Questions related to ice cream and coffee dominated last week’s meeting of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals.

Dylan’s Candy Bar is seeking a special permit to allow the sale of ice cream in cones and paper cups, which the village prohibited in 2008 as part of an amendment banning fast-food establishments. The shop, which has been here since 2006, argues that it should be grandfathered under the law. A building inspector determined that Dylan’s is instead a retail food store, and as such ineligible for the required permit.

Speaking on behalf of the shop, which is at 52 Main Street, Andrew Goldstein, an attorney and former chairman of the zoning board, argued that “any food can be fast food if it’s sold in a certain way . . . I would submit to you that we are certainly a fast-food restaurant in the way it does business.”

But Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, challenged Mr. Goldstein’s contention that cutting fudge and putting candy in a bag defines Dylan’s as a fast-food operation and not a retail store. He expressed concern about setting a precedent should Dylan’s vacate its space, “and the village then has a store that has been approved for fast food and a pizzeria decides to show up.”

Linda Riley, the village attorney, read aloud the pertinent amendment. A fast-food restaurant, it says in part, “prepares individual portions of food onsite and serves food or beverages over the counter in a ready-to-consume state including but not limited to products such as ice cream cones. . . .”

Ice cream was specifically included, Ms. Riley said after the meeting, “because there had been proposals for hand-scooped ice cream stores and that was something that, when this law was adopted, the village didn’t want.”

The village, Mr. Newbold said later, requires Scoop du Jour, a Newtown Lane store that pre-dates the 2008 amendment, to power-wash the sidewalk in front three times a week; it also made the store install a solar-powered trash compactor. “Having ice cream service creates more trash,” he said, “an issue to be concerned with.”

Mr. Goldstein said Dylan’s was also an existing nonconforming use, making it eligible to apply for a special permit. “If the building inspector wants to call Dylan’s a retail food store, he can do whatever he wants. But they define it in a way which makes it selling fast food.”

Mr. Newbold suggested that the hearing be left open to allow the board and the building inspector time to study the issue. It will resume on July 25.

The meeting began with an announcement that Howard Schultz, chief executive officer of the Starbucks chain, who has a house on Gracie Lane, had sought yet another adjournment, the fifth, of his hearing seeking the continued existence of a garage and caretaker’s cottage that is almost twice its original size and in violation of code. The board originally received the application in December; Mr. Schultz requested that it be adjourned to Sept. 12.

Mr. Newbold asked that the board vote to approve another adjournment, but only until the July 25 meeting. Before his colleagues could answer, Mr. Goldstein spoke up. Leonard Ackerman, an attorney representing Mr. Schultz, had family issues that precluded his attendance, he said.

“There have been four adjournments, including the last time Mr. Ackerman requested for health reasons,” Mr. Newbold answered. “But the notion that the violation continues and is going to continue after the summer. . . . and though it has been in front of us a number of times, there have been no new arguments.”

“This will be the first time I’ve ever seen a zoning board do this,” Mr. Goldstein said. “I think it’s discourteous to a lawyer that has practiced before this board for 40 years.”

Mr. Newbold said the hearing would be put on the July 25 agenda, but that Mr. Ackerman’s office could contact the board to explain the need for the additional two-month delay.

Construction of 48 new rental apartments in Wainscott to provide affordable housing would have a “profound impact” on the tiny Wainscott School, according to David Eagan, president of the hamlet’s school board. The proposal was outlined at an East Hampton Town Board meeting on Tuesday.

The Wainscott School Board is commissioning a professional analysis of the effect of an influx of new students that could double or more the district’s population of about 20 students, just a few less than the school’s capacity of two dozen, and Mr. Eagan asked that the resulting report be considered by town officials before decisions are made.

The time is right and state, federal, and county funding is virtually assured for the project, Michael DeSario, who helped get the Windmill Village and St. Michael’s affordable apartment projects in East Hampton and Amagansett off the ground, told the town board.

He proposed using 31 acres of town-owned land between Stephen Hand’s Path and Daniel’s Hole Road, adjacent to town recreation fields and the Child Development Center of the Hamptons charter school, to construct eight two-story buildings. Each would contain six apartments — 20 one-bedrooms, 20 with two bedrooms, and 8 with three bedrooms. A superintendent’s unit would be created as well.

The units would provide housing for “low and very low-income” residents, who would be required to pay no more than 30 percent of their income in rent, Mr. DeSario said. Guaranteed subsidies would be obtained up front to offset actual rent costs and ensure that the apartments remain affordable, he said.

Mr. DeSario, the chairman of Windmill Village I and II and the St. Michael’s Housing Association, said that “the people who hold the purse strings are all for it,” creating an “opportune moment” that “could change in an election.”

