Ride to Montauk, a planned Manhattan-to-Montauk bicycle trip on Saturday encountered a pothole this week when both East Hampton Town and East Hampton Village denied permits for the event.

Concerned that it would nevertheless occur, the East Hampton Town Board sent Michael Sendlenski, an assistant town attorney, to State Supreme Court in Riverhead on Thursday to seek a temporary restraining order. The judge is expected to annouce a decision on Friday.

The ride is organized by Glen Goldstein of Bicycle Shows U.S. According to its permit application, 5,000 riders were originally estimated but the number was revised by the organizers, who estimated 3,400 would come through East Hampton Town.

A permit to gather at a staging area near the Long Island Rail Road station in East Hampton Village was denied Thursday morning by Becky Molinaro, the village administrator.

In turning down permits, town and village officials expressed concern about the numbers of riders, road safety and congestion, and a lack of adequate notice.

The application for a permit was initially submitted by Mr. Goldstein on May 12, despite a town requirement that mass-gathering permits be obtained at least 30 days in advance. A town permit review committee, which includes police and the town board, had “multiple issues with the permit,” Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said Thursday.

Southampton Town had also found the  ride organizers’ plans troubling at first, turning down a request for a permit to allow 2,500 riders to pass through that town. However, after an appeal was filed with the town’s Public Safety Commission but before a hearing could be held, an offer was made to reduce the number of riders to 1,500, according to Tiffany Scarlato, the Southampton town attorney. A permit was issued.

Depending on the route cyclists take, they pay between $100 and $300 for the ride, which was founded in 1997. Options are for 150, 108, 73, 70, and 30-mile rides, starting in New York City, Babylon, Mastic-Shirley, or East Hampton.

All rides are to end at Camp Hero State Park in Montauk, where an all-you-can-eat meal, free massages, hot showers, beer, and transportation back to the starting points are offered. Refreshments are normally provided at rest stops along the way, including in Water Mill and Amagansett.

The route through East Hampton was to wind through most of the town, from Sag Harbor and Northwest to Three Mile Harbor, Springs, and Amagansett, said Carole Brennan, the town clerk.

On May 15, three days after submitting an application to the town, Mr. Goldstein was informed that as a for-profit entity, Bicycle Shows U.S. had to apply for a commercial mass gathering permit. That application was submitted last Thursday, Ms. Brennan said.

The “multiple miles of road they were going to make use of . . . created all kinds of strategic and safety issues, and police issues as well,” Mr. Cantwell said.

The town sought the restraining order because officials feared a “chaotic situation” if the ride went forward as planned.

While registration for such an event is normally begun well in advance, he added, “We’re getting all of this information very late in the process.” The 30-day lead time for permits, he said, is designed to allow adequate review  time, if needed, to “work out the details in advance, as opposed to coming in with a fait accompli.”

Had the bike ride been for fewer people, or routed only along main roads, a permit might have been approved, Mr. Cantwell said.    

East Hampton Town

Survey for Senior Citizens

A committee appointed by the East Hampton Town Board to evaluate the needs of senior citizens in the community, and resources available to them, is polling older residents through a survey, which can be completed online at easthamptonsurvey.com. Survey forms can also be found at various public buildings throughout the town, including Town Hall. Responses must be submitted by June 19.

Suffolk County

Nitrogen Reduction Efforts

Additional funding for Suffolk County’s nitrogen fertilizer reduction initiative was announced last week. The initiative is part of the county’s Reclaim Our Waters program, which aims to reduce nitrogen pollution in its many forms — from septic tanks, cesspools, and fertilizers. The money will go toward educational programs directed at landscapers and the public, according to a release from Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.

            All Suffolk County licensed landscapers will be required to take a course taught by the Cornell Cooperative Extension on the harmful environmental effects of nitrogen fertilizers and their misapplication. Landscapers will also learn about native plants and how to use them as alternatives to turf grass. In addition, the county will provide and will require all fertilizer retail locations to incorporate educational materials for homeowners into their fertilizer displays.

The owner of three properties at Ditch Plain in Montauk has been before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board on consecutive weeks, seeking variances for construction at two of the sites.

Sean MacPherson, a New York boutique-hotel developer, bought the house on Miller Avenue where he still lives in 2007, according to Tyler Borsack of the Town Planning Department. It is a small house, at 864 square feet, on a 37,081-square-foot parcel.

