For several weeks this month, the Suffolk County Water Authority has been working in Montauk to add 3,437 feet of a new 12-inch water main to connect pipes from the intersection of Montauk Highway to Caswell Road, near the Ditch Plain area. The new pipes from east to west of the site will provide additional pressure and protection against service interruption for residents of East Lake Drive.

Work on the project, which provides a second water main to the eastern portion of the hamlet, began on April 7 and was completed at the end of last week. Before the pipe was extended the only one serving the area ran beneath the inlet to East Lake Drive.

“Before, we’ve been able to fulfill the water supply needs of the eastern portion, and adding a second layer will provide an extra layer of security,” Jeffrey W. Szabo, the water authority’s chief executive officer, said in a release. “It’s a substantial commitment to our customers in this portion of our service territory.”

The project has enabled 24 new customers along the water main’s route, which runs adjacent to Montauk Highway to Ranch Court near the Startop Estate area, to hook up to public water.

Serve Sag Harbor, a new nonprofit organized to tackle problems in the village, has a plan to tame traffic by narrowing the roadways with the help of sidewalk landscaping and large planters.

In a proposal made to the village board on Tuesday evening after several months of working with consultants, the group zeroed in on 7 of 19 intersections it had identified as problematic. The idea is to restripe the asphalt, add crosswalks, widen the sidewalks with greenery and curb extensions, and, along the perimeter of the sidewalks, add planters — or whalers’ barrels, as Michael King, a principal at Nielson/Nygaard Consulting Services, described them.

The movable planters, which are used in cities such as New York and Phoenix, as well as Amityville and New Cassel on Long Island, would help create a barricade for pedestrians.

Susan Meade, the president of Serve Sag Harbor, said the group will work with the village board to decide on four intersections to tackle as part of a pilot project in time for June or July.

Three of the intersections are on Main Street, where the speed limit is 25 miles per hour, though drivers rarely adhere to it. “We want to slow Main Street down particularly because that’s where a lot of the speeding is happening,” Ms. Meade said.

“It’s a straightaway. It induces you to just go,” said Mr. King, an architect with 20 years experience designing streets and street networks, including the first Safe Routes to School program in the country. 

At the intersection with Union Street by the John Jermain Memorial Library and with Garden Street near the Custom House, sidewalks would be extended at the corners of both side streets. Crosswalks would be installed across from the entrance to the library on Main Street across Jefferson Street.

At Glover Street, near the Cove Deli, the no parking area would be extended. “We would tighten up corners so drivers can’t whip around so quickly,” Mr. King said.

At the Main and John Street intersection, a small roundabout is proposed. “I want to get drivers as they’re coming into town . . . to slow down to 20 miles per hour. Hopefully, they can keep that speed going through town,” Mr. King said. Sidewalks and corners at the intersection would be widened with greenery.

Other intersections targeted in the proposal are Jermain Avenue at Oakland Avenue, Suffolk Street, Madison Street, and by the Pierson Middle High School and Sag Harbor Elementary School.

An oval treatment would be installed in the middle of Jermain, just before Oakland Avenue, to slow traffic.

Jermain Avenue at the intersection of Suffolk Street would be completely redesigned. The proposal is “almost to plant a garden” so that drivers have to go around it. Mr. King suggested testing out how drivers navigate around such a space by tracing it out with the barrels. Four crosswalks would also be installed around the intersection.

At the intersection near Pierson High School where Atlantic Avenue and Clinton Street meet Jermain Avenue, the roadway would be narrowed and several new crosswalks would be added.

James Frazier, the first assistant chief of the Sag Harbor Fire Department, said he was concerned about whether the barrels would block fire hydrants and if firetrucks and ambulances would be able to maneuver around them. Mayor Brian Gilbride asked him to work with Serve Sag Harbor to ensure they would not be a problem.