The estimated $15 million construction cost would be fully funded through grants and tax credits, Mr. DeSario said. Federal, state, and county officials have indicated that they have been looking to fund an affordable housing project in Suffolk County, he said. His group’s previous accomplishments, he said, provide a positive track record that paves the way for securing the funding.

Potential tenants from East Hampton could be given preference in renting the apartments, said Mr. DeSario. He said he expects most of those residing at the complex to be people who are already living here, but in overcrowded or illegal housing.

Based on the numbers of children in families living at two similar affordable housing projects in East Hampton, the Whalebone and Accabonac Apartments, Mr. DeSario said he had estimated that the new site could include 20 children ages 4 to 10, and 20 ages 11 to 18.

As many of those children may already be in the local school system, he said, should the Wainscott School not be able to accommodate them, it is anticipated that the East Hampton district could.

Although he said his comments were “very preliminary,” Mr. Eagan expressed concern about the impact that increasing the Wainscott School population would have on the school’s “very, very unique, individualized programming” and on school taxes should the staffing need to be increased. The affordable housing project could result in a percentage increase “that’s never before been seen on Long Island,” he said. The tax rate in Wainscott, where the total school budget is a fraction of that in larger districts, is among the lowest on the South Fork. This year, it decreased 11 percent.

“It’s a magical place, it reflects our small community, and I ask you to keep that in mind,” said Mr. Eagan of the school. He said that a consultant’s analysis of how the new apartments could affect the district would be ready in about a month, and that specific data is key as discussion of the project continues. “This is an important debate that’s going to have to be had,” Mr. Eagan told the town board.

If the East Hampton Village Board gets its collective wish, the Gardiner home lot at 36 James Lane, a 3.7-acre parcel that was put up for sale by Olney Mairs Gardiner last fall, will be purchased by the Town of East Hampton using the community preservation fund. The board voted unanimously to make that request of the town at its organizational meeting on Monday.

The open space plans for both the village and town recommend the property for acquisition. According to the resolution adopted by the board, Mr. Gardiner, who is known as Bill, has accepted an offer for the parcel. The town board is expected to hold a public hearing on the purchase in August.

Claimed by Lion Gardiner in 1648, the Gardiner home lot is adjacent to the South End Cemetery, where Mr. Gardiner is buried, and Town Pond. The parcel contains the historic Gardiner Windmill, dating to 1804, and an 18th-century timber-frame mill cottage. Also on the lot are a 2,700-square-foot house built in 1750 and a newer, 3,500-square-foot house.

According to the resolution, the Gardiner home lot is one of the most significant historic properties in the village. Should the town acquire the property, the mill cottage will be restored and the remainder of the property maintained as an open and agricultural setting. The windmill was deeded to the village in 1996 and restored.

The board, said Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., “is excited about this potential purchase.” Ten percent of the preservation fund, which receives money from a 2-percent real estate transfer tax, is allocated to the village, the mayor said. “The town will make that final determination, but I can assure you that your board has been working with the town board and the C.P.F. committee. We hope that it comes to fruition, and we’re excited about that,” he said. The village would remain the steward of the property, the mayor said, because it is within its boundaries.

Hugh King, the village historian, applauded the resolution. “Great move,” he said.

In other news from the meeting, the board scheduled a public hearing for July 31 on a proposed code amendment that would limit parking to two hours between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the north side of Newtown Lane, heading west from the Cooper Lane intersection. On the same day, the board will hold a hearing on a proposed addition to the code that would prohibit the feeding of wildfowl in designated areas.

The board reappointed chairmen, chairwomen, and members to the design review board, the planning board, the zoning board of appeals, and the ethics board. Mr. King was reappointed as village historian.

Typically, the board schedules a work session for the first Thursday of each month, but it did not hold one last Thursday. At a special meeting held on July 1, the mayor announced that there will be no work session this month.

Six years after it was first formed, the Sag Harbor Community Housing Trust is making plans for a project that will provide what officials say is desperately needed work force housing in the area, though it is taking a different path than originally thought.

Jumping on an opportunity that arose recently, the trust is in the process of purchasing a 2.5-acre parcel just outside the village for $1.275 million, Greg Ferraris, the president and treasurer of the  of trust’s board announced at a Sag Harbor Village Board meeting on Tuesday evening. Located in the Town of East Hampton at 782 Route 114, it contains eight small cottages. It was listed with the Corcoran Group for $1.275 million.

The nine-person board formally came together in the fall of 2013 when it became clear that the trust would indeed receive over $2.5 million from Cape Advisors, the developers of the former Bulova watchcase factory, which paid a fee to the village in lieu of providing on-site affordable housing, as was required by the Suffolk County Planning Commission.

