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Government

Devon Yacht Club Aims High in Redevelopment Plan

The town planning board, which would need to give site plan approval, has reviewed the Devon Yacht Club's project for over two years before deciding that it could not move forward until knowing whether the Z.B.A. would approve the many variances required, 20 in all: nine for wetland setbacks, eight for dune crest setbacks, and three for front yard setbacks along Abram’s Landing Road.

Nov 27, 2024
Huntting Inn Owner Will Sue Over Z.B.A. Handling of Pool Plan

The owner of the Huntting Inn, spurned by an October decision of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals that a pool and other improvements it had planned for its historic property could not be considered, filed papers last week to sue the board and the village.

Nov 27, 2024
Nightclub Conversion Is Ready to Proceed

Construction work at a long-controversial nightclub on Three Mile Harbor Road was set to begin three months ago, at which point it became strikingly apparent that the building had no basement at all, as had been assumed during the planning process. Rather than being retained, it would have to be built. This created an issue: Is excavating a new basement an expansion of a nonconforming building?

Nov 27, 2024
Immigration Advocates on Alert

With the Republican Party winning the White House and both houses of Congress, local immigration attorneys and the nonprofit OLA of Eastern Long Island are preparing for major changes to immigration policy.

Nov 27, 2024
Page in Sag Harbor Wants to Add Seating

The restaurant Page at 63 Main Street on Tuesday presented the latest iteration of its expansion plan before the Sag Harbor Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. The restaurant’s management hopes to expand up to the second floor of the building, netting an extra 41 seats, bringing the total number of seats to 165 — a proposal that would see the second-floor zoning classification changed from residential use to commercial use.

Nov 21, 2024
Downtown Amagansett Will Lighten Up

Design work has yet to begin on a new lighting plan for downtown Amagansett, where large trees line Main Street and sometimes block light, but the East Hampton Town Board appeared happy Tuesday with a preliminary study by L.K. McLean Associates, the project engineers.

Nov 21, 2024
Town to Cut Maximum House Size in Half

The East Hampton Town Board dropped a surprise into another lengthy discussion of proposed zoning code amendments in the wake of a well-attended public hearing on Nov. 7. The board agreed on most amendments as written; however, in a straw poll, four members voted against a measure that would include a portion of basements in the gross floor calculation of residences.

Nov 21, 2024
Village Bans Nightclubs In Historic Districts

Piggybacking on a law passed in the spring, the East Hampton Village Board passed another on Friday prohibiting nightclubs, “or similar entertainment establishments,” in the historic preservation district. In so doing, the board updated the village’s zoning code to place nightclubs alongside “garbage disposal plants and junkyards” as the only specific business enterprises outlawed anywhere in the village.

Nov 21, 2024
Town Board to Take Up Small Dog Zone at Springs Park

Debate over the addition of an area for small dogs at the Springs Park continued this week as the park committee met to discuss recommended changes that also include removal of invasive species.

Nov 21, 2024
East Hampton Senior Center Is a Go

The East Hampton Town Board formally decided Tuesday that a proposed senior citizens center on a seven-acre parcel at 403 Abraham’s Path in Amagansett would have little environmental impact and did not need a lengthy environmental review.

Nov 21, 2024
A Turf Field Transformation on Stephen Hand’s Path

The westernmost grass field at the Stephen Hand’s Path Recreational Facility will be converted to a multiuse artificial turf field in January, with work to be completed possibly by Memorial Day, depending on weather. Councilman David Lys and Matt Jedlicka, an engineer at L.K. McLean Associates, gave a presentation on the project to the town board at a meeting on Tuesday.

Nov 21, 2024
Labor Protest Continues at Playhouse

With a large inflatable rat in tow, a group from the Laborers Local 66 union has been stationed this week outside the Montauk Playhouse Community Center, where new aquatic and cultural centers are under construction, with signs calling out the architects and general contractors on the project.

Nov 21, 2024
Town Steps Up to Help Montauk Seniors Get Prescriptions

East Hampton Town is urging Montauk residents facing difficulties obtaining medicines in the wake of the closing of White's Drug and Department Store to take advantage of its Senior Shopping Assistance Program. Through the town program, people 60 and up can have town employees from the Human Services Department pick up prescriptions from pharmacies and deliver them to their houses.

Nov 19, 2024
Clock Is Ticking on House Donated to Project Most

Part of a Further Lane house that an anonymous donor gifted to Project Most to be used in a hub for its children's programs on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton has been demolished and discarded, having been exposed to weather conditions that allowed it to deteriorate. 

Nov 15, 2024
Election 2024: The Numbers Speak

A little over a week out from a decisive national election, both the Democratic and Republican Parties are examining what the results say about where the country stands. Looking over the preliminary data from the New York State and Suffolk County Boards of Elections, as well as the archived data from past elections, one can see how Suffolk County has changed and what trends have emerged.

