Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company that plans to construct a 15-turbine wind farm approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, will present the conclusions of surveys pertaining to its potential impacts at the East Hampton Town Trustees’ meeting on Monday. One survey relates to the area where the wind farm is to be built; other surveys were done following the construction of the Block Island Wind Farm, which Deepwater Wind also built and operates. The trustees’ meeting will start at 6 p.m. at Town Hall. 

Officials of Deepwater Wind have engaged with the community, including commercial fishermen who oppose the project, throughout this year in preparation for submission of permit applications early next year. They have delivered presentations at several trustee meetings, to the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee, and at a public event at Clinton Academy in East Hampton. 

The company recently opened an office at 524 Montauk Highway in Amagansett, where Jennifer Garvey, the company’s Long Island development manager, and Julia Prince, a fisheries liaison, are based. 

On Tuesday, Catherine Bowes, the National Wildlife Federation’s national manager for climate and energy, met with trustees and a group of residents, the latter at the residence of Susan McGraw Keber, a trustee-elect. 

With the belief that climate change poses the greatest threat to wildlife, the National Wildlife Federation launched a campaign to promote offshore wind in 2010, Ms. Bowes said. The group held broad discussions with Deepwater Wind as it planned the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm, which began operation one year ago, and is in ongoing discussions with the company as it prepares to submit a formal plan for the South Fork Wind Farm, as the project off Montauk is more formally known. 

Chief among the group’s concern, Ms. Bowes said on Monday, is the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, which she said numbers approximately 480. Fewer than 200 are females, she said. Construction of the wind farm must minimize any threat to the whales, which migrate up and down the East Coast, she said. 

Once built, the structures are not a significant concern, Ms. Bowes said. “It’s the construction process that creates significant underwater noise and activity that can jeopardize whales.” For the Block Island Wind Farm’s construction, she said, “We reached an agreement to ensure that pile-driving and installation” of the turbines’ foundations “would occur outside of the peak migration periods for right whales,” which come in April and May. “We’re working on a similar agreement for the South Fork project. They’re well aware of our concerns and have a proven track record with their Block Island project.”

Ms. Bowes said that she has not seen data indicating that electromagnetic frequencies emanating from a wind farm’s transmission cable pose a threat to marine life or alter their habitat, as the project’s opponents have suggested. “All energy sources have some impact on wildlife,” she said. “When we say we support responsibly developed offshore wind power, we’re not suggesting there’s going to be no impact at all. We really try to look at the big picture, and recognize there are a host of threats to the ocean from dirtier sources of energy, whether acidification, climate change, mercury contamination, acid rain. . . .”

Warming and more acidic oceans caused by the burning of fossil fuels are what prompted the National Wildlife Federation to advocate for large-scale renewable energy sources, she said. “That said, it has to be done right, and ‘Wildlife’ is our middle name. We do look at it very closely. But to suggest there would be zero impact — you’re building energy infrastructure in the ocean. We think that, on balance, it’s critically important that we find a way to do it and do it right. That comes to making sure we’re picking good sites, and the timing and method of construction are done with the highest standards of environmental protection along the way. We’re following it very closely in the case of this lease area and this project.”

New York State has extended its open enrollment period for qualified health plan coverage through Jan. 31, according to the Department of Health. In states that use the federal marketplace, the deadline is still Friday, Dec. 15.

Because New York operates its own marketplace, N.Y. State of Health, it has chosen to exercise its authority to set its open enrollment period dates. Officials hope the extension will meet the needs of consumers by ensuring that they have sufficient time to consider their health care options and enroll.

All marketplace plans offer comprehensive coverage including free preventive services, doctor visits (including specialists), tests ordered by doctors, prescription drugs, and inpatient and outpatient hospital care.

  East End residents can visit the East Hampton Healthcare Center at 200 Pantigo Road for assistance with health care plans or obtain coverage through the New York marketplace website, nystateofhealth.ny.gov.

Representative Lee Zeldin was among the officials who on Monday announced that 31 grants totaling $2 million are to be awarded to municipalities and community groups to improve the health and vitality of Long Island Sound. 

The grants are aimed at water quality improvement and natural habitat restoration projects, as well as efforts to educate and involve the public in protecting and restoring the Sound. According to Mr. Zeldin’s office, 439,000 gallons of water runoff is to be treated, reducing nitrogen flow and removing 2,800 pounds of floating trash each year. 

