Chris Scott, a 27-year-old whose family has a house in Springs, was flown on Tuesday to an Atlanta hospital specializing in spinal cord injuries, nearly a month after a skydiving accident in Calverton. Gary Messina, a 25-year-old New York City correction officer, died when their tandem jump went horribly wrong, and Mr. Scott, a top Skydive Long Island instructor, was left a quadriplegic.

While the Federal Aviation Administration is still investigating the cause of the accident, Mr. Scott’s family is focused on his rehabilitation, and his friends are trying to raise money to help with his long-term care.

Steve Scott said his son is paralyzed from the neck down, unable to breathe or eat on his own, and only able to mouth words. Until Tuesday, he was in the intensive care unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he was flown immediately after the accident.

“If there’s any luck in the tragedy, there’s no cranial damage whatsoever,” Mr. Scott said.

The young man’s family has been working with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, which led them to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, regarded as one of the pre-eminent spinal cord injury rehab hospitals in the world, where he will receive the latest and most progressive treatment. His life support equipment was moved there with him on a Medevac flight.

The family hopes he will be able to return to Sound Beach, where he now lives, though when is uncertain. “They’re doing unbelievable things in spinal cord injury cases,” his father said. “Chris just turned 27 — he’s so young. In 5 or 10 years, who knows what is going on. Hopefully, he’ll be in better shape than he is today.”

His medical expenses are largely covered under workers’ compensation since he was working at the time, Mr. Scott said. “What it doesn’t cover, and what our concern is, it doesn’t cover housing, food, clothing, shelter for the rest of his life.”

To help, his skydiving buddies have set up a fund-raising site: helpchrisscott.com. Donations may also be made by check, made out to Marie Scott, his mother, at UBS Financial Services Inc., 1 State Street, Floor 16, Hartford, Conn. 06103-3102.

“We are all trying our best, but we’re all absolutely devastated,” Mr. Scott said.  

His son grew up in New York City, attending P.S. 6 and York Prep, and was introduced to skydiving while a student at the University of Arizona. “He fell in love with the sport,” his father said. He became an instructor at a drop zone in Tucson before moving back east, and had worked for the last four or five years at Skydive Long Island, which operates a training school from a hangar near Calverton Executive Airpark.

“I think he had something close to 6,000 jumps at the time of the accident,” Mr. Scott said, adding that his son was rated one of the leading skydivers in the United States. “Skydiving is extremely physical, particularly for instructors. Some days, he’d do 20 tandem jumps in a single day.”

He described Chris as an outdoorsman and a free spirit who loved fishing and surfing at beaches in Montauk and Amagansett, where he lived for a time during college while working as a landscaper. “He was a tremendous athlete. He loved sports. He was an outdoors person — he never wanted to work in an office.”

He was aware of the risks associated with skydiving, his father said. In fact, father and son had discussed its perils over dinner about two weeks before the accident. “He always defended it,” said Mr. Scott.

A plan for an aquatic center and multipurpose space at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center, which has been in the works for almost eight years, has been completely revised and the cost of its construction substantially reduced, from $10 million to $7 million.

A small group gathered at the playhouse on Saturday morning to hear about the new plan from Tom Griffin, a playhouse foundation board member. The aquatic center, he said, is to be moved from the lower level to the upper, under a large bank of windows that will let in more light. “Let’s get it up there where the sunshine is,” said Mr. Griffin.

The multipurpose center will be in the cavernous ground level, the original site of the pool. The larger space will allow large-scale events to be held there, including rock concerts, theater productions, children’s concerts, arts and crafts fairs, a farmers market, car and boat shows, and the like.

To complete the now-$7 million project, the foundation will need to raise another $5 million. It already has $2 million on hand.

At 3,000 square feet and 25 yards in length, the pool will be similar to the pool at Gurney’s Inn, said Mr. Griffins. It will be five feet deep at the deepest point, with a sloping side to make entry easier for youngsters, the handicapped, and the elderly. There will be a hot tub as well, for therapeutic use.

