A lawsuit brought by a neighbor of the Empire gas station site on East Hampton’s North Main Street, challenging a Zoning Board of Appeals decision that paved the way for construction of a convenience store on the property, has been dismissed in Suffolk County Supreme Court.

    In an Oct. 5 decision, Justice W. Gerard Asher upheld the zoning board’s decision and dismissed the matter “in its entirety.”

    Attorneys for the property owners at the Scarlato and Baldwin firm in Sag Harbor could not immediately be reached to determine if and when construction will begin.

    Residents of the neighborhood, including Jeffrey Slonim, the plaintiff in the suit, who lives two doors down from the gas station, had said the addition of a convenience store would add traffic and parking problems in an area already inundated and hard to navigate. “Traffic is already terrible on North Main. Parking, nil,” Mr. Slonim wrote in a 2011 letter to the Z.B.A..

    The owners of the property, Ali Yuzasioglu and S&A Petroleum Group, received site-plan approval in October 2010 from the town planning board to replace two existing buildings, which have housed a barber shop and a car rental business, with one store building of an equivalent size.

    Mr. Slonim initially challenged that decision with an appeal to the Z.B.A. asserting that a certificate of occupancy for the property was issued erroneously.

    Tom Preiato, the senior building inspector, had issued a certificate permitting occupancy by a motor vehicle repair garage, with gas pumps, and two buildings that could house “central business” uses, as defined by the zoning code. That includes retail stores.

    Mr. Slonim and his attorney, Michael Walsh of Water Mill, argued that a town law prohibiting filling stations and retail stores on the same property should prevail. However, Mr. Preiato found that the retail uses on the property pre-existed that code and therefore could continue, and the Z.B.A. upheld his ruling.

    Mr. Walsh said yesterday that he was “not at liberty” to discuss whether his client would appeal. “Judge Asher is a well-respected jurist, and we respect his opinion. But we are reviewing it, and we will make that decision in the coming days,” he said.

    This year’s Concerned Citizens of Montauk meet the candidates forum will be held at the Montauk Fire Department on Sunday at 1 p.m. It traditionally draws a standing-room-only crowd, so you might want to get there early for a good seat. Expected to attend are State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, a longtime incumbent, and his Democratic challenger, Southampton Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming, as well as Representative Tim Bishop and his Republican challenger, Randy Altschuler. Also on hand will be Wendy Long, who is challenging Kirsten Gillibrand for her Senate seat on the Republican and Conservative lines.

     Although most of the candidates have already met in debate-type settings, in Montauk they usually focus on problems specific to the hamlet and the surrounding area. The candidates will introduce themselves and state their positions. They will be able to ask one question of their opponents. The candidates will also take questions from the audience. Admission is free and refreshments will be offered.

    The season might be over, but the summer days at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett have not faded from the memories of local beachgoers, who found themselves inundated by large groups of visitors who were encouraged by blogs and online social media to meet at Indian Wells to “party hearty.”

    Throughout the summer, residents complained to the East Hampton Town Board of the crowds and their behavior, including urinating in the dunes and the consumption of large amounts of alcohol. Parking at Indian Wells is by resident permit only, but taxis and party buses were dropping off groups, and in doing so were creating a hazardous situation in the parking lot, people said.

    East Hampton Town lifeguards also reported the crowded beach situation to the town board, expressing concern about the safety of swimmers and the amplified music, which made it hard for those in the water to hear lifeguards’ instructions.

    The lifeguards’ efforts to educate beachgoers about noise and other town regulations, along with extra patrols by Marine Patrol officers, toned the situation down somewhat, residents said.

    But action is still needed before the same problems arise again next summer, Ashley Silverman, a resident of Indian Wells Highway, told the town board at a meeting last Thursday.

    “This group started three or four years ago,” she said of the primarily young people who have begun gathering at the beach en masse. “I think what the difference is now is the Internet.” She told the board about a recommendation on  a site called Guest of a Guest, that people “bring a 30-pack” of beer to the beach at Indian Wells.

