After almost a year’s buildup, the East Hampton Town Board has rejected a developer’s request to rezone 24 acres on Montauk Highway in Amagansett, known as 555, for 79 units of luxury housing for older residents.

       In turning down the request on Tuesday, a unanimous board cited the loss of farmland and the use of acreage that now would allow affordable housing for a project that would not provide that. The idea of a new town zoning district, said Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, was “generated by the developer; not a community-based effort, not something the community decided we need.”

       Putnam Bridge, the Connecticut company that owns the land, at the eastern edge of the hamlet, had asked the town to establish a new senior citizens housing zoning district there, allowing denser development than the code now permits.

       A public hearing, held open from December at the developers’ request, was held on the proposal at last Thursday’s town board meeting. Town board members that night rejected another request to hold the hearing open.

       Also on Tuesday, the board turned down another Amagansett-centric request, this time from the owners of the former Balasses House antiques shop on the corner of Hedges Lane and Montauk Highway in the center of the hamlet. They were seeking a change from the property’s residential zoning, with a limited-business overlay allowing certain kinds of commercial use, to a central business designation, which would have expanded its potential uses.

       Four of the five board members were unified in their opposition to the Balasses House zone change, but Councilman Fred Overton said he would like to hear more from town attorneys about the limitations placed on the property by its location in the Amagansett Historic District. With the historic district restrictions, and perhaps an agreement from the owners not to establish certain kinds of businesses there, he suggested a central business designation might be acceptable.

       During the Balasses House hearing last Thursday, JoAnne Pahwul, assistant  director of the East Hampton Town Planning Department, said it was the department’s consensus that a change in zone was counter to several recommendations in the town comprehensive plan. There were concerns as well, she said, about setting a precedent that could be applied to neighboring limited-business zone properties.

       The planning board, Ms. Pahwul said,  cited the prospect of heavier traffic generated by a more intense use of the property, and, she said, worry over the impact of decreased setbacks from nearby properties.

       Richard Whalen, the attorney for the owners, Max and Katherine Bergmann, who inherited the property from their father, Tom Bergmann, cited sections of the code referring to the goals of limiting highway sprawl and clustering commercial development in downtown areas.

        “We’re not in the highway areas that I think the [limited business overlay] was designed to limit the development of,” he said. “We’re not on the highway; we’re on Amagansett Main Street . . . I don’t think that’s an intensification of use in downtown Amagansett.”

       And, he said, because the lot is in the Amagansett Historic District, it is unlikely there could be substantial changes to the buildings.

       Margaret Turner,  executive director of the East Hampton Business Alliance, spoke in favor of the zone change at the hearing. “If you keep restricting businesses, this town is going to wither on the vine,” she said.

       “Why Balasses House was zoned [limited business overlay] is unclear,” Ms. Turner said, “except maybe because it looks like a house . . . It is in the center of the Amagansett business district, where business should be.”

       “What you’ve just heard is how the center of a historic small community gets slashed. Not with a big bang, but with a thousand cuts. It’s like the camel’s head in the door,” Debra Foster, a former town councilwoman, told the board. The town board, she said, must look at zoning “comprehensively.”

       Ms. Pahwul agreed. “If you’re going to expand the central business district, then we recommend you take a broader look,” she said.

       The East Hampton Town Planning Board held a public hearing on Feb. 5 on the proposed expansion of a retail building on Montauk Highway even though the discussion and the legal notice for the hearing were based on an apparent misunderstanding of what was involved.

       The proposal is to merge the lots at 24 and 26 Montauk Highway and to expand a 3,266-square-foot structure on the western one, which would become the eastern headquarters of Saunders and Associates, a real estate firm. The property is opposite Baiting Hollow Road and west of the Exxon station on the highway.

       Eric Brown, an attorney with Ackerman, O’Brien, Pachman and Brown, has met several times with the board about the proposed site plan, which would result in a property a little over 33,000 square feet, with the eastern half used for parking. Both parcels are in a limited business district, which limits commercial space to 2,000 square feet. The existing, considerably larger structure is legal because it predates that zoning.

       In earlier discussions, the board had been apprised of a memo from Kathryn Santiago, its previous attorney, in which she said the “applicant proposed to transfer the 2,000 square feet of commercial space from the vacant (eastern) parcel to the existing building.” The result would be a two-story, 5,266-square-foot structure. 

