State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has introduced legislation to help make housing more affordable for low and moderate-income residents of East Hampton, Southampton, Shelter Island, Riverhead, and Southold by establishing a fund to provide loans to first-time homebuyers.

Money for the fund would be generated by adding a half-percent surcharge to the region’s real estate transfer tax — the same levy that currently replenishes the community preservation fund. Houses valued at $1 million or less on the South Fork and Shelter Island would be exempt from the tax, and those valued at $750,000 or less would be exempt on the North Fork.

“After the recession, and with the housing market going up, the affordability gap has grown substantially over the last three or four years,” said Mr. Thiele this week. “This has been one of the biggest problems that’s defied a solution for many, many years.” 

Mr. Thiele’s bill lays out the range of negative consequences caused by the lack of affordable housing, from residents being forced to live in overcrowded conditions to the traffic congestion caused by the so-called “trade parade,” in which much of the area’s labor force commutes between East End worksites and their residences farther west, where housing is more affordable.

Mr. Thiele emphasized that his proposal is a study bill and has a long way to go before becoming serious legislation. And even if the bill is enacted, the East End town boards would still need to formally adopt the measure, which would then be subject to a mandatory voter referendum.

Still, a considerable amount of research has been done to substantiate the effort. For instance, Mr. Thiele estimates that the half-percent surcharge would generate about $15 million to $20 million a year, predominantly from house sales in Southampton and East Hampton. That money would then be used to provide loans for first-time homebuyers for up to 50 percent of the purchase price. 

Eligible applicants would have to be either a resident of or an employee in the towns. Income eligibility requirements would also be in place (the cap in the current version of the legislation is $132,960 for a one or two-person household and $155,120 for a household of three or more), as would a limit on the purchase price of a house. The loan would come due upon resale of the property, with the amount of the loan — plus a share of any financial gain from the resale — coming out of the proceeds and going back into the fund. 

“With the environmental constraints of the East End, we are not going to build our way out of this problem,” said Mr. Thiele, in a statement announcing the proposal. “Instead, we need to have a tool that brings the existing housing stock within the financial reach of middle class and working class East Enders.”

Mr. Thiele has a long history of crafting legislation designed to help middle-income homebuyers — including his 2006 “McMansion bill,” which proposed establishing a loan fund by charging a $10-per-square-foot fee on residential houses that exceeded 3,000 square feet — but to no avail. This time, he believes, the economic and political climates make getting something done far more feasible. “The landscape has changed, because of the federal tax act, which will make buying a first home even more difficult,” he said, referring to the bill signed by President Trump in December. “Plus, the tax act will help the wealthy and then put more pressure on the luxury market.”

The opposition to his previous attempts, said Mr. Thiele, mostly came from state lobbyists for the real estate and building industries, but that local builders and brokers recognized the benefits of making the East End affordable for all. “Everyone needs the volunteer fire department and the stores on main street and people who work in the hospital,” he said. “And I would argue that the thing that makes East Hampton and Southampton special isn’t just the historic places or the bays and beaches, it’s also the sense of community we have here.”

None of three East End real estate professionals contacted by The Star agreed to share their opinions on the proposed legislation, but Mitchell Pally, the chief executive officer of the Long Island Builders Institute, offered a mixed assessment. Solving the affordable-housing crisis, said Mr. Pally, can be done only by increasing the supply of homes, not just reducing their cost. “You have to solve both problems at the same time,” said Mr. Pally, who noted that the institute’s board had not yet taken an official position on Mr. Thiele’s bill. “We would hope that the funds could also be used to buy land to build housing units on.” 

Mr. Thiele said that over the next few months, he will be meeting with people from each of the towns, including builders and real estate professionals, looking to build “a coalition of support.” 

One element Mr. Thiele believes will help bond the coalition together: a universal dislike of traffic. “People being able to live and work in the same community will ease the traffic congestion,” Mr. Thiele said. “And no matter how big your house is, you still have to deal with traffic.”

Two months after Deepwater Wind offered the East Hampton Town Board a community-benefits package in exchange for the easements it will need to land a cable from its proposed South Fork Wind Farm and bury it along a route to a Long Island Power Authority substation in East Hampton, the town trustees offered a counterproposal that seeks significantly more. 

The offshore wind farm developer, which built and operates the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm, the nation’s first, has offered to pay for burial of the overhead utility lines along its transmission cable’s proposed path in Wainscott, an area designated by the town and state as scenic. It has also 

offered $1 million to the town for water infrastructure improvements in Wainscott; $500,000 to the trustees for a marine-environment improvement fund and an additional $100,000 for a fisheries habitat fund; and another $200,000 to the town for sustainable-energy and resiliency projects as identified by the town’s energy-sustainability committee. 

The Rhode Island company has also said that offices will be maintained in Montauk for the project’s anticipated 25-year life span, providing an unspecified number of permanent jobs.  

At the meeting of the East Hampton Town Trustees on Monday, John Aldred, who was elected trustee in November, read a document that outlined the trustees’ counteroffer. It calls, first, for the establishment of a fisheries conflict-resolution fund to compensate fishermen for financial losses due to offshore and near-shore wind farm–related construction or operations, and unintended conflicts of use on traditional fishing grounds. Also on the list is a trustees-administered fishery-resource assistance fund, uses of which could include shellfish population enhancement and restoration; fisheries research, socioeconomic studies of fisheries, and possible development of an East End fisheries consortium. 

