The East Hampton Town Planning Board weighed in at a meeting on July 9 on proposed town legislation that would set restrictions on formula or chain stores. The measure received a mixed reception, and the planners ultimately voted to recommend the legislation be approved by a vote of 4 to 3. The town board will hold a public hearing on the measure at 6:30 tonight at Town Hall.

“It is a very arbitrary piece of legislation,” said Bob Schaeffer, a longtime member of the planning board. He noted that the planning board had been asked for its opinion on similar legislation in April, and said, “We gave our comments the first time around, and they were not mentioned. Why are we doing this?”

He pointed out that the new legislation was a substantial reworking of the first go-round but still found it wanting. The revision increased from 10 to 15 the number of stores nationwide that would be considered  a chain. “Who came up with this number?” he asked.

Ian Calder-Piedmonte, another member of the board, was adamant about the dangers of the bill, warning of “unintended consequences.” He cautioned on its effect on working families. “This is a very expensive place to live. This could be a hurdle to keep certain stores out that could be helpful to people.”

The third member opposing the legislation was Pat Schutte, who spoke out strongly about it. “There will be no more supermarkets, no more gas stations,” he said.

Among those who expressed approval of the reworked bill was Nancy Keeshan, who said it would help the architectural review board as well as the planning board in explaining what a business could and could not do. “It will give us a little more teeth,” she said.

Reed Jones, the panel’s chairman, also expressed support. “We all agree we have something very special out here. Other towns have enacted similar legislation, and it has been challenged in court and has been upheld.” Job Potter, who was not at the meeting, expressed support for the bill as well, according to the chairman.

In the end, it was the member Diana Weir whose thoughts carried the day. “I’m not crazy about this, but it is a better piece of legislation,” she said. She complimented the town board for the modifications that had been made, saying the previous effort would likely not have held up in court.

“It is constitutionally respectful of business,” she said, before echoing Ms. Keeshan that the proposal would aid other town agencies in setting guidelines for what chain stores can and cannot do when they open in the Town of East Hampton.

East Hampton Town

Indian Wells Hearing

The East Hampton Town Board will hold a hearing tonight to consider a prohibition on alcoholic beverages for a distance of 1,000 feet east and west of the Indian Wells Beach road end in Amagansett on weekends during lifeguard-protected hours. The proposed legislation represents compromises reached with the trustees, most of whom opposed any restriction and suggested a 500-foot ban, while the town board initially sought a 2,500-foot distance.

The prohibition will not apply to Atlantic Avenue Beach, a provision the trustees strongly opposed. The trustees also insisted on stepped-up enforcement of existing code pertaining to poor behavior. The proposed legislation includes a sunset clause. Should the legislation be enacted, it will expire after the summer season and its effects will be evaluated.

Hearing on Chain Stores

A law that would restrict stores or restaurants defined as “formula businesses” will also come up for a hearing at the town board meeting tonight. Under the proposed code, the retail businesses to be regulated would be one of 15 or more in the United States that has two or more of five particular features such as offering a standardized menu or merchandise, and the use of a standardized decor.”

Under the proposed law, formula businesses would be allowed in neighborhood business districts as well as central business zones, by special permit. They would not automatically be prohibited within a historic district. Instead, the town planning board would be charged with determining if they “comply with the preservation goals” of a historic district.

All town board hearings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

A letter thanking the East Hampton Town Board and the town trustees was in order, the Amagansett Citizens Committee unanimously agreed at its meeting Monday, for reaching a compromise on proposed legislation regulating drinking at Indian Wells Beach. But before the session was over, committee members and Supervisor Larry Cantwell, the town board’s liaison to the committee, expressed doubt about whether the legislation was needed any longer. 

“The good news is, Indian Wells Beach has been doing well this summer,” Mr. Cantwell said. “Maybe it’s the kind of law we won’t need at all, but at least we would be in a position to deal with it for the next month or so.”

