It seems as if Mother Nature has provided an au pair for a pair of Canada geese and their three downy goslings that hang out on Fort Pond near Second House Road and Industrial Road in Montauk.

The wayward goose, who, according to our resident naturalist, Dell Cullum, appears to be a hybrid of a Pilgrim goose and a Chinese goose, was initially noticed by Debbie Kuntz in January, when it hunkered down from the cold with the rest of the Canada geese on the lower level of the Montauk School playing fields. The snow and ice was so thick they had no way of getting food.

Feeling sorry for them, Ms. Kuntz visited each day and threw cracked corn for them to eat. “I couldn’t watch them starving to death,” she said. One day, the hybrid showed up at her driveway a bit farther down from the school on Second House Road. It lived around her yard for a while, gobbling up all the food Ms. Kuntz threw to it.

Finally, the goose moved on toward the pond and tried to form a relationship with a family of swans but was shunned. It decided to join the Canada geese again and received a warm welcome from the new parents. Now, the goose, whose gender cannot be detected unless examined but who goes by Gracie the Goose, helps guard the family when it crosses the road.

The owner of Lighthouse Landscaping, Ms. Kuntz said it had been a rough winter for wild animals. She and others in the landscaping business found an unusually large number of deer and bird carcasses in the spring.

“It’s just something that happens in nature, and this winter really weeded out the weak,” she said.

But Gracie, who Ms. Kuntz thinks lost her way from a petting zoo or horse ranch, is doing fine and watches over the goslings as if they were her own. They can usually be seen at the water’s edge on the eastern corner of Industrial Road.

The departure of Uber, the app-based car service, following a blitz of tickets given its drivers for lacking the required town taxi licenses, has two East End taxi company owners jumping into the breach.

Via two new smartphone apps, Hamptons Taxi and Gata Hub, prospective fares can now summon licensed cabs from local companies.

Uber shut down its East Hampton service after Memorial Day. A town regulation that took effect this year requiring cab companies to have a local office and their taxis to be licensed to that address is impossible for the company to meet, Uber said.

So, separately, both Mark Ripolone of Ditch Plains Taxi in Montauk and Bryan DaParma of Hometown Taxi in East Hampton and Southampton took the steering wheel, so to speak, and launched localized apps.

“I decided to create an app to try to combat Uber,” said Mr. DaParma, who was recently appointed to a two-year term on the Suffolk County Taxi and Limousine Commission. “They’ve got a great business plan; they’re just not doing it the legal way,” he said — not here, anyway.

Mr. DaParma partnered with New Frontier Payments, a Pennsylvania and New York company, to create the Hamptons Taxi app, which can be downloaded through Google Play or Apple’s app store.

“Ride Local, Not Rogue,” it says when launched.

Similar to Uber, the app depicts a map on which riders may select pickup and dropoff points. Fares are then provided. Users of both the taxi apps will be able to charge fares to credit cards kept on file or pay with cash or a credit card in the taxi.

Mr. Ripolone of Ditch Plains Taxi signed a two-year contract with Gata Hub — Gata stands for get a taxi anywhere, he said — and pays a monthly fee to the company. When Uber pulled out of town, “I realized people are used to ordering everything on their phone; just in general using their phone for everything,” said Mr. Ripolone, who is a member of a taxi committee that advises the East Hampton Town Board.

He has become a spokesman of sorts for local cab companies. In the furor here over the loss of Uber — fomented by an email from the company to its users urging them to complain about the town licensing law, which it said was “banning” the service — the local cabs were painted as overly expensive and unreliable. Unfair and untrue, Mr. Ripolone said.

He invited the owners of several other Montauk companies to participate, and Moko Taxi and The End signed on, making a total of 17 Montauk-based cars available. Taxi One of East Hampton is also a participant.

Customers using Gata Hub may choose which company to summon. “I found a great opportunity, and I realized if it was just me, I couldn’t cater to all of Montauk,” Mr. Ripolone said.

With Hamptons Taxi, users may summon one of Hometown Taxi’s 85 vehicles, or taxis from other companies that might sign with the service.

