Two members of the East Hampton Town Trustees spoke at a town board meeting on Tuesday, expressing concerns that some property owners are taking advantage of an emergency permitting system — designed to allow for post-storm actions when houses or property are in imminent danger — to have work done that goes beyond that allowed under the town code, or what is needed on an emergency basis.

    “Right now, we’ve got contractors and homeowners who think they’ve got carte blanche,” Diane McNally, the clerk of the trustees, told the town board. “We have projects that are taking away the public’s property, and have the potential to have long-term detrimental effects,” she said.

     With permits for work along the coast usually required from both the trustees and from town agencies such as the Building or Natural Resources Departments, along with permission from the State Department of Environmental Conservation, Ms. McNally said that she feared property owners were not submitting their proposals — for repairs to stone armoring or beach replenishment, for instance — for review to all of the appropriate agencies, and that they might be getting mixed messages about what is allowed.

    “We need to proceed forward according to the code that exists now. It was put in place to protect our shorelines,” she told the town board.

    The town’s local waterfront revitalization plan, crafted over a number of years and approved by New York State, and other sections of the town code, as well as trustee regulations, govern what may or may not be done on shorelines. For example, no new “hard structures” to prevent coastal erosion, such as jetties or groins, may be placed on ocean shores, because of their deleterious effect on neighboring stretches of beach. In other areas, existing erosion-control devices may be repaired, but no new ones installed.

    However, there have been several instances, post-Sandy, where those regulations have been ignored. Some members of the town board have questioned whether the rules are too strict, and a committee to review coastal regulations was recently appointed.

    “We need to slow down a little bit, and ensure that the code is being followed,” Ms. McNally said Tuesday. “The storm was quite a few weeks ago,” she said, referring to Hurricane Sandy. “Right now, if your home is not being threatened . . . the beach will repair itself. It’s not an emergency.”

    “Understand, the homeowner just wants to get it done,” said Supervisor Bill Wilkinson. “I also think, generically, that ‘imminent threat’ is a relative term.” The owner of a property where shorefront erosion has eaten away a significant portion of land will view that as an emergency, he said, fearing the impact of the next storm.

    “It’s all perspective,” Ms. McNally said. “Unfortunately, the homeowners, they’re nervous,” said Stephanie Forsberg, also a town trustee. “And they’re right to be nervous. But then they take that, and move forward. . . .”

    “That’s why we’re here — because we’re the voice of the public beach owners,” Ms. Forsberg told the supervisor. “Just like you’re speaking of the homeowner trying to get it done, we’re speaking for them,” she said.

    The result, both trustees said, could be actions that damage the public beaches, which the trustees oversee for the public — except in Montauk, where they do not have jurisdiction.

    Both Ms. McNally and Ms. Forsberg urged the town officials to avoid sending “mixed signals” to the public. “We need to be unified, going forward together,” Ms. Forsberg said, both on trustee, town, and private property. Although she acknowledged that the town has sole jurisdiction in Montauk (along with the state), the trustees are making decisions on applications for properties just a few miles away, on Napeague. One section of town should not be treated differently from another, she said.

    For instance, she said, “We want to make sure that in Montauk things aren’t happening . . . that there are not hard structures going in that can make the beach worse,” or that, where sand is being added to build up beaches, that it is “beach-compatible” sand.

    “The way the jurisdictions are set up, that’s quite possible that could happen, that we have a different opinion,” said Mr. Wilkinson.

    “Are we going to have another generation with beach in front of it, or are we going to wind up with a situation like Mulford Lane [in Amagansett], where there’s no public beach?” Ms. McNally asked.

    “We know hard structures, in the long term, are not the best solution,” said Councilwoman Sylvia Overby. She expressed concern about the trustees’ statement that illicit projects were adversely affecting public beach, and asked if enforcement efforts were under way. Ms. McNally said they were.

    The sale of clam pies isn’t enough to establish the necessary pre-existing, nonconforming status needed to allow a Pantigo Road building located in a residential zone to operate as a business, according to East Hampton Town’s head building inspector and, in all probability, the zoning board of appeals as well, judging by a public hearing held on Tuesday.

    On June 11, Tom Preiato, the head inspector since 2009, did initially issue a certificate of occupancy for the former Crystal Room at 250 Pantigo Road, identifying it as having been used continuously as a business since before the town zoning code took effect in the late ’50s.

    But a neighbor, Thomas Breen, challenged that action. The house had once been a restaurant, he agreed, but argued that when that use was abandoned, it reverted to residential use only. Mr. Breen filed an appeal to the zoning board in August.

    Between then and Tuesday night’s hearing, Mr. Preiato revisited the property and changed his mind about its status.