Ken O’Donnell, a village board member, asked Ms. Meade and Mr. King if they had prioritized any of the intersections. The area by the library and the schools should have the priority, though they are two big projects, they said. “If you are going to choose four, maybe two big ones and two small ones,” he advised the board. However, roadwork at by the library should be postponed until the library expansion is complete, he said.

Ms. Meade said Serve Sag Harbor will deliver its report, including measured drawings, to the board once it is finalized in the coming weeks. In the meantime, “If it’s okay with you, I want to start raising money for pots. We’ll have a pot party,” she said, eliciting some laughter from the board and the audience.

“I think we’ll all work together to get some pilot projects started. I agree with you, it would be nice to get started before the summer,” the mayor said.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service will close the beach above mean high tide at the Amagansett National Wildlife Refuge, which runs from Atlantic Avenue almost to Indian Wells Beach, and most of the Jessup’s Neck peninsula in the Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Sag Harbor on Tuesday to protect nesting shorebirds.

The federal agency puts these areas off limits from April 1 through Aug. 31 every year so that the piping plover, which is federally designated as a threatened species, and the least tern, which the state considers threatened, are able to nest and hatch eggs. The closed areas will be marked with signs, fencing, and rope.

According to the agency, one pair of piping plovers and 26 pairs of least terns nested at the Amagansett refuge and three pairs of plovers, 63 pairs of least terns, and one pair of American oystercatchers nested at Jessup’s Neck last year.

Work briefly came to a halt at the East Deck motel in Ditch Plain, Montauk, last week after Tom Preiato, East Hampton Town’s chief building inspector, issued a verbal stop-work order after receiving a report that concrete drainage rings were being installed on the beach there.

The property’s new owner, a limited liability company headed by Scott Bradley, had received a go-ahead from the zoning board of appeals to add up to 6,000 cubic yards of sand to buttress the five-acre oceanfront property’s dune and bluff crest.

According to Michael Sendlenski, a town attorney, work was halted and the unauthorized rings removed as soon as the order was issued.

Mr. Bradley took full responsibility for the error yesterday, saying he thought he was allowed to add the rings, which were incorrectly identified in some reports as being for septic use. “We got a phone call, and the next day, we took care of it and did exactly what we were asked to do,” he said.

Mr. Preiato agreed, saying on Tuesday that Mr. Bradley and his company had been fully cooperative and that he had rescinded the stop-work order.

“From now on,” Mr. Bradley said, “before we do any work, I am consulting with Tom Preiato.”

Mr. Bradley said he did not see any other work happening in the near future except for dune building and the revegetation of native species. “Finishing this beautiful dune and then starting on the dunes to the east and west of us” are this year’s goals, he said. The East Deck, which will not be open for business this year, will keep its old familiar name.

The new owners — Mr. Bradley, a Lawrence Sanford, and an outside investor whom he declined to identify — are “passionate” about working with the town to protect not just their property but the greater Ditch Plain neighborhood, Mr. Bradley said.

Construction of a rock revetment in front of an oceanfront property at 11 West End Road in East Hampton Village resumed last Thursday after State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tarantino lifted a temporary restraining order that had blocked the work since November.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had initially given the property owner, Mollie Zweig, a tidal wetlands permit, and the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals had granted her variances to allow the revetment, or sea wall, as well as the removal of an existing rock groin.

The zoning board’s determination had come over the strong objection of the East Hampton Town Trustees, which claimed jurisdiction over the beach where the revetment is being installed.

Two days after work began on Veterans Day 2013 — when courts were closed — the trustees obtained the restraining order. It was extended in December. On Feb. 24, Ms. Zweig applied for a permit from the trustees, as that board had insisted she is required to do.

On Feb. 25, Stephen Angel, an attorney representing Ms. Zweig, and Aram Terchunian of First Coastal, which is doing the work, delivered a lengthy presentation to the trustees detailing the project. Mr. Angel said that a timely resolution was essential, given the piping plover nesting season that, beginning next month, will prohibit construction activity on beaches until the fall. The application is pending.

At a meeting March 11, Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, said that the application was incomplete and that the board had sent a letter to Ms. Zweig seeking an updated survey. She also said that the notarization page on the application had not been signed.