“I’m inviting any and all drivers who want to be a part of this to come down. So, hopefully, if the local companies come together, Uber will not have a chance,” Mr. DaParma said. Before signing cabs onto the app system, he said he would make sure they were properly licensed. “That way we can provide excellent service out there.”

“First and foremost,” said Mr. DaParma, a native of the South Fork who has run his business in Southampton and East Hampton Towns for 18 years, “I want to keep the money local. A lot of people come out here, and they spend a lot of money. It’s not fair that companies come out here” and capitalize on the busy summer season, he said.

While drivers from other taxi businesses can sign up at the moment for free with Hamptons Taxi, Mr. DaParma said he might collect a small fee in future to cover credit card payment processing and other administrative costs. After a “soft launch” last weekend, Hamptons Taxi “had a lot of good feedback,” he said.

A website is being developed, so that hotel concierges, for example, can go online to summon cars for guests. Plans to supply kiosks with dedicated computers at locations such as bars and restaurants are in the works as well.

“My ultimate goal is to have them in every front desk from Southampton to Montauk,” Mr. DaParma said.

Mr. Ripolone said he would “absolutely” be willing to coordinate services by participating in a regional Hamptons “Uber,” depending on his business agreement with Gata Hub. “Everything is going to be over the Internet,” he said. “Everything is going to be Uber-like. It’s a good thing.”

Looking back on his 21 years on the Sag Harbor Village Board, first as a trustee and finally as mayor, Brian Gilbride said he has no regrets. “I’m pretty firm in my convictions,” Mr. Gilbride said Tuesday. “Could I have done things a little better? I’m sure the answer is yes, but would I have done things any differently? The answer to that would be no.” His response, even he admitted, is telling of his personality.

“Irrespective of what the issue was, you knew where he was on it, up front,” said Tiffany Scarlato, who served on the board for six years until 2010. Ms. Scarlato, who works as the Southampton Town attorney, said it was at the urging of Mr. Gilbride, whom she’s known her whole life, that she got involved in village government. “He’s a man of his word, and that’s something you don’t see that often these days,” she said.

Perhaps, in part, because he is outspoken, frank, and to the point, Mr. Gilbride, who turned 68 on Sunday, has seen his fair share of strife throughout his tenure on the board. Among the more difficult experiences were negotiating two recent labor contracts with the Sag Harbor Village Police Benevolent Association — relations between Mr. Gilbride and the village police have long been strained. Still, he said he is proud of the work he has accomplished, including negotiating with the P.B.A. that new hires have to pay 15 percent of their health insurance.

He is leaving the village in good shape, he said, stepping down on his own terms on Monday. Sandra Schroeder, who was a longtime village clerk, and his deputy mayor, was elected to the seat last month. “I held the line on taxes pretty good. I did not borrow money. I got some projects done,” the outgoing mayor said. In 21 years he never missed a meeting.

Looking back at Mr. Gilbride’s administration, Ed Deyermond, a current board member and former mayor, said yesterday that it had been a tough period. “He’s presided over a period of tremendous growth, without a doubt, and with growth comes problems,” he said. Mr. Gilbride’s most enduring legacy, he said, may be in one simple transaction. “Problems, issues, and even people come and go, but I think Long Wharf, and his obtaining Long Wharf, that’s going to be forever. That’s probably my biggest take-away.”

Mr. Gilbride rattled off a long list of other accomplishments, which included the opening of the village justice court in a meeting space at Village Hall five years ago, public restrooms that were made handicapped accessible thanks to county community development funds, and redesigning the village website.

“The last six years as mayor, it’s not just me, it’s the mayors before me who started certain projects that I got to complete,” he said. There was also the renovation of the John A. Ward Windmill with the help of fund-raising from the chamber of commerce, Save Sag Harbor, and the Sag Harbor Lions Club, and the acquisition of the beach at the windmill. Another project that came to fruition after many years of discussion was remediation of the Havens Beach drainage ditch with two grants totaling nearly $300,000. “That’s some of the stuff I can remember,” he said with a laugh.

When he first ran for mayor against Jim Henry and Michael S. Bromberg in 2009, he made promises that he said he has kept. “I didn’t want to increase debt in the village, and I didn’t do that,” he said. It is not a decision with which all agreed. “My view is it’s other people’s money. I try to take care of it the best I can,” he said, “and yet, I still got some things done.”