Much has changed in Mr. MacPherson’s life since he bought it, he told the board Tuesday night. He now owns the Crow’s Nest Inn and Restaurant, as well as a nearby set of cottages now named the David Pharaoh Cottages. But, he said, what has changed the most is his personal life. “When I bought this home I was single. I’m now married and have two children,” he said.

While the Miller Avenue property is relatively large — a little under an acre — it is constrained in terms of development because of wetlands throughout, and on adjacent land, Mr. Borsack wrote in a memo to the board.

According to Mr. MacPherson, his basement is prone to flooding. The garage is in the basement, on a downward-sloping drive. “The rainwater currently is directed into the basement,” he said, adding that it was not unusual after heavy rains to find several feet of water there.

The homeowner came before the board last year seeking wetlands-related variances for a 432-square-foot second-story addition, 812 square feet of additional decking, and a 600-square-foot garage. If the board okayed the garage, Mr. MacPherson planned to fill in the old downward entrance into the basement.

During last year’s hearing, Brian Frank, the Planning Department’s chief environmental analyst, argued against granting the variances needed for the garage, telling the board that 600 square feet was far too much coverage in such an environmentally sensitive area. The board agreed. It granted variances for the decking and the second floor, but not for the garage.

Mr. MacPherson reapplied this year, this time proposing a garage of just 360 square feet. The Planning Department again opposed it.

Britton Bistrian, Mr. MacPherson’s representative, offered a compromise: a 180-square-foot garage. The department was still opposed. “If an increase in coverage is going to be considered, it should consist of a much smaller structure, approximately 120 square feet or less,” Mr. Borsack wrote.

On Tuesday, Ms. Bistrian argued that 120 square feet was too small for a garage. The town’s own code, she said, requires 180 square feet for a single parking space.

Last year, a neighbor spoke against the 600-square-foot garage. This year, Ms. Bistrian noted, the same neighbor, in a letter to the board, was supporting the smaller structure.

“We just want a space to put the car, the strollers, etc., and independent of this whole process, we need to seal off our basement,” Mr. MacPherson told the board.

Members voted to keep the hearing open for one week to allow Ms. Bistrian to submit an updated survey of the property showing what has already been approved but is not yet built.

The Crow’s Nest was before the board the week before, on May 27, with an application to reconstruct the roof of the restaurant and another one elsewhere on the 1.6-acre property, which stands at the intersection of Old West Lake Drive and Route 27 by Lake Montauk. Mr. MacPherson would also like to add a pizza oven and a permanent Dumpster to the restaurant. The Crow’s Nest, like his house, contains and is bordered by wetlands.

Before that hearing took place, Tom Preiato, the town’s chief building inspector, determined that the pizza oven (though not the Dumpster) would be an expansion of use of the property. The restaurant is in a residential zone but is allowed to operate as a business because its creation predates the zoning code.

When Ms. Bistrian informed Mr. MacPherson of Mr. Preiato’s decision, he withdrew the request for the pizza oven. There was no public or departmental opposition to the remaining variances requested.

The board may decide both applications when it meets next week.

The third parcel in Mr. MacPherson’s Ditch holdings, a 66,333-square-foot property on South Lake Drive less than 500 feet as the crow flies from the Crow’s Nest, is currently before the Planning Board, where it is undergoing site plan review.

Air traffic at East Hampton Airport during the Thursday-through-Monday period surrounding the Memorial Day holiday increased by 20 percent over the same period last year and generated numerous complaints.

Jim Brundige, the airport manager, told the East Hampton Town Board Tuesday that there were 872 takeoffs and landings over the long weekend and 475 complaints about noise and disturbance. During last year’s holiday period there were 248 complaints.

Helicopters, which accounted for 40 percent of the traffic, prompted 302 calls. They came from a total of 83 households, just over half of them in the vicinity of the takeoff and approach route from the north, over parts of Sag Harbor and Jessup’s Neck.

Mr. Brundige noted that 85 percent of the departing helicopters, and half of those heading to the airport, had flown over a southern route, along the Atlantic shore and over Georgica Pond.

After the experience of the busy weekend, he said, airport control tower operators, as well as representatives of the Eastern Region Helicopter Council, an industry association, told him the southern route should be adjusted to avoid overlapping helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft traffic and potential safety issues.

On Friday, Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez attended a meeting at the airport at which new guidelines for the southern route were mapped out, which will take helicopters farther east before they descend toward the airport.