Brian Matthews, an attorney from a law firm that is representing the trustees in their lawsuit against Ms. Zweig, also met with the trustees on the matter during a closed-door session at that meeting.

Ms. McNally said on Friday that she was frustrated but not entirely surprised by the resumption of the revetment’s construction. “They already know they’re proceeding without a trustee permit,” Ms. McNally said on Friday. “They know we’re not happy with what they’re doing. I don’t know what to do. Even though I knew it could have started, I’m just flabbergasted.”

Mr. Matthews would not say how the trustees planned to proceed, but said on Friday that the lifting of the restraining order should not be seen as a resolution in Ms. Zweig’s favor.

“When Justice Tarantino lifted the T.R.O., he did so entirely on the grounds of finding no irreparable harm. Since Zweig had submitted an application to the trustees, there was no longer any irreparable harm and allowed her to proceed with construction,” he said.

Mr. Matthews said he disagreed with that position, “but the important part is, he went out of his way to say that he wasn’t rendering a decision on the merits of the trustees’ claim. . . . In stating that he wasn’t looking at the merits, he acknowledged that they’re going to be building this at their own risk.”

“They run the risk of having to pull it out,” he said.

Until an attorney for the East Hampton School Board stepped in, it appeared on Friday that a decision was imminent on P.C. Schenck and Sons’ application to install AT&T antennas and ground-based equipment at its oil distribution facility on Newtown Lane in East Hampton Village.

The application had already been discussed at three previous zoning board of appeals meetings, and on Friday, the applicant’s attorney announced additional modifications to the plan that he said would mitigate noise generated by the proposed ground-based equipment cabinets, about which nearby property owners had voiced concern.

The size of a proposed concrete pad on which the equipment cabinets would be situated would be reduced by a third, to 12.6 by 32 feet, said John Huber, an attorney for the applicant. With the reduction, no part of the pad would lie within the required 30-foot transitional yard setback, he said. A sound barrier would be increased from 8 to 12 feet in height, reducing noise at adjacent neighbors’ property to a measurement below the ambient level of 44 decibels. The sound barrier would be lined on its eastern side with cedar planking for aesthetic purposes, Mr. Huber said.

In discussions with Drew Bennett, a consulting engineer for the village, it was agreed that, as a condition of the board’s approval, a sound-level measurement would be taken once the facility is operational, Mr. Huber said.

Given the number of appearances he and Mike Patel, a consultant to AT&T, have made before the board, coupled with the fact that the proceedings are televised and have been reported in The Star, “I believe the public is very well aware of the matters we’ve discussed,” Mr. Huber said. Residents, he said, “have had ample opportunity to appear and speak to the issues.”

When Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, asked if anyone else would like to be heard, Kevin Seaman, the school board’s attorney, walked to the dais. The proposed installation, he said, is an extension of a nonconforming use and should be held to a higher threshold of review and consideration.

The school board’s concern, he said, is for the East Hampton Middle School on Newtown Lane, near the Schenck facility. The applicant has not made the case that public safety issues have been resolved, he said, suggesting that adverse impacts from noise and “disturbing emissions of electrical discharges” have not been addressed, nor has it been shown that property values will not be impacted.

Linda Riley, the village attorney, told Mr. Seaman of a “somewhat unusual provision in our code” that authorizes the zoning board to grant a special permit for the extension or alteration of an existing nonconforming use. It is up to the board to decide whether or not the application meets the standards for granting such an extension, she said.

Mr. Huber said the board should base its determination on whether the applicant has shown a need for its facility. Based on relevant criteria — gaps in service, the remedy that the proposed installation would provide, and its minimal intrusion on the community — the application should be granted, he said.

The school board “would like the opportunity to challenge the issue of a gap in coverage,” Mr. Seaman countered. And, he said, “We think there would be an intrusion” on neighboring properties.

