Government
The town actually has two governments that sometimes conflict with each other.
The most visible town government is the Town Board which consists of five people including its head called the Town Supervisor who are responsible for the taxes, roads, police, parks, zoning and general governance of the town. Its authority was established by the State of New York in 1788. The government operates from a 13-acre (53,000 m2) campus on Pantigo Road.
The historic, original town government is the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of East Hampton which is formally responsible for day to day decisions of common property in the town. The Trustees derive their power from the Dongan Patent of December 9, 1686 which set up self governance for the town. The patent (a land grant) establishing the trustees was an act by Thomas Dongan, the Royal Governor of New York. Among the common properties the trustees operate is Georgica Pond and they make decisions about when the tidal pond is drained and filled. These actions often make headlines given they affect the flooding of basements of neighboring celebrities. In 1998, the pond was drained just a few days before President Bill Clinton was to spend his summer vacation at the home of Steven Spielberg.
The Town is often an early adopter of initiatives including domestic partnership registration. In 1999, it imposed a 2 percent tax on residential real estate sales in excess of $250,000 for the purpose of buying open space. The money has contributed to the town having more than 200 miles (320 km) of trails including the Paumanok Path. Between 2002 and 2005 the tax raised $71 million. In 2006 the town adopted a dark skies ordinance which is now being considered as a model for wider use in New York State.
Despite East Hampton's great wealth, its fire department and ambulance are both volunteer services. President Bill Clinton was to give his weekend radio address from the Amagansett Volunteer Fire Station in August 1998 during his vacation in the town.
Although residences in the town are often in architectural magazines, the town offices consist of a several double wide trailers hidden from the street by a nondescript flat-roofed building. In 2006 the town announced plans to turn its campus into a collection of historic East Hampton buildings that had been moved over the course of 30 years to the 40-acre (160,000 m2) Further Lane home of Adelaide de Menil, heiress to the Schlumberger oil fortune. The move was part of the sale of their home to Baron Funds financier Ron Baron for $103 million which in 2007 was declared the highest price ever paid for a single home The new complex is to be designed Robert A.M. Stern (who also designed the East Hampton Library in 1997).
The township has aggressively pursued zoning ordinances to protect its residential and rural character. Consequently, there are no chain fast food restaurants and or big box stores (unlike Southampton which has numerous fast food chains and stores such as K-Mart). The village of East Hampton formerly also pursued the no chain rules. However, since the mid-1990s chains have begun making inroads including the opening of Starbucks (currently there is only one in the whole town) as well as Tiffany's.
Read more about this topic: East Hampton (town), New York
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