Government

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted unanimously on Monday to enact a one-year moratorium on construction of docks, catwalks, floating docks, floating structures, and floating platforms in trustee waters.

In a split vote last Thursday, the East Hampton Town Board authorized a $6.845 million purchase of three parcels, comprising 1.92 acres on Green Hollow Road in East Hampton, using $4.2 million from the community preservation fund and a $2.645 million donation from several neighbors whose identities were not disclosed.

The East Hampton Town Board is expected to opt out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries or on-site consumption licenses.

The owner of Sunset Cove Marina, on Folkstone Creek off Three Mile Harbor in Springs, plans to convert a portion of the marina to a commercial oyster growing operation.

Attorneys for East Hampton Town are opposing a motion by plaintiffs in the long-running Truck Beach conflict to move the Oct. 17 trespassing violations of 14 protesters from the town justice court to Suffolk County Supreme Court, which would consolidate those violations with the plaintiffs’ pending motion asking that the court hold the town in contempt for not actively prohibiting the public from accessing the beach.

The South Fork Wind farm, which would be New York State’s first offshore wind farm, took another major step forward on Wednesday when the federal Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a favorable Record of Decision, a move that concludes the project’s federal environmental review. 

East Hampton Town is set to proceed with the creation of an administrative adjudication bureau to expedite processing minor code violations, allowing people to pay fines for them by mail or online, rather than having to appear in town justice court.

The tanks holding effluent from the pump-out boats operated by the East Hampton Town Trustees in Three Mile Harbor and Lake Montauk are undersized and in need of replacement, representatives of the town’s water quality technical advisory committee told the town board.

A Nov. 9 announcement that the Long Island Power Authority and the New York State Department of Public Service had agreed on a new management contract with PSEG Long Island came with reassuring words from LIPA officials but also continued criticism from government officials and activists.

Two weeks after a tense debate and vote to allow an 80-foot dock in Three Mile Harbor, the East Hampton Town Trustees moved toward enacting a moratorium on the construction of docks and floating structures in all waters under their jurisdiction while they develop a policy on them.

Attorneys for oceanfront property owners along what is popularly known as Truck Beach on Napeague have convinced a New York State Supreme Court judge to move the trespassing violations of 14 East Hampton Town residents from the town justice court to the Suffolk County Supreme Court.

East Hampton Town’s preliminary 2022 budget is $85.49 million, a slight increase over the tentative budget unveiled last month that reflects Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc’s proposal to regrade 115 town employees, with commensurate wage increases averaging 5 percent.

Following the introduction of paid parking this summer at Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, the Sag Harbor Village Board presented an elaborate report on the somewhat controversial initiative at Tuesday's board meeting.

A proposal to use nearly $2.6 million of community preservation fund money to purchase a .2-acre parcel on Muchmore Lane, a small lot adjacent to Herrick Park in East Hampton Village, drew questions and skepticism from two residents during a public hearing last Thursday.

Current operations at East Hampton Airport and spending by passengers to and from it generate between $19 million and $25 million in economic output and account for 170 to 260 full-time equivalent jobs for the town, but passenger spending represents just 2 to 3 percent of taxable sales in the town, consultants told the East Hampton Town Board.

The rate of Covid-19 infection has slowly declined at testing sites in East Hampton Town in recent weeks, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday.

The positive infection rate among those tested between Oct. 16 and Oct. 23 was 5.88 percent, Mr. Van Scoyoc said. The rate between Oct. 24 and Oct. 30 was 4.94 percent, and between Nov. 1 and Nov. 7 it was 3.85 percent.

Democrats in East Hampton Town bucked the wider trend on Long Island and beyond on Election Day, maintaining a lock on elected offices by winning large majorities in an election marked by light turnout.

Consultants to East Hampton Town have proposed a two-phase plan for implementation of the recommendations contained in the Wainscott hamlet study that was approved and adopted in East Hampton Town’s comprehensive plan in May 2020.

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, an incumbent candidate, was one of only a few Democrats re-elected to their posts on Tuesday as Republicans earned victories in key races in county government.

Voters across Suffolk County flunked three of the five statewide propositions on Tuesday's ballot. The only successful measure that will impact the East End was an amendment to the state constitution to establish the "right to clean air, clean water, and a healthful environment for all."

"I was guardedly optimistic," East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said Wednesday after an apparent landslide victory for the Democratic Party. He pointed to a record of sound financial management, guiding the town through the Covid-19 pandemic while maintaining a functioning government, and forward movement on renewable energy and said, "I think the public responded resoundingly." 

The polls had been closed for more than two hours when word was conveyed that there would be no further update to the Suffolk County Board of Elections' vote tally of East Hampton Town's 19 election districts, but the early vote totals indicated a clean sweep for Democrats. At nearly 1 a.m., when the board of elections website finally populated with all of East Hampton Town's unofficial numbers, those results held: The Democrats' candidates had won every contested town race from supervisor to town trustee.

There will be one new face among the East Hampton Town Trustees, who manage many of the town's beaches, waterways, and bottomlands on behalf of the public, when the nine-member body is sworn in in January. All nine candidates running on the Democratic ticket were elected.

With less than two weeks before the 2021 election was to be settled, the East Hampton Town Democrats had outspent their opponents by almost double and still had plenty left for a final push.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, who is seeking a third term in Tuesday's election, has won the endorsement of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and County Legislator Bridget Fleming, as well as a pledge of support from Gov. Kathy Hochul and a complimentary statement from Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who also spoke highly of Mr. Van Scoyoc's challenger, Councilman Jeff Bragman.

Two of the three candidates for East Hampton Town supervisor sparred anew at last Thursday's virtual debate hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and North Fork. The incumbent, Peter Van Scoyoc, and his opponent, Jeff Bragman, have sharply criticized each other throughout much of the latter's single, four-year term as a member of the town board.

County Legislator Bridget Fleming, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to represent New York's First Congressional District, has reported more than $468,000 raised and a raft of political and labor endorsements. 

Legislation signed last week by Gov. Kathy Hochul promises to improve access to retirement plans for millions of New Yorkers at seemingly minimal impact to small businesses. The law, dubbed the New York State Secure Choice Savings Program Act, will require private sector employers with over 10 employees to automatically enroll their employees in a state-administered retirement savings plan.

A hearing on the town's proposed acquisition of three adjacent wooded lots on Green Hollow Road in East Hampton, using money from the community preservation fund — and $2.6 million from neighbors — drew almost as many opponents as supporters.

A long-hoped-for project to remove the utility lines crisscrossing what may be one of the best views on Route 27 is finally within reach. State and local officials last week announced plans to remove poles and bury the lines at the western end of downtown Montauk, giving eastbound drivers an unobstructed ocean vista as they approach the heart of the hamlet.