East Hampton Town police are investigating an accident early Sunday morning on Route 114 that ended with the driver suffering serious injuries.

The driver, Edwin P. Inga Uyaguari, 23, of East Hampton, was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital to be treated in that facility's trauma unit. The 2002 Honda Odyssey he was driving was impounded and taken to the police garage on Pantigo Road in East Hampton for a safety inspection.

According to the police, the Honda was headed south when it veered across the oncoming lane of traffic, left the road, and crashed into a tree near Barcelona Neck Road. A passing motorist alerted police to the crash. There were no passengers in the van, police said, and preliminary reports indicate that alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the accident. The vehicle was totaled, its front end crushed inwards.

Police are asking for the public's help with their investigation. Anyone with information has been asked to call 631-537-7575.

East Hampton Town will take its effort to enact curfews and other restrictions at East Hampton Airport to the United States Supreme Court.

A decision to appeal to the high court was announced in a press release yesterday. It followed a Nov. 4 ruling by the United States  Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan that struck down three East Hampton Town laws adopted in 2015 to address the problem of aircraft noise.

A lower court had allowed seasonal summertime restrictions, including an overnight curfew and an extended curfew for aircraft deemed noisy, while barring the town from limiting noisy planes to one takeoff and one landing a week. The curfews were put into effect on July 2, 2015, and renewed last summer.

In the November decision the Second Circuit Court, asked to review the town's laws by an aviation-interests coalition that included the Friends of the East Hampton Airport, said the town could not restrict use of the airport without federal approval.

Besides asking the Supreme Court to review the Nov. 4 ruling, the town announced on Wednesday that it would lobby Congressional representatives to enact federal legislation providing for more local control of airports owned and operated by municipalities.

"We cannot let stand unchallenged a decision that completely federalizes our small community airport and strips the town of any meaningful local control of the town-owned airport," East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said in the release. "The import of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision is to basically federalize every airport in the United States. This is an unreasonable outcome that should be overturned."

The decision to proceed to the Supreme Court was made in consultation with East Hampton's appellate counsel, Kathleen Sullivan and David Cooper of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan. A petition will be filed by the end of January.

East Hampton could have petitioned the Second Circuit Court to review its Nov. 4 ruling before a full panel of its judges, but decided to go directly to the Supreme Court.

I asked my son, Jon, if he wanted to go fishing with me. He demurred, claiming he had homework to do. Sure. I asked my daughter, Rebecca, if she wanted to go fishing with me. She replied, “Me on a boat? Unless I see a dead body it’s not interesting.” Someone has been watching way too much “Law and Order.” I beckoned my dogs Comet and Teddy to go fishing with me. They bolted out the back door. Clearly they are more doodle than Labra. So I grabbed a couple of spinning rods and headed over to my boat, solo.

Last week I heard that bass, blues, and albies were busting water on the Sound side of Orient Point so I figured I’d head over there. I last fished that general area a couple months ago after getting bored dropping and reeling up thick diamond jigs in Plum Gut. 

I wasn’t expecting to find much, figuring the recent cold weather had pushed the fish far along their migration path. As I came around the eastern tip of the North Fork I observed a bunch of birds diving into the water in pursuit of bait. I hurried over and launched tins and poppers without any result. Every once in a while there was a swirl on the surface but no response to any lure I dragged across the eruption.

I surveyed the area with binoculars and noticed several small boats moving back and forth deep in a cove, almost bumping the sandy beach dotted with modest homes.  I slowly headed in that direction, blind-casting along the way. Once I got close to the shoreline, I could see small striped bass breaking the surface. A fly fisherman hooked up next to me and landed maybe an 18-inch fish. 

Within two minutes of my arrival the water erupted with bass in frenzied pursuit of bait. The feeding frenzy surrounded my boat. Through barely six feet of crystal clear water I watched marauding schools of striped bass chase dense schools of bay anchovies. It was an incredible sight.

I threw a Deadly Dick over and over again with no success. I next offered a popper and then a fly delivered with a casting egg. Nada. I then tossed a four-inch white soft bait on a small jig head. Slam! A rambunctious and plump 23-inch striper was landed and released. The drought was over. The puzzle was solved.

The striped bass now were mercilessly pressing their prey against the beach. Broad tails were viciously slapping about and baitfish leaped for their lives. Moms, dads, and little kids were now getting into the action from the beach, casting lures of all shapes and sizes with immediate results. It was joyful pandemonium. I stopped casting for a couple minutes just to watch the kids catch fish. I could see their big smiles and hear their shouts of “got another one.” At that moment I deeply wished my kids had accompanied me and could witness this incredible spectacle. I always tell them that it’s not about catching fish, it’s about experiencing nature. Guess I’m a lousy salesman. 