Kieran Brew, the committee chairman, and Michael Diesenhaus, the vice chairman, also praised the town and trustees, but said the committee’s goals had been accomplished, rendering legislation unnecessary.

Mr. Diesenhaus called police presence “a good thing to have when you need it, but not a good thing to be so visible. . . . It detracts from the beach ambiance. I don’t know that we need the law.” It seemed, he said, that the beach’s popularity among young adults “just fell out of favor.”

Mr. Brew said that although excessive alcohol consumption was part of the problem, the sheer number of beachgoers had been responsible for unsafe conditions in the parking lot. “There’s so many children in that lot,” he said. “The bathrooms couldn’t handle it; the lifeguards couldn’t handle it.” When the committee first raised the issue in July 2012, he said, “the town was already on it. What they’ve done this year has really made it work.” The parking lot is far more orderly, he said. Nonetheless, “it’s not necessarily a benefit for us to pass this law. We’re putting restrictions on ourselves for something somebody else is doing and no longer is doing. That seems imprudent.”

Jeanne Frankl, a member of the committee, cheered “the town’s willingness to act and the tremendous effort it made to collaborate with the trustees.” The town had already installed an attended booth at Indian Wells last year, at which nonresident vehicles including taxis and buses are turned away. That “may have limited the sense that this was the place for a free-for-all,” she said, but an alcohol restriction “may well be necessary to keep that understanding clear.”

The hearing on the Indian Wells legislation, which is described in “Government Briefs” on A15, is scheduled for 6:30 tonight.

Mr. Cantwell also updated the committee on proposed legislation regarding formula, or chain, stores which is also the subject of a hearing tonight. The proposed legislation, Mr. Cantwell said, has evolved a prohibition to regulation. Its details are also included in “Government Briefs.”

Mr. Cantwell reported that the town has issued a formal request for proposals for use of the 18 acres and structure at the former Principi property on Montauk Highway, which he said is now called Amagansett Farm. A Connecticut-based developer had proposed a market-rate senior citizens housing development there, to be called 555. The effort was unsuccessful, and the town bought the property using the community preservation fund. The town is seeking proposals for agricultural-related use. “This is a first step, a general invitation,” Mr. Cantwell said. The committee, he assured them, “will definitely have a chance to discuss it” before any action is taken.

The meeting began with a surprise. Mr. Cantwell read a proclamation extending the town’s “appreciation, gratitude, and heartfelt congratulations” to Herbert Field, a member of the committee who will soon be 90 years old. Mr. Field, the proclamation read, has been a long-standing citizen and businessman possessing “an invaluable knowledge, understanding, and wisdom about the unique history of our community spanning multiple generations.”

Calls for the East Hampton Town Trustees to have meetings videotaped have increased in recent weeks, with several speakers reiterating the point at a town board meeting on Tuesday. The issue had been brought up at a trustees meeting several weeks ago.

The trustees are an elected, independent board that oversees town beaches outside of Montauk and that has the authority to approve or dismiss many coastline projects. The panel was established by the Colonial-era Dongan Patent, and is not subject to decisions by the town board.

Supervisor Larry Cantwell suggested that those who think the trustees should, like all the other elected and appointed boards, have their meetings aired on the local public access station, LTV, should make their views known to the trustees. “We are happy to work with them, and accommodate any of their needs with respect to them being televised,” he said.

Televising those meetings so that those who cannot attend may be aware of decisions being made is “long overdue,” Margaret Turner, the executive director of the East Hampton Business Alliance, said Tuesday. “They are elected officials; they seem to like to operate under the radar.”

The matter had been brought up by Diane Walker, an activist, at a trustees meeting several weeks ago. At the time, Diane McNally, the clerk of the trustees, pointed out that the room in the Lamb Building, on Bluff Road, Amagansett, where they meet twice a month is quite small and not wired for video cameras.

