The Southampton Town Board held a public hearing Thursday on all 25 applications for its 2026 Community Preservation Fund water quality grants, covering millions of dollars in proposed sewer, septic and habitat restoration projects. The hearing was closed with no vote taken on the applications themselves.
Among the applicants was the Village of Southampton, which scaled back its request for downtown sewer funding affecting Lake Agawam from $5 million to $700,000, covering engineering only. Village Administrator Scott Russell said the scaled-back request reflected the town's financial constraints.
Other presentations included Cornell Cooperative Extension habitat restoration projects, a request to rehabilitate Silverbrook Pond in Flanders, and two projects from West Hampton Dunes. West Hampton Dunes Mayor Erwin Krasnow said the village has received no CPF funding to date while other East End villages have received between $5 million and $20 million.
Water quality scientist Chris Gobler presented a $2,401,513 Lake Agawam stormwater mitigation project and a separate oyster and seaweed nutrient removal project for Meacox Bay, saying the latter followed the same approach used in Shinnecock Bay. "It's the same playbook we used in Shinnecock Bay that led to a 20 fold increase in clam landings in Shinnecock Bay," Gobler said. "We think we can do it here as well."
Earlier in the meeting, the board appointed and swore in two new police officers, Keegan Guyer and Matthew Gidus.
The board also opened a hearing on accepting a conservation easement from Joseph Gaza on a .92-acre parcel in Quiogue tied to a subdivision, closed it, and said the acceptance resolution would be placed on the Oct. 13 agenda.
During public comment, Minerva Perez of OLA urged the board to take up a proposed Public Safety and Accountability Law addressing town and police response to federal immigration enforcement actions near schools and hospitals. "So this law was written as a result of the chaos and the panic that ensues every time there is an ICE raid or an ICE action," Perez said.
Another speaker from OLA said the group has worked closely with Chief Kiernan and told the board the proposed law would ensure transparency and accountability when federal enforcement actions happen. "Immigrants want to feel safe calling the police, not afraid of them," the speaker said. "We want to be part of this community, not invisible within it."
Later in the meeting, the board tabled a local law creating the "Hill Southampton" mixed-use planned development district, which would allow limited non-resident golf memberships tied to a Lewis Road development, to Oct. 13 to confirm the property's metes and bounds description.
The board adopted an amendment increasing the property tax exemption for surviving spouses of volunteer fire and ambulance members killed in the line of duty, a zoning amendment allowing nonprofit animal shelters exceeding 15,000 square feet as a special exception, and an amendment to the Community Housing Fund plan creating a new first-time homebuyer down payment loan and a loan forgiveness program for volunteer first responders.