During its first set of hearings of the year on Tuesday, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals heard comments on a controversial application that could set a precedent for coastal erosion structures in the town.

    The applicants, Joshua Young and Christine Lemieux, own a house at 157 Mulford Lane in Amagansett, with Gardiner’s Bay literally in their backyard.

    With erosion threatening their house, the owners want to demolish their one-story, 1,200-square-foot residence and build a new 1,719-square-foot, two-story one on pilings farther from the water’s edge, and to construct a 115-linear-foot stone revetment with a 32-foot vinyl seawall return, which will be contained on their property. The house is to have a 789-square-foot deck on both levels.

    A total of nine variances have been requested, including a natural resources permit and permission to install a new coastal erosion structure where town code does not allow for it. Some of the variances are required because the land contains tidal wetlands, freshwater wetlands, barrier dunes, surface waters, and beach vegetation. Mr. Young and Ms. Lemieux also need relief from the town’s pyramid law, and a variance from coastal erosion district overlay regulations.

    The project was in front of the board on Aug. 30, and has since been modified following recommendations from the board and the Suffolk County Health Department. The septic system is now in the southeast corner of the property, the dimensions of the house have been decreased, and it has been relocated to the rear of the lot. The application was rushed to a hearing in the summer due to storm damage to the house from a Dec. 27, 2010, storm and the likelihood that there would be more storms this winter that could threaten it further. In a memo dated Feb. 11, 2011, Tom Talmage, the East Hampton Town engineer, said that the house was in “immediate peril.”

    In August, the applicants were looking into the possibility of working together with other neighbors on a rock revetment. Also, the Napeague Beach Club, a group of Mulford Lane residents, had plans to build a rock revetment at the end of the road. Mr. Young and Ms. Lemieux were given more time to formulate a joint application with neighbors.

    At the hearing on Tuesday, Laurie Wiltshire of Land Planning Services, who was representing Mr. Young and Ms. Lemieux, distributed a memo with the latest revisions to the plans, which include a further reduction of the house size. As of press time, these plans had not been submitted, and she requested the record be left open so they could be.    Ms. Wiltshire also informed the board that her clients recently discovered that Kevin Klenke, a neighbor who agreed to be a part of the application, had since changed his mind and is supposedly building his own rock revetment. Apparently the Napeague Beach Club has moved forward with its plans and, according to Ms. Wiltshire, “We heard there was a revetment put up last week, and we don’t know how.”

    On Nov. 21, the East Hampton Town Trustees approved a permit allowing the Napeague Beach Club to build a 70-foot-long sand and rock revetment, to be built in three layers.

    The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has not submitted its comments on the Young-Lemieux proposal. Ms. Wiltshire said her clients had been waiting for Mr. Klenke to join forces with them before providing the D.E.C. with the proposal. They finally submitted their plans to the department at the end of December.

    Christopher Kelley, the applicants’ attorney, talked about the latest revisions, which include moving the house to the southwest corner of the property, which would have less of an impact on Mr. Klenke, who lives east of them, and to New York State property, which is to the west.

    “We moved the revetment back, and coordinated efforts with Mr. Klenke. We did what we could, and designed a proposal to cover his property, and the road association,” he said. “The road association built their own revetment at the end of the road. It has a return on the east side of the property, which goes to the edge of the road bed. If that’s the case, we have an armored road end, and Klenke has his do-it-yourself rock revetment, and we’re trying to play by the rules.”

    “There was an interruption of sand in this area, we’re in a situation of last resort,” said Drew Bennett, an engineer for the applicants. “We have very little opportunity to work with this property. There’s no beach or dune left to be a buffer. . . .” Based on earlier suggestions from the board, he said, the applicants reduced the footprint of the house, and met sanitary code standards. However, the Suffolk County Health Department does not want a septic tank under the driveway, where it is now proposed, and has not issued a variance.

    “I’m not crazy about hard structures on the beach. I don’t want to see stones, a jetty, but unfortunately, this is the Alamo,” said Steve Graboski, a neighbor. “This application is very important, and it’s time that we have to abandon some of the old-time thinking — sand, sand bags — what they propose here is appropriate. It will protect their property and the neighborhood.”