The pool, Mr. Griffin said, will be available for personal training, private and group swim lessons, baby swim classes, scuba training, water aerobics, and many other uses. “We want to provide services for everyone,” he said.

The revised plan is the result of a survey sent to residents last fall. Most people said they would like a year-round pool to use as soon as possible.

After sitting and decaying for many years, the playhouse was renovated and opened in 2006. It currently has a widely used gymnasium, adult and child care services, and a senior citizens nutrition center. Body Tech and Manuel Sports Physical Therapy are also on the site. Fund-raisers are held year round.

There will be daily passes and membership passes for pool use, which will also raise money to maintain it. If all goes well and the money is raised, construction could be completed in 2016, said Mr. Griffin, which would be the 10-year anniversary of the playhouse’s opening.

“This isn’t that complicated. It’s time to get serious and professional about it,” he said.

Another informational meeting will be held at the playhouse Thursday at 7.

East Hampton Town announced Tuesday that it has won a $9.9 million federal grant to buy low-lying properties in the Lazy Point area of Amagansett, under a program designed to eliminate or prevent development in areas prone to severe flooding.

Under the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service emergency watershed protection program, the money will be used to purchase some 16 properties on Mulford Lane and Bayview Avenue, both vacant and developed. Structures on the sites will be demolished so that the natural floodplain can be restored or re-established.

“We are facing the stark reality that development should not exist along some areas of our coastline where long-term erosion clearly exists and flooding potential in low-lying areas can threaten lives and damage property,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said in a release announcing the grant.

The town was among a number of Long Island communities competing for a portion of the federal grant money.

Mr. Cantwell praised the work of Kim Shaw, the town’s natural resources director, who worked with the Nature Conservancy to reach out to property owners and facilitate the grant. With it, he said in a release, the town can “preserve building parcels that will otherwise be developed and eliminate existing development clearly vulnerable to erosion and future storms.”

The town has recently begun to focus its land acquisition and preservation efforts on coastal areas that are not only vulnerable to flooding but where development can contribute to the pollution of watersheds.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, a state law was enacted authorizing the five East End towns to use community preservation fund money, normally earmarked for open space, farmland, historic sites, and parks and recreation, to buy property at risk of coastal erosion or flooding as well.

Following an outreach effort to property owners around Lake Montauk, numerous parcels in the lake watershed are being purchased. A similar outreach to Lazy Point landowners in the spring indicated interest from the potential sellers there as well. Future efforts will target the areas around Three Mile Harbor and Accabonac Harbor.

The area targeted under the federal grant program encompasses all the land east of Napeague Meadow Road in Lazy Point. The objective, according to a town memo, is to “protect and restore the natural floodplain and its functions; protect ground and surface water quality; protect open space, scenic vistas, wildlife habitat, dune lands and vegetation; provide public access to the shoreline, and add to the already protected lands in the area owned by New York State (Napeague State Park), the town, and the town trustees.”

“I think this is a pre-emptive way to deal with problems that we know we’re going to have to deal with in the future,” Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said last spring.

“It’s obvious, what’s happening there,” he said of the eroding shores at Lazy Point, citing the example of a house at the end of Mulford Lane that is actually on stilts above the water. “The acquisition of land, including some improved properties, for floodplain protection and water quality protection are a key component to solving these issues.”

Initial discussions included a potential for the town to contribute $150,000 towards the floodplain purchases, and a $100,000 contribution from the Nature Conservancy through its coastal resilience buyout program.

    Properties would be purchased from landowners at values from before recent devastating coastal storms. East Hampton Town would own the underlying land, while the federal agency would own easements or development rights on the properties.

    In the press release issued Tuesday, Steve Graboski, one of the owners of a Bayview Avenue property, said, “This will be a good thing because people will be able to reclaim the value from their properties. I’ve lived down there for over 30 years, and the nor’easters are the storms that really affect us the worst. The erosion is like a chip-away effect, chipping away the shoreline over the years.”

