A fourth traffic lane and pedestrian crosswalks on Newtown Lane, along with repairs and changes on Railroad Avenue and Race and Gingerbread Lanes, were the primary topics at the East Hampton Village Board’s meeting on Friday. The design review board was also presented with an award for its effort to preserve historic buildings.

The board agreed that the proposals for Newtown Lane described at the meeting by Drew Bennett, a consulting engineer, should go forward, along with the work on the other streets. The Suffolk County Transit bus shelter on Newtown Lane is to be relocated. Mr. Bennett said the changes were based on the volume of traffic. Newtown Lane will also be resurfaced and parallel parking on both sides of the street continued.

While moving the crosswalk at the East Hampton Middle School was considered, in part to separate it from the bus shelter, Mr. Bennett said it will remain in place and the shelter will be moved closer to the retail outlets. That “will eliminate the congestion of people standing and waiting for the bus as well as the children having to go back and forth to gym class,” across Newtown Lane from the school in Herrick Park, he said.

Richard Burns, the school district superintendent, who attended the meeting, expressed support for moving the bus station but questioned the fourth traffic lane. He said he hoped it “doesn’t? become what Main Street sometimes is,” a road where vehicles travel at higher speed. “I’m a little concerned about kids crossing four lanes of traffic, even if it is a crosswalk. . . . I’m always worried about that intersection when it’s dusk,” he said.

Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. told Mr. Burns that the state had authorized funding for radar speed cameras in school districts and that the village would look at it. “I wouldn’t have any difficulty in having the village reach out if that was a goal that could be achieved,” he said. “You not only have a camera but, by golly, documentation and potentially a summons.” The board agreed.

Barbara Borsack, the deputy mayor, suggested that the crosswalk at the school be lighted, which Mr. Bennett called a good suggestion. He then added the possible construction of a center island at that part of Newtown Lane, which he said might further increase pedestrian safety.

Elsewhere in the village, a new curb will be added at the intersection of Gingerbread and Race Lanes, creating a 90-degree intersection. The present “swoop,” Mr. Bennett told the board, encourages motorists to roll through the stop sign there. He also proposed a raised island at the westerly end of Railroad Avenue and moving the existing stop sign there closer to the stop line, which he said would result in improved visibility.

The concrete island that separates train-station traffic and flow-through traffic on Railroad Avenue is going to be repaired. “The curbing is corroding; rebar is popping out,” Mr. Bennett said. “We’re proposing to replace the curbs in kind.” He also is asking for reflectors in the pavement at the intersection of Newtown Lane and Railroad Avenue. “As the striping wears out, people seem to come further and further over the line,” he said, and reflectors will help.

Nomination

Janet Dayton, the president of the Ladies Village Improvement Society, told the board that its landmarks committee had nominated the East Hampton Village Design Review Board’s timber frame landmarks project, covering structures built between 1700 and 1850, for an excellence award from the National Alliance of Preservation Commission.

Legislation to implement the landmarks project, initially presented to the board in October 2012, was designed to preserve significant buildings outside the village’s historic districts. In exchange for a restriction that land-marked houses cannot be demolished or relocated and rigid design review standards apply to exterior changes, the owners of such houses will be allowed to build a guest house and to transfer some of the allowable floor area in their primary residence to an accessory dwelling such as a guest house.

Many of the houses in question are small buildings on large lots. “Without this protection,” Ms. Dayton said, “it is certain that the village would lose many of its oldest houses as well as the significance of the first communities on the East End of Long Island.”

 “It is with great pleasure that now I present this award to you. Congratulations to the village and the Design Review Board for their foresight in working to preserve our historic village,” she said to the mayor and to Carolyn Preische, vice chairwoman of the review board.

The board also scheduled public hearings on Oct. 17 on proposed code amendments. One involves requiring insurance for mass-gathering events held on public property. The other would reduce the speed limit to 25 miles per hour on Mill Hill Lane and Meadow Way. The hearings will take place at 11 a.m. at the Emergency Services Building.

The Chelberg-Battle Post of the American Legion in Sag Harbor celebrated its building’s 60th birthday on Monday night with a party, which included the dedication of a bench to a former member who helped the legion secure a home.

“Sag Harbor has a very unique military history dating all the way back to the Civil War, where 46 individuals from Sag Harbor died,” David Pharaoh, the current commander, who has been a member for 24 years, told an attentive crowd. During World War I, 11 men from the village were killed. The first to die were Corp. James Frederick Chelberg and Pvt. George F. Battle, both of whom served with the Army’s 77th Division in France.

