All of the bids received from mobile food vendors hoping to become exclusive concessionaires at East Hampton Town beaches will be thrown out, and a plan to award the right to sell at a particular beach to a single entity has been scrapped.

A storm of protest blew up on Thursday when Montauk residents got wind that the Ditch Witch, a food wagon run by Lili Adams at Ditch Plain beach for many years, was not the winning bidder for a concession at that site, which is adjacent to the East Deck Motel.

A "Save the Ditch Witch" Facebook page quickly drew over 1,000 followers by mid-afternoon Thursday and town board members were inundated with hundreds of e-mails calling the Ditch Witch an institution and questioning how a local business owner could be shut out. Plans were laid for a rally at Ditch beach -- with drumming -- and suggestions made of not only boycotting a new food truck there, but forming a human chain to prevent anyone other than Ms. Adams from getting in.

In a hastily called special meeting early Thursday afternoon, the town board met to discuss the request-for-proposals process it had used to select the food truck vendors who would have been allowed to sell at the beaches.

Based on complaints in previous years from vendors and the public about crowding and potential turf wars from an increasing number of food-truck vendors, the board, with Councilwoman Julia Prince spearheading the effort, had sought a way to control the situation at popular beaches.

Based on a scoring system that weighed criteria such as experience, qualifications, and financial capability with subcategories counting for 30 percent of the score, a business and marketing plan, (30 percent), and proposed financial terms -- seasonal rent to be paid to the town -- counting for 40 percent of the score, winning bidders were selected and expected to be approved with a vote of the town board at a meeting Thursday evening.

The Ditch Witch, and another longtime vendor, Beach Dog, the Bogetti family's food truck, were not selected. Instead, the rights to sell at Otis Road in Montauk, a site at the Ditch Plain beach where Ms. Adams normally set up, were to be given to a newcomer, Turf Lobster Rolls, and the vendor for Ditch Plain main parking lot to the west would have been Montaco, which came on the scene last summer. A Facebook page was also set up for Beach Dog, and support for the Bogettis also began to swell.

The Paddy Wagon, another longtime Montauk vendor that uses the parking lot at the end of West Lake Drive, won that bid, and Dune Doggie, the longtime vendor at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett, won the right to stay at that spot. No bids were received for other town beaches.

The proposals were all scored, according to the evaluation criteria, by a committee of four people appointed by the board, which then provided information to the board about the scores and made recommendations on the bidders.

Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said that, "because of the number of inquiries we were getting," board members had stepped in and reviewed the original proposals for the Otis Road concession on Thursday morning.

One thing, he said, "jumped off the page at us." The Turf Lobster Rolls vendor, he said, "had a very limited menu that started at $17 for a lobster roll."

"Suitability of proposed food items to meet the needs of beachgoers" is one of the scoring criteria. The board also found a "minor tabulation error" in the point scoring, Councilman Dominick Stanzione said, which brought the difference in scores between Ms. Adams's Ditch Witch and Turf Lobster Rolls to just two points.

Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said that she had reviewed the proposals submitted and realized that bidders had not been given a detailed breakdown of the points to be assigned to the individual criteria in each subcategory. "I think that renders the bids invalid," she said.

John Jilnicki, the town attorney, agreed. "It's really not fair to any of the bidders."

In addition, Ms. Quigley said, on the list of criteria given to the scoring committee, the words "understanding of customer base and community" were underlined, indicating, perhaps that that criteria should be given extra weight. The information provided to vendors did not highlight that phrase, she said.

Although, legally, non-local vendors could not be excluded, the intent, Mr. Wilkinson said at the meeting, was to "customize this in such a way" as to give longtime local vendors an advantage.

Therefore, items such as experience and an understanding of the community were weighted more heavily than other criteria, and, overall, the proposed rent to be paid would account for only 40 percent of the score.

The board intends to fine tune the exclusive concessionaire process with an eye toward later implementation, but, with Memorial Day fast approaching, it will return to the previous rules on peddling, as had been on the town code before the recent change. Enforcement of the rules will be stepped up.

