East End officials collaborate on keeping pressure on LIRR and MTA

Long Island Morning Edition

The East End Supervisors and Mayors Association is trying to keep pressure on the Long Island Rail Road and its parent, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, to follow through on a proposed major infrastructure project that would expand the number of trains on the popular South Fork Commuter Connection.

Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that this week, the organization, which represents all five East End towns and the villages in them, wrote to Robert Free, the president of the LIRR, reiterating its support for a project to add track and crew facilities at Speonk to accommodate up to three trains, and to construct a new platform to permit Montauk line trains terminating at Speonk to access the yard there without blocking the main track. The project also would add a new platform at the Hampton Bays station to allow trains to pass one another or be parked there. It would upgrade the Bridgehampton station with a new platform and pedestrian overpass, and connect an old freight line to the main track to allow trains to pass one another or be parked there as well. Siding work also would be done in East Hampton and Amagansett to allow trains to pass one another. NYS Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who signed onto the letter along with other East End state and county officials, said that last year the MTA put the infrastructure project, which he estimated would cost more than $250 million, on its 20-year needs assessment. The next hurdle, he said, is for it to be added to the five-year capital budget, which the MTA is expected to vote on this fall. That may prove more difficult than originally thought, because when Governor Kathy Hochul put a hold on the congestion pricing plan for Manhattan earlier this year, the lost revenue blew an estimated $1 billion hole in the MTA’s capital budget for the next 16 years, Thiele said.

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With just two weeks to go before the start of the school year, the Southampton Head Start program in Riverside finds itself suddenly homeless. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that renovations at the Riverside center on Flanders Road this summer disclosed unsafe structural conditions in the building which prevent its occupancy and use, according to Southampton Town officials. The Town of Southampton set to work constructing an extension of the building in a courtyard between the main structure and a second building that was to be occupied by Children’s Museum of the East End. When workers opened up the exterior wall adjoining the courtyard, they made a stunning discovery: the steel studs inside the wall had rusted out at the bottom and were detached from the steel footing along the floor — rendering the building structurally unsound, Southampton Town Council Member Tommy John Schiavone said. The condition was caused by the building foundation being about 12 inches too low and the slope of the land causing water to flow toward the walls, instead of away from them, Town Engineer Tom Houghton said on Friday during a tour of the facility. As it is, the building is unsafe for occupancy, he said. Schiavone questioned whether the building can be repaired at all, or whether it should be demolished and a new structure erected. Unless Southampton Head Start can quickly find an alternative location, it has no place to care for the 85 children enrolled in its preschool program that’s scheduled to begin Sept. 4, Long Island Head Start Director of Operations Annette Harris said this Monday. The organization has been scouring the area for available space, so far without any luck. Both Southampton and Riverhead towns have said they don’t have any room in town buildings, Harris said. “We’re sort of at the mercy of the community,” she said.

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The Montauk Historical Society, the Eastville Community Historical Society, and the Southampton African-American Museum will present a week of celebration and commemoration of the 1839 Amistad uprising, featuring the Amistad Freedom Schooner, a full-size replica of the 19th century slave ship. Open house hours and activities are planned from this coming Friday August 23 through August 28, including the opportunity to board the ship and engage with members of the Discovering Amistad team to learn all about the Amistad, including its connection to Montauk and the East End. After a brief stay at Culloden Point, the Amistad will sail into Montauk Harbor, where it will be moored at the East Hampton Town Dock on Star Island for a week. There it will be open daily for free tours and activities presented by Discovering Amistad, the nonprofit group that runs its educational programs. Highlights of the week include a family day, with activities targeting children and young people, a professional development day, a VIP tour, and a panel discussion featuring New York State Historian Devin Lander, who will also give a presentation about preparations for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. For more information, got to montaukhistoricalsociety.org/events.

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The Riverhead Town Board is holding a special meeting this evening at 6 p.m. to adopt the town’s Comprehensive Plan Update, and civic groups throughout the town have been pushing back against this hastily called meeting. Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that the Riverhead Town Board cancelled a public hearing last week on a proposal allowing agritourism resorts on Sound Avenue and instead decided to hold a public forum on the topic in September. This evening’s special meeting is expected to adopt the town’s Comprehensive Plan Update, which includes a recommendation that the Town of Riverhead adopt zoning to allow for agritourism resorts.