I probably caught 15 or so bass. Lost maybe six more. If inclined I could have caught 100. The fish weren’t big. The largest was 28 inches. It was kept and delivered to a former chef who manages my marina. I heard him mention something about a horseradish crust as he carried the fish from the dock. I hope he enjoyed the fish half as much as I enjoyed my few hours on the water, solo.

Scallop season is open in both local and state waters. A shellfish permit, available at the East Hampton Town Clerk’s Office on Pantigo Road, is necessary to take scallops in East Hampton waters. The East Hampton Town Shellfish Ordinance can be found at: ehamptonny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/94. 

Turkey season opens Saturday and runs through Dec. 2. Hunters are permitted to take one wild bird of either sex per season by shotgun only, according to Harvey Bennett, a bird hunting enthusiast.

I believe the grapevine reports of fish at ocean beaches, including some bass in the 20-pound class, but I haven’t seen any during my daily visits. I should have been there . . . when? Probably bachelor hours, dawn and dusk. The best indicator of surf action is the number of tire tracks in the sand, and there were plenty last weekend. So somebody was chasing something up and down the beach.

Reports of striped bass, bluefish, and even albie action continue to come in from Rhode Island and Massachusetts, so there’s more ketchup in the bottle, one could say. Water temperatures are now close to 50 degrees in New England coastal waters, so fish are on the move. Central Long Island Sound water temperatures are holding around 55 degrees, which is within the comfort zone of striped bass and bluefish. These fish will be trekking east shortly. It is what it is. Enjoy the bonus time.

Bottom fishing continues to be strong in all the usual places.

The Star’s fishing columnist can be followed on Twitter, @ehstarfishing. Photos of prize catches can be emailed to David Kuperschmid at fishreport@ ehstar.com.

It is hard to imagine Sag Harbor without the Intuition II, a 196-foot-long yacht. Owned by Patrick E. Malloy for 18 years and tied up at the dock at his marina south of Long Wharf, it has been up for sale for a year, and, with a recent price drop, may not be back next summer.

“When they’re coming into the harbor,” Robert Bori, the village harbormaster, said of boaters, “it’s one of the first things they see. It’s almost like a landmark.” 

“It’s such a fixture in Sag Harbor,” said Bruce Tait, a yacht broker whose office is in one of Mr. Malloy’s buildings near the marina. “It bookends the season,” he said. The yacht remains in the village until after Thanksgiving, when it usually heads south. “It signals the start of the season and signals the complete end of the season.” 

Listed with Pam Barlow of Luke Brown Yachts, it is on the market for $4.95 million, down from its original list price of $7.5 million a year ago. “Having owned and loved Intuition II for over 18 years, her owner has reluctantly decided that it is time to let her go,” the listing says. “She has many more years of good life and longer trips in her.”

Mr. Malloy did not return a call, and Ms. Barlow declined to comment. 

“She’s a handsome boat,” Mr. Tait said, with a spectacular interior refit in Southampton, England. The yacht has seven staterooms, two saloons, and two dining rooms. While the size of super- yachts has grown considerably in the last decades — some are in excess of 400 to 500 feet — Intuition was long one of the biggest. “Back in the day, when Intuition came into Sag Harbor, it was probably one of the largest U.S.-owned megayachts,” said Mr. Tait.

Intuition was not always a yacht. It was converted from a commercial ship, one of three pilot cutters built in the early 1970s for the Netherlands Pilotage Authority, one of Holland’s premier shipyards, according to the listing. Pilot cutters are designed to wait in the sea to take ships into port. The yacht, built “to withstand the rigors, year round, of the North Sea,” has an all-welded steel hull heavily framed with thick plating, and nine watertight bulkheads. 

An “expedition” yacht, it is meant to go longer distances at slower speeds. The Intuition has traveled 7,000 miles, including trips from New York to Newfoundland, to Florida, to Mexico, and to the Mediterranean at its cruising speed of 10 knots.

When Mr. Malloy bought Intuition II, he formed a small company to handle the conversion. Vosper Thornycroft, known for its expertise in building naval vessels, handled the metalwork. More than 60 workers stripped out the original wiring, electronics, insulation, heating, air-conditioning, and plumbing. Southampton Yacht Services redesigned the interior, and Nicholson Interiors, a high-end company that has fitted out two yachts for the British royal family, took on the finishing work. 