Any licensed food truck will be able to park, on a first-come, first-served basis, in designated spots only at town beaches. A provision of the law outlawing overnight parking at those spots, often overlooked in past years, will also be enforced.

East Hampton Town

Digging Into Soil Tests

    Recent soil tests at the East End Community Organic Farm, which is on town-owned property on Long Lane in East Hampton, will be the subject of an East Hampton Town Board discussion. The levels of arsenic in soil at the farm, remaining from past agricultural applications, have been a concern for years, and members of the East Hampton Citizens Advisory Committee had recently requested a new round of tests.

    The board is seeking someone who can provide a detailed scientific analysis of the results, but heard Tuesday that a Cornell Cooperative Extension Service toxicologist who was involved in previous testing in 2005 had informally reviewed the findings and reported that arsenic levels, which had been within acceptable standards, had not greatly changed.

    Organic farming practices now employed at EECO were expected to bring down the arsenic levels, said Prudence Carabine, a C.A.C. member who was also part of an East Hampton cancer task force that was looking for chemical or environmental underpinnings of a cancer cluster among students at East Hampton High School, across the street from the farm. Therefore, she said, if arsenic levels have not substantially changed, the board should consider taking further action.

On Financing Employee Buyouts

    East Hampton Town officials are once again seeking a State Legislature vote that would allow the town to issue 10-year bonds to pay for an employee separation incentive program, offering monetary settlements to entice workers to leave so as to reduce the town’s work force. The proposal, a change to a section of state finance law, was before legislators last year but was never brought to a vote after state lawmakers’ work got mired in Albany politics.

    This week, the Democratic candidate for town supervisor, Zachary Cohen, sent a letter to Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle detailing why he is opposed to using debt to finance a separation incentive plan, calling it “bad finance.” Details of the program itself, he said, have not been publicly discussed and so cannot be critiqued.

    Mr. Cohen said the incentives could be paid for with surplus money the town is accruing, while still leaving adequate reserves for emergencies, or, if an employee leaves early enough in a particular year, from annual budget savings from the remainder of the unpaid salary.

    On Tuesday, Len Bernard, the town budget officer, likened securing the ability to issue bonds for the program to obtaining another “arrow in the quiver” of financial options. He said that how much debt might be issued remains to be seen.

Trouble Over Truck Route

    Residents living in a neighborhood off Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, concerned about the recent resurrection of a plan to route truck traffic through the area, have formed the Freetown Neighborhood Coalition and sent an attorney to speak to the town board on Tuesday. Jonathon Moore, who practices in Washington, D.C., and also lives in the area in question, which includes West Drive, Morris Park Drive, Warwick Road, Neighborhood Road, Austin Road, and contiguous streets, delivered a memo to the board regarding the Snyder family commercial subdivision, for which planning board approval is being sought.

    The subdivision application has been pending for years, and the family recently appealed to the town board for help in getting final approval. Because the process of providing an access to the Snyders’ landlocked parcel through a separate, unconnected section of West Drive, chosen by the planning board because it winds through an industrial, rather than residential, area, has bogged down in legal complications, Councilwoman Theresa Quigley had suggested looking again at the other potential access through the residential part of West Drive. That brought the residents out to protest, as they had done before the original idea was scrapped.

    At Tuesday’s meeting, Ms. Quigley reassured the neighborhood residents, saying that the access to the new commercial subdivision is “absolutely” going to be over the northerly route.

Floating a Farm Museum

    The house and barn on the former Lester farm at the corner of North Main and Cedar Streets in East Hampton, purchased by the town through its community preservation fund, would be a good site for a farm museum showing how hoi polloi here once lived and highlighting the life stories of colorful local residents, Prudence Carabine told the town board on Tuesday. Richard Barons, the head of the East Hampton Historical Society, and the East Hampton Citizens Advisory Committee endorse the idea, she said.

