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.

    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.

Amagansett may finally get the public restrooms some residents have sought for more than a decade.

At a meeting of the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee on Monday, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, the town board’s liaison to the committee, showed a blueprint of the parking lot on the north side of Main Street, and suggested a restroom location near the lot’s center adjacent to a vegetated island as opposed to in the southwest corner, as had originally been proposed.

“I’m going to pursue getting it designed,” he said. “The goal will be to get a new bathroom built before next summer. That assumes we move as quickly as we can.”

Mr. Cantwell asked the committee which location was preferable, and what members wanted the structure to look like, distributing images of prefabricated restrooms, a less-expensive option than one built by the town. “I’m not comfortable with any of those,” he said of the prefabricated designs. “We’re in a historic district. We talk about our pride of Amagansett. It’s going to cost more, but it is going to be substantial.”

Tina Piette, whose law office is adjacent to the parking lot, said that situating the restroom in the middle of the lot might be unsafe for pedestrians, while the southwest corner is directly accessible via the alley adjacent to Indian Wells Tavern and the sidewalk lining the lot’s entrance and southern perimeter. Mr. Cantwell said that property owners near the original proposed location had objected to its placement there.

At least four parking spaces would be lost to the restroom, Mr. Cantwell said. But, “This parking lot can simply be re-striped and you can add somewhere between 20 and 30 parking spaces without increasing the paving at all.” Fortunately, he said, the parking spaces are very wide and the lanes surrounding them are “huge, compared to most parking lots.” A re-striping, he said, was “something that should be done.”

The committee will hold elections next month, and members moved to nominate its officers. Tom Field nominated Kieran Brew, the chairman, to continue in that role. Michael Diesenhaus, the committee’s vice chairman, was nominated by Kristine Gaudy to remain in that position.

Jim MacMillan then nominated Rona Klopman for chairwoman. Ms. Klopman is a former chairwoman of the committee. Jeanne Frankl nominated Susan Bratton for secretary, a position she currently holds, but Britton Bistrian moved that nominations for secretary be left open, as Ms. Bratton was not present.

The committee also discussed at length the town’s proposed ban on alcohol at Indian Wells and Atlantic Avenue Beaches during lifeguard-protected hours. Mr. Cantwell said that he was waiting for input from the East Hampton Town Trustees, who met on Tuesday, before the town board would consider the issue.

He referred to an “upgrade” at Indian Wells Beach that included renovated restrooms, which he said are on track to be completed around Memorial Day, new signs, increased parking that will be created by re-striping the lot, moving the attended booth farther from the lot, and moving the sidewalk to the east side of Indian Wells Highway to add spaces on its west side.

The town board’s original proposal was for an alcohol ban to extend 2,500 feet east and west of the lifeguard-protected area, he said, while the trustees have considered a 500-foot span in both directions. No hearing has been scheduled, he said, “but it’s possible that will happen before the full beach season starts.”

Adopting the prohibition on a trial basis, said Mr. Diesenhaus, might break the pattern of hundreds-strong gatherings of young adults, many of them drinking excessively. “Everything comes in cycles,” he said. “Nothing is the ‘in’ place to be forever. If they find out this summer that there’s no liquor. . . .”

The town board’s preference, Mr. Cantwell said, was to put the ban in place at both Indian Wells and Atlantic Avenue Beaches, which the trustees have opposed. “The feeling is those are very close together and could probably shift the potential problem from one location to another.” In discussing the issue with Chief Michael Sarlo of the Town Police Department, he said, the board felt that, “if you’re going to do it at one you need to do it at two, and we’ll see what happens over the course of the summer.”

Betty Mazur moved that the committee vote to support, on a one-year trial basis, a ban during lifeguard-protected hours at the two beaches. Committee members, with one abstention, voted in favor of the motion.

The East Hampton Town Trustees are holding firm in their opposition to the town board’s proposed ban on the consumption of alcoholic beverages within 2,500 feet in either direction from the road ends at Indian Wells and Atlantic Avenue Beaches, Amagansett.