In August 1919, a group of World War I veterans formed the legion. Fourteen of those charter members decided to name it for the two fallen men, and Chelberg-Battle Post #388 of the American Legion was born. Dr. J.H. McCourt, the first commander, held meetings where the village police station now stands.

By the late 1940s, the members wanted to find a home of their own. Fund-raising efforts included Bingo games and a Buy-a-Brick campaign, where legionnaires sold strips of papers in the shape of a brick for 25 cents. A car raffle, organized by Frank Santacroce, a car salesman and the post commander in 1949 and ’50, helped put the campaign over the top, and a drawing took place at the annual Main Street block party over Labor Day weekend. (Mr. Santacroce served during World War II in the Army’s 36th Infantry Division of the 111th Engineering Company.)

Using the money raised and with assistance from the Sag Harbor Savings Bank — “the only bank in town that would give the legion a loan,” Mr. Pharaoh said — the legion’s new headquarters at 26 Bay Street was built for $36,000. Despite not being a veteran, Charlie Labrozzi, a local mason, donated his time for its construction. “It was his way of saying thank you to the many veterans of Sag Harbor,” said Mr. Pharaoh.

On Sept. 22, 1954, Everett Diederiks, then post commander, presided over a dedication ceremony. The building quickly became a center for the community. “All village affairs large and small, from birthday parties, weddings, fire department dinner dances, Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinners, to baseball, basketball, and soccer sign-ups, have all been hosted at the legion,” Mr. Pharaoh said.

While many legion posts around the country are shutting their doors, the Chelberg-Battle post is thriving. Since 2003, $13,500 in scholarships has been given out annually and $1,000 donated to the Sag Harbor Food Pantry. The legion sponsors the Cub Scouts, the Pierson High School robotics team, and several other organizations, to the tune of a little over $18,000 this year alone. Members also send Girl Scout cookies to U.S. soldiers.

Mr. Pharaoh said that while times have changed, the legion still operates under the same principals established in 1919, long before mission statements and board goals. Quoting the legion preamble, it’s “Inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state, and nation,” he said. “The legion today stands as a testament to the commitment from the veterans of Sag Harbor to their country, and especially the Village of Sag Harbor. Built by the people for the people.”

Family members of deceased past commanders, together with past presidents of the legion’s Ladies Auxiliary, joined in the celebration. Robert Diederiks, a deacon at St. Andrew’s Church in Sag Harbor whose father was in charge when the post opened in 1954, gave the opening prayer. The oldest living past commander on hand was Jack Reidy, 88, who served from 1966 to 1967.

A bench in front of the legion building was dedicated to Mr. Santacroce and his wife, Anne Santacroce, who served as a member of the Army Nurse Corps on the front lines in Europe during World War II. Their son Michael Santacroce donated the bench.

Proclamations were presented by Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst and State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.

A John Jermain Memorial Library board election and vote on the library’s 2015 budget will be held Monday in Sag Harbor.

Six are running for three seats, each three-year terms starting Jan. 1. Jackie Brody, who now serves as board secretary, and Ann Lieber want to keep their seats, while Caleb Kercheval, Anne Sutphen, Susan Sabin, and Robert Hooke are challenging them. Tony Spitz, an incumbent, is not seeking re-election.

Catherine Creedon, the library’s director, said all of the candidates are active users of library services, programs, and collections. “All have shown continued interest in the library’s future in the ‘new’ building,” she said.

The board is proposing an approximate $2.4 million budget for 2015, which includes an operating budget and $905,000 in annual debt service approved in 2009 for the renovations and expansion of the 1910 building. The figure represents a 5.8-percent increase from the current budget, a $128,723 increase over all. Taxpayers can expect a $12 rise in their tax bills.

The budget is going up because of the higher cost of health insurance and unemployment insurance, an increase in the costs of books and materials, new digital resources, and expanded programming for families and senior citizens.

The library expects to generate $51,724 in income.

The vote will take place at the library’s temporary home at 34 West Water Street from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

A historic property in a historic district was before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals at its meeting Friday when it considered an application from the Presbyterian Church for variances to add 11 parking spaces and realign its driveway. The applicant also seeks permission for the continued existence of four air-conditioning units along the rear wall of the church.

Two of the additional parking spaces would be designated for the handicapped. They would be among seven diagonal spaces, while four others would be perpendicular to the rear of the church. The additional parking would for the most part be used only on Sunday mornings and during weddings or funerals, as church employees park at the rear of the property near the Session House.