    “Farming and fishing gave the town its character,” Ms. Carabine said, suggesting that the museum could display farm equipment as well as textiles and other everyday goods used by residents in the past. Mr. Barons has submitted a letter to the board offering the historical society’s expertise in establishing and running the museum.    J.P.

New York State

Construction Dollars for John Jermain

    Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced Friday that $137,667 in public library construction money had been awarded to the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. “With libraries now experiencing remarkable increases in use, and with budget cuts creating significant hardship, I am thrilled that my constituents, and the beautiful John Jermain Memorial Library, will benefit from these state funds,” Mr. Thiele said in a release. The money is part of $14 million made available for public library construction in the 2010 state budget.

    The Sag Harbor philanthropist Mrs. Russell Sage paid for the library to be built in 1910 in memory of her grandfather, whose name it bears. A public referendum for expanding the library, which is a state and nationally recognized historic place, passed by a wide margin in 2009.

   The federal Department of Commerce announced on Tuesday that just under $650,000 in fisheries-related fines would be returned to individual fishermen and businesses following an independent review of cases that concluded “rogue” enforcement agents had exceeded their authority.

    “I’d like to get my money back, but I doubt it. I’ve been critical before and after,” said David Aripotch, a Montauk dragger captain who was fined $61,000 and ordered to tie his boat up for four months for inaccurately reporting his catch on a number of occasions. The punishment, which he said did not fit the alleged violations, was accompanied, he said, by efforts to coerce him into “fabricating” stories about fish buyers in New York City.

    Two years ago, following numerous complaints by commercial fishermen and buyers in the Northeast, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, directed the Commerce Department’s inspector general, Todd Zinser, to investigate allegations that enforcement agents and judges were being overzealous in their prosecution of alleged fisheries violations and had used excessive fines to buy boats and vehicles and to finance junkets abroad.

    The Department of Commerce is the parent agency of NOAA and the National Marine Fisheries Service. New York Senator Charles E. Schumer pressed the agency to correct the situation.

    During the investigation it was discovered that a top-ranking enforcement agent had ordered documents shredded.

    Based on the internal investigation’s findings, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke last year appointed a special investigator to review cases that were flagged. As a result, 11 individuals and businesses would be reimbursed for the excessive fines they were often coerced into paying, Mr. Locke announced on Tuesday.

    So far, the biggest payback will be to Lawrence Yucubian, a scalloper from New England who will get back $400,000. The Agger Fish Company of Brooklyn will have $160,000 returned, and the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction will receive $85,000 in returned fines. At least 80 more cases will be reviewed.

    “I feel vindicated, but they’re not going to prosecute these guys,” Captain Aripotch said. “I’d like to know who gave the soldiers their marching orders.”

    With pollutant levels in bays and other surface waters on the rise, tied largely to septic systems, Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said Tuesday that officials must work to address the perception that installing sewage treatment plants will necessarily result in increased density.

    “One is a water quality issue, one is a zoning issue,” he said. “We have to decouple it.”

    Kevin McAllister, the Peconic Baykeeper, told the East Hampton Town Board at a work session on Tuesday that “nutrient pollution” has been cited by the Environmental Protection Agency as the leading cause of water quality decline across the United States, and that “all points are leading to septic.”

    On Long Island, he said, the entire south shore of Suffolk County has been included in the federal and state “impaired waters” list, with the causes identified as septic waste and stormwater runoff.

    A study of the DNA in water contaminants, conducted by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service, revealed that 97 percent of the waste found in waters in East Hampton’s Northwest area was from a human source, Mr. McAllister said. “So that suggests to me we’ve probably got failing septic systems in Northwest.”

    Other waters in the town that “could be susceptible to septic issues,” he said, are Accabonac Harbor and the south end of Lake Montauk.

    “Suffolk County has largely ignored this problem for years,” Mr. McAllister said.  He said that the County Health Department’s standards for septic systems, which the town relies on in its own regulations, are antiquated and not stringent enough. “It’s a very primitive approach to wastewater.”

    Suffolk municipalities, Mr. McAllister told the town board, should press the county to accept the use of septic systems based on more advanced technology, such as is done in other areas of the country. He asked for the board’s help in “advancing reform in Suffolk County.”