       In addition to a site plan, there were two apparent issues: whether a transfer of square footage, an apparent first, was acceptable — Ms. Santiago had called it a “density transfer from the adjoining lot — and, second, whether adding 2,000 square feet to the existing structure would constitute an illegal expansion of a nonconforming use.

       The notice for the public hearing was sent out in early January. However, by that time, Elizabeth Vail had become the town’s new  top attorney. She had a different view the matter, saying it was for Tom Preiato, the town’s chief building inspector, to determine the legality of such an expansion. Mr. Preiato said last Friday that he had drafted a preliminary memo, citing different, and inconsistent, sections of the town code, but had come to the conclusion, as Ms. Santiago had, that the expansion was legally acceptable.

       He pointed out that although one of the sections of the code limits new construction in a limited business district to 2,000 square feet, another section states that the “limitations and requirements set forth in the town code shall not apply to legally pre-existing commercial structures within the limited business overlay district that are converted to another commercial use.”

       This led to a good deal of confusion when it came time to hold the public hearing. Reed Jones, the board’s chair, turned to John Jilnicki, who is now the planning board’s attorney, for advice.

       “We’re okay to proceed?” Mr. Jones asked.

       “I am confused,” Ian Calder-Piedmonte, a member of the board, said, seeming to speak for several other board members. “There isn’t a 2,000-square-foot cap? Didn’t we ask them to scale it back?” he asked. In fact, the applicant had already agreed to reduce the size of the expansion from 2,500 to 2,000 square feet.

       “There appears to be an inconsistency in the town code,” Mr. Jilnicki told the board. “It appears there may not be any limit,” he said about the possible size of an expansion.

       The board agreed to go ahead with the hearing, but to keep it open afterward to allow Mr. Preiato to present his formal determination. However, Mr. Jilnicki cautioned that the applicant would be limited in the expansion to the size in the legal notice, that is, 2,000 square feet. If the applicant wants to exceed that size, he said, it would have to revisit the board with a new site plan.

       Mr. Reed opened the hearing. Only one person spoke, that being Mr. Brown. “We intend to pursue the project as proposed,” he said. “The applicant instructed us to be cooperative.” He apologized for any confusion that might have been created. “This is not a density transfer,” he said.

       Hearings will be held by the East Hampton Town Board next Thursday on four land preservation purchases to be made using the community preservation fund. They will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

       On Neck Path in Springs, 16.5 acres of woodland are proposed to be purchased for $2.7 million for open space or recreation. The land is owned by Catherine Lederer and Rodney Plaskett.

       A second purchase to be discussed is that of almost four acres at 143 Middle Highway in East Hampton, owned by Christopher Barnett and Christine Marra. The cost is $750,000.

       According to the town land acquisition department, the property contains “high quality oak, pitch pine, and white pine forest,” and contains a trail that could connect to an extensive trail system at the end of Middle Highway. The parcel is in a groundwater protection area.

       Also being considered for purchase, at $885,000, is an 8.3-acre property at 303 Town Line Road in Wainscott, which is in a county-designated pine barrens area and in town and regional groundwater protection areas. It is adjacent to 166 acres of preserved land and is owned by Wendy Fitzpatrick.

       Also in Wainscott, the town plans to join with the Peconic Land Trust to buy the development rights over 4.4 acres at 7 Beach Lane in order to preserve farmland and open space. The total cost of the purchase is $7 million; each participant will pay half. The land is owned by Jane Weigley.

       Hearings will also be held tonight on including each of the properties to the town’s community preservation fund management and stewardship plan, another step in finalizing the proposed deals.

       Last Thursday night, with a resolution of the town board, Zachary Cohen was appointed to be East Hampton’s representative to the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund advisory opinions bureau. The group was established to develop guidelines and issue opinions on use and administration of the land preservation fund in the five East End towns where it has been established. The fund receives the proceeds from a 2-percent tax on most real estate transfers.

       Mr. Cohen will serve for two years, until the end of 2015.