Asked to comment Tuesday afternoon, Ms. McNally said there was a “long, complicated history” and “a lot of factors to be considered” about taping. In addition to reiterating that the meeting room was small and not wired for video cameras, she said holding meetings in Town Hall would leave the trustees without access to their records, that the space was not suitable for a nine-member board, and that the trustees’ meeting schedule would conflict with that of the zoning board of appeals. Trustee meetings, Ms. McNally said, are open to the public, as are their minutes and trustee records, and they are recorded on audiotape.

“It’s a decision that should be made by this board and not made via public comment,” Ms. McNally said. However, the issue does not seem to be on the trustees’ agenda. “We have so many more important questions that need to be addressed,” she said.

“The trustees should be televised,” Naomi Salz said at the town board meeting earlier this week. They are “voted for by the taxpayers,” she said. “The trustees are opaque. We are in a modern age now, and it is not 1686 any longer.” 

Representative Tim Bishop, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, and Southampton Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming and Councilman Brad Bender are among the guests expected at the Southampton Town Democratic Committee’s summer party on July 27.

Tickets for the party, hosted by Gail Furman and Gordon Herr at Ms. Furman’s house on North Haven, are on sale now at $65 for Suffolk County Democratic Com­mittee members and $75 for others. They can be purchased online at shdems.org or by check made out and mailed to South­ampton Town Democratic Committee, P.O. Box 472, South­ampton 11969. The party will run from 5 to 7 p.m. and include appetizers, wine, beer, live music, and a silent auction.

The East Hampton Town Trustees’ water-quality monitoring program, conducted in conjunction with Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University, will soon gain greater exposure. At their meeting on Tuesday, the trustees voted to approve Dr. Gobler’s request to include trustee-managed waterways in the Long Island Water Quality Index, a weekly report issued by his laboratory and featured on News 12 Long Island and in Newsday.

Stephanie Forsberg, who has a doctorate in marine science from Stony Brook University, told her colleagues that the report is featured on Thursdays and Fridays. Along with a map depicting waterways and indications of algal blooms or toxins, if any, is a verbal or written summary that would state the trustees’ role in the monitoring program, she said.

The weekly report, she said, includes explanations of adverse conditions that can appear in waterways such as red tide — or cochlodinium, an algal bloom that kills marine life — and fecal coliform bacteria. A forecast for the coming week is also included.

The trustees agreed that participation will help to educate the public as to their role in the town and voted unanimously to approve their inclusion in the report.

At present, the ecological health of trustee-managed waterways is “very good,” Dr. Forsberg said.

The body also voted to approve a conditional permit for students in the Project Most program to take up to 12 clams each during an educational trip with John Dunne, the director of the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery. That outing is scheduled for today.

The trustees’ frustration with the town’s effort to control unruly behavior at Indian Wells Beach continued. At Tuesday’s meeting, they agreed to submit a letter to the town reiterating their insistence on a sunset clause for any code amendment prohibiting alcohol during lifeguard-protected hours.

The town board and the trustees have clashed over the beach, the former body responding to residents’ complaints of large, alcohol-fueled gatherings and poor behavior, including public urination, the latter insisting that the beach is under their jurisdiction and the problems greatly exaggerated.

Changes implemented by the town, including an attended booth on Indian Wells Highway where nonresident vehicles, taxis, and buses are turned away, are seen to have improved the situation. The town board has scheduled a public hearing for next Thursday at which a ban on alcoholic beverages to a distance of 1,000 feet east and west of the road end on weekends and holidays would apply to the beaches at both Indian Wells Highway and Atlantic Avenue. The trustees, while mostly opposed, have agreed to the prohibition at Indian Wells Beach only, and sought a 500-foot distance.

Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, said that Supervisor Larry Cantwell, Councilman Fred Overton, and Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez “seemed to agree that although it is going to be late in the season,” a code amendment put in effect this summer “would at least give them something to look at when the season is done.”

