Gosman's Dock sells for over $30 million

Long Island Morning Edition

A growing number of pediatricians are prescribing antidepressants and other drugs to treat mental health issues in children and adolescents because of a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists. A Long Island psychiatrist is helping to lead a program called Project Teach that trains pediatricians in this work — a program that is attracting attention around the country. Some medical experts are nervous that pediatricians lack the background to delve into mental health treatment, but others say there is no choice — many children will go without care otherwise. Bart Jones reports in NEWSDAY that it’s extremely difficult for families to find available child and adolescent psychiatrists. Most have monthslong waiting lists or aren’t accepting new patients at all. Even if families can find an available psychiatrist, most do not accept insurance, leaving families with an out-of-pocket bill that can hit $500 to $800 or more for a monthly visit, medical experts said. And even if a child is going to a therapist, only a doctor can prescribe medication. "There will never be enough child psychiatrists to take care of the mental health needs" of children and adolescents, said Dr. Victor Fornari, the vice chair of child and adolescent psychiatry for Northwell Health. "Certainly, working with a trusted primary care physician is better than not working with anyone." Dr. Fornari is one of the main creators of Project Teach, a program that has trained 2,000 pediatricians in New York State in how to prescribe medications for depression and other mental health issues. The state-funded project, which operates mostly online, is gaining attention around the country and even overseas as a possible solution to the child psychiatrist shortage.

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A new, multi-use field that will be striped to incorporate football, soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse, field hockey and Little League baseball and softball is planned for the playing fields at the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons on Stephen Hands Path in East Hampton, Councilman David Lys announced last week. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the recreational facility presently comprises the two Little League fields that were recently relocated from Pantigo Place in East Hampton to make room for the freestanding emergency room that is presently under construction there. The current facility on Stephen Hands Path also has two volleyball courts; two grass soccer fields; two playgrounds; and an approximately half-mile walking trail. The new, ADA-accessible field, construction of which could start in mid-January 2025, will replace the westerly soccer field, Lys said, and be shifted slightly farther west. “This location will have elements that will allow for easier maintenance of the field [and] greater use of the field by active users, but it will also be a multi-use field in which we will now be able to line and stripe it for multiple different sporting events.” Construction will take five or six months, depending on weather conditions, according to East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys.

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Gosman’s Dock in Montauk was sold for $34.35 million, according to real estate transfers recorded with the Suffolk County clerk’s office and reported by Suffolk Vision Inc. As reported on 27east.com, the business, founded in 1943 by Robert and Mary Gosman, spans nine parcels and around 11.5 acres. It includes the main restaurant at 500 West Lake Drive, at the mouth of the harbor, as well as the Topside and Inlet Cafe restaurants, the Clam Bar and an ice cream stand, the retail and wholesale fish markets, five retail spaces, several buildings used for staff housing, parking lots and vacant land. The nine parcels are of various sizes and house different elements of the business, from the main restaurant and a large parking lot to the Topside and Inlet Café restaurants and staff housing. The sale, which was first reported by The Express News Group, concludes 81 years of ownership by the Gosman family. The buyer is said to be Stephen Deckoff, a billionaire investor and founder of the private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management.

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Southampton Town’s steering committee examining the best ways to manage siting of Battery Energy Storage Systems throughout town recommends none of these systems be placed in residential areas and wants to cap the size of stand-alone systems at 5 megawatts and systems tied to a solar array at 20 megawatts. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that Southampton Town Planning and Development Administrator Janice Scherer and Town Planner Seth Race gave an overview of the committee’s findings to the Southampton Town Board at its work session last Thursday.

“LIPA is perfectly happy if we only do 5 megawatt systems, like East Hampton did. We don’t have to do a gazillion megawatts,” Ms. Scherer told the town board, adding that the Steering Committee was pleasantly surprised to hear that regulators and utilities are supportive of smaller systems.

New York State has been strongly advocating for the use of Battery Energy Storage Systems, known in the industry as BESS, as an essential part of the state’s shift to renewable energy, but three fires at BESS facilities in the state in 2023, including one at the 5 megawatt facility in East Hampton, led the state to impanel a task force to rewrite state fire codes to provide more strict oversight.