“I’m working for the public. . . . You don’t make everybody happy, but occasionally you make somebody happy.”

Mr. Gilbride’s public service goes beyond his time on the board. Village Mayor John Ward first hired him to work in Sag Harbor’s Highway Department in 1966, but he moved on to work for the Town of Southampton, eventually heading up its Sanitation Department. Two years after he was first elected in Sag Harbor, former Southampton Town Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio gave him his walking papers. He returned to Sag Harbor, then as a part-time superintendent of public works, a job he retired from in 2002.

Back in the late 1960s, he joined the fire department, rising to chief, a position he held from 1982 to 1985. In 2007, he made an unsuccessful bid for the East Hampton Town Board, running with on the Repubican ticket with Bill Wilkinson.

He was first elected to the village board, along with Ed Deyermond, in 1994, when he supported the firefighters who wanted to become trained divers following a drowning off Havens Beach. Peter Dougenis came under fire when he referred to the purchasing of scuba-diving equipment as “more fun and games,” according to articles that appeared in The Star in 1993. 

“One of the trustees wasn’t really willing to do anything for these guys who had put a lot of their time in. One of their comments was, ‘If you don’t like it, you should run,’ ” he said. So he did. Mr. Deyermond and Mr. Gilbride replaced Mr. Dougenis and Marshall Garypie Jr. “That’s what got me started. I’m really a quiet, private guy,” he said.

Mr. Gilbride served alongside five mayors: Pierce Hance, Bill Young, Lauren Fortmiller, the first female mayor in the village, Mr. Deyermond, and finally his predecessor, Greg Ferraris. The last was his favorite, he said, despite the fact that the two were in stark contrast with one another. “I can say this now having served as mayor. Until you do it, you have no idea what the job really entails.”

A lot has changed during Mr. Gilbride’s time on the board, both for himself and the village. “Back in 1994, we didn’t really talk a lot until the meetings, and now there seems to be a lot of interaction,” he said, referring to other meetings and constant calls he gets on various topics. “It was a much slower time back then . . . that is one thing that really stands out over the last 20 years. We are at, right now, just this whirlwind pace of everything that’s going on, especially building.” It will be the next administration’s biggest challenge, he said. 

He no longer works in the public sector, but has had a longtime position with the Emil Norsic and Son sanitation company in Southampton. Four years ago, Mr. Gilbride lost his wife, Georganne Gilbride. “There were many people that made that difficult time easier,” Mr. Gilbride said.

That is just one of the many reasons why Sag Harbor is so special. He often says that his own career in village politics speaks volumes about the type of place Sag Harbor is. “I consider myself an uneducated individual who is street smart,” he said. His father died when he was 10 years old, and he dropped out of Pierson High School at 16 to help support his family. He later earned two high school equivalency diplomas, one before he joined the Navy and another during his time in the military. “It shows you how good Sag Harbor is. . . . When you show initiative and that you want to do things and work on behalf of the village, this village is accepting of that.”

Mr. Gilbride feels a sense of pride to have served the community — a working class, factory town when he was growing up that has exploded with second homeowners — and he feels lucky to still call it home. “I have been fortunate enough to have been elected mayor three times. I’m humbled and honored.”

In retirement from the village board, Mr. Gilbride plans to spend even more time with his grandchildren. His granddaughter Casey plays field hockey in college. He made it to all her spring scrimmages and hopes to be there for every match this fall.

Everyone knows about K9s, dogs that help the military and police save lives and chase suspects, among other heroic missions, but who knew the East Hampton Town Animal Control Department had two dogs as auxiliary staff members? Said to be invaluable in the field, they are a Maltese named Gracie and an Australian shepherd named Tiki.

Heather Miller, who is in her eighth year as an animal control officer, partners with Gracie and Christie Fanti, who is in her first year, with Tiki. Early last week, the canines helped the women bring in a black Chow mix and a tan and white Chihuahua, which had been wandering around Camp Hero in Montauk for some time. After over a week, the team had success, with Ms. Fanti bringing in the Chihuahua on June 22, and Ms. Miller the Chow mix the following day.

