Government

As in past years, the East Hampton Town Trustees voted last week to permit the use of an aquatic weed harvester in Georgica Pond this year and through 2030, in what is seen as an effective means to discourage the harmful algal blooms that have beset the pond starting almost 15 years ago.

As summer traffic season nears, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council is asking the question that everyone else is thinking: Is there any way to ease some of the congestion on the most traveled routes on the East End? As it turns out, the council has some ideas, and they include expanding ferry service.

Adam Potter’s frequently derided plan to build an 81,257-square-foot mixed-use building on Bridge Street in Sag Harbor found its way to the village zoning board of appeals this week, where several residents spoke out against the proposed redevelopment of the lots.

Sag Harbor Village Mayor Thomas Gardella has taken heat over a social media post called insensitive to the L.G.B.T.Q. community.

East Hampton Town collected more than $11.7 million for the community housing fund last year, for a total of almost $25.19 million since the program was implemented in 2023.

It’s official, Sag Harbor residents of the East Hampton Town side of the village will have to pay the full nonresident price to park at Southampton Town beaches come summer. The Southampton Town Board decided on March 3 to eliminate a special parking accommodation that has been on the books since 2021.

Two members of the East Hampton Town Police Department, Lt. Kenneth Alversa and Officer Daniel Munoz, attended the town’s Latino advisory committee meeting in an attempt to assuage concern and to discuss the role local police may or may not play in easing tensions created by potential ICE actions.

As East Hampton Village works to update its comprehensive plan for the first time since 2002, focus seems to have shifted to the eventual development of the area known as the Gingerbread District along Gingerbread Lane, King Street, Race Lane, and Railroad Avenue, which has been identified as a potential area for housing and business expansion.

Attorneys for the Jewish Center of the Hamptons plan to sue after the East Hampton Village Zoning Board denied an application appealing a building inspector's determination relating to the center's driveway and lot coverage.

The town board unanimously supported a conceptual drawing of a new 35-spot permeable parking lot in Springs that would be accessed from Springs-Fireplace Road and connected by a concrete path to a brick walkway at the Springs Library.

The waters of Sag Harbor were literally under a microscope at a Sag Harbor Village Board meeting on Tuesday night, when Stony Brook University released the latest on water quality in the village.

Mammalian meat. Barbed mouthparts. Sloughing skin. Six thousand larvae seeking blood meal. Concrete-like saliva. These were just some of the words and terms bandied about during a presentation about tick-borne diseases by the East Hampton Town Board’s tick action committee.

In a surprise move the East Hampton Town Board temporarily paused implementation of a portion of the town code that would require updated certificates of occupancy upon the sale of property. The “stay of enforcement” approved Tuesday extends until Dec. 31, 2026.

Grass or brick? Those were the options on the table during a town board discussion about “beautification” to the south side of Amagansett Main Street from Hedges Lane to the west entrance to Amagansett Square.

A public workshop for the East Hampton Village comprehensive plan, which was last updated in 2002, will happen Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the East Hampton Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street.

Minerva Perez, the executive director of Organizacion Latino Americana, has been pushing local governments to adopt an East End Public Safety and Accountability Law, drafted by OLA, that would clarify how local police would respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids here.

Sag Harbor residents were the first on the East End to try out new, all-digital voting machines unveiled by the Suffolk County Board of Elections last week in anticipation of the June 23 primaries.

Plans are in the works to revegetate an acre at Springs Park, cleared last year of invasive autumn olive trees.

Marc Rowan, the billionaire investor, chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management, and owner of Duryea’s Lobster Deck on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk, is an appointed member of the executive boards of the Trump administration-led Board of Peace and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

An equestrian center complete with a 21,000-square-foot indoor riding arena, a stable for 26 horses, manure pit, three 2,272-square-foot houses, and a nearly 15,000-square-foot garage proposed on a protected parcel of land next to the Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton was roundly panned by residents at a Southampton Town Planning Board public hearing Thursday night.

With more than a fair share of snow this winter, the question on the minds of members of the Sag Harbor Village Board is how to keep the sidewalks in the village free of it.

A snowy owl found dead near Louse Point on Jan. 17 died of bird flu, the State Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed. There have been reports of it in clusters of Canada geese and cormorants this year as well.

The East Hampton Village Board abandoned a proposal that would have extended the prohibition of animals and trucks on its beaches from the current date of Sept. 15 to Columbus Day.

It was a day for goodbyes to long-serving staffers when the East Hampton Village Board met on Friday, as the retirements of Ralph Gibson, medical director, and Jeff Verity, of the Department of Public Works, were reluctantly accepted.

The Trump administration’s move this month to allow commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, 130 miles off Cape Cod, was welcomed by commercial fishing interests last week.

The Jerry Larsen for Supervisor campaign committee gave back an undisclosed sum of money to donors this week, after the Suffolk County Democratic Committee accused the campaign on Feb. 4 of accepting donations in excess of what is allowed by law.

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who is running a Democratic primary campaign against Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the incumbent, has backed a full slate of 38 challengers to the current Democratic Committee, with hopes to unseat as many members as possible.

One of the worst snowstorms to ever hit Long Island, dropping the most snow since 1963, blasted the East End, leading to power outages and overwhelming East Hampton Town’s fleet of snowplows.

Suffolk County has issued a travel ban on top of its blizzard warning for Sunday night through at least midday Monday, with snow totals of 15 to 20 inches possible and high winds expected. East Hampton Town declared a state of emergency and has extended its travel ban through 9 p.m. Monday.

A proposal to place a full-service car wash at 238 Springs-Fireplace Road was in front of the East Hampton Town Planning Board last week for the first time in six years, needing site plan approval and a special permit.