A standing-room-only crowd of 385 showed up at meeting held by the East Hampton Town Board on Wednesday night to listen to residents of the East End who are affected by noise from aircraft using the East Hampton Airport.

The attendees included the East End's state and county representatives, Assemblymen Fred W. Thiele Jr. and Anthony Palumbo, Senator Kenneth J. LaValle, and County Legislators Jay Schneiderman and Al Krupski, as well as officials from the towns of Southold, Shelter Island, and Southampton, and the villages of North Haven, East Hampton, and Sagaponack.

Residents of all of those areas were about equally represented in the audience, and described the ways in which their peace and tranquility and quality of life have been affected by perpetual and increasing air traffic -- particularly helicopters -- heading into and away from the airport. The problem is longstanding, they said, but many said there is hope that East Hampton's elected officials, under Supervisor Larry Cantwell's administration, will take the matter in hand.

The speakers, virtually to a person, urged the East Hampton board members to work to gain control over the airport so that use restrictions, such as a curfew or limits to the number of helicopters and other aircraft using the facility, could be enacted.

Many said that the board should reject future Federal Aviation Administration grants, which tie the town, as airport owner, to agreements with the F.A.A. as to operation of the airport. The expiration of several of those agreements at the end of this year, provided no new grants are accepted, will give the town an opportunity to make changes, they said. The boards representing a number of the municipalities surrounding East Hampton have recently passed resolutions to that effect.

In opening comments, East Hampton Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who has been taking the lead on addressing airport matters, said that the board is "carefully considering the consequences of taking grants on our ability to control the problem of airport noise, and on our ability to serve the needs of the East End communities."

"No one has to tell us that there is a noise problem -- we know that," she said. "But before we can direct a solution, we have to collect data about where and when the problem is worst, and what actions we can take within the limits of the law."

"In the coming weeks," she said, "we will outline in great detail the process we will use and our timetable for adopting appropriate rules to address the noise problem."

A number of speakers, both residents and officials, vowed to lend support to the board for a regional solution, including backing East Hampton in a fight against a lawsuit that a group called Friends of the East Hampton Airport has promised to file. The group's goal, it said in a recent newsletter, is "for East Hampton Airport to remain open to all of the flying public."

The East Hampton School Board will hold a special meeting on Tuesday to go over its goals for the coming school year.

One item that's not on the agenda is a plan to replace Patricia Hope, who resigned from the board late last month.

"We just had a lot of business before school opened," said J.P. Foster, the president of the school board, when asked why the board had added a meeting to its August schedule.

The board will, however, handle other appointments at its meeting Tuesday. Superintendent Richared Burns has recommended that Ingrid Tejada be appointed to a special education teaching position. Also, the superintendent recommended several people for non-tenure positions for the school year: Kristyn Reisert for Spanish, Kylie Tekulsky for English as a second language, and Kyle Anello for technology education. Also several others will be appointed as leave replacements.

Michelle Kennedy has resigned as the interscholastic varsity girls tennis coach, and will be replaced by Catherine Helfand, formerly the junior varsity girls tennis coach.

Also on the agenda, the board will approve a tuition agreement with the Wainscott School District for the upcoming school year.

The meeting will be held in the boardroom at the high school at 6:30 p.m. An executive session is scheduled beforehand, but the board did not specify the subject of the closed-door portion of the meeting.

In other school district news, orientation for incoming kindergarteners will be held at the John M. Marshall Elementary School on Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Parents of incoming fourth-graders have been invited to an informational meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m. at in the multipurpose room to learn about "the new structure and expectations for fourth grade.

John W. Templeman pleaded guilty Monday in East Hampton Town Justice Court to six charges stemming from allegedly rolling over a house he owns in Montauk for excessive short-term rentals. He was fined $7,500 and received a stern warning from East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana. "If I see anything like this in front of me again, it is not going to be a good situation," she told him.

Mr. Templeman, 32, an attorney who heads up the international arbitration wing of White and Case, a law firm based in New York, spoke softly as he said "guilty" three times to Justice Rana.