While the air traffic controllers have jurisdiction over traffic only within a 4.8-mile radius of the airport, the airport issues information to pilots regarding arrival and departure routes they are asked to follow in order to mitigate noise over residential areas. Compliance is monitored, and weekly reports are issued to the helicopter council.

Although the southern route saw the majority of the helicopter traffic over the Memorial Day period, residents there made the fewest complaints, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc noted.

The adjustment to the southern route will take copters over more residences than the original route. “The downside of this is, truthfully, more complaints,” Supervisor Larry Cantwell observed Tuesday.

“That was considered,” Mr. Brundige replied. However, he said, safety concerns prompted the adjustment.

A Federal Aviation Administration-mandated helicopter route requiring copters traversing the length of Long Island to fly over water a mile off its north shore is due to expire in August, and Long Island’s representatives in Washington are calling for its renewal.

Senator Charles E. Schumer and Congressman Tim Bishop have also called for a modification to the mandate, requiring helicopters to go around Orient Point and Shelter Island when landing at South Fork airports.

That would “bring all of that northern traffic in over East Hampton land and waters,” Kathy Cunningham, the director of East Hampton’s Quiet Skies Coalition, told the town board Tuesday.

Ms. Cunningham said helicopters would come in over Montauk and Gardiner’s Bay under that scenario, which, she said, had been suggested during discussions under the Wilkinson administration to address airport noise complaints from North Fork communities and Southampton Town.

Also on Tuesday, Mr. Brundige reviewed two proposals that the board is expected to vote on tonight. A proposed 10-percent increase in landing fees would raise an additional $100,000 this year, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said. Last year, landing fees totaled about $1.3 million.

Also proposed is a 100-percent increase in the fuel “flowage fee,” a service charge on each gallon of aviation fuel sold at the airport fuel farm. If approved, the fee would go from 15 to 30 cents per gallon.

Both changes have been recommended by the town’s budget and finance advisory committee.

Speaking to the board on Tuesday, Cindy Herbst of Sound Aircraft Services, which, she said, runs the fuel farm cooperatively with the town, said the increase was unwarranted. At other airports with comparable fees, she said, other services are provided. “I just don’t think a 100-percent increase in justifiable,” Ms. Herbst said.

Ms. Burke-Gonzalez later told the board that the 15-cent fee had not been changed in 20 years, and that the current proposal might be a precursor to a change that would tie the fee to a percentage of the per-gallon cost of fuel.

Sagaponack Village is considering revising its code as it relates to construction after some residents asked village leaders to put a stop to work on weekends and holidays.

An informational meeting will be held to hear residents’ opinions on the subject on Saturday at Sagaponack Village Hall at 9 a.m.

The code currently prohibits construction activity on Sundays year round and after 3 p.m. on Saturdays between May 15 and Sept. 15. Construction includes all “improvement of land,” including new landscaping using construction machinery and vehicles. Homeowners can do home repairs and yard work during those times, as long as the noise does not exceed 85 decibels from a distance of 50 feet.

Those unable to attend Saturday’s meeting may email comments to [email protected].

The owner of an 11.8-acre parcel at 8 Five Rod Highway in Wainscott received final approval to build two houses on it from the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals at June 3 meeting at Town Hall. Two houses on a single lot are prohibited under the zoning code, but an exception was made in this case because the lot was itself created in the subdivision of a 19-acre parcel approved by the town planning board in 1983.

The 11.8-acre lot is in an area with five-acre residential zoning, but dividing it in half was precluded, according to Denise Schoen, the attorney for the owner, Jeff T. Blau, by the earlier subdivision. The board agreed.

Mr. Blau owns the adjacent property at 9 Five Rod Highway, and has approval to put a house on it. He now will be able to have a compound of three houses in close proximity near Wainscott Pond.

East Hampton Town

Hearing on Beach Drinking

The East Hampton Town Board will hold a hearing next Thursday on a law that would ban drinking at Indian Wells and Atlantic Avenue Beaches in Amagansett during the hours that lifeguards are on duty, on the beach within 1,500 feet of the road endings.

The town trustees, who own the ocean beaches in the town, outside of Montauk, on behalf of the public, have opposed enacting the ban at both beaches, saying it is needed at Indian Wells only, and had suggested limiting the ban to weekends and holidays, within a smaller swath of beach. In response, town board members whittled the affected beach area from 2,500 feet on either side of the road end to the 1,500-foot boundary, after holding a hearing in April on the original proposal.

