Government

A day before the public descended on LTV Studios for a long-awaited hearing on the Wainscott Commercial Center subdivision, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals had a hearing of its own Tuesday to consider whether the proposal would need a special permit as a planned industrial park.

Stargazing, bocce ball, and a continued landing site for medevac helicopters? Those are just three proposals for the 18.8-acre Amagansett Plains Preserve under a management plan being considered by the East Hampton Town Board.

Last Thursday, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. reintroduced a bill that aims to “address the statewide affordable housing crisis and incentivize property owners to construct accessory dwelling units where such units are permitted,” formally known as the Accessory Dwelling Unit Incentive Act.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. sounded optimistic last week as he addressed a crowd in the Sag Harbor Cinema, saying he’s looking forward to a change five years from now in the East End’s affordable housing landscape.

A public hearing on the proposed Wainscott Commercial Center, a 70-acre mixed-use development, is set for Wednesday at LTV Studios, at 75 Industrial Road in Wainscott.

With a 16-unit affordable housing development in East Hampton, the town hopes to put measures in place that ensure the houses there remain affordable well into the future, including a cap on the size of houses and accessory structures and a prohibition on pools or playing courts.

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to deny a second request by Farrell Builders for a natural resources special permit that would have allowed the developer to demolish a beach cottage at 175 Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett and build a new 3,240-square-foot residence, pool, and accessory structures in the dunes abutting the beach parking lot.

The East Hampton Town Board has three public hearings on the schedule for this week's regular board meeting on Thursday at 2 p.m. -- new fees for projects in urban renewal areas, the acquisition of a Gerard Drive property with money from the community preservation fund, and a hearing on easements granted at a Three Mile Harbor-Hog Creek Road property. 

At 6 a.m. on Jan. 27, three hours before East Hampton Village opened in-person sales of its nonresident beach parking permits to town residents, 20 people in lawn chairs were already waiting at the Emergency Services Building for their chance at one of the coveted $500 passes. By 6 p.m., they were sold out.

At the recommendation of its project engineer, D.B. Bennett, the East Hampton Town Board has rejected the latest bids to complete Phase III restoration work at Montauk’s historic Second House and museum.

Dave Calone, a former chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission who has a background in law and business, is officially the Suffolk County Democratic Committee’s candidate of choice for county executive. Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, who told The Southampton Press late last year that he was considering running for county executive, confirmed Sunday that he has opted not to run.

Representative Nicholas LaLota of the First Congressional District had quite a wild ride in his opening days as a freshman Republican in the 118th Congress. There was the epic and very public battle to name Kevin McCarthy as house speaker — and then there was George Santos, the newly elected representative from Nassau County whose résumé turned out to be a pack of lies and who now faces ongoing opprobrium from almost all quarters.

Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island will receive $600,000 from Suffolk County over the next three years for opioid abuse prevention work among young people, the group announced Friday.

Ongoing litigation in federal court between East Hampton Town and East Hampton Village over the use and storage of controversial firefighting foam at the town airport by the village’s Fire Department remains in limbo even as the State Department of Environmental Conservation “continues to oversee the town’s remedial investigation” at the site, the agency said this week.

Those interested in preserving John Steinbeck’s Sag Harbor home as a writing center must have been buoyed on Tuesday afternoon as the proposal coasted through a public hearing during a Southampton Town Board meeting, with nary a single comment against it.

East Hampton Village sent out approximately 2,000 surveys to village residents asking three questions: Are you in favor of installing pickleball courts in Herrick Park? Are you in favor of Wiborg’s Beach being protected by lifeguards? Are you in favor of having a dog park in Herrick Park? The results are in.

Money from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed last March, will be deployed to Montauk’s commercial fishing fleet to assist with the onshore storage of their gear.

As a proposed plan to build a wastewater treatment plant in Montauk’s Hither Woods moves forward into what is sure to be a headline-grabbing 2023 of ongoing rancor and debate among a growing cadre of opponents, one tidbit has emerged from the flurry of meetings, emails, and presentations that have been associated with the proposal put forth by the East Hampton Town Board: To date, no detailed design specs of the proposed facility have been put into the public record by the town, even as a proposed conceptual diagram by the engineering firm that created it has become a key document motivating sewage plant detractors.

The East Hampton Town Board approved a suite of fee increases last Thursday that will affect about 60 services provided through the architectural review board, the zoning board of appeals, and the planning board.

Having rejected a bid to replace the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system and roof at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter last month after the lowest bid, at $2.32 million, came in well over an anticipated $1.2 million price tag, the East Hampton Town Board split the proposed job in two parts.

A New York State Department of Transportation plan to install a traffic circle or stop lights at the intersection of Route 114 and Main Street/Route 27 in East Hampton Village has been halted, and the mayor says that's good news.

A forum on the Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act will bring together State Senator Anthony Palumbo, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., and Matt Cohen of the Long Island Association for a look at what the new act means for the East End.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board has set Feb. 8 as the date for a public hearing on the draft environmental impact statement for the Wainscott Commercial Center subdivision. The hearing will be held in two parts at LTV Studios in Wainscott due to the considerable interest in the proposal for the former sand mine.

“It’s been the longstanding policy of the village, when you’re starting out from scratch, and you have a cleared lot, to comply with all codes,” Philip O’Connell, an East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals member, told a representative of Gianfranco D’Attis and his wife, Surbhi, on Friday. Mr. D’Attis was recently named the C.E.O. of Prada.

The new 874-foot stone revetment at Montauk Point will be completed six months ahead of schedule but with many more boulders than originally budgeted for.

Freshman Representative Nick LaLota of the First Congressional District said he was “happily notified” on Monday that Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had named him to two plum committees — Armed Services and Homeland Security.

Consultants for East Hampton Town gave a brief presentation at Tuesday’s town board work session spelling out the latest steps in the town’s march toward some resolution at East Hampton Airport. Several Montauk residents expressed concern about what changes at the airport might mean for the small privately owned airport in a far-flung part of the hamlet.

Two incumbents, East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc and Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, announced this week that they will not run again, while Councilman David Lys confirmed that he will run to keep his seat and Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said she will seek the Democratic nomination for supervisor.

The East Hampton Town Board has selected a design for a new $25 million-plus senior citizens center in Amagansett.

In their ongoing inventory of docks throughout their jurisdiction, the East Hampton Town Trustees have discovered a number of waterfront structures, such as docks and staircases, that lack permits. In an effort to ensure that those comply with local regulations, the trustees voted on Dec. 12 to establish a new, voluntary process — the “application to legalize” — to remedy the issue.