The trust does not have specific plans yet for the property, but wants to work with East Hampton Town and Suffolk County, as well as private organizations, to develop one, said Mr. Ferraris. At a minimum, the Route 114 property would provide eight housing units.

“There’s no other existing spot in the school district that has this type of density,” he said. The property is zoned residential, and Mr. Ferraris said the trust would be able to expand its residential use. “We don’t necessarily need to abide by what’s existing today. We would really just need to abide by the Town of East Hampton zoning code residential setbacks.”

The board conducted a needs assessment analysis, still in draft form, that Mr. Ferraris described yesterday as “eye-opening.” “To be quite honest with you, the results we received were a lot different than what was proposed six years ago,” he said. “Initially, it was thought the best use of these funds was to provide down payment assistance, that sort of thing, to individuals in the community,” he said. Mr. Ferraris was the village’s mayor when Cape Advisors first got site plan approval and served on the village’s planning board when the developers later returned with amended plans. Now, he said, the trust sees that “the most benefit we could provide out of this funding, this $2.5 million, was to work with other municipal organizations to develop brick-and-mortar-type solutions rather than financial assistance.”

It became clear after speaking to financial institutions and reviewing the regulatory requirements to obtain a mortgage that “the spreads are just too large,” Mr. Ferraris said. “Incomes have stayed relatively consistent while housing prices, in this district — that’s a key to this, we’re concentrated on within the school district — have increased exponentially within the last six to seven years. Even if we were able to provide financial assistance, people still wouldn’t be able to obtain a mortgage without substantial down payments being made,” he said.

At the meeting, he rattled off figures for the board. According to the United States Census, he said, the median home price on the East Hampton Town side of Sag Harbor was $650,000 in 2004 and in 2014, it was $1.1 million. On the Southampton Town side, the median home price was $915,000 10 years ago and is now $1.9 million. Meanwhile, the median income for those living on the Southampton Town side is $91,000, while it is $58,000 on the East Hampton Town side.

Mayor Brian Gilbride said on Wednesday that those figures were revealing of the situation in the greater Sag Harbor area. “I think the Bulova project puts in place the mechanism for a workforce housing that we desperately need in Sag Harbor just because of numbers that Greg spoke about. I thought the numbers themselves kind of get your attention,” he said.

Also, the board found that the Sag Harbor School District is grappling with  a unique problem for the area in that there is a lack of rental housing inventory. As many as 40 families move into the school district from September to May just so their children can attend school there. “What that does, it obviously takes away the inventory of year-round housing and drives the prices up. In interviewing real estate agents, the price of a rental house within the Sag Harbor School District — a three-bedroom ranch — is beyond reach of a normal working family at this time as a result,” he said. “There are waiting lists from real estate brokerages in our district of people looking to rent year-round rentals for that reason.”

The idea of a housing trust that would come up with a plan for the $2.5 million the village would receive from Cape Advisors was hatched when Mr. Ferraris was mayor and the Bulova project first received site plan approval. The initial covenant required the developers to give the village more of the money up front, but then the project stalled. The developers requested changes that included a payment scheme where the trust receives funds as each unit sells. Units are in contract, but they won’t be sold until a certificate of occupancy is issued.

While the purchase of the Route 114 property is expected to close in the fall, the trust may not be in receipt of all of the money by then. Bridgehampton National Bank has “stepped up” to provide interim financing for the down payment, Mr. Ferraris said.

Eighteen years ago Friday, Jerome Walker Jr. was born at home three months premature. At 1 pound 9 ounces, he didn’t initially breathe on his own, and his parents believe that if the first responder had not arrived when he did, their only son would never have survived, growing into a healthy, college-bound young man who graduated from high school last month.

In the audience to see him receive his diploma at the Bridgehampton School was the paramedic who saved his life. It was a reunion 18 years in the making, and it almost never happened.

Jerome Jr.’s parents, the Rev. Jerome Walker and his wife, Penny Walker, lived on North Magee Street in Southampton when their son entered the world on July 4, 1996. Philip Cammann, a volunteer emergency medical provider since 1980 who was living in Southampton at the time, was answering calls for Southampton Volunteer Am­bulance that Fourth of July. With both mother and son being rushed to Southampton Hospital after Jerome’s sudden arrival, Mr. Cammann spent only about a half-hour with them, and in the commotion of that day neither he nor the Walkers remembered what the other looked like. They never expected to see each other again.

Little did Mr. Cammann realize, in 2007 Mr. Walker joined the Bridgehampton Fire Department, where Mr. Cammann has volunteered for many years. The two came to know each other, even if it was only in passing. Mr. Walker serves as the department’s chaplain. In fact, the Walkers live just down the road from Mr. Cammann and his wife, Terry Hoyt. Jerome Jr. would often go to the weight room at the firehouse with his dad to work out.

