A plan devised by a task force to “spread the pain” of helicopter noise over three routes into and out of East Hampton Airport was supported by a majority of the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday, although officials acknowledged it would make no one happy.

    A switch last year in the predominant helicopter route, sending most of the craft over Jessup’s Neck in Noyac as well as over hundreds of Noyac and Sag Harbor houses, caused residents there, and their elected officials — Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, Representative Tim Bishop, and New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. — to descend on the East Hampton Town Board asking for a change before this year’s busy season.

    The task force was made up of representatives of several civic groups, regional airports, and the Towns of Southampton, Shelter Island, and Southold. The plan it came up with was outlined for the town board at a work session on Tuesday by Jim Brundige, the East Hampton Airport manager. Though the town has no authority to require aircraft to use particular routes, protocols are usually discussed and agreed upon with industry representatives, and, said Mr. Brundige, compliance with suggested routing is good. He is now expected to work with a helicopter pilots’ association to put the new guidelines in place.

    The new protocol limits the flights over the Jessup’s Neck area, which intersects with a “waypoint” where helicopters turn off an F.A.A.-mandated east-west route along the north shore of Long Island. That route is now to be used only by incoming aircraft.

    Half the departing helicopters will be sent on a new route over Barcelona Neck in East Hampton, “with the intention” that helicopters be at least 3,000 feet above ground by that point, Mr. Brundige said, though conditions and individual helicopter performance may vary. Other outgoing helicopters, as well as a percentage of incoming craft, will be asked to use a route along the south shore, accessing the airport over Georgica.

    “The issue over the last few years was the inequity that we threw this over a neighboring town,” Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said at the meeting.

    Southampton Supervisor Throne-Holst attended the session, representing, she said, not only her constituents but Southampton Councilwoman Christine Scalera, Mr. Thiele, and Mr. Bishop. She expressed concern that East Hampton might not implement the routes proposed by the task force, but she called the effort by East Hampton to distribute aircraft noise more widely “the right and courageous thing to do.”

    “We had a very clear understanding that what we worked on there, we were committed to,” Ms. Throne-Holst said, “. . . that what we came up with there was the protocol for the 2013 season.”

    “Perfect — no. Better? Most certainly,” she said. “So here we are, the Tuesday before Memorial Day weekend, and I have to say that I bring collective concern from Congressman Bishop, Assemblyman Thiele, and my constituents that that is not what is going to happen.”

    The majority East Hampton Town Board consensus served to alleviate that concern. But even with the new routes, Ms. Throne-Holst said, “No one will be completely happy. It’s a problem that essentially doesn’t have a solution, as long as there’s an airport. I understand the conundrum; most citizens will understand the conundrum — some won’t, many will.”

    “The board has an obligation to ensure that we’re not unfairly burdening one group,” East Hampton Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said.

    However, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said that given his primary responsibility to represent East Hampton constituents, “I cannot recommend additional routes.” In addition, he said, “I am extremely disappointed that we are establishing what amounts to a helicopter superhighway over our most protected and pristine parts of town. We are going to greatly diminish the experience of visitors there,” he said.

    “If we’re going to share the pain, let’s spread it even more widely,” he said, suggesting a 360-degree spectrum of routes. That, Mr. Brundige said, would be impractical to implement, though not impossible.

    “Route changes do not address the problem,” Mr. Van Scoyoc continued. “I think that the whole discussion of routes really takes the focus off dealing with the real problem. Rerouting traffic doesn’t alleviate the problem; it only displaces the burden. Unless you pursue restrictions that you limit the number of impacts, or reduce the number of impacts. . . . We have no legal control unless we have control over our airport,” he said. 

    The acceptance of F.A.A. grants leaves the town tied to the agency’s operational guidelines for the airport. Whether the town could, or should, eschew further grants, and how the town might position itself to gain greater autonomy over airport operating decisions, such as potentially limiting its use or the hours of operation, has been a subject of contentious debate. Existing “assurances,” or agreements, with the F.A.A., will expire after 2014, and the town has begun to gather aircraft noise data that could be used to make a case for local control.

