Government

Kevin Gilbride had just turned south on Wainscott Northwest Road from Route 114 one day last month when a dead 75-foot pitch pine, one of thousands killed by the southern pine beetle infestation, fell on the roof of his truck. “There were branches everywhere. The dogs were freaking out. I thought it was a plane or something.”

“For Windmill I alone, we have 130 people on a waiting list. For Windmill II, it’s over 450 people,” said the project development coordinator with the development for people 62 and older on Accabonac Road in East Hampton. Because of the swelling waitlist, its board wants to expand, and is seeking a path forward that would allow it to get federal grants but also meet town code requirements.

A New York State Supreme Court judge has denied the East Hampton Town Trustees’ motion seeking clarification of a May 2023 order that both the trustees and the town must pay $389,060 of the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees as defendants in lawsuits brought in 2009 over ownership of a stretch of Napeague ocean beach popularly known as Truck Beach.

The East Hampton Town Board, acting on recommendations from the town’s special events committee, voted to update fees for special events, which have not changed since 2018.

If a preliminary application heard by the East Hampton Town Planning Board on Jan. 10 gains any traction, Wainscott — known for Georgica Pond, farm fields, and its oceanfront — could soon add storage facilities to its list of attractions. There are three already, all full, and more proposed.

Anxious Sag Harbor residents did not get to have their say on Adam Potter’s 11 Bridge Street L.L.C. project this week, but there was news of a smaller plan at another property owned by Mr. Potter, where Michael Gluckman and his wife, Lila Beudert-Gluckman, are hoping to create a 23-seat “Smashburger”-style restaurant.

Long in the works, a plan to overhaul the way sewage and wastewater are processed at Montauk Shores Condominiums took a significant step forward in December when the Suffolk County Department of Health Services approved an application for a new sewage treatment plant there.

With a sense of urgency, the East Hampton Town Board discussed the hiring of a surveyor to assess current beach profile conditions at Ditch Plain in Montauk and to determine the necessary volume and source of sand, its placement, and the cost to restore it to a healthy level.  

The most detailed justification to date of the size, design, and cost of East Hampton Town’s new senior citizens center was aired before the town board on Tuesday, as several residents continued to question and voice skepticism about the need for a 22,000-square-foot, $31.6 million building.

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted unanimously on Monday to grant a request from Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences to grow sugar kelp in waters under trustee jurisdiction between Barcelona Point and Little Northwest Creek.

Representative Nick LaLota of New York's First Congressional District announced on Saturday that he is endorsing former president Donald Trump's campaign for president. 

The Mill Hill Realty Corporation was in front of the East Hampton Village Design Review Board again this week with plans for its Toilsome Farms Restaurant and Brewery. Dubbed a “beer hall” by neighbors who oppose it, an owner described the proposed business as “a restaurant, not a rowdy party scene.”