    In addition, he told the board, “You have the authority to have more restrictive regulations if you so choose.”

    “We have to do better for these water resources.” In areas of particular concern or fragility, he said, neighborhood sewage treatment plants, taking up no more than the area of one building lot, could be installed. It could be costly, Mr. McAllister acknowledged, but “we’re going to pay now or we’re going to pay very dearly later.”

    “Ultimately, land use is intrinsically connected to water quality,” he said. Mr. Wilkinson said that dealing with the perception that sewage treatment to protect ground and surface waters from pollution by existing septic systems will lead to more building has been “one of my frustrations.”

    “Resolving that is a critical issue in our public debate,” Councilman Dominick Stanzione commented.

    Mr. McAllister agreed that the two issues should be looked at separately. “We’ve got to strive for cleaner water, but at the same time we’ve got to deal with quality of life issues,” such as traffic and density, he said.

    The town board recently agreed to appoint Mr. McAllister to the technical committee on Lake Montauk watershed management. A resolution formalizing the appointment is expected to be approved tonight.

    The East Hampton Town Republican Committee is holding a meet-the-candidates brunch on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at East Hampton Point on Three Mile Harbor Road.

    The G.O.P. slate includes incumbent Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, his running mates for the two open town board seats, Steven Gaines of Wainscott and Richard Haeg of East Hampton, and the Republican and Independence Party nominee for superintendent of highways, Stephen Lynch of East Hampton.

    Rounding out the ticket are the incumbent town justice, Lisa R. Rana, the tax assessor Jill Massa, and the Republicans’ nominees for trustee: Diane McNally (the clerk), Tim Bock (assistant clerk), Stephanie Talmage Forsberg (also an assistant clerk), Joe Bloecker, Lynn Mendelman, and John Gosman, all incumbents, and Sean McCaffrey, Kevin Byrne,  Jr., and Nathaniel Miller.

    Tickets for Sunday’s brunch run $75. Tina Piette of Amagansett can be called for more information.

    Thomas Burke and Rebekah Baker’s request for a zoning change that would allow the historic Jeremiah Baker house on Amagansett’s Main Street to contain one of a limited number of commercial uses has prompted a debate about adhering to the town’s comprehensive plan and a conversation about whether making a zoning change to a single property is illegal “spot zoning.”

    Almost all of the speakers at a hearing before the East Hampton Town Board last Thursday night opposed the change, citing a fear that it would be a step down a slippery slope of creeping commercialization that could undermine the Main Street historic district. The change Mr. Burke and Ms. Baker asked for would restore limited-business zoning to the residential lot, located just west of Miankoma Lane.

    “The destruction just doesn’t come all at once, it’s done bit by bit,” Helen Kuzmier said.

    “To tinker with the Amagansett Historic District by spot zoning is a very bad and dangerous idea,” said Richard Barons, the director of the East Hampton Historical Society.

    Jonathan Tarbet, an attorney for Paul Masi, an adjoining property owner, said that his client had purchased his residential lot after determining, through due diligence, the zoning of surrounding properties, and that the zone change would decrease his property value.

    Mr. Masi, whose flag lot, along with three others, shares a driveway with the Baker House, has three young children and said that the potential traffic and parking places that would come with commercial use of the site makes him fear for their safety. “It has devastated us,” he said of the prospect. “My wife and I are completely distraught over this issue.”

    Numerous speakers referred to the community decisions, legally adopted by previous town boards, that are included in documents such as the town comprehensive plan and historic district guidelines, and questioned how the board could vary from the adopted plans.

    “I frankly don’t understand why this hearing is being held tonight, since the subject is spot zoning . . . which is illegal,” Betty Mazur said.

    “The request here is very unfair. It is for spot zoning to benefit one owner, to the detriment of another owner,” Jeanne Frankl said. “In a civil society, people who buy property should expect to follow the rules, not buy in the hope of avoiding them later.”

