Farmland and other open-space preservations are becoming more limited opportunities on the East End of Long Island, N.Y., despite abundant tax money now available for such purchases. The main reason is a dwindling number of such parcels, even as competing bids for residential real-estate development escalate. But sometimes the hangup is disagreement over just whatContinue reading “Fretting Before Long Island Officials Buy the Farm”
Category Archives: Hamptons Land
Republicans Turn Out the Lights in East Hampton
Another epitaph for the “old Republican Party” was written this week in the township of East Hampton, N.Y., where no GOP candidate has filed for the top position, supervisor, in the November election. This story in the East Hampton Star lays out the contemporary context of the party’s demise there, which mirrors what has happenedContinue reading “Republicans Turn Out the Lights in East Hampton”
Socialist Mayor’s Surtax: An Idea for Hamptons-Like Homes?
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push* for a “pied-a-terre tax” on the sparsely used homes of putative plutocrats is not staying in NYC. At least one legislator from the northern Hudson Valley exurbs is seeking allowance for a similar punitive levy on such properties there. That shouldn’t be surprising: Resentments toward wealthy seasonal visitorsContinue reading “Socialist Mayor’s Surtax: An Idea for Hamptons-Like Homes?”
The Passing of a Pine Barrens Partisan
Decades after hydrologists and other Earth scientists had identified the Central Pine Barrens of Long Island, N.Y., as sitting atop a vital aquifer and fostering a complex ecosystem, the 120,000 remaining acres were still being treated as scrublands. By the 1970s they separated the increasingly precious Hamptons and farm belt of the eastern end fromContinue reading “The Passing of a Pine Barrens Partisan”
Chicken or Egg: A Farm May Disturb Hamptons-Adjacent Rusticity
It’s a conceit on the East End of Long Island, N.Y., that the agricultural character of the area should be preserved. Attempts to do that go back half a century, to when land values rose to the point that farm families wanted to sell out to subdividers. But the gloss of today’s version–mostly vineyards andContinue reading “Chicken or Egg: A Farm May Disturb Hamptons-Adjacent Rusticity”
The (Unwanted) Bridges of Suffolk County
The nowadays Quixotic notion of bridging Long Island Sound surfaced in the news this week, with Newsday picking up on such a flare in the Connecticut legislature. The scheme in question would link Bridgeport with Kings Park, N.Y., and the Sunken Meadow Parkway through western Suffolk County. It would have a ballpark cost of $50Continue reading “The (Unwanted) Bridges of Suffolk County”
Hamptons Pivot: Preserve Land or the Landless?
Call it an inflection point: One of the two news weeklies on the South Fork of Long Island, N.Y., propounds, “[I]t’s time to turn the page on land preservation as a priority and begin to think about preserving something else: a workable, livable community.” For decades under previous and current ownership, the Southampton Press withContinue reading “Hamptons Pivot: Preserve Land or the Landless?”
Why the Hamptons Can’t Have (Many) Nice Sewers
One hair-trigger topic of land use on the South Fork of Long Island, now that “the Hamptons” have mostly been built out, is the construction of sewage or water treatment plants. This early February story in the Southampton Press, subsequently picked up in Newsday, concerns plans to put such a facility on 6 wooded acresContinue reading “Why the Hamptons Can’t Have (Many) Nice Sewers”
Foothold for a Future Trader Joe’s in the Hamptons?
Progress toward a major distribution center for retailer Trader Joe’s may increase the chances of one or more of the budget-gourmet stores finally reaching the East End of Long Island, NY. To date, most parts of the “Hamptons” are 40 or more miles from the nearest outlet. Other economical shopping choices are also in shortContinue reading “Foothold for a Future Trader Joe’s in the Hamptons?”
Checking Hamptons’ Building Bent, From the Ground Up
Growth controls on luxury housing may be coming to the town of Southampton, N.Y., after earlier moves in East Hampton township and Southold town on the North Fork of Long Island. Southampton councilman Michael Iasilli, a young Democrat with a progressive bent, is taking a slightly different tack in legislation he’s adapting for formal introduction.Continue reading “Checking Hamptons’ Building Bent, From the Ground Up”
Tim W. Ferguson 