    Rameshwar Das, a former chairman of the town’s waterfront advisory committee and an author of the local waterfront revitalization plan, spoke against the revetment. Emphasizing that he was speaking “purely as an observer,” Mr. Das discussed how shoreline recession has increased dramatically in the area, taking with it two or three houses. “The sacrifice and balance you need to consider is the protection of private property and the public resources, which is the beaches. That’s a loss to the public, that’s a recreational beach,” Mr. Das said.

    He referred to a recent study about sea-level rise projections and global warming, conducted by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. “I don’t think it’s going to get better,” Mr. Das said. “The estimate for sea-level rise is 1 to 5 inches by the 2020s, an increase of 5 to 12 inches by the 2050s, and 8 to 23 inches by the 2080s. Using those figures, by the 2020s, rough calculations are a 6-to-30-foot shoreline moving back. By the 2050s, it’s 30 to 75 feet. Now that might not be the exact correspondence, the shoreline may differ somewhat, but basically, I think you’re talking about permitting a fishing reef. That is what’s going to happen on the shoreline of this town.”

    “Realistically speaking, this is going to be a problem that will multiply and probably be on your plate more often than not for years here,” Mr. Das told the board. “I’m not sure if there’s a good solution. It [the house] will go, even with the revetment.”

    Tom Steele, an East Hampton resident and photographer, also spoke against the application. “I have a stake in this project. Variances will alter the landscape in Lazy Point, and cause immediate damage to the wetlands and unduly enrich the applicant,” he said. With a total of nine variances, which Mr. Steele called “extreme,” the project will “mar the Lazy Point coastline.”

    “This person purchased this property when erosion was well known and documented,” Mr. Steele said.

    “The applicant took a speculative risk, and this is clearly is a self-created hardship,” Mr. Steel said. “There is a phrase, ‘buyer beware.’ This will set a precedent for properties in peril, and subvert the integrity of our zoning laws.”

    Brian Frank, the Planning Department’s chief environmental analyst, said the application was changed to incorporate some of the things the department wanted; however, “Our principal concerns now are the same as in August when we had our initial public hearing. . . . Essentially the Planning Department’s opinion is that this is a poor candidate for relief for the nine variances requested.”

    “It’s best to hold off on hardening a shoreline and explore other alternatives,” Mr. Frank said. “It’s the last resort. Coastal shorelines are extremely dynamic, and we’re not sure what is going to happen with it here.” He suggested that stabilization in that location almost always causes severe impact and recession. “We have to learn from history or we’re just going to repeat mistakes,” Mr. Frank said. He recommended that the board wait for comments from the D.E.C. before making a decision.

    When discussing viable alternatives, such as a “soft solution” like a sandbag revetment, Don Cirillo, the zoning board’s vice chairman, asked, “To what end should an applicant go out and put in a temporary structure?” He wanted a rationale for an added expense to the applicant that would take more time, and perhaps not work as well as the proposed revetment.

    “To what end does the board want to go to retain the natural features of the property, and not make things worse out here?” Mr. Frank responded.

    The board voted to keep the record open until Jan. 31 to allow the D.E.C. more time to submit comments, as well as the applicants.

East Hampton Town

Route 114 Recharge Basin

    After delaying capital projects for several years while efforts were under way to get the town’s financial affairs in order, including identifying and borrowing enough money to cover a $27 million deficit, the East Hampton Town Board will develop a capital plan this year.

    Capital plans typically cover a multi-year period and serve as a wish list of sorts for large infrastructure or construction projects that are planned, and for which bonds would be issued.

    One project, however, has already gone out to bid, and the cost, as per the lowest bidder, is three times what had been expected. Construction of a water recharge basin on land along Route 114 in East Hampton will cost about $300,000, rather than the $100,000 anticipated. The land for the recharge basin was donated to the town by Elizabeth Fonseca in order to help solve a flooding problem in a nearby neighborhood caused by rain runoff from farm fields.

    Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson asked board members on Tuesday if, given the ability to accomplish a limited number of capital projects, the recharge basin would make the priority list.

    Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley, who has been overseeing the effort to help residents coping with continued flooding, urged the board to move forward regardless. The accepted bid will expire if the board doesn’t act, she said, and Ms. Fonseca’s one request of the town was that the basin be constructed — and the flooding problem solved — by spring. No decision was made.

Kudos for Town Hall

    The design of the new East Hampton Town Hall, created by Robert A.M. Stern Architects using historic 18th and 19th-century structures, has earned a 2011 Citation for Design from the American Institute of Architects of New York State.

    The jury praised the design as “a clear and concise solution that seamlessly integrates old and the new, resulting in perhaps one of the finest town halls in America.”

    The buildings were donated to the town by Adelaide de Menil and her husband, the late Edmund Carpenter, and had been on their Further Lane, Amagansett, property.    J.P.

Southampton Town

    Southampton Town has acquired a two-acre parcel at 365 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. The $450,000 property is part of the Long Pond Greenbelt target area and was targeted for preservation because of its collection of coastal plain ponds and numerous vulnerable species.

    The purchase will add to four acres on Sag Harbor’s Round Pound area, purchased in November for $1.1 million. The money for both acquisitions came from the town’s community preservation fund.

    Income to East Hampton Town’s community preservation fund plunged almost 22 percent in 2011.

    According to numbers in a report provided by State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. yesterday, revenue from the 2-percent tax on most real estate transactions was $13.86 million last year, compared to $17.72 million in 2010.

    The picture was better in Southampton Town, where income was up by 15 percent over 2010. Elsewhere in the region, Riverhead’s revenue fell by just under 16 percent, Southold’s by 7.5 percent, and Shelter Island’s crumpled by almost 40 percent.

    Over all, preservation fund revenue was an essentially flat $58.85 million in 2011 in the five East End towns. This figure represents a rise of only .1 percent from the $58.78 the towns took in the year before.

    George Simpson of Suffolk Research Service in Hampton Bays also provided statistics this week that reinforced the picture of a steep decline in East Hampton. According to Mr. Simpson’s analysis, the number of single-family houses sold in East Hampton Town in 2011 declined from 562 to 491, representing a more-than 26-percent drop in total sales in dollar terms.

    The median single-family residence price fell by 9.1 percent — to $875,000 — in East Hampton Town, Mr. Simpson said. For the five East End towns the median price was essentially flat and the total sales value dropped 3.8 percent.

    Property owners who want to demolish their house overlooking Gardiner’s Bay at the end of Mulford Lane in Amagansett and build a new one protected by a rock revetment will be before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals during its first hearings of the year on Tuesday.

    Joshua Young and Christine Lemieux have been down this road before, appearing before the board on Aug. 30 with plans to tear down their one-story, 1,200-square-foot house and construct an 1,836-square-foot house with a deck in its place and a 160-foot-long stone revetment along the beach to help prevent erosion. To do this, they needed a natural resources permit and variances from wetlands and coastal setbacks, and from coastal erosion district overlay regulations. The proposed rock revetment is in an area where new coastal erosion control structures are prohibited.

    In the summer, the application was rushed through for a hearing due to damage resulting from a Dec. 27, 2010, storm and impending peril from future storms. But during the hearing, the applicants’ attorney, Christopher Kelley, informed the board that a neighbor to the east recently decided to join the plan. Additionally, the Napeague Beach Club, a homeowners group of Mulford Lane residents, also wanted to create a revetment of sorts and place rocks at the end of the road.

    Mr. Kelley told the board in August that the applicants wanted to alter the septic system, revise their survey, and submit a new proposal entirely. The board agreed to leave the record open for three weeks to allow time for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to comment and for the applicants to submit their revised plan.

    More than four months later, the project has been modified, but still only includes the original applicants, who are planning to demolish the house and build a new 1,719-square-foot, two-story house on pilings with a 789-square- foot deck on two stories. They are now asking for permission to build a 115-linear-foot stone revetment.