Christopher Minardi, a zoning board member, said that many people have expressed concern about emissions from the antennas and their potential adverse impact on health.

“We can’t consider that,” Ms. Riley said. “Federal law precludes this board from basing a determination or any consideration on that,” assuming it meets federal standards.

“We’re aware there’s a large amount of public concern,” Mr. Newbold said, citing proximity to the school, adjacent residences, and the commercial building at 66 Newtown Lane. “We want to make sure we have all the facts so we can form a fully informed opinion.”

The board of education, Mr. Huber said, “has had more than ample opportunity to evaluate the substantial evidence that’s been presented.” Nonetheless, the hearing was left open to be revisited at the board’s April 25 meeting.

The Montauk Fire Department began its celebration of its 75th anniversary on Sunday with an ecumenical memorial service at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church honoring all those who have served the department who have since died. A roll call of the deceased firemen and ladies auxiliary members was read, with the church bell rung after each name.

As members of the New York City police band played bagpipes and drums, department members were led into the church by Dutch Riege and Vinnie Franzone, assistant fire chiefs. The chief, Joe Lenahan, was tending to his ailing mother, who has since died, and was unable to attend.

Essex Street was lined with firefighting apparatus, including antique engines. After the ceremony, the participants gathered at the Montauk Firehouse for a buffet.

According to Eddie Ecker, the former East Hampton Town police chief who is acting as spokesman for the Fire Department, the celebration will continue through the coming months, culminating in a three-day event on Columbus Day weekend. “There is going to be a cocktail party Saturday, June 7. We’ll have a tent set right in front of the firehouse in the grassy area,” he said.

A parade down the hamlet’s Main Street on Columbus Day will coincide with the annual fireworks display. The October weekend will also feature the annual inspection dinner at Gurney’s Inn and an open house at the fire station. Additional events are still being planned, Mr. Ecker said.

The Maidstone Club’s application to expand and modernize its irrigation system, which has been the subject of multiple meetings of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals, will require a final environmental impact statement before it can proceed.

At the board’s meeting on Friday, its chairman, Frank Newbold, said the board had determined that the final statement was needed to address “the various substantive comments received” from the public concerning the project. Its potential impact on the ecological well-being of Hook Pond has drawn concern from the East Hampton Town Trustees as well as nearby property owners. 

The board extended the time period in which the private club can submit the first draft of the final environmental impact statement. 

Also on Friday, even as the controversial construction of a rock revetment in front of the property at 11 West End Road proceeded, the board quickly approved the repair of an existing  revetment nearby, at 7 West End Road, between Anthony Manheim’s property and the ocean. The revetment, constructed in 1978, will be restored to its original dimensions and coverage using 5,000 cubic yards of sand. It was exposed by Hurricane Irene in 2011 and damaged by Hurricane Sandy the following year.

Like the project at 11 West End, whose owner, Mollie Zweig, obtained permits from the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the zoning board but not from the town trustees, Mr. Manheim’s reconstruction must be completed by April 1; otherwise it must wait until the fall to be finished. Piping plover nesting season halts all such activity on that date.

The D.E.C. issued a permit for the Manheim revetment, and eight of the nine trustees voted last month to do the same, calling the pre-existing structure’s repair “in place, in kind.” The trustees, who typically oppose hardening structures along the shoreline, are in litigation with Ms. Zweig, but made an exception for Mr. Manheim’s revetment, which had been buried for many years until 2011.

The zoning board granted the project a necessary variance  from a section of the village code pertaining to preservation of dunes. The code not only prohibits structures within 100 feet of a contour line representing a natural elevation of 15 feet above the mean high-water mark, but requires reconstruction and related activities to meet a 150-foot setback from the southerly edge of the beach grass along the ocean.

The revetment’s repair, said Richard Whalen, an attorney for the applicant, was needed chiefly to protect a cottage that was damaged by Sandy and is “at severe risk” of being destroyed. The two-bedroom cottage was built, in the 1960s, on the crest of the primary dune; as a pre-existing structure, the applicant has the legal right to retain it.