Originally charged with six unclassified misdemeanors, including violating the town's code regarding "excessive turnover," he instead pleaded guilty to the lesser non-criminal charges of noise violations. He also was originally cited for using his house at 5 South Federal Street in Montauk as a two-family residence, lacking a certificate of occupancy, advertising his short-term rentals on a website, Airbnb.com, and draining his swimming pool onto public property. All are violations of the town's zoning code.

"Our goal in settling," Michael Sendlenski, the town's prosecuting attorney, said Monday, "is to bring the owner into compliance."

The $7,500 he was fined was less than one week's rental income from the Montauk house. An UpIsland man, Giancarlo Negovetti, told investigators he paid $10,000 for one week's stay. Mr. Templeman also rented the house out on several occasions for three-day stays, according to the court files.

Mr. Templeman's advertisement on Airbnb.com promised five bedrooms, plus a pullout couch in the living room, a large in-ground pool, and an eight-person hot tub.

His attorney, Brian Lester of Tarbet and Lester, said that Mr. Templeman was unaware of the prohibition against short-term rentals in the town's code. "He would never have done it if he had known," Mr. Lester said outside the courthouse Monday.

Mr. Templeman declined to comment, other than to say he has been in Montauk for the past four years. According to court papers, he lives year round in Greenwich Village.

According to David Betts, East Hampton Town's director of public safety, Mr. Templeman has canceled all remaining short-term rentals he had booked for the rest of the year. "I don't expect any more trouble," Mr. Betts said.

East Hampton Town announced Tuesday that it has won a $9.9 million federal grant to buy low-lying properties on or near the water in Lazy Point, Amagansett.

The goal, according to a press release from the town, is “to turn these parcels into protective buffers against future storms.” The grant comes from a floodplain program through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. It will allow the town to buy 16 properties on Mulford Lane and Bayview Avenue from owners who have already expressed interest in buyouts, which are at pre-storm prices under the terms of the federal program.

Kim Shaw, the town’s natural resources director, coordinated the effort to reach out to property owners in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy.

Some of the properties are vacant. On those that are not, “houses and other man-made structures that already stand on these plots will be cleared to make way for floodplain restoration efforts,” according to the town’s release.

In announcing the grant on Tuesday, Supervisor Larry Cantwell praised Ms. Shaw’s hard work and that of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Nature Conservancy. “Efforts like these, as part of comprehensive plans to manage our coasts in the face of rising seas and excessive nitrogen pollution from wastewater, are vital to ensuring healthier and more resilient coastal communities across Long Island,” Nancy Kelley, director of the Nature Conservancy on Long Island, said in the release.

After the town sent out letters to property owners informing them of the program and inquiring if they would be interested, Ms. Shaw said this spring that her phone had not stopped ringing. The grant application was submitted in late April.

Labor Day weekend brings not only the end of the summer rental season but also the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s annual powwow, which will take place on the reservation from Friday through Monday.

The event, said to be the 68th in the tradition, features drum and dance contests, authentic native dress, and over $50,000 in prize money. The Shinnecocks will welcome members of many other tribes as well as the general public, and native arts, crafts, and foods will be for sale. There will also be raffles and a sunset fire-lighting.

The powwow will begin Friday at 3 p.m., with dancers and dignitaries making a grand entrance at 7. On Saturday and Sunday, the grounds open at 10 a.m., with “grand entries” at 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. both days. On Monday, dancing, featuring dancers from the Teacopan and Aztec dancers, begins at 12:30 p.m. The powwow goes on raise or shine. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for senior citizens, the disabled, and children ages 6 to 12. Children under 5 are free. Pets are not allowed on the grounds.

The entrance to the reservation is on West Gate Road, off Montauk Highway in Southampton Village. Parking is free.

Julia Bovey, the director of the New York State Department of Public Service’s Long Island office, got some thanks on Tuesday night for responding to calls for an East Hampton hearing on PSEG-Long Island’s long-range plan — and then she got an earful.