On the week before Father’s Day this year, Mr. Walker, who is a minister at the Southampton Baptist Church, stopped by Southampton Volunteer Ambulance, where Mr. Cammann works as a paramedic, to inquire as to how to go about getting an automatic external defibrillator for the church. Both men were surprised to see each other in an unfamiliar setting, and after discussing the defibrillator, Mr. Walker said he felt compelled to mention how important the ambulance company was to his family because of the medic who saved his son’s life all those years ago.

“The minute you said that — 18 years ago, July 4th,” Mr. Cammann said during a reunion with the Walkers for a photograph, “I said, ‘Wait a minute, this is too freakish if it’s someone else.’ ”

The day Jerome Jr. was born, his mother recalled, she woke up in discomfort. The pain in her abdomen worsened, and what with two miscarriages and an already difficult pregnancy, she grew worried that she was experiencing contractions. Her husband took her to the emergency room at Southampton Hospital, where a doctor told her she had a urinary tract infection and gave her a prescription.

“They told me, ‘You’re not in labor.’ They’re professionals, you take their word for it,” Mrs. Walker said.

After she was discharged, her husband stopped to get something to eat — much to her chagrin, though it’s something Jerome Jr. gets a good laugh at now — and they went home. By the time they got there, the pain was coming and going five minutes apart. She called her obstetrician, who suggested rest. She tried to take a bath, but started vomiting. The pain worsened. She was in her 25th week; it was too soon for the baby to come. Or was it?

She lay down on a bed in the nursery. Her husband and her parents, who had by then arrived, seemed paralyzed with fear. “I kept telling myself I could do this,” Mrs. Walker said, adding she ­hadn’t even taken a Lamaze class yet. Her due date, after all, wasn’t until Oct. 17.

Her husband phoned the doctor, again, and he said to get to the hospital, but she couldn’t move. He called 911 and ran to the end of their long driveway to wave the responders in.

“At the time, we weren’t as religious as we are now, but I was thinking, ‘God, I really love this kid that’s in me, please don’t let him die.’ ”

With that, out popped little Jerome.

Mr. Cammann bounded into the room to find the moments-old infant not breathing. Jerome Jr. fit in the palm of his hand.

“The timing was perfect. He would have probably survived a couple of minutes the way he was, but he hadn’t started breathing yet. He was still living on the umbilical cord, but in the wrong environment,” Mr. Cammann said. “He was so young and so underdeveloped that he needed assistance to get going.”

His first cry was a sweet sound. “When we all heard him cry, I remember hearing Phil say, ‘Did you hear that?’ and tears started running down my face,” Mrs. Walker said. “That was confirmation from God for me that he was going to be fine.”

Still, Mr. Cammann remained on high alert. “My biggest concern with any kid, but especially one that size, is keeping him warm.” The cord was cut, he was cleaned off, bundled in a “silver swaddler” designed to keep neonates warm, and given some oxygen. The first crew to arrive was handed the screaming baby and headed off to the hospital. Mr. Cammann then turned his attention to Mrs. Walker to prepare her for transport in a separate ambulance.

 Because Jerome Jr. was born so young, he was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, but first, at Southampton Hospital, his mother got to hold his little hand through an incubator while they got him ready. She had to stay behind, overnight, for observation.

“I didn’t sleep that night. The tears would not stop,” she said of her feelings of detachment. It would be one week before she could hold him to her chest against her heartbeat.

As soon as she was discharged the next day, the Walkers went directly to Stony Brook, where doctors gave their son a 50-50 chance. Their son’s lungs were not functioning well yet, but they were clear and strong. Mrs. Walker took one look around the room with three other tiny, frail-looking babies and passed out — disconnecting everything from the incubator, she recalled. For a week, they wouldn’t let her in the unit unless she was seated in a wheelchair.

For the next eight weeks, she didn’t miss one day by her son’s side, while he surpassed doctors’ expectations. Even when he went home, his parents were told to expect problems to arise, even cognitive issues later on, but none came.

“He beat every odd they said,” his mother said, remembering how her son’s pediatrician, Dr. Gail Schonfeld, had told her she had “never seen such a small kid fight so hard.”

At the time, Jerome Jr. was the first infant Mr. Cammann had delivered successfully. He had delivered only one other preemie, who was stillborn. “Needless to say, the anxiety level was a little bit higher,” he said.

At Southampton Hospital, Mr. Cammann had the honor of signing the birth certificate. “That was the last I heard of them as an entire family,” he said. The agency gave him a card that said “Baby Boy Jerome” — no last name — and his weight with a stork pin. The items have been precious keepsakes.