    “It was the old Crystal Room, for those of you old enough to remember,” Alex Walter, the Z.B.A. chairman, said at the start of the evening. “It used to be a restaurant, then it was abandoned for a long time. They sold pies there.”

    A wooden sign reading “Clam Pies” hung for years on a tree outside the house.

    Mr. Preiato explained his thinking to the board. “Originally, I was contacted by the attorney representing the property, Ralph Esposito. He inquired what would be required to obtain a C of O — he was seeking to continue the use of the property as a restaurant. To me, that use was abandoned.”

    Next they looked at the possibility of a retail use. Mr. Esposito pointed out, said Mr. Preiato, that pies had been sold from the house, and provided Mr. Preiato with documentation, which he accepted, and issued the certificate.

    But after further research, said Mr. Preiato, “I realized that one nonconforming use [had been] replaced with another.” By documenting the sale of pies, he explained, Mr. Esposito had in fact proven that the original nonresidential use had been abandoned.

    “He basically proved my case by saying there was this pie business,” the building inspector told the board. “I am going with the facts that I know. I feel the C of O should revert back [to residential use].”

    David Eagan, Mr. Breen’s attorney, agreed. “If you have a pre-existing, non-conforming use, you can only convert it to a conforming use,” he said.

    In the end, the question appeared to be moot. Mr. Walter read a letter into the record from Mr. Esposito, in which he told the board that his clients did not wish to pursue the matter further.

    Also on Tuesday, the board handed down two decisions. In the first, they approved unanimously, after brief deliberations, the variances requested by John and Anne Albright that will allow them to tear down their house at 5 Jacqueline Drive in Beach Hampton and replace it with a new one, of 2,700 square feet.

    The second decision proved more contentious. Nejma Beard, the wife of the photographer and naturalist Peter Beard, applied to the board for variances needed to install a 55-by-10-foot solar panel at the edge of their property, on a bluff near Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk. While the board praised the applicant’s desire to go green, members were less sanguine about the requested variances.

    Bryan Gosman, Don Cirillo, and Mr. Walter had all walked around the property, and all three questioned the proposed location of the panels, only one foot from the property line instead of the code-required 15 feet.

    “I saw the stakes,” said Mr. Walter. “I’m not a professional for placing solar panels, but from my layman’s eye I don’t see [why they can’t move it].”

    Mr. Cirillo, usually a strong supporter of landowners’ rights, bristled at the request. “It is an excessive variance,” he said. “It is not a constrained property.” Solar panels, he added, should be held to the same standard as any other structure.

    Mr. Gosman remarked on the unique qualities of the 63,000-square-foot property, noting that the neighbor most adversely affected by the proposed panels was seldom-used parkland, but concluded nevertheless that the panels could be placed elsewhere. In the end, Sharon McCobb joined the majority, and the board voted 4-1 against allowing the requested variances. Only Lee White, who was voting in absentia, approved.

    The Z.B.A. held three other hearings that evening, on Pantelis Karoussos’s request to allow a shed to remain on his Miller Lane East property in East Hampton; on a request from Anthony Michaels to use part of a town right-of-way for eight parking spaces at a new business to be built at South Elmwood Road in Montauk, and on a request from 7-Eleven in Montauk to be allowed to put in curbing and build an enclosed area for a Dumpster.

    There was no opposition to the first two proposals. Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, did question the setup of the septic system at the 7-Eleven, which sits on Montauk Highway off Fort Pond.

    On Sunday, the Web site of The New York Times published a series of interactive maps depicting coastal areas, including Long Island. Titled “What Could Disappear,” the maps predict a sea-level rise of five feet, and 5 percent of Long Island’s now dry, habitable land permanently submerged, possibly within 100 years, without engineered protection. Barrier islands will start to submerge, and the shore will move inland.

    Even if countries make moderate pollution cuts, sea-level rise may reach 12 feet by the year 2300, and portions of the North and South Forks will flood. Ultimately, all barrier islands will disappear, according to the map, and the southern shore will have moved one to five miles inland in most places.

    A more imminent threat is a rising incidence of extreme weather events, such as Hurricane Sandy, and storms of greater ferocity, corresponding with the higher ocean temperatures of a warming planet.

    Climate change, and specifically its causes and effects, has been prominent in regional and national discussions about Hurricane Sandy. Now, with post-storm assessments nearing completion, some leaders at the municipal, county, and state levels have begun to factor climate change into proposed legislation, as well as the way they do business now.

    “You’re going to see decision makers at every level take this seriously,” said Jon Schneider, Suffolk County’s deputy county executive. “We’re going to have to make decisions on the local level that respect the impact of climate change.” Mr. Schneider pointed to the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Study, which dates to the 1960s. “One of the reasons the plan has taken so long is that there’s a growing recognition of the impact of climate change and how that affects our coastlines. As we move from the direct recovery phase, that plan has got to be at the core of what we do,” he said.

    Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. is encouraged by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s post-Sandy statements regarding climate change and his establishment, last month, of three commissions charged with strengthening infrastructure and improving emergency response, known as NYS 2100, NYS Respond, and NYS Ready. But, he said, “One of my fears might be that larger policy questions get overlooked.”

    Mr. Thiele has sponsored or co-sponsored legislation pertaining to the establishment of greenhouse gas limits and tax credits for solar energy equipment. “That’s been one of my high priorities, whether it’s been through the bill I passed last year for tax exemptions to encourage new construction to be LEED Platinum or Gold, or to encourage alternative energy such as wind and solar,” he said, referring to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

    Despite concerns about such legislation being left out of policy debate, Mr. Thiele predicts new bills relating to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change when the Assembly reconvenes next month. “I would expect that to be part of this, as part of the bigger picture. There is a consciousness on the state level. We clearly could be doing better.”

    Gordian Raacke, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island, a not-for-profit organization promoting clean, sustainable energy use and generation, agrees with Mr. Thiele’s assessment. “While it’s important to strengthen our infrastructure to be prepared for the next Sandy and other impacts of extreme weather and climate change, we also need to go to the root cause and limit emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Otherwise, we’ll just make matters worse. If you’re in a hole, stop digging.”

    As residents of areas impacted by Sandy recover, they are asking questions, said Mr. Raacke, such as, “Is there a better way to build the system of energy supply that not only is more resilient but doesn’t contribute to climate change?” Governor Cuomo’s three commissions omit an essential component, “and that’s a commission to look at what we can do to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

    Thomas DiNapoli, the New York State comptroller, has taken greenhouse gases and their effect on climate change into account, but stops short of divesting state money from fossil fuel companies. “Comptroller DiNapoli views climate change as a significant threat to the global economy,” Eric Sumberg, a spokesman for the comptroller, said in an e-mail. “Since taking office in 2007, he has worked with a coalition of institutional investors that focused on pressuring fossil fuel companies to take steps to mitigate climate change. This includes supporting state, federal, and international efforts to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Our status as a shareholder empowers us to work with companies to address climate change issues. Divestiture would severely limit our ability to positively affect those issues.”

    Yet, while fossil fuels and environmentally sound policies become part of the mitigation discussion, “only a small fraction of leaders and the population are beginning to think about how we are going to adjust to it,” said Larry Cantwell, the East Hampton Village administrator. “Unfortunately it takes a disaster to bring that to people’s attention.”

    The village has already taken many steps to “green” its operations, Mr. Cantwell said, including the solar panels atop the Emergency Services Building, the Department of Public Works, and the Main Beach pavilion. The village’s fleet of vehicles includes hybrid and other energy-efficient models, interior lighting in its buildings has been converted to energy-efficient products, and a plan is in place to upgrade the buildings’ heating systems, which will include a conversion from oil to gas, Mr. Cantwell said. “In the little Village of East Hampton, we have a responsibility to change the way we do business,” he said. “These are small changes, but positive ones.”

    At the East Hampton Town Board’s work session on Tuesday, a coastal committee was formed to discuss adaptation to coastal erosion “as it pertains to recent events, taking a long view as well,” said Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, who will serve on the committee. “How do we adapt to this imminent threat, which seems to be getting worse and worse by all scientific projections?” he asked.

    Human beings have adapted to changing conditions throughout history, Mr. Van Scoyoc said, “although the changes may have been slower. There’s clearly been a lot of change in a relatively short period of time. We know that there are contributing factors, so not to address ways that we can have a positive effect is foolish. At the same time, we need to adapt to that change.”

    Retreat or protect?

    That ongoing debate, brought into sharper focus in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, will now get the attention of a new East Hampton Town coastal erosion committee, appointed by the town board on Tuesday to examine such issues as the placement of structures to protect the beach, the dunes, and the houses and businesses beyond them.

    Councilwoman Theresa Quigley, who moved for creation of the ad hoc committee, will head it along with Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, whom she described as her polar opposite on the issues.

    Diane McNally, the presiding officer for the East Hampton Town Trustees, was named to the committee. Also appointed were three Montauk waterfront hotel owners, Steve Kalimnios of the Royal Atlantic Beach Resort and Royal Atlantic East, Alice Houseknecht of the East Deck Motel, and Paul Monte of Gurney’s Inn. Thomas Muse of the Surfrider Foundation, who called for the advisory group at a November town board meeting, will serve on the committee, as will Robert De Luca, president of Group for the East End, Wayne Grothy, marine coastal program director for the Nature Conservancy, Chris Coleman, a Montauk real estate broker, and Patrick Bistrian of Bistrian Materials, which handles marine dredging, beach restoration, and revetment construction.