    The septic system will be moved to the southeast corner of the property, and it, along with the driveway, would be on land that contains tidal wetlands, freshwater wetlands, barrier dunes, surface waters, and beach vegetation. The same relief is sought as before, a natural resources permit, along with multiple variances, and permission to install a new coastal erosion structure where town code would prohibit it. The new plan also requires a variance from the town’s pyramid law.

    Brian Frank, the Planning Department’s chief environmental analyst, prepared an Environmental Assessment Form for the board to consider during its deliberations, and noted on the form that the house, as now proposed, and the septic system would be farther from the water than what is there now.

    The zoning board meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. The Young and Lemieux hearing is scheduled for 8:30.

    In their first meeting of 2012, members of East Hampton Town’s ad hoc fisheries committee voted to recommend that the town board reappoint Arnold Leo, secretary of the East Hampton Town Baymen’s Association, to act as its consultant.

    The job, which often requires the consultant to attend fishery management meetings up and down the coast, pays $15,000 per year. After the vote, Rick Etzel, the committee chairman, told fellow members he would inform the town board of the committee’s wishes.

    The vote did not please all 11 members, who represent both commercial and recreational industries. And it did not please Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who last February refused to reappoint Mr. Leo despite the fact that the committee had voted unanimously to keep him on, and despite the fact that Mr. Leo had been willing to serve even though the annual budget was cut from $40,000 to $15,000. He became the town’s first fisheries consultant in 2007. Yesterday, Mr. Wilkinson said it would be the town board’s decision.

    Last February, Mr. Wilkinson insinuated that Mr. Leo, as secretary of the Baymen’s Association, was a commercial fisheries advocate, had not given equal representation to all the town’s marine industries. In a vote of 3 to 2 along Republican and Democratic lines respectively, Mr. Leo was removed from his post on Feb. 2 after the supervisor claimed the consultant had not gotten results during his tenure.

    His opinion was not shared by Paul Forsberg of Montauk’s Viking Fleet of party boats, who submitted a letter saying “his performance for both the commercial and for-hire fisheries has been excellent.”

    Mr. Leo’s pre-consultancy history includes his prominent role in the heated conflict between commercial and recreational fishermen over striped bass regulations in the late 1980s and early ’90s and the subsequent divvying up of awards won during a successful class action suit brought by New York commercial and for-hire fishermen against the General Electric Company.

    The company dumped tons of polychlorinated biphenyls, or P.C.B.s, into the Hudson River over many years. The contamination caused the State Department of Environmental Conservation to ban the sale of striped bass, anadromous fish that swim far up the Hudson to spawn.

    To this day, some in the charter boat industry insist that as the town’s consultant Mr. Leo will always favor commercial fisheries to the detriment of recreational interests.   

    Apparently, this fear did not prevail during Friday’s committee vote.

    “It’s not a matter of liking Arnold. He does a great job and he’s inexpensive,” said Bob Valenti, owner of the Multi-Aquaculture Systems business on Napeague and a fisheries committee member.

    By “inexpensive,” Dr. Valenti was referring to the fact that Eric Braun, a former landings-data collector for the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Mr. Leo’s successor, had charged the town $60 per hour for his time, using over half of the committee’s 2011 budget while attending one three-day meeting in Virginia last year. “What the committee did without Arnold was shit,” Dr. Valenti said.

    Reached yesterday morning, Supervisor Wilkinson said that although he had not officially received the committee’s recommendation, he assumed it was coming. He said it would be presented to the town board.

    “I came into this during my first term under concern from recreational fishermen that their views were not being promoted, but I’m going to listen to the committee. I’m not so thickheaded as to say it’s my way or the highway. It will be aired to the entire board, but my views are not changing.”

    The supervisor said he might ask Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc to serve as liaison to the fisheries committee. Mr. Van Scoyoc said yesterday that he thought the subject of Mr. Leo’s reappointment might be addressed at the board’s Tuesday work session.

    The new year will bring no respite from thorny issues, if the first meetings of the East Hampton Town Board in 2012 are an indication.

    Several residents of Springs spoke to the board at a meeting last Thursday, urging members to keep the issue of illegal housing in that hamlet on the front burner.