Pete Lopez, the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s regional administrator, Carrie Meek Gallagher, the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s regional director, Amanda Bassow, northeast regional director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and other state and municipal officials joined Mr. Zeldin at the Flax Pond Marine Laboratory in the Village of Old Field on the North Shore for the announcement.

“The Long Island Sound is a precious feature of our life, culture, and economy, one that affects the livelihoods of all Long Islanders, as well as our local recreation and tourism industries,” Mr. Zeldin said in a statement in advance of the event. “Protecting and restoring this critical waterway, which has suffered from pollution and overdevelopment over so many years, is so important to improving our area’s water quality, restoring our area’s natural habitats, and improving Long Islanders’ quality of life.”

The East Hampton Republican Committee honored Mary Vorpahl, its nominee for Suffolk County Woman of the Year, at a gathering of the Suffolk County Republican Women in Holbrook last Thursday. 

Reg Cornelia, the East Hampton Republicans’ chairman, cited the many years’ work and perseverance by Ms. Vorpahl and her late husband, Stuart Vorpahl, to preserve the rights, privileges, and obligations of the East Hampton Town Trustees. 

The Dongan Patent of 1686 created the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of East Hampton. The town has been governed, entirely in its early years and in some part to this day, by the rules and rights set forth in the document. 

Ms. Vorpahl and her late husband “almost single-handedly kept alive the Dongan Patent and the very idea of the role of the trustees in preserving the rights of the citizens of East Hampton to access and enjoy the lands granted to them,” Mr. Cornelia said. “Without their tireless efforts, the Dongan Patent and the rights of citizens granted by it might have become just a museum artifact, not a living, breathing force on behalf of the citizenry.”

Mr. Cornelia said that Ms. Vorpahl had not always been a Republican, and that while he was proud that his party was honoring her work, he was sure that all political parties in East Hampton hold her in equally high regard. 

“Mary and Stuart were fiercely dedicated to restoring and preserving the role of the trustees in the life of our town, and that has been and will continue to be to the benefit of us all,” he said.

Ms. Vorpahl’s daughter, Susan Vorpahl, who was elected to the trustees last month, and grandson, Kyle Ballou, who is the East Hampton Republicans’ secretary, were present at the gathering. “If Susan is anything like her mother, and I know she is, she will be a major asset for the trustees,” Mr. Cornelia said.

The Southampton Town Board passed a $99.4 million budget for 2018, though it lacked support from one board member.

Approved in a 4-to-1 vote, the 2018 budget reduces the tax rate by about 1 percent, in part because assessed valuations have grown. The tax rate has been reduced for the second straight year. The budget also remains below the state mandated tax cap.

“I’m proud to deliver a budget that continues to reduce taxes while maintaining and improving vital services for our residents,” said Supervisor Jay Schneiderman.

The budget includes a 5-percent increase in spending. The budget contains funding for all current programs, allows for contractual and promotional salary increases, and funds one additional full-time code enforcement officer.

Councilwoman Christine Scalera said by phone yesterday that the increase in spending and the increase in the tax levy were too high to get her support. The 2018 budget’s tax levy is about $64 million, an increase of approximately 4.5 percent over the $61.3 million tax levy in the 2017 fiscal year.

“The tax levy is ever-increasing. This is a result of our excessive spending. It is not sustainable over time,” Ms. Scalera said, adding that over the last two years there has been about a 9-percent increase in spending.

While everyone is focused on the tax rate decreasing — six-tenths of 1 percent this year — “the bottom is going to fall out,” she said. “It’s going to be problematic.” The tax rate for 2018 will be $1.389 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Ms. Scalera has been concerned since the supervisor made a deal with the Civil Service Employees Association’s bargaining unit outside of regular contract negotiations, and is unsettled that the town has burdened itself with what she terms “reoccurring and unsustainable costs.”

She said part of the reason the town was able to get an AAA rating from both bonding agencies was because it had maintained strong control over employee costs over the past eight years.

Councilman Stan Glinka, a Republican who was not re-elected earlier this month, supported the budget, but said he hoped the board would keep fiscal responsibility a top priority as it moves forward without him. He said he is worried the town is “top-heavy in management here,” even as staffing continues to be an issue, particularly in code enforcement, the Building Department, and the trustee’s offices.