“I think my son would have died” had Mr. Cammann not been there, Mrs. Walker said. “He was like a guardian angel for me. When he showed up, he was so calm and serene,” she said. “I never saw his face, I just listened to his voice.”

“I just always wanted to be able to thank the one who was there for me at that time,” Mrs. Walker said during their meeting, just before her son’s 18th birthday.

Throughout his life, Jerome Jr. — who now stands 6-foot-1 and weighs between 140 and 160 pounds — has heard the account of his unexpected arrival, but he hasn’t tired of it yet. He said he was intrigued to hear Mr. Cammann’s perspective and to meet the man in his parents’ story.

Just back from orientation at Seton Hall, where he plans to study to be an athletic trainer, he brought Mr. Cammann a travel mug bearing the college’s name. Mr. Cammann was overcome with emotion. “I think he’s going to do his parents proud,” he said.

“To get a really good job as an athletic trainer, you’ll want to take an E.M.T. course, and you’ll start delivering your own kids,” Mr. Cammann told him.

Mr. Cammann said he’s still reeling from the reunion. “That whole six degrees of separation — until you connect the dots, you never realize how close it is,” he said. “I was half an hour of their life. They have raised Jerome, and Jerome has become the man that he is. I’m just happy I had a small part in the process.”

“On the morning of Sunday, April 5, 1914, as the good people of Amagansett quietly got ready for church, the call of ‘fire!’ rang out through the village. Amagansett’s first fire alarm, a gift from the railroad, would not arrive for almost another month. Still, the word spread quickly: A defective chimney at the Main Street house of Charles B. Edwards had caught the house on fire. Chief James Eichorn, with the help of ‘the boys,’ hustled the ladder and bucket truck out of the new firehouse and into the street, where they hailed the first passing car to tow the wagon to the fire.”

So began the work of the Amagansett Fire Department, as described in the recently published journal marking its 100th anniversary. To commemorate this momentous occasion, the department is throwing itself a party on Saturday.

A parade, featuring fire departments from several East End towns as well as East Hampton government, business, and civic organizations, will start at 11 a.m. at the American Legion Post 419 in Amagansett and proceed to the fire department. Joseph LaCarrubba, who began service in 1952 and is a former chief, captain, and firefighter, will be the parade’s grand marshal.

The fire department’s anniversary celebration will start at noon with activities for all ages including rides, games, music, food, proclamations, presentations, and the awarding of parade participation trophies.

An antique fire vehicle display and antique pumping and bucket brigade competition is scheduled for 1 p.m., with the awarding of competition trophies at 4. The celebration will conclude at 5.

In the March 13, 1914, issue of The Star, the Amagansett news page included the following: “We are glad to know that the young men have got together again on a proposition that interests them and is liable to hold their attention to the mutual benefit of the entire community.”

“The boys have promised to organize a fire company and be instructed by competent men in fire drills and to practice faithfully whenever called upon. They ask the cooperation of all, to help purchase the building for the fire truck and other equipment. The fire company will have direct communication with all parts of the village, through the central telephone office.”

“Encourage the boys this week, and they will prove to you next week that they mean business.”

The first firehouse was the former Boys’ Club building, on Main Street behind the present site of the Hamptons Realty Group. The first alarm, a split steel locomotive tire, was situated nearby, Hugh King, East Hampton Village historian and East Hampton’s official town crier, told the village board on Monday. “They hit the ring a certain amount of times to tell where the fire was,” said Mr. King, who will serve as master of ceremonies on Saturday.

The department moved across Main Street in 1926, occupying the Cartwright Carriage and Wheelwright Shop, where the Amagansett School’s parking lot is today. The present firehouse was built in 1943, with additions constructed in 1961, 1979, and 1995.

Over the decades, the Amagansett Fire Department has taken on greater responsibility as the district’s population has swelled. Concurrent with that population growth, many of them second-home owners, has been a significant increase in the size of houses and the landscaping surrounding them. All have made for a more challenging environment.

At the same time, shifting demographic and economic trends have resulted in a shortage of volunteers. “I remember when people actually lived in this town year round and did business here,” said Michael Cinque, a member of the 100th anniversary committee. “And their kids came down the line.”

“Back in the ’60s up to the early ’80s,” said John DiSunno, a 53-year member, “I would say 80 percent of the department owned their own business, and you could have your own men fight the fire. Today, our young people leave — they go to Southampton, Riverhead. They’re not working in town, which was a much smaller place, like we did back then.”