Sean McCaffrey, a trustee, said that he had spoken with Chief Michael Sarlo of the East Hampton Town Police Department last Thursday. “He said, ‘So far, so good,’ ” Mr. McCaffrey said. “Nothing had been reported.” He felt that the public awareness that has been raised by the debate has had the effect of discouraging the large gatherings blamed for a deteriorating quality of life at the beach.

A budget meeting will be held with town officials on Aug. 13, Ms. McNally told her colleagues. The trustees’ budget committee, she said, will meet beforehand to prepare for the discussion. “They are looking for zero growth,” she said.

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday unanimously approved the variances needed to allow Temple Adas Israel of Sag Harbor to expand its cemetery on Route 114, just south of the East Hampton Town-Sag Harbor Village border, onto land it bought in 2011. Entrance to the new part of the cemetery is via a road under town trustee control, and the panel had already agreed to its use.

The legal problem the temple faced was that the land is, by just 150 feet, within a water recharge district. The temple wanted to eventually clear the entire roughly one-acre parcel and to be allowed to follow Jewish tradition, which calls for burials in plain pine coffins. The town code, however, requires coffins in water recharge districts to be sealed and watertight.

The intent of Jewish law, according to Howard Chwatsky, treasurer and head of Temple Adas Israel’s cemetery committee, who spoke during a public hearing on July 1, is to return the body to the earth, allowing it to decompose.

In voting unanimously, board members were clearly swayed by a memo received  several weeks ago from Eric Schantz, a planner with the town’s Planning Department. Cate Rogers, a Z.B.A. member, focused on Mr. Schantz’s point that the release of nitrogen into the groundwater under Jewish custom would be less than would occur if a septic system were on the land. Mr. Schantz also reported that fertilizers, which leach nitrogens, are not used on the cemetery’s grounds.

Don Cirillo, a member of the board, asked its attorney, Elizabeth Baldwin, if it would be possible to ensure, through a covenant, that the cemetery never be sold to another group, which might not follow the same burial practices. She said such a covenant would not be legal but she also told the board that it could add a stipulation to its decision that any burial that uses embalming fluids would have to be in a sealed watertight coffin. The board also agreed that approval should be conditioned on not using fertilizers or having paved paths.

The next step for the temple is to return to the planning board, where a site plan was on hold pending action from the zoning board. The planning board has already indicated its support for the temple’s plans.

The New York State Public Service Commission has set in motion a process to address the depletion of phone numbers with the 631 area code, which is projected to occur by the first quarter of 2016, and has scheduled public hearings on alternate strategies for doing so. A public hearing before an administrative law judge will be held in Riverhead on Tuesday at the Riverhead County Center, 300 Center Drive, at 2 p.m., preceded by an informational forum at 1 p.m. Those wishing to speak need only appear.

As of May 2014, telecommunication carriers were already using 727 of the 792 codes available for assignment to the 631 area. As a result, the P.S.C. has come up with two ways to meet future demand for new numbers. The first course of action, called an overlay, would entail providing a new area code for all new numbers in the geographic area, while allowing pre-existing 631 numbers to remain. Callers would be required to dial the area code for all calls in Suffolk County. The reasoning behind this, according to a press release, is that it would be unfair to require consumers with new area code numbers to dial all 10 digits,  without requiring consumers with the 631 code to do so as well.

The second strategy is a geographic split in which part of Suffolk County would keep the 631 code, while the rest of it would have a new area code. A map drawn by the commission identifies a prospective split as running along the western borders of Smithtown, Central Islip, and Islip, and through Fire Island. The projected date at which the area code numbers on each side would be exhausted would be considered in deciding which side would keep 631.

Dividing the county into two code areas would require dialing all ten digits when calling the neighboring geographical area. It also would require thousands of customers to take their wireless phones to their service providers to be reprogrammed with the new area code.