Ms. Fanti described how trained dogs are helpful. Loose dogs in unfamiliar settings become fearful and suspicious, almost feral, and the sight of another dog relaxes them, she said. Ms. Miller explained that she had been able to lure a loose dog in Wainscott to her recently by feeding Gracie treats. “Dogs engage each other.” The two women and the canines comprise the staff of the department, with Betsy Bambrick its head as code enforcement officer.

 The tale of the two dogs, which apparently were abandoned by their owners, is headed for a happy ending. But it wasn’t easy. The department has picked up 83 loose dogs this year. “These are the first we had to trap,” Ms. Miller said. “We didn’t have much information. The dogs just showed up.”

On Tuesday, Ms. Miller explained the process.

The first step is to put out a trap with food inside it. “The trap is tied open,” she said, on the theory that the dogs will become comfortable going in and out of it. The worst thing the public can do in such situations is to feed the strays, she said. “We want them hungry enough to go into the trap.”

When the dogs were corralled they were covered with ticks and taken immediately to the East Hampton Veterinary Group, headed by Dr. Paul Hollander. They were treated and are being boarded there.

According to Ms. Miller, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons has found them healthy and adoptable. In the next day or so, Ms. Miller said, the Camp Hero pair will make the trip to ARF’s shelter on Daniel’s Hole Road in East Hampton, where they will be waiting to meet their new best friends. There is a 10-day waiting period to see if someone will come forward to claim the animals before they are offered for adoption, but, so far, “no owners have come forward,” Ms. Miller said.

When they are not picking up strays, the women enforce other local and state dog ordinances. East Hampton Village, which does not have an animal control department of its own, pays $5,000 annually for any services it may need from the town department.

Ms. Miller said the public should call the department’s hotline, 324-0085, during business hours to report loose dogs, adding that voicemail messages are checked throughout the day. During off-hours, Ms. Miller said, “if a dog is injured, or in distress, or a danger to the public,” the police should be called instead, at 537-7575. “But, do not call 911,” she said.

A Bridgehampton man accused of assaulting an elderly Northwest Woods woman was indicted by a grand jury last Thursday on multiple felony charges, and was re-arraigned in Riverside Wednesday. Bronte E. O’Neal, 50, faces a minimum sentence of two years in state prison if convicted of either of the assault charges he is facing, which are classified as violent felonies.

He is accused of punching Irene Foster, 83, in the face on the morning of May 30, in the kitchen of her house at 29 Hands Creek Road. The blow knocked her backward, and she told police her head hit the refrigerator. East Hampton Town police said he kicked her repeatedly while she lay helpless on the ground.

She was treated at Southampton Hospital for a fractured skull and a broken collarbone before being transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital’s trauma ward.

Ms. Foster testified to the grand jury via a video that was recorded at her bedside by the office of District Attorney Thomas Spota. She is now in a rehabilitation facility.

Mr. O’Neal was originally charged by East Hampton Town Police with a single count of felony assault. The grand jury added the second charge: It is a felony in New York State to intentionally cause serious injury to a person aged 64 or older.

He is additionally charged with grand larceny, for allegedly stealing Ms. Foster’s 2015 Hyundai Elantra. He told police he had driven it to Mastic-Shirley after the incident, but said he had Ms. Foster’s permission to drive the car.

He was arraigned on the felony charges in the Riverside courtroom of New York State Supreme Court Justice John J. Toomey Jr. on Wednesday.

Bail was originally set at $50,000 in East Hampton Justice Court. Mr. O’Neal could not post it, and was sent to the county jail. Once he was indicted the bail was revoked, and he remains in the jail.

A man fell while possibly experiencing a medical problem aboard the Montauk Star charter boat Wednesday morning, according to the Coast Guard. 

Petty Officer Matthew Foster at Coast Guard Station Montauk said he and four other guardsmen were on their way to Greenport when Sector Long Island Sound received a distress call. A man had fallen from the second deck to the first deck and was unconscious. Initial reports were that he might have had a heart attack, causing him to fall, but Officer Foster could not confirm that. 

