Government

Seven potential water quality improvement grant projects were introduced to the East Hampton Town Board last week and two either directly or indirectly benefit Rita Cantina, the Mexican eatery in Springs that has been a party in a multiyear lawsuit against the town and has consistently angered close neighbors.

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted unanimously to allocate $89,100 for a 2026 water quality monitoring program as proposed by Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez Monday morning, just two days before her high-stakes debate with East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who has run a tough Democratic primary race against the incumbent.

East Town Councilman Tom Flight called on the town board to hold a public session to offer updates and answer questions about the long-simmering situation at the Building Department, while a new lawsuit points to continuing long wait times for building permits.

A recently expanded beach near Gosman’s Dock is expected to attract more beachgoers this summer, and that’s one reason members of the Montauk C.A.C. voted overwhelmingly against a regulation at the small parking lot there.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced $3 million in awards to 14 Long Island aquaculturists in a second round of the Long Island Aquaculture Infrastructure Grant Program.

The Sag Harbor Village Planning Board dealt a blow to Adam Potter’s plan to redevelop several lots on Bridge Street last week when it denied a request to review two of the components of the project separately.

A potential strike by the Long Island Rail Road’s unionized work force could happen on May 16.

A 185-foot-long wall of geocubes in front of a house at 393 Cranberry Hole Road, washed for over eight years by the rising and falling waters of Gardiner’s Bay, could soon be removed from the shoreline.

When Councilman Tom Flight and Councilwoman Cate Rogers fell into a debate last week about proposed income limits for a pilot program that would provide community housing fund grants for the construction of affordable dwelling units, or A.D.U.s, it was a sign of how far the town has come, in just the last year, to incentivize residents to build them.

What appeared to at first be a benign application for a building permit in Sag Harbor Village turned into anything but last week at the zoning board of appeals meeting — with the applicants accusing board members of privately opposing their project and the owner of the property accusing the applicants of forgery.

Town residents can now go online to apply for beach parking and beach driving permits, both of which are free.

A vote that would have amended and ostensibly weakened the 53-year-old Endangered Species Act was scheduled by House Republican leadership for April 22 but was not held, after enough rank-and-file Republicans, including Representative Andrew Garbarino from Long Island’s Second District, spoke out publicly against its provisions.

The New York State Democratic Committee issued a list of elected officials in Suffolk and Nassau Counties who have endorsed Gov. Kathy Hochul for re-election, in an announcement that coincided with the launch of an effort to tie Nassau Executive Bruce Blakeman, her Republican opponent, to President Trump.

Seasonal bans on gas-powered leaf blowers differ from one municipality to another, and there's a growing call for gas blowers to be phased out completely in favor of electric ones.

An East Hampton Village resident who successfully sued the village for revoking his permit to park in one of the lots at Main Beach and ordering him to clear out his locker at the Main Beach pavilion suggested last week that he might sue the village for defamation of character, libel, and slander.

Sag Harbor Village adopted its 2026-27 budget on April 17, ushering in an 8-percent tax rate increase. The $17.6 million budget is up over 10 percent from last year.

The East Hampton Village Board has codified that village personnel will not participate in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, nor assist civil immigration enforcement efforts, nor will village facilities be used to detain people solely for civil immigration enforcement absent a judicial warrant.

An attorney for a group opposed to a renewed lease for the Maidstone Gun Club in Wainscott, which has been closed since November 2022, asserted that the town has executed that lease with the club while the town attorney said this week that is not the case, but that the parties remain in active negotiations.

After a presentation this week, the East Hampton Town Board now has more data to back up what residents have been saying for years: “Man, helicopters are annoying!”

Emily Fisher, an experienced hand with the town, has been appointed the new head of its Human Resources Department.

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork will host a program on serving on a town board advisory committee on Monday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the East Hampton Library.

Plans for a sculpture area celebrating the history of the L.G.B.T.Q.+ community on the Wainscott Green — once the site of the Swamp nightclub — received support at a town planning board meeting on April 8, as it has from the town board and architectural review board.

It’s unclear who will win the June 23 Democratic primary for East Hampton Town supervisor, but one thing about the 2026 supervisor race became clear last week: As in 2025, there will be no Republican candidate on the November ballot.

Four rule changes that could come up for a vote in the House on Wednesday would affect how the Endangered Species Act is implemented.

A house on Bay View Avenue in Amagansett, infamous for a temporary wall of beach-blocking geocubes that stayed for years, was before the town Z.B.A. as its owners presented an environmental review of a plan to build a permanent 108-foot-long rock revetment.

Long-discussed improvements to a rest stop on the south side of Montauk Highway at the headwaters of Georgica Pond in Wainscott could be complete this time next year, as this week the town board agreed to a plan.

A town trustee angrily defended his actions in the disposal of hundreds of geese killed by bird flu, dismissing “social media comments” by “nobody that’s actually there” and singling out a former trustee who no longer lives here.

The governor announced that the state is requesting a federal disaster designation for Suffolk aquaculture after the fierce winter, but commercial fishermen say not so fast.

Vigorous conversation continues over the town’s management plan for the Osborn Homestead at 66 Main Street in Wainscott, purchased in 2024 for $56 million.