“The end result,” the broker’s listing said, “is a tribute to the owners, project managers, yards, and all of the subcontractors involved in transforming this rugged North Sea pilot boat into a ‘go anywhere’ globe trotter with all of the comforts, amenities, and appeal of a stunning luxury yacht.” 

Even though, Mr. Tait said, “It takes a particular type of person that wants this yacht.” 

The yacht sleeps up to 15 in 10 cabins, and requires a 12-person crew. Many are able to have their own cabins — a luxury, the listing said, found on very few yachts. 

The yacht has many decks, and the top deck can store water toys and small boats, though it is not structurally sound enough for a helicopter. The listing said it “could possibly be beefed up to carry a lightweight helicopter, or to be used as a ‘touch and go’ helipad.” 

Excluded from the sale are Mr. Malloy’s art and photography, personal china (which is monogrammed), and Waterford crystal glasses. 

Mr. Tait said there was no rule of thumb for how long it should take for a yacht to sell, as opposed to real estate. But with the price drop last month, he remarked, Mr. Malloy is “getting serious about selling the boat.”

A one-year moratorium on development in Wainscott is expected to be approved by the East Hampton Town Board, perhaps as early as at a meeting tonight, after an initial vote was delayed at the request of Councilman Fred Overton to make time for further discussion.

The moratorium, on properties in Wainscott zoned for central business or commercial-industrial uses and land in residential zones being used for nonresidential purposes, would ban approval of new construction or expansions of more than 25 percent of existing buildings that increase legal occupancy. 

The affected area, generally along the Montauk Highway, is bordered by the Long Island Rail Road tracks to the north, Town Line Road at the west, and Hedges Lane and the East Hampton Village boundary to the east.

Subdivisions and site plans on which the planning board already has held a public hearing and issued approvals would be allowed to proceed, and exemptions could be applied for.

Mr. Overton had expressed concern that the moratorium was a response to community objections to a proposal under review by the planning board for a car wash at the former Star Room nightclub. He said he shared the opinion that the site was not a good one for a car wash. “However, there is due process; there are property rights,” he said. He also expressed concern about using a building halt as a way to address traffic through Wainscott, which, he said, “is never going to go away.” 

“It’s absolutely about the car wash,” Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said at the board’s meeting on Tuesday, “but it’s equally about every other commercial development that could happen in that corridor.” Traffic issues cannot be eliminated, he said, but potential future development could make them worse. 

The moratorium was proposed to stave off major changes while consultants engaged by the town to come up with individual plans for the hamlets compile their recommendations, and to give town officials time to adopt zoning and other laws that could shape the future of the  hamlets.

The concept of a “walkable hamlet,” a  center that, like those in other East Hampton areas, would feel more like a downtown instead of just a strip along Montauk Highway, was brought up and endorsed by the residents who participated in a planning session, or charette, earlier this year with the consultants.

“We had a very good turnout at the charette,” Marguerite Wolffsohn, the town planning director, reminded the board at the  meeting. Using a 3-D model, the participants “basically designed a future Wainscott.” 

“The moratorium puts a freeze on things so there won’t be any further redevelopment that is inconsistent with that vision,” Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said.

An Oct. 6 hearing on the moratorium drew largely positive comments, save for one on behalf of the East Hampton Business Alliance. Ms. Wolffsohn, however, said this week that proprietors of Wainscott businesses were among those endorsing the moratorium, and had indicated they were on board at a special presentation on the future plans for the hamlet.

The Suffolk County Planning Commission approved the proposed moratorium on Nov. 2 by a 9-to-4 vote. 

“This seems like a reasonable plan. I’m not passionately against this,” Mr. Overton said. But, he said, he would like assurances that the planning and policy-making process would continue apace so that lengthy extensions of the moratorium would not be needed. 

The period of one year for the Wainscott moratorium was chosen to allow time for the consultants to finish their study and for town officials to act on the recommendations, Ms. Wolffsohn said.

In the midst of ongoing controversy about an East Hampton School Board decision to build a school bus depot on the high school campus, it was learned at a board meeting on Tuesday that the district had negotiated a new five-year lease for the private property on which it now stores and maintains it buses; and, meanwhile, a town-owned property that some thought might provide an alternative site was briefly considered before being all but dismissed.

According to a fact sheet distributed  at the end of the meeting, the new five-year lease is considered “a stop-gap measure while planning for a long-term solution.” The agreement almost doubles the cost of rent and provides for “additional, non-sustainable rent increases possible beyond the five-year term.” 