    The key focus, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby agreed, should be “on the end of 2014, and getting rid of the F.A.A. assurances. . . . “I’m very conflicted,” she said, as far as interim decisions about what to do for this summer season and next, noting that the board will inevitably hear from East Hampton residents under the proposed new helicopter routes. But, she said, “I believe in being a good neighbor, and would expect the same from Southampton.”

    She endorsed the suggested new routes reluctantly, as did Councilman Dominick Stanzione. “I’m very reluctantly going to not oppose what Jim’s proposing,” Mr. Stanzione said.

    “Let everyone get disturbed, and let everyone come to this town board and say, ‘this is not the quality of life’ ,” Ms. Overby said.

    “How many lines do you have for noise complaints?” she asked Mr. Brundige rhetorically. “Just one? Tongue-in-cheek, I’m suggesting you increase it.”

    Southampton Councilman Chris Nuzzi was nominated by the Suffolk County Republican Committee last week to challenge the five-term incumbent Jay Schneiderman for Suffolk County legislator. Mr. Schneiderman, a member of the Independence Party, is seeking his sixth and final two-year term.

    Mr. Nuzzi is serving his second and final term as a member of the Southampton Town Board.

    Mr. Nuzzi cited the county’s budget, the environment, and state and federal mandates that he said handcuff the county as top issues in this race. Southampton, he said, “is fiscally stable at a time when many other municipalities are in distress, Suffolk County being one.”

    Conservative budgeting and practices, and the ability to reinvent government, are important, he said, “especially throughout these difficult times. We’ve been able to do that without increasing the tax levy three years straight while reducing staff through attrition — not layoffs — so services weren’t impacted. I certainly believe that some of the commonsense practical solutions we’ve brought to Southampton can be brought to Suffolk County as well,” he said.

    A continued commitment, on the county level, to the environment is also crucial, Mr. Nuzzi said Monday, calling for further county cooperation with towns on land preservation efforts. “As a town board member, it’s been vitally important to have that partnership with the county on certain acquisitions — in particular, some of the very expensive acquisitions on the eastern end of the town. The county’s presence and participation has helped us to make a lot of those acquisitions a reality. We need to continue the county’s commitment on environmental preservation, and that means funding programs as well.”

    Hurricane Sandy, he said, highlights the importance of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Fire Island to Montauk Reformulation Study. “All of us should be coming together to make sure that plan is not just completed, but funding associated with beach renourishment for areas most at risk [is appropriated]. We tend to look at this somewhat territorially, [but] there has to be a comprehensive plan for all areas. Through our own policies we have initiated what I believe are good programs focused on restoration of areas of beach that have been damaged or are at risk. We’ve implemented those districts without burdening the taxpayer — those are privately funded by individuals who are going to most directly benefit.” But, he added, “there is a tangible benefit to the rest of the community.”

    In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Schneiderman referred to many of the same issues, including “the thousands of acres of land I’ve been involved in preserving.” He also cited his attention to “critical issues like [county] buses running on Sundays, and adding an extra lane to the main road coming out to our area, County Road 39.”

    “I have had 10 consecutive years without any increases in the county property tax in my district, East Hampton and Southampton Town, which is a significant accomplishment, particularly in light of the county’s fiscal challenges during the recession,” Mr. Schneiderman said.

    On Hurricane Sandy and the prospect of future extreme weather events, Mr. Schneiderman said that the planet is clearly warming, weather patterns are changing, and sea level is rising. “We do need to rethink our coastal policies because of it,” he said, “but the most immediate urgency is getting sand put back in place, particularly in downtown Montauk, where you have hotels in jeopardy of being washed away. We need a major beach nourishment project there, and Congressman Bishop has been working on it. I’ve been in close communication with his office.”

    Of his opponent, Mr. Nuzzi said, “I have differing viewpoints on many things as it relates to Jay’s presence in the legislature. First and foremost, you have to want to be there, and I do. I’ve gotten an opportunity I’m very thankful to the people of Southampton for. I want to continue in public service and saw this as a position where I could contribute. I don’t know exactly what he wants to do, but I can tell you this is a position I’m excited about seeking.” Mr. Nuzzi works for Skyline TRG Title Agency, a New York City title insurance company, and earned a master’s degree in public policy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He lives in Westhampton Beach.