Because the church is in a historic district, approval by the design review board will also be required. Frank Newbold, the Z.B.A. chairman, said the additional spaces would not adversely affect drainage. The potential removal of an evergreen tree 24 inches in diameter was also mentioned, and of concern to some board members. However, at the suggestion of Linda Riley, the village attorney, the board seemed amenable to granting permission for the 11 spaces and allowing the D.R.B. to consider their exact location. Mr. Newbold said the board was inclined to approve the application while allowing the D.R.B. flexibility if it sought to preserve existing landscaping. A decision is expected at the board’s next meeting, on Sept. 26.

The board also announced a number of other decisions. Shahab Karmely won approval to construct a tennis court on his property at 127 Main Street, which drew the ire of one neighbor and then another after its proposed location was moved. The board approved the first location, proposed at the western side of the property and the John M. Marshall Elementary School playing fields. It was conditioned on the plans submitted by the tennis court’s designer, Hamptons Tennis Company, being implemented.

Other approvals went to John Griffin of 20 Gracie Lane, who will be able to maintain sculptures within required setbacks as well as a pool house, hot tub, patio, stone walls, a concrete base for a generator switch, and a barbecue.

A freshwater wetlands permit was okayed at 40 La Forest Lane for Matthew Mallow. He plans to demolish a residence, swimming pool, driveway, and sanitary system, and construct a new residence, retaining wall, swimming pool, patio, equipment shed, driveway, and sanitary system.

Also granted were variances to permit the continued maintenance of a generator, slate pavers, and a trellis with a swing, all within setbacks, at 6 Lily Pond Lane, which is owned by the musician Jon Bongiovi of Bon Jovi fame. Variances to allow interior and exterior alterations to a pre-existing nonconforming pool house at 146 Newtown Lane went to Elizabeth Peabody, on the condition that no cooking or sleeping facilities will be added.

Lastly, Christopher and Sarah Minardi of 12 Conklin Terrace were granted a variance to permit an existing basement to be replaced and a new window well and exterior stairway added. The construction will increase the lot coverage from 2,104 to 2,194 square feet where the maximum is 1,741 square feet. Mr. Minardi, an alternate member of the board, had recused himself from the hearing.

Voters from the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School Districts will be eligible to vote Saturday on the 2015 East Hampton Library budget. The polling will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the library.

Next year’s spending plan of just over $2.2 million contains an $85,500 increase in expenses over 2014, a total increase in taxes of $104,000. The largest growth, about $76,486, is for salaries, benefits, insurance, and related staff costs. Facilities costs, including building and grounds keeping, rise by about $19,000.

The amount of tax collected from each of the three school districts varies depending on their population. East Hampton’s share of the increase would be about $80,000; Springs residents would pay an additional $17,489 in library taxes, and Wainscott would contribute $6,255.

Over all, the total to be raised by taxes in 2015 would be $1.6 million. The proposed budget anticipates fund-raising and donations to be about $472,000. In a statement, the library said that the cost of the tax increase to the average taxpayer would be $6.60.

Saturday’s vote is open to all registered voters in the three school districts.

A project to resurface nearly 15 miles of Montauk Highway between East Hampton Village and Montauk is set to begin on Sept. 29. Eileen W. Peters, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Transportation, said the project is separate from but similar to one completed before Memorial Day in which 8.2 miles of the highway were repaved between County Road 39 in Southampton and Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton.

Drivers may have noticed signs along the route or crews cleaning out drainage basins this week. No additional details were immediately available, Ms. Peters said.

Mariners who store their boats at the Sag Harbor Yacht Yard pleaded with the Sag Harbor Village Board on Tuesday night to find a way for the storage yard to remain as is.

The village and Louis Grignon, who has owned the yacht yard on Bay Street for 20 years, haven’t been able to come to an agreement over a lease of 16,180 square feet of village-owned land (plus nearly 7,000 square feet of bottomland) he uses to store approximately 50 boats. The land was given to the village in 1994 by the Mobil Oil Corporation, which unloaded fuel from barges into tanks located there in the 1960s.

Mr. Grignon’s 15-year lease, $15,592 annually, was up May 31. The village, after having an appraisal done that suggested an estimated annual rental value of $20,000 per month, according to Mayor Brian Gilbride, offered Mr. Grignon a short-term lease.