Earlier this year, the town board hired Steven Troyd for the newly created position of town code compliance and emergency management administrator. Mr. Glinka had voted against the creation of the position.

“Sometimes you need more boots on the ground, whether it’s internally or externally, out in the field, over higher-level administrative positions,” Mr. Glinka said.

The town board also approved an $8.6 million capital budget, an increase of approximate $1.5 million over the current year, according to Leonard Marchese, the town comptroller. The capital budget includes funding for an upgrade to the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning at Town Hall, as well as road improvements and upgrades to the police communications and dispatch facilities, among other things.

In other town news, councilman-elect Tommy John Schiavoni announced this week that he will resign from the Sag Harbor School Board. His last meeting as a member of the school board will be on Dec. 18. He is also a member of the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, but will no longer serve once he takes office as a councilman in early January.

Southampton Town

Board will consider the Hills proposal

A Southampton Town Board meeting will be held at Town Hall on Tuesday afternoon. The board will consider the zone change application for the Hills at Southampton, a proposed mixed-used planned development district in East Quogue, and a local law to change the zoning district there for the Hills. The meeting begins at 1 p.m.  

New York State

Boathouse on the Register

The William A. Farnum Boathouse in Sag Harbor has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced on Nov. 20. The property had been added to the New York State Register of Historic Places in October. State and National Register listings can assist property owners in revitalizing buildings, making them eligible for various public preservation programs and services such as matching state grants and state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits. 

Built circa 1915, the William A. Farnum Boathouse is named for an early-20th-century stage and film actor who had roles in more than 20 films from 1930 to his death in 1953. The boathouse featured a lower level for boat storage and an upstairs lounge and trophy room where Mr. Farnum hosted summer and Christmas parties. 

The Ellis Squires House in Hampton Bays has also been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Federal-style structure is historically significant for its architectural design representing its post-Revolutionary construction period. The two-story house with a gabled roof was built circa 1790 and has a wealth of interior fabric dating from its late-18th-century construction period. Located at 186 Newtown Lane, it is the oldest surviving dwelling in Hampton Bays and is named for its first owner and builder. 

It is believed that Ellis Squires Jr. and his wife, Jerusha Rogers, built the house, providing for a family that grew to seven children. Ellis and Jerusha Squires also established a network of descendants and a community that became known as Squiretown in the 19th century.

A committee formed to assess water quality improvement projects that could be paid for with East Hampton Town’s community preservation fund brought two new proposals to the town board’s table last week: replacement of an aging septic system at an affordable apartment complex with a system using newer technology that strips polluting nitrogen from waste emissions, and the replacement of a 1930s-era stormwater drainage pipe that channels runoff into Georgica Pond.

Voters last year approved a referendum allowing the use of up to 20 percent of the town’s preservation fund — originally established for open space, farmland, and historic preservation — on water protection and improvement initiatives. So far, the town has approved funding for three projects with the preservation fund money earmarked for water quality — all to prevent or remove nitrogen or other pollutants in Accabonac Harbor in Springs. Funding has been requested to help the Springs School address its failing septic system.

Chris Clapp, who serves on the town’s technical advisory committee for water quality projects funded by the C.P.F., told the town board at a Nov. 21 meeting that the managers of the Whalebone Village apartments have asked the town to finance the $376,000 installation of a low-nitrogen septic system at the complex. The apartments lie off Three Mile Harbor Road in a watershed and harbor protection district. Those areas are the focus of a separate town program that provides rebates of up to $16,000 per household for the installation of nonpolluting septic systems. 

Mr. Clapp said that the septic system upgrade is only one among a number of improvements — including installing energy-efficient doors and windows and solar panels — for which Whalebone Village is seeking grants. Should the town agree to provide the money for the septic system, that money would fulfill a requirement for a local municipal contribution in order for the complex to win state money, which would go toward the other improvements.

The complex, with 46 rental units, is responsible for generating wastewater equivalent to that produced by about 23 single-family houses, Mr. Clapp said — a “large point-source of wastewater” that could be eliminated by the new septic system installation.