    Mr. Schneiderman served two terms as East Hampton Town supervisor, elected on the Republican ticket. He was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature in 2003 and ran unopposed on the Republican, Democratic, Independence, Conservative, and Working Families Party lines in 2009. He switched party affiliation to become a member of the Independence Party before the 2011 election, then ran on the Democratic, Working Families, and Independence lines, winning by a wide margin.

    Mr. Schneiderman considered a 2013 run for East Hampton Town supervisor on the Republican ticket, and was named by the Republicans as their top choice, but opted to seek a final term in the Legislature. He lives in Montauk.

    “I’ll continue to work hard for my constituents,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “I believe this region needs full-time representation. Otherwise, we’ll be taken advantage of, as we have in the past.”

    With summer approaching, the Division of Vector Control in Suffolk County’s Department of Public Works will soon resume its battle against mosquitoes.

    “We’ll basically be conducting surveillance for mosquitoes and primarily treating breeding sites,” said Dominick Ninivaggi, superintendent of the county’s Division of Vector Control. It’s an approach similar to previous years and conforms to a long-term plan passed by the County Legislature in 2007, over objections of environmentalists and the county’s Council on Environmental Quality.

    In 2007, the East Hampton Town Board adopted a resolution asking the county to discontinue use of methoprene, but state law prohibits local municipalities from enacting their own laws with respect to pesticide use, Mr. Ninivaggi told the board last year.

    The county rarely uses adulticides in East Hampton, Mr. Ninivaggi said. “The only community where we’ve had to use them is Beach Hampton, where we’ve had severe problems in the last couple years. We try to control in the larval stage.”

    Last year, despite several cases of West Nile virus in humans in the county and positive tests of mosquitoes in East Hampton, some residents and officials on the South Fork objected to the spraying of methoprene, a larvicide, and resmethrin, an adulticide, citing potential health hazards to humans and non-target species including lobsters and crabs. A 2012 study by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection also reported the existence of residues of both pesticides in lobsters harvested from Long Island Sound, though Mr. Ninivaggi stated that that could not have resulted from Suffolk County’s application, citing its minimal use and the distance between application sites and the Sound.

    Deborah Klughers, an East Hampton Town Trustee, has had discussions with Mr. Ninivaggi about vector control that she said included concerns about the pesticides’ potential health effects on humans and nontarget species. But a lack of information dispensed to the public, she said, is another serious concern. “Not only are people misunderstanding what the program is, they’re not being given an opportunity to take any precaution,” she said. “They just get sprayed. If the public knew what was going on, maybe they’d be more outraged. Notify the public, and seek alternatives,” she said.

    She wants the town to adopt a more aggressive and preventive approach to vector control. “This town can do a lot of things on the municipal level. I’ll try my best as a trustee, but there’s not enough time in the day for me,” she said. The Highway Department, she suggested, should examine catch basins, and the Sanitation Department should eliminate any standing water from its property.

    Public service announcements in the media advising residents as to steps they can take would help, she said. “Birdbaths, dog bowls — they need to be empty. No standing water, in tires, buckets. They should drill holes an inch off the bottom of garbage pails so the water can drain out. They shouldn’t be out at dawn or dusk, or [should] put on long sleeves. If people have ponds, they can use killifish or eastern mosquitofish,” she said.

    Locally, there is a large population of killifish, which feed on insect larvae, said Mark Abramson, a senior environmental analyst in the town’s Natural Resources Department. “We have closed off some vector ditches in Accabonac [Harbor] and Northwest Creek, which would keep vectors from stormwater input into the bays,” he said. “We’re also trying to keep the killifish that will eat the larvae in those areas.”

    But, Mr. Abramson added, “The complaints on mosquitoes outweigh the complaints from people who want to protect anything besides mosquitoes. If they don’t spray, they’re going to get a lot more complaints than from people who are concerned about wildlife or health. But they use the least amount of invasive chemicals to try and specifically target the larval mosquitoes.”

    Above all, Ms. Klughers said, “The public has a right to know what the government is doing to them and their environment. Whether it’s good or bad is another discussion, but if the public can know they can take precautions.” Fishermen, she said, have complained about aerial spraying directly above them, as have people kayaking in local waters. “People don’t know what to do. I get people constantly telling me this. They’re just not informed,” she said.