The trustees also want an aquatic 

environmental-improvement fund that could support shellfish-based environmental improvement and education; aquaculture-based environmental remediation; aquatic vegetation restoration; water-quality testing; development and implementation of an environmental management plan; the purchase or leasing, and operation, of a dredge boat; marsh replanting, and phragmites control. 

Establishment of a regional town trustee historical-research project and an infrastructure-needs assessment, implementation, and improvement fund were also on the trustees’ list. Finally, they asked that Deepwater Wind contribute an unspecified annual sum for the life of the project, to be administered by the trustees in consultation with stakeholder groups. 

The document was delivered to Deepwater Wind on Monday, the trustees said. 

Rick Drew, co-chairman of the trustees’ harbor-management committee, said that the trustees will file for Article VII intervener status with the State Public Service Commission, retain counsel to represent the community, and “maintain an active role throughout the permitting phase of the project and beyond.”

Article VII is a public review process under the state public service law for any application to construct and operate a major electric transmission facility or fuel gas transmission facility. It requires a review of the need for, and environmental impact of, the siting, design, construction, and operation of such facilities. Although it allows residents to participate in the review process, the Public Service Commission makes the final decision regarding all applications. 

Anthony Tohill, an attorney whom the trustees have retained for legal matters, said that while some elements of the trustees’ counterproposal had not yet been discussed publicly, many of them are in the town’s waterfront revitalization plan approved in 1999. “So they’re not something that has not been discussed or vetted or understood to be beneficial to the town in the past,” he said. “That’s the entire reason for this: The intention is to cause a dialog to start immediately” between Deepwater Wind and the town board, “so that these items of concern and interest expressed by the trustees will get a public airing and, hopefully, the financial support of Deepwater Wind in the months and years ahead.” 

But a representative of the near-shore commercial fishing industry complained that he had been left out of the document’s creation and, further, that it had been crafted during purported executive sessions, which are not open to the public, when in fact they were meant to be special meetings to which the public should have been invited. Susan Vorpahl, a trustee who was also elected in November, agreed with the fisheries representative, asserting that the meetings were improper. 

 Gary Cobb, who ran unsuccessfully for trustee last year, asked if the document had been crafted at the trustees’ Jan. 24 meeting. “This proposal is news to me and the stakeholders that I represent, the baymen,” Mr. Cobb told Francis Bock, the trustees’ clerk. 

 That meeting had been announced as a “special meeting —executive session” in a Jan. 18 memorandum to Carole Brennan, the town clerk, that was distributed to the press. (The Jan. 24 meeting fell on a Wednesday, as did another on Feb. 7; the trustees’ regular meetings are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month.)

No, Mr. Bock said, it was not crafted at that meeting: “We’ve been working on this for a number of weeks, trying to understand where we are in this situation.” 

The trustees’ counterproposal has “a lot of good elements,” Mr. Cobb acknowledged. “I’m just questioning, where did it come from?” From multiple meetings of the harbor-management committee, was Mr. Bock’s reply, and, Mr. Aldred added, through individual discussions. The trustees considered the entire community, Mr. Drew said. “There are many voices to this, and the fishing community has been the priority of all of our meetings, as I think you know as well as anyone. . . . I don’t think we’ve been chintzy on meetings.”

Ms. Vorpahl spoke up. “The confusion lies in the fact that the meetings that we held on Jan. 24 and Feb. 7 were put out in a memorandum as an executive session, when in fact they were not executive sessions, and the public could and should have been there.”

 No, Mr. Bock said. “I disagree. The public cannot be involved in every single meeting that we have. We cannot do business when you have 20 people all piping in.” 

Mr. Cobb asked Christopher Carillo, the trustees’ attorney, if the meetings were executive sessions. He and Mr. Drew responded at the same time. “It can be considered an executive session,” Mr. Drew said. “No, it was not,” the attorney said.

“But it was made aware of as an executive session,” Ms. Vorpahl said. “So I think the confusion there was that the public probably, maybe, thought that they were not entitled to be involved in an executive session.”

“This can lead to litigation,” Mr. Bock, exasperated, said, “and we met with our special counsel, so yes, we held it as an executive session.”  

Mr. Grimes elaborated on that concern. Even if the trustees decline to grant an easement over beaches under their jurisdiction allowing Deepwater Wind to land its transmission cable, he told Mr. Cobb, “our authority in this is rather limited, to say the least. This is where the Article VII process, and the judge’s position as the sole arbitrator in this dialog, comes into play.” Should Deepwater Wind assert that they have made every effort to negotiate a reasonable solution, the authority of the trustees, the town, and even the state can be overruled, he said. 

Drawings and specific details for the construction of a new senior citizens center were revealed at an East Hampton Town Board work session on Tuesday by Drazen Cackovic of the DCAK-MSA architecture and engineering firm.

In a PowerPoint presentation, he described a significantly larger facility than the existing one, on Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, which has housed the senior citizens center for more than three decades. The century-old building, once a watering hole called the Cottage Inn, is to be demolished and a trailer removed from the two-acre site.

