Government

The East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to accept bids for the long-awaited construction of an aquatic center and multi-use cultural center at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center. While the plan initially called for two phases of construction, owing to the amount of money raised “we’re doing phase one and phase two together,” Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said.

Shortly after Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Bruce Bates, then and still the emergency preparedness coordinator for the Town of East Hampton, told The Star that “getting assets and resources out here is difficult, at best. It seems that when supplies are heading east, they seldom get past Yaphank or Riverhead.” What, then, to expect of the East End’s ability to deal with a long-term emergency?

On the heels of Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.’s announcement that he will not seek re-election, Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni threw his hat into the ring on Monday with an announcement of his candidacy for District 1, represented by Mr. Thiele since 2014.

The feud between former volunteers and East Hampton Village was reignited Friday at a hearing held by Suffolk County to determine if the new municipal ambulance department can continue to provide emergency medical services to town residents who live in Northwest Woods and other areas beyond village boundaries.

The privately owned Montauk Airport could see a nearly 100-percent increase in summertime flight operations if air traffic were restricted at East Hampton Town Airport, the town board was told last Thursday during a presentation of a draft generic environmental impact statement.

Since John Avlon announced his candidacy, the field of Democrats hoping to challenge Representative Nick LaLota in November has shrunk to four, and one of the two who suspended his campaign has endorsed Mr. Avlon.

There was no big announcement, or surprise, only a letter to residents of East Hampton Village, circulated by Mayor Jerry Larsen along with an absentee ballot application, indicating he will be on the ballot for the June 18 village election. Deputy Mayor Christopher Minardi and Sandra Melendez, a trustee, will also run for re-election.

The new plan confines the controversial developer's proposed mixed-use building to only two lots, at 7 and 11 Bridge Street in Sag Harbor. Neither contains structures that contribute to the Sag Harbor Village Historic District.

The East Hampton Town Trustees agreed to permit a new approach to eelgrass restoration in Napeague Harbor, and authorized funding it, when the group met on Monday.

By a vote of 4 to 2, the East Hampton Town Planning Board resolved at its Feb. 7 meeting to hire an attorney to advise it on whether or not to seek "lead agency" status on the town’s proposed new senior citizens center. The East Hampton Town Board has said it plans to take the lead on that review process.

The long-running matter of Harry Macklowe’s Georgica Pond property was again before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday, ending this time in a unanimous vote that is unlikely to satisfy the homeowner and will likely be appealed.

The New York State Division of Consumer Protection has notified all municipal government officials that a new law amending and clarifying the state’s existing credit card surcharge law went into effect on Sunday.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board moved closer to approving plans for the Beckmann Commercial building in Montauk at its meeting last week. Dr. Molly is waiting to move in.

The first cruise ship to call Sag Harbor a stop on its itinerary will moor in sight of Long Wharf in three months. Officials are looking to ease the way.

Long Island’s Indigenous communities are hailing a new set of long-overdue rules, established by the Biden administration effective Jan. 12, that have museums and universities across the country covering up or altogether closing exhibits containing Native American funerary displays and other artifacts, which now must either be returned to sovereign tribes for reburial or displayed only with the permission of those Indigenous communities.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced on Monday that he will not seek re-election to the New York State Assembly, signaling an impending conclusion to a 45-year career of public service in local and state government. 

Two large pumps buried near the Beacon restaurant on West Water Street were the unsung heroes after Superstorm Sandy, removing an estimated eight million gallons of saltwater from the parking lots behind Main Street, and even in less extreme situations the pumps play an important role in keeping the area dry.

For the 2024 season, fisheries along the Atlantic Coast (except in Chesapeake Bay) will continue to adhere to a one-fish daily limit of a striped bass between 28 to 31 inches. Commercial fishermen will also see a 7-percent reduction in their harvest quotas this year.

Georgica Pond has long been ecologically compromised, and the Route 27 rest stop, neighboring the pond’s Talmage Creek, has been identified as a source of significant runoff. Improvements are on the way.

A Suffolk County Supreme Court justice has dismissed a petition filed by Teresa Bertha on behalf of the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association that would have allowed Ms. Bertha to sue the village for taking over the association’s ambulance certificate and its bank account.

The downtown Montauk ocean beach is rapidly changing this week, this time not due to the coastal storms that have ravaged the shoreline this winter but to implementation of the federal Army Corps of Engineers’ Fire Island to Montauk Point reformulation project.

Sand Land, a mine in Noyac that has been the subject of litigation and controversy for several years, appears to have ceased digging at its Middle Line Highway site and has relocated its retail operation to a facility on Montauk Highway in Wainscott.

The New York State Department of Transportation is now designing a new bridge to replace the one that spans the Long Island Rail Road track at the western end of Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett, which has been closed to all vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists since July 1.

New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo, who has represented the First Senatorial District since 2021, announced on Jan. 31 that he will seek a third term. He has at least one challenger: On Monday, former Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker announced her candidacy for the Democratic Party’s nomination for Mr. Palumbo’s seat.

Town officials are urgently seeking funding to mitigate the effects of three storms in December and January that damaged both beaches, particularly at Ditch Plain, leading Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Anthony Palumbo to issue a formal request to Gov. Kathy Hochul on behalf of East Hampton.

In a first step toward a major overhaul of its zoning code, the East Hampton Town Board voted to revise the “purposes” section of the town code pertaining to zoning at its meeting last Thursday. The resolution marks the first concrete step in a process that began nine months ago with the board’s formation of the zoning code amendment work group.

The East Hampton Town Board has held an initial discussion about potentially amending the town zoning code to allow existing residences in flood zones, as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to be raised without their owners having to apply for a variance from the zoning board of appeals.

In a unanimous decision, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals has granted Daniel and Pernilla Ammann permission to remove three 1950s-era beach cottages from properties they own on Sammy’s Beach Road and construct a new, glassy, 4,652-square-foot home.

The Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk, which has operated the child care program at the Montauk Playhouse for 17 years, has announced it will cease operations there effective May 3, and while East Hampton Town is already seeking bids from other providers, many Montauk families are left coping with uncertainty.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez has written to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to request an amendment to the Fire Island Inlet to Moriches Inlet, Downtown Montauk project to incorporate damages to the ocean beach caused by storms in December and January.