Government

The Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, now predicts a 60-percent chance of between 14 and 21 named storms, of which six to 11 could become hurricanes, and two to five of them major hurricanes. An outlook issued in May predicted just a 30-percent likelihood of an above-average hurricane season.

A July 31 financial assessment and opinion issued by the Moody’s financial rating agency in advance of a debt sale by East Hampton Town determined that the town’s finances are “very healthy” and that “leverage and fixed costs are quite moderate.” Moody’s maintained the town’s Aaa rating, the highest it issues.

In an attempt to clear up what it has described as “considerable confusion” about its lease agreement with East Hampton Town, the Maidstone Gun Club last Thursday sent a letter to the East Hampton Town Board proposing improved safety features and oversight at the facility.

“When you think about a country that could be defined as divided, you come out here and it reminds you of our great history,” Governor Hochul said at a ribbon-cutting Wednesday in Montauk to celebrate the completion of several restoration projects strengthening and preserving the iconic 18th-century structure.

If the East Hampton Town Board adopts a recommendation put to it on Tuesday by its energy and sustainability advisory committee, then by Jan. 1, 2025, all new construction or large renovations in the town will have to be electric throughout. That includes heating and cooling systems, hot water heaters, and stoves. The action is intended to speed the transition from fossil fuels to green renewable energy sources.

As evidenced by the book-size Planning Department memo that delves into all the nooks and crannies, the private 400-member Devon Yacht Club's proposal to redevelop its site on Abram's Landing Road in Amagansett is a complex one.

Two Republican Party fund-raisers will happen on the South Fork this week.

East Hampton Town’s Ordinance Enforcement Department issued a stop-work order at the 50-unit affordable housing complex under construction on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton on Tuesday after a heavy rainfall that morning led to runoff pouring down from the site and onto Three Mile Harbor Road. 

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals approved, in late July, plans by Carissa's Bakery to make improvements to its building and add housing for workers above a new structure proposed for an adjacent lot, which is to be merged with the main lot.

The East Hampton Town Board voted to accept the donation of a drone by New York State when it met last Thursday, intending to use the craft to monitor the waters off the town's beaches for sharks.

The New York State Supreme Court judge who has consistently sided with plaintiffs in lawsuits that have blocked East Hampton Town from closing and reopening its airport as a private facility and implementing flight restrictions there handed the town a victory last Thursday, denying the plaintiffs’ motion to require the town’s outside counsel to return to the airport fund money received for work performed after he imposed a temporary restraining order to halt the town’s plans in May 2022. 

There’s talk lately that artificial intelligence is going to wipe out the human race. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if first it mowed our lawns? That’s the idea behind Greener, a Southampton company recently hired by East Hampton Village to cut two parcels of village-owned lawn at Village Hall and the Isaac Osborne House with robotic mowers.