At their meeting on Tuesday night, the trustees distributed a letter to that effect, directed to Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the board members. The letter did, however, acknowledge “the concerns expressed by bathers at Indian Wells Beach,” which many residents say has been marked, in recent years, by large crowds of intoxicated young adults and the behavior that often results, including public urination, litter, and noise.

Instead, the trustees offered, via a section of the code addressing peace and good order, “a posting at the road end of Indian Wells Highway to advise of a prohibition on open alcohol within 500 feet east and west of said road end,” between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekends and federal holidays from the Thursday before Memorial Day to Sept. 15.

The trustees said police — “an officer or officers” — should be stationed at the beach during the hours of prohibition as well, and “any and all other existing regulations pertaining to disorderly conduct should be posted.”

Their offer applies only to Indian Wells Beach, although the town board has indicated that both beaches should be addressed.

Beachgoers’ accounts of “exceedingly poor behavior,” the letter read, is challenged by other reports that “the behavior is not as prevalent as reported.” The trustees noted their fear of setting a precedent for yet more beach restrictions. “Others wonder,” the letter read, “why the newsworthy boisterous and unruly conduct resulting from the excessive noise, crowds and alcohol in Montauk,” where the trustees do not have jurisdiction, “has not been adequately addressed prior to initiating more regulations on the beach.”

The debate continued at the meeting, with Rona Klopman and Diana Walker, both of Amagansett, and Sue Avedon of East Hampton arguing for an alcohol ban. Stuart Vorpahl, a former trustee, and Ira Barocas, who ran unsuccessfully for the trustee board last year, spoke against it.

“A lot of people with kids don’t want to go to Indian Wells Beach,” Ms. Klopman said.

“But it did get better,” said Stephanie Forsberg, a trustee, referring to last year’s town-implemented stepped-up enforcement and changes to the parking lot. 

“I would be agreeable to this, with enforcement,” Deborah Klughers, a trustee, said. “Just don’t make another law and add on to the five that aren’t being enforced.”

But, said Mr. Barocas, “we are penalizing the many for the actions of a few.”

In other business, Ms. Forsberg told her colleagues that water-quality sampling performed in conjunction with Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University has resumed. Mr. Gobler, she said, has requested permission to add a new sampling method called solid phase absorption toxin tracking, or SPATT. SPATT is a method for monitoring toxic algal blooms and shellfish contamination employing adsorption of biotoxins onto porous synthetic resin-filled sachets, which are then extracted and analyzed. Mr. Gobler recommended Three Mile Harbor for the sampling, Ms. Forsberg said.

Mr. Gobler has also proposed testing shellfish, in addition to the water, for toxins, and has asked to take 12 blue mussels per week from an appropriate waterway during the sampling program. He has obtained a State Department of Environmental Conservation permit, Ms. Forsberg said, but sought the trustees’ approval. The trustees endorsed the plan.

Although the opening of the season is drawing near, opening day at Cyril’s Fish House, a summertime bar and restaurant on Napeague, remains far away as it deals with a stop-work order from East Hampton Town and a restraining order from State Supreme Court. If that weren’t enough to keep the popular roadside institution shuttered, last Thursday East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky rejected a motion by Dianne Le Verrier, attorney for the owners, to dismiss 53 zoning alleged zoning violations. That case is due back in Justice Court on Monday.

Work at the site is at a virtual standstill. The area between its open-air bar and the Montauk Highway, which even on a May weekend is usually full of people, is instead filled with brick and sand, and the bar leans precariously to one side. The stop-work order came from Tom Preiato, the town’s chief building inspector, after two 2,000-gallon gasoline tanks were removed in January from the ground without town permits. The town’s zoning board of appeals recently upheld the validity of the stop-work order.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Farneti issued the temporary restraining order, which requires the business to conform to the footprint and facilities in place in 1984, when it was much smaller.

The 53 code-enforcement charges cover several storage structures on the property, as well as patios, an awning, roofing, and an outdoor seating area, among other items, as well as a charge that work was done too close to wetlands without a permit. All of them stem from a determination made by Mr. Preiato that the various structures and activities were put into place after the town’s zoning code was written, making Cyril’s a legal but nonconforming business in a residential zone. In addition, the town code requires the entire site to undergo site plan review by the town planning board.

