Government

Getting to the groundbreaking for the Montauk Playhouse Community Center’s new aquatic center was reminiscent of the concept of “third places,” said Sarah Iudicone, the Playhouse Foundation’s president. After home and work, “third places play an important part in our identity. They allow us to open ourselves up, learn more about the people around us, and deepen our civic engagement. And because of all of your support, Montauk is going to have a new third place.”

A plan to employ goats to remove invasive species in the Arthur Benson Preserve on Old Montauk Highway that Concerned Citizens of Montauk pitched to the East Hampton Town Board last month may sound quaint, but the board lightly tapped the brakes on the proposal on Tuesday when two residents pushed back on the idea, citing a judge’s 1994 ruling that prohibits fencing or any other structures on the roughly 40 acres south of the roadway and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. 

The East Hampton Town Board held a public hearing last Thursday on proposed amendments to the town code that are intended to tighten control over the massive geotextile sandbags that are used to protect waterfront properties from erosion. 

The Sag Harbor Village Board took a first step toward returning to the planning board authority over special exception use permits for buildings greater than 3,500 square feet in the newly created Waterfront Overlay Protection District. It reverses an action that dates back to January 2022.

The East Hampton Housing Authority’s five properties will soon see the installation of solar panels that are estimated to produce a combined 927 megawatt hours annually. Once the buildings have been solarized, residents will receive at least a 15-percent reduction in their electricity costs.

Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Joseph Santorelli dismissed Michael Bebon’s lawsuit against East Hampton Village regarding pickleball at Herrick Park last week, but that didn’t stop Mr. Bebon and a phalanx of lawyers from showing up at Monday’s village board meeting to draw another line in the park’s sandbox.

Adam Potter has tabled controversial plans for a 79-unit downtown affordable apartment building with 34,000 square feet of retail space, and said he will instead submit plans to Sag Harbor Village for a building with 39 residential units and a third of the retail space originally proposed.

East Hampton Town is "leading by example with upgrading our town-owned municipal facilities to innovative alternative, low-nitrogen sanitary systems,” according to the environmental analyst with the Natural Resources Department. Five upgrades have been completed and many more are in the works.

On a visit to the East End last week, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced proposed legislation that would regulate perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — of a class of chemicals known as PFAS — which have been determined to be dangerous at any level of exposure.

A representative from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s Build Ready program pitched a study to the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday that would identify potential sites for solar farms and battery storage systems on town-owned properties.

The New York League of Conservation Voters has endorsed East Hampton Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez in her bid for supervisor, as well as Westhampton Beach Mayor Maria Moore, who is running for supervisor of Southampton Town. Both are Democrats.

End Citizens United, which works to elect Democratic candidates and to combat the influence of money in politics, has filed a second complaint against Representative Nick LaLota of New York’s First Congressional District, this one alleging that he violated federal election law by failing to file complete financial disclosure reports.