    Andy Hammer, an attorney for the property owners, suggested that the removal of the site’s limited-business zoning, pursuant to the last comprehensive plan, could itself be considered spot zoning, as the property was singled out and a clear, overarching purpose for the change is lacking. “Nobody, but nobody, has been able to point to a study that says limited-business overlay should end right there,” he said.

    Laura Molinari, who served as the town attorney when the 2005 comprehensive plan was adopted, told the board that the plan was the result of “four and a half years of effort, two administrations, several consultants, and 17 subcommittees,” as well as efforts by the town board and community organizations. It included the results of “numerous studies, reports, and plans,” she said, and “eight hours of public hearings, with extensive public comment” were considered.

    Although, she said, a comprehensive plan is not to be a static document but a “blueprint for the future, any changes made contrary to the plan ought to be accompanied by detailed analysis.”

    The plan, she said, “is referred to and relied upon by many individuals.”  To act on the zone change, she said, “would be an unlawful act of spot zoning.”

    In full disclosure, Ms. Molinari told the board she is married to Mr. Tarbet, and is a friend of the Masi family.    

    Mr. Tarbet told the board he was disappointed in the advice that it had received from its attorneys, because, he said, an isolated zoning change cannot legally be considered with no discussion of a larger public purpose. “When it’s patently obvious that they’re not in accordance with town law [ideas] should not be voted on,” he said. Court cases over zoning changes, he said, are determined based on whether a decision was in accordance with a comprehensive plan. “And if not, it’s spot zoning,” he said.

    The location of the Baker House, with a church and the Amagansett School as its immediate neighbors to the east, “limits [its] desirability for strictly residential use,” Mr. Hammer said. The concept of limited-business zones, he said, was “to recognize that there are business-compatible uses” in such mixed residential areas. “These low-impact uses are the types of uses we should be looking to expand upon in our town.”

    “Adaptive reuse” of historic structures, he said, “is a good step toward encouraging their conservation and upkeep.”

    “I want to work from my house to provide a living for myself and my family, and pay the mortgage,” Mr. Burke said. The idea, he said, “is consistent with smart growth, because it’s in the center of town.”

    He said a buffer of 100 feet or more could be placed around the three-quarter-acre property, and a layout designed that would eliminate a negative effect on the neighbors.

    The town board has not yet discussed the comments from the hearing.

    The East Hampton Town Republican Committee made its 2011 nominee selections official this week, with Richard Haeg of East Hampton and Steven Gaines of Wainscott locking hands with Supervisor Bill Wilkinson at the top of the ballot. In an unexpected move, the Republicans also endorsed Stephen Lynch of East Hampton, the Independence Party nominee for highway superintendent. He will face off against Scott King, who is the incumbent and garnered criticism for his allegedly contentious relationship with town employees.

    Mr. King, who came to the highway superintendent position after serving as deputy to his predecessor, Chris Russo, for three years, ran as a Republican for the position before Mr. Russo asked him to join the department. He owned his own business, Maidstone Driveways, before entering public service.

    Mr. Haeg, a private detective, Vietnam veteran, and holder of a United States Coast Guard master’s license, said his background in investigative work would be an asset.

    “I’m a firm believer in the people of this town. I want it to be a great town. I’ve got a good amount of insight on what the board is doing on a daily basis. I think that I bring a good, rounded investigative background which will help the board to look deeper into situations that we have in town.”

    Mr. Haeg said that the town’s finances and overcrowding in Springs would be his top priorities.

    Mr. Gaines, a best-selling author and magazine journalist, went into greater detail on his vision of a more cooperative town government, and expressed concern about the lack of “big-picture” budget thinking by some members of the community.

    “People are worried about leaf pick-up when the town is $27 million in debt,” he said. “People aren’t worried about the next generation, about our bond rating, about affordable housing, about the future of this community. These are major things going on, and people are getting sidetracked by the ankle-biters.”

    Mr. Gaines called land use, “as it’s always been out here,” the greatest issue at stake, and praised Mr. Wilkinson’s tenure as supervisor.