Eye Energy Generation

       East Hampton Town will solicit proposals for two energy-generation projects designed to augment current energy supply and increase the town’s energy self-reliance. A solar-power plant at East Hampton Airport could generate up to 280 megawatts, and a “peaker plant” to produce additional energy during peak periods could be designed to use innovative green technologies, Frank Dalene of the town’s energy sustainability committee said at a town board meeting Tuesday. The project is another step toward meeting the town’s energy needs with sustainable or locally produced energy, perhaps precluding the need for utility companies to increase supply through additional plants or transmission lines. Last fall, the town board adopted a “comprehensive energy vision” and policy endorsing the energy sustainability committee’s promotion of energy conservation, pollution prevention, and similar programs, and the town’s participation in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Climate Smart Communities Program. On Jan. 21, the town board accepted proposals from three solar energy contractors to erect solar panel installations on town property for participation in the Long Island Power Authority’s FIT II program, through which power generated would be added to the grid. Up to 10 town-owned properties are being considered for solar sites.

To Review Taxi Regs

       Members of a 2014 committee on East Hampton Town taxi regulations appointed by the town board last week will review the town’s current legislation governing the operation of cabs and recommend to the town board possible revisions. The five-member group includes Wayne Lentini and Mark Ripolone, two taxi business owners, James Hewitt, a Montauk restaurant owner, Laraine Creegan, the director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, and Diane Hausman, the chairwoman of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee. Michael Sendlenski, a town attorney, Carole Brennan, the town clerk, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, and representatives from the town police, ordinance enforcement office, and licensing review board will work with the group.

    East Hampton’s deer population can breathe easy, for this year anyway. Both Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell and Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said on Friday that the planned thinning of the herd, which had been proposed by the Long Island Farm Bureau in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, would not take place this winter.

    In a memo to other town board officials last Thursday, Mr. Cantwell said he and Councilman Fred Overton had concluded that “a cull was not something we were going to be able to participate in, in the next couple months.” Among other things, a state-required environmental impact statement cannot be completed in time, he said.

    The memo also cited a “minimal” response from private property owners willing to allow federal sharpshooters on their land. Mr. Overton is the town board liaison to the deer management program.

    “There is a lot of work that has not been done to this point in order for the town to carefully consider signing an agreement,” Mr. Cantwell said Friday. “There are more questions than answers.”

    Whether the board wants to consider participation in the program next year, he added, “is an open question.”

    As a consequence of the town’s withdrawal from the program, the village of Sagaponack, which had passed a resolution to take part in the cull if the towns of East Hampton and Southampton did, has also withdrawn.

    Mayor Rickenbach said in a statement that “it was the intent and desire of the Village to address wildlife management issues with a regional approach, but as surrounding municipalities have not committed to participate it no longer seems a project the village can tackle on its own.”

    Also on Friday, in what opponents called a significant victory, Judge Andrew G. Tarantino Jr. issued a temporary restraining order in State Supreme Court in Riverhead preventing the town and village, and the town trustees, from engaging in the planned cull. The two sides were to have returned to court next  week, but that is now apparently moot.

    Fifteen individuals, along with the East Hampton Group for Wildlife and the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Center of the Hamptons, all represented by the New York law firm Devereaux, Baumgarten, filed the lawsuit against the town, village, and trustees last month. The suit followed the previous town board’s November vote authorizing a contract with the farm bureau and the Department of Agriculture for an organized cull. East Hampton Village okayed the plan in December.

    Opposition erupted soon afterward. Opponents, led by Bill Crain of the wildlife group and Ron Delsener, a concert promoter and animal activist who has a house in East Hampton, drew some 250 people to a rally at Hook Mill on Jan. 18.

    Proponents of the cull argued that Lyme and other diseases and deer-vehicle collisions constitute a public health emergency. The destruction of residents’ landscaping and subsequent proliferation of deer fencing have also been cited.

    Opponents disputed a statistical relationship between Lyme disease and the size of the herd, given that the primary vector, ticks, feed on many animals. They also advocate the use of deer-resistant landscaping and slow driving to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.

    On Monday, Mr. Delsener called Supervisor Cantwell “the best person we’ve had in this town in years. I think he’s a very rational person, and he listens to people.”

    Tom Baker, an East Hampton Town fire marshal, served a notice of violation on the East Hampton Town Justice Court Friday after finding a dead battery on an emergency exit light during his routine annual check of the building. The staff of the court should not feel singled out; Mr. Baker has written his own office up for a violation during an inspection. He said that he felt obligated, when he found the dead light in the office, to write it up.

    He walks from building to building, armed with a pole with a point at its end to reach smoke detectors and emergency lights on high ceilings.

    Neither the courthouse nor the town fire marshal’s office will be any poorer for receiving the summonses, Mr. Baker said as he made his rounds through the courthouse building, checking each and every emergency apparatus there.