The annual rent this year for the depot, at 41 Route 114, is $106,000. The lease ends next October, after which the district will pay $200,000 in the first year, with annual  increases of 3 percent. The property was recently sold to an undisclosed buyer by the owners, who had operated the Schaefer bus company, which served East Hampton until 2006, when the school district bought its own buses.

The town property that emerged as an unlikely alternative is the former scavenger waste site on Springs-Fireplace Road. East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said by phone yesterday that he had not specifically recommended the site.

 “It’s not my place to recommend to the school an action that the school should take,” Mr. Cantwell said, adding, “I have let the school know that the property is going to be considered for sale by the town, and if they had an interest, we would be willing to talk to them.”

J.P. Foster, the school board president, confirmed after the meeting that the board had discussed the property. He said, however, that it was not ideal for multiple reasons, chief among them that its purchase or lease would add to the projected $5 million price tag of a new depot. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to keep costs down,” he said.

Opposition to the current proposal has risen to the point where the group of residents opposing it have a name: the Cedar Street Committee, with Jeff Bragman, an attorney, lending support.

About 20 people attended Tuesday’s meeting to continue their campaign against the depot, which is expected to include a maintenance barn, bus parking, and a refueling station. 

 Those arguing against the depot have primarily argued about traffic and noise, but on Tuesday, they also raised health and environmental concerns.

“It’s a bad situation, an unhealthy situation, it is an industrial situation, and we don’t want it in a residential area,” Trudy Lester, who lives on Cedar Street directly behind the school, told school board members. Ms. Lester has had primary myelofibrosis, a  blood cancer that comes from inhalation of benzene, a component of diesel fuel, for the last five years. After the meeting, she said, “There are many lawyers who are willing to sue for benzene exposure. . . . The school is opening themselves up to lawsuits.”

Ellen Collins, a Cedar Street resident who teaches at East Hampton Middle School, said the proposal was unsafe because of the depot site’s proximity to athletic fields. She also  suggested the depot qualifies as a commercial operation because buses belonging to other schools may be serviced there.

“A business such as a bus depot, service station, belongs in an area zoned for industry and business. . . . It is essential that the school board consider pursuing a more suitable and safe site for all concerned,” Ms. Collins said.

Vito Brulo, a resident of nearby Pine Street, a dead-end road perpendicular to Cedar Street, said Cedar Street was already tough to navigate.”I do not allow my grandchildren to ride their bikes on Cedar Street or take a stroll. . . . We are unable to turn on Cedar Street without taking chances,” he said. “We respectfully request the board to change the location. We will aggressively pursue our goal and we will not go away.”

School board members disputed the idea that traffic on the street would greatly increase. Jackie Lowey said that 10 of the district’s 13 routes already use it. “Understand what’s being contemplated. It will add a few extra trips. I just want to be very clear. It is not going from a condition of no buses on Cedar Street.”

Mr. Foster said some residents appeared to have changed their minds. “I understand that people don’t want it in our backyard. I totally get it. At the same time, the last conversation I had with some of you was you said, ‘We’re willing to work with you.’ ”

In a decision that East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell called “an enormous win for public access to our beaches,” State Supreme Court Justice Ralph Gazzillo has ruled that the 4,000-foot-long strip of sand popularly known as Truck Beach does not belong to a group of nearby homeowners, nor does a nearby 1,500-foot stretch in front of the White Sands Resort Hotel, as they contended in parallel lawsuits brought in 2009.

Justice Gazzillo’s Nov. 4 decision stated that an 1882 deed in which the East Hampton Town Trustees conveyed some 1,000 acres on Napeague to Arthur Benson “clearly reserved some rights ‘to the inhabitants of East Hampton’ and, arguably, the allowances for some public use.”

“Perhaps more importantly,” Justice Gazzillo wrote, “is what has not been proven.” The plaintiffs, he said, did not persuade him of their ownership of the beach, and the absence of that proof “severely undermines the support for the balance of their ‘nuisance’ claims.”

“We’re very pleased with what appears to be a strong decision by the State Supreme Court, and we’re ready to continue to strongly defend the public’s right to use the beach at this location and throughout the Town of East Hampton,” Mr. Cantwell said Monday. 

The mood was jubilant at Monday night’s meeting of the trustees, who with the town were defendants in the lawsuits. In recent years the trustees, established by the Dongan Patent of 1686, have spent considerable time and resources defending public access to beaches under their jurisdiction. 