The Coast Guard crew met the Montauk Star about two nautical miles east of the Montauk Inlet, and two guardsman, one of them Officer Foster, boarded the boat to adminster first aid to the man, who was then conscious, in pain, and "somewhat stable."

The Montauk Star was escorted to the Coast Guard station on Star Island Drive in Montauk, where they were met by personnel from the Montauk Fire Department ambulance company at about 12:30 p.m. 

The man was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital. His name was not released.

A petition asking the East Hampton Town Board to deny permits for large events on Montauk’s downtown green has gathered over 200 signatures since Memorial Day weekend.

Drawn up by Ken Walles, the owner of the Oceanside Beach Resort, the petition states that “the most recent event taking place on the village green this Memorial Day weekend has displayed an abuse of our town property. The large village green venue, in combination with the various club activities, has resulted in total chaos throughout the town, adversely affecting many of our tax-paying businesses and town residents. In addition, the poor planning and approval of such events cause an overflow of other problems with other town services such as parking, trash, and public safety.”

Mr. Walles said he started the petition after hearing a number of complaints about the fairs and their accompanying traffic woes. Once word of its existence got out, he said, people started asking him where to sign it. “If I sat at the post office with it I’d probably get 500 signatures,” he said.

The Montauk Artists Association held its annual art show on the green from Friday through Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Its first show, in 2006, was held on the Hank Zebrowski Memorial field off Edgemere Street, just north of the hamlet, and was “a complete disaster; a total bust,” said Anne Weissmann, a fair organizer and the treasurer of the artists’ group. She said that no one realized the show was going on because of its hidden location.

Once it was moved to the green, sales and vendor fees increased substantially, she said, noting that vendors pay $350 per space and the proceeds help to maintain the artists’ Depot Gallery at the train station — a requirement under the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which leases them the gallery. August’s annual fair on the green also brings in revenue, Ms. Weissman said, and the money allows the association to offer free programs for children. “We’re financially sound, but that’s only because of those two fairs.”

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said on Tuesday that 45 permits have been issued for events on the Montauk green from May through October, 30 of them submitted by the Montauk Chamber of Commerce. Those events include the chamber’s weekly farmers market, the free summer concert series, which is held on Mondays through Labor Day, the annual two-day fall festival, and a Lions Club crafts fair.

Mr. Cantwell said that when he took office he created a group to go over the applications. It includes two town board members, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and Fred Overton; the town police chief; the director of the Parks Department, and the chief fire marshal. While those five officials have the authority to approve permits, they usually bring the bigger ones before the entire town board, said Mr. Cantwell. “The process worksbetter when there is a coordination of town officials,” he said.

Regarding the petition, the supervisor said it would be up to Montauk residents if a change is made. “We would need a significant amount of public opinion before we would make a decision to change it,” he said.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Laraine Creegan, executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, said of the petition. Only not-for-profit groups are allowed to hold events on the green, she pointed out. When the art show, and, previously, the Lions Club crafts fairs were held on Lions Field it was “dead, dead, dead” for shoppers, she said — out of sight, out of mind.

In the past few years since the events have been held on the green, business has increased and the groups are doing very well, Ms. Creegan said. She suggested that no better site could be found anywhere in Montauk: Second House Museum has its own arts and crafts fairs and limited parking, while the soccer and baseball fields have irrigation systems that could be harmed by heavy foot traffic and by tent stakes being pounded into the ground. Mr. Cantwell made similar observations.

“Fairs held on greens across America is something that has always been done,” Ms. Creegan said.

“Dear Friends and Patrons of Peconic Beverage East,” the letter begins. “We regret to inform you that we will be closing indefinitely as of July 1st.”

The timing of the announcement, posted at the entrance to the East Hampton beer and soda distributorship, could scarcely be worse for both residents and imminently arriving visitors for the Independence Day weekend and beyond. The letter, signed by Kurt Cooper Moller, cites “circumstances beyond our control” for the impending expiration of the business’s license to sell alcoholic beverages and the refusal of its unnamed landlords to execute a lease.

The store could reopen, said Mr. Moller, who has been at the beer and soda distributor for about a year. “But right now it looks like it’s going to sit here empty for an undetermined amount of time.” His father, Gary Moller, has been managing the store in the absence of its owner, William C. Hurley, he said.