To educate citizens on the process, the commission has published information  on AskPSC.com and will send mailings to those affected by the change. Anyone  interested may also comment by voice message at the P.S.C. toll-free opinion line, 800-335-2120, or by submitting comments at AskPSC.com.  One may also write to Kathleen H. Burgess, secretary, New York State Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany 12223-1350 or email her at [email protected]. All comments must reach the commission by July 31. Those doing so should include the term “631 Area Code Case” or “Case 14-C-0182.”

Suffolk County

Credit vs. Cash

Legislator Jay Schneiderman is cosponsoring a bill that would require gasoline retailers in Suffolk to display credit card prices as prominently as cash prices.

Luring drivers in with a cash price, when gas may be much higher per gallon for credit purchases “is deceptive and inconveniences drivers who will either pay the additional fee or have to get back on the highway to find another more affordable station,” Mr. Schneiderman said in a release. This is not the legislator’s first attempt to address thd practice. Earlier this year he attempted to force retailers to have an electronic prompt give consumers warning. Retailers protested and the measure was tabled.

Legislator Kara Hahn, a member of the Legislature’s Consumer Protection Committee, and Legislator William Lindsay III are also sponsoring the bill. “The purpose of this law is not to dictate pricing to the market but only to require gasoline retailers to honestly present their prices,” Mr. Lindsay said in a release.

The bill will come before the Government Operations, Personnel, Housing, and Consumer Protection Committee on July 23. 

Mosquito Spraying

The Suffolk County Department of Public Works’ Division of Vector Control this week began using a helicopter to spray salt marshes in East Hampton and Southampton Towns with an larvicide in an effort to control mosquitoes. On the list to be treated in East Hampton Town were marshes on Napeague and around Beach Hampton and Accabonac Harbor. In Southampton Town, the county is to spray near Meadow Lane, in North Sea, and at Jagger Lane, among other locations. According to the Health Department, it is unlikely that residents will be exposed to the spray, which is not significantly toxic to humans. More information can be obtained from the Division of Vector Control at 852-4270 or the spraying hotline, 852-4939.

A plan to build 12 affordable townhouse condominium units on land owned by East Hampton Town is being re-energized after languishing for five years.

A former tennis court at 181 Accabonac Road in East Hampton next to the Windmill Village senior citizens housing complex would house the one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units contained in three “manor houses” on the two-acre property. They have been “designed to look like a farmhouse,” Tom Ruhle, the town housing director, told the town board on Tuesday.

The project was developed initially by members of a community housing opportunity fund committee appointed to advise the town board on projects that could be undertaken using a dedicated affordable housing fund.

Its members included Amado Ortiz, an architect who designed the townhouse complex so that it could serve as a template and be easily replicated by the town in various configurations on other properties, Mr. Ruhle said.

The affordable housing project was included in the town’s 2009 capital budget, but was not pursued, he said.

Recently, the town board reconstituted a community housing opportunity fund committee, with former Councilman Job Potter as the chairman. That group, said Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, its board liaison, endorses the townhouse project.

According to an estimated budget for the $3.4 million project, the condos would be sold for prices ranging from $155,000 for the smallest, $195,000 for a two-bedroom, and $210,000 for the largest condos with three bedrooms.

The town would apply for state and county affordable housing subsidies that could cover a large portion of the remaining cost. An application for a state grant that was previously submitted was withdrawn when the project was put on hold, Mr. Ruhle said.

The town’s existing community housing opportunity fund has an approximately $500,000 balance, Mr. Ruhle said, which could be tapped to cover outstanding costs.

The housing director said that about $25,000 would be needed up front to prepare a site plan application to be submitted to the town planning board, for legal costs to create a condominium association, and to develop requests for construction proposals.

The project would also require a town board-approved transfer of development rights, which have already been set aside for the purpose.

Mr. Ruhle said that, optimistically, the project could be finished in 18 months.

The housing office, he said, has retained a list of more than 100 people seeking affordable housing, which had been compiled when initial efforts were made on the project.

As with other town affordable housing projects, he said believed that, even if state and county money is used on the condominium complex, housing applicants who live or work in East Hampton could be given preference over those from elsewhere.