Mayor William Manger opened the Village's Fall 2026 newsletter by saying this past summer was probably the busiest Southampton Village has ever had. It was the summer of the US Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and of the sesquicentennial parade. He also wrote that many businesses and Coopers Beach reported their busiest season ever. Most of the work in the rest of that letter, and in this fall's Village Board meetings, deals with what a summer like that leaves behind. There is traffic to count, trees to replace, walkways to fix and groundwater to clean. The quiet months are when the Village does that work, and this year several of those decisions will be made in November and December, well before next August.
Hill Street's experiment ends Friday, October 30
The left-turn pilot on Hill Street ends tomorrow, Friday, October 30. Since September 14, drivers have not been allowed to turn left onto Hill Street from Lee Avenue, Captains Neck Lane or Halsey Neck Lane. The Village's pilot notice sets the Captains Neck and Halsey Neck restrictions for 3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays, while the Lee Avenue restriction runs around the clock. According to 27east, a channelizing island blocks the turn at Lee Avenue. At the other two streets, crews put out cones and barrels every afternoon to stand in for a physical island.
Ryan Winter is a project manager at VHB Engineers, the Village's traffic consultant. He gave the Village Board an early read on the pilot, and 27east reported his remarks:
"Obviously the traffic's not going away, but it seems like it's been a success in relocating how the traffic moves through Hill Street and allowing it to flow a little bit better."
His update included more detail than that. He said September was heavier and that compliance with the restrictions was high from the start. He also described a workaround he had seen. Some drivers turn right onto Hill Street, duck into Moses Lane, make a U-turn and come back out heading west. Others take Moses Lane north toward Magee Street, a familiar cut-through. First Neck Lane got more congested in the pilot's first weeks, and Winter said that had eased since.
Something outside the Village also changed during the pilot. Trustee Rob Coburn pointed out that the Suffolk County Department of Public Works restriped County Road 39 so it has two westbound lanes again between North Sea Road and Sandy Hollow Road. Winter credited that change with keeping some Water Mill traffic on CR39 and off Powell Avenue and Prospect Street. Mayor Manger said the Village has received emails from residents south of Hill Street who approve of the pilot.
The off-season timing matters to how the pilot will be judged. VHB collected baseline counts in August, when traffic was much heavier, and plans another week of counts in November. Winter said the firm's models can roughly translate October volumes into August conditions, and he said those models are not perfect. VHB expects to bring its full analysis and recommendations to the Board in December. If the turns become permanent, that decision will rest on data collected while the summer crowds were gone.
Replacing what the summer took
July 4 brought more than parade crowds. Mayor Manger wrote that a severe storm that night took down many trees. The Village will plant 200 new ones this fall and spring, which brings plantings during his time in office to 800.
The other repairs listed in his letter are smaller, and people will see them on Main Street:
- The walkway by Hildreth's. The pedestrian easement just north of Hildreth's Department Store will get brick paving to replace the uneven asphalt. It will line up with the crosswalk to Chase Bank across the street. The Village's Comprehensive Plan called for better links between the parking lots and the shops, and this project follows that recommendation.
- The World War I Monument in Agawam Park. Repairs and restoration are set to start this fall. The Village picked a contractor through a request for proposals. Earlier 27east reporting described work on the memorial's floor, roof and the names of its veterans.
- Agawam Park and the railroad trestles. Electrical lines will run under Agawam Park for a proposed algae harvester and solar array. The MTA will keep repainting the Long Island Rail Road trestles over North Main Street and North Sea Road.
All of these are scheduled, not finished. No completion dates have been given for the monument or the walkway.
What the busy years already paid for
Some of the newest public spaces in the Village were paid for by the same growth that makes summers crowded. Moses Park sits on Moses Lane north of Hill Street, near Corrigan Street. That is the same lane drivers have been using for U-turns during the pilot. Mayor Manger wrote that the work there should be essentially complete. He described families with small children using the new playground and older residents using the new walking trails. All of it was paid for by the park fee from the Village Latch development on Hill Street.
On Jobs Lane, the Paulson Family Gardens at Southampton Arts Center opened this summer. Southampton Arts Center's announcement describes a $3.4 million gift from the Paulson Family Foundation. It paid for a new fountain on the East Lawn, new plantings, accessible pathways and an open-air performance space. The mayor called the garden "a tremendous hit" and thanked Alina and John Paulson for transforming the Village-owned property.
Windmill Lane: a dog park that helps clean Lake Agawam
The Village is moving ahead with an underground wastewater treatment system for the Central Business District. Mayor Manger called it the best step available to cut nitrogen in the groundwater and clean up Lake Agawam. The plan puts the treatment system on Village-owned land behind the ambulance barn, with underground leaching pools just to the north. He wrote that the contained system will not produce odors.
The plan depends on a land swap. The Town used Community Preservation Fund money to buy the old Southampton Press site on Windmill Lane, and the Village co-owns it. The Village will soon tear down the 6,000-square-foot office building there and build a new dog park beside Rogers Memorial Library. Once the dogs move, the ground under the current dog park can be used for leaching treated water. So moving the dog park is one step in the Lake Agawam cleanup.
That puts the library next to two changes at once. According to 27east, South Fork Bakery and Rogers Memorial Library signed a new three-year agreement to keep the Bookmark Café running. The bakery has operated the café since August 2025. In the same story, café employee Michael Polignani said business slows outside the summer months.
Year-round anchors, and one newcomer
Polignani's point applies to much of the Village. In a separate 27east story, owner Roy Stevenson said Stevenson's Toys & Games stays open all year and relies on holiday sales to balance the slow months.
One new arrival is opening for the off-season. 27east reported that a Stony Brook Medicine practice is scheduled to open in November at 630 Hampton Road. Plans call for 14 standard exam rooms, plus rooms for bariatric exams, stress tests and echocardiograms. Dr. William Wertheim, a Stony Brook Medicine executive vice president, described it as a way to bring several specialties together and expand access to care on the South Fork.
Leaf season starts Monday, November 2
Fall leaf pickup runs from Monday, November 2, through December 28. The Village has also changed its rules, and plastic bags will no longer be picked up. The Fall 2026 newsletter lists the Highway Department's requirements:
- Pile leaves in long, neat rows along the edge of the road, not in the roadway.
- Use only paper biodegradable bags, which are sold at Village Hall and hardware stores.
- Leave out grass clippings, hedge trimmings, brush, stumps and debris. Mixed piles will be skipped.
- Contractors may not put leaves in the Village right-of-way.
Questions go to the Village of Southampton Highway Department at (631) 283-2025.
The off-season calendar
The work continues into the holidays, and so does the calendar:
- Through December 27: East End Collected 9 at Southampton Arts Center, a show of artists who live and work in Suffolk County. The center is at 25 Jobs Lane.
- Saturday, November 28: The Village will hold a ceremony for the 25th anniversary of the police building on Windmill Lane, which also houses the Village Court. Afterward comes the Parade of Lights and the tree lighting in Agawam Park. The Southampton Christmas Committee also lists holiday songs, fireworks and a walk past the decorated Village windows.
- Saturday, December 5: Winter Welcome Day at the Parrish Art Museum, 279 Montauk Highway in Water Mill, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, and the day includes family art activities, curator tours, a holiday market, food trucks and a 1:30 p.m. book signing with Donald Sultan.
- December: VHB's Hill Street recommendations are due to the Village Board.
If you're wondering how changes like the Hill Street decision or the new dog park on Windmill Lane might affect a street you know well, I'm glad to talk it through. Anthony Prettitore follows these projects as they move ahead and can help connect them to your plans for your home. Let's Connect.
