Government

Citing the highly transmissible Delta variant of Covid-19, East Hampton Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc announced Thursday that the town board will return to virtual meetings as of Tuesday. The variant "is significant within the community at this time. It’s spreading rapidly, and people need to really take this seriously,” he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded the first contract of the Fire Island to Montauk Point reformulation project (FIMP), to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, for nearly $47.5 million, a milestone toward getting the long-delayed project under way.

In a unanimous vote, the Suffolk Legislature has passed a local law to preserve honeybee colonies in the county. The resolution is expected to take effect in a few weeks, according to Bridget Fleming, its co-sponsor with Al Krupski of the North Fork.

A toxic blue-green algal bloom prompted the East Hampton Town Trustees to close Georgica Pond to swimming and shellfishing in mid-August, but signs warning that crabbing is currently prohibited haven't stopped several people from trying.

East Hampton Town's first solar-plus-battery storage system is being installed on the roof of the Parks Department building at the Town Hall campus. The 75-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system will generate clean, renewable power and charge a 137-kilowatt-hour battery that will allow the town to sell excess power to the grid when demand and prices are at their peak.

The Springs Fire District has reiterated its offer to the town to install a 100-foot communications tower at the Fort Pond Boulevard firehouse to improve wireless coverage. And a spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of Nassau County said the company handling a tower application for Camp Blue Bay is negotiating with the town "to increase the size of the tower to provide space for emergency services equipment."

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued a notice of intent for Sunrise Wind, a 924-megawatt wind farm proposed by the developers Orsted and Eversource to be situated in federal waters adjacent to the South Fork Wind farm, which they are also developing. 

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc has come out in support of state legislation that would pave the way for a dedicated affordable housing fund, according to a statement from Town Hall. 

Lee Zeldin, eastern Long Island's four-term representative in Congress, has begun his New York gubernatorial campaign strong, raising over $4 million in all, with over a third of the total coming from out-of-state donors.

Carrie Doyle, a member of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals and a former planning board member, has declared her intention to run on the NewTown Party ticket for one of the two village board seats up for grabs in June 2022.

Beach closures in place since April at the Amagansett National Wildlife Refuge and the Jessup's Neck peninsula at the Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Sag Harbor, both to protect threatened shorebirds, were lifted earlier this week in the wake of an unsuccessful effort to allow the bird populations to recover.

The installation of geotextile bags that are meant to be a short-term measure but have remained long after their permits' expiration is likely to lead to the amendment of East Hampton Town's zoning code with respect to emergency activities permitted under the protection of natural resources.

The East Hampton Town Trustees on Monday heard from Bob Tymann of South Fork Sea Farmers, which John Dunne, the director of the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery, described as the nonprofit educational arm of the hatchery and the town's community oyster garden program, who proposed an oyster reef in Accabonac Harbor. An effort to establish such a reef, he said, could lead to natural propagation while establishing habitat. 

East Hampton Fire Department Chief Gerard Turza Jr. appealed to the village board on Friday for approximately $4.5 million, to replace an aging fleet of vehicles and other equipment. 

In the ongoing fight between Sand Land and its opponents over operations at the Noyac mine, a new court decision announced on Monday upholds a previous ruling that voided a permit awarded by the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The East Hampton Town Trustees' Largest Clam Contest, a popular annual event that showcases the trustees' role in town government and the bounty of the town's waterways, will be held once again this year, starting at noon on Oct. 3.

A proposal that will permit two-bedroom accessory dwellings with kitchens on East Hampton Village properties of 60,000 square feet or more, and several other zoning code amendments were approved by the village board on Friday following public hearings during which members of the village's zoning board of appeals, and the executive director of the Village Preservation Society of East Hampton, asked the board to take more time to analyze the potential ramifications, and give residents a chance to offer input. 

As of Aug. 1, according to an announcement from East Hampton Town, New York State officially reached a milestone of three gigawatts of solar electricity, half of its goal to achieve six gigawatts by 2025.

Georgica Pond has been closed to swimming and the taking of crabs, fish, or other marine life owing to a bloom of toxic cyanobacteria, blue-green algae.

"Kelp, kelp, and more kelp" is how John Dunne, the director of the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery, described a request to the town trustees to allow a pilot project that would see 100-foot lines of kelp grown in both Three Mile and Accabonac Harbors this winter.

The construction and operation of the South Fork Wind farm is likely to have negligible to moderately adverse impacts on marine life and habitat, with some moderately beneficial impacts also likely. For commercial fisheries, however, moderate to major adverse effects, either temporarily or long term, are predicted, with minor to moderate disruptions on for-hire recreational fishing.

An auditor's report for the year 2020 pronounced East Hampton Town's financial statements fairly presented and in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework, the town board was told this week, with no instances of noncompliance, nor deficiencies or material weaknesses disclosed during an audit that was conducted in the spring.

The New York State Public Service Commission has denied petitions to reconsider its March order granting the South Fork Wind Farm a certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need, one of several requirements for its construction and operation.

Following another East Hampton Town Board discussion of a "re-envisioning" of East Hampton Airport on Tuesday, analysis and discussion will continue with four public workshops in September.

Between 2010 and 2020, the population of East Hampton Town grew 32.3 percent, and of Southampton Town 21.6 percent, according to data released by the United States Census Bureau last Thursday. 

As of Monday, all staff and visitors at East Hampton Town Hall and other town facilities will once again be asked to wear masks, whether vaccinated for Covid-19 or not. 

A 185-foot communications monopole that was planned for a wooded area in a Springs neighborhood may end up elsewhere, possibly on the Girl Scouts of Nassau County's Camp Blue Bay site. 

The East Hampton Town Board held its first substantive discussion of adult-use cannabis since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation legalizing its recreational use in March. 

Moody's Investors Service affirmed East Hampton Town's Aaa credit rating, the highest rating it assigns, in a credit opinion issued last Thursday.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will take over from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in less than two weeks, "will be a breath of fresh air for the State of New York," said State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.