Vacant Storefronts in Southampton Village To See New Businesses This Summer

Long Island Morning Edition

New software the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles is buying aims to shorten in-person appointments, eliminate needless visits by moving tasks online and curb outages that have dogged the agency because of computer technology dating to the 1970s.

Those are some of the goals of a $277.6 million overhaul of Department of Motor Vehicles computers announced yesterday by Gov. Kathy Hochul's office to modernize a bureaucracy that regulates 20 million vehicles and 14.2 million drivers and permit holders.

Maureen Mullarkey and Matthew Chayes report on Newsday.com that the project is expected to take about four years, according to DMV spokesman Walter McClure, although there’s no set start date.

First to be rolled out: updating the computer systems for licensing and photo ID issuance for drivers and non-drivers, as well as administration and enforcement of traffic violations. Next: vehicle registrations, title issuance and insurance verification services, said McClure, who provided details of the project’s goals.

Each of these phases is expected to take about two years.

"Computer and system outages that have caused delays and long lines in DMV offices will become a thing of the past with the introduction of modern applications and proven successful solutions," Hochul's office said in a news release. Paper forms would be eliminated where possible, the release said.

The contract is with FAST Enterprises LLC of Centennial, Colorado, which is hired by governments across the country to modernize systems for taxes, child support and motor vehicle bureaus.

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More than a dozen people — mostly residents of a subdivision on Jennifers Path — turned out to a Southampton Town Planning Board public hearing last Thursday to object to a proposed solar farm on Westhampton Beach Village-owned property on South Country Road in Quiogue.

Bill Sutton reports on 27east.com that the hearing was part of a presubmission application by CVE Community Solar to build a 4,000-panel, 2-megawatt solar array on 10 acres of the 13.5-acre parcel, a former Department of Public Works yard owned by the Village of Westhampton Beach that is currently used as a repository for leaf debris, composting and, at times, dead animals.

Neighbors oppose the project, citing environmental concerns, a potential threat to the adjacent Quogue Wildlife Refuge, excess noise from equipment for the project, and an impact on their property values in the mostly residential neighborhood.

While the parcel is in Quiogue, it is owned by the Village of Westhampton Beach, which last year entered into a 25-year lease with CVE Community Solar, which would supply the electricity generated to the Long Island Power Authority grid and pay the village a minimum of $22,000 per year for the lease, with a $50,000 bonus once it goes operational.

The company must seek approval from Southampton Town to move forward. The property is zoned for park/recreational uses, so it would need a special exception permit from the Planning Board, and, if the use were to be allowed, site plan approval as well.

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While eastern Long Island does not fall within the path of totality during this coming Monday’s solar eclipse, viewers still need to take safety precautions to view the natural phenomenon. As reported by 27east.com, on the East End, the partial solar eclipse will begin at approximately 2:13 p.m., with maximum coverage at 3:27 p.m., and is expected to end around 4:37 p.m. on Monday April 8, 2024.

• Do not look directly at the sun without proper eye protection — and regular sunglasses are not adequate. If your eyes are exposed to the sun without the appropriate protection, it will cause “eclipse blindness,” which can temporarily or permanently damage your eyes.

• Wear International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 12312-2 certified eclipse glasses, or use a pinhole projector, to safely view the eclipse.

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A vote by hundreds of clergy sex abuse survivors on a proposed $200 million settlement by the Catholic Church on Long Island has been delayed, attorneys for survivors said. Bart Jones reports on Newsday.com that survivors were supposed to submit their ballots by March 22, but the deadline has been pushed back to April 12, said James Stang, the main lawyer representing the survivors committee in bankruptcy proceedings involving the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

The results are expected to be known by April 15. The balloting is being conducted by Epiq, a court-approved global technology company that works in the legal industry and with corporations.

Stang and other attorneys said the balloting was delayed to give survivors more time to vote, since the process was complicated for some.

Some 600 survivors have filed lawsuits against the Diocese of Rockville Centre…which serves approximately 1.2 million baptized Catholics…total population in both Nassau and Suffolk is approximately 2.9 million.

The bankruptcy proceedings have been going on for three-and-a-half years, with at least $100 million in legal fees accumulated.

The cases stem from the 2019 Child Victims Act, which opened a one-year window — later extended to two years because of the pandemic — for childhood victims of sexual abuse to file lawsuits against perpetrators regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

Warning that payouts for the cases would cause financial ruin, the diocese filed for bankruptcy. The cases were then moved to federal bankruptcy court.

The diocese is urging the survivors to accept its latest proposal — which it called its final one — as the best way to guarantee they will be paid and also allow the church to continue functioning.

Attorneys for the survivors last year proposed a settlement of $450 million.

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Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard announced at Tuesday’s Town Board meeting that the agri-tourism resort code would not go forward because of a disagreement over what kinds of farming uses would be allowed on preserved land, north of Sound Avenue in Riverhead. The “appropriate balance” between the farmland preservation and development aspects of the code proposal “remains a source of ongoing discussion and debate,” Hubbard said at the outset of this week’s Town Board meeting. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that a resolution scheduling a hearing on the town code amendments to enable an agri-tourism resort development was set to be voted on but was not included in the final Town Board agenda on Tuesday.

“And quite frankly, it remains to be seen whether the perfect balance exists,” Hubbard said. “I remain open to further discussion but defer to stakeholders of our local farming community as to whether this is possible and we will keep the public updated.” Hubbard told Riverheadlocal yesterday that the town’s Agricultural Advisory Committee and the Long Island Farm Bureau, a farm industry advocacy group, want the town to allow vertical farming and indoor farming on the land, while the Farmland Preservation Committee wants the land to be “traditionally” farmed.

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The group of shopfronts and second-story offices on the corner of Hill Street and Windmill Lane in Southampton Village, which have been largely vacant through the past decade or more, will have a new look this summer.

Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that the units at 1 through 17 Windmill Lane and 1 through 15 Hill Street were purchased earlier this year by WHSH LLC, owned by restaurateur Jeremy Morton, who also owns several other properties on the East End, including Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Cafe and Ruschmeyers in Montauk.

He also owns Provisions, which had been located in Water Mill and will move into Southampton Village – a visible corner just east of Paul’s Restaurant and the Southampton Cinema, which was bought last year by New York real estate developer Aby Rosen and has been undergoing renovations.

Southampton Village Mayor Bill Manger said earlier this week that the theater is not expected to open until 2025.

Ye Olde Bake Shoppe, which has done business at the end of the complex on Windmill Lane for decades, will not return. Hal Zwick, the director of commercial real estate for Compass in the Hamptons said the owners, husband-and-wife duo Tom and Diane Mistler, chose to retire.

“They were at an age where retirement made sense for them,” he said, adding that they were asked to stay, but they declined.

Zwick said that a new bakery will fill the void.

He said the expectation is that the renovations will be done and the businesses will be up and running before Memorial Day weekend, adding that Provisions should be open by mid-May. “It will be a great draw to that area,” he said of the popular health food store. “It should help the entire complex. I think it will do very well.”

He added that he believes the village administration “will be very happy to see that what was beginning to look like an eyesore will be a really nice building in the Village of Southampton at a prominent corner.”