In 1972, Chief LaCarrubba, Assistant Chief Pete O’Brien, and other members persuaded the district commissioners that an ambulance company was necessary. Amagansett’s ambulance squad has almost 40 volunteer members now, and, as of this year, full-time professional advanced emergency medical technicians. Some 500 calls are fielded annually.

The fire department serves the community in myriad ways. The Ladies Auxiliary, formed in 1955, raises money for donation to needy families and the East Hampton Food Pantry. According to Colleen Stonemetz, quoted in the 100th anniversary journal, “Some people have nowhere else to turn, and we turn up, just in time.”

The department also hosts a classic car show on Memorial Day weekend, and serves some 2,000 residents and visitors at a chicken barbecue in August, the latter now a 50-year tradition. It has also sponsored youth sports programs, with many members serving as coaches. 

One hundred years after the department’s founding, “the current members hold true to the basic principles of a volunteer fireman: courage, duty, and dedication,” Chief Dwayne Denton wrote in the 100th anniversary journal. “Even though the community has grown and changed to the faster pace of today, the dedication to duty and professionalism demonstrated by the current members is truly a tribute to our forefathers. Surely they would be proud of our performance and the professional manner in which we operate today.”

Shock waves went through the East Hampton School Board meeting Tuesday night when it was learned that Patricia Hope, one of the board’s most outspoken members, had resigned.

“Due to compelling personal and professional circumstances, I find it necessary to withdraw from membership on the East Hampton School Board, effective immediately,” Ms. Hope wrote to Kerri Stevens, the district clerk, in a letter dated July 7. The letter concluded: “It has been an honor and pleasure to serve the community as a member of the Board of Education, and to work with the consummate professionals in our district office.”

For the past year, Ms. Hope had served as president. On Tuesday night, most expected to see her continue in that role, which she so clearly cherished. Instead, Richard Wilson, a board member, promptly nominated James P. Foster, who is called J.P., as its next president. Mr. Foster received unanimous backing, as did Christina DeSanti, as vice president.

“It’s sad and shocking,” said Richard Burns, district superintendent, at the conclusion of the two-hour meeting. “It’s a total surprise for everyone.” During an executive session that began at 5:30 p.m., Mr. Burns said they had tried to call Ms. Hope, hoping she would reconsider.

“I love the district. I’ve spent exactly half my life in that building,” Ms. Hope said yesterday morning. She said she plans to focus on a compilation of essays and  writing. “I can’t lead both a public life and a private life at the same time.”

“It’s a mystery and very sad,” said Liz Pucci, the outgoing vice president. “She was the most dedicated president I’ve ever seen. She poured her heart and soul into it.”

 “The decision was surprising and unexpected,” said Claude Beudert, who teaches at East Hampton Middle School and attended Tuesday night’s meeting. “Pat has always been a dedicated person in all aspects of her life. I’m sure there are good reasons for her decision.”

In May, Ms. Hope and Jackie Lowey, who each sought second, three-year terms, won wide support, receiving 531 and 535 votes, respectively. Ms. Lowey was sworn in on Tuesday. Looking ahead, though it has yet to be formally decided, Mr. Burns said the board is likely to appoint a seventh member, who will serve a one-year term. He said that convening a special election would be too costly.

During the rest of Tuesday’s organizational meeting, board members pored over a 13-page agenda. Among the highlights, board members chose committee assignments, and accepted the resignation of Tracee Van Brunt, a foreign language teacher, effective Aug. 31. The board also appointed Robert Hagan as director of learning technology and instruction, effective July 1. He will receive an initial annual salary of $158,000.

Come September, the district will also bring in Robert Eldi and Douglas Schumacher, computer science consultants, to help with curriculum development and expanding the district’s coding course offerings. Each consultant is to be paid $800 a day, not to exceed 12 days for the 2014-15 school year.

In other news, the board announced that Pinks, Arbeit, and Nemeth, a Hauppauge-based firm, has been retained as special counsel at an hourly rate of $375 to represent the district’s interests in two ongoing lawsuits: East Hampton Union Free School District vs. Sandpebble Builders Inc. and Sandpebble Builders Inc. vs. Deborah Mansir. 

At issue is a multimillion-dollar contract for a construction project that dates back to April of 2002. Mr. Burns expressed frustration with the Sandpebble lawsuits. He described a recent telephone conversation as “very intense,” saying that the trial, which was expected to begin this summer, has now been delayed until fall. “I know the board is frustrated, but it’s out of our control at this point.”  

On Wednesday, Ms. Stevens and the board issued a joint statement. “We were surprised and saddened by Pat’s decision to resign from the Board,” it read, describing her as an “ally” and “valued friend,” who brought “passion, experience, and dedication to the job.” It concluded by stating: “It is our hope that she will be in a position to reconsider her resignation. However, we all have a life beyond our Board of Education responsibilities and we respect and understand that she may have personal circumstances that preclude further service at this time.”