    Informing the public is challenging, Mr. Ninivaggi said, because it is difficult to predict precisely when a helicopter will reach a particular area. Wind conditions are also a factor in when and whether aerial spraying will be conducted at a given time. When an adulticide is to be applied, he said, “We use the county’s code red system to phone telephones in the area. For the aerial treatment of salt marshes, we have an e-mail list. We’re always looking for ways to improve public notice.”

    Residents can join a “no-spray” registry by downloading a form from the county’s Division of Vector Control Web site and submitting it by fax. The county will “make a good faith effort,” according to the site, to exclude registrants’ property by stopping adulticide spraying from trucks within 150 feet of either side of their property. The registry does not apply to larvicide, nor will it be in effect in the event that the Commissioner of Health declares a public health emergency.

The nomination of Zachary Cohen for East Hampton Town councilman from the floor at the Democrats’ nominating convention on May 15 made for some tense moments for Job Potter and Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the candidates favored by the party’s screening committee. In the end, Mr. Potter and Ms. Burke-Gonzalez prevailed.

    They will share the top of the ticket with Larry Cantwell, the outgoing East Hampton Village administrator, who is also running on the Independence Party line.

    Until earlier this month, Mr. Cohen, who lost his 2011 bid for town supervisor by just 15 votes, was hotly pursing the Democrats’ nomination for supervisor again, but in the wake of the screening committee’s announcement earlier this month that it would back Mr. Cantwell, he withdrew his name from consideration. On the morning of May 15, he said he had “urged everyone to support Larry.”

    At the convention, held this year at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett, members of the Democratic Committee who disagreed with the screening committee’s recommendations could offer alternate nominations. Chuck Hitchcock of Springs nominated Mr. Cohen for councilman and Mary Miller of Montauk seconded.

    “The past two years have been very painful for all of us in East Hampton,” Mr. Hitchcock said, reflecting on Mr. Cohen’s narrow loss in 2011. He said Mr. Cohen “has done his homework and is ready to begin work on Jan. 1” and called him “an electable, intelligent, and caring individual who will make an excellent town board member.”

    When the votes were cast, it was clear many agreed. Mr. Cohen received support from committee members representing 10 of the town’s 19 election districts.

    Two committee people represent each district, with their votes weighted according to the number of Democrats who voted in the last gubernatorial election in the district. Some seats are vacant. If one of the two was absent at the convention on May 15, the remaining committee person held all the votes for the district and could not split them between more than two town board candidates. Michael O’Neill, for example, was the only one representing Election District 11 in East Hampton, the third largest in town, giving him 368 votes to bestow on each of his choices. With the other largest districts each represented by two committee people, that made Mr. O’Neill the most powerful man in the room.

    He at first said he wanted to split his votes between Mr. Potter, Mr. Cohen, and Ms. Burke-Gonzalez, but when he was reminded of the rules, he asked for more time to consider his choice. When the vote came back around to him, he named Mr. Cohen and Ms. Burke-Gonzalez, saying it was clear that Mr. Potter already had the votes to win nomination.

    Kathy Cunningham, president of the Quiet Skies Coalition and executive director of the Village Preservation Society of East Hampton, was also nominated from the floor for town board. “She is a leader” who “strongly supports the same Democratic ideals that we do,” said Naomi Salz, who nominated her.

    Jim McMillan, who seconded the nomination, called Ms. Cunningham’s accomplishments “vast and impressive” and praised her tenacity in fighting for what she believes in. “She won’t stop, which is great. That is exactly what we need.”

    Despite support for both floor nominations, Mr. Potter and Ms. Burke-Gonzalez won fairly decisively. Mr. Potter was a town councilman for eight years and served on the town planning board before that. Ms. Burke-Gonzalez, the outgoing president of the Springs School Board, has served on that board for nine years and is a former member of the Democratic Committee.

    In nominating Mr. Potter, Rameshwar Das described him as “a communicator who brings people together” and said he will bring “competence, stability, and calm” to the town board.

    “He’s the only candidate who has won a seat on the town board before,” said Kammy Wolf, who seconded the nomination. “We know we are getting a record of success.”