In her motion to Justice Tekulsky to have the charges dismissesd, Ms. Le Verrier presented a deposition from the restaurant’s manager, John Fairchild. He said the  legal morass the business finds itself in is costing it money. On March 16, he said, a woman contacted him “hoping to hold her wedding reception” there, but “heard that the town was trying to shut us down.”

On May 7, Michael and Bonnie Dioguardi, who own the property, attended a session of the planning board, where one of their attorneys, Deborah Choron of the firm Jordan and Le Verrier, asked for site plan review of the patio and front bar, the area the stop-work order covered.

“You need to get a proper site plan for the entire site,” John Jilnicki, the board’s attorney, told her.

“This site plan should illustrate everything,” Eric Schantz, a planner with the Building Department, said. “That is how to get a complete application.”

“We need to see all of that,” Nancy Keeshan reiterated.

“There is not much we can do about it,” Ian Calder-Piedmonte added.

This prompted Ms. Dioguardi to go to the podium. “My husband’s family has owned the property since 1969,” she said. She talked about how, in 2013, the business had fought against hundreds of alleged violations which were all ultimately dismissed. She complained about the permitting process. “They say it takes 14 days, then it’s another 14 days. We are not deadbeats,” she said. She described the past year, when trips to the East Hampton courthouse became a weekly routine. “I can’t put my children through this,” she said, adding that she felt the town was “just stringing Cyril’s along.”

“Since we ultimately applied for the building permit and expect it to be issued,” Ms. Le Verrier said in an email yesterday, she is hopeful that the restaurant could open as early as this weekend. She would know more, she said, after a conference regarding the temporary restraining order, scheduled for today in front of Justice Franeti.

Meantime, as brick and sand remained untouched in front of the restaurant, a single car was parked outside. From within, reggae from the soundtrack of the Jimmy Cliff movie “The Harder They Come” could be heard.

The Sagaponack Village Board put off a decision on Marc Goldman’s proposal for a 13,770-square-foot house on the corner of Daniel’s and Peter’s Pond Lanes until his representatives can show how much the house will hinder one of the last unobstructed views in the village.

At a planning meeting on Monday, Alice Cooley, an attorney with the East Hampton firm Eagan and Matthews, which is representing Mr. Goldman, told the board she had shown a 3D rendering of the 13,770-square-foot house at a Feb. 10 meeting. In an April letter, Mr. Goldman said the impact would be limited, and referred to the 3D model.

However, village officials insisted it was not in the record.

“Whatever it was that was presented here, we were not given a copy,” Mayor Donald Louchheim said. “At the moment, there is nothing in the file, and even in the minutes of that meeting, there’s just a passing reference.”

Rhodi Winchell, the village clerk, said she had been asked to go through the tapes from previous meetings in case something had been omitted from the minutes. “They were referred to as renderings, they were described as photographs taken with a wide angle lens,” she said.

Anthony Tohill, the village attorney, said the record only reflects the north side elevation and that the other sides are not shown to scale. “Nobody is going to be able to do anything in terms of visual analysis if you are missing three out of four sides of the house,” he said.

The village’s consultant, Richard Warren of InterScience, said he wants “an actual representation of a naked-eye view” of the house.

“For us, we are lay people. All we can do is go there and look. We stand on the corner, we stand on where the house will be on the site and we look across the street at the Gavalas house that is for sale and there is a significant visual impact,” Mr. Louchheim said. “This house is going to be twice as big as that.”

Ms. Cooley and David E. Eagan, a partner at the firm, said they would resubmit the information as soon as they could. The hearing was kept open for that purpose. 

Under village zoning regulations, Mr. Goldman’s 43.5-acre oceanfront property at 451 Daniel’s Lane, listed under Sagaponack Ventures L.L.C., could have accommodated four houses plus a reserved farmland area. The farmland has already been set aside in a conservation easement.

At a hearing last month, more than a dozen residents spoke out against the proposal, arguing that it would destroy the unobstructed view to the ocean dunes. Many said they believe it is only the first step to re-applying to subdivide the land not already preserved.