Fred W. Thiele Jr., the village attorney, said Mr. Grignon wanted a 10-year lease with a 10-year option. The board thinks there may be a better use for that property, whether it is parking or a pathway to the water or a home for picnic tables, the mayor said. The village countered with a five-year lease, which was also turned down, Mr. Thiele said.

After a lot of back and forth over the summer, Mr. Grignon hired an attorney, Dennis Downes, and Mr. Thiele took over negotiations. The most recent offer from the village was a one-year “stop-gap” lease for $24,000, which included $1,500 that would be used for an environmental assessment of the property. Mr. Grignon’s last offer was $22,500. The negotiations stalled with the difference of just $1,500. Mr. Thiele said his last correspondence with Mr. Downes was that the boats were being removed from the property.

At the meeting Tuesday night, though, the discussion centered on those most affected by the lack of a resolution.

“I’m not here to discuss negotiations or numbers, but instead to broach the subject of responsibility,” Mr. Grignon told the board. “As an owner of a marina boatyard it is not my responsibility by law to store everyone’s boat,” he said.

“It is my opinion that the village has the responsibility, if in their power, to consider the well-being of the boaters in the community. The village makes a handsome profit from their slips and moorings with minimal expense. Have you considered the economic impact to the village of losing 50 to 60 boats that I store to other harbors?”

A handful of his clients who received notices that he won’t be able to offer their storage space this year asked the board to remember them. Several said they would have to take their boats elsewhere because their sailboats don’t fit under the Marine Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter Memorial Bridge to get to the next closest yard or because that side of the harbor isn’t deep enough for their boat’s draw.

Sean Leary believes he was given a notice that he wouldn’t be able to keep his boat there because he doesn’t spend as much money at the yard in maintenance as some others.

George Martin, who started using the yard in the 1970s, said he would have to take his boat out of the village, as well. It is a shame, he said, because the village has become “a real sailing community.”

Lynn Leary said she found it interesting that this discussion was taking place just a few days before Harborfest, the annual celebration of the village’s maritime history. “It’s almost disrespectful,” she said.

At the end of the meeting, Pierce Hance, a former mayor, urged the board to find a resolution, and said that all too often negotiations with the board turn into legal fights. “I hope you guys can figure it out,” he said.

Mayor Gilbride said yesterday it may work out for the best. “We’re not really in the rental business. We’re in the business of providing our residents access to water,” he said, adding that the board would discuss the future use of that property before any decisions are made.

“It’s a long, narrow piece of property. Is it good for Lou? Yeah. Do I think $24,000 is cheap? Absolutely,” Mayor Gilbride said yesterday.

For over two hours on Monday, the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee and a slew of other residents went over the problems that have dominated conversation here this summer, mentioning the “horror” of taxicabs and the need for code enforcement. They praised the new online complaint form on East Hampton Town’s website, which Betsy Bambrick, the director of the Ordinance Enforcement Department, who attended the meeting, said was unbelievably effective. Members also heard promising reports about new taxi legislation and town efforts to solve some parking problems.

Ms. Bambrick arrived armed with documents filled with statistics on violations throughout town. Montauk had received the lion’s share of complaints, totaling 452 this year, with 352 filed since May 31, she said. For the most part, they were about noise, housing and zoning matters, and miscellaneous items such as parking and peddling. Ninety-two complaints resulted in charges.

Ms. Bambrick’s department has six full-time officers, one clerk, and two part-time officers in summer, some of whom work at night. Asked if the staff was large enough, Ms. Bambrick seemed reluctant to answer but finally said, “Of course, more staff would be great.”

Ms. Bambrick said once cases have been filed with the court they are out of her department’s hands, and, she said, some had lingered for years. East Hampton Town Police Lt. Chris Hatch, the Montauk precinct commander, said that in severe cases a Supreme Court restraining order can be obtained against a repeated offense.

‘Someone is going to get killed here and it’s going to happen soon.’

— James Grimes

Moving on, the committee rehashed the community’s taxi complaints, with members saying gypsy cab owners took advantage of the seasonal bloat, inflated rates, fought, and sometimes even slept in their vehicles. Lieutenant Hatch said next year should see improvement, as many two-year permits are to expire. New legislation will impose stricter limits, licenses will have to be renewed annually, and proof of residence submitted, he said.

Lieutenant Hatch reported that some cab owners had learned about the new legislation and applied for new  licenses before it went into effect. He added, however, that the one-year permit is going to “cycle people out of the system.”