Diane McNally, who until this year was the trustees’ longtime clerk, or presiding officer, acknowledged the work of past and present members, along with Citizens for Access Rights, a group formed in response to the lawsuits. She also thanked attorneys who worked on the board’s behalf, including John Courtney, the trustees’ attorney until this year; John Jilnicki, senior assistant town attorney, and Anthony Tohill, who was retained to defend the trustees in the lawsuits. “It’s fabulous that this community pulled together,” Ms. McNally said, “and was able to put together that their case was just frivolous.” 

Richard Whalen, the trustees’ lawyer since January, called the decision “a complete victory,” noting that Justice Gazzillo’s decision favored the town as to both title and the plaintiffs’ nuisance claim. 

“It’s been a long and winding road,” said Bill Taylor. a trustee. “We might not be at the end yet, but we’re in a really good place.” 

Mr. Taylor’s observation was accurate: The fight for ownership of the beach may not be over. Stephen Angel, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Tuesday that though he did not know what his clients would decide, he would certainly recommend an appeal. “We disagree and are obviously disappointed with the decision,” Mr. Angel said. “We think it’s contrary to the facts presented and the law.” 

“I would hope that is not the case,” Mr. Cantwell said of an appeal, “but if it is, we will vigorously defend.”

Cindi Crain, a founder and spokeswoman of Safe Access for Everyone, a homeowners’ group that opposes beach driving, confirmed that her group was exploring an appeal. In a statement emailed to The Star on Monday, she wrote that “while we are disappointed in the court’s flawed decision today, on behalf of the thousands of East Hampton families who support SAFE’s goals to eliminate beach driving on densely crowded beaches in order to protect both our children and our natural environment, we will continue to work diligently, and are confident we will ultimately prevail.”

Over the course of a five-day bench trial in June, the plaintiffs carried out a broad attack aimed at activities on the ocean beach between Napeague Lane and the western boundary of Napeague State Park and, to the east, in front of the White Sands Motel. They asserted that the deeds to their properties included the beach, and sought to portray a dangerous environment with hundreds of vehicles weaving through crowds and children at play, and people and dogs urinating and defecating in the dunes. This represented a threat to public health, they said, as well as degrading the environment and putting their upland properties at increased risk of flooding.

The defense countered with testimony from longtime residents including Councilman Fred Overton; Ed Michels, the town’s chief harbormaster, and Mr. Taylor, who in addition to serving as a trustee is the town’s waters management supervisor. Some who testified recalled driving on the beach more than 50 years ago, and all dismissed suggestions that conditions have ever been hazardous. 

Justice Gazzillo ruled that there was no proof or even reports of beach-related injuries or illnesses, nor was there any proof of significant violations of town code taking place on the beaches. Alleged damage or inconvenience posed by beach driving, he wrote, was also unproven. 

During the trial, his remarks sometimes suggested skepticism of, and even irritation at, plaintiffs’ arguments and the relevance of their expert testimony. He suggested that the testimony of some plaintiffs, including Bernard Kiembock, owner of the White Sands motel, had undermined their own arguments. Mr. Kiembock, who had complained of disruptive, dangerous, and intimidating behavior by beachgoers toward him and his guests, conceded on the witness stand that his motel never had any vacancies, the judge noted. 

Town officials were planning eminent domain proceedings had Justice Gazzillo sided with the plaintiffs, resolving to condemn a total of just over 22 acres of shorefront between the mean high water mark and the toe of sand dunes, comprising two separate parcels.

Now, said Mr. Cantwell, “We need to evaluate the decision and discuss the possibilities with our legal advisers. We had begun that [condemnation] process, but it’s only begun. It’s an expensive process that required a full environmental impact statement, appraisals, and legal fees. If we can avoid those costs based on this decision, that would benefit the town.”

Justice Gazzillo ended his decision on a personal note, writing that he is concluding a nearly five-decade career in public service. 

It is anticipated that the litigation will continue, he wrote. “Thus far, however, these cases have assumed a life of their own and have the potential to outlive some of the participants. Sadly, even after this opinion is issued, after the years of litigation . . . nothing has resolved these controversies.” 

Tyler Armstrong, a trustee, concluded the discussion at the trustees’ meeting by quoting Justice Gazzillo’s final remarks. “ ‘It was and remains my earnest hope, however, that the parties will resolve their differences, avoid further litigation, and move forward,’ ” Mr. Armstrong read. “ ‘Life is too short.’ ”

When Michele Carlson heard heavy rain pounding down one day recently, she did not burrow into a cozy chair. Instead, she hurried to Pussy’s Pond along School Street in Springs to see which way the rainwater was flowing.