In East Hampton Village, Mr. Clapp said, a pipe running 7,700 feet from the Cove Hollow area and Route 114 to Georgica Cove has more than 20 entry points where unfiltered stormwater runoff flows in and runs directly into the pond. 

The advisory committee, he said, recommends an assessment of the pipe and a variety of strategies that could prevent untreated water being directed into the pond. Solutions might include a combination of new drywells along the route and the diversion of water into them; new catch basins to “try to get as much of the rain into the ground as close to where it fell” as possible; installing filters in the pipe to trap pollutants along the way, and, if necessary, treating outflow at the end of the pipe to remove pathogens and nutrients before the water ends up in the pond. 

The town will issue a request for proposals for that engineering work.

East Hampton Town will purchase a second property on Squaw Road in Springs, near Three Mile Harbor, after the town board held a hearing on the acquisition last Thursday night. The .62-acre lot, owned by Joseph Dragotta, will cost $455,000, which will come from the community preservation fund. 

David Buda, a Springs resident, spoke against the purchase. The property, in a one-acre residential zone, is “quite overpriced,” he said. Under zoning restrictions, asserted Mr. Buda, development is already restricted on much of the lot. “I think it is a poor use of C.P.F. funds,” he said. 

Mr. Buda, who regularly attends board meetings and has often raised objections to preservation fund land purchases, complained that the town board does not seem to actually take comments made at public hearings into account. The board “listens politely,” he said, does not respond to comments, and moves forward on resolutions of approval that are already prepared. “It is essentially a dog-and-pony show,” he said. 

Also at last Thursday’s meeting, several parents of autistic children spoke to the board in support of a recent proposal by the Gersh Academy, a private concern that runs a number of schools and programs for children in need of special services, to take over the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons building.

The building is on land leased from the town in Wainscott. While its owner, the former C.D.C.H., has reportedly come to an agreement with Gersh Academy, the town must sign off on reassignment of the land lease. 

Autism is a “growing problem,” said Julian Barrowcliffe, who said that after his young son was diagnosed, he was “shocked at how hard it’s been for us to locate and secure services for him here.” His family and others were “very excited,” he said, to hear about the Gersh Academy proposal, which he called “certainly the closest thing I’ve seen to a no-brainer.” 

He said he had been “rather baffled” to hear that “there is pushback” from some school districts concerned about loss of funding they receive to provide special education services for some students that may end up going to Gersh Academy. But, he said, if the districts are no longer required to provide for those students, there should be no net economic loss to them. 

“Many don’t realize that there’s a community of children here with autism,” Genie Egerton-Warburton told the board. “We need a school here for children with autism. This is a huge problem.” She said she had surveyed nearby pediatricians, who had estimated that there are up to 100 children in the area who could benefit from attendance at the Gersh Academy. 

“Since you have the facility there, if we could work out some sort of lease . . . what’s it going to take?” she asked the board. 

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell told her that after a presentation from the head of Gersh Academy, board members had followed up with questions for him, “and all that is under consideration. We are going to make a decision on it,” he said. 

Another speaker at Town Hall last Thursday beseeched the board to restore the townwide leaf pickup program, a service that was abolished by the previous supervisor, Bill Wilkinson. 

Vivian Wilkinson of Montauk said she had not brought up the topic with Mr. Wilkinson, her brother-in-law, but that her husband had spoken against abolishing the program at a town meeting several years ago. “The place was packed,“ she said. “Nobody wanted it taken away, and, darn it, that board did it.” 

Ms. Wilkinson said that not having the town Highway Department collect piles of leaves left at the roadside is particularly problematic for older residents who cannot easily rake, collect, load, or carry leaves to the recycling centers, or afford to hire someone to do it.

Ms. Wilkinson also supported the call for services in East Hampton for autistic children, citing her own family’s experience in underscoring the need for appropriate intervention and help. 

The “cautiously optimistic” stance voiced by Manny Vilar early Tuesday night yielded to disappointment as the Republican candidate for East Hampton Town Supervisor and his running mates, Paul Giardina and Gerard Larsen, watched their vote totals fall far behind those of their opponents, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, who was elected supervisor, and Councilwoman Kathee-Burke Gonzalez and Jeff Bragman, who will join him on the town board. 