During an almost four-hour session at the village’s Emergency Services Building, speakers provided Ms. Bovey with plenty of food for thought. Her office will be compiling comments and recommendations on PSEG’s Utility 2.0 plan and advising the Long Island Power Authority board about whether it should be approved.

Virtually to a speaker, the comments were critical, either of the utility’s future plans or of the actions it has already taken here.

PSEG, which at the start of this year took over operation of Long Island’s power grid from LIPA, has run roughshod over local codes protecting the environment and aesthetics, speakers said. Many objected that its plan lacks specifics about the $294 million it has proposed for projects on the South Fork to meet future energy demand and reduce peak demand. Transparent and open communication, with local involvement in decision-making, is needed, residents and officials agreed. Some called an element of the plan that would increase renewable energy sources but also build new power plants using fossil fuels, backward-thinking, rather than forward.

Tuesday’s meeting in East Hampton and another that day in Riverhead were the last of five public hearings on the plan. Written comments can be submitted by email until midnight Sunday to [email protected], or by phone to a Department of Public Service opinion line, 800-335-2120. A copy of Utility 2.0 is on the department’s website at dps.ny.gov, through the Search by Case Number section; its number is 14-01299.

Once the comment period has ended, the Department of Public Service will send recommendations to PSEG and to the LIPA board, which must approve a final draft. Completion is targeted for early December.

The plan has several elements, a PSEG representative said at the meeting. They include improving the resiliency of the present system, introducing energy-efficiency measures to reduce current demand while meeting projected future demand, and increasing the use of renewable energy by expanding solar, geothermal, and, potentially, wind energy programs. Company-sponsored initiatives to control peak energy use — for example, providing homeowners with programmable thermostats that can be controlled from afar by PSEG and suspending air conditioning for short periods during high-demand days — would be less expensive for PSEG than having to build new power plants, the representative said.

Those filling the room to capacity included a contingent from the group Save East Hampton, wearing bright orange shirts proclaiming “Bury the Lines,” and members of Long Island Businesses for Responsible Energy, LIBFRE, a group that has sued PSEG over the transmission line installation. Rebecca Singer of that group recapped members’ concerns about the toxicity of pentachlorophenol, which coats the new utility poles.

Members of Save East Hampton reiterated their concerns about the tall poles and lines, installed between a power substation on Buell Lane in East Hampton Village and another on Old Stone Highway in Amagansett. Several described fires on their lawns started by downed low-voltage lines and said that their safety would be even more severely at risk should the 60-foot poles, installed 20 feet from their houses, or the high-voltage lines attached to them come down.

“We need you to fix this mistake now,” said Richard Shilowich of McGuirk Street.

“Why are we talking about overhead lines?” rather than burying the lines, wondered Michael Brown. A PSEG speaker had just asserted that “most of the outages are tree-related.”

“We are demanding that you follow what other developed countries have done all across the planet and bury the lines,” said Helen Mendez.

“There was no planning, no transparency, no resiliency,” said Jeremy Samuelson, who lives along the route and is the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk. “This is what you get,” he said. “You have to come back a year later and eat some crow. This thing is an atrocity; I won’t sugarcoat it for you. The question is, is PSEG going to be our partner in fixing this mess?”

Several local officials made pointed comments at the start of the hearing, urging the utility company to be transparent about its plans for the area and to concentrate on renewable sources to meet growing energy needs.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., the first speaker, referred to the high-voltage lines’ negative impact on scenic vistas and preserved lands in describing East Hampton residents’ determination to preserve and protect the town’s rural character and quality of life.

Sustained applause followed Supervisor Larry Cantwell’s comment that if PSEG’s plan “calls for $294 million in improvements, why not just take 10 percent of that amount and bury the new overhead lines?”

Mr. Cantwell and others recapped what they called a flawed procedure under LIPA, before the turnover to PSEG, to review and present the high-voltage line plan before it got under way. “There was no public participation in that environmental review process, and we can’t let that happen again,” he said. The blueprint for future utility projects, he said, should include “local input in any capital improvement that might be planned.”

