Oyster industry dealing with fallout of "worst winter of the century"

Suffolk County argued this week that a $112 million jury verdict handed down five months ago on the detention of immigrants in the country illegally was “fundamentally flawed” and should be overturned.The county made its case in court filings that the trial in a nearly decade-old lawsuit featured "several substantial errors."Joe Werkmeister reports in NEWSDAY that the case stems from Suffolk's policy under former Sheriff Vincent DeMarco to honor detainers issued through the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency, a practice halted after a 2018 court ruling found it unlawful.A federal jury awarded the verdict in November following a weeklong trial. The county’s Manhattan-based law firm Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky filed a motion in December to have the verdict either vacated or a new trial.The two sides presented arguments on the motion before Judge William F. Kuntz II in Eastern District Court in Brooklyn Tuesday. Both sides now wait for Kuntz to issue a written decision.The original complaint was filed on behalf of Joaquin Orellana Castaneda, an immigrant from Guatemala, who had been stopped by Suffolk police for a traffic violation and booked on a driving while intoxicated-related arrest. He was held on an ICE detainer for two days after his bail was posted on the local charge, according to previous reports. The case grew to include about 650 people who were similarly held longer than the local charge required. The county had argued it was entitled to immunity because it acted under federal authority, an assertion the court had dismissed. At the November trial, a nine-person jury awarded $75 million based off Kuntz’s January 2025 ruling and an additional $37 million on a separate due process claim.***As Southampton Village waits for a pair of corresponding bills in the New York State Assembly and Senate to be passed that would authorize the alienation of Lola Prentice Memorial Park for use in a land swap plan, village residents who oppose the swap have raised further points in why they believe the plan should not go through. Dan Stark reports on 27east.com that in the current plan, the village seeks to alienate the park to use as underground leach fields for a sewage treatment plant that would be located behind the village ambulance barn. A neighboring property a few hundred feet down the road at 135 Windmill Lane — currently home to The Express News Group building — would be turned into a new dog park. In response, five residents filed a lawsuit against the Village of Southampton last week for going through with the plan, arguing that the village is violating the park’s 1962 deed and a 2019 court injunction by using the park for something other than recreational and educational use.As the plaintiffs wait for a response, some raised the question of whether the village can pursue a land swap if the two properties aren’t the same size. The park measures in at 2.478 acres, while the proposed new dog park site is 1.10 acres, less than half the size of the current park.Under New York State law, the determining factor for alienating two properties is not its acreage, but rather its fair market value. Specifically, state law says that “the fair market value of the substitute property must be no less than the fair market value of the property being alienated.” State law also includes provisions about requiring new properties to “be of reasonably equivalent usefulness and location to the lands being alienated” and to “be of equal environmental value and usefulness to the lands being alienated.”***The Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons is now accepting applications for scholarship grants through its Karish Education Fund, supporting students pursuing studies in horticulture and related fields.Eligible applicants include graduating high school seniors, college students and individuals enrolled in professional certification programs in disciplines such as agriculture, botany, landscape architecture, garden design and environmental science. Applications are due by Earth Day, April 22.The fund honors Paul Karish, a founding member of the organization and noted horticulturalist, who established the endowment through a 1991 bequest. Additional contributions from members have helped expand the program over the years.Since 2001, the fund has awarded more than $70,000 in scholarships, with 47 individual grants ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 distributed to students pursuing careers in plant science and environmental fields.Application details and submission instructions are available on the Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons website.***A NYS Supreme Court justice has ordered the county clerk to lift restrictions on land within Enterprise Park at Calverton, which could allow Riverhead Town to pursue new ideas for the 1,600-acre property. Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that Calverton Aviation & Technology, a venture aerospace company, filed a lis pendens — a public record of a pending lawsuit — as it sued Riverhead for backing out of a $40 million deal to sell the property to the company in 2024. The notice effectively blocked the town from marketing or selling the land, since most buyers will not make offers on properties tangled up in litigation.Justice David Reilly, in a March 24 ruling, directed the Suffolk County clerk to cancel the notice within 30 days, noting “there are no remaining claims that would directly affect title to, or the possession, use or enjoyment” of the site. The decision removes a hurdle Riverhead Town officials have previously cited as delaying action on the property intended to be an economic engine for the town, though attorneys for the aerospace group say they plan to appeal.Town attorney Erik Howard said the latest development in the legal dispute is a win for Riverhead. Justice Reilly previously dismissed 16 of 17 claims alleged in CAT’s initial complaint, and the company has since filed an appeal seeking to reverse the dismissed claims.Howard told NEWSDAY yesterday that the cancellation “whittles away at any leverage CAT has in the case going forward and drastically limits relief that can be pursued.”“More importantly, for the Town and the residents, it allows them to move forward with entertaining new proposals for development of the property,” Howard added.Calverton Aviation & Technology proposed 10 million square feet of development at the former Grumman hub for aerospace, energy and academic tenants, noting in court papers that it would be a boon to the regional economy and pledged to invest $250 million in its first phase. The town board terminated the deal in October 2023 after the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency ruled the company was not financially capable of delivering its vision.Ronald Rossi, a Manhattan attorney representing Calverton Aviation & Technology, said the company plans to seek a stay of the cancellation of the notice of pendency during the appeal process.***New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration has proposed substantially lifting the oversight and review demands of one of the state’s foundational environmental protection laws for residential developments in its latest attempt to improve housing affordability. But East End civic and environmental groups say that the proposal would do nothing to reduce the cost of housing and would have sweeping unintended consequences on the East End, and in many other areas, from overdevelopment that would simply be high-priced luxury residences. The administration’s proposal, which it has dubbed “Let Them Build,” would, in part, free some small- and large-scale residential developments from scrutiny by local planning and zoning boards currently demanded in the State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQRA, a 1975 law that is the overarching guide of all development regulatory review in the state.Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that projects of fewer than 100 units — either in subdivisions or multifamily structures — on land that is already “disturbed” and serviced by public utilities, like water and sewer mains, essentially would be freed from subjective review, other than making sure they comply with underlying zoning standards. Development hawks say that the state’s approach — which the governor has included as a line-item in her budget proposal — would open up untold numbers of properties to newly unconstrained development that would almost certainly be exploited by developers. “What the governor is trying to do is eliminate the review process for a variety of project types which, in our area, have nothing to do with affordability,” said Bob DeLuca, president of the Group for the East End. He pointed out that, “The word affordability does not appear in any of these amendments…It’s easy to beat the drum and say let people build and suddenly things will become affordable. When you get down to the nitty gritty, there’s a zillion reasons why things are not affordable, and it’s not just putting a building up.” NYS Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni of Sag Harbor said that if the governor thinks SEQRA should be amended to remove some of the hurdles to responsible development in appropriate areas and streamline the review process, it should be done through legislative amendments, not in the state budget bill — an increasingly common approach to forcing through controversial legislative changes since Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration. Schiavoni emphasized, “This is not what the people of the East End want. We need housing initiatives…We need to create affordable housing. We’ve created the transfer tax to do that. I think local