Government

After some 15 years of what East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell called “fits and starts,” a public restroom in the municipal parking lot of Amagansett’s commercial district may finally be constructed in the early spring. If, that is, separate but related issues can be resolved.

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4 to 1 this week to revoke a building permit for the construction of a 150-foot-tall communications tower behind the Springs Firehouse, on Fort Pond Boulevard.

In one corner is the soon-to-be Southampton Town supervisor, Jay Schneiderman. In the other are Carla and Christopher Concannon, owners of a house under construction at 747 Old Montauk Highway.

The almost yearlong negotiation between the East Hampton Town Trustees and residents of Lazy Point in Amagansett, who lease the land on which their houses stand from the trustees, was finally completed on Nov. 10 with the trustees voting 6 to 1 to adopt new rules and regulations.

The tenants, many of whom had regularly attended the trustees’ meetings and had met with them on several other occasions throughout the year, were successful in obtaining several clauses that they said would provide greater security.

With a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the East Hampton Town Board adopted a $73.7 million town operating budget for 2016, up from $71.5 million this year.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a public meeting to discuss Hurricane Sandy fishery grants on Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Montauk Downs State Park.

The East Hampton Town Board will hold a hearing tonight on the proposed establishment of a rental registry. According to draft legislation, owners of properties to be rented would be required to file with the town and receive a rental registry number before advertising for tenants.

East Hampton Town Board members and the town trustees have reached an agreement under which the two governing bodies will jointly pursue and finance the acquisition and condemnation of approximately 4,000 feet of the ocean beach on Napeague, the subject of two lawsuits.

A few hours before two of the first protestors appeared in East Hampton Town Justice Court yesterday morning on charges of disorderly conduct for refusing to move away from the Army Corps construction site on the downtown Montauk ocean beach, Kim Wells became the 14th protester arrested.

The almost yearlong effort to negotiate new leases for residents of Lazy Point in Amagansett, who own their houses on land owned by the East Hampton Town Trustees, is nearly complete

Jay Schneiderman, who previously served as East Hampton Town supervisor and has since reached the term limit in the Suffolk Legislature, will serve in Southampton Town come January.

In Tuesday’s election in East Hampton, two first-time candidates and one with a long involvement in local politics are challenging three Democratic incumbents for the town supervisor and town board seats.

Frustrated East Hampton Town union employees, who have been working without a contract since the beginning of the year, took to the street in front of Town Hall for several hours Monday afternoon after negotiations last week failed to result in an agreement. They carried signs that displayed their concerns about receiving wage increases in pace with the cost of living and achieving salary parity with workers in nearby towns.

The Oct. 21 East Hampton Town Planning Board meeting covered an array of topics, including plans for a new bowling alley, the conversion of what had been a furniture repair business to vehicle repair, and a public hearing about a concrete barrier in the parking lot at the Amagansett I.G.A., a.k.a. Cirillo’s Market.

Seven of the nine East Hampton Town Trustees are seeking re-election for new two-year terms.

Members of East Hampton Town’s energy sustainability advisory committee presented a draft climate action plan to the town board on Tuesday, urging its swift adoption and implementation to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.

The East Hampton Town Republican Committee is holding a fund-raising rally  for its candidates from 6:30 to 9:30 tonight at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett.

The cocktail hour, with a cash bar, will be followed by dinner and entertainment, with guest singing groups performing classic oldies and top 40 songs. Tickets are $35 per person.

Though reservations were requested by Tuesday, tickets may still be available. Anna Maria Villa can be reached at 516-578-8780 for more information.

With a handshake and a “Hello,” Tom Knobel, the Republican candidate for East Hampton Town supervisor, introduced himself to a few dozen folks on Tuesday morning at One Stop Market in East Hampton. His hope was to put a face to the name for those who had heard his radio advertisements on the air locally, and to get his name out to those who had not.

“I’m a walking billboard,” he joked to a reporter who joined him at about 7:30 a.m., in the thick of the morning rush hour at the mom-and-pop market.

A conversation with Lisa Mulhern-Larsen immediately yields one conclusion: She is unabashedly proud of the accomplishments of her children, all six of them, who are between the ages of 17 and 23. Four are in college all over the country, and last winter, she made it to each of those college campuses for a visit. She can relate a story about her family to lots of topics you could bring up, including her current endeavor — running for a seat on the East Hampton Town Board.

Time limits on parking in and around the municipal parking lot in Amagansett should be reduced as a short-term measure to alleviate the parking deficit in the hamlet, the new rules should be enforced aggressively, and, in the long term, the town should acquire more land for parking.  So said Tina Piette at an Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on Monday.

Margaret Turner bundled up in a warm coat on Monday afternoon, ready to spend a few hours walking door-to-door in East Hampton as part of her campaign for a seat on the town board. She forgot to bring a pair of gloves, though, and by the time she finished a walk down Conklin Terrace, a dead-end street with perhaps 20 houses, the chill of the 40-degree afternoon had gotten to her.

Concerned about a dearth of year-round, affordable housing, East Hampton Town officials are working on changes that encourage more legal apartments in existing buildings.

In an event hosted by Concerned Citizens of Montauk at the hamlet's firehouse, Tom Knobel, the Republican Committee chairman and its candidate for supervisor, said several times that the town board had worked too often on new laws behind closed doors and held too many executive sessions.

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s Shellfisheries Section has downgraded approximately 20 acres of bottomland in Accabonac Harbor in Springs from seasonally uncertified to uncertified year round, meaning that the harvesting of shellfish is prohibited. The areas were previously uncertified from May 1 through Nov. 30. The reclassification took effect on Tuesday.

The campaign for East Hampton Town Board and supervisor intensified this week with Democratic Party officials suggesting that the Republican candidates have coordinated with a new political action committee with ties to an out-of-state helicopter charter service. Republicans deny any coordination.

A housing complex planned for a five-acre property on Montauk Highway in Amagansett is expected to provide affordable living space for community members of mixed income.

The commisssioners of the Springs Fire District came under a barrage of fire at a hearing before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday, concerning a cellphone tower erected behind the Springs Firehouse on Fort Pond Boulevard in April.

The height of the water table, adjacent wetlands, and allowing a house to be demolished without appropriate approval had all sides in a controversial application before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals seeing red on Sept. 29. The immediate question was whether a property owner could take advantage of variances and permits that had been granted before the structure was demolished.

The idea that the federally owned Plum Island should be preserved and protected, not sold to the highest bidder and developed, found widespread support on Monday during a public hearing on the island’s future.

The Ocean Colony Beach and Tennis Club, which occupies a six-acre site  east of the Lobster Roll restaurant on Napeague, wants to enlarge all but one of its units’ decks, but needs an East Hampton Town Zoning Board decision before it can proceed.