    In an e-mail circulated to other residents, eliciting advocates for official action, Ms. Silverman asserted that the crowd has doubled in each of the last three years, and that “young professionals in Manhattan view Amagansett as a sort of Fort Lauderdale/spring break-type place.”

    Ms. Silverman said at the meeting that she had seen groups of people walking past her house, to and from the beach, with open containers of alcohol. “I think, by next summer, there are going to be people upgrading from the Jersey Shore to the Hamptons because they know they can drink all day,” she said.

    The drinking, she explained in her e-mail, is the real problem, not the crowd. “The drinking leads to a decrease in inhibitions,” she wrote, which makes people “loud and inconsiderate of other people.”

    The visitors congregating at the beach, she said, do not contribute to the local economy, except perhaps for spending at bars and eateries. “These people . . . they’re not buying houses out here,” she said. “They’re not going to restaurants. I don’t see them shopping in town.”

    But, she said at last week’s meeting, the influx will result in more costs to the town for extra lifeguards, patrols, litter pickup, and the like.

    Ms. Silverman made some specific suggestions, to which the board did not specifically respond. The town, she said, could ban drinking on the beach during the hours lifeguards are on duty. In addition, the noise limit at the beach could be set at a lower decibel than at other places in the town: The crowds on the beach set up generators, she said, to play music.

    And, she noted in her e-mail, “It seems to me that if your group at the beach requires a generator and concert speakers or a full-size volleyball net, it could be argued that you should have a mass gathering permit.”

    Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson reported that he had recently had a two-hour meeting with East Hampton Town Police officials to discuss the summer. Topics included incidents that occurred, police staffing, mass gatherings, and the issues at the beaches, he said.

    A state plan to rid approximately five acres of invasive phragmites within a section of the Walking Dunes on the eastern end of Napeague using an herbicide has been delayed until spring so as not to threaten the annual cranberry harvest.

    The decision by Brian Foley, deputy regional director of the State Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, was made on Friday. The Parks Department, which had earlier approved the use of chemicals to stop the spread of the invasive beach reeds, oversees the scenic expanse of inland dunes on the western edge of Hither Woods.

    The department reversed its position after a group of cranberry pickers were surprised to find the operation under way. The pickers brought their concerns to the Concerned Citizens of Montauk environmental group and the East Hampton Town Department of Natural Resources. The office of Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. was also brought into the phragmites fracas.

    The stand of phragmites in question grows in the midst of the dunes’ sweeping concavities that got their “walking” appellation because of their centuries-old northwest-to-southeast migration across the Napeague isthmus. The dunes are home not only to cranberry bogs, but also to a number of rare species of plant life, including a type of prickly pear cactus.

    On the weekend of Oct. 13, a group of cranberry pickers were alerted to the start of the project by the sound of chain saws. The project, which involves the application by wick of the herbicide AquaPro, a glyphosate herbicide, was announced in the Environmental Notice Bulletin of the State Department of Environmental Conservation in August. A call for bids was published in Newsday. The state awarded the winning bid to Warren’s Landscaping of Water Mill.

    Larry Penny, former director of the town’s Department of Natural Resources, said on Tuesday that he had seen the call for bids and brought it to the attention of Warren’s Landscaping. He said he had signed on as a consultant out of concern that the Walking Dunes ecosystem would be lost to phragmites. The reeds in question were beginning to take over one of the Walking Dunes cranberry bogs.

    Mr. Penny said annual cutting of the phragmites stand had been tried but was unsuccessful at stopping its spread. “In fact,” he said, “cutting alone might spur additional shoot development. The rhizomes are so deeply imbedded, cutting can’t get to them.” Prior to the outcry, the plants in question had been cut close to the sand and were about to have the remaining stems wicked with AquaPro, he said.

    Mr. Penny said the goal was to prevent a monoclonal stand, acres wide, like the one to the north of the Walking Dunes that stretches nearly all the way to Goff Point. Such stands crowd out all other plant life, including cranberries.

    The former natural resources director said he was in the process of obtaining a state license to administer herbicides in both upland and aquatic environments and had planned to help Vicky Bustamante, a Montauk resident and botanist working for Warren’s Landscaping, apply the herbicide.