Shortly after adjourning the meeting Tuesday, Mr. Foster tested out the wooden gavel for the first time. “How’d that feel?” asked Mr. Beudert, one of two remaining audience members. “Great,” Mr. Foster said.

The board will next meet on Aug. 5 at 6:30 p.m.

A Turkish couple living in Riverhead who were arrested in connection with email messages describing an imaginary plot to blow up the Jewish Center of the Hamptons entered not guilty pleas in East Hampton Justice Town Court on Friday.

The alleged threats, which they appeared to have made up in an attempt to ensnare a third person with whom they had a dispute, indicated the attack would be during the month of Ramadan, which began on June 28.

The pair was seized by agents from the Department of Homeland Security at Kennedy Airport late Thursday as they arrived on a flight from Turkey.

Asli Dincer, 44, and Melih Dincer, 30, both of Riverhead, were questioned by border agents at Terminal One and turned over to East Hampton Village detectives, who placed them under arrest.

They were arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Friday and charged with making a terror threat, making a false report of such an incident (both felonies), and two misdemeanor charges, menacing and conspiracy.

According to the complaint, the two "sent three emails to the director of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, making a baseless terroristic threat of the imminent commission of a bombing with intent to commit murder."

"One must deal with these things as very serious threats," Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman of the Jewish Center said on Friday.

Rabbi Zimmerman said he alerted the police as soon as the first email was received and that East Hampton Village police then made contact with the F.B.I.

Both pleaded not guilty through their attorney, Andrew Wolk of Ronkonkoma, who declined to speak to reporters.

East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky set bail at $50,000 apiece. However, the Department of Homeland Security ordered that they remain in custody.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation became involved in the case early on, as part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, along with the Suffolk Police Department and New York State police after the temple received the first threat on May 28. Two more emails from the couple were received by the center, one on June 3, and the last on June 8.

Assets of the East Hampton Village police were utilized by the F.B.I. as part of the investigation. An East Hampton Village police cruiser was parked in Wainscott on the shoulder of the eastbound side of Montauk Highway for several weeks. Most East Hampton Village police cruisers have license plate readers on board. Ultimately, the F.B.I. determined that the threats themselves were baseless.

The emails were written in the form of a tip, naming others who were planning to blow up the center. Chief Larsen would not comment on the identities of those allegedly named by the couple as being part of the conspiracy, though he did say that they were also foreign nationals.

According to court papers, in statements made by the couple to agents at Kennedy Airport both admitted to sending the emails, with revenge against those named appearing to be the motive.

"Did you send these emails," Ms. Dincer was asked.

"Yes sir, I did it," she said.

"Why," the agent asked.

"He tried to mess up my life by saying bad things about me to the old man," she said.

Mr. Dincer was asked the same questions, according to the court papers.

"Yes, I made them up," he allegedly said about the emails. "I hate this guy. He tried to ruin our lives."

"She had nothing to do with it. I sent it from an Internet café," he said.

Mr. Dincer also admitted to sending an email about the made-up plot to the F.B.I, which led to the false report charge.

The couple apparently could have been arrested sooner, but had been in Turkey for several weeks.

"All the authorities have been so helpful," Rabbi Zimmerman said. "People should know that they are protected," he said.

Correction:The Dincers were held on $50,000 bail, not $25,000 bail as previously reported.

In an effort to give code enforcement officers a better basis to cite those flouting the law, proposed changes to the East Hampton Town code would address businesses illegally operating in residential zones by clarifying the type of trucks and equipment that may be parked at houses.

Discussion of just what to do and what the impact will be of cracking down on the proliferation of home-based businesses in contracting, landscaping, and other trades has spanned two town administrations. Councilman Fred Overton is the most recent town board member to lead the effort, and has attempted to draft a law that would provide the “teeth” to act against those who have turned their residential lots into full-fledged commercial sites, but would not unfairly impact a sole proprietor who, for instance, drives a work truck back to his or her residence at night.

Residents of Springs, in particular, have complained to town officials about the number of large trucks, box vans, equipment trailers, and the like parked at a number of properties, the impact of commercially-used vehicles coming and going in their neighborhoods, and, in some cases, work continually taking place in yards turned into places of business. In one case, a videotape was made of carpenters working outdoors with power tools at what a neighbor claims is a de facto workplace.

Patrick Gunn, a former town attorney and head of the town’s public safety division, had urged the board for several years to codify a definition of the term “light truck,” used in the code to differentiate between the type of personal or work vehicle that is allowed in neighborhoods and larger, commercially-used equipment that indicates a business operating from a house.

