Government

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals held a two-hour public hearing on Sept. 16 on whether to allow a boardwalk through the double dunes in Amagansett to accommodate access to the ocean beach by upland property owners who use wheelchairs. The hearing was essentially part two of the application. 

East Hampton Town

Reconsidering Mass Gatherings

The town board will hold a hearing tonight on revisions to the town laws regarding mass gatherings. The law requires permits for assemblies of more than 50 people on residential properties, for organized gatherings of five or more people on public properties, and for gatherings on commercial sites if they involve outdoor areas, use of a tent, off-site parking, or sales of goods or refreshments on a property, or in an area of a property, not already approved for such sales.

Anticipated changes to New York State hunting regulations could prompt East Hampton officials to revise the lottery system for hunting permits on town lands during the shotgun-hunting season in January.

Pentachlorophenol, a chemical preservative on the utility poles PSEG Long Island recently erected in East Hampton Town to support a 6.2-mile high-voltage electric line, has been found in significant levels in the water from a well at the East Hampton Village Firehouse on Cedar Street, Rebecca Singer, a co-chair of Long Island Businesses for Responsible Energy, which has sued PSEG over the installation, told the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday.

Unless future testing of East Hampton’s Georgica Pond has better results, taking crabs and other marine life will be prohibited there for at least another three weeks, the East Hampton Town Trustees decided on Tuesday. Most recent water samples indicate a “dangerously high level” of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, which was first detected in the pond in July, said Stephanie Forsberg, the trustees’ assistant clerk.

Conciliation was in the air, and olive branches were extended in all directions on Aug. 27, when the East Hampton Town Planning Board scheduled a public hearing on the subdivision of roughly 40 acres of Wainscott farmland, which will result in seven house lots. The development had been years in the making and the subject of two lawsuits. The hearing will be at 7 p.m. on Sept. 17.

A draft comprehensive wastewater management plan for East Hampton Town, developed by a consultant who has analyzed the waste treatment and water quality issues throughout the town from an environmental and economic standpoint, will be the subject of upcoming discussions by the town board and of several hearings at which the public may comment.

A location manager for the Showtime TV program, “The Affair,” which is set in these parts and is completing the filming of episodes for its first season, got a decidedly better reception this week than the last time he spoke to the East Hampton Town Board seeking a permit for a film shoot during the height of the season.

Andrew Poppoon reviewed plans for filming in Amagansett and Montauk on Monday through Friday at a town board meeting on Tuesday, and board members agreed to issue a film permit.

Increased parking this summer on side streets between Old Montauk Highway and Route 27, in a residential area of Montauk, led to a number of complaints to the East Hampton Town Police Department, not only about the cars along the sides of winding roads but about littering.

An investigation “led to Gurney’s Inn,” Lt. A.J. McGuire told the East Hampton Town Board at a meeting in Montauk on Tuesday. Board members had been asked to consider enacting a parking ban on the affected streets.

The financial affairs of the East Hampton Town Trustees, who own much of the common lands and waterways in town on behalf of the public, were front and center in August, as the town looks ahead to a new fiscal year in January. The East Hampton Town Board allots about half the trustees’ annual budget each year — it was $251,456 this year — while other revenue comes from fees, including those for mooring or docking in waters under their jurisdiction, and from leases of trustee land at Lazy Point in Amagansett.

Jemille Charlton, an attendant at East Hampton Airport since 2013, is expected to be appointed the new airport manager at a meeting of the East Hampton Town Board tonight. Mr. Charlton will replace Jim Brundige, the airport manager for the last decade, who is retiring.

Mr. Charlton will take the post immediately, working with Mr. Brundige until the outgoing manager’s last day, Oct. 17, Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said Tuesday. She said the new manager has “a solid background in aviation, impeccable credentials, and deep roots in our community.”

The Army Corps of Engineers has issued its draft environmental assessment for the Montauk beach protection work it is proposing — a slightly larger and more expensive dune construction and beach-fill project than had originally been floated.

The project is a “temporary stabilization” effort, according to the Army Corps, until more extensive rebuilding begins under the Fire Island to Montauk Point “reformulation project,” an extensive shoreline reconstruction that has been in the works for decades and is nearing final federal approval.

Registered Democrats head to the polls Tuesday in a primary election to choose candidates for governor and lieutenant governor of New York State.

The discovery last month of cochlodinium, or rust tide, in Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton came amid the ongoing closure of Georgica Pond to the harvesting of crabs and other marine life due to the discovery in July of another toxic algal bloom, cyanobacteria.