Mr. Hurley, a Sag Harbor resident and longtime owner of the beer and soda distributor on Pantigo Place, was sentenced to two years in prison last October after pleading guilty to multiple charges stemming from a July 2013 accident on Route 114 in East Hampton that injured the driver and her 6-year-old son. Mr. Hurley’s truck swerved across lane lines, colliding with a car driven by Elizabeth Krimendahl, whose son suffered a fractured skull; Ms. Krimendahl sustained a broken ankle in the crash. Mr. Hurley admitted to having consumed two vodka and grapefruit drinks before leaving the store on the day of the accident.

Prior to his incarceration, Mr. Hurley was in the process of selling the business to Gary Moller, the younger Mr. Moller said, but did not complete the sale. His sentencing had been postponed twice: a first time to allow him to get his affairs in order and again after he fell off a ladder and badly broke his leg. An effort by his attorney to gain an additional adjournment was unsuccessful.

Consequently, Mr. Hurley remains one of the building’s three owners, along with Matthew Worrell and Charles Hausman. “The other two landlords won’t give us a lease, because they want to take over the building,” Kurt Moller said. “That’s all I’ll get into. It’s a long saga.” Attempts to reach Mr. Worrell and Mr. Hausman, who lives out of state, were unsuccessful.

David Churchill of Churchill Wines and Spirits, next door to Peconic Beverage East, said that he had opened his business there in order to take advantage of the traffic coming to the beer and soda store. “I’m annoyed because of how it’s going to affect me,” he said on Monday. “It’s going to be vacant until somebody gets a liquor license.”

Peconic Beverage is the only spot in or around East Hampton Village to get kegs of beer. People looking for kegs after July 1 will have a choice among Montauk Beer and Soda on South Elmwood Avenue, Sag Harbor Beverage, at 89 Division Street, and Peconic Beverage on Montauk Highway in Southampton, which is not connected to Peconic Beverage East, an employee said yesterday.

“On behalf of Bill Hurley and the entire staff,” the letter reads, “we’d like to thank you for 35 years of support and patronage. I would also like to personally thank all of the good-humored people I’ve met over this past year. It is the array of good-natured comedic characters that really made Peconic Bev what it is today. . . . It has been a pleasure serving the good people of East Hampton.”

On June 13 as dusk dimmed to night, Kate Overton’s 4-year-old daughter frolicked barefoot along the Three Mile Harbor inlet at Maidstone Park. Mrs. Overton and a group of friends were packing up to leave when they heard a child’s scream.

Mrs. Overton turned and saw her daughter, Jana, collapsed in the sand. A mother nearby swiftly grabbed the girl as Mrs. Overton and others hurried over. In the dark, the group searched for clues on Jana’s body. Someone turned on car headlights.

They spotted the burn. It covered the bottom of her left foot and almost reached a third degree. Jana had run through the remnants of a beach fire that someone covered with sand before extinguishing its hot embers. A former volunteer emergency medical technician in the group began to quickly administer gel pads.

Mrs. Overton swept up her crying, patched-up daughter to make a pit stop at Waldbaum’s, spending an easy $150 on supplies such as Advil and bandages. The next morning, the doctor at East Hampton Urgent Care’s trauma center wrapped Jana's blistering foot in a cast with nonstick pads and gauze, secured it with a sock and prescribed painkillers. 

Mrs. Overton borrowed a friend's jogging stroller to cart Jana around town. 

"It all happened so fast," said Mrs. Overton, who's outraged at the person responsible and later took to Facebook to express her anger and warn other parents of the danger that can be lurking under the sand. 

A nighttime tradition in East Hampton, fires are permitted on both town and village beaches, but the regulations differ. Both town and village codes require that a water bucket accompany the fire and that sand not be used as an extinguisher. 

On the village beaches, fires must be confined inside a metal container, a rule the village board passed in 2010 in a response to concerns about safety and litter. 

"We don't want people stepping on it," said Barbara Borsack, a village board member. 

Ms. Borsack said she came across Mrs. Overton's post on Facebook, but otherwise wasn't aware of any recent bonfire burns. 

"It's always a danger," she acknowledged.

