Government

Before moving ahead with its plan to require beachgoers to use a smartphone app to pay for daily parking at village beaches, the East Hampton Village Board has eliminated the Main Beach office staff that managed parking payments and performed other administrative duties.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is facing mounting criticism amid calls to curtail his emergency authority and even for his impeachment over an alleged cover-up of deaths from Covid-19 in New York State's nursing homes. The governor has been accused of deliberately underreporting the number of deaths from Covid-19 in nursing homes and of trying to conceal that information, fearing a federal investigation.

More than a year after elevated levels of volatile organic compounds were first detected at the Manor House, a 12-unit affordable condominium complex the development has been deemed safe.

Community efforts are underway to lobby State Department of Transportation officials for more safety improvements to Route 114. Among the requests is a turning lane for vehicles entering the Ross School.

East Hampton Town's nonresident beach parking permits will cost $500 this year, mirroring the fee in East Hampton Village.

The East Hampton Town Board voted unanimously last Thursday to create and appoint a Springs Park Committee to address concerns at the most frequented park in the town, which is heavily used as a dog park.

The East Hampton Town Board will hold a second public hearing next Thursday on code amendments that would add restrictions to the use of leaf blowers. The hearing will happen during the board's meeting, which will start at 2 p.m.

The East Hampton Democratic Committee did not endorse two incumbent Democrats, Councilman Jeff Bragman of the town board and Rick Drew of the town trustees, at its Feb. 17 nominating convention, instead backing Cate Rogers for town board and David Cataletto for trustee.

On Tuesday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone pledged to work with local municipalities and nonprofit organizations on the East End to get Covid-19 vaccines to a region that is widely considered underserved.

A new Covid-19 testing site in Montauk is expected to begin operation next week and will be open every day. “Knowing that we’re trending in a positive way toward summer, the state will be looking for negative tests” in order for weddings and other large gatherings to be held safely, East Hampton Councilman David Lys said.

Twenty-five members of the New York and New Jersey delegations to the House of Representatives wrote to Amanda Lefton, the new director of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, on Friday to urge her to "jump-start the offshore wind leasing process" by issuing final Wind Energy Areas and subsequent lease auctions in the New York Bight. 

At its nominating convention Wednesday night, the East Hampton Democratic Committee snubbed Councilman Jeff Bragman, a Democratic incumbent who has frequently clashed with his colleagues, and instead endorsed Cate Rogers, the committee’s chairwoman, for his seat on the town board. 

As hopes for a return to normalcy in 2021 gather strength, the East Hampton Town Board is considering the costs and quantity of beach parking and beach driving permits the town will issue to nonresidents, resorts, and co-ops this year. 

At its work session on Tuesday, the board collectively predicted "pent-up energy to get out and do things," as Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc put it, "and beaches are a relatively safe way to enjoy oneself," as demonstrated in 2020.

The third of three public hearings on the South Fork Wind farm's construction and operations plan, jointly held by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Army Corps of Engineers, happened this week. The public has until Monday to send additional comments on the project.

People who commit minor violations of the town code, as well as the code enforcement and marine patrol officers who catch them doing it, would no longer have to appear in court under a new plan being considered by the East Hampton Town Board.

In an initial effort to oversee local Covid-19 vaccinations, East Hampton Town opened a vaccination clinic at the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons Building on Saturday and provided shots to 332 residents, including first responders, teachers, and people who work in food and grocery stores.

East Hampton Town will receive 300 Covid-19 vaccine doses from Suffolk County on Friday, and on Saturday will use them to vaccinate firefighters, teachers, and other members of the b eligibility group at the town's new mass vaccination site at the former Child Development of the Hamptons building.

The East Hampton Village Board discussed what looks to be its final plan to charge for parking in the commercial district at a meeting last Thursday, along with allowing the ongoing use of public property for outdoor dining and the use of Herrick Park for movie showings and theater performances.

After a change that went into effect last year, the Independence Party and other third parties now have to meet a higher threshold to keep their spots on the ballot in New York State. The move has frustrated members of third parties, but there may be some upsides, East Hampton's Independence Party chairwoman said.

The Suffolk County Legislature closed a public hearing on the county's Shellfish Aquaculture Lease Program, with some legislators expressing weariness and irritation at residents pressing for tighter restrictions on the program, and sympathy for oyster farmers who described their nascent industry as under attack from recreational users of Peconic and Gardiner's Bays. 

The momentum building for meaningful action on climate change on the national level was reflected in East Hampton on Tuesday, when the town board heard, and responded enthusiastically to, a recommendation from its energy sustainability committee to declare a climate emergency, something 1,874 jurisdictions in 33 countries have already done.

During Friday's Town Hall hearing on a petition to incorporate Wainscott, more people than not called in to support a referendum on the proposal.

Len Bernard, East Hampton Town's budget officer, had no shortage of news when he addressed the town board on Tuesday. He presented a draft three-year capital plan, spoke of next month's final payment on deficit financing related to budget mismanagement between 2005 and 2008, and announced his retirement, set for July.

Representative Lee Zeldin often touts the fact that an index determined by the Lugar Center and McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University ranks him as the 12th most bipartisan member of the House. This week, 259 of his constituents asked the center to exclude him and others who voted against certification of the electoral votes from its next Bipartisan Index.

The Suffolk County Water Authority has proposed the construction of a two-million-gallon tank in Wainscott adjacent to East Hampton Airport to supply water and provide additional capacity during times of peak demand, the town board was told on Tuesday.

Two days after being released from Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where he had spent nine days fighting Covid-19, Village Mayor Jerry Larsen discussed the status of proposals for paid parking and the construction of a wastewater treatment plant, the recent increase in fees for beach parking and several other permits, the tensions that have arisen at village board meetings, and more.

Appellate judges reversed much of a 2016 State Supreme Court decision on Wednesday, ruling that property owners along a stretch of ocean beach on Napeague known as Truck Beach do, in fact, own the beach. On Friday, the town said it would appeal or move to condemn that stretch.

As East End residents face an ongoing lack of access to the Covid-19 vaccine, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and other local officials vented their frustration this week with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's handling of the state's vaccination program, and offered recommendations for fixing it.

Motivated by opposition to a plan to land the proposed South Fork Wind farm's export cable at the ocean end of Beach Lane, a group called Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott is leading an effort to create an incorporated village in a 4.4-square-mile expanse of that hamlet. A petition supporting that move was submitted to the supervisor, as required by state law, on Dec. 30.

To prevent oversized buildings along the waterfront, the code would set a maximum height of 25 feet and two stories, unless the developer provided public waterfront access and at least three other benefits, such as installing environmentally-friendly building systems and sustainable landscapes, producing renewable energy, conserving water, or preserving historic resources.