The new center has been purposely designed to meet the needs of a growing population of older adults, with vastly increased space dedicated to specific programs and activities, more than double the parking spaces, and modern amenities and design features that surpass minimum code requirements, Mr. Cackovic said. It will also address future needs “to the extent we can afford and predict” them, he said, and serve the wider community as well.

The existing facility and trailer have 11,500 square feet of interior space, where the new, two-story building will offer 18,730 square feet. Wide corridors with handrails, wide aisles between furniture, multiple sets of automatic doors, copious natural light, LED lighting with anti-glare design, a high-quality sound system, Wi-Fi, and an HVAC system designed to minimize the spread of pathogens will characterize the center, Mr. Cackovic said.

The center’s ground-floor lunchroom is to be more than doubled, from 1,353 to 3,200 square feet, with the option to divide it into separate lunch and multi-purpose rooms. The kitchen will also grow, from 735 to 1,810 square feet. Space for the adult day-care program at the center will be increased from 866 to 1,378 square feet. Only the administrative space will remain roughly the same, going from 1,579 to 1,792 square feet.

The additional space, Mr. Cackovic said, will provide for increased wellness activities such as yoga, aerobics, dancing, and meditation, allowing senior citizens to “explore new activities in their senior years.”

A dedicated, 1,775-square-foot area on the second floor will house the East Hampton food pantry, and the building will feature a receiving dock, where a conveyor belt will ferry goods to the pantry.

In addition, outdoor space will be enhanced, he said, to include walking trails, gardens, a playground, a gazebo, and 116 parking spaces, up from the present 61 spaces. Parking for buses and for town-owned electric vehicles, with charging stations, will be included, he said, and a porte-cochere will lead to the main entrance.

The next step, Mr. Cackovic said, was to seek the board’s approval for his firm to proceed to design the interior details. The goal would be for the town to put the project out for bid this summer, with construction to begin as early as the fall.

Following the presentation, Mary Ella Moeller, chairwoman of the town’s senior services committee, which was formed in 2014 to review current services and future needs, expressed satisfaction that the new center, one of the committee’s long-range recommendations, was moving toward a reality. However, she said, the idea for the new center to be situated in the present recreation space, which is dedicated to her mother, Edith Parsons, was disturbing.

“I would not like to see my mother’s name lost, and the little park and recreation area dedicated to her in the past become gone in the future.” She suggested naming something else, perhaps the new building itself, for her mother. 

“We certainly do not want to lose Edith Parsons,” East Hampton Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said, adding that the path around the whole facility, a garden, or playground might be so designated. “We want you to be a part of that when we decide how to honor your mom into the future,” she said.

Ms. Moeller asked how the town would accommodate what she said was an exploding population of senior citizens. “We’re not getting that many young people; most people are aging,” she said.

“Hopefully, we’ll all be lucky enough to continue to age,” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc answered with a smile. “In terms of future expectations, this site is going to be maxed out. Any further expansion of senior services, programs, or facilities would probably have to take place in some other location.”

With a pledge to revitalize his party and end single-party rule, Amos Goodman was elected chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee on Feb. 7. Mr. Goodman, who lives in Springs, succeeds Reg Cornelia, who stepped down from the position last week. 

Mr. Goodman, who is 34 and runs a corporate advisory firm focused on aerospace and defense industries, takes the helm of the Republican Committee after a disappointing campaign in which its candidates for supervisor and town board were defeated by wide margins and just two of its nine candidates for town trustee prevailed in the November election. He pledged to lead an aggressive and sustained strategy to revitalize the party, hold elected officials accountable, and provide voters and taxpayers with alternatives to what a press release described as “the increasingly rudderless single-party control of the town.”

The Republicans will have an opportunity to field such an alternative in November, when David Lys, who was appointed to the town board last month to fill the seat vacated by Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, who was elected supervisor, will stand for election. Representative Lee Zeldin, a Republican serving New York’s First Congressional District, is also up for re-election this year, as is Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat. 

“It’s critical that we keep the focus local,” Mr. Goodman, who ran unsuccessfully for Suffolk County legislator in 2015 and for the Republican Committee’s chairmanship the following year, said on Monday. “In the national political climate, passions are certainly high on both sides, and there’s a real risk that there isn’t accountability at the local level.” 

His goal over the next year, he said, is to “rebuild the infrastructure of the committee, moving forward on that at a pretty aggressive clip, and to figure out how are we going to get people, especially if all the predictions and polling about a huge Democratic wave this November come to pass, to support our candidate for town board.” 

If the Republicans are to succeed, voters who will not cast a ballot for Mr. Zeldin must nonetheless vote for the party’s candidate for town board, he said. “Certainly, it’s going to be challenging,” he said, predicting that East Hampton’s Democrats will make the campaign a referendum on President Trump. “An effort to make everything national is cynical,” he said. “We have issues at home. This is not the local offshoot of the Trump campaign.”

“I’m trying to create a certain discipline and focus that people may have a variety of opinions,” he said. “I know that on our committee, even in the executive ranks, people have very different views. Some voted for Trump, some didn’t. Some like the guy, some would espouse opinions that’d sound like anybody from the other party. That’s good, that’s the symptom of a big-tent, inclusive party that I think is the party of youth, innovation — at least it should and could be, and I think it will be.” 

