Government

The East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to authorize an agreement with Orsted and Eversource Energy, partners in the proposed South Fork Wind Farm off Montauk, to conduct survey work for the 15-turbine installation's cable route in Wainscott.

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming and her potential opponent come November, Representative Lee Zeldin, have garnered new endorsements.

Despite a massive die-off of bay scallops in the Peconic Estuary last fall, many waters under East Hampton Town Trustee jurisdiction, though by no means all, were of a high quality in 2019.     

The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced in January that it would not perform the independent Superfund evaluation that many Noyac residents had hoped for. 

Yearly maintenance dredging at Georgica Pond — up to 15,000 cubic yards of sand — is nearing completion.

The Southampton Town Board, using money from the community preservation fund, voted last week to purchase two parcels in Shinnecock Hills, in an area believed to be ancient burial grounds of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. Members and supporters of the Nation had lodged strong protests over housing construction at a nearby site.     

A proposal from AT&T to build a 50-foot-high freestanding “campanile” to house cellphone antennas, at St. Peter’s Chapel on Old Stone Highway in Springs, took a big step forward on Feb. 26, when the East Hampton Town Planning Board determined the project would not have a negative impact on the environment.     

Though a statewide ban on plastic bags officially took effect Sunday, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said Friday that it would not begin enforcement of the action until April 1.

The East Hampton Town Board is expected to vote tonight on a resolution authorizing Orsted and Eversource, partners in the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, to conduct survey work for the 15-turbine installation’s transmission cable route in Wainscott.     

The companies have identified a subterranean path from a cable landing at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott to a Long Island Power Authority substation in East Hampton as the preferred route.     

Continuing his effort to relocate an Amagansett house designed by the late architect Francis Fleetwood from its present location to another parcel nearby, Michael Novogratz, the billionaire investor whose properties are the subject of two stop-work orders, has sued the Town of East Hampton.

The controversy over the proper name of one of the Town of East Hampton’s hamlets flared anew last Thursday and again this week, after signs bearing the message “Welcome to The Springs” were removed from Three Mile Harbor Road and Springs-Fireplace Road.

A federal Army Corps of Engineers official did not address why dredges and crews were being redirected from the Fire Island to Moriches Inlet Stabilization Project to a nonemergency project less than one mile from President Trump’s resort in Florida in response to an inquiry by The Star this week, saying only that the project would nonetheless be completed by the June 19 contracted completion deadline.     

The Government Finance Officers Association, which represents public finance officials in the United States and Canada, has awarded the Town of East Hampton a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for its fiscal year 2018 comprehensive annual financial report.     

In its ongoing effort to remediate the degraded condition of Georgica Pond, which has experienced toxic algal blooms every summer since 2012, a group of pondfront property owners sought and received permission from the East Hampton Town Trustees to take part in a sediment chronology study.     

Scores of residents of the Town of East Hampton attended an information session for the presidential campaign of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Feb. 19 at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett.

The owner of a 10,000-square-foot house at 145 Neck Path in Springs has agreed to pay a $32,000 fine to the Town of East Hampton after using the house last summer for parties.

An application from AT&T to build a cellphone tower in Northwest Woods was approved by the East Hampton Town Planning Board.

The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett will host a town hall-style event with Perry Gershon, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District, on March 8.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, and Shelter Island Supervisor Gerry Siller have endorsed Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni’s bid for the New York State Senate seat.

The sample area spans land between Three Mile Harbor Road and Accabonac Road, bounded by Copeces Lane to the north and Floyd Street to the south.

Candidates slam him, and Trump, at debate at LTV’s studios in Wainscott, where here was a standing room-only crowd.

The move coincides with the departure of Clint Plummer, who was Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind’s vice president for development.     

The East Hampton Town Board will hold a meeting to launch the Springs-Fireplace Road Corridor Study on Feb. 27 at the East Hampton Library, at which a consulting team will present an overview and solicit public input. 

The East Hampton Town Democratic Committee will host a forum for candidates vying for their party’s nomination to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District on Monday at 7 p.m. at LTV Studios in Wainscott. 

Sewerage for downtown would let store owners convert upper floors to affordable housing for seasonal workers.

One week after the principals of a bike-sharing company pitched the East Hampton Town Board on a trial program in Montauk this spring and summer, current and former owners of bicycle shops were among those pushing back on the idea. 

Hemp farmers and other members of  New York State’s emerging cannabis industry weighed in on the crop’s economic potential and the prospect of marijuana legalization at a forum in Sag Harbor on Saturday.     

Employees of the Town of East Hampton, as well as owners of newly installed low-nitrogen septic systems, were struck by scenes of startling déjà vu last week.

New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has appointed Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. to serve on the Assembly Standing Committee on Rules.     

The Town of East Hampton is among the municipalities the Sierra Club and Citizens Campaign for the Environment have recognized for sustainability efforts, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday.