Town of Southampton looking to purchase 30 acres at 130 Old Country Rd

Long Islanders cleared their sidewalks of ice and snow this week, obliged by neighborly custom and, sometimes, the law.Like much else in this land of 13 towns and two cities, the relevant details — residential or commercial property, size of fine, extent of grace and enforcement — depend on the jurisdiction. Most, but not all communities have laws on the books about a property owner or occupant’s obligation to clear "obstruction by snow or ice and icy conditions."Many municipal officials said they issue warnings before tickets and that the laws exist to keep sidewalks safe, not raise revenue.Nicholas Spangler reports in NEWSDAY that some towns also have laws on the books that let them simply do the snow and ice removal themselves, billing the property owner for "direct and indirect costs of repairing, removing and/or remedying the condition," as Huntington code puts it. To ensure payment, the town places a lien against the property and collects "in the same manner as real property taxes."In Southampton, no law is needed because, at least for now, Highway Department workers do the job, funded by the $300 to $500 most property owners pay annually in highway taxes, Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle said. But significant sidewalk expansion over the last several years has increased the snow clearance workload for highway workers so much that the practice will likely have to end, McArdle said."Everyone thinks they pay taxes and should have every bit of service done, but there’s a point where we wouldn’t be able to manage," he said.Southampton Town leaders are expected this spring to take up new rules putting the responsibility on property owners, perhaps modeling the legislation on Brookhaven’s, McArdle said.Finally: if, in the course of snow clearing, a Long Islander is tempted to throw the stuff into the street, they should not. It makes extra work for plow crews, it's explicitly prohibited in many municipal codes, and their neighbors may give them more than just nasty looks if such a move should result in personal injury.***Early discussions have been held between Southampton Village, the Southampton Fire District and the Southampton Fire Department about potentially building a new firehouse to serve the village. Dan Stark reports on 27east.com that the talks — which according to Trustee Roy Stevenson, the village’s liaison to the fire department, have been happening for a few months — have centered on a piece of property on North Sea Road off County Road 39 that is owned by the fire district. Stevenson said that since many of the volunteer firefighters live north of County Road 39, it is difficult for them to get to the village’s three firehouses — located on Windmill Lane, Hampton Road and St. Andrews Road, all south of County Road 39 — during the summer due to traffic congestion.David Price, the chairman of the district Board of Fire Commissioners said that a new firehouse would lead to better coverage and make it easier for firefighters to get to the station, as well as to house larger vehicles that the older Windmill Lane station cannot accommodate.Stevenson also noted that the Windmill Lane firehouse’s location in a floodplain “is not an ideal place to have a firehouse when you need to get it and you have an emergency” like a flood or hurricane.Stevenson said that he estimates that “anything that we decide now probably isn’t going to even happen for four or five years,” though he noted that the village is continuing to pursue the idea as the population grows.If the new firehouse is eventually built, Price floated the idea of turning the historic Windmill Lane firehouse into a museum featuring old firetrucks that the village owns.“We have these beautiful antiques that no one gets to see except on the Fourth of July,” he said. “If they could be put in a house right there where they could be on display all the time, that would be phenomenal.”***The Riverhead Water District will be able to begin construction this year on a water main extension in Calverton that will provide clean drinking water to homes in Calverton with private wells contaminated or threatened by pollution from the former Grumman plant. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Rep. Nick LaLota on Friday announced $2.25 million in Community Project Funding for a town water district extension to serve 28 homes west of Edwards Avenue in Calverton, along Railroad Avenue, Canoe Lake Drive, River Road and a private road south of River Road. Known as Extension 95, the project will cost an estimated $5.6 million. The balance of funding for the extension comes from a portion of a $5 million grant announced in January 2024 as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Emerging Contaminants Fund, through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. “Suffolk County families deserve clean drinking water and safe communities, and these federal investments will deliver exactly that,” said Congressman LaLota, a Republican from Amityville who represents C.D.-1 which includes the east end.***A significant reduction in net international migration, amid the Trump administration's deportation crackdown, contributed to New York State having just a minimal population bump between 2024 and 2025, according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau data. New York’s population stood at roughly 20,002,427 on July 1, 2025, about 1,000 more than the count at around the same date in 2024, according to Vintage 2025 estimates released Tuesday. Tiffany Cusaac-Smith reports in NEWSDAY that the net international migration to New York between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, was estimated at roughly 291,000. However, as the Trump administration stepped up deportations and other immigration enforcement efforts, net international migration into the state dipped to roughly 96,000 between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, data showed. New York State’s decline in net international migration mirrors national figures.Jan Vink, a senior extension associate at Cornell’s Program on Applied Demographics, noted the estimates cover the last six months of the Biden administration and the first half-year of the Trump administration."There are a lot fewer people arriving in the country and in New York due to the changing [immigration] polices," he said.New York remains the nation’s fourth-most populous state, the Census Bureau said. And for the last few decades, New York has seen more people leaving the state than coming in — a trend exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when more than 300,000 people left, according to the analysis.People are still moving away from the state, but not at those pandemic levels. In 2024, the loss was about 119,000, according to recent estimates. The following year, the loss was about 138,000.***The Town of Southampton is moving to purchase more than 30 acres off Jackson Avenue that it plans to use a portion of to build a wastewater treatment plant for a future sewer system serving Hampton Bays' downtown. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the Southampton Town Board had acknowledged late last year that it had an agreement with the owner of the property at 130 Old Country Road to sell the parcel to the town, and this week it unveiled the details of the deal and scheduled a public hearing on the proposal for Tuesday, February 10.The Town of Southampton will pay owner Tom Hogan $3.2 million for 30.8 acres of land using the town’s Community Preservation Fund water quality improvement funds and another $465,600 from the town’s general fund surplus for an additional 4.8 acres that will be merged with the existing town facilities on Jackson Avenue — for which the town is in the middle of developing a master redevelopment plan. Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore said it will likely be at least four years before the treatment facility and sewer system are constructed on the parcel the town hopes to close on quickly. “Once we get the property purchased, then we can hire an engineering firm to start on the designs — which, that is probably about two years in, then to build it will probably be another two years,” the supervisor said on Tuesday. The conceptual plans for the project call for the wastewater treatment plant to be built on about 6 acres of the larger parcel the town is purchasing, which lies just to the northwest of the town’s offices and courthouse on Jackson Avenue. The treatment facility would be connected to a sewer system serving the downtown business district and some neighboring parcels.***The North Fork Action Center will present a conversation with Organización Latino Americana of the East End Executive Director Minerva Perez this coming Monday, Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. in the Unitarian Universalists of Southold meeting house at 51900 Main Road in Southold. Per the North Fork Action Center posting, the O.L.A. director is expected to speak to such questions as“What’s happening with our neighbors? Our workers? What can we do?”That’s this coming Monday at 6 p.m. in the UU Meeting House, 51900 Main St, Southold.Per their website, The North Fork Action Center mission is:Protecting the U.S. Constitution, working toward justice, civic engagement, evidence-based science, diversity and a free press.***The median price of a home on the south fork of eastern Long Island - aka THE HAMPTONS - climbed more than 33% in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the same period a year before, reaching a record $2.3 million, amid a surge in high-priced home sales. Celia Young reports in NEWSDAY that at the same time, the median price of a home on Long Island — excluding the ritzier East