The architectural and historical review board agrees. In a Friday letter, Thomas White, its chairman, wrote, “It is the consensus of the A.H.R.B. that because of the important scenic values of the parcel, the project should be located in the southern buildable portion of the parcel, seaward of the Peconic Land Trust open space easement, to minimize its impact on the vistas from the public rights of way bordering the north and west of the property.”

As a Rhode Island company navigates multiple regulatory agencies in order to construct the first offshore wind farms in the United States in the ocean east of Montauk, commercial fishermen are raising concerns about how such projects will impact their livelihood.

Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, believes that construction methodologies, and offshore wind farms themselves, pose a significant threat to fish habitats, spawning, and migratory patterns. Citing studies by the United States Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the experiences of the commercial fishing industry in Europe, where more than 2,000 wind turbines are in operation, she is urging a greater role for fishing interests in the decision-making process.

“We’re trying to sustainably grow the fishing economy,” said Ms. Brady, who lives in Montauk. “You don’t destroy something in the name of green energy. To destroy a sustainable industry in the name of sustainability is insane.”

According to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, which took effect in 1998 and was ratified by more than a dozen countries in Europe, offshore wind farms carry multiple potential impacts on fish. Construction noise, including pile driving into the ocean floor, could damage fishes’ hearing, affecting their ability to hunt prey and avoid predators. Clouding and sedimentation during construction could damage fish eggs and spawning grounds. Noise and vibrations emanating from wind turbines could result in stress and habitat loss. And, the report stated, electromagnetic fields from cables could disturb migratory species’ orientation  and impede their foraging activity. “For migratory species of fish,” Ms. Brady said, “there are a lot of unknowns. If you’re going to call a project green, you need to have some desire to make it truly green, as in ‘do no harm.’ This should be a huge concern for everyone.”

Jeffrey Grybowski, the chief executive officer of Deepwater Wind, which last year won the exclusive right to develop a 256-square-mile site approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, said that he recognizes the valid concerns of fishermen. The process of building a wind farm at the site off Montauk, he said, will include collaboration with the fishing industry. “We have begun some of those conversations with commercial fishing interests and groups, but at a preliminary stage,” he said. “Over time we will go into a much more robust and collaborative process where we will share a lot of information. We’ll be asking them to give us feedback on some possible plans, locations, the way construction operations might occur, and how they use the area.”

In Europe, Mr. Grybowski said, the impacts of pile driving have proven short in duration and limited in scope. There is temporary displacement of marine life, but normalcy returns as construction ceases, he said. Nonetheless, “the burden will be on us to demonstrate to regulatory agencies that that is the case.”

Mr. Grybowski is confident that offshore wind and commercial fishing can coexist and that wind farms can be designed to minimize impacts on fisheries. “It’s going to take a lot of interaction and back and forth,” he said.

Burial of electrical cables, he said, is a standard practice and in all parties’ interest. Individual turbines can be placed a mile apart if need be, leaving large corridors for vessels and trawl nets.

Mr. Grybowski said that Deepwater Wind will begin a survey of the site next spring that will include a study of marine life and a mapping of the ocean floor and the sediment layers beneath it. “Before we’re allowed to do any construction, we will have to conduct several years of studies. All that information becomes public and is reviewed by a whole host of federal agencies that have jurisdiction in the water,” he said.

John Williamson, a consultant for the environmental advocacy group Ocean Conservancy and formerly a commercial fisherman, is helping the fishing industry in New England become involved in the planning process, particularly in the siting of offshore wind farms. The Magnuson Fisheries Conservation Act of 1976 gave the federal government the authority to manage fisheries and claimed the area between 3 and 200 miles from the shore, “but we haven’t done a lot of planning in how we use the outer continental shelf,” he said. “And we need to.”

“The technology is scaling up in a big way,” Mr. Williamson said. “We’re just at the early stages of what we may see. That is really the issue lurking in the background. Stuff being proposed now is relatively small and manageable, but it becomes the seeds for much bigger growth, and you really want to create a process early in the game that will optimize placement.”

Last year, Mr. Williamson led a delegation of commercial fishing professionals to England, where they met with their counterparts who are now fishing around wind farms and spoke with wind power developers. “The questions in the end are, who is going to make the decisions, what is going to guide policy and design? We learned in the U.K. that a lot of small things can be done to make wind farms more accessible to fisheries.”