    Mr. Grothy, whom the board had met only an hour earlier during the meeting’s public comment period, touted the Nature Conservancy’s model for sea-level rise, available for local and international coastlines, and said that this tool, online at coastalresilience.org, would be useful for short-term, long-term, and emergency land planning.

    Councilman Dominick Stanzione said the committee seemed very “Montauk-centric,” and asked that someone from East Hampton Village be included, as well. The board agreed to ask Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. to appoint a representative.

    Ms. Quigley felt strongly that the committee should be kept small. Councilwoman Sylvia Overby did not agree. With a preference for varying points of view, she asked, “Why would we keep it small?”

    Ms. Quigley said members could organize their own subgroups that could include anyone else they might find helpful.

    With the committee created, its mission is to find common ground between those, including many environmentalists, who believe policy should favor a retreat from the coastline, and those who put asset protection ahead of retreat to save businesses and residences, the supervisor said. If common ground is not found, Ms. Quigley said, town code “is what it is.” The town’s own Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan favors retreat, as it does not support hard structures on the beach in most coastal areas of the town.

    Mr. Wilkinson called the L.W.R.P., “a snapshot in time” subject to review in light of events and historical movements.

    The intention is for the committee to start with Montauk, but keep the big picture in mind, said Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, because any plan implemented as a result of the discussions would affect other hamlets and beaches.

     This is about the economic survival of Montauk, said Mr. Wilkinson. “If you don’t let a motel rebuild or introduce hard structures to protect them, it’s a matter of time,” he said. On the other side, he added, are those that say, “Let it fall in.” The drastically different viewpoints confirm why the committee “critically needs people on both sides,” he said.

    The common interest seems to be the beaches, Mr. Wilkinson said. “It’s all about sand,” said Mr. Wilkinson, “that’s our gold. . . . That is our gold mine.”

    Ms. Quigley agreed.

    Reconciling the differences between those on both sides of the argument is necessary if the committee and any plan that results from it are to succeed, Mr. Stanzione said. “Engineer a beach,” he proposed. “Buy 25 to 30 years of protection without hard structure.” That approach has been discussed before, but it is an expensive one and the question has always been, who would pay?

    As the committee begins its work, Mr. Van Scoyoc suggested it first turn its attention to properties in the Montauk business district, which is “extremely low lying.” The area was “overwashed in 1938,” he said, and breached again in 1954. “Short-term solutions are just that,” he said.

    Mr. Wilkinson said that the committee would prioritize the different areas affected, since “some are worse off than others.”

   A plan to designate 24 houses and a windmill as timber-frame landmarks was the subject of further debate at an East Hampton Village Board meeting last Thursday.

    The proposed legislation was revised to incorporate two changes made in response to comments at a Nov. 16 hearing on the plan. With the revisions in place, the legislation’s adoption seems likely when the board meets again on Friday, Dec. 21.

    The proposed legislation is comprised of three related pieces: one designates the buildings as landmarks, another permits owners to transfer some of the allowable floor area in a primary residence to an accessory dwelling, or guesthouse, and a third provides guidelines for how the village’s design review board would evaluate applications for accessory dwellings on the properties in question.

    One modification allows a larger gross floor area when a historic house or an existing accessory structure becomes the accessory dwelling, Robert Hefner, the village’s director of historic services, told the board. The change was made to accommodate requests from the owners of the Edward Mulford House on Hither Lane and the Miller House on Jones Road. Attorneys for the owners of these properties had suggested modifications of the proposed legislation at the Nov. 16 hearing.

    If the landmark building or an existing accessory structure becomes the accessory dwelling, the gross allowable floor area cannot exceed “40 percent of the maximum permitted gross floor area or 3,700 square feet, whichever is less,” according to the changes. These figures were adjusted from 35 percent or 3,000 square feet, as originally proposed.

    The other revision was made in response to a concern raised by the owner of the former Methodist Episcopal Church, at 10 Spaeth Lane. This revision, Mr. Hefner said, clarifies that when the historic building has significant additions, making it impractical as the guesthouse, it can be further expanded and a new accessory dwelling built.

    The proposed legislation would set a precedent, Mr. Hefner said, “in that the village would become the first New York municipality to offer a special bonus for historic landmark properties.” East Hampton Village, he said, is one of 76 New York municipalities that have the ability to designate historic landmarks and historic districts in order to protect either an individual building or a neighborhood of special character. “In researching the other 75 villages, towns, and cities with the assistance of the State Historic Preservation Office, I learned that not one of them offers a specific benefit program for individual historic landmarks,” he said.

    Mr. Hefner communicated with 20 of the municipalities, which had collectively designated 270 properties as individual historic landmarks. No special bonuses or considerations were given with the designations, he said, and some had been designated despite objections from the properties’ owners. “In establishing the accessory dwelling bonus for timber-frame landmarks, the Village of East Hampton is making a greater effort than any other New York municipality has ever made to be eminently considerate of the owners of the individual landmark properties,” he said. 

