Government

Beachgoers will soon see temporary string fencing at sites along 18 miles of ocean and bay shoreline, as the federally and New York State-protected piping plover makes its annual return to East Hampton Town and Village.

Anna Soccorsi of the Natural Resources Department told the town board on March 21 that it is seeking seasonal volunteers to monitor sites where the shorebirds nest, the better to assist conservation efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and State Department of Environmental Conservation.

A puzzle of an application involving two adjacent parcels, a bunch of portable restrooms, access to them, and a house in a commercial neighborhood came before the East Hampton Town Planning Board this month. The immediate issue is that the house, even though it is on a commercially zoned lot, is the parcel’s only legal use (though it pre-exists town zoning and is classed as nonconforming).

On paper, a 2,379-square-foot house on the South Fork may not seem outlandish, but place that house on a .17-acre lot in a flood zone with a raised swimming pool and decking in the middle of Ditch Plain in Montauk, and both neighbors and town planners have a problem.

Representative Nick LaLota of the First Congressional District has formally proposed legislation to declare Plum Island a national monument under the 1906 Antiquities Act. His bill, known as H.B. 1584, emphasizes the need for “ecological conservation, historical preservation, and the discovery and celebration of our shared cultural heritage.”

For at least 50 years the property at 44 Three Mile Harbor Road has operated as a nightclub — Leo, Philippe, SL East, NV Tsunami, way back when a place called the Jag, and even before that Mellowmouth — but its owner wants to convert the 5,000-square-foot one-story stucco building into a mix of retail, office, and affordable housing units. The town planning board will hold a hearing on the proposal in April.

After a long-anticipated historical and architectural assessment of the Springs house and studios of the late Abstract Expressionist artists James Brooks and Charlotte Park was delivered to the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday, the board signaled that it was ready to embrace the site’s restoration and conversion into an arts and nature center.

The East Hampton Town Board has appointed an advisory committee to review potential affordable housing initiatives and make recommendations to the town board, following the town’s recently adopted Community Housing Opportunity Fund Project Plan.

Don’t call it an expansion, but Carissa’s Bakery at 221 Pantigo Road in East Hampton needs a little more elbow room — and parking.

The New York State Supreme Court has once again sided with property owners along a 4,000-foot stretch of Napeague oceanfront popularly known as Truck Beach, granting five property owners associations’ motions to dismiss separate complaints by East Hampton Town and the town trustees, along with a dozen fishermen.

The New York Housing Compact, the governor's plan to address a housing shortage by building 800,000 new residences over the next decade, is a heavy-handed approach that would be wholly incompatible with East Hampton Town, according to the town planning director. Another planner described it to the town board as an “all sticks and no carrots” approach to solving the housing crisis.

A temporary fence could be installed as early as this week around parts of Herrick Park in East Hampton Village, where renovations to the tennis courts and softball field are set to begin on April 1. Work is expected to conclude no later than June 15.

The effort to impose restrictions on aircraft at East Hampton Town Airport took another incremental step forward on Tuesday when consultants presented the town board with the scope for a draft environmental impact statement that reflects input from the public and the board.

In the wake of the federal government’s announcement last week that utilities will be required to reduce levels of toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water to almost zero, residents of Wainscott are using that news to press opposition to both the South Fork Wind farm and the proposed Wainscott Commercial Center.

East Hampton Town and New York State would like comments from residents 60 years of age and older for a comprehensive survey of older adults, the director of the town’s Human Services Department said on Tuesday.

A boisterous group of 40-plus ambulance volunteers, many from the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association but some "mutually aided" from nearby departments, showed up at the East Hampton Village Board meeting on Friday to speak out against a plan that would have the ambulance association come under village control.

History is repeating itself on Montauk’s ocean shoreline, where erosion has once again prompted officials in East Hampton Town’s Land Management Department to recommend a landward rerouting of bluff trails in Shadmoor State Park and the adjacent Rheinstein Nature Preserve.

The East Hampton Town Board will not vote on a resolution regarding a May turkey hunt before April 6, the board said on Tuesday.

East Hampton Town is about to solicit participation in a public survey regarding the town’s goal to derive communitywide energy needs through renewable sources by 2030.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board was left with two bad options for a cell tower at the tiny St. Peter’s Chapel in Springs, and a litigation-imposed mandate to choose one by April 24. Cingular Wireless, operating as AT&T, requires approval of a special permit from the board to go ahead with construction.

The East Hampton Historical Society is seeking a special permit and several variances from the village zoning board of appeals to bring 2023-level technology to a new barn at the Mulford Farm that would house its growing collection of historical artifacts.

The proposed Wainscott Commercial Center has had a series of setbacks in recent weeks, most recently and perhaps most importantly on Tuesday night, when the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals was unanimous in its decision that a special permit was required for the planned industrial park proposed for the spent sand mine.

Nearly a quarter of the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association’s volunteer corps has resigned since the East Hampton Village Board introduced a plan on March 2 to create a new Department of Emergency Medical Services to oversee the ambulance service.

Most waters under East Hampton Town Trustee jurisdiction were usually healthy in 2022, the trustees were told on Monday, but the consequences of land use continue to impair some water bodies in the form of excessive nitrogen via ground and surface water runoff.

After two stop-work orders were either ignored or slow-rolled earlier this year, the Town of East Hampton is suing The Landings in Montauk, a marina-condo complex located at 408 West Lake Drive, alleging that the complex has exceeded construction-related approvals and committed other violations of the town zoning code.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board had one clear message for the owners of Rita Cantina at its March 1 meeting: Clean up your act before the season begins.

Owners of one of the two dozen 1700-1850 timber-frame landmarks in East Hampton Village have been called to task after making renovations affecting protected aspects of the structure. “It’s egregious, and they knew what they were doing, that’s the most upsetting aspect of this," the mayor said.

Richard Whalen, an Amagansett attorney and the founder of the Coalition for Hither Woods, told board members the group will continue to support the town in its efforts to improve Montauk’s environment, but will oppose any encroachment on the hamlet’s parks.

The long-awaited completion of a town-approved plan to rehabilitate the commercial fishing dock on Star Island in Montauk, which has been beset by delays and add-on costs, took a step forward last week as the East Hampton Town Board voted to amend two contracts and allocate additional money.

The East Hampton Village Board is seeking ideas for the future management of the 13 Sea Spray Cottages at Main Beach, and has already received several submissions, including one from a West Palm Beach, Fla., company, and others from current tenants.

Three weeks after the East Hampton Town Board heard from residents urging it to opt out of the May turkey hunting season announced last year by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, some 30 people were in the main meeting room at Town Hall Tuesday, many of them applauding speakers who urged the board to opt in.