    In his acceptance speech later, Mr. Potter thanked the committee for supporting him and said he was “humbled and grateful because you know me, and you have an idea of what I’m going to do in office.” It is time, he said, for the town board to again work cooperatively and to build public support for its initiatives. “The good things that are done are done with public support,” he said.

    Arlene Coulter said she had been asking Ms. Burke-Gonzalez to run for seven or eight years and was thrilled she had finally decided it was time. “She is so good, so effective, so hard-working,” she said in nominating her.

    “For years and years I have wanted her to run for town board,” said Phyllis Mallah, who seconded the nomination. “I wanted her to run for anything in the town.”

    “We have what it takes to lead,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said in accepting the nomination. East Hampton is “a special place for special people, but there’s no place for special interests.” She promised to “work hard and always take the high ground.”

    The committee unanimously supported Mr. Cantwell’s nomination. “You have brought to this convention a sense that we have not had in the 30 years I’ve been on the Democratic Committee,” said Larry Smith, who nominated him, calling him “one of the most well-qualified . . . candidates in East Hampton Town’s history.” Mr. Cantwell has been the East Hampton Village administrator for 31 years and served on the town board and as an elected bay constable before that.

    For town justice, the screening committee supported Steven Tekulsky, an East Hampton attorney who ran in the past for justice, but Joe Giannini, an attorney from Springs and a committee member, was nominated from the floor. Committee people from five election districts, including some with the most votes, supported him, but it was not enough for a win over Mr. Tekulsky, whom Bill Taylor called “not only the most qualified candidate, but the most electable candidate.”

    Speaking to the crowd at the end of the convention, Mr. Cantwell congratulated “every person who wanted to be a candidate but was not nominated,” and praised Mr. Cohen, Ms. Cunningham, and Mr. Giannini, as well as his running mates, for their dedication to the town. “Zach, I respect your work for the community, for the Democratic Party, and your efforts running for supervisor,” he said to loud applause. “I invite you to become part of our team to help us lead East Hampton into the future.” He issued the same invitation to Ms. Cunningham and Mr. Giannini.

    “I do hope that will happen and I think I have a lot to offer,” Mr. Cohen said yesterday. “I took Larry at his word. I’ve already lent my support as needed to the campaign committee and some of them have graciously accepted.”

    The committee nominated Eugene DePasquale to run again for town assessor and it cross-endorsed Carole Brennan for town clerk and Steve Lynch for highway superintendent. Both are also running on the Independence and Republican tickets. For town trustee, the committee nominated two incumbents, Deborah Klughers and Stephen Lester, as well as Cate Rogers, Bill Taylor, Edwin Geus, Afton DiSunno, Ira Barocas, and Brian Byrnes.

   A bid by the Viking Fleet to dock a day-fishing charter boat at the town commercial fishing docks at Gann Road in East Hampton appeared dead in the water at the end of an East Hampton Town Board discussion Tuesday.

    During several recent talks about the request to base the 60-foot boat at the dock during the months of April, May, and June, board members hashed over a number of issues, ranging from whether there is adequate parking and other facilities at the dock to whether it should or must be reserved for use by commercial fishermen only, and, for that matter, whether a charter boat in the business of making money through taking people to catch fish could be considered a “commercial fishing” enterprise.

    Last week, Brad Loewen, the president of the East Hampton Town Baymen’s Association, told the board that the dock was deeded to the town with a codicil that it be used only by commercial fishing boats. Town policy has been to offer the slips there at greatly reduced rates in order to help preserve the traditional fishing industry in the town.

    However, John Jilnicki, the town attorney, said Tuesday that he had reviewed the original 1931 deed and that no covenants or restrictions exist.

    There is, Councilman Sylvia Overby said, a 1985 town board resolution that sought to “clarify policies” regarding the dock and said that “boats which are engaged in commercial fishing on a year-round basis” have priority.

    The Viking, she said, could dock its boat at a private marina on Three Mile Harbor “under normal business circumstances.”

    “In terms of fairness, if the town board were to entertain this,” Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said, “. . . the rate schedule should be completely redone, and it should be opened up on a lottery basis, so everybody has a crack at it.”