    Joan Tulp then urged the board to adopt the proposed legislation. “You may wonder why I am here,” Ms. Tulp, a resident of Amagansett, told the board. “I’m here to talk about the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ syndrome. In Amagansett, we finally got Main Street and Bluff Road designated historic districts. There was one particularly beautiful house on Indian Wells [Highway], the Isaac Barnes house, circa 1800, built by Samuel Schellinger. The owners at that time were excellent stewards of the property, but they sold it. Practically overnight, the house was demolished. We must protect and preserve our unique properties against those who might replace these homes by mega-mansions, or nothing at all,” she said.

    Richard Baxter, who said he was representing Robert Strada, the executive director of Peconic Historic Preservation Inc., then read aloud a letter that Mr. Strada had submitted to the board. “We all understand firsthand what happens to these unique examples of American history when they are preserved. These glorious buildings reflect our past and underscore our present and therefore we must protect them for future generations. Sadly, we also understand when they are not protected,” he read.

    Mr. Baxter cited the Antiquity House in Quogue, built by Deacon Thomas Cooper in 1734. The structure was recognized as the second oldest building in the community’s history, Mr. Baxter said, and retained a wealth of original architectural detailing. “That is, until the Quogue Historical Society funded its deconstruction last July in order to prevent the new owner from completely demolishing it. The irony of the Antiquity story is, had the Village of Quogue adopted the exact code amendment that the Village of East Hampton is considering this very day, the 1734 Deacon Thomas Cooper house would have been preserved intact. Antiquity’s lot size would have easily accommodated the construction of a second dwelling on the property, assuring this historic building’s future for generations to come. But that was not to be, and today the deconstructed components remain in a storage trailer in the Quogue Highway Department yard.”

    Without the timber-frame landmark designation, Mr. Baxter continued, all of the village properties under consideration for landmark designation face an uncertain future. “We urge that the board approve this new historic preservation program that may well serve as a template for our neighboring communities,” he read.

    With no further remarks from board members or attendees, Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. moved to close the hearing; all board members voted in favor.

    The board then turned to two additional items. It unanimously approved the sale by online auction of a Saturn Ion, which the East Hampton Village Police Department had listed as a surplus vehicle.

    Mayor Rickenbach then invited Chief Gerard Larsen of the Village Police Department to address the board before voting on the second item. The Long Beach Police Department, Chief Larsen said, sought used police vehicles to replace the 10 it lost in Hurricane Sandy. The Department of Criminal Justice contacted every police department in the state, “and we were able to donate a used police car to them. They sent out the e-mail one day and the next day they had all the cars. Now they’re asking to keep it.” The donation was approved.

    Mary Ellen McGuire, East Hampton Village ambulance chief, then addressed the board regarding acquisition of a new, climate-controlled ambulance. Based on recommendations from Sag Harbor and Bridgehampton officials, she said, the village should purchase a PL Custom Emergency Vehicle, at a cost of $197,676. The village has allocated money for an ambulance purchase, Mayor Rickenbach said, though not the full amount quoted. Nonetheless, the board agreed on the importance of the acquisition.

   The night prowler who targets unlocked cars in Montauk, rummaging through them for money and valuables, struck in the Second House Road area overnight on Saturday.

    One victim was particularly hard-hit. Miriam Perez of South Debusy Road told police that $800 in hundred-dollar bills had been stolen from her car, along with a 14-karat gold chain.

    A month ago Ms. Perez told police that $200 cash was taken from her car, parked at the time in the lot behind Shagwong’s restaurant on Main Street, and later that same week, in the same lot, that $300 was removed from the car.

    At a different address on South Debusy, Angelica Murray lost a new fleece jacket and two cashmere sweaters to the nighttime bandit. Several other cars parked nearby were rummaged through, but nothing was taken.

    Reports of the prowler began coming into East Hampton Town police headquarters in early October. To date, several thousand dollars in cash and valuables has been stolen. The thief targets specific neighborhoods, all in Montauk. Ditch Plain, East Lake Drive, Fairview Avenue, and Culloden Shores have been the other targets.

    A few people have reported dogs barking at around two or three in the morning on the nights the crimes were committed, though one of the South Debusy women reported hearing dogs at around 10 p.m.

    Montauk residents have traditionally left their cars unlocked in their driveways at night, but that may change. Police have begun distributing leaflets in the hamlet, leaving door tags advising residents to lock their doors and vehicles.

   The future of East Hampton Town’s individual hamlets can best be addressed by the residents appointed to the citizens advisory committees for the each of them, Councilwoman Theresa Quigley suggested at a board meeting on Tuesday.