On town beaches, such as the bay beach at Maidstone Park in Springs where Jana burned her feet, a metal container is not required. 

Bonfire burns are always a risk, especially when people don't follow the rules about extinguishing their fires when they leave the beach. East Hampton Town Councilman Fred Overton, whose nephew is married to Mrs. Overton, recalled how years ago as a child, his cousin stepped on "sand in the wrong place" during a mid-day visit to Louse Point in Springs and suffered severe burns. 

"It's been a problem for a long time," he said. 

But with bonfire season in full swing and the Fourth of July coming up, the issue seems to be on people's minds. Even before Mrs. Overton began speaking out about her daughter's experience at Maidstone Park, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell had raised the issue at a town board meeting, questioning whether new regulations should be considered.

Later upon hearing of Jana's burns, he called the incident "disturbing" and said current protocols are not working. 

"The worst thing anyone can do is cover a fire and leave it burning beneath the surface for someone to step on," he said. 

The coals left behind and the mess they make in the sand are also sources of frustration for many.

“The beach is disgusting,” said Mrs. Overton.

Ms. Borsack talked about the dozens of fires along Wiborg’s Beach these days, and debris getting strewn around the sand with bad weather.

“By the end of the summer, the beach is looking gray instead of beige,” she said.

Mr. Cantwell wants better enforcement, but acknowledged that the influx of visitors during the summer months combined with almost 70 miles of beachfront could make stricter oversight difficult.

“It’s virtually impossible to be everywhere at the same time,” he said. Mr. Overton echoed this sentiment.

“I don’t know how you police it. We try to be specific. Some people don’t pay attention,” he said. “More regulations probably won’t help.”

The night after getting burned, Jana slept a mere two hours. She felt hot and uncomfortable, but couldn’t leave the bed in case she began to sweat. She itched, too, her mother said.

Mrs. Overton had signed her up for a camp at the Neighborhood House starting in the coming weeks. Now, she isn’t sure Jana will be able to attend. As for returning to Maidstone Park, Mrs. Overton said her daughter recoiled at the idea.

A proposed law that would limit the ability of East Hampton motels to add a restaurant or bar drew support, critique, and criticism last Thursday night during a hearing before the East Hampton Town Board.

The law would prohibit motels in residential areas from adding new “accessory” restaurants or bars, though existing ones would be allowed to keep operating. It would also require motels in other zoning districts that wish to add a bar or restaurant to obtain a special permit from the planning board, and meet a set of specific standards outlined in the new law.

According to the proposed legislation, restaurants and bars at motels have traditionally been viewed as amenities for motel guests. But, it says, they have “caused negative effects to the character of the community, quality of life of the neighbors and created public health, welfare and safety concerns by becoming less accessory and growing into a second principal use” at motel properties. Those in residential districts, the town has asserted, are “especially detrimental to the quality of life of the surrounding neighborhood,” causing an increase in traffic, noise, and parking problems.

Only resorts or motels with at least 25 rooms would be allowed to add a restaurant or bar, and the new facility could only be sited in the business’s main building, not in a freestanding space.

The law would limit the area to be used and require that outdoor seating areas be set back twice as far from rear or side-yard property lines as is currently required under the code when the neighboring lot is residential. Screening would be required.

Some opponents at the hearing last week painted the proposal as an unfair political reversal of previous town policy. However, residents of Montauk, where the expanded use of a number of longstanding restaurants has sparked a conflict between the businesses and surrounding neighbors, said that an effort to tamp down the burgeoning party scene and better balance commercial and residential interests is sorely needed.

A number of speakers who supported the law also supported suggestions for its revision by Christopher Kelley, an East Hampton attorney, who said that the legislation would be improved by tightening it in several ways.

Only those motels that conform to allcurrent town code provisions should be eligible for a permit to add an accessory bar or restaurant, he said, and service at those facilities should be limited to motel guests only.

Outdoor dining and bar service should be banned, Mr. Kelley said, as should outdoor music, or live music indoors if the motel abuts residential properties. Should the town board allow outdoor eating or drinking, Mr. Kelley said that the setbacks for the al fresco areas should be greater than as is proposed, equal to the setbacks required from property lines for the principal motel building.