Concerns were expressed by business-oriented members of the previous Wilkinson administration about a lack of commercial property in the town for those who might be displaced should the town enforce a prohibition already on the books about commercial activity in residential zones.

Under the current proposal, to be the subject of a public hearing at Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. next Thursday, “light truck” and “pickup truck” would be defined, and limits placed on the storage of commercial machinery and heavy equipment on residential lots.

A light truck would be defined as a commercially registered vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 12,0000 pounds or less. A pickup truck would be defined as a “light duty truck” with an enclosed cab and a bed no more than 9 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 25 inches tall.

Up to two commercially registered cars or light trucks, used by an occupant of the residence, could be regularly parked on a residential site. 

“Commercial machinery” or heavy equipment for construction, excavation, or landscape work would be prohibited, as would the storage of materials “used in connection with a commercial operation” that takes place off of the site. No trailers more than 18 feet, or weighing more than 1,000 pounds, would be allowed.

In addition, storage of more than one unregistered vehicle for more than one year would be prohibited.

Also next Thursday night, hearings will be held on banning alcohol on Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett within 1,000 feet of the road end during lifeguarded hours on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays; on the acceptance of scenic and conservation and agricultural easements on various parcels of land; on the addition of land to the community preservation project plan, and on designating the town-owned Brooks-Park property in Springs a historic landmark, which is reported on separately in today’s Star.

The effects of airplane and helicopter noise on those living under flight paths was a subject at an East Hampton Town Board meeting last Thursday night, just as a busy summer holiday weekend got under way.

“We are enduring another season of aviation torment,” Patricia Currie of Sag Harbor told the board. She said it should put local residents’ interests “before those with aviation interests, and a few wealthy visitors.”

The ongoing noise issue “is kind of like being stuck in a ‘Wizard of Oz’ rerun,” said Tom MacNiven of East Hampton. But, he told board members, thanking them for convening several airport data-collection committees that have helped decision-making procedures move forward, “You guys are lifting the curtain.”

Mr. MacNiven, a real estate broker, said he gets calls several times a week from brokers inquiring about the impact of aircraft noise on particular properties. “Entire areas are being stigmatized.” Some homeowners, he said, are seeking to have their property taxes lowered, based on the negative effect of overhead flights. “That’s the economic effect of the airport right now,” said Mr. MacNiven, after noting that airport supporters often cite a positive economic impact from the facility.

The town is seeking bids on several projects at the airport: the reconstruction of a portion of runway 4-22, now being used in part as a taxiway, and repairs and installation of taxiway lighting. In addition, proposals are being sought for engineering services.

Board members voted to issue a $353,600 bond for the lighting project and a $270,000 bond for the taxiway repair. The board also voted to hire Young Environmental Sciences to conduct a study of airport noise.

Land purchases using the community preservation fund were also a topic at the meeting. After a hearing, the board voted to add 166 parcels in the Lake Montauk watershed area to the preservation fund project plan, for potential future purchase. A unanimous vote approved the purchase of three parcels in that area totaling just over two acres, for a total of $1.4 million.

An additional land purchase, of 18 acres on Mile Hill Road in East Hampton, was put on hold following a hearing at which questions were raised about ethics considerations, and if proper procedure was followed. A part-owner of the land is John Whelan, who chairs the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals; its former owner was his late father, Duane Whelan. The town board is seeking advice of the town attorney before moving ahead with the purchase.

David Buda, a Springs resident, said that “additional information should be given, and additional scrutiny . . . when the owners are the heirs of a former town official.” Duane Whelan was a former town attorney.

Mr. MacNiven said he “strongly supports this purchase,” noting that the property had been listed for sale in 2007, when he was the listing broker, at $8.5 million. It will provide another access to the adjacent 430-acre Grace Estate preserve, he said. Though existing structures on the land are proposed to be removed, Mr. MacNiven suggested that it might be nice to leave one there to be used as a museum or camp.

The property is also adjacent to 44 acres of protected town, county, and state lands, said Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management. It provides a link to the Northwest County Park and Northwest Creek, he said, and contains topography and plant species that are listed for protection.

Like Mr. Buda, Tom Knobel, chairman of the town Republican Committee, questioned the purchase. “If it’s five-acre zoning, why are we buying this for $4.8 million?” he asked. “Why are we purchasing the entire item when at most three houses could be built on this property?”

Also last week, the board approved the addition of approximately 463 acres of public land to the areas where bow or shotgun hunting may take place. One speaker had asked for the vote to be delayed so that property owners in adjacent areas would have another opportunity to weigh in. Allowing the use of firearms on 174 acres in the Culloden area of Montauk is of particular concern, he said.