    Ms. Quigley said that the board should authorize the members of the advisory committees, appointed by the town board for each distinct hamlet within the town and charged with serving as liaisons between the community and elected officials, to create the hamlet studies that are called for in the town comprehensive plan.

    The plan envisioned future hamlet studies to hone in on the specific planning issues relevant to each hamlet. “As far as I’m concerned the people within a hamlet know best what that hamlet study should focus on,” Ms. Quigley said.

    Such studies normally include a gathering of data regarding land use, zoning, existing and potential development, traffic, environmental factors, and town laws and adopted plans pertaining to the area, and have been conducted by planning professionals, either town Planning Department staff or hired consultants.

    Ms. Quigley has repeatedly taken the stance that the Planning Department is too bogged down with other tasks to complete long-term planning efforts, and has, with Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, pressed for reorganizing the Planning and Natural Resources Departments.

    Councilman Dominick Stanzione asked at the meeting on Tuesday if the town board would provide money for the advisory committees to complete the studies. Ms. Quigley said funding would not be needed. “It’s sitting down and talking,” she said. For instance, she said, the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee, which has been calling on the town board to complete a Wainscott hamlet study, has been talking about the area at the entrance to Wainscott. “They come up with thoughts; they bring those thoughts to the town board,” Ms. Quigley said. If the group feels the need to consult with professionals such as the town engineer, or police — to get information about traffic, for example — it can seek permission to do so from the town board, through the councilperson assigned as its liaison.

    Mr. Stanzione said he would agree with the idea, “to the extent that the advisory function of the C.A.C. could inform future hamlet studies.”

    Ms. Quigley said that the advisory committees could provide the board with “a general picture. What do we as a hamlet want to see? They sit down and talk about it, and they come up with a proposal. And they bring up that proposal to the town board.” It’s “a focus as to where the hamlet wants to land,” Ms. Quigley said.

    But Councilwoman Sylvia Overby said the usual process of a hamlet planning study includes a wider segment of the community, allowing people to participate in group discussions highlighting the various aspects of comprehensive planning, such as transportation, or development. And, she said, “Personally I think it’s very difficult to have a hamlet study without the Planning Department.”

    “Whatever the formula was before doesn’t have to be followed,” Ms. Quigley said. And, she added, “I think that the Planning Department would get involved,” after the citizens’ groups present concepts to the town board.

    Presenting issues to the town board “. . . is what C.A.C.s do,” said Ms. Overby.

    “I’m looking for the studies that are proposed within the [town] comprehensive plan [to be done by the C.A.C.s],” Ms. Quigley said. The town board, she said, could tell the groups “these are the questions that are supposed to be looked at.”

    “Why can’t we use these things as the focus” of the advisory groups’ meetings, she asked. “Whatever. It’s an idea. Whatever,” she said.

    Perhaps, she suggested, the Wainscott group could be told to go ahead and do its own hamlet study. And, Ms. Quigley said, “if any other C.A.C. is interested in doing it, I have no problem with it.”

    A packed house of parents aired their grievances at a three-hour meeting of the East Hampton School Board on Nov. 20, the night before the start of the Thanksgiving holiday. Nearly all the impassioned comments concerned the new limits on Middle School field trips and extracurricular activities.

    “It’s like they’ve sucked all the fun out of middle school,” said Sandra Albukrek, whose daughter is in sixth grade and is a member of the Bonnettes, the all-girls choir.

    “I understand the need to take the fluff out of the budget, but you also need to take into account that one child’s fluff is another child’s passion,” said Wendy Geehreng, president of the Middle School PTA. Two of her four children are at the school.

    Confusion and frustration mounted as parents expressed concern over the cancellation of studio art, of a Bonnettes performance at Lincoln Center, and of the sixth-grade OWLS (Outdoors While Learning Science) program, as well as the absence of a student council, among other changes.

    “Perhaps there shouldn’t have been a knife taken to field trips. Maybe a scalpel would have been a better option,” said Richard J. Burns, Superintendent of Schools. “Tom is going to take care of it. Welcome back, Tom.”

    “Tom,” Dr. Thomas Lamorgese, has served as interim principal of the Middle School since mid-November. Later in the meeting, the board unanimously approved his per diem rate of $350 a day while the school’s current principal, Dr. Charles Soriano, is out on an extended medical leave.

    Dr. Soriano’s absence has fueled much of the ongoing confusion, according to several parents. Dr. Lamorgese said he hoped he might return before Christmas vacation.

    The board was unable to resolve all the concerns being raised but did agree that the Bonnettes should take the Lincoln Center stage next spring. Further, at the urging of Jackie Lowey, a board member, the OWLS program was reinstated, at a cost to the district of $4,800, split between the fall and spring semesters at a cost of $2,400 per term. The program will resume after the Christmas vacation.