    “I just think he’s doing a fantastic job. I’m very excited about being part of that team. He’s formed a team of the best and the brightest. Each contributes something else to the equation,” Mr. Gaines said of the G.O.P. ticket.

    Mr. Lynch, reached by phone Tuesday, said his challenge to Mr. King will rest primarily on questions of leadership and management style.

    “The morale of the department is way down. The men get no respect at all. Everything is micromanaged, and you can’t run anything by micromanaging. I’ve been in business 30 years, and and if I micromanaged, I wouldn’t be,” Mr. Lynch said.

    As the owner of a contracting company that bears his name, Mr. Lynch said, he is experienced at excavation, trucking, drainage, driveway installation, and swimming pool construction.

    His opponent, Mr. King, when asked yesterday whether he intended to seek another term, took the unusual step of deferring to the Democratic Committee, indicating that if they nominate him at their convention on Monday, he will run. Joe Bloecker of Montauk, a Republican town trustee, has also been through the Democrats’ screening process for highway superintendent.

    Mr. Gaines and Mr. Haeg will compete for town board seats with two Democrats, Sylvia Overby of Amagansett and Peter Van Scoyoc of East Hampton, as well as Bill Mott of East Hampton and Marilyn Behan of Montauk, the Independence Party nominees.

    Because Mr. Gaines and Mr. Haeg have been effusive in their praise of Mr. Wilkinson’s year-and-a-half tenure, their candidacies will be closely linked to his electoral fate as he squares off against the Democratic nominee for town supervisor, Zach Cohen of Springs.

    The new candidates do not shy away from the association.

    “I’m very impressed with what they’ve done in a year and a half,” Mr. Haeg said of the current board and the supervisor at its helm. “I don’t think you can go anywhere in the county and find a supervisor who has actually acheived almost every campaign promise in a year and a half time. He’s not only righted the ship, he’s sailing it through a minefield, and I’m honored to be part of his team.”

    In the near empty confines of Town Hall on May 4, the East Hampton Town Planning Board approved the Reform Club’s application to erect two small sheds on its property on Windmill Lane in Amagansett.

Questions as to whether the changes to the property and its structures — changes that began in 2007 a year after Randy Lerner purchased what had been a modest seasonally operated inn — should have triggered site plan review by the board were rendered immaterial by the vote.

Two members voted against the application: Peter Van Scoyoc, who at a planning board meeting on April 19 had argued that earlier changes to the property were illegal, and Eileen Catalano, who at that same meeting said that previous remodeling on the site without planning board approval “was a mystery to everyone.”

The five other planning board members voted in favor of the application.    A.D.H.

Grievance Day

    The 2012 Town of East Hampton assessment roll has been completed and can be examined at the office of the town assessors on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. until Tuesday. The Board of Assessment Review will meet on Tuesday at Town Hall from 10 a.m. to noon, 2 to 4 p.m., and again from 6 to 8 p.m. to hear and examine all complaints or grievances in relation to assessments.

Seek Food and Tire Bids

    The town’s Purchasing Department is seeking bids on the provision of solid tires with rims for a piece of heavy equipment. Specifications can be obtained from the department. Bids must be submitted by 3 p.m. on May 26. Bids are also being sought for the supply and delivery of frozen foods for the Human Services Department’s meals program. They must be received by the Purchasing Department by 1 p.m. on June 3.

    Carl Irace, the deputy attorney for East Hampton Town, has completed the renewal of his New York State license as a practicing attorney, after a lapse.

According to New York State Unified Court System’s online records, Mr. Irace, who was admitted to the New York bar in 2002, is currently registered.

Renewal is required every two years, and Mr. Irace said that because of several changes of address, including a move from New York City to the East End, where he began working for the town at the start of last year, he had not received a renewal reminder and had overlooked the previous registration renewal date in May 2010. He immediately rectified the situation when it came to his attention several weeks ago.

Mr. Irace, who worked formerly with the Bronx County District Attorney’s office, has also recently gained admittance to the federal bar.     J.P.