The state Interagency Fire Safety Working Group is not expecting to have a complete update of state fire codes in place until mid-2025, but Ms. Scherer said town planners would reference the applicable state fire codes in its siting regulations.

Southampton Town Board members were generally supportive of the changes, and asked members of the Steering Committee to draft code changes that would be vetted by the board and go through a public hearing process.

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Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that would have pushed up a deadline for bids to open a casino in or around New York City. “Changing the timeline …. would likely have the impact of helping certain bidders and hurting others,” Hochul said in her veto message.

“I cannot support a bill that aims to change the rules in the middle of the process.”

Carl Campanile reports in THE NY POST that the measure — passed by lawmakers in June — would have required the bidders to submit their proposals for review in August of this year, even if they hadn’t yet obtained necessary local zoning or other approvals. Hochul didn’t take action on the bill even as the new deadline passed, effectively a pocket veto of the bill which came as the NYS Gaming Commission is expected to approve up to three downstate casino licenses by the end of 2025. Some industry sources say the more drawn-out timetable benefits bidders facing political resistance or ongoing zoning or land-use issues.

Under the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board timeline, applications for casino bids are due June 27, 2025. Community Advisory Committees consisted of elected officials from the affected areas would then review the bid or bids and vote on whether to approve or reject them.

The board would vote on which casino projects to recommend to the state Gaming Commission, which must then give final approval by year’s end.

The State of New York will get a minimum of $500 million from each bidder awarded a casino license, with proceeds going to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But State Sen. Joe Addabbo (D-Queens) estimated it could be $750 million per license, or $2.25 billion.

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Donning hard hats and wide smiles, a group of supporters, builders and staff behind the Madoo Conservancy gathered on Saturday morning at the Sagaponack garden, some gripping shovels for the official groundbreaking of its future, and long overdue, welcome center.

Michelle Trauring reports on 27east.com that with a half million dollars raised, and a bit more to go, the new building will be wheelchair accessible with sustainable features, including a green roof and rainwater collection system, ushering the nonprofit organization into a new era of growth — while honoring its founder, artist Robert Dash — an acclaimed painter, writer and overall Renaissance man — who bought the 1.91-acre swath of tractor turnaround land in the summer of 1966, and then transformed it into a whimsical, organic oasis that he called home for almost five decades. “I don’t want to inhibit or prohibit or fix this garden in amber,” Dash once said. “It must remain vital.” Every year, thousands of visitors come to the ever-evolving grounds in Sagaponack, seeking beauty and inspiration. And this spring, they will be met with a new welcome center. “Everything’s coming together,” said Madoo Conservancy Director Alejandro Saralegui. “The community that we’re building is very nice. Neighbors are definitely feeling like this is their cultural hub spot. This is their center for creativity.”

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The limited liability company that owns and operates the Huntting Inn and the Palm restaurant in East Hampton Village has sued the village, its Zoning Board of Appeals, the Village Board and Mayor Jerry Larsen. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that at issue is the ZBA’s October 11 refusal, after five public hearings, to issue a determination on portions of Huntting Hospitality LLC’s area variance application for accessory structures, namely a swimming pool, hot tub and patio. Plans for the structures at the inn and restaurant, portions of which date to 1699, raised opposition among neighbors, some 50 of whom expressed concern about noise and setting a precedent for other expansions of use among preexisting, nonconforming commercial establishments in the village. The property has been used for lodging since the 1870s. According to the code, no variance shall be granted to permit the introduction or expansion of any outdoor use to a preexisting nonconforming commercial use in a residential district. But the ZBA’s determination exceeds its authority, the suit argues, citing case law, because “it had no jurisdiction to determine” that the structures “were ‘outdoor uses’ pursuant to village code in the absence of a prior determination by the building inspector that aggrieved the petitioner.” Huntting Hospitality asks that a New York State Supreme Court justice issue a judgment reversing, annulling and setting aside the portions of the ZBA’s determination declaring that the applicable components of the variance application were beyond the scope of its authority, declaring the pertinent section of village code illegal, unconstitutional and null and void, and granting the requested pool variances.