    And, he said, with only nine parking spaces in the lot, designed to accommodate fishermen’s vehicles and trailers, parking would be insufficient for daytrip passengers.

    But the bottom line, Mr. Van Scoyoc said, is that with the slips already in use, there is 158 feet of dock space free, and 100 feet of that is supposed to be kept clear as an emergency slip — so the Viking boat is too big to add to the dock.

    “I’d like to try to figure out a way to make it work,” Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said. Along with the fishing that occurs from commercial fishing boats, she said, the town should also seek to ensure the vitality of recreational fishing here, “for people who don’t have boats.”

    “A, it fails the space test. B, it fails the parking test,” Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said. “So we’re not going anywhere with the Viking proposal?”

    “We’ve talked ourselves out of it,” Councilman Dominick Stanzione said.

East Hampton Town

SEQRA for Cyril’s

    East Hampton Town Board members were split this week on whether to further entertain a request to change the zoning on the Napeague property that is home to Cyril’s bar and restaurant, and a vacant site next door.

After a 3 to 2 vote, the board will proceed with an assessment of the potential environmental impacts of the proposed change from a residential to a neighborhood business designation. Such an assessment is required under the State Environmental Quality Review Act. Councilwoman Sylvia Overby and Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc voted against taking that step, calling it unnecessary if the board was ready instead to decide that the zone change should not occur. The change would allow Cyril’s to resolve charges of violating the zoning code, which have wound up in court, based on an alleged expansion of the pre-existing, nonconforming restaurant use. The property’s owners, who lease the land to Cyril’s, have said that a zone change is the only solution, especially in light of County Health Department requirements. Others have said that it would allow the restaurant to expand, exacerbating parking and overcrowding problems. A hearing on the zone change drew numerous speakers, the majority of whom were against the change.

Enforcement Patrols Slated

    Town code enforcement officers will be walking a beat this summer in the downtown areas of East Hampton’s hamlets between 3 and 9 p.m. on weekends, according to a new program for seasonal, part-time staffing.  Patrick Gunn, a town attorney and director of the public safety division, said at a board work session on Tuesday that he hopes to hire six foot-patrol staffers who would be on the lookout for “simple violations” such as littering or taxicabs operating outside of established rules.  The part-timers would be similar to the traffic control officers, or T.C.O.s, hired by the Police Department each summer, and would serve as the “eyes and ears” for the senior ordinance officers and the police. With more limited training than full officers, they would not, however, address ordinance enforcement complaints generated by nightclubs, Mr. Gunn said. The town board is expected to authorize the hires with a vote at a meeting tonight.   

East Hampton Town

Town Hall’s New Phone System

    A new phone system at East Hampton Town Hall allows callers to use a central number, 324-4141, for transfer to most town departments and employees. It also provides access to citizens’ complaint lines for housing and litter issues.

    Direct numbers to various town offices can still be used. Airport complaints continue to be logged in at a separate number, 800-376-4817, and the East Hampton Town Police Department retains its separate phone number at the Wainscott headquarters, 537-7575. In emergencies, 911 can be used.

Hearing on Historic Buildings

    The East Hampton Town Board will hold a hearing next Thursday on accepting facade easements over two privately owned historic buildings in Amagansett.

    Dr. Huntington Sheldon’s Atlantic Avenue property contains the 1868 Joshua B. Edwards house and a barn built that same year, as well as the former Amagansett schoolhouse, which was built by Samuel Schellinger in 1802. It was moved from the middle of Amagansett’s Main Street, near where the school is now, to the corner of Atlantic Avenue in the 1870s. When a new school was built in 1881, Captain Edwards had it moved to his property.

    According to Robert Hefner, a historian who serves as a consultant to the town, Captain Edwards, who was a whaler, used it to store his whaling equipment. It is “very intact,” Mr. Hefner said.

   After approving a three-year capital spending plan last Thursday, which includes projects totaling $12.4 million, the East Hampton Town Board decided to issue $2.7 million in bonds to kick-start a number of projects.

    They include the purchase of computer servers, new trucks and a snowplow, mowers, new boilers, videocameras for police vehicles, a wood grinder for the Sanitation Department, and a vault and a generator for Town Hall. The money will also fund road and sidewalk reconstruction, improvements to the town-owned East Hampton RECenter building, the installation of waste treatment pumps at town docks, and an access ramp at the Montauk Playhouse.