John W. Templeman pleaded guilty Monday in East Hampton Town Justice Court to six charges stemming from allegedly rolling over a house he owns in Montauk for excessive short-term rentals. He was fined $7,500 and received a stern warning from East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana: “If I see anything like this in front of me again, it is not going to be a good situation.”

Mr. Templeman, 32, an attorney who heads up the international arbitration wing of White and Case in New York, spoke softly as he said “guilty” three times to Justice Rana.

Jim Brundige confirmed Tuesday that he had informed the town board early this month of his intent to retire just as he reaches the decade mark in his position as manager of the airport.

East Hampton Town

For a Town Farm Museum

Monetary donations are being sought for East Hampton Town’s farm museum, which is taking shape on the corner of North Main and Cedar Streets in East Hampton on the former Selah Lester property, now owned by the town. The museum will illuminate the lives of farmers in East Hampton and the importance of the town’s farms to its prosperity and history.

Members of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee want to have a say in determining the future use of Amagansett Farm, the 19-acre parcel purchased by East Hampton Town. The town is considering various proposals for use.

In a sparsely attended meeting on Monday, the group debated the most appropriate use, if any, of the property, which was purchased in the spring using the community preservation fund.

East Hampton Town’s bond rating has again been upgraded by Moody’s Investors Service, which assesses the town’s financial position and outlook before issuing a rating prior to a town bond sale.

The rating went up one level from Aa3, assigned last year, to Aa2. The ratings range from a low of C to a top rating of Aaa. Numeric modifiers of 1, 2, or 3 are added to all but the top designation, with 1 indicating a top rating within the alphabetical category. The Aa2 rating is two steps from the top rating of Aaa.

East Hampton Town

Helicopter Traffic Soars

East Hampton Town is considering banning thin-ply plastic bags, and is seeking input from the business sector as well as from members of the town’s litter and energy sustainability committees.

Supervisor Larry Cantwell said Tuesday that the supervisors and mayors of the eastern Suffolk towns have been discussing a regional ban, and that a rough draft of legislation is being circulated.

A vote on a law that would subject chain stores to additional scrutiny by the East Hampton Town Planning Board is to take place in the coming weeks.

East Hampton Town

Seeking a Truck Law Compromise

A committee comprising homeowners and local contractors who could be affected by proposed limits on the parking of commercial vehicles at one’s house will meet to seek a compromise after both sides spoke passionately at a July 17 hearing on a possible new law.

Residents who wish to make a complaint to the town ordinance enforcement department may now do so online, and the complaint will be immediately received electronically by officials and officers on the job, who will call officers on the job via cellphone.

Betsy Bambrick, the head of the department, described the procedure at a town board meeting on Tuesday.

A complainant must provide a valid email address and other information, or the system will not accept the complaint. Once an investigation begins, case files are kept confidential, she said.

The East Hampton Town Trustees will likely extend the closure of Georgica Pond in East Hampton to the harvesting of crabs and fish, as microcystin toxin, a product of the blue-green algal bloom known as cyanobacteria that can cause liver damage in humans and animals, has now been measured in the water body. Georgica is closed to the taking of shellfish other than crabs year round.

East Hampton Town

151 Signs

Signs illegally placed on the public rights-of-way have been removed by East Hampton ordinance enforcement officers and other personnel, Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell reported last week. Mr. Cantwell said that to date, 151 signs have been removed.

Leber on A.R.B.

The East Hampton Town Board will hold a public hearing next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall to consider the town’s purchase of the 3.7-acre Gardiner home lot on James Lane, in conjunction with East Hampton Village.

Olney Mairs Gardiner, who is known as Bill, put the property up for sale last fall and has accepted the town’s offer of $9.625 million for the historic property, which the town would buy using money from the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund. The respective open space plans for both the town and village recommend the property for acquisition.

At a hearing next Thursday night, the East Hampton Town Board will take comments on a change to the town code that would clarify restrictions on the expansion of commercial buildings in limited-business zones.

The zoning district is designed to allow low-intensity uses in places where business areas give way to residential zones. Restrictions on the types of businesses and their size are designed to protect the residential character of the designated areas.

A ban on daytime drinking on weekends and holidays at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett was approved unanimously last Thursday by the East Hampton Town Board.

Enforcement will begin as soon as the law is filed with New York State, which will take a number of business days.

The law will be in effect through September. After that, the town board has said its efficacy at tamping down unruly parties on the beach, which prompted numerous residents to complain, will be assessed.