    “We believe it is better to encourage people to take the money and put it towards fixing the violation, as opposed to paying a summons,” Mr. Baker said, as he headed out of the building toward Town Hall, where, he said yesterday, he found only one violation, an emergency light with only one of two bulbs working.   

    On Tuesday, the East Hampton Town Board rescinded an earlier vote of the board in November that had paved the way for the town’s participation in a United States Department of Agriculture deer culling program.

    The program, which had proposed to eliminate 3,000 deer across the East End, caused a public outcry before even getting under way, and several towns and villages have withdrawn from it.

    The resolution passed unanimously on Tuesday states that East Hampton Town “is committed to considering the potential environmental impact” of a deer cull, following New York State Environmental Quality Review Act guidelines, and that, because that process has not occurred and “will take a significant amount of time,” the town will not enter into a contract regarding the deer cull during 2014.  

    Tenants and administrators of Windmill Village II, an affordable housing complex for senior citizens off Accabonac Road in East Hampton, brought long-standing complaints about mold in the basements of the buildings there, and its potential effects on health, to a meeting of the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday.

    Although Windmill II was built and is operated by the independent Windmill Housing Development Fund Company rather than the town, as are Windmill I and the newer senior citizen complex at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett, town officials have inspected the basements there and at one point withheld rents provided through federally subsidized programs until repairs were made.

    Bill Smith, whose sons own Mildew Busters, a company based on Shelter Island, which was called in by the tenants, said efforts to eliminate the mold, which he called “alarming and off the charts,” had been ineffective and even made matters worse.

    But Michael DeSario, the president of the board of the Windmill company, told the board that the situation had been properly addressed with the help of a firm called Insight Environmental,    **Insight Environmental was first called in April of 2009 after water runoff and plumbing leaks had gone undetected in ceilings, causing water to seep through to Sheetrock in the basements, causing mold. He said  Sheetrock was removed, uncovered areas were treated with a moldicide, plumbing fixed, air-circulation systems installed, and new Sheetrock put up. Outdoors, land was regraded and leaders and gutters installed to prevent future problems.  

    “We spent over $70,000 in doing it,” Mr. DeSario said, after which the buildings were tested and deemed clean.

    Last spring, when mold was again found in Windmill basements, Mr. DeSario said the board of directors asked tenants to remove the items they had stored in the basements, particularly upholstered furniture. “The residents had a problem with that,” he said, which resulted in a decision to allow storage only in plastic bins.

    Insight Environmental was called in again and began additional remediation work in August, Mr. DeSario said. The wet Sheetrock was removed, areas treated and vacuumed, and dehumidifiers installed. Tests in four buildings where the work has been completed have shown good results, he said.

    A test in November at the most severely affected building revealed mold levels similar to those found outdoors, which is the goal, according to an Insight Environmental spokesman.

    “We’re trying to do everything that we can. It’s a serious issue. We do take it seriously and we’re going to do everything we can to remediate it until the problem is resolved,” Mr. DeSario said. Nevertheless he said mold was “almost like a nonstop, recurring problem. The main culprit is the Sheetrock.”

    With six apartments per building, it is not uncommon for an overflow from a tub or sink or a plumbing leak to create a wet environment in the basement ceiling, he said. The long-term solution is to remove the ceiling Sheetrock so that leaks can be immediately detected, Mr. DeSario said. Although the state fire code requires Sheetrock, it could be eliminated, he said, if a sprinkler system were installed, and the basements kept empty of flammable items.

    But Mr. Smith said tenants “are clearly all suffering from symptoms that have to do with mold exposure.” He said initial test results showed several types of toxigenic mold, which are not in themselves toxic, but can produce toxins. According to the Centers for Disease Control, mold exposure does not always present a health problem indoors, but exposure has been linked with upper respiratory tract symptoms such as coughs and wheezing. People may experience nasal stuffiness and eye or skin irritation, according to the C.D.C. website, as well as more severe reactions.

    Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell asked Mr. Smith to submit his information to the town housing director, Tom Ruhle. He also asked that Windmill board members, tenants, and their respective mold experts meet, along with town housing officials, to map out a mutually agreeable course of action.

       The East Hampton Town Trustees determined on Tuesday night to write an official letter to the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals concerning the Maidstone Club’s application to expand and modernize its irrigation system. At issue is the proposed project’s potential impact on Hook Pond.