The current proposal “doesn’t really protect” neighbors, he said.

Those seeking a permit for an accessory bar or restaurant, Mr. Kelley said, should be required to upgrade septic systems.

Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, noted recent instances of fish kills, algal blooms, and contamination caused by pollutants reaching the water, and said septic system improvements are key. “We have the right to ask them to do the right thing. We have the right to ask them to take care of their sewage,” he said. “These are not theoretical concerns; this is happening.”

The proposed law is a “huge step in the right direction,” for which there is a “desperate need,” he told the board. With some fine-tuning, he said, “I think we’ll have a really powerful and meaningful piece of legislation that will truly benefit the residents and visitors to Montauk.”

He pointed out that, as written, the law could allow both a 2,000-square-foot restaurant and a 1,000-square-foot bar at a motel, and said business owners should be asked to choose one or the other. “It’s too much,” he said. “It’s not clear to me that there’s a significant need or benefit to the community.”

Limiting eligibility for permits for new accessory restaurants or bars to only those motels that have 25 rooms or more “appears random,” said Margaret Turner, the executive director of the East Hampton Business Alliance. “The trend is toward boutique hotels, where breakfast and room service are expected. Why shouldn’t a 9 or 10-room hotel be allowed to serve their guests breakfast or a glass of wine?”

She asked the board to delay a decision on the new law until the completion of planning studies on the town’s business needs and on individual hamlets, which are in planning stages.

“We feel that this proposal may be reactionary to what has or may happen in Montauk, and remind the board that this proposal affects the entire town.”

James Daunt, who recently sold his Montauk motel, says the town codes regarding occupancy, noise, and the like, are “selectively enforced.” He acknowledged that there are legitimate issues to address, but, he asked, “is this really the proper way to correct it?”

“The town has a responsibility to balance the concerns of residents. It has a responsibility to protect our sensitive environment. The town must also balance the interests of businesses and investors,” said Jay Levine, adding that the proposed law “does seem to balance those concerns.”

A limit on the expansion of hospitality businesses is “long overdue,” said Stacey Brosnan of Montauk. A former business owner, she said she is sympathetic to the needs of businesses. “But there is no balance in Montauk,” she said. “At this point it really has tipped in favor of the business community as opposed to the quality of life and the protection of our beautiful place that we live. The people of Montauk really need this very much.”

  Though the town board has said that this legislation will not affect pre-existing, nonconforming hotels that already have restaurants or bars, “I tend to doubt that,” said Lawrence Kelly, an attorney who represents Montauk’s Memory Motel. “I tend to think that at some point someone will make use of this legislation to interfere with the doing of business in East Hampton Town by people who own the property, who have rights under state law, that those rights will be impacted by this.”

“The Beach House case established that the full use of a motel property includes bar service, under clearly established state law,” he said, referring to the former Ronjo motel in Montauk. Renovations there, including the addition of a bar, prompted town scrutiny and review.

“I understand that there is local opposition to business but that does not change state law,” Mr. Kelly said. “If you are going to prohibit outdoor music, if you are going to mandate that all pre-existing, nonconforming properties upgrade septic systems for any changes whatsoever, you will invoke paralysis. . . . Things that you say will not be onerous to business owners will indeed be onerous to business owners.”

“People have invested in the community; they look for a certain return on their investment under clearly established state law. If you want to go contrary to that clearly established state law to hit a political agenda, fine. But you will be challenged, and I believe ultimately you will be defeated on any such attempts.”

Mr. Kelly suggested the board have more discussions with the business community before moving forward.

Brian Kenny, an owner of the Memory Motel, said that the motel owners had made “a multimillion-dollar investment” and changes at the motel site based on assertions from the prior town administration and officials, and that it would be unfair to change the rules now.

“If our pre-existing business, and our actions in cooperation with the town are, after a successful six years of operation, now subjected to a political reinterpretation . . . [and] we as business owners are being targeted based on a revised agenda, we will have to conclude that our civil rights and our business rights are being capriciously violated.”

Last year, Mr. Kelly said, the Memory was cited for zoning violations by the town, which sought an injunction, and two weeks ago it was cited again.