    Six other projects, with a combined price tag of $2.2 million, are undergoing environmental review, and the board is expected to approve borrowing for them at an upcoming meeting.

    The bond issues approved did not include a proposed $300,000 bond to pay consultants to prepare a comprehensive town wastewater management plan. A three-member board majority — Councilmen Peter Van Scoyoc and Dominick Stanzione, with Councilwoman Sylvia Overby — recently approved a bid by a consulting firm, over the objections of Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley, but four votes are needed before a bond can be issued.

    Ms. Quigley said she objected because the cost of the work was to be $200,000, not $300,000. But both she and Mr. Wilkinson also voted against a subsequent resolution offered by Ms. Overby to borrow $200,000 for the work.

    Ever since the other board members failed to approve a sale of the town’s wastewater treatment plant to a private operator last year, the supervisor and Ms. Quigley have declined to entertain other courses of action, and opposed the creation of a long-range comprehensive wastewater management plan.

    Ms. Overby said Tuesday that she would discuss the situation with Mr. Stanzione, with whom she had worked to craft an action plan for dealing with septic waste issues. Mr. Stanzione said this week that the money for the plan could be taken from a town operating fund surplus, and noted that only three votes are needed to modify the budget so as to place the sum in the proper line.

    Also last Thursday, the board passed a resolution expressing its “desires to entertain options for an engineered beach” in the Montauk downtown area, which suffered severe erosion after recent storms.

    The town is seeking to be included in beach reconstruction projects to be done by the Army Corps of Engineers and paid for with federal funds. During recent discussions about whether rocks or hard structures might be installed along the shore, the board could not reach consensus on Mr. Wilkinson’s request to issue a blanket approval of whatever the Army Corps might propose.

    Instead, Mr. Van Scoyoc offered to draft a resolution that could be supported unanimously, underscoring the town’s commitment to obtaining federal assistance. Some had suggested that lack of accord on beach rebuilding could hurt the town’s bid for federal dollars.

    After some disagreement on the wording of Mr. Van Scoyoc’s resolution, a slightly amended resolution was adopted unanimously. It reads, in part, that “the Town of East Hampton respectfully supports federal funding and attendant coastal engineering resources from the Army Corps of Engineers for an engineered beach.”

    Both Mr. Van Scoyoc and Ms. Overby would like to engage an independent coastal engineer to advise the town on what to do along the shore, as a consortium of environmentalists urged last week. Ms. Overby said Tuesday that “it is distressing to see that other board members think that they are the professionals to tell us what we should do, without professional help.” The supervisor and Ms. Quigley’s stance on both the wastewater plan and on coastal erosion issues show a “lack of leadership,” she said. “To have the town board impose its will without the professional advice to back it up, I think is a dangerous precedent,” said Ms. Overby.

    Also last Thursday, the board approved, for the second time, revised laws regulating taxicabs and their operators. A previous vote pushed through by Ms. Quigley at a work session, after revisions had been made to an earlier draft, had to be rescinded, as it is unlawful to adopt a law without first reviewing a written draft.

    After public hearings at which no one spoke, the board approved the purchase of several properties. Lots on Copeces Lane and Springs-Fireplace Road in Springs, owned by Kenneth Austin, will be purchased for $1.8 million from the community preservation fund, for open space.

    Approximately three acres on Old Stone Highway, also in Springs, will be purchased from Beverly Kassner for $450,000, also from the community preservation fund. It is adjacent to wetlands and almost eight acres of open space owned by the Nature Conservancy and the town.

   The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals ruled on two controversial matters on April 9 with a voting pattern unusual for this board.

    Members voted 4-1 to grant several variances and a natural resources special permit to Morgan Neff, which will allow him to keep, unchanged, two of his seven cottages, known as Millionaires Row, on Fort Pond in Montauk.

