Government

In the First Assembly District, a key difference between the candidates — Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, Stephen Kiely, the Shelter Island Town attorney — came into focus about halfway through a debate sponsored by the local chapter of the League of Women’s Voters on Oct. 7.

Given a chance to make comments on recent legislative suggestions about the zoning code in East Hampton Town, the planning board, at its Sept. 25 meeting, chose to focus instead on a suggestion that wasn’t made: changing the least flashy but perhaps most consequential zoning tool at the town’s disposal, the table of dimensional regulations.

The just over $103.72 million preliminary budget that Rebecca Hansen, the town administrator, presented to the board this week brings the town’s projected expenses above $100 million for the first time, because of an over $8 million spending increase.

At the beginning of each Sag Harbor Village Board meeting, the trustees do a rundown of committee reports that paint a picture of what goes on in the municipality to keep it running. The numbers tell the story of the village, from the tally of parking infractions to the millions of gallons of sewage that move beneath the streets.

With just over a month before Election Day, the race in Congressional District 1 between Representative Nick LaLota, the Republican incumbent, and John Avlon, a former CNN anchor, is set to get interesting.

The race for the East End’s State Senate seat is heating up between Anthony Palumbo, the Republican and Conservative incumbent, and Sarah Anker, a Democratic and Common Sense Suffolk candidate and former county legislator.

East Hampton Town officials are encouraging Springs residents to visit the town’s website by Wednesday to take a nine-question survey that will assist them in applying for $4.5 million in state money for the hamlet.

East Hampton Town will hold a hearing on Oct. 17 on what would be the largest community preservation fund purchase in its history, $56 million for 30 acres south of Wainscott Main Street. 

"Because of the weather, the only day we could go out clamming was Friday. We were out there for five hours," said Michael Fromm of Amagansett, whose efforts paid off when he emerged the overall winner of the East Hampton Town Trustees' 33rd Largest Clam Contest on Sunday.

Legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul last week expands what ambulance services can charge for, and recoup, from patients. No fire department on the East End has ever billed patients, and the new tweak to the law doesn’t seem to be influencing any to change that policy.

Endorsements have been rolling in for both sides in the race for New York State’s First Assembly District seat, in which Stephen Kiely, a Republican and Conservative candidate, and Tommy John Schiavoni, a Democratic and Working Families candidate, are vying to succeed Fred W. Thiele Jr.

Draft legislation that would move the start of the scallop season here from the third Monday in October to the Sunday after the first Monday in November was floated by Nicholas Coritsidis, an assistant town attorney, at last week’s town board work session. It would take effect in both East Hampton Town and town trustee waters. A public hearing on the proposal will be held at the board’s meeting next Thursday.

Solar energy on a first-come-first-served basis? It may sound unusual, but that’s what’s on the table for residents and small-business owners in Southampton’s half of Sag Harbor Village and other nearby parts of the township, through a solar project being constructed at the North Sea Transfer Station.

Gibson Lane beachgoers erupted in applause last week when the Sagaponack Village Board announced that Southampton Town parking permits will continue to be valid when the village takes over maintenance of the beach next summer.

The Sagaponack Village Board pushed back at perceived misinformation surrounding the proposed 100-foot cellphone tower set to be built behind Village Hall at a board meeting last week.

Eventually, a major hurricane is coming, and Montauk — whose lifeblood is the ocean — is not ready. If the hamlet is hit by a truly big hurricane, it won’t be able to just get back to its feet and walk on. To make even a dent in the task of full recovery will require an army of dedicated experts, officials, and residents — and a yacht-load of money.

Artificial intelligence and deep-fake internet content have become huge talking points in this year’s race to the White House, and the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork is doing its part to counter them.

After several years of lobbying the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for money to improve Long Island Rail Road infrastructure and expand commuter train service on the South Fork, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced Wednesday that $260 million has been added to the M.T.A.'s capital plan to do just that.

After a recent move to increase density allowances from eight units an acre to 12 for senior-citizen-only affordable housing developments, the East Hampton Town Board this week discussed making the same adjustment on any affordable housing parcel.

Sag Harbor Village is reviewing bids for work to connect two sewersheds to the village’s wastewater treatment system, all of which came in higher than expected.

After two and a half years in front of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals, the Huntting Inn’s quest for a pool and other improvements may fail. The reason? The Z.B.A. may not have the authority to grant the approval, even if it saw fit to do so.

The Springs General Store achieved a victory at the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals last week, being granted its request for a natural resources special permit. It was needed because parking, fencing, and decking would be installed within 150 feet of wetlands. Don’t expect them to start churning out coffee and egg sandwiches just yet, however. The store still needs site plan approval from the town’s planning and architectural review boards.

The bridge that spans the outflow from Pussy’s Pond in Springs into Accabonac Harbor off Old Stone Highway will soon be repaired, and an eighth-of-an-acre sea of phragmites removed.

Bringing out young voters 18 to 25 had been critical to President Biden’s win in 2020. Since his surprise announcement that he would not run again this year, many young Democratic-leaning voters have, according to pollsters, felt more energized — including those right here on the South Fork.

Recognizing the challenges of housing costs even for people earning too much to qualify for affordable housing, East Hampton Town's housing director and Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte floated the idea of employee housing overlay districts that might “provide an avenue for private development of a needed form of housing.”

Spring is associated with cleaning, sure, but the East Hampton Town Litter Action Committee sees no problem with celebrating the first day of autumn with a good once-over. On Saturday, as part of National CleanUp Day, committee members will hit the roadsides for this year’s sprucing.

A vote on alienating parkland at the Sherrill Triangle to make way for a potential traffic circle that was planned for last Thursday’s East Hampton Town Board meeting was canceled. Two public hearings went on as scheduled, concerning properties lined up for potential community preservation fund purchases.

Step into any municipal board meeting on the South Fork, whether it be East Hampton Village, Sag Harbor Village, Sagaponack Village, or East Hampton Town, and residents are requesting speed bumps to slow drivers down.

During Monday’s meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee, Eric Schantz, East Hampton Town’s director of housing, gave community members the opportunity to weigh in on affordable housing — and the apparent lack of it in their hamlet.

Richard Warren had come to Monday night’s meeting of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee prepared with whiteboard, blueprints, facts and figures, to discuss the modernization of the 108-year-old Devon Yacht Club. What Mr. Warren, president and owner of the environmental planning firm Inter-Science Research Associates, was not prepared for was the dustup that followed his presentation.