    Carol Buda said efforts to enforce the town housing code had surged some time ago after residents brought the issue to the fore, but “then quite suddenly there was a change in attitude. Either we need new attention to code enforcement or new and more stringent codes,” she said.

    Single-family residences with more than one family living in them result in a crowded Springs School, she said, and rising school taxes.

    “To be honest, we now have 12-month group housing” as opposed to just summer groupers, Walter Noller said. “As we overwhelm those septic systems, that goes into the aquifer, and it affects everybody out here.”

    The problem “doesn’t appear to be addressed to the satisfaction of we who live in Springs,” Fred Weinberg said.

    “Is there a way that the town can effectively implement a plan and affect the situation?” asked Lawrence Mayer.

    Supervisor Bill Wilkinson replied that the board had solicited data about housing throughout the town and “gathered people from different disciplines . . . to try to understand the numbers.”

    “The numbers have been vetted,” he said, and distributed to the various citizens advisory committees “so that everyone is on the same page. We have now gotten to a point where there is unanimity on . . . Springs has got an issue, and we’ve got to figure out what to do.”

    “It’s enforcement, it’s zoning, it’s do we continue to build on vacant lots?” Mr. Wilkinson said. “We’ve been very, very passionate about [community preservation fund] purchases focused in Springs.”

    “The fact that Springs has high school taxes has been known for 26 years,” Mr. Mayer said. “It’s just gotten worse because nobody’s doing anything. Can that become a priority?” he asked the board.

    “It has been a priority,” Mr. Wilkinson said. “Now we go to phase two.”

    At a board work session on Tuesday in Montauk, a discussion of a proposal to ban fuel deliveries to boats at town docks in Montauk from trucks, while allowing it to continue at Three Mile Harbor, had board members hashing out the issues but coming to no conclusion. A hearing was recently held on the proposed regulation.

    Among the considerations are the environment, the town’s liability should a spill occur, and the economic effects on the fuel truck operators, owners of marinas with fuel docks, and commercial fishermen.

    The town’s fisheries advisory committee had had a “vigorous” discussion of the matter, Councilman Dominick Stanzione reported, and recommended that no action be taken.

    “This is a huge political issue, especially in the hamlet of Montauk,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

East Hampton Town

Ethics Committee

    East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson announced last Thursday night that the town ethics board had found no wrongdoing after being asked to look into whether Len Bernard, the budget officer, had acted improperly in corresponding from his town office with the state comptroller and a member of the press regarding assertions in campaign literature for Zachary Cohen, Mr. Wilkinson’s Democratic challenger in the November election.

    Mr. Bernard had questioned Mr. Cohen’s characterization of his involvement in efforts to straighten out the town’s previous financial accounting, resulting in a letter to Mr. Cohen from the state comptroller saying Mr. Cohen’s statement that he provided services as a “financial analyst” was misleading. The matter was referred to the ethics board after Democrats suggested Mr. Bernard was engaging in political business from town office.

    The dispute became an issue in the campaign. Mr. Cohen, who offered his help as a volunteer with a business, math, and financial background, denied mischaracterizing his role, pointing to e-mails indicating his involvement and noting that he did not mean to suggest anything other than a volunteer role.

Office Condo Bids

    After issuing a request for bids from potential buyers of seven condominium units now occupied by town offices, the town has received one bid, for purchase of just two of the units, according to the East Hampton Town Purchasing Department.

    It is expected that details of the bid will be presented to the town board for discussion at an upcoming meeting. However, according to Jeanne Carozza, the purchasing agent, the bid met minimum specifications.

    Those specifications called for a minimum bid price of $3 million for all seven units, though an appraisal set a bulk sale price at $3.7 million, and a total price, if sold individually, of $4.4 million. A “quick sale” market value for all seven units was set at $3.4 to $3.6 million.

    The request for bids was issued by the town board after an undisclosed buyer indicated interest in purchasing all seven units, provided a closing could take place immediately. Although long-range discussions of a Town Hall campus had included the possibility of selling the office condos to raise money for reconstruction of the old Town Hall, or a new building, no plans have been laid for accommodating the offices that would be displaced by a sale. However, the sale bid specifications included a provision that the offices could remain in place for a year at no cost to the town.