     Mr. Burns reminded the gathering that education comes first, and that time spent in the classroom is the top priority. “Right now, we are in the middle of the pack,” he said, “and we deserve to be on the high end of the pack.”

    Ms Lowey agreed. “There is no question that the entire school district is putting education first,” she said. “The board and the administration want to pursue academic excellence from grades K-12. When there is a valuable educational experience available outside of the classroom that enriches our students and furthers that goal, we will support and facilitate it.”

    Mr. Burns next addressed the issue of making up the five instructional days that were lost when schools shut down after Hurricane Sandy. With state-mandated tests occurring next April, he said the need for increased classroom time was acute. Adam Fine, principal of East Hampton High School, has already canceled January midterms, opting to use the exam week for extra class time.

    On Monday, the district released its plan to recover the five missed days. Rather than eliminate the February recess, the spring break will be split into two long weekends, with classes held from March 26 through March 28. In the event of an additional snow day, school will be in session on March 25 as well.

    “While not every field trip and extracurricular is necessary, there should at least be a discussion about what is and what is not necessary,” Ms. Geehreng said after the meeting. “Our intent was never for the board to have to micro-manage every field trip, but some things just seem to disappear and no one knows why.”

    Attorneys for a Montauk mechanic who is suing the Town of East Hampton in federal court claim the town has withheld key documents that could affect the outcome of the case.

    Thomas Horn, a former East Hampton Town fire marshal, and Lawrence Kelly, a former State Department attorney, are representing Thomas Ferreira, whose repair shop they allege was improperly targeted beginning in 2008 and whose tools, cars, and car parts were confiscated the following year.

    Mr. Ferreira’s lawyers contend that town officials have failed to respond to

dozens of requests for documents under the New York State Freedom of Information Law, and say some of their requests date back more than two years.

    Mr. Ferreira’s attorneys are not alone in criticizing the town’s responses to FOIL requests. Among others are Donald Torr, the former owner of the Crow’s Nest restaurant in Montauk, and David Buda of Springs, a consistent monitor of town affairs.

    As set out in the law, all requests must be acknowledged in writing within five days, and a municipality must also keep a running log that details the progress in gathering the information. The law provides for certain exemptions, and for an appeals process should a FOIL request be denied. East Hampton Town Clerk Fred Overton is the FOIL manager for the town, and Supervisor Bill Wilkinson is the appeals officer. On Friday, Mr. Overton said the system seemed to be working well. Supervisor Wilkinson said he had not personally seen any freedom of information requests from Mr. Ferreira’s representatives.

     “I usually send requests to the specific departments. If it’s a legal matter it goes to the town attorney, if code enforcement it goes to the Ordinance Department,” Mr. Overton said. John Jilnicki, the town attorney, manages FOIL

requests that come into his department and determines whether the information requested is exempted from disclosure.

    “I keep a record of all requests. Most departments will fill the request and send the information to me. I call the people. The law says we have to respond in five days, but if it’s a legitimate delay I think we have 20 days,” the town clerk said. Mr. Overton said he reviews FOIL files once a week and if requests have not been met he calls the department involved to find out why. He said his office had received over 270 FOIL requests so far this year, and, he added, “There are not a lot of complaints.” 

    According Mr. Horn, the original FOIL request in the Ferreira matter was made in February of 2010. It was prompted, he said, by the lack of a warrant during a raid on Mr. Ferreira’s Automotive Solutions business, at 63 Navy Road. To the attorneys, this indicated the possible existence of a conspiracy to remove the business from the shore of Fort Pond Bay without due process. Mr. Horn said certification by the Ordinance Enforcement Department is required before property may be seized. A certification document was among those unsuccessfully requested.

    Communications among officials on the day of the raid were also sought. A request for a transcript of a taped meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory  Committee was ignored, he said. The attorneys wanted it in order to show that a member of that committee had said she was working closely with the town attorney’s office on attempts to clean up the Ferreira property.  

    Mr. Horn and Mr. Kelly claim that two documents obtained outside the FOIL process, and at great expense to their client, had prompted their FOIL requests.The first was a report by James Dunlop, a town fire marshal, dated June 17, 2009, in which he stated he had found no dangerous stored fuels on the Ferreira property, which had been asserted in summonses. The second document was a report given to the town board and copied to the attorney’s office by Kenneth Glogg, an enforcement inspector. It contradicts the fire marshal’s subsequent report and warns of a serious danger to public health and safety. The latter document was shown to town board members before they voted for the raid. But, the attorneys say, Mr. Dunlop’s  report was not shared with the board. 