Mr. Goodman acknowledged the uphill climb he and the Republicans face in a town in which voter registration heavily favors Democrats. “One of the, maybe, perverse benefits of taking over now is that there’s really not that much further we can fall,” he said. “It’s all up from here. . . . The fundamental independent spirit of most of the electorate is still there. We welcome a variety of people, and will be pulling into the committee people from all sorts of backgrounds and political views. We may not always see eye to eye . . . but if we can keep the focus on things we’re supposed to be focused on, namely the Town of East Hampton, I think there’s a chance we can do some interesting stuff. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t have taken this on.” 

Mr. Cornelia praised his successor in a release last week. “Amos is smart and savvy, and I’m confident he will lead us ably and effectively,” he said. “His passion and energy are exactly what we need going forward.”

The East Hampton Town Board approved a management and stewardship plan for properties acquired with the community preservation fund at its meeting last Thursday, a plan that includes an estimated $850,000 for the restoration of studios on Neck Path in Springs that once belonged to the Abstract Expressionist painters James Brooks and Charlotte Park. 

Also in this year’s management and stewardship plan are the demolition of the barn that was built on otherwise vacant property at 555 Montauk Highway in Amagansett as well as the former Star Room nightclub in Wainscott. 

Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management, told the board that 379 parcels have been acquired to date, with 9 more in contract, representing 2,194 acres. 

Last year, the town entered into a licensing agreement with a nonprofit organization called Peconic Historic Preservation to manage the Brooks-Park holding, which it had acquired with C.P.F. money in 2012. The purchase was initially for the preservation of open space, with demolition of the buildings planned. Interest subsequently developed in preserving and restoring the house and artists’ studios, and Peconic Historic Preservation has been licensed to use the property for artistic programs, such as exhibitions, readings, and musical, theatrical, and dance performances. 

Robert Strada, a co-founder and executive director of Peconic Historic Preservation, praised the board for allocating money for the Brooks-Park site, which received historical designation in 2014. “It’s a site that is desperately in need of repair and restoration,” Mr. Strada said, explaining the artists’ importance, their friendship with the more well-known artists Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, and their contribution to New York’s status at midcentury as the center of the art world. 

Charlotte Park's "Untitled (50-49)" from about 1955

Mr. Strada referred to Duck Creek Farm, a Springs property now owned by the town, which had been owned by the painter John Little, a contemporary of Brooks, Park, Pollock, and Krasner, which is operated as a community arts center under Peconic Historic Preservation. The studio at Duck Creek Farm was the first historic restoration project completed with oversight by a town property committee established in 2014 by then-Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, who is now the supervisor. “We have these licensing agreements in which we are seeing to it that the community gets the biggest benefit out of the town’s investment in these properties,” Mr. Strada said. 

“Peconic Historic Preservation doesn’t see these as stand-alone C.P.F. projects,” he said. “We see the synergy of it all. . . . I envision all of these — those that benefit from C.P.F. dollars and those that don’t — being part of that greater collaborative spirit.” Those in the business of art “will easily see all of these through their long lens,” he said, “but at some point we’ll have the community see it the same way, that they’re all part of a very important part of East Hampton history.” 

Zach Cohen of the town’s nature preserve committee spoke of multi-use opportunities that he said would arise from the management and stewardship plan. His committee, and the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, have started mapping potential trails connecting town-owned properties, and are “hoping to participate when there’s a final management plan for the property,” he said. 

Also at the meeting, the board heard that demolition was planned for the small building adjacent to the Merrill Lake Sanctuary on Accabonac Harbor at 888 Springs-Fireplace Road, which the town had acquired. In addition, Mr. Wilson asked that the board approve the acquisition of 90 Gerard Drive in Springs, a half-acre parcel that he said contains extensive tidal wetlands that are significant for wetland habitat and flood control. In its assessment, the Planning Department said Gerard Drive was “one of the most environmentally sensitive areas within the town, with nearly all of its vacant parcels “strong candidates for public acquisition.”

Zeldin Challengers Meet Tuesday

Perry Gershon and Brendon Henry, two of the Democrats hoping to unseat Representative Lee Zeldin in November, will share their views at a forum on Tuesday in Bridgehampton. The third and final forum in a series sponsored by Progressive East End Reformers, it will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Bridgehampton National Bank.

Mr. Gershon, who lives in East Hampton, was one of the first Zeldin challengers to declare his candidacy. A businessman with a background in commercial real estate, he has noted that he has a considerable war chest. Mr. Henry, who hails from Center Moriches, is a bartender who studied political science. 

Also in the running for the Democratic nomination are Suffolk County Legislator Kate Browning of Shirley, former legislator Vivian Viloria-Fisher of East Setauket, Elaine DiMasi of Ronkonkoma, and David Pechefsky, a Patchogue native. 

Previous PEER forums featured Mr. Pechefsky and Ms. Viloria-Fisher on Jan. 9 and Ms. Browning and Ms. DiMasi on Jan. 23. Past forums were streamed live on PEER’s Facebook page, and Tuesday’s will be as well. 