Solar Panels

    With enough money left over from a grant used to erect solar energy panels on the Lamb building on Bluff Road in Amagansett, the town board hoped to put solar panels on the town police substation in Montauk as well, but was faced with a dilemma when it was discovered that the police building roof needed repairs before it could support the installation.

    On Tuesday, the board agreed to spend $20,000 on the roof repairs. The money will be recouped through long-term energy savings.

    A local law regarding solar energy equipment installations will be the subject of a public hearing before the board next Thursday night. The law, which will provide for an expedited review and permitting process for the installation of solar panels on the roofs of residential properties, mirrors a template developed by Suffolk County. The hearing will begin at 7 at Town Hall.

No Saturday Board Sessions

    A lack of attendance at once-a-month Saturday town board work sessions has resulted in a decision to drop the weekend schedule. The Saturday meeting was instituted two years ago under the incoming Wilkinson administration to provide a forum for second homeowners and others who cannot attend the meetings held on weekday mornings and evenings.

    The town board, at its work session on Tuesday, agreed to the change, suggested by Mr. Wilkinson. If needed, occasional special meetings will be scheduled for a Saturday.   

    The first meeting of the newly constituted East Hampton Town Board at Town Hall on Tuesday was largely a matter of formalities, with elected officials being sworn in. East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, a Republican, was sworn in for his second two-year term by Fred Overton, the town clerk, who also swore in two new Democratic board members, Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc. They replace two outgoing Democratic board members, Pete Hammerle and Julia Prince, who did not run for re-election. After being sworn in, Ms. Overby and Mr. Van Scoyoc took seats on the dais, behind their nameplates.

    The rest of the morning meeting, with more official appointments and some annual business, was routine except that the board failed to set a meeting schedule for the year after Supervisor Wilkinson suggested they reconsider holding work sessions one Saturday per month.

    Mr. Wilkinson instituted the Saturday meetings upon taking office two years ago, and touted them as an example of his effort to provide access to local government for constituents who are part-time residents.

    Few people have attended them, however, and those, Mr. Wilkinson agreed Tuesday, were largely the same residents who regularly attend other board sessions. He suggested suspending the Saturday meetings for several months, and then reassessing whether they are necessary.

    Mr. Van Scoyoc agreed, questioning the worth of opening Town Hall on a weekend, using light and heat, for the sessions. Ms. Overby said she was inclined to agree, but asked for actual attendance numbers. Councilman Dominick Stanzione, who with Councilwoman Theresa Quigley and the supervisor, is a member of the continuing Republican majority on the board, suggested it delay making a decision. He suggested considering the meeting schedule for July and August, saying fewer meetings should be held in those months.

    Ms. Overby countered that idea, noting that many second-home owners are in residence then. In addition, she said, should issues arise during the summer, the board should not put off discussion of them until the fall.

    Mr. Stanzione then reversed his position, insisting that the board have as many meetings as possible throughout the year, including the Saturday sessions.  Mr. Wilkinson moved to table the issue.

    Those sworn in during the meeting included Justice Lisa Rana, with Brian Gilbride, the Mayor of Sag Harbor, doing the honors. In turn, she swore in the new East Hampton highway superintendent, Stephen Lynch. Mr. Overton administered the oath of office to Jill Massa and Jeanne Nielsen, town assessors who won re-election.

    The town board reappointed Len Bernard as town budget officer and John Jilnicki as the town attorney. Reappointed as assistant town attorneys were Kathryn Santiago, Robert Connelly, and Patrick Gunn, who also serves as public safety administrator. A fifth attorney in the department, Carl Irace, resigned at the end of 2011.

    The board also set salaries for elected, non-union, and appointed officials and town department heads. Annual salaries, at the same level as in 2011, will be $96,862 for the supervisor and $60,539 for each of the other four town board members. Councilwoman Quigley, who was absent from the meeting, was reappointed by Mr. Wilkinson as deputy supervisor.

    No appointments were made, however, to fill two seats on the planning board — one vacated by Mr. Van Scoyoc, and the other due to the expiration of the term of Patrick Schutte. A third vacancy, because of the resignation of Frank Falcone in November, was filled some weeks ago with the appointment of Diana Weir.