    The board’s concern in granting the requested variances, in particular for one small cottage that is close to the water and straddles two different flood zones, was that it might be jeopardizing East Hampton Town residents’ ability to get flood insurance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

    JoAnne Pahwul, assistant director of the Planning Department, had cautioned the board in a February memo that FEMA flood insurance is a cooperative program between the agency and local communities, predicated on the idea that the communities themselves will discourage building in areas considered high risk for flooding. Should FEMA find that a town had failed to comply it could take harsh steps against the town, and the residents, up to and including pulling out of its part of the bargain.

    Richard Whalen, arguing on behalf of Mr. Neff, told the board at the February hearing that approving the requested variances and permit would not jeopardize the town’s standing with FEMA. “It’s a tiny variance on a tiny property,” he said, and after a debate on April 9 the board concurred.

    Bryan Gosman, a member, said this was the only time the issue had been raised, and that granting the requests would not set a pattern.

    David Lys, the board’s newest member, noted that Mr. Neff had had a building permit for work done on the small cottage, though the permit was later rescinded. “He built what was approved,” said Mr. Lys. “This is the first time for this. I don’t think it sets a pattern.”

    Alex Walter, the chairman, agreed, but wondered whether the applicant had demonstrated that denying the requests would create undue hardship. “It has to be exceptional hardship,” he said. In concluding that it was not, Mr. Walter was the lone dissenter; Mr. Gosman and Mr. Lys were joined by Don Cirillo and Lee White in approving the application.

    Since Mr. Cirillo became the board’s vice chairman and Mr. Walter its chairman 16 months ago, the Z.B.A. has split 4-1 on several occasions, but Mr. Cirillo, an ardent advocate for landowners’ rights, is usually the odd man out.       Such was not the case with the Neff application, nor was it in a second application, this one involving fenceposts.

    Susan Kwit of 285 Kings Point Road in Springs discovered last year that neighbors were cutting through her property in order to get to the beach. Her solution was to build a 70-foot-long, six-foot high stockade fence, which runs the length of her property, right to the dune. But for the fence to be legal, the homeowner needed a natural resources special permit.

    The fence did not trouble Mr. Lys, who spoke first during deliberations, but the way it got there did. “I don’t care for the reverse order,” he said — meaning building before obtaining approval.  He said that the last fencepost, which was driven into the crest of the bluff, should be removed. Removing it would shorten the fence by about seven feet.

    Mr. Walter, too, was unhappy that Ms. Kwit hadn’t come before the Z.B.A. before erecting the fence, and Mr. Cirillo agreed with the chairman, to a point. At the time of the public hearing on the application he had wondered why Ms. Kwit never sought other remedies, or called the police, before putting up the fence. “This seems to be the last resort being used first,” he said.

    In the end, though, he agreed with Mr. Lys that the fence could stay, provided the last post was taken down. Mr. White also agreed, leaving Mr. Walter as the final speaker.

    “This is a direct violation,” he said. “This is my night to be contrary, if that is the reason they put the fence up. If everyone did that, we wouldn’t have a zoning code.”

    When Mr. Walter finished speaking Mr. White seemed to waver, but in the end he sided with the other three board members against the chairman’s lone dissent.

    “It is just my opinion,” Mr. Walter said. “That is why we have five members.”

East Hampton Town

Barn at Duck Creek Farm

    The condition of the barn at the East Hampton Town-owned historic Duck Creek Farm, which is the former studio of the painter John Little, will be evaluated to see if it can be used for a temporary art installation proposed by the Parrish Art Museum for the month of August.

    Soft sculpture works by Sydney Albertini, a Springs artist, would be displayed, Loring Bolger, the chair of the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee, said at a town board meeting on Tuesday. The committee has endorsed the idea. A number of people are interested in the use of a viable structure for exhibits, she said, suggesting that the town could perhaps seek donations for needed repair work. Several groups have inquired about using the Duck Creek site, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby said.

Peconic Bay Preservation Fund

    First-quarter revenue for the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund, at $20.2 million, was more than 92 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2012, according to a release from State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. Total revenue for March in the five towns that participate in the program — a 2 percent real estate transfer tax that raises money for land preservation — was $4.1 million, compared to $3.7 million in the same month last year.

    Real estate transactions in 2013’s first quarter totaled 2,164, compared with 1,459 last year. In East Hampton, $5.7 million flowed into the preservation fund, a 106-percent increase over 2012.