    “The invitation to bid was very exacting,” Mr. Penny said. He said AquaPro was registered with the state as acceptable if used properly by trained applicators who applied the herbicide by hand to avoid the danger of affecting other plants by spraying. The work had to be done near the end of September or early October. “Now it won’t be done until next spring,” said Mr. Penny.

    Maybe and maybe not. “Because of the cranberry harvest and the chemical, they’re going to hold off until spring, but that doesn’t solve the problem,” said Jeremy Samuelson, executive director of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk. “This is a transparency issue,” he said, referring to the fact that the project took the local community by surprise.

    “Beyond that I’m not sure it’s the right solution. There are state and federally protected plant species there. They need to put a map on the wall. People are harvesting food there,” Mr. Samuelson said.

    Kim Shaw, East Hampton’s director of natural resources, said on Tuesday she had asked for a meeting with state officials, and would seek information regarding the herbicide from the Suffolk County Water Authority and the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife. “This is a pristine environment, if the state wants to experiment, they have other opportunities.”

    Southampton Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming defeated Jennifer Maertz by a wide margin in a Democratic primary on Thursday to determine who will represent the party in a bid to unseat Republican State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle in the Nov. 6 general election.

    “The voters have spoken loud and clear,” Ms. Fleming said after the announcement of preliminary results last Thursday, which showed 79 percent of votes in her favor. “They no longer want to allow their tax dollars to be distributed to the rest of the state,” she said.

    Unofficial results posted by the Suffolk County Board of Elections on Friday had 2,031 votes for Ms. Fleming and 531 for Ms. Maertz.

    Mr. LaValle’s office issued a statement Friday saying, “No matter who the opponent, I have always run on my record. I am proud of my exceptionally strong record of economic development, job creation, and real property tax relief and proud of the support I have received in the form of endorsements thus far.”

    Mr. LaValle has been endorsed by the Long Island Environmental Voters Forum, Sierra Club, the New York State League of Conservation Voters, the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, New York State United Teachers, and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of New York.

    “I am proud to have had the ability to deliver legislative and fiscal relief for every part of the district,” his statement said.

    Ms. Fleming and about 30 supporters watched the results last Thursday night at the Water’s Edge restaurant in East Moriches, a somewhat central location in the First Senate District, which stretches 70 miles from Middle Island to Fishers Island and Montauk Point.

    “We did it,” said Ms. Fleming, upon the concession from Ms. Maertz. She thanked many people including her staff and volunteers, who went door to door with her, and made the calls that she credited for her victory. Also essential to her win, she said, was an endorsement from Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, and her No Bad Apples PAC; Gordon Herr, the chairman of the Southampton Democratic Committee, and Lisa Tyson, director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition. “Senator Bridget Fleming has a nice ring to it,” said Mr. Herr.

    “It was an easy choice,” said Ms. Tyson of the coalition’s endorsement, which gave Ms. Fleming additional staff to use for her campaign. “We really believe in her,” she said.

    “We have had nine Republican male senators,” Ms. Tyson said. “We need another voice to represent progressives, a community that has not been heard from. She listens to people, and has been able to negotiate, that is a rare thing.”

    Ms. Fleming has also been endorsed by the nonpartisan Women’s Campaign Fund, Emily’s List, a Democratic organization, the New York State Public Employees Federation, Communication Workers of American Local 1108, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Working Families Party.

    Across the bay in Miller Place, Ms. Maertz received the results that she said were “disappointing, of course.” In an interview Friday morning, she said she was also disappointed that “the Democratic turnout was just horrible.” The low voter turnout, that she said she heard was around 4 percent, was a “combination of the date and that people seemed to not know there was a primary. We have to find a way to increase people’s understanding and importance of voter participation,” she said.

    “I don’t know right now if I will run again,” said Ms. Maertz, who ran as a last-minute replacement against Senator LaValle in 2010. Her immediate goal, she said, is to “take a rest,” and then volunteer to support candidates who show dedication and “are running for the right reasons.” She will also help to get Representative Tim Bishop re-elected to Congress, and continue her work as chairwoman of the East End Dem Women, a group whose goals include the increased political involvement of women on the East End and in Brookhaven.