Also lacking in Utility 2.0, Mr. Cantwell said, was development of a stand-alone energy source that could serve Montauk should a storm cut off its access to the mainland.

Mayor Paul Rickenbach echoed Mr. Thiele in calling for a standardized formula to be used by PSEG in decisions about covering the cost of burying electric lines — a key sticking point in the ongoing discussion about placing the East Hampton high-voltage line underground.

Michael Forst called for an independent citizens group to oversee the Long Island utility grid. “The utility monopoly needs to end on Long Island so that we do not continue with these backbreaking utility rates,” he said.

Creating new fossil fuel-burning plants — two are proposed for Montauk, one at Navy Road and another at an undisclosed location, and a third at Buell Lane in East Hampton Village — is counter to East Hampton Town’s recently adopted energy policy, of meeting 100 percent of the town’s electricity needs with renewable energy sources by 2020, said Gordian Raacke, director of Renewable Energy Long Island.

Don Matheson of Springs expressed concern that PSEG was “proposing to spend more money on dinosaur technology.” Barnaby Friedman submitted a letter on behalf of 13 East End organizations, include Group for the East End, the East Hampton Environmental Coalition, and the Surfrider Foundation’s Eastern Long Island chapter, opposing new power plants that use fossil fuels.

The Utility 2.0 plan, said Kathleen Cunningham of the Village Preservation Society, does not take into account potential climate-change impacts, of particular concern, she said, in this “unique geographical area.”

While the state Department of Public Service has regulatory authority over power companies across New York, the arrangement on Long Island is different, Ms. Bovey explained. The department’s Long Island office serves only in an oversight and review capacity to LIPA and PSEG Long Island, said its director.

“You have among the highest [electric] rates in the country,” she told the assembly. “Some people will say the highest, after Hawaii.”

Julia Bovey, the director of the New York State Department of Public Service’s Long Island office, got some thanks on Tuesday night for responding to calls for an East Hampton hearing on PSEG-Long Island’s long-range plan — and then she got an earful.

During an almost four-hour session at the village’s Emergency Services Building, speakers provided Ms. Bovey with plenty of food for thought. Her office will be compiling comments and recommendations on PSEG’s Utility 2.0 plan and advising the Long Island Power Authority board about whether it should be approved.

Virtually to a speaker, the comments were critical, either of the utility’s future plans or of the actions it has already taken here.

PSEG, which at the start of this year took over operation of Long Island’s power grid from LIPA, has run roughshod over local codes protecting the environment and aesthetics, speakers said. Many objected that its plan lacks specifics about the $294 million it has proposed for projects on the South Fork to meet future energy demand and reduce peak demand. Transparent and open communication, with local involvement in decision-making, is needed, residents and officials agreed. Some called an element of the plan that would increase renewable energy sources but also build new power plants using fossil fuels, backward-thinking, rather than forward.

Tuesday’s meeting in East Hampton and another that day in Riverhead were the last of five public hearings on the plan. Written comments can be submitted by email until midnight Sunday to [email protected], or by phone to a Department of Public Service opinion line, 800-335-2120. A copy of Utility 2.0 is on the department’s website at dps.ny.gov, through the Search by Case Number section; its number is 14-01299.

Once the comment period has ended, the Department of Public Service will send recommendations to PSEG and to the LIPA board, which must approve a final draft. Completion is targeted for early December.

The plan has several elements, a PSEG representative said at the meeting. They include improving the resiliency of the present system, introducing energy-efficiency measures to reduce current demand while meeting projected future demand, and increasing the use of renewable energy by expanding solar, geothermal, and, potentially, wind energy programs. Company-sponsored initiatives to control peak energy use — for example, providing homeowners with programmable thermostats that can be controlled from afar by PSEG and suspending air conditioning for short periods during high-demand days — would be less expensive for PSEG than having to build new power plants, the representative said.

