking wells out of service drove 10 residents to press the town board for clarification about the water supply.

Stony Brook Hospital’s East Hampton Emergency Department on Pantigo Road has been in operation for 14 months now, and nearly 14,000 patients have entered its doors, with more coming all the time.

A petition with over 500 signatures has been delivered to the East Hampton Town and Planning Boards asking for the revocation of all approvals and permits for the future Este restaurant in downtown Montauk.

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking New York State’s recently passed law prohibiting federal immigration enforcement officials from wearing face coverings and requiring them to display identification while interacting with the public. 

The Town of East Hampton added to recent pressure on NextEra Energy Inc., the owner of a battery storage center at 3 Cove Hollow Road, with a “demand letter” a week after Ed Romaine, the Suffolk County executive, and East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen called for operations at the energy facility to be suspended.

East Hampton Town is suing Ranch Mtk L.L.C., controlled by Max Levai, in State Supreme Court over the “unlawful construction and maintenance of an unpermitted structure” at the Old Montauk Highway art space commonly referred to as The Ranch.