Government

In the continuing saga of the “manor house” condominium development on Accabonac Road in East Hampton, which remains vacant because of lingering elevated levels of volatile organic compounds in the units’ basements, the East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to retain a law firm that focuses on environmental matters.

An $863,500 proposal to dredge Town Pond led to a heated discussion about budget priorities at last Thursday's virtual meeting of the East Hampton Village Board.

Nancy Goroff, a political newcomer who declared her candidacy for the Democratic nomination to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District one year ago, is the official winner of the June 23 primary election.

International Union of Operating Engineers Local becomes the eighth union endorsement for his congressional campaign.

The vast majority of businesses adhered to Covid protocols, but there were also "large gatherings and flagrant flaunting of the safety protocols we've all been trying to live by," Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said. Town police fielded "call after call after call."

The Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund reported $45.43 million in revenues through May of this year, the highest five-month total in the fund's 22-year history. The money comes from a 2-percent transfer tax on real estate sales and provides money for land preservation, water quality improvement, and the protection of maritime heritage.

In New York's First Congressional District, an unofficial count of votes cast in person on June 23 or during the early voting period has Perry Gershon, the Democrats' 2018 nominee leading the four-person primary race with 5,166 votes.

Wainscott residents angry at what they consider unequal treatment by the East Hampton Town Board are using the July 4 holiday to launch a petition to establish an incorporated village.

New York airports are being asked to alert passengers to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's executive order requiring a 14-day quarantine for people arriving from states with high Covid-19 rates.

In another milestone as Long Island emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, East Hampton Town employees returned to their offices on Monday. The move came as the region progresses through the third of a four-phase reopening following the March shutdown of activity at municipal and commercial sites.

The New York League of Conservation Voters has launched an advertising campaign that paints the nascent offshore wind industry as integral to economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The commercial, which is appearing on CNN, MSNBC, and the Fox News channel in the Long Island area as well as on News12 and online, specifically refers to the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, a 15-turbine, 130-megawatt installation that has been rebranded South Fork Wind and would be situated approximately 35 miles off Montauk.

The first installation on East Hampton Town property of an innovative alternative septic system was completed on Friday at the public restroom at the rear of Amagansett’s municipal parking lot. I/A septic systems, as they are known for short, are designed to reduce the amount of nitrogen discharged into the environment.

The town has filed court papers against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservaiton and Sand Highway L.L.C. over the D.E.C.'s issuance of an amended permit allowing excavation below the groundwater table and creation of an approximately six-acre lake at the Middle Highway, East Hampton, site. 

On Sunday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said Covid-19 data are still looking good as Long Island continues the first full week of phase three of N.Y. Forward, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's economic reopening plan.

There was sharp disagreement when the East Hampton Town Trustees discussed a 10-year review of the Suffolk County Aquaculture Lease Program on Gardiner's Bay, which has angered many bayfront property owners, but the trustees ultimately agreed to recommend moving 13 lease sites not in use and two in active use to locations that do not conflict with navigation or recreation and to suggest that another six be analyzed for potential growth.

Representative Lee Zeldin of New York's First Congressional District, who is among President Trump's most devoted supporters in Congress, accompanied the president to his rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday. 

Kyle Vorpahl, the secretary of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, resigned from that position last Thursday, and will focus on the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum, of which he is vice president, responsibilities as deacon of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church, and family, he said.

Tuesday’s Democratic primary election was unlike any in memory: Instead of a result before midnight, voters will likely wait weeks to know who will challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District and Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo in the State Senate’s First District.

The East Hampton Town Board voted unanimously last Thursday to engage the advocacy group Renewable Energy Long Island to further the Energize East Hampton initiative, a multifaceted program to transition from fossil fuel to energy derived from renewable sources. The contract is to be in effect as of Wednesday. 

With only a small fraction of voters showing up in person at polling stations, Perry Gershon led the field among Democrats vying to take on Representative Lee Zeldin, but the 14,596 votes counted as of Tuesday night are dwarfed by the 150,000 absentee ballots mailed out by the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

Under a new federal bill introduced by Representatives Lee Zeldin and Tom Suozzi, recipients of grants that subsidize residential septic system upgrades would no longer have to pay taxes on the grants, as was mandated by the I.R.S. in 2019.

Bonnie Brady of Montauk, the executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said the creation of the marine monument was devastating to the commercial fishing industry in the Northeast.

Democratic voters who did not vote in Tuesday's primary by absentee ballot or take advantage of early voting can vote in person until 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Even as the spread of Covid-19 appears increasingly under control in Suffolk, County Executive Steve Bellone said a deepening financial crisis has already led to budget cuts, salary freezes, and even a potential ballot referendum in November.

County Executive Steve Bellone said on Friday that he had signed executive orders to plan for a day of special observance for Juneteenth beginning next year and to extend the implicit bias training now being received in the police department to all county employees, and for it to be completed in one year.

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, Perry Gershon, and Nancy Goroff all see a tight race with one or two of their competitors. The winner Tuesday will challenge Representative Lee Zeldin to represent New York's First Congressional District.

A State Supreme Court justice has approved Southampton Town's request for a preliminary injunction against Sand Land, a mine in Noyac owned by John Tintle, preventing the mine "from processing trees, brush, stumps, leaves and other clearing debris into topsoil or mulch and from storing, selling, or delivering mulch, topsoil, and wood chips."

The East Hampton Town Board is poised to direct a total of $1.14 million from the portion of the community preservation fund allocated to water quality improvements, for eight projects aimed at reducing nitrogen in local waterways.

Local officials appeared perplexed this week by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's concerns that public safety requirements were not being enforced on the South Fork.

The town board voted Thursday to spend up to $10,000 a month to retain a firm through November to help with communications related to health and safety amid the Covid-19 pandemic, including a redesign of the town's website.