    East Hampton Town Trustees-elect were sworn in on Tuesday night at the start of their organizational meeting and wasted no time getting down to business. Diane McNally and Stephanie Talmage were again appointed clerk and assistant clerk of the nine-member board.

    Ms. McNally welcomed the freshman trustees, Deborah Klughers, Nat Miller, and Sean McCaffrey, and then set what she said was the board’s broad agenda: “We’re going to kick butt.” Stephen Lester, also a non-incumbent, has served on the board before.

    Ms. McNally said both she and Ms. Talmage agreed that lack of enforcement of trustee regulations was undermining the trustees’ 300-year-old prerogatives. Trouble is, she said, the trustees do not have enforcement authority per se and must rely on the town’s marine police force, which she described as understaffed.

    Managing the annual placement and removal of boat moorings, duck blinds, and snow fencing, getting derelict boats off the beach at season’s end, safeguarding scallop spawning sanctuaries from shellfish pirates, halting the taking of undersize crabs from Georgica Pond, and more all come with regulations that trustees say are not being enforced.

    “Scallop sanctuaries don’t work. They’re a good idea, but there’s no enforcement,” said Mr. Miller, a bayman by trade. “It works, but we’re swimming against the tide,” he said, the tide being scallopers who were targeting the off-limit sanctuaries that are meant to increase spawning success, “either for personal gain or personal dinner. Something has to be done,” Mr. Miller said.

    “Enforcement has to be a priority even if we have to pay,” Ms. Talmage said, going on to explore the possibility that the board might hire a bay constable specifically to address the trustees’ needs.

    John Courtney, who was again hired to serve as the board’s attorney, advised the trustees to “work with the town board. A lot of this is in the code. You’ve got to get them to do it,” Mr. Courtney said, opening the book of town regulations and citing several that required enforcement of trustee regulations.

    Mr. Courtney explained that language bringing the town’s police powers to bear when trustee regulations are violated could be found throughout the town code. And while the language leaves no doubt that the town backs the trustees, there is no single declaration, as is the case in Southampton’s rulebook.

    “We’ve got to be the squeaky wheel,” Ms. McNally said. And, she told fellow trustees that their meeting schedule might have to be expanded to three per month instead of two because of the ever-increasing workload.

    Trustees passed resolutions to again name The Star as their newspaper of record, to hire Lori Miller-Carr as their secretary, to arrange the opening and closing of Georgica Pond, and to execute leases for trustee-owned land in the Lazy Point community of Amagansett.

    The 2012 fee schedule was also announced. There will be a $60 fee for first-time applications, $40 for renewals. Residents will pay $7.75 per boat-length foot for moorings, nonresidents, $15.50. There will be a $50 inspection fee for large-boat moorings in Three Mile Harbor. Commercial fishermen will get one mooring for free, a second mooring for $15 per boat-length foot. Transient moorings can be rented for $76 per night.

    Private docks on trustee-owned bottomland and walkways over it will cost $2 per linear foot, per year, commercial docks and walkways, $3 per linear foot. The municipal docks will be charged $3 per linear foot per year. There will be a $50 minimum for any dock or walkway.

    Baymen will pay $20 per fish trap. Pilings driven into trustee-owned bottomland will cost $10 each, bottom is available for duck blinds for $20 each, the trustees’ public blinds can be used for $25 per day.

    The trustees will sell dredge material for $7.50 per cubic yard to match the price Southampton is charging, and there will be a $250 minimum purchase. Permits for other structures and staircases will cost $3 per square foot. Non-motorized vessels stored on trustee beaches will require a $150 permit.

    Trustees agreed to raise the $750 lease fee for land at Lazy Point to $1,000 per year. Plus, Lazy Point residents who lease a portion of a second lot will be charged proportionally at that rate. There is a transfer fee of 2 percent of house rentals or sales at Lazy Point.

    Shellfish bags will cost $75 each for commercial fishermen, $1 each for the general public. Shellfish tags are free for the first 100, $10 for each 100 thereafter. There will be at least a $250 charge when an unmotorized boat left on the beach after the Nov. 1 deadline is impounded. That fee may well go up.