A designer of sustainable landscapes whose firm, Carlson Design and Planning of East Hampton and New York City, was chosen by East Hampton Town to restore the Pussy’s Pond area and establish a small park there, she was excited to see that two recently installed trenches, called bioswales, were catching, holding, and filtering the runoff, just as intended. The swales help prevent pollutants from entering the pond. 

A virtually single-handed force behind a mysterious-looking forest of short stakes and colored flags that has sprouted on the grassy slope to the pond behind snow fencing, Ms. Carlson spoke animatedly on a recent brilliant day about the project, which has been underway since late summer. It was funded by a grant obtained by the town. 

In addition to the bioswales, the plan calls for stabilizing and planting along the shores of the pond and creating two meadow areas and several paths leading to an existing wooden bridge over the pond. 

Students from the Springs School, where classes worked several years ago with architects on designs for rebuilding the bridge, are involved now in the park, learning how to work with nature to protect and enhance the ecosystems. 

Lisa Seff, who teaches science and academic enrichment at the school, said in a recent email that studying Pussy’s Pond and Accabonac Harbor was already part of the curriculum called STEAM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

“Students have been learning about the area’s water quality,” Ms. Seff said, adding that they had helped plant indigenous species there. Groups of students also will be collecting water samples from Pussy’s Pond and Accabonac Harbor to begin a long-term study of water quality variables such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, pH, nitrates, and turbidity.”

“This describes my passion,” Ms. Carlson said, as she stood on the bridge watching two egrets sunning themselves and the reflections of the colored flags, which mark new plantings and add dots of bright color to the more muted but brilliant tones of turning fall leaves.

  “It’s about community and education. t’s about public space, and habitat. There’s so much opportunity here,” she said. Referring to the students, who she hopes will remain involved, she said, “Their hands have been in the dirt.”

Ms. Carlson, who has a master’s degree in sustainable landscape design from the Conway School of Landscape Design in Massachusetts, noted that Wendi Goldsmith, the director of the Center for Urban Watershed Renewal in Massachusetts and an expert in stormwater management and wetland and aquatic habitat restoration, has been a technical and logistical adviser.

In tuning in to the natural ebb and flow of nature’s systems in a particular area, Ms. Carlson said, she becomes something of a detective. Determining how stormwater flows, and managing it, is “very simple, but very specific. You have to follow the water.” One telltale sign, she said, is the line of sand or other sediments along the ground left by puddles or flowing water. 

The long and narrow bioswales — trough-like depressions lined with a coconut fiber and jute fabric and planted with a cover crop of rye to hold the soil in place — capture water during a rainfall, particularly the runoff that carries pollutants from roadways. 

Contained in the troughs, water seeps slowly into the ground so that the contaminants are filtered out of the soil before running into the pond. Plastic pipes or a sluiceway of stones create an “exit,” Ms. Carlson said, for water to flow out of a brimming swale, if necessary. “The whole premise” of what she called green infrastructure management, is “slow, store, and filter,” and keep the water “close to the source.” 

The process mimics nature, and when the plantings eventually take root and fill in, the park is designed to look as if it were always that way. But in the meantime, she acknowledged, the project creates what looks like a construction site. People driving by, like one man who stopped to ask about it recently, wonder what is going on. 

A spidery web of crisscrossed lines of thin twine tied to posts scattered across the park is meant to keep ducks and other waterfowl away from seeded areas and from new wetland plants. Nibbling waterfowl can take out up to a thousand plants in an hour, Ms. Carlson said. 

The ducks at Pussy’s Pond have been fed for decades, she said, but students have been learning that feeding them handfuls of bread interferes with natural ecosystems and their lives. 

In the spring, a “meadow mix” of seeds for plants, from bluestem grasses to goldenrod, will go in and be left to grow, but open areas will be mowed so that it is easy to stroll through the park. 

Dozens of upright plastic tubes now support river birch, oak, maple, and other nascent trees and bushes. The saplings will become a guide to where visitors may walk as well as where plants are to be protected.

Near the edge of the pond, Ms. Carlson is working to reverse the effects of sea-level rise as well as erosion from animals and people walking along. Native plants are going in along the banks to create a riparian buffer. Several U-shaped areas at the edge of the pond have been cordoned off with a coir fascine —  rolls of densely packed coconut fiber, a substance that will degrade over 20 years but in the meantime will help stabilize the shoreline. The rolls, planted with small plugs of spartina, a native grass, will fill in for a natural look and allow water, sand, and mud to flow in, but then trap the sediments along the pond’s edge. 

Beyond the scope of her work for the town, Ms. Carlson would like to see a seating area of logs along a sloped area of the park, creating an outdoor amphitheater-style space. She is hopeful that community members would help make that happen.

Among Ms. Carlson’s many goals is opening wetland areas at the edge of the pond that are now filled with phragmities. She intends to slowly choke out the invasive plant by diverting the fresh water that helps them thrive, tying them in bundles, and attaching biodegradable bags of salt that will seep out when it rains and send them into decline.They will then be cut, and black plastic laid down to “cook” the roots in a pilot program to eliminate them without herbicides. 

Ms. Carlson also is working with the town’s Land Management Department to develop protocols for future upkeep of the area. An occasional East Hampton resident in the past who now lives here fulltime, she has worked with Concerned Citizens of Montauk and, with Ms. Goldsmith, is installing a similar green infrastructure on the Ruschmeyer’s property in Montauk to prevent pollution of Fort Pond.

The Pussy’s Pond installation should be completed in about three weeks and native meadow plant seeds will go in in the spring. “And then it’s just waiting and protecting,” she said.

“I think people are starting to realize,” Ms. Carlson said. “East Hampton is water-centric, socially, environmentally, economically, and culturally.”

With Reporting By 

Christine Sampson

A federal appeals court ruling on Friday striking down three 2015 East Hampton Town laws designed to reduce noise from aircraft using East Hampton Airport may well galvanize those negatively affected by aircraft noise, who had looked to the laws for relief, to rally behind the idea of closing the airport. 

The town is “deeply disappointed” in the decision, Michael Sendlenski, the town attorney, said in a press release Friday afternoon. 

The town board, as the airport’s proprietor, has “always held the belief that it had a public policy responsibility to protect local residents from the loud and disturbing effects of airport noise,” according to the statement.

The court, however, ruled that the town cannot independently enact airport use restrictions, but must follow the federal Airport Noise and Capacity Act and seek federal approval. 

“The court’s opinion undermines local control of operations at the town-owned airport property,” Mr. Sendlenski wrote, “and establishes that the federal bureaucracy controls regulations in the area of aviation noise abatement and control.”

The court decision “expanded federal control at the expense of local government, eroding the concept of home rule,” New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. wrote in his own press release, issued on Monday.

“The F.A.A. has shown itself to be interested only in protecting the moneyed special interests of the helicopter industry. There is no reason to believe that will change,” Assemblyman Thiele wrote. 

The judgment raises the question, Mr. Thiele said, of “whether or not the Town of East Hampton should be in the ‘airport business’ at all. The health and safety of its residents must always take precedence over commercial enterprise.”

“Perhaps now more people will clearly see that the only remedy is to close that airport!” Patricia Currie, a founder of Say No to KHTO (East Hampton Airport), said in her own press release. “Enough pandering to aviation operators whose claims about ‘safety’ fail to conceal their real motives: unfettered access 24/7/365, and airport expansion.”

Ms. Currie said the group had anticipated the ruling, and that “noise-affected residents have been manipulated by the town’s poorly conceived approach to securing peace and quiet for the thousands of Long Island families who suffer health-threatening noise impacts. . . .” The court’s decision, she said, “reflects the questionable advice” of Peter Kirsch, the town’s aviation counsel, and “raises the question as to why the legal firm has not been replaced.” 

The ruling will “fuel the cause” of the group, Ms. Currie said. Say No to KHTO’s immediate agenda, according to a press release, is to develop plans for “environmentally responsible and socially sensitive” alternate uses of the airport property.

A coalition of opponents to airport regulation, including the Friends of the East Hampton Airport along with a number of aviation companies, sued in federal court just after the town board enacted three airport use restrictions in 2015.

In late June 2015, Judge Joanna Seybert blocked one — a once-a-week limit on takeoffs and landings of planes that fall into a noisy aircraft category — but allowed two curfews to be enacted. 

A general ban on takeoffs and landings from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and an extended ban from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m. for noisy aircraft has been in effect since July 2, 2015. During the 2015 and 2016 summer seasons, according to the town, 99 percent of flights complied with the curfews. 

But the Court of Appeals ruling struck down the curfews, and upheld the lower court decision barring the once-a-week restriction.

The court ruled that the federal Airport Noise and Capacity Act requires all airport owners to follow required procedures when seeking to enact local restrictions on airport access, whether or not they accept federal airport grants. 