Nov 14, 2024
Free Parking and a Discount in Sag Harbor

Paid parking, a sore subject for many in Sag Harbor, was again on the table at a village board board meeting. Aidan Corish, a board member, reported that “the total paid parking take for the month of October was $4,332,” and proposed that October be removed from the paid-parking season. “The aggravation that it caused, versus the minimal income that it provided, doesn’t seem to be worth it,” he said.

Nov 14, 2024
Town Recognizes the Montaukett Indian Nation

“In 1910, New York State Judge Blackmar ruled that the Montaukett Tribe no longer existed, yet the Montauketts remain resilient and continue to seek rightful recognition,” read the proclamation that East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez offered to Chief Robert Pharaoh and Sandi Brewster-walker.

Nov 14, 2024
On Big Houses, Monster Basements

Proposed changes to the East Hampton Town Zoning Code, which, among other things, would slash the allowable maximum house size from 20,000 to 10,000 square feet and require portions of basements and attached garages to be counted toward a structure’s gross floor area, were aired at a well-attended, nearly three-hour hearing.

Nov 14, 2024
A Hearing Next Month for Springs General

After a contentious two and a half years for the shuttered Springs General Store, an applicaiton to renovate the 1844 building and convert a storage shed into a small retail wine shop was finally deemed complete and will get an East Hampton Town Planning Board hearing on Dec. 4.

Nov 14, 2024
First Steps on Sag Harbor Boardwalk

Work on a boardwalk to connect Windmill Beach and the John Steinbeck Waterfront Park in Sag Harbor has begun, and one clear sign of that was the removal last week of a large but invasive tree in its path.

Nov 14, 2024
Ideas to Spur More Accessory Dwelling Units

Still unhappy with the pace at which new accessory dwelling units are being built in East Hampton Town, a committee charged with keeping tabs on them made four recommendations to the town board Tuesday that it hopes will spur some construction action.

Nov 14, 2024
Senior Center Site: ‘Best Practices’ to Protect Bats

Even with recently updated guidance from the federal Fish and Wildlife Service on the endangered northern long-eared bat, no change to the construction protocol for the East Hampton Town Senior Citizens Center is necessary, the town's acting planning director told the town board this week.

Nov 14, 2024
25 Miles Per Hour on 20 Town Roads?

East Hampton has over 300 miles of roads, and his officers write about 5,000 traffic summonses a year, Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo told the town board this week as he once again urged its members to ask permission from New York State to lower speed limits in several places. “The enforcement is there, to the extent it can be without having officers sit on your road all day,” he said.

Nov 14, 2024
Trump Picks Zeldin to Lead E.P.A.

President-elect Donald Trump has named former First Congressional District Representative Lee Zeldin as his choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, saying he "will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet."

Nov 12, 2024
Pool, Expansion Proposed on Gerard Drive

Gerard Drive, a mile-long peninsula that runs north to south on the east side of Springs, shielding Accabonac Harbor from Gardiner’s Bay, is one of the more environmentally sensitive areas in East Hampton Town. Along its entire length, only a single house has a swimming pool. At a public hearing before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals on Oct. 22, an applicant argued that it was time for another.

Nov 7, 2024
Another Suitor Emerges for Gun Club Land

Even though the East Hampton Town attorney said last month that the town could not entertain other offers on the 97-acre Wainscott property leased by the Maidstone Gun Club, a new suitor emerged on Saturday, this one with a proposal to develop a portion of the lot into privately owned affordable housing.

Nov 7, 2024
Decisive Win for LaLota in First Congressional District

Incumbent Representative Nick LaLota, a Republican, easily defeated his Democratic challenger, John Avlon, to be re-elected for a second term in what many believed would be a close race. As it turned out, it was not: Mr. LaLota grabbed 55.7 percent of the vote in the First Congressional District, while Mr. Avlon got 44.2 percent.

Nov 7, 2024
Board Says Wainscott House ‘Is Off the Mark’

In a rare unanimous decision, the architectural review board has denied an application to build a 7,374-square-foot residence at 84 Wainscott Hollow Road in Wainscott. Renderings of the proposed nine-bedroom, 12-bathroom house have been on Zillow even ahead of the A.R.B. meetings, with a suggested value of over $23 million.

Nov 7, 2024
Standing Water at a Five-Way Intersection in Montauk

There was audible muttering at Monday night’s meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee when East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys presented a draft proposal to fix drainage and traffic issues at the complicated five-way intersection of Second House Road, Industrial Road, North Shore Road, and Midland Road, all near Fort Pond.

Nov 7, 2024
The Morning After: Coffee, Consternation, Jubilation

Early Wednesday, when Grindstone Coffee & Donuts in East Hampton Village opened, The Associated Press had called the swing state Wisconsin for Trump, putting him at 276 electoral votes. Reaction at the coffee shop, in this blue corner of red Suffolk County, which voted overwhelmingly for Trump, was less surprise and more resignation.

Nov 7, 2024