Peter Van Scoyoc, the town board liaison to the committee, confirmed that the town is looking at ways to eliminate the cluster of taxis that park on both sides of Main Street near the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, and that the reconfiguration of parking at the Long Island Rail Road station is also under review. James Grimes, a member of the Montauk Fire Department, said the parking scene at the Surf Lodge, which is not far from the station and the firehouse, needed to be addressed.

“It is time we enforced some logic on these businesses. Someone is going to get killed here and it’s going to happen soon,” he said to a round of applause.

The meeting ended with a discussion of the plans put forward by a corporation called ED40, which purchased the East Deck Motel last fall. Noting that the area was environmentally sensitive, Richard Kahn, a committee member and attorney, asked if the town were going to require personal names to be submitted when special permits or variances were sought.

ED40 is not required to do so, and J. Darius Bikoff had been identified as an owner only through published reports. Mr. Van Scoyoc said the town’s ethics committee was considering the issue. The committee then voted to ask the town planning board to require a full environmental impact statement before granting any permits on the property.

The Montauk Library’s annual book fair, traditionally held on the downtown green on the Saturday of the Fourth of July weekend, will no longer be held. Instead, smaller, more community-minded events will be held at the library four times a year. Also, starting in the spring, the library will host two to four yard-sale fund-raisers per year.

The organizers of the fair, the Friends of the Montauk Library, issued a statement saying that it had simply become too much all around: The heavy lifting and moving of the books, aging volunteers, and decreased income over the years all played a part in the decision, said Sally Krusch, the group’s spokeswoman.

The fair had also lost much of its community spirit, with too many tourists and overcrowding in the downtown area, which led many locals to avoid the area on the day of the fair, the statement said.

E-readers and other electronic devices have reduced the demand for books, and the revenue from the fair, which has been used to offset other costs at the library, has dropped steadily since 2008. The proceeds no longer justified the amount of work put into staging the fair, the organizers said. In the past few years, the proceeds have ranged from a high of $21,000 to $17,000.

Books sold at the fair were donated throughout the previous year and left at the library, leaving organizers with the task of sorting and cleaning them. Volunteers would then have to move hundreds of volumes from the library to the fair site early on a Saturday morning. Afterward, the unsold books had to be disposed of or transported back to the library.

Since the fair will no longer happen, donation requirements have been tightened. The library will no longer accept books that are not in good condition or that are dusty and mildewed. No textbooks, encyclopedias, or outdated nonfiction science, health, or computer books will be accepted. No more than three bags or boxes of books will be accepted at a time.

In an effort to rekindle community spirit, the statement said, library organizers will hold more events, albeit less labor-intensive ones, at the library, with the first scheduled for Nov. 29, Thanksgiving weekend.

Having seen an onslaught of development and redevelopment in recent months, the Sag Harbor Village Board passed a moratorium at its meeting Tuesday night temporarily halting construction on single-family house lots and wetlands permits for 180 days while existing laws are re-examined. The moratorium, which had been introduced last month, applies only to applications submitted after Aug. 1, and does not affect commercial properties.

The moratorium is intended to avoid “overburdening the present capacity of the staff and regulatory boards,” while they assist in reviewing existing laws. The harbor committee will work with Rich Warren of InterScience, a village consultant, and Denise Schoen, the harbor committee’s attorney, on ways to strengthen the code as it applies to wetlands. Later in the meeting, the board tabled a proposed amendment of the wetlands regulations that addressed the definition of “substantial restoration and reconstruction.”

An exemption procedure is in place. “The rest of the process is identical to the moratorium used when the village was updating the business district” code several years ago, said Fred W. Thiele Jr., the state assemblyman who also serves as the village attorney.

Although a public hearing on the moratorium was held Tuesday, no one spoke, and it was adopted with little discussion by the board.

The board also considered three other proposed amendments to the code at the meeting, adopting two, which Mr. Thiele said were “housekeeping” items that had been recommended by Tim Platt, the former village building inspector, and holding off on one related to construction. The approved amendments address drainage requirements for swimming pools and several clarifications of the zoning code.

The amendment that was put off would have required property surveys to be no more than a year old when building permits and certificates of occupancy are issued. Mr. Thiele said that was a policy of the building inspector’s office, but had not actually been in the code.

Pierce Hance, a former mayor, questioned the language of this proposal as it applied to additions to main structures. The proposed amendment addressed only new construction, the addition of 250 square feet or more to an accessory structure, and driveways. Mr. Thiele said he would clarify the language and bring it back to the board next month.