The proposed new law is in response to a growing number of complaints about summertime drinking, crowds, and behavior at Indian Wells Beach. Changes have been made to the configuration of the beach parking lot entry in order to address some of the safety and crowding issues. The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

Three C.P.F. Purchases a Go

Several property purchases using the community preservation fund were approved by the East Hampton Town Board after hearings were held last Thursday.

The town will buy 2.9 acres at 85 Bull Path in East Hampton from John Conran for $1.1 million, 3.6 acres on Fentwood Road in Montauk from Celia and Costas Paleologos for $870,000, and 7.2 acres of land at La Foret Lane and Stony Hill Road in Amagansett from Sasfox Associates for $3.6 million.

The latter purchase drew some criticism from one speaker at the hearing, David Buda, who said that it was incorrectly described as contiguous to other preserved lands and that as part of a residential subdivision it would primarily benefit the adjacent homeowners, including Alexander Peters, the seller.

Jeremy Samuelson of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk supported the purchase, on behalf of his organization and the Group for the East End, calling the woodland above a drinking water aquifer “a critical resource for our community,” and the aquifer protection a “pressing environmental issue.”

    Taxi drivers in East Hampton Town will be fingerprinted and checked for criminal convictions under a new law passed last Thursday.

    Before being issued a town taxi license, drivers and principals in taxi companies will be vetted by state and town officials.

    Should an applicant have a prior conviction, following a review by the state Criminal Justice Services division, a decision will be made by the town clerk, town attorneys, and town police as to whether a license should be issued. State law prohibits unfair discrimination against previously convicted offenders, specifying that a license or employment may only be denied if there is a “direct relationship” between the criminal offense and the specific license or job, or where approval of a license would “involve an unreasonable risk to property or to the safety or welfare of specific individuals or the general public.”

    Several criteria, outlined in state law, will be considered, among them the time elapsed since the criminal offense, its seriousness, and the age of the applicant at the time it occurred. Information regarding a previous offender’s “rehabilitation and good conduct” will also be considered. Those denied licenses will be able to appeal to the town’s Licensing Review Board.

    The requirement for annual fingerprinting can be waived by the town clerk.

    The town board held a hearing on the law on May 1. The board also amended the town code to include a taxi office among the “home occupations” allowed in a residence. A home-based taxi operation may not include dispatching, storage, repair, washing, or maintenance of taxis.

    A second code change allows a taxi office — again without taxi parking or dispatching — to be part of an office complex without being considered an additional use of the site under the zoning code.

East Hampton Town

Complaints Online

    Complaints to the East Hampton Town Ordinance Enforcement Department, regarding, for example, possible town code violations from overcrowded housing to illegal summer rentals, litter, or businesses operating in residential zones, may now be lodged online through the town’s website at www.ehamptonny.gov.

    An online complaint form can be found there under “Ordinance Enforcement” on the right-hand side. Those sending complaints will receive written confirmations, and town officers will investigate. They will also be notified of determinations. The online system went live on Tuesday.

    Complaints may also still be lodged by calling code enforcement, the fire marshals office, or the town Building Department, or by visiting them at 300 Pantigo Place.

    Noise complaints must be filed with the Police Department.    

Renewable Energy Goals

    East Hampton Town has set a goal of meeting 100 percent of the community’s electricity needs with renewable energy sources by 2020, the first town in New York State to do so.

    The unanimous vote by the town board on Tuesday also calls for meeting energy consumption in other energy sectors (heating and transportation) with renewable sources by 2030. The goals reflect those of numerous municipalities across the nation and worldwide, a number of which have been achieved, Frank Dalene said on Tuesday. He chairs the town energy and sustainability committee.

    In response to several renewable energy programs sponsored by the Long Island Power Authority and PSEG Long Island, the town has already selected a number of proposals from solar developers for large-scale solar farms on town-owned land.

Filming Fees Up

    With a vote last Thursday, the East Hampton Town Board increased the fees for permits for filming for the first time since 2007.

    According to the resolution offered by Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, productions involving between 6 and 15 people per day will pay $250 for a daily permit; those with 16 to 50 people, $500 a day; those with 51 to 100 people, $1,000 a day, and filming involving more than 100 people will be subject to a $1,500-a-day fee.

    The increases were prompted by a film crew that sought a permit to film a Showtime TV series for the second year. During board discussion, a resident had said East Hampton’s fees were well below those paid by the industry in other areas.

Bus Club Proposed

    A new transportation service proposed between East End hamlets, using two revamped school buses, prompted some questions by the East Hampton Town Board, which heard from one of the business’s founders, Derek Kleinow, on Tuesday.