Browning’s Campaign Cash

Kate Browning, a Suffolk County legislator who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin, has raised over $300,000 for that effort, her campaign announced on Jan. 31. 

In the fourth quarter of 2017, Ms. Browning raised more than $160,000 to add to the $140,000 already in hand, according to her campaign. The money comes from more than 500 individual donations, including from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Representative Steny Hoyer, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., Legislator Rob Calarco, and Riverhead Town Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith. Ms. Browning also received contributions from the Oil and Heat Institute of Long Island, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the Communications Workers of America, and Local 46 of the Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers union.

Connectivity and resiliency were the buzzwords in a presentation of updated hamlet-study plans that drew a capacity crowd to East Hampton Town Hall on Tuesday, with an overarching message that future development and redevelopment, consistently adhering to a coherent master plan, represent an opportunity to create a town that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The consultants engaged by the town board to conduct studies and make recommendations for the commercial districts of Wainscott, East Hampton, Springs, Amagansett, and the downtown and harbor areas of Montauk proposed dramatic changes for Montauk, including a coastal retreat in the face of sea level rise. 

In the downtown area, a multi-phase relocation of businesses landward from vulnerable breach areas would be accomplished through voluntary buyout programs, the identification of suitable areas for relocation, and adoption of a transfer-of-development-rights ordinance. Beaches and dunes would be restored to buffer against rising seas, and relocation would fill the downtown area’s vacant spaces.

Throughout the town, the consultants suggested strategically located roundabouts to improve traffic flow, bicycle and pedestrian pathways, walkable village centers, and second-story affordable housing, all of which they said would allow preservation of the respective hamlets’ historical and scenic character. 

In the Montauk harbor area, it was proposed that the loop at the north end of West Lake Drive be abandoned as a roadway and a portion converted to a naturalized shoreline. The town and Army Corps of Engineers would develop a plan to combat erosion of the beach adjacent to the west jetty. Coastal landscape buffers would be created and bulkheads raised and fortified against rising seas. 

These changes, the consultants said, would allow a continued reaping of the economic benefits derived from the town’s status as an internationally known tourist destination while also making it environmentally resilient. 

Peter Flinker of Dodson and Flinker, a Massachusetts consulting firm, and Lisa Liquori, of Fine Arts and Sciences and a former town planning director, presented their findings in the latest step in a multi-year process to guide future development. Feedback from the hamlets’ citizens advisory committees and individual correspondence, both received subsequent to the presentation of draft plans in June, helped to inform the updated recommendations, they said. Each hamlet plan is intended to dovetail with recommendations in the town’s comprehensive plan as well as with adopted plans and policies covering the likes of wastewater management, housing, water quality, coastal management, and energy. 

The consultants encouraged the formation of hamlet business associations, emphasizing that public-private cooperation would be important in achieving goals like connectivity, including of parking lots that would serve multiple businesses and public institutions. 

The town would likely need additional staff to implement the recommendations and required funding and follow-up study efforts, Ms. Liquori said, citing the necessary coordination with outside agencies. Alternatively, Mr. Flinker said, the citizens advisory committees might perform that function.

Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, the deputy supervisor, said yesterday that the board’s next move should be a work session to consider the presentation, with officials from the Planning Department on hand. A review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act would follow, and the plan would be refined with further public comment. A public hearing could happen by summer’s end, she said. 

Montauk

Along with the recommendations detailed above, Mr. Flinker said that the goal should be to preserve the best aspects of the downtown, harbor, and train station areas while making them more resilient to sea level rise. 

Recommendations for downtown included on-street parking changes and the use of flood-prone areas for parking, one-way traffic on some streets, designated taxi stands, a shared-use path on Main Street, and roundabouts at the eastern end of Old Montauk Highway and the intersection of Main Street and South Essex Street. Year-round housing should be added in second-story apartments, the consultants said, and seasonal work force housing encouraged via adoption of a seasonal housing overlay district. 

At the harbor, a roundabout at the intersection of Flamingo Avenue and West Lake Drive was proposed, as was a pedestrian walkway along the waterfront. 

Wainscott 

Recommendations for the town’s westernmost hamlet include a consolidation of existing parking lots and vacant parcels into a cohesive parking area, allowing fewer curb cuts. Connected sidewalks and paths, and consistent landscaping, would unite the commercial district, they said. 

A roundabout would replace the traffic light at the intersection of Main Street and Wainscott Northwest Road, improving flow, they said. The consultants envision parallel on-street parking, continuous sidewalks, and new street trees, along with raised medians. 

A home improvement zoning district should be created to facilitate relocation of incompatible uses, and the town should work with and explain the benefits of relocation, planners said.

They also suggested the town work with the owner of the former Wainscott Sand and Gravel property and the public to develop a plan for the site. Proposed uses include recreation and open space, home improvement and other businesses, relocated commercial-industrial uses, a solar farm, a shared parking lot, and modest affordable housing, though they acknowledged that the citizens committee, school district, and property owner all expressed reservations about the latter idea. 

A community wastewater system should be evaluated as part of the watershed management plan for Georgica Pond and redevelopment of the former sand mine property, they said. 