    The attorneys did obtain a memo from Madeleine Narvilis, an assistant town attorney at the time, through a FOIL request. They say it instructs Michael Johnson, chief fire marshal, to rewrite Mr. Dunlop’s report using language that justified the raid. Mr. Kelly said receipt of the memo was “a singular exception to the town’s overall policy of ignoring FOIL requests.”

    Mr. Overton’s picture of a well-oiled machine does not square with the experience of a number of people interviewed, in addition to Mr. Ferriera’s attorneys. However, the general impression seemed to be that the hang-ups were not necessarily found in the town clerk’s office.

    Donald Torr, former owner of the Crow’s Nest Restaurant in Montauk, said it was six months after filing a FOIL request related to the town’s dealings with the restaurant before he got the documents he sought. He said he had to call several times before he got a verbal, not written, acknowledgement that Mr. Overton had received the request.

    “I had to keep after them. I was told it got filed away, lost, the same excuses. I made three or four personal appearances looking for someone to talk to,” the former restaurateur said, adding that he was told his request had been sent to Mr. Jilnicki and that Mr. Jilnicki would forward the material to the town clerk. “The clerk said he didn’t see it, so I called Jilnicki and he said he didn’t know where it went.”

    David Buda, a Springs resident, is a consistent monitor of local government. “I’ve had some successes and some failures. The deputy clerk, Carol

Brennan, has on occasion expedited service including e-mailing documents almost immediately. But, I’ve had one request totally ignored that was directed from the town board through Fred [Overton].”

    Mr. Buda said that he had submitted a formal FOIL request in early May for a copy of a letter discussed at a town board meeting. On June 6, he said, he followed up with an e-mail to Mr. Overton with a copy of the request. “To this day there has been no response. If they’d said it was rejected, okay, but no

response,” he said. He added that he had made two other unanswered requests that went from the town clerk’s office into “the black hole of the attorney’s office.”

    On the other hand, Mr. Buda had high praise for the “expedited” service in the office of the Ordinance Enforcement Department. “They’re on top of things,” he said. But, he added, when documents are “in the possession of the town clerk, the response is efficient.”

    The East Hampton Star has used the Freedom of Information Law to seek information on numerous occasions with varying degrees of response and often with delays exceeding the deadlines set out by the law.

    Last summer, a request was made for a required “subject list” of records that

the Freedom of Information Law says all agencies must keep. Apparently, no department produced such lists, and Mr. Overton did not respond within the required five days nor after e-mailed reminders. The Star never received a formal response.

    Quick work by the East Hampton Village detective squad resulted in the arrest this week of Daniel Monteiro, 24, of East Hampton, on multiple charges related to the burglary of an oceanfront Lily Pond Lane house on Friday morning as well as a break-in on Talkhouse Walk last Thursday afternoon.

    One clue that led police to call Mr. Monteiro “a person of interest” was a set of tire tracks across a lawn, leading from one driveway to another at the Lily Pond Lane house, which is owned by  Josephine Chaus, a fashion designer and clothing manufacturer.

    “Right from the beginning, you’re dealing with a person with knowledge of the property,” Detective Sgt. Matt Bennett said Tuesday, hours after Mr. Monteiro’s morning arraignment. According to the detective, an outsider would not have known that by driving across the large lawn, one could reach a second exit from the estate.

    With Detective Greg Brown heading the investigation, the squad zeroed in on Mr. Monteiro after learning that the Lily Pond Lane residence and the house on Talkhouse Walk, which are a few miles apart, had one thing in common: the same caretaker.

    Mr. Bennett stressed that the caretaker was not considered a suspect. Rather, it was her son, who was familiar with both properties.

    Village police brought him in for questioning on Monday, joined by detectives from the town, who were investigating the Talkhouse Walk burglary. Mr. Monteiro soon confessed to the crimes, the detective said.

    Both houses were protected by burglar alarms, and both of them went off. In the first incident, an East Hampton Town police officer was sent to the Talkhouse Walk address, where Scan Security had reported a break-in. A Scan employee met the officer there and disarmed the alarm, which was set off when a double-paned glass back door was shattered. The alarm apparently scared off the intruder, though not before four $20 bills, which were lying near the point of entry, were stolen. Valuable electronics inside the house were untouched.

    Such was not the case at about 5:30 the next morning, when Mr. Monteiro allegedly struck the Lily Pond Lane house, which is in village police juisdiction. Detectives said he got in by smashing a glass pane in the entryway and reaching in to open the front door.

    This time, despite the alarm, he removed a Mac laptop, which has since been recovered, before speeding away, leaving telltale tire tracks across Ms. Chaus’s lawn.

    Mr. Monteiro faces two counts of burglary in the second degree, two charges of criminal mischief, possession of burglary tools, and possession of stolen property. Justice Catherine Cahill set bail in East Hampton Town Justice Court at $10,000. Mr. Monteiro, unable to meet it, was taken to the county jail in Riverside.