Larry Penny, East Hampton Town’s former natural resources director, is opposed to offshore wind farms, though his concern is more for birds than fish. “The turbines are big killers of birds,” he said. “I think it’s a risky situation, frankly. The construction, the pounding of the ocean floor — we know so little. I’m on the fishermen’s side on these things.”

Mr. Penny would prefer a concentration on solar energy to wind farms, be they on or offshore. “Solar is so easy and not out in the water, where you’ve got to tend those things,” he said.

East Hampton Town

Scavenger Waste, Mass Gatherings

The future of East Hampton Town’s scavenger waste treatment plant, which has been mothballed pending repairs and upgrades to meet environmental standards, will be the subject of a hearing tonight before the town board.

The plant is being used only for the transfer of septic waste from pump-out trucks for transport to other processing facilities, and officials are considering closing it permanently, based on a recommendation by a consultant.

Changes to the town code regarding permits for mass gatherings, or assemblies of more than 50 people on private properties, or “organized gatherings” of more than five people at public sites, will also be the subject of a hearing tonight.

The hearings begin at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

Chain Store Legislation

Draft legislation to regulate chain, or formula, stores in East Hampton Town has been revised to loosen the proposed restrictions.

An original version of the proposed law, being sponsored by Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, called for a ban on chain stores within a mile of the town’s historic districts or within half a mile of a designated historic landmark. That provision has now been dropped.

Also removed from the draft now under discussion were limits to the gross floor area and street-level road frontage of a building containing a chain store.

The legislation calls for formula businesses to undergo review by the town planning board, and would allow them to be established, by special permit, in central business and neighborhood business districts. At a meeting on Tuesday, town board members discussed amending the language of the law to specify that such stores could seek permits for any of the locations in town where zoning allows their specific use category, such as retail store, bar, or restaurant.

Although a hearing was held on the original draft, because of the changes the town board must hold a new hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

More Buses for Montauk Seniors

Transportation services provided by East Hampton Town for senior citizens and the disabled will expand in Montauk between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, liaison to the Human Services Department, announced Tuesday.

On Mondays through Fridays during that period, a bus and driver will be available for residents of the hamlet between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. At present, services are provided on those days only between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Those unable to drive, without access to other means of transportation, may request free door-to-door transport to and from programs at the Montauk Playhouse, to medical appointments at locations throughout Suffolk County, and to accomplish errands such as shopping or banking.

Amy Blanchard, the transportation supervisor at the Department of Human Services, can be contacted to make reservations, which are requested at least 72 hours in advance. Proof of residency and age may be required. According to the Americans With Disabilities Act, personal care attendants may accompany eligible clients.

The Human Services Department operates two vans, three buses, and two cars. In 2013, the department served 159 clients and made a total of 18,053 trips. Through April 15 of this year, the department has served 133 clients and made a total of 4,850 trips.

Carl Fisher Plaza

With a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the East Hampton Town Board gave a new official name to the Montauk circle, or plaza: Carl Fisher Plaza. The name commemorates the real estate developer and entrepreneur who purchased more than 10,000 acres in Montauk in 1925, envisioning the creation of a unique resort community.

According to the resolution approving the new name, Mr. Fisher hired 800 people to lay down roads, install utilities and other infrastructure, build the Montauk Manor hotel, and develop Star Island. He had housing built for them in the area called Shepherd’s Neck. He also opened Lake Montauk to Block Island Sound and constructed a yacht club, golf club, surf club, shopping center, and the Montauk Playhouse, now owned by the town.

Approximately 30 of his original buildings remain in Montauk.

To Reduce Energy Consumption

East Hampton Town’s plans for reducing energy consumption throughout the town, particularly that produced by fossil fuels, will be discussed at Town Hall at a meeting next Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Members of the town’s Energy Sustainability Committee, along with Councilwoman Overby, the group’s town board liaison, will be among the presenters to discuss the town’s “comprehensive energy vision” adopted last year, and ways that the town is promoting and increasing the use of renewable energy technologies.