The cottage’s precarious state “should justify you in granting a variance,” Mr. Whalen told the board.

“We would have to get this work done very quickly if we’re going to do it in the spring of this year,” Mr. Whalen told the board. “Otherwise, it’s delayed until at least the second half of October.

“You are under a compelling deadline,” Mr. Newbold agreed. “And we’re clear who really runs the village: the plovers,” he said, drawing laughter from his colleagues.

Mr. Newbold also announced that the application of P.C. Schenck and Sons to install AT&T cellphone antennas and additional equipment has been adjourned to March 28. That proposal has drawn opposition from neighbors who fear noise generated by the cooling fans that would be situated inside ground-based equipment cabinets on the site.

An award-winning environmental documentary, “Bag It!” will be shown at LTV Studios in East Hampton on Friday, March 28, at 6 p.m. The film follows a character as he travels the world seeking to understand the use of plastic bags in our everyday lives. It addresses the effect of all plastics on the oceans, human health, and the environment.

Those who attend the screening, which is sponsored by the East Hampton Town litter committee, have been asked to donate a nonperishable food item at the door. The foodstuffs will be given to the East Hampton Food Pantry.         

Members of the litter committee will sell popcorn, with proceeds also going to the food pantry. Moviegoers have been asked to take their own beverages along, in reusable containers. The film is suitable for all ages.

It’s here, folks, the weekend some of us have been anticipating will pop the hard, cold bubble of winter. The Montauk Friends of Erin will be your hosts for the St. Patrick’s Day parade weekend, which starts tomorrow with a lunch to honor its grand marshal, Paul Monte of Gurney’s Inn.

Reservations for the lunch, which will take place at Gurney’s from noon to 3 p.m., have been requested and can be made by calling John Behan of the grand marshal committee. The cost is $50 per person, payable at the door.

On Saturday, the Friends will host a cocktail party from 4 to 8 p.m. at Gurney’s. Tickets cost $60 in advance or $75 at the door. There will be a buffet, open bar, and music by Billy and the Barfights. Tickets, which can be purchased in advance for $60 at the Montauk Chamber of Commerce and Becker’s Home Center in Montauk, or at Atlantic Wines and Liquors in Amagansett, will cost $75 at the door.

At the party, the winners of the Friends’ Pot of Gold raffle will be drawn. You do not need to be present to win. Tickets cost $100 apiece and can be bought right up until the time of the drawing. The first-place prize is $10,000, second is $1,000, and there are two third-place prizes of $500 each. Only 350 tickets will be sold. Checks can be made payable to the Montauk Friends of Erin. Tickets can also be purchased by credit card or PayPal through the group’s website at montaukfriendsoferin.org.

The parade starts near the Montauk Firehouse at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday and winds down Main Street to the Montauk I.G.A., where it will end about two hours later. Kathy Keller, a member of the Friends of Erin Ladies Auxiliary, was forming the parade lineup last weekend. She said she had at least 63 groups participating, including marching bands, whimsical floats, and fire departments from across Long Island.

Her main concern was keeping the fire departments apart from the musical floats. “We don’t want someone to hit their siren while a band is playing close to them,” she said.

Before the start of the parade, the Montauk Chamber of Commerce will be selling hot soup in commemorative cups in front of the chamber building, across the street from the viewing stands. A hot dose to warm you will cost $10.

Police will flood the hamlet, said Lt. Chris Hatch of the East Hampton Town Police Department, who is the Montauk precinct commander. He said at least 150 officers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Long Island Rail Road, and the East Hampton Town Police Department, among others, will be on duty.

In an initiative to prevent drunken driving, police will impose zero alcohol tolerance this year, regardless of age, Lieutenant Hatch said, adding that this year the M.T.A. and the L.I.R.R. have responded particularly well to town police requests for help.

Police will be manning the three trains scheduled to arrive before the parade, at 8:10 and 10:10 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. The L.I.R.R. may add additional trains to pick up passengers after the parade.