    Ms. Fleming will now focus on gathering resources and support to oust Mr. LaValle, who has represented the First Senate District for 36 years.

    “It is no longer okay to take this district for granted,” she said. “Voters of eastern Suffolk County care deeply about where their tax dollars go. . . . They are not for special interests; they are for us, our families, our education, and our local economy and education.”

    If elected, Ms. Fleming would become the first woman from Suffolk County to serve as state senator.

East Hampton Town

Consider C.P.F. Buys

    Two properties being eyed for preservation through a town purchase with the community preservation fund will be the subject of an East Hampton Town Board hearing next Thursday at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

    The board will take comments from the public on the proposed purchase of 1.1 acres at 8 Deer Path in Springs, owned by Barry McCallion and JoAnne Canary. The cost is $385,000.

    A second hearing will center on the addition of a property just shy of five acres, at 889 Fireplace Road in Springs, owned by Charles Miller, Valerie Meyer, Denis Gates, and Debra Gates to the preservation fund list, which includes all properties that could be purchased with the preservation fund.    J.P.

New York State

Thiele’s Enviro Endorsements

    Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. of Sag Harbor has announced three endorsements from New York State environmental organizations: the Sierra Club’s Atlantic chapter, the New York League of Conservation Voters, and the Long Island Environmental Voters Forum. Mr. Thiele is running unopposed for re-election in the Second Assembly District on the Indepen

    At the Sept. 11 meeting of the East Hampton Town Board it was announced that Montauk’s Viking Fleet wants to berth its Viking Stariper, the fleet’s smallest party boat, at a town-owned bulkhead at the end of Gann Road on Three Mile Harbor.

    The 65-foot boat, built in 1957 and formerly known as the Jigger, would operate from Commercial Dock during April, May, and June in and around Gardiner’s Bay. With the approval of the town board, the Stariper would begin fishing from Three Mile Harbor in the spring.

    “There’s the early fluke run off Greenport, and porgy season opens in May,” Paul Forsberg, the fleet’s owner, said on Monday. He said the Stariper would carry no more than 20 anglers at a time.

    Mr. Forsberg said customers would board the boat by reservation only, “so there will be no crowds gathering.”

    However, the idea was not immediately embraced by the town board. Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said that Gann Road had always been a dock for commercial fisherman. He said allowing the Stariper to tie up there would make it a “retail” dock.

    “You’re not selling fish, you’re selling the chance to catch fish,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said.

    Town Clerk Fred Overton told the board there was only one slip available. The owners of commercial fishing vessels pay the town $20 per foot of boat length for a season’s docking.

    Much of the space at Commercial Dock is taken up by a steel barge that was bought by East Hampton Town several years ago to help with mooring placement and dock repairs. Mr. Overton said that the only way more room could be found there for commercial fishing vessels would be to move it elsewhere.

    Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said it was possible that the barge could be sold.

    Mr. Overton also voiced concern about the number of parking spaces available at the Gann Road dock.

    “Then I say we kick the can until we study this,” Mr. Wilkinson suggested to his fellow board members.

    In other Three Mile Harbor news, a small bloom of one type of “red tide” algae showed up in its southern reaches last week. East Hampton Town officials are keeping a close watch on patches of Cochlodinium polykrikoides near the Head of the Harbor.

    “This is not the one that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning, but it is toxic to shellfish and finfish, but only in high densities,” Stephanie Forsberg, an East Hampton Town trustee and marine scientist, said yesterday.

    “It looks like streaks in the water. You could have a bloom three feet wide, and next to it, nothing. Fish can swim out of it, but shellfish can’t. We hope it won’t affect the scallop season,” Ms. Forsberg said.

    She said that the fall’s dropping water temperatures would likely keep colonies from expanding. So far, blooms have been seen at the south end of Three Mile Harbor and outside Hand’s Creek.

    Ms. Forsberg said this was not the first time Cochlodinium has been seen in the harbor.

    Bill Fonda, a spokesman for the State Department of Environmental Conservation, said his agency would be monitoring the bloom, which can thrive in nitrogen-rich waters.

