Government

Over some objection during last Thursday’s public hearing, and one nay vote among five, the East Hampton Town Board amended the town code to change the permitting scheme for driving on beaches. A related change to parking at beaches was unanimously approved.

As part of an effort to restore the Deacon David Hedges house in Sagaponack, which was built in 1775 by a descendant of one of East Hampton’s founding families, the owners are seeking variances from the Sagaponack Village Zoning Board of Appeals to build a second structure on the property.

The town board recently enacted new parking requirements for resorts and motels. The code now says a resort must meet current parking requirements for its principal use.

A controversial settlement between Marc Rowan, the owner of Duryea’s Lobster Deck in Montauk, and East Hampton Town in a dispute regarding uses of the property requires Mr. Rowan to obtain site plan approval and a permit from the town planning board, but limits the scope of the board’s site plan approval.

Due to a clerical error, the East Hampton Town Trustees canceled a special meeting scheduled for last evening to discuss revising the terms of leases to tenants on trustee land at Lazy Point in Amagansett.

The East Hampton Town Board has scheduled a public hearing next Thursday at which comment for or against an amendment to the town code that would require residents to obtain new permit stickers for parking and driving on beaches will be heard.

A proposed 17,000-square-foot expansion of T.J. Maxx, a chain store in Bridgehampton Commons, was approved by the Southampton Town Planning Board on Feb. 14.

On the heels of the East Hampton Town Board’s Feb. 7 vote to ban the intentional release of balloons, the town trustee who was among those drawing attention to their detrimental impact on marine life is now advocating an outright ban on the sale or distribution of Mylar balloons.

PSEG Long Island, which manages the electrical grid on behalf of the Long Island Power Authority, has scheduled a workshop at which it will present information on the planned relocation of the LIPA substation on Industrial Road in Montauk.

Dan Gasby, the husband and business partner of B. Smith, the former restaurateur who has Alzheimer’s disease and has a history of going missing, sought permission from the East Hampton Town planning board on Feb. 13 to allow the couple’s property to remain overcleared of vegetation so Ms. Smith could have open space to walk outside.

The East Hampton Town Board, which has already agreed to require residents to obtain new permit stickers for parking and driving on beaches, discussed the plan’s details at its meeting on Tuesday.

Residents of Lazy Point in Amagansett, who own their houses but rent the underlying land from the East Hampton Town Trustees, may soon see a dramatic change to the tenant-landlord agreement.

The East Hampton Town Republican Committee, which screened candidates for supervisor, town board, and other elected positions last weekend, will hold additional screenings on Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett.

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted unanimously to expand the town’s community oyster garden program to Napeague Harbor.

East Hampton Town

New Features to Town Website

The East Hampton Town website, at ehamptonny.gov, has been updated to highlight announcements and current news of interest to the community in a regularly updated news section on the site’s homepage. 

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. last week introduced legislation to allow the five East End towns to establish community housing opportunity funds using money from a .5-percent increase in real estate transfer taxes.

The East Hampton Town Democratic Committee has put out a call for those interested in screening for the positions of supervisor and two seats on the town board as well as town justice, highway superintendent, tax assessor, and town trustee. Election Day is Nov. 5.

East Hampton Town’s community oyster garden program, under which individuals and families can grow up to 1,000 oysters and keep half of them, will expand further this year, if the town trustees agree to a request made on Monday.

As recently as May, Fred Thiele backed a smaller offshore project run by an American company. Since then, a Danish takeover, a new plan for far-larger turbines, and commercial fishing objections have changed his mind.

The New York State Senate passed a series of bills to reform the electoral system last week, one of which will result in federal and state primary elections being held on the same day in June.

The East Hampton Town Republican Committee, under its new chairman, Manny Vilar, will hold a winter gathering next Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Palm restaurant in East Hampton.

The East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to authorize an agreement with Hampton Hopper to provide the town’s “last mile” shuttle service when the Long Island Rail Road expands East End service on March 4.

Changes to the site plan for the 37-unit affordable housing complex to be built at 531 Montauk Highway in Amagansett were discussed by the East Hampton Town Planning Board on Jan. 16.

Seven members of the House of Representatives introduced legislation last week that would block the Trump administration’s plan to expand gas and oil drilling off most of the nation’s coastline. They are seeking a moratorium on new offshore oil and gas drilling.

A program that is getting increasing attention on the South Fork could allow local municipalities to band together and leverage their pooled demand to choose their energy supply and possibly negotiate lower prices for electricity.

The division of one of the most familiar stretches of remaining South Fork farmland, a 41-acre parcel on Montauk Highway in Sagaponack, moved one step closer to becoming a reality on Monday, when the Sagaponack Village Board accepted what is called a pre-application report.

Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind has asked East Hampton Town for permission to conduct surveys related to its proposed South Fork Wind Farm and the installation’s transmission cable, which it plans to land at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott.

A lawsuit filed one year ago by the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett that sought to bar leaseholders in Suffolk County's Shellfish Aquaculture Lease Program from conducting oyster farming activity was settled last week, a county official said.

The Town of Southampton could benefit from a community choice aggregation, or C.C.A., energy program like one Westchester County was first to establish in New York State.

The establishment of an erosion control district for downtown Montauk is being studied. It would fund a sand-only beach replenishment project as an interim step while the town awaits the Fire Island to Montauk Point reformulation project.