    Mr. Kleinow described the system as a “social club,” which would offer rides between shopping areas, restaurants, and night spots to members, along with refreshments aboard the buses, and a chance to meet other members. As a social club offering an amenity rather than a transportation service, he said, the business would not be subject to certain regulations applied to other bus companies.

    Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, while applauding the idea of a service that might reduce traffic and provide an alternative for those who might otherwise drive after drinking, asked Mr. Kleinow to provide written documentation of the legality of the proposal. Mr. Cantwell also voiced concern about buses stopping at places like Montauk’s Surf Lodge, for instance, where there are often traffic tie-ups.    J.P.

New York State

Business Group Endorses Wind Farm

    The Association for a Better Long Island, a trade group serving real estate and business interests, has written to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo endorsing a proposed 200-megawatt wind farm, to be situated in the Atlantic some 30 miles east of Montauk.

    The association’s members control $15 billion worth of commercial, industrial, residential, and retail real estate, representing the largest energy consumers on Long Island, according to a release.

    Desmond Ryan, the group’s executive director, told the governor that members believe renewable energy should be a sizable component of the state’s energy generation. “Job growth, stabilized rates, and one more alternative to fossil-fuel commodity prices make it easy for our business leaders to endorse this proposal,” he wrote.

    Deepwater Wind, a Rhode Island company, has proposed to build Deepwater ONE, an offshore wind farm that will not be visible from any point on Long Island.

    A consultant’s assertion that East Hampton Town has nothing to gain by fixing and reopening its scavenger waste treatment plant, which has been offline since 2012 and used solely as a transfer station, went unchallenged at a hearing held by the town board last week.

    Few members of the public spoke at the hearing, where Pio Lombardo of Lombardo Associates reviewed the report he had already delivered to the board. His extensive examination of the facility included a look at operating procedures, permit and regulatory issues, the septage waste that is delivered and waste treatment alternatives, and a financial analysis.

    The town could realize $40,000 to $50,000 a month in “easy savings,” by closing the plant, he said last week. There is “little to no value” in keeping it open, he said.

    Most East Hampton septic waste carters are already depositing their loads at other facilities upIsland, he said. Dumping fees do not cover the town’s costs, and keeping the facility open would require the town to subsidize the transfer station to the tune of “at least a half million dollars a year,” Mr. Lombardo said.

    The consultant, and speakers from the audience, suggested that money could be put to better use on water-quality protection initiatives such as, perhaps, providing financial incentives for individual property owners to upgrade below-par septic systems.

    It makes “economic sense” to close the plant and to direct the savings toward other aspects of a comprehensive septic waste management plan, said Dominick Stanzione, a former town councilman, who advocated hiring Mr. Lombardo and the development of such a plan.

    Speaking for Concerned Citizens of Montauk, Jeremy Samuelson, its executive director, also advocated directing funds toward water quality projects.

    About two-thirds of the septic waste being dealt with at the plant, Mr. Lombardo said, is pumped out of failing septic systems. By maintaining the status quo, he said, “the town is, really, encouraging failing septic systems not to be repaired.”

    A look at some examples of restaurants, for instance, that have to have their septic systems routinely pumped, showed that the establishments would make out better, financially, if they took the money spent on pump-outs and used it to upgrade their septics instead.

    “In many areas,” he said, “excessive pumping is considered a health hazard and is illegal.”

    Arthur Malman, the head of the town’s budget and finance advisory committee, agreed with Mr. Lombardo’s analysis. The committee, he said, had told previous town officials in 2008, 2009, and 2010 that the waste plant was in disrepair and not operating properly but the reports, he said, “were just ignored.”

    “To us it makes no sense to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide a place where one truck can move waste to another truck,” Mr. Malman said.

    Margaret Turner, the executive director of the East Hampton Business Alliance, urged the board to address the issue of septic waste “comprehensively” and to look into “sewage treatment systems that are appropriate for East Hampton Town.”

    “The need to update failing systems and save our water should trump everything,” she said.

    Mr. Lombardo’s analysis of the plant is just the first part of a more comprehensive study that will include recommendations regarding septic system upgrades and other overall water quality projects, said Supervisor Larry Cantwell.

    Mr. Cantwell said that he would support shutting down the transfer station, though perhaps not until after the summer. If a private company expressed interest in continuing to run the transfer station at no cost to the town, he would consider that option, he said.