East Hampton

The consultants offered analyses and suggestions for North Main Street, Pantigo Road, and the sand mine at Springs-Fireplace Road, which is to cease operations within the next few decades. The study has identified the latter location as one of the largest developable areas in the town and a candidate for subdivision with commercial-industrial and residential parcels. 

The town should facilitate work force housing, adding second story apartments in commercial and limited business overlay zones and encourage affordable apartments in residential zones close to commercial areas, the consultants said, as well as advanced wastewater treatment. The creation of mixed-use work force housing on the former Stern’s property on Pantigo Road should also be encouraged, they said, and opportunities exist to create second-story apartments on North Main Street and Pantigo Road.

A new commercial special vehicle permit use should be created and suitable areas for contractors to keep heavy vehicles identified to alleviate noise and disruption in residential areas. Once developed, such vehicles might be kept at the sand mine site. 

On North Main Street, home to the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum and to which the Dominy clock and woodworking shops are to be returned, development should reflect small-town scale, historical character, and pedestrian orientation, the consultants said. 

Property owners on Pantigo Road should be encouraged and incentivized to consolidate parking and reduce existing curb cuts in present and future development. The intersection with Skimhampton Road should be realigned, they said. The standalone emergency room to be operated by Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, for which the town will lease property off Pantigo Road, represents an opportunity to improve traffic circulation, the consultants said.

Springs

Commercial vehicle parking use is also important for Springs, the consultants said, to relieve residential areas while accommodating the construction trade industry and independent contractors. 

The Fort Pond Boulevard area has the potential for development over time, and the consultants recommended creation of overlay districts and design guidelines emphasizing its neighborhood character. Bicycle and pedestrian routes should be established there. 

The consultants also envisioned a maritime walking district, a continuous waterfront path crossing public and private land, and suggested the town dock as a waterfront promenade and public park. The Paumonok Path might be linked with the head of Three Mile Harbor, they said. 

Traffic calming and bicycle and pedestrian routes for Springs-Fireplace Road and Three Mile Harbor Road should be considered, along with safe routes to the ocean and bay beaches, scenic areas, and other destinations. Sidewalks on Springs-Fireplace Road should be extended, the Suffolk County Transit bus route improved, and the shuttle bus services that have worked well in East Hampton and Montauk should serve Springs as well, the consultants said. 

Amagansett

Maintaining Amagansett’s scenic, rural, historical, small-town charm, and walkability, along with the farmland north of its commercial center, are the priorities in this hamlet, the consultants said. The hamlet’s municipal parking lot must accommodate more vehicles without encroaching on the farmland bordering it, and time limits would better manage demand. A raised walkway through the lot was suggested. 

Stores on Main Street might be adapted to accommodate second-story apartments while also creating a more cohesive streetscape, though that would require costly advanced sewage treatment, and the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee was cool to the suggestion.

The eastern edge of the hamlet is far more open to potential development, the consultants said, proposing a single district rather than a set of disparate lots, with parking consolidated behind buildings. A new interior roadway, pedestrian plazas and walkways, and new mixed-use structures close to Montauk Highway were proposed, as was a shared-use path along Montauk Highway for bicyclists and pedestrians, and connections to the ocean beach along and within existing roads. 

The Long Island Rail Road station’s parking lot must be reconfigured and expanded, with possible time limits implemented, and the nearby Long Island Power Authority substation better landscaped, they said. 

Residents will have time to digest the proposals, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said at the presentation’s conclusion. “This is going to be an ongoing conversation with the public,” he said, adding that the proposals represent “a great opportunity to improve our quality of life.” 

The town is “a popular place,” he said. “We know our infrastructure barely gets by” through the annual summer influx. “Through this,” he said, “we can address transportation needs, parking, circulation,” as well as wastewater, environmental stewardship, and economic opportunities. 

The presentation, Ms. Overby said yesterday, was “the first time we got to see how we can individualize” each hamlet. “I don’t think everything we saw is going to take hold,” she said, “but certainly, there were good ideas and examples of how we can really get details for each hamlet and keep each as identifiable as possible.”

An outcry over implementation of Suffolk County’s Shellfish Aquaculture Lease Program in Gardiner’s Bay and Peconic Bay, in which parcels are leased for private, commercial shellfish cultivation, is getting louder. 

Last summer, residents who live along Gardiner’s Bay and members of the Devon Yacht Club expressed unhappiness about a changing seascape as floating oyster farms began to appear offshore from Promised Land to Devon, extending to the Napeague Harbor inlet. Last month, the yacht club filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court seeking to bar leaseholders situated near the club from undertaking or continuing any action related to oyster farming at lease sites granted by the county’s Aquaculture Lease Board in July, or engaging in any other activity that would interfere with sailing. 

Now, two property owners on Cranberry Hole Road have launched a campaign to alert and unite their neighbors in opposition to the program, which was established after New York State ceded title to approximately 100,000 acres of bottomland to Suffolk County in 2004, and authorized the county to implement an aquaculture lease program for the region. 

“As residents of Cranberry Hole Road we are writing to inform you of a situation that has the potential to negatively impact our ability to use and enjoy the bay, our water views, and the value of our properties,” Michael Patrick and Philip Burkhardt, who are neighbors, wrote in a letter to residents on Monday. While floating oyster cages have been installed in just two lease sites to date, they wrote, a full implementation of the program would render more than 300 acres of the bay off-limits to recreational users. 