The initiatives seek to provide “significant cost savings for residents and local businesses, in addition to environmental and public health benefits,” according to a release. Residents and business owners have been invited to attend and learn how they can become involved. Refreshments will be provided.

A Logo for the Arts Council

The East Hampton Arts Council, an advisory group to the town board, has launched a logo contest, seeking a design to be used on the council’s website and in social media. The logo must feature the name of the group, or its abbreviation, “EHAC,” and, according to a release, “be representative of the spirit of the arts community.”

Submissions, in .jpg computer files no larger than 300 megabytes, should be submitted by June 27 to [email protected], with “Logo Contest Submission” in the subject line. All, from students to professional artists, have been invited to participate.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Legislator Jay Schneiderman took to the road in heavy wind and rain to meet with their East End constituents, coming all the way to Montauk, Mr. Schneiderman’s home town, where they sat down with some 30 people at Gurney’s Inn and talked with a group of commercial fishermen at the docks.

 Mr. Bellone told the Gurney’s Inn group that the county intends to be a full partner with the East End and to focus on regional issues. He praised Mr. Schneiderman, saying with a laugh, “He’s your personal advocate for the East End. He’s not shy.” The men agreed that a good partnership makes for significant progress.

Topics ranged from erosion, to the need for  affordable housing, and the county’s 3-percent hotel-motel tax, which is set to expire at the end of 2015 but is expected to be reinstated. Also discussed were ways to keep young adults from leaving the county, which Mr. Bellone said occurred in a higher number than in any other region of the state. To counteract that he said public transportation needed to be improved and areas established where young people would not only be able to find work but places to socialize. The county, he said, should also find ways to provide 20-somethings with affordable housing and a lower cost of living.

The 3-percent hotel-motel tax has long been a thorn in Mr. Schneiderman’s and Montauk business owners’ sides. They argue that although Montauk pays more than many other places because of its motels and hotels, it doesn’t get its fair share of attention from the Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, which receives the tax money to promote tourism and maintain parks and landmarks.

Mr. Bellone said the bureau needed to do “better marketing on regional issues. It needs a real examination.”

“I’d like to see a bit more of that money head back this way,” Paul Monte, the general manager of Gurney’s who is president of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, said.

Mr. Bellone called public transportation a real problem  and said he intends to work on it immediately. “The county, I know, is over-processed and obsessed with studies. I’m not a study guy. They do a study and then it’s put on a shelf and forgotten. The way I work is to identify the problem, come up with a solution, build a consensus, and then move forward. Let’s go,” he said.

On erosion, Mr. Bellone said the county would pick up maintenance and inspection costs of the project outlined recently by the Army Corps of Engineers. “The county will be a full partner to the East End for things you want to see get done,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Schneiderman looked out Gurney’s wide windows toward the rough sea and said, “One good storm and we’re all in trouble.”

The owners of Cyril’s Fish House on Napeague were handed another setback in their fight to open the popular roadside eatery for the 2014 summer season, when the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals upheld a stop-work order issued last winter by Tom Preiato, the town’s chief building inspector.

The board, led by John Whelan, its newly appointed chairman, voted 4-0 to uphold the order, which was issued on Jan. 28 after two gasoline tanks dating from the late 1960s, when the site was a gas station, were dug up and removed.

Mr. Preiato expressed concern during an April 22 hearing on the appeal about the area under a brick patio and bar that face the highway, saying a proper inspection needed to be done. He said that the ground where the 2,000-gallon tanks were removed appeared to be sagging, and said he worried about the structural integrity of the bar itself.

In addition, the town has obtained a temporary restraining order from New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Farneti that prevents Cyril’s from opening in any other form than that which existed in the 1980s: 40 seats in a 300-square-foot structure with a 120-square-foot deck. According to the town’s Planning Department, the restaurant in its current form covers about 1,000 square feet when all structures on the site are included.

Michael Dioguardi, one of the owners, was scheduled to have a preliminary site plan meeting with the East Hampton Town Planning Board last night. Mr. Dioguardi’s attorney is Dianne Le Verrier. A site plan approval from the board is required before a building permit can be issued and the stop-work order lifted.