    Larry Penny, former director of the town’s Natural Resources Department, went to look at the bloom and said he thought the county’s failure to dredge the channel to the south end of the harbor last year was at least partly to blame for it.

    “As a town, we are going to have to look into septic systems and all nitrogen sources,” Ms. Forsberg said.

    Adelaide de Menil, who donated the historic buildings that now form the new Town Hall complex to East Hampton Town, received approval from the town’s zoning board of appeals Tuesday to build a new house for herself on Mile Hill Road in East Hampton overlooking Northwest Harbor.

    According to Laurie Wiltshire of Land Planning Services, the 8,400-square-foot, four-bedroom house will sit on a parcel of land slightly larger than nine acres. The plans include a 1,112-square-foot attached garage and gardener’s shed with a bath, a 600-square-foot barn, a 600-square-foot pool, a generator, and a new septic system on the site. The two residences that formerly stood there have been removed.

    Ms. Wiltshire appeared before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals on Sept. 18 on behalf of Ms. De Menil. “We did a lot of research,” Ms. Wiltshire said Monday. Two years into the project, Ms. Wiltshire’s team has achieved the goals laid out for them by Ms. de Menil: “It is designed to be as conforming as possible to all elements of the code,” Ms. Wiltshire said, while having minimal impact on the environment.

    It will be a “green” house, with solar panels on the roof, and will not be visible from any neighboring properties. The project includes a revegetation plan to cover nearly an acre of previously cleared land with native growth.

    The only variance the project needed from the zoning board was for the septic system, because it is in a Harbor Protection Overlay district, and the proposed septic system would be 153 feet from the surrounding wetlands when 200 feet is normally required.

    “There is no location where the septic system could be placed without needing a variance,” Ms. Wiltshire told the board on Sept. 18.

    The board received one letter from a neighbor on Powder Hill Lane asking the builders to consider a different septic system. However, Alex Walter, the board’s chairman, noted that the system suggested by the neighbor would actually be bigger than what Ms. Wiltshire proposed.

    There was little debate about the proposal, and much praise from board members.

    “It’s a huge piece of property and they’re only developing a small piece,” said Sharon McCobb, before the board voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the project, which needs additional permits from the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the County Health Department.

    Ms. Wiltshire will appear before the board again on Tuesday on behalf of Jerry Seinfeld, who is installing state-of-the art solar panels, making his Further Lane estate energy self-sufficient.

    There were two other variance requests voted on by the board Tuesday, both of which drew members’ criticism earlier. In both cases, work was done without receiving prior approval, putting the board in a position where it was being asked to approve a project retroactively. As with the de Menil application, both of the original public hearings were held on Sept. 18.

    Mary Schoenlein, owner of Mary’s Marvelous on Main Street in Amagansett, had already appeared before the town’s planning board earlier this year in her efforts to get approval for a new walk-in refrigerator behind her restaurant. The planning board, in its preliminary discussions, was very supportive, but told Ms. Schoenlein she would have to get approval from the zoning board for a 20-by-20-foot concrete slab for the refrigeration unit to sit on.

    “Months are going by and my season was approaching and I began to get worried,” Ms. Schoenlein said at the Sept. 18 hearing, explaining why she built the walk-in without receiving final approval. “A series of things happened and I made a mistake. I misjudged the situation,” she said.

    “What we have again is another retroactive request although this may have been an honest mistake,” said Don Cirillo, a board member, before the board voted unanimously to approve the application.

    A second project that went ahead without the needed variances was that of Stanley and Marie Einzig of 38 Shipwreck Lane in Amagansett, who built a 1,400-square-foot brick patio as well as a 180-square-foot pergola without getting the needed variances from the board.

    “When you come out of the sliding doors you are 8 to 10 feet from the pool. The pergola provides the only shade,” said Martha Reichert of LandMarks, in explaining to the board on Sept. 18 why the work was done without the proper approval. She added that a prime factor motivating the Einzigs was the safety of their grandchildren, noting that a grandchild had fallen into the pool before the work was done, and that the patio made the yard safer.