County officials published legal notices about the program, they wrote, but “did not seek input from affected homeowners directly and clearly did not consider the concerns of property owners and other recreational users of the water.”

“It wasn’t until I saw an article in The Star that talked about the size of it, potentially,” that the extent of the program became apparent, Mr. Burkhardt, a boater, kayaker, and stand-up paddleboarder, said yesterday. “The first was out to the northeast, then all of a sudden on the northwest area of the bay, you’re looking at that, saying, ‘What’s going on?’ ”

“We had seen boats doing stuff over the summer,” said Mr. Patrick, who swims, canoes, and kayaks in the bay, “but had no idea what was going on.” 

The problem, said Mr. Burkhardt, is that “this focuses a lot of traffic right along the shore. As a boater, a much more limited space concerns me.” 

“There’s got to be a safety issue here,” Mr. Patrick agreed. “I don’t think that was adequately considered.” 

Once those interested have signed on to the campaign to have their concerns heard, Mr. Patrick and Mr. Burkhardt plan to send a letter to County Legislator Bridget Fleming, East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. outlining those concerns. 

A draft of the letter refers to the hazards they say will result from a fully implemented aquaculture lease program. “Users of paddleboards, kayaks, sailboats, and power boats that tow water skiers, wakeboarders, etc., will be forced out much farther from shore, beyond these leases, and into the channel, which is very dangerous due to both strong tidal current and heavy power boat traffic,” it reads. “Moving closer to shore is not an option for many users due to shoaling, fish trap nets, lack of wind, and a desire to not conflict with bathers along the bay beaches.” Aesthetic considerations are also an issue, the letter states, with the “highly unattractive” floats and cages potentially impacting property values. 

Bayfront residents are not opposed to oyster cultivation, the letter states, and support efforts that would improve water quality (bivalves such as oysters, hard clams, and scallops filter the water as they feed, which helps to mitigate an overabundance of nutrients that promote algal blooms such as brown tide, which can kill shellfish and finfish). But they ask that the existing and proposed lease sites be relocated to areas that will not impede use of the bay by recreational boaters and property owners. As currently implemented, the program “is taking away a public resource used by hundreds for the benefits of a few private operators,” the letter reads. 

The notice was sent to as many of their neighbors’ email addresses as they could find, Mr. Patrick and Mr. Burkhardt said, and they plan a hard-copy package for the rest. “So far, we’re getting positive responses,” Mr. Patrick said. “We know there’s a lawsuit, but we thought it was important to get some politicians involved here. It appears there wasn’t the type of exchanges and conversation you ought to have.” 

Dorian Dale, the county’s director of sustainability and chief recovery officer, who serves on the aquaculture lease program’s board, said yesterday, “It’s good that people are engaged.” He added, however, that residents “would be well advised to do as much research on the program as they can, and get beyond the reflexive responses we have come to expect from folks in proximity to these kinds of issues.”

Mr. Patrick and Mr. Burkhardt hope that their neighbors will let them know by tomorrow if they will support the campaign.

Add this to Jay-Z’s 99 problems. 

The rapper and businessman, whose 2004 song by the same name was ranked number two in Rolling Stone magazine’s top 100 songs of the 2000s, was recently targeted by President Trump on Twitter; he left Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony empty-handed despite eight nominations, and he and his wife, the singer Beyoncé Knowles, publicly acknowledged marital discord on their respective albums “4:44” and “Lemonade.” 

So the potential loss of the vista from the East Hampton house for which they paid a reported $25.9 million last year might seem minor by comparison. Nevertheless, the couple have hired an attorney to voice their objections to a neighbor’s plan to build a house and pool that they fear could block the couple’s view of an open field from their house at 81 Briar Patch Road. 

The neighbor is Ana Meier, and she needs variances from the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals for a pool and an 8,325-square-foot house she hopes to build at 18 Jones Creek Lane. Ms. Meier is a furniture designer; the house was designed by her father, the noted architect Richard Meier, who lives nearby.

His was one of several lots created when a prior owner subdivided Fulling Mill Farm, which once stretched from Georgica and Briar Patch Roads to Georgica Pond. When the subdivision was created, the Nature Conservancy was the beneficiary of a 20-plus-acre parcel, now known as the Fulling Mill Farm Preserve. Mr. Meier purchased 18 Jones Creek Lane in 1972 and subsequently transferred it to his daughter. The preserve abuts both Ms. Meier’s property and that owned by Jay-Z and Beyoncé.

A private covenant restricted development within 80 feet of the preserve until 2022, but the Nature Conservancy waived the restriction, according to Ms. Meier’s attorney, Leonard Ackerman, allowing Ms. Meier to build closer to the preserve and farther from the ecologically stressed pond.

At a Jan. 12 hearing on her application, Mr. Ackerman told the zoning board that in balancing Ms. Meier’s needs with the board’s mandate to preserve the character of the neighborhood and protect adjacent property owners from adverse impact, his client’s application should be approved.