The Comprehensive Plan Update, in the works for more than four years, will replace the town’s current 2003 Comprehensive Plan.

A draft of the Comprehensive Plan Update released before a public hearing in May of this year included a host of recommendations ranging from changes to industrial zoning districts in Calverton, to an expanded transfer of development rights program to allow more development downtown, lifting the cap of 500 apartments that can be built downtown, loosening regulations governing accessory apartments, allowing for short-term rentals, vertical farming and allowing private schools on industrially zoned land.

Civic Associations throughout Riverhead have been actively urging residents to contact town leaders over the past two weeks.

The Comprehensive Plan Update is designed to serve as a guiding document to bolster the town’s case for future zoning changes, which would require the introduction of new local laws and more public hearings.

Tonight's special meeting, will be held in the Riverhead Town Hall meeting room at 4 West Second Street starting at 6pm.

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The East Hampton Village Board voted to codify an amendment to the village code to tighten restrictions on landscaping and construction activity after closing a public hearing on the matter last Friday. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the amended code prohibits excavation, demolition, construction or exterior repair or alteration work in connection with any building, structure or improvement except between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Previously, the allowable start time was 7 a.m. It also prohibits such work on weekends and federal holidays, where it was previously permitted on Saturdays. The provisions are now in effect from May 15 through September 15; they previously took effect on June 15 each year. An exception exists only by permit issued by East Hampton Village’s building inspector prior to commencement of the work. The amendment also prohibits the use of any gas- or diesel-powered landscaping equipment by a homeowner or tenant on their own property, except between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, starting on May 15 and continuing through the second Friday in December. The new rules do not apply to the municipality itself when work is on a municipal property, nor to “a membership club on a golf course,” such as the Maidstone Club.

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A Long Island recycling company accused of violating the Clean Air Act by failing to install pollution controls or properly report emissions at its Medford facility to the EPA will pay a $555,000 civil penalty as part of a proposed settlement with the federal agency. Joseph Ostapiuk reports in NEWSDAY that Gershow Recycling Corp., which was founded in 1964 and has nine locations on Long Island and in Brooklyn, shreds automobiles and other metals at its Medford location. That shredding vaporizes plastics, paints and oils, creating volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other pollutants that impact the environment, officials said.

The Environmental Protection Agency in 2021 issued Gershow a violation for allegedly breaching the Clean Air Act, established in 1963 to prevent and regulate pollution. Authorities yesterday announced the proposed settlement, filed in Brooklyn federal court.

As part of the agreement, Gershow also will install "critical emission control technology that will help improve air quality for local communities, including those with the most vulnerable residents,” stated Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The agreement can be finalized after a 30-day public comment period.

Gershow spokesman John Zaher said, "As a result of this agreement, Gershow will be among the first companies in the U.S. to install VOC controls."

The company’s website says it is “one of Long Island’s oldest and most successful environmental companies.”

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East Quogue will be added to the list of more than 20 school districts in Suffolk County that will have armed security guards or police officers on campus when school is back in session next month. Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that the East Quogue Board of Education is expected to approve, at its next meeting, an agreement with Arrow Security that will allow it to arm several of its existing security employees. Arming the security officers is expected to cost the district somewhere between $60,000 and $75,000, depending on the number of additional night and weekend events happening at the school during the year, according to Superintendent-Principal Mike Miller. Mr. Miller explained earlier this week that the district will not bring any new police or security officers into the school, but rather it will arm existing members of the security staff who are retired police officers. Only security staff members who are retired police officers will be armed, he added, and he said that their weapons will be concealed. Miller, who is entering his second year as the superintendent-principal at East Quogue, said the topic of adding armed security officers to the school came up several times in his first year on the job. Miller said the decision about whether to have school security officers carry handguns was one that needed to be made not just by him but by the community. Thus, the school’s Safety Committee researched the issue and then decided to implement a plan to arm some security officers. The security officers who are permitted to carry handguns will not have restrictions on where they can go while on campus, and the weapons will be concealed and thus not visible to students, parents or any other visitors to the school. So, starting on September 3, the first day of classes for students, there will be at least one armed security guard on campus whenever the East Quogue School is open.