    For 2012, the trustee clerk will receive $37,530 from the town budget, and $2,500 per month from the trustee budget. The assistant clerk receives $9,686.26 from the town budget. The other trustees will get an annual remuneration of $7,264.70.      

East Hampton Town

North Main Traffic Circle?

    Members of the East Hampton-Sag Harbor Citizens Advisory Committee have asked town officials to revisit an idea for a traffic circle at the foot of Three Mile Harbor and Springs-Fireplace Roads, where they hit North Main Street in East Hampton.

    Potential actions to alleviate traffic back-ups in the area were originally addressed in a 2003 “North Main Street Corridor Study,” which became a part of the 2005 updated town comprehensive plan.

    Supervisor Bill Wilkinson agreed on Tuesday to contact the county, which owns sections of the roads involved, about having a traffic study done.

Trees in Airspace

    Trees surrounding East Hampton Airport have grown into airspace that must be kept clear, the Federal Aviation Administration has informed the town. Fixing the issue will be more complicated, and costly, than just trimming the treetops, the East Hampton Town Board learned Tuesday from Dennis Yap, an airport consultant.

    The area in question encompasses 50 acres, he said, and a survey must be done to identify the problematic trees, and those expected to grow too tall in the coming years.

    In the meantime, the town must seek approval from the F.A.A. for modifications to the angle of takeoff and descent for planes, so as to avoid the offending trees.

    The survey, to be conducted this year, is estimated to cost $35,000 to $40,000, while engineering fees, a federally required environmental review, and an F.A.A. inspection following the work next year would run another $30,000 to $35,000, Mr. Yap told the board. Board members had expressed frustration that a seemingly simple process would be so involved and costly.

Water Skiers Beware

    Dale Petruska, an East Hampton Marine Patrol officer, told the town board on Tuesday that areas of Three Mile Harbor designated for water skiing have become too shallow to safely allow the sport. Dredging of the harbor, he said, has resulted in sand moving along the bottomlands, leaving parts of the water-ski zone only three feet deep.

    However, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, a boatman and a longtime water skier, said that the area has always been shallow and that boats used for water skiing do not draw much water. “Certain activities have inherent risks,” he said.

    Councilwoman Theresa Quigley expressed concern about limiting recreational activities. “Having said that,” said Ms. Quigley, whose daughter was injured last summer while swimming in the ocean, “I, of all people, understand the risks of a water accident.” Both she and Councilman Dominick Stanzione said that they were not comfortable making a decision about the skiing area. But Supervisor Wilkinson said that “mine is not to question. They’re making a call that this is unsafe.”

Ocean Currents on Radar

    Radar equipment to collect data on ocean currents and waves could be installed along an East Hampton beach if the town board approves a request from the Coastal Ocean Observation lab at Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences.

    Ethan Handel, a research coordinator at the lab, told the board on Tuesday that an East Hampton site is needed to fill a gap in a system of 30 data-collection sites from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras.

    A 35-foot transmission antenna and a smaller receiver antenna would be set on the dunes, anchored by thin guy wires in a 20-foot radius and wired to a small enclosure with computer equipment. An area near the bathroom at Ditch Plain beach in Montauk has been identified as an ideal site, Mr. Handel said, though other spots, as long as electricity is available, could be considered.

    Mr. Handel said that with the data collected, maps are made of what the ocean is doing, every hour, up to about 100 miles offshore, and that the information is used by the Coast Guard when planning search and rescue missions and can be used in making decisions about coastal erosion and beaches.

No Employee Jackets

    A budget transfer that would have enabled Supervisor Wilkinson to spend $7,000 on jackets for town employees — in what the supervisor described as a reward program — was defeated in a vote last Thursday night.

    Ms. Quigley was the only board member beside Mr. Wilkinson to vote for the measure. Mr. Stanzione abstained from the vote, and Councilwoman Sylvia Overby voted no. She had suggested at an earlier meeting that the town might have other more pressing needs for the funds. Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc was absent from the vote.