    “It’s always frustrating when people do these projects without [first getting approval]. It seems to be happening a lot lately,” Ms. McCobb said.

    “It looks like a deliberate request to abuse the system,” said Mr. Cirillo.

    In the end, the board approved an amended variance request, 4-1, that permitted the Einzigs to keep their patio and pergola, but requires them to remove a 10-foot wide strip of brick patio from the eastern side of the property. Lee White, voting in dissent, thought the board should also have required a scenic easement.

    When Representative Tim Bishop, the incumbent Democrat, and Randy Altschuler, his Republican challenger, sat down at Hampton Bays High School on Monday night for a second face-to-face, microphone problems and a high school senior almost stole the show. The event was a meet-the-candidates session rather than a debate, with rebuttals not encouraged.

    As the session began, Mr. Altschuler’s microphone was the first to hum. When that was corrected, the humming migrated to Mr. Bishop’s microphone, and he wound up going through five of them, including two handed to him by the moderator, Bruce King, president of the host Hampton Bays Civic Association, before the program could proceed.

     Jennifer Linares, a senior whose entire civics class was in the audience, tried to steer things in a positive direction. “We are taught not to bully as students, she said. “Why are you, as adults, running negative campaigns instead of concentrating on your own achievements and accomplishments?”

    There was no disagreement here. Mr. Bishop called her question “excellent,” and the crowd cheered as both candidates nodded in agreement.

    “The state of election politics has deteriorated in my 10 years in office,” Mr. Bishop said, citing political action committees and super PACs for contributing to the negativity. “You find yourself dragged into it.”

    “I would like to have a discussion on the merits and our strengths,” Mr. Bishop said, “and I think my opponent would agree with me.” Mr. Altschuler did. The executive chairman of an electronics recycling company who came close to defeating Mr. Bishop two years ago, Mr. Altschuler admitted dismay at recent campaign practices, but he pointed a finger at Mr. Bishop.

    “In business, you’re taught to praise your competition. Unlike my opponent, I ran a positive ad . . . about my family life,” he said. “Every time I turn on the television, I see a negative ad charging me with being an outsourcer,” Mr. Altschuler said, referring to a company, OfficeTiger, he sold in 2006. He then segued into the economy and his 10-point jobs plan, which calls on the private sector to create jobs, not government.

    Mr. Bishop never mentioned OfficeTiger by name, but said of his own record, “My time in Congress has been led by a fact-driven, pragmatic approach.” He said that he is working on a bipartisan bill to render companies that outsource jobs ineligible for federal grants and loans. “Ideological posturing doesn’t solve any problems; I have solved problems for 15,000 constituents, and I am proud of that.”

    Mr. Altschuler had a different take on  bipartisanship. “The problem with Washington is that the same people keep getting elected, the people who are responsible for the 40,000 more unemployment cases on Long Island.” He  said he would have a self-imposed three-term limit were he to be elected to Congress, said. “That’s not bipartisan; there are only 435 congressmen, and each one needs to count.”

Health, Immigration

    Mr. Bishop focused his remarks on Medicaid, noting that he supported its structure, and the Affordable Care Act, which includes discounted name-brand drugs for Medicare recipients, expanded coverage for young adults, small business tax credits, and pre-existing condition insurance plans.

    In this regard, Mr. Altschuler turned negative. While saying it was “absolutely critical that something be done or Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security will be bankrupt in the next 10 years,” he said, “At least I support a plan that will keep the system solvent; I’m not a part of the problem. Mr. Bishop is.”

    The candidates also addressed immigration.    “I am for deferred action for childhood arrivals,” said Mr. Bishop, who has hosted forums to help young adults apply to the program recently advanced by President Obama. “What’s fair about deporting young people with clean records? Give those 12 to 15 million people work visas and a path to citizenship.”

    Mr. Altschuler agreed with the incumbent that the visa process needed reform, but only for undocumented workers on farms and in the hospitality industry. “Those workers [60 percent of agriculture laborers are undocumented on Long Island] should get a three-year renewable visa,” he said. “But what’s not fair is that illegals are using our hospitals and other services and not paying into the system.”