Several contractual obligations to the F.A.A. related to acceptance by the town of previous grants have expired, and town officials intended to take no further grants.

The town had relied upon a Federal Aviation Administration memo to former U.S. Representative Tim Bishop stating that East Hampton could adopt “reasonable” noise restrictions without going through the “lengthy F.A.A. bureaucratic review and approval process,” outlined under the Airport Noise and Capacity Act.

The Court of Appeals judge decided differently, agreeing with the plaintiffs’ argument that the act’s procedural requirements for local restrictions on airport access apply to all public airport proprietors regardless of their federal funding status. 

“Unfortunately . . . the decision has usurped the town’s local authority, contrary to the assurances of the F.A.A. written statement to Congressman Bishop,” the town wrote in the press release, “therefore making burdensome ANCA review and F.A.A. approval mandatory for any aviation noise regulations adopted by an airport proprietor.” 

The court decision says that Congress enacted the Airport Noise and Capacity Act based on findings that “noise policy must be carried out at the national level” to prevent “uncoordinated and inconsistent restrictions on aviation that could impede the national air transportation system.”

Kathleen Cunningham, who heads the Quiet Skies Coalition, a group that has fought against airport noise, said in a press release that she was “stunned” by the decision. “We’ll have to go back to the drawing board to begin working on real solutions to the environmental challenges this airport causes,” she said.

The National Air Transportation Association applauded the ruling and called on the town to immediately rescind 38 summonses that had been issued to aircraft operators for violations of the curfew this past summer, and to refund fines levied for them. A number of aviation companies that received summonses appeared in town justice court last week, and a plea-bargaining agreement was reached. 

The appeals court “made a sound decision in favor of aviation businesses and our national airport system,” Martin H. Hiller, the president of the association, said in press release. “The imposition of arbitrary airport restrictions that do not comply with F.A.A. procedures would burden the vibrant general aviation community at HTO [East Hampton Airport], potentially reducing future investment and creating inadvertent job loss.” 

“Although today’s court decision places the solution to the aviation noise problem firmly at the feet of Congress and the F.A.A., the town will continue to explore every available option so that the residents of the East End won’t continue to be [afflicted] by an unrelenting din from the skies above,” the town concluded in its press release. 

Data already being collected regarding the aircraft noise issue stemming from helicopters and other planes using the airport could be used in making a case for F.A.A. approval of local airport restrictions, if the town chooses to go that route.

Should the town wish to pursue the case in court, it could ask for a hearing before the entire panel of Second Circuit Court of Appeals judges, or go to the Supreme Court. 

East End voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a referendum to extend the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund through 2050 and to allow up to 20 percent of its future proceeds to be used for water quality initiatives. 

Delivering a resounding yes for the measure, over 78 percent of East Hampton voters (6,842 to 1,909) and over 80 percent of Southampton voters (16,349 to 4,050) supported it. 

“Once again East Hampton voters have proven their overwhelming support for open space preservation and environmental protection,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said yesterday morning. “We’re ready to continue to preserve open space as aggressively as we have to this point, and to get to work on the details of our water quality improvement and protection program.”

The measure also passed decisively in Riverhead and Southold Towns, with nearly 75 and 80 percent of the vote, respectively. On Shelter Island, just under 70 percent of voters wanted to extend he program and add the water-quality component. 

“The public recognizes the issues we’re facing with water quality,” said State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. “The size of the victory is compelling,” he said, and will “arm the supporters of water-quality remediation” to appeal to the county and state for additional resources. He said a new state environmental bond act, with a large water-quality component, should be discussed. 

The preservation fund, financed by a 2-percent tax on most real estate transfers, was first passed in 1999. Voters approved a 10-year extension, through 2030, in 2006.

Since its inception, the fund has raised over $1 billion for open space and historical preservation in the five East End towns. Supporters of the referendum, looking at a 10-year average of past revenue, expect that it could provide East Hampton Town with some $4.6 million annually for water projects such as wastewater treatment, aquatic habitat restoration, stormwater diversion, and other pollution prevention efforts.

“I think the water is as important to our community as the land is,” Jeanne Frankl, chairwoman of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee, said at a Democratic Party gathering Tuesday night at LTV. “The high water table makes our drinking water fragile . . . 20 percent is not too much to invest in water.” 

Each town has drafted its own plan listing possible projects that could be undertaken with the money. In East Hampton, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc has said, the first step will likely be testing ground and surface waters to establish baseline water-quality levels before improvement efforts are undertaken.

With Reporting by 

Christine Sampson