Government

The first substantive discussion of progress made by a work group charged with amending East Hampton Town’s zoning code happened at the town board’s work session on Tuesday, and many of the dozen residents who spoke about it during the meeting’s 90-minute public comment period tied the effort to curb development to the myriad manifestations of environmental degradation and climate change throughout the United States and around the world.

Stung, not by a wasp — which purportedly was a catalyst for Carl Icahn to build an unpermitted gazebo at his Nichols Lane residence — but by the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals’ March 14 refusal to grant retroactive approval for the structure, Mr. Icahn sued the village in April.

The East Hampton Town Trustees were agreeable to the proposed rebuilding of a bulkhead on Three Mile Harbor when they met on Monday. They were also amenable to a proposed installation, behind that bulkhead, of a permeable reactive barrier — typically a long, narrow trench filled with a material such as iron, limestone, carbon, or mulch to remove contaminants as groundwater passes through it — that would prevent an estimated 500 pounds of nitrogen from entering the water body annually.

Violations for the illegal taking of shellfish from East Hampton Town waters could be elevated to aggravated charges. The town board considered an amendment to the town code toward that end last Thursday.

East Hampton Town’s forests are under assault from multiple species, the town board was told on Tuesday, and while invasive insects are a major component of the ongoing threat to them, “more aggressive deer management” was the recommendation to alleviate forest degradation.

A proposed amendment to the East Hampton Town code would allow volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers with two years of qualifying service to apply for a partial tax exemption.

In a pilot composting effort aimed at diverting, recovering, and reusing residential food scraps to create compost and return it to the soil, East Hampton Compost will receive food scraps at farmers markets in Springs and Sag Harbor to start.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board held a “wrap-up discussion” on June 28 about a stripped-down site plan application from Rita Cantina, the Mexican restaurant located in a residential neighborhood in Springs. In order to speed approval, the restaurant has removed several proposed points of contention, among them an outdoor patio with seating area, parking for catering trailers, grills, and lighting.

“I am extremely concerned now about how it might affect public safety at the main artery to Montauk,” East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys said of the trees on Napeague killed by an infestation of southern pine beetles in recent years.

The 5-megawatt lithium-ion battery energy storage system that caught fire at a Cove Hollow Road, East Hampton, substation on May 31 will be out of commission for an unknown length of time, but while its owners say there are no safety or power concerns for residents, proponents of renewable energy are concerned that the fire will fuel calls for a moratorium on further installations.

A new 185-foot tower to house emergency communications and personal wireless equipment, a component of East Hampton Town’s long effort to upgrade its emergency communications infrastructure, has been installed on the Camp Blue Bay property in Springs. The goal is for it to be operational by next spring.

A newly installed 262-kilowatt solar system array is now operational at Hither Hills State Park in Montauk, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation announced last week. It's projected to generate 360,000 kilowatt hours per year, covering the park’s entire electricity use and saving around $45,000 annually on electricity costs.