Government

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. 

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. 

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.

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 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.

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. 

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.

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. 

Robert Cornicelli, a Republican and service-disabled veteran who is an advocate for veterans and the developmentally disabled, has announced that he is seeking the G.O.P. nomination for the First Congressional District seat.

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.

Still defiant on Tuesday in the wake of a state attorney general's report that said he had sexually harassed current and former female state employees, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced his intention to resign effective Aug. 24.

The site of a long-vacant former furniture warehouse on Toilsome Lane in East Hampton Village could become home to a brewery and restaurant with a tasting room and outdoor beer garden.

The East Hampton Town Democratic Committee voted unanimously on July 28 to elect Jeremiah Mulligan as its chairman and Anna Skrenta as vice chairwoman.

A dozen or so Springs residents, along with the hamlet's board of fire commissioners and attorneys for various property owners, protested to the East Hampton Town Board Tuesday over its plan to site a 185-foot monopole for emergency and personal wireless communications in a residential area.

The terms of East Hampton Town's nine trustees will increase from two to four years, with the five candidates receiving the most votes in November serving the first four-year terms.

After another barrage of complaints about East Hampton Airport from fed-up residents from the South Fork to Queens -- with one describing a region in "full 'Apocolypse Now' mode" because of incessant helicopter noise -- the East Hampton Town Board got a sense of what can and cannot be done with respect to redeveloping or repurposing the property should it decide to close the airport or restrict flights when Federal Aviation Administration grant assurances expire in September.

While he continued to maintain that he had done nothing wrong, an increasingly beleaguered Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo faced calls for his resignation from lawmakers at all levels after State Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that an independent investigation had concluded that he had "sexually harassed current and former state employees in violation of both federal and state laws."

Consultants to the East Hampton Town Board will deliver a presentation on East Hampton Airport’s environmental conditions and planning and zoning during the board’s work session on Tuesday at 11 a.m.

The long-running dispute between East Hampton Town and the owner of Duryea's Lobster Deck on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk continues, with the most recent focus an effort to expand a dock and a contract with a boat share company.

A new downsized plan for an emergency room annex Stony Brook Southampton Hospital will build in East Hampton received a mixed reaction from East Hampton Town Planning Board members, who expressed concern about traffic snarls the facility could create.

East Hampton Town has gotten a $5,600 grant from the Preservation League of New York State to fund a cultural resource survey of cemeteries. 

Sag Harbor Village Mayor James Larocca announced an initiative to develop affordable housing on Tuesday. "Preserving, protecting, and nourishing the community requires making it possible for our young to be able to afford to live and prosper here," he said in a statement. 

"Make no mistake, East Hampton Town Board, we will not take this sitting down," Jacki Esposito said on Monday evening, as around 50 of her Springs neighbors murmured in agreement during a backyard meeting on Crandall Street, where a campaign to thwart the town board's proposal to site a 185-foot monopole for emergency and wireless communications equipment in an adjacent wooded area was gathering strength.

Anna Throne-Holst, a former Southampton Town supervisor and the Democratic Party's 2016 candidate to represent New York's First Congressional District, has endorsed Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn in a bid for the Democratic nomination in 2022.