    Mr. Bishop, a five-term congressman, was better equipped to answer remaining questions from the audience, such as, “Name an instance you have deviated from your party’s stance on an issue.” 

    “I did not support an initiative to move funding to charter schools because the jury is still out on whether they work,” Mr. Bishop said. “I also voted to not reduce the federal student loan interest rate below 3.4 percent.”

    Mr. Altschuler, who has no governmental experience, said he would promote investment in Suffolk County infrastructure, singling out sewers and waterway dredging.

    Concerning military spending, Mr. Bishop said, “We need to reduce overhead in the largest business in world, the Pentagon, which spends $240 billion,” while Mr. Altschuler stated that the country should be armed with the right weapons to remain “the strongest military in the world.”

    The candidates had different responses to another question, about what they would do to fix “the $7 million” flooding problem on Dune Road in Southampton. Mr. Altschuler said he would appropriate the federal funding necessary to fix the beachfront road if he could. Mr. Bishop countered that “since there is a ban on earmarks, the federal funds can’t be used for such a project since it is not a federal-aid highway.”

    The candidates are expected to meet at least 15 more times before Election Day, including a debate on health care at 7 p.m. tonight at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall in Riverhead.

    A new state-of-the-art hospital is in the works for the Stony Brook Southampton campus through a partnership between the State University at Stony Brook and Southampton Hospital, according to a nonbinding letter of intent signed by both parties and announced in a release dated Oct. 1. The 125-bed facility would join the university’s health care system, with a goal of the two hospitals’ working together to “improve health care quality and access, coordination of care, and efficiency for their patients.”

    With the same number of beds, the hospital would replace the current Southampton Village facility, which opened in 1909. (The fate of that building hasn’t been determined yet.) Money will be raised through a Southampton Hospital-led philanthropic campaign, and increased health care services, jobs, and economic development are expected on the East End as a result of the project, as are expanded educational opportunities for future health care professionals. With more than 1,000 employees, Southampton Hospital is the largest employer on the South Fork.

    The hospital will provide care under Stony Brook University Medical Center’s state operating license, and a joint advisory committee, with members appointed by both hospitals, will serve as advisers. Southampton Hospital employees would maintain their status as private-sector employees, according to the letter of intent.

    The two hospitals, formally affiliated since 2008, will soon exchange financial, business, and legal information, with a final agreement requiring approval from New York State regulatory authorities and the State Legislature, as well as Southampton Hospital’s board of trustees.

    Southampton Hospital is a not-for-profit organization with a medical staff of more than 240 physicians, dentists, and allied health professionals. It has 16 satellite locations across the East End. A 2011 audit reported “excess revenues over expenses of $2.2 million.”

    Stony Brook University Medical Center is a state educational corporation and Suffolk County’s largest hospital, with 597 beds. It has the county’s busiest emergency department, with nearly 100,000 visits annually. The hospital also offers the only Level 1 trauma center, burn center, and comprehensive psychiatric emergency program in the county, and its only bone marrow transplant program. It employs more than 1,000 full-time medical school faculty members and affiliated physicians, and has more than 5,500 staff members.

    Kenneth Kaushansky, M.D., senior vice president of health sciences and the dean of the Stony Brook University School of Medicine, said in the release that patients would benefit from the two hospitals joining forces. He added, “It also helps both facilities prepare for health care reform by cultivating a broader, stronger network of hospitals and health care providers to improve efficiency, control costs, and better coordinate care across Suffolk County.”

    When it comes to education, “Construction of a new state-of-the-art health care facility on the Southampton campus would be another building block in the revitalization of the campus,” said Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. “Together with a growing arts program, the new $10 million marine sciences facility, and the establishment of the Peconic Institute,” a kind of policy think tank for the East End, “a new hospital would be a major step toward having the Southampton campus reach its educational potential.”

    “Most important,” Mr. Thiele said, “the proposed affiliation between Stony Brook and Southampton represents an opportunity to provide expanded services and the best possible health care for the residents of the South Fork and eastern Long Island, an area that has historically been described as medically underserved.”