Government

In a significant development for the proliferation of renewable energy, LIPA’s board voted unanimously to adopt state rules and regulations authorizing a framework for community choice aggregation Islandwide.

East Hampton Village Mayor Richard Lawler appointed Ray Harden, a co-owner of the Ben Krupinski building company, as a village board member on Friday over the objections of two board members.

Due to concerns about the economic impact the Covid-19 pandemic may have on East Hampton Village’s finances, village board members made it clear last Thursday that they will adopt a budget for the next fiscal year that will prohibit spending on any major capital improvements, public works projects, or equipment upgrades.

Earlier this month a federal judge reinstated the Democratic primary, rescheduling it to June 23, the date on which New York voters, both Republicans and Democrats, will choose their parties’ candidates for Congress and State Senate and Assembly.

“We in E.M.S. are completely in the dark on what the plan is for the coming months and what to expect,” the Montauk Ambulance Company wrote in a letter to the town board. “We need clarity and, more importantly, to have our thoughts heard.”

The East Hampton Town Trustees, meeting by videoconference on Monday, heard a proposal to remediate erosion at Mulford Lane, where the beach on Gardiner’s Bay has been eroding by several feet per year for decades.

The East Hampton Town Board voted unanimously last Thursday to add business district hamlet studies to the town's comprehensive plan, leaving out a controversial long-range plan to relocate Montauk's oceanfront motels and other businesses.

Owners of the former Atlantic Terrace, a 96-room oceanfront resort situated in a residential neighborhood in Montauk, applied in early March for a liquor license from the State Liquor Authority, a move that quickly drew opposition from East Hampton Town government.

The New York State Department of Transportation has proposed allocating $13.1 million of state money to repave nearly eight miles of Route 114 next year, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle announced on Thursday. 

Several local officials were among those urging the Long Island Power Authority on Monday to authorize municipalities to enact community choice aggregation, which would allow them, singly or together, to issue competitive bids to choose suppliers of electricity.

The long wait that buyers of the 12 “manor house” condominium units on Accabonac Road in East Hampton have experienced because of the discovery of elevated levels of volatile organic compounds in the units’ cellars may be nearing an end, but the director of East Hampton Town’s Office of Housing and Community Development is taking a cautious approach to the contractor’s assertion that the issue has been resolved.

The committee agreed at its first meeting last week to “make sure we don’t have a second wave” of Covid-19 infection “by opening too soon, by being careless when we open, by not looking at social distancing,” said Deputy Town Supervisor Sylvia Overby.

The Nassau/Suffolk Joint Summer Operations Task Force was established to offer hope for the summer, albeit one unlike what Long Island’s residents and visitors are accustomed to.

Members of the Village Preservation Society have asked the three candidates for East Hampton Village mayor and the five vying for two open trustee seats in the June 16 election to fill out a questionnaire explaining their positions.

A timeline that would make the 130-megawatt wind farm off Montauk operational by late 2022 will now not be met.

Barbara Borsack, who is seeking to become the village’s first female mayor in the June 16 election, and her Elms Party running mates, Mayor Richard Lawler and Ray Harden, discussed their policy priorities and plans to help the village emerge from the Covid-19 shutdown. 

The East Hampton Town Trustees have an important role in balancing the summer popularity of the beaches under their jurisdiction with the protection of those most at risk of Covid-19 infection, a public health expert said.

Beaches raise the question of safety not only for beachgoers but for lifeguards, and the town is pondering whether or how it can keep beaches and parks open while protecting employees and the public and avoiding a subsequent wave of Covid-19 infection.

Retail food stores will be allowed to provide seating for up to 16 people, under a law passed on Friday by the East Hampton Village Board at a meeting held via teleconference. 

While it is one of the most areas most heavily affected by Covid-19 in the country, the county falls below the eligibility threshold for aid. The County Executive has asked the treasury secretary to reconsider Suffolk's eligibility.

An aggregation of purchasing power allows the negotiating of lower electricity rates and enables a town or towns to derive electricity from renewable sources. 

The Town of East Hampton has sued East Hampton Village and its liability insurance company over the perfluorinated chemicals stored and used at East Hampton Airport in Wainscott, which contaminated drinking water in that hamlet and caused 47 of the airport’s 570 acres to be included on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal sites, or Superfund sites.

Arthur Graham, an East Hampton Village trustee and a candidate for mayor in the June 16 election, and David Driscoll, his running mate on the Fish Hooks Party ticket who is vying for one of two open board seats, talked in an interview on Sunday about how they would govern, and what it will take for the village to rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Taking note of a proliferation of seaplanes amid the swarm of aircraft flying over East Hampton in a typical summer, the town board is discussing prohibiting seaplanes within 1,500 feet of any town shoreline.

The East Hampton Town Board moved on Tuesday toward adopting community choice aggregation, in which a town, or group of towns, hires an administrator to issue a competitive bid and choose a supplier for electricity, natural gas, or both.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and Councilman John Bouvier have endorsed Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming’s candidacy for the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District.

The East Hampton Town Trustees approved a water quality assessment program proposed by Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences when they met via videoconference on Monday.     

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said last week that he will issue an executive order to expand absentee voting in the state’s June 23 primary elections.     

East Hampton Town’s government is calling on residents to wear coverings when venturing out in public, following federal recommendations, but also asked for donations of masks and gloves for grocery store workers.

A statement issued from Town Hall on Saturday morning referred to the federal Centers for Disease Control’s recommendation that people wear a cloth face covering to slow the spread of the Covid-19.

Southampton Town is weighing in on short-term rentals in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Supervisor Jay Schneiderman directing the ordinance enforcement division to crack down on illegal rentals during April.