       Today was the final day for public comment. The consensus among the trustees was that the application would be approved, a determination that is expected at the zoning board’s Feb. 14 meeting.

       “If something really detrimental happens to this pond and we don’t say something strong, we’re going to look poor to the public that we didn’t protect their assets,” Deborah Klughers told her colleagues. “This board will be not providing the public the protection we’re supposed to be giving.” The trustees oversee the town’s beaches and waterways on behalf of the community.

       Ms. Klughers told the trustees that Linda James, a former president of the Hook Pond Associates homeowners group, has enlisted a consultant to develop her suggestion that the Maidstone be required to fund any mitigation and restoration  work necessitated by the irrigation system. Ms. James urged the zoning board to attach such conditions to its approval at a recent hearing.

       Ms. James, said Ms. Klughers, “has already spoken with the town and village and they are on board with discussing remediation.” Ms. James has asked whether the trustees would join the effort, and Ms. Klughers, who is in favor of joining it, suggested that the trustees include that information in their letter. 

       Bill Taylor, a trustee, agreed and suggested including an insistence that the Maidstone ensure sufficient water-quality monitoring, funded by the private club, and share the results with the trustees.

       Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, said a letter would be written, sent to the trustees for approval, and delivered to the zoning board ahead of today’s deadline.

       In other business, Stephanie Forsberg told her colleagues that a report on last year’s water-quality testing, performed by trustees in cooperation with Dr. Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University, would soon be complete. “I’m working on coming up with a date for a public talk that will be giving those results,” she said. The report will be presented at Town Hall, probably late next month or early in March.

       Ms. Klughers also told of a “shoreline sweep” to be held on Feb. 8. It is hoped that the beach cleanup will include the oceanfront from Montauk to Wainscott, she said, and asked the trustees if they would help to collect bags of trash using the board’s truck. The town board, she said, supports the project.

       In her clerk’s report, Ms. McNally told the board that the East End Trustees, comprising the trustees of East Hampton, Southampton, and Southold, will meet on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Southampton Town Hall. Each of the boards has new members, she said, and meeting to discuss common issues is important.

       The trustees were cheered by Ms. McNally’s news that Elizabeth Baldwin, an assistant town attorney and counsel to the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, has spoken with that board and that it will amend its application forms to include language stipulating that the trustees must be notified when actions are to be performed on land or waterways under their jurisdiction.

       The trustees are often frustrated by such projects as the installation or repair of shoreline fencing, bulkheads, and revetments that proceed without their consent, sometimes even without their knowledge.

       Ms. McNally also announced that an operation and maintenance grant of $10,000 had been received from the state for its pumpout boats, which are stationed in East Hampton and Montauk.

East Hampton Town

Balasses House Rezoning Hearing

       The East Hampton Town Board will hold a public hearing next Thursday on a request by the owners of the former Balasses House antiques shop, a building on Main Street in Amagansett, to rezone the half-acre site from residential, with a limited-business overlay, to a central business zone.

       The change would allow the building, now housing an art gallery, to be put to a wider variety of possible commercial uses. The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

Tax Receiver on Medical Leave

       With a resolution passed unanimously on Jan. 21, the East Hampton Town Board granted a leave of absence, under the Family Medical Leave Act, to Monica Rottach, the town tax receiver.

       Neide Valeira, a town accountant, was appointed interim tax receiver earlier this month to replace Ms. Rottach, after issues with delivery of tax bills to residents were uncovered for the second year in a row. Town officials are trying to determine why numerous taxpayers did not receive their bills in the mail, and Supervisor Larry Cantwell said Tuesday that a full report was expected within a few weeks.J.P.

New York State

Bow-and-Arrow Setback Reduction

       In his proposed state budget for 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has included a provision to reduce from 500 feet to 150 feet the setback from buildings and dwellings for bow-and-arrow deer-hunting, according to a release from Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. Mr. Thiele said the measure would “greatly increase the areas available for deer hunting on the East End.”

       The state Department of Environmental Conservation recommended the move in its Deer Management Plan. The change would  be consistent with the setbacks for bow-and-arrow hunting in most adjoining states, Mr. Thiele noted.

       Bow-and-arrow hunters need permission from landowners before they can hunt on their property. The new provision, if enacted as part of the budget, would apply to a neighboring structure.

       Mr. Thiele, who introduced an identical proposal last year at the request of East End government officials, called enactment of the measure “a good first step” in reducing the number of deer on eastern Long Island.