Ms. Meier needs variances to allow the pool to be just under 29 feet from the rear-yard setback, about 11 feet shy of the code’s requirement, and to allow the house to include an 18-foot-long enclosed breezeway that will be four feet wide. The code requires that such a feature be at least half as wide as it is long. 

Richard Warren of Inter-Science Research Associates, an environmental and land-use consultant also representing Ms. Meier, submitted recent photographs showing a row of Leyland cypress trees planted between Ms. Meier’s property and 81 Briar Patch Road. “Only two small windows” on that house face Ms. Meier’s property, Mr. Warren said, and “the trees almost go up to the ridge of the house.” The photos show, he said, that there has been a “recent, but substantial” effort “to create some privacy” between the properties. He pointed out that under the code, the swimming pool could be built closer to 81 Briar Patch Road, but that would create “more railroad development,” contrary to the architect’s vision. 

Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, acknowledged that the swimming pool’s proposed location is “farther from the neighbor who’s concerned about their privacy, and also farther from the pond.” Despite the code requirements for breezeways, compliance in this instance would require building an additional 90 square feet, Mr. Newbold said. “It seems counterintuitive that better zoning is served by building something bigger.” 

Nica Strunk, an attorney speaking on behalf of 81 Briar Patch L.L.C. and Noam Gottesman, a businessman and former hedge fund manager who owns 61 Briar Patch Lane, argued that the house and pool could be designed so as not to require variance relief, which should be the board’s preference. 

She agreed with Mr. Ackerman that the private covenant on the nature preserve is outside the zoning board’s purview. However, she pointed out that “the open field essentially extends into this 80 feet that was to be preserved until 2022. The large portion of the house is within that 80 feet. I question whether that is the right design for this property. I also question whether the house needs to be as big as it is.” 

The proposed house will be 616 square feet under the maximum allowable floor area, Mr. Newbold said, while the proposed lot coverage is 6,589 feet less than the maximum allowed. 

“Okay,” Ms. Strunk answered, but the swimming pool’s proposed location “is essentially where my client’s view of the open field has been.” The plantings notwithstanding, “I don’t think there’s any kind of barrier that would completely screen this pool from my client’s view.” There are other conforming locations for it, she insisted. 

She also complained about the “railroad-type design” of the house, suggesting that it was closer to two separate dwellings joined by “this very minimal connection,” the breezeway. “I question whether that is the most appropriate design,” she said. “Perhaps that is the purpose of the zoning code, to avoid that kind of strung-out configuration of a house.”

“But just be aware,” Mr. Newbold said, “if they double the size of the corridor, they would not require a variance.” The applicant’s stated goal is “to build as minimal as possible,” he said, “It’s also probably good to point out the house was designed by Richard Meier. . . . It was not a casually conceived structure.” 

“My concern is my client’s perspective,” Ms. Strunk answered. From the second floor of their house? asked John McGuirk, another board member, pointing out the height of the cypress trees. “I believe the guest house certainly is not fully screened by these plantings,” Ms. Strunk said. The trees, Mr. McGuirk said, “are going to keep growing.” Chris Minardi, his colleague, agreed. “Blocking the view of a pool, which is at ground level, is easy to do with a tree,” he said. 

Ms. Strunk persisted. “If it is feasible to do this without a variance, that needs to be demonstrated, and I don’t think that has been demonstrated.” 

The board was unmoved, and voted to close the hearing. A determination will be announced at a future meeting; the board will reconvene on Feb. 9.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman attended the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on Monday evening to further his campaign to obtain an historic designation for the hamlet’s business district. 

“I want to work with you at making this happen,” Mr. Schneiderman told the large turnout of residents assembled in a conference room at the Bridgehampton National Bank. 

Mr. Schneiderman made the case that the designation — whether achieved through local measures or by getting the district listed on the state and national registers of historic places — would help protect the integrity of Bridgehampton and, therefore, be good for both businesses and homeowners.

During Mr. Schneiderman’s two-term tenure as East Hampton Town supervisor, from 2000 to 2004, he played an integral part in the successful effort to have a portion of the hamlet of Amagansett registered as a historic district. To receive that designation from the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places, a site or district must be declared “significant in the history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture of New York and the nation.”

Although Mr. Schneiderman predicted that Bridgehampton property values would go up if the designation were established, because it would safeguard the “special feeling” of the place, one downside to the change would be the inevitable building restrictions — geared toward protecting a district’s historic character — that would follow. 

The response to Mr. Schneiderman’s proposal from the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee was extremely positive. “During the last 25 or so years, we have undergone an incredible transition from a rural farming hamlet to a landscape of McMansion subdivisions and tear-downs replaced with out-of-scale houses,” said Pamela Harwood, the C.A.C.’s chairwoman. “The notion of creating appropriate models and guidelines going forward is welcome, as is saving Bridgehampton Main Street.” 

But Phil Mannino, who on Wednesday evening was working the host’s station at World Pie on Main Street, which is owned by his son Michael, had a differing opinion. “I think it’s a little heavy-handed,” said Mr. Mannino, who is in favor of residential restrictions but worried that the historic designation would mean ceding control over business decisions, like whether or not to replace the restaurant’s windows. “I pay taxes so I’d like to be able to run my business the way I want.”