Those filling the room to capacity included a contingent from the group Save East Hampton, wearing bright orange shirts proclaiming “Bury the Lines,” and members of Long Island Businesses for Responsible Energy, LIBFRE, a group that has sued PSEG over the transmission line installation. Rebecca Singer of that group recapped members’ concerns about the toxicity of pentachlorophenol, which coats the new utility poles.

Members of Save East Hampton reiterated their concerns about the tall poles and lines, installed between a power substation on Buell Lane in East Hampton Village and another on Old Stone Highway in Amagansett. Several described fires on their lawns started by downed low-voltage lines and said that their safety would be even more severely at risk should the 60-foot poles, installed 20 feet from their houses, or the high-voltage lines attached to them come down.

“We need you to fix this mistake now,” said Richard Shilowich of McGuirk Street.

“Why are we talking about overhead lines?” rather than burying the lines, wondered Michael Brown. A PSEG speaker had just asserted that “most of the outages are tree-related.”

“We are demanding that you follow what other developed countries have done all across the planet and bury the lines,” said Helen Mendez.

“There was no planning, no transparency, no resiliency,” said Jeremy Samuelson, who lives along the route and is the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk. “This is what you get,” he said. “You have to come back a year later and eat some crow. This thing is an atrocity; I won’t sugarcoat it for you. The question is, is PSEG going to be our partner in fixing this mess?”

Several local officials made pointed comments at the start of the hearing, urging the utility company to be transparent about its plans for the area and to concentrate on renewable sources to meet growing energy needs.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., the first speaker, referred to the high-voltage lines’ negative impact on scenic vistas and preserved lands in describing East Hampton residents’ determination to preserve and protect the town’s rural character and quality of life.

Sustained applause followed Supervisor Larry Cantwell’s comment that if PSEG’s plan “calls for $294 million in improvements, why not just take 10 percent of that amount and bury the new overhead lines?”

Mr. Cantwell and others recapped what they called a flawed procedure under LIPA, before the turnover to PSEG, to review and present the high-voltage line plan before it got under way. “There was no public participation in that environmental review process, and we can’t let that happen again,” he said. The blueprint for future utility projects, he said, should include “local input in any capital improvement that might be planned.”

Also lacking in Utility 2.0, Mr. Cantwell said, was development of a stand-alone energy source that could serve Montauk should a storm cut off its access to the mainland.

Mayor Paul Rickenbach echoed Mr. Thiele in calling for a standardized formula to be used by PSEG in decisions about covering the cost of burying electric lines — a key sticking point in the ongoing discussion about placing the East Hampton high-voltage line underground.

Michael Forst called for an independent citizens group to oversee the Long Island utility grid. “The utility monopoly needs to end on Long Island so that we do not continue with these backbreaking utility rates,” he said.

Creating new fossil fuel-burning plants — two are proposed for Montauk, one at Navy Road and another at an undisclosed location, and a third at Buell Lane in East Hampton Village — is counter to East Hampton Town’s recently adopted energy policy, of meeting 100 percent of the town’s electricity needs with renewable energy sources by 2020, said Gordian Raacke, director of Renewable Energy Long Island.

Don Matheson of Springs expressed concern that PSEG was “proposing to spend more money on dinosaur technology.” Barnaby Friedman submitted a letter on behalf of 13 East End organizations, include Group for the East End, the East Hampton Environmental Coalition, and the Surfrider Foundation’s Eastern Long Island chapter, opposing new power plants that use fossil fuels.

The Utility 2.0 plan, said Kathleen Cunningham of the Village Preservation Society, does not take into account potential climate-change impacts, of particular concern, she said, in this “unique geographical area.”

While the state Department of Public Service has regulatory authority over power companies across New York, the arrangement on Long Island is different, Ms. Bovey explained. The department’s Long Island office serves only in an oversight and review capacity to LIPA and PSEG Long Island, said its director.

“You have among the highest [electric] rates in the country,” she told the assembly. “Some people will say the highest, after Hawaii.”