High hopes for the Republicans’ slate of candidates for town trustee were also dashed as Democratic incumbents and first-time candidates alike posted surprisingly strong vote totals. The trus­tees­’ Democratic clerk, Francis Bock, and his deputies, Bill Taylor and Rick Drew, will apparently enjoy a 7-2 majority in January, when the new board is sworn in. 

The magnitude of the Republicans’ loss was underscored by the apparent defeat of Diane McNally, the trustees’ former longtime clerk who has served on the board for more than two decades. According to unofficial results from the Suffolk County Board of Elections, Ms. McNally finished in 10th place, 206 votes behind Susan McGraw Keber, a first-time Democratic candidate, although absentee ballots had yet to be counted.

As disappointed Republicans filed out of Cittanuova in East Hampton shortly before 11 p.m., Reg Cornelia, chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, confirmed that he will step down in the new year. 

“I think it’s time for somebody younger,” said Mr. Cornelia, who will be 75 next year, “and certainly more skilled with a computer than I am.”

In East Hampton, Democratic Party enrollment provides an advantage that is “always hard to overcome,” he said. “This constitutional convention issue brought out union voters, who are overwhelmingly Democratic. That had to have some impact.” New York State voters decisively rejected a question on the ballot as to whether a constitutional convention should be held, a proposal that stirred intense opposition among various interest groups. 

A concerted effort by Democrats to encourage second-home owners to move their voter registration to East Hampton further hurt Republicans, “as if they didn’t already have enough of an advantage,” Mr. Cornelia said. “New York City doesn’t need more Democrats to vote there, so they vote here, and that really hurts us.” 

“I thought that our candidates were superior, both for the trustees and the town board, in terms of managerial experience,” the chairman said, a view that was repeated by the candidates themselves, and their supporters, throughout the night. “We had such a great field of candidates, in terms of experience.” 

Carole Campolo, the East Hampton Republicans’ former vice chairwoman, echoed Mr. Cornelia’s lament about the party’s disadvantage with respect to voter registration. “It’s always an uphill battle for us,” she said on Tuesday night. “East Hampton is a microcosm of what happens on the national level, a lot of times. We have a media that leans very much left, so it’s very hard for us to get our message out. I think we had spectacular candidates.” 

Mr. Vilar said that he and his running mates can take heart in shedding light on important issues, among them “how underpaid and underserved the town employees are, and what a tremendous asset they are to the community. This new town board really needs to do the right thing by the town employees. They are the backbone of our town government, not the elected officials, who come and go. These are the career people providing services, from driving seniors to code enforcement to plowing our roads in the wintertime. They are under tremendous pressure with the cost of living, and need some critical attention. Of all the issues we brought forth, that’s one that was rarely discussed by anybody. Now everybody knows.” 

One of the Republicans’ few reasons to celebrate was Susan Vorpahl’s apparent election to the trustees. Ms. Vorpahl is a daughter of Stuart Vorpahl Jr., a bayman and longtime trustee who died last year. She will join Jim Grimes, who has proven popular among Republicans and Democrats alike in his first term, as the body’s sole Republicans. 

“I’m disappointed that more of my running mates didn’t get on,” Ms. Vorpahl said on Tuesday night. Her running mates, she said, “really have our town at heart, like I do. They really want the best, and want to be able to work for the people to keep that core value of what the trustees are. I am going to work as hard as I can.” Her father “lived and breathed the East Hampton Town Trustees,” his daughter said. “I want to carry on his legacy and my family’s legacy. It means a lot to me.” 

Despite the outcome, Mr. Giardina and Mr. Larsen said that they had conveyed their message to voters. “We did our survey,” Mr. Giardina, a former official with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said of a study he had commissioned and used as a guide to his campaign. “I started with water . . . water, opioids, and housing.” 

He had spent Election Day in Montauk, he said. “I’ve never done this before, and people were saying, ‘I voted for you’ and ‘Water, yes.’ A lot of people did this. So yeah, I think I got it across.” 

Mr. Larsen, the former chief of the East Hampton Village Police Department, promised another campaign in two years. “We’ve certainly pointed out that the current town board cannot get anything done,” he said on Tuesday night. “We have a tremendous amount of town employees here tonight supporting us. That they can’t even secure their own employees to support them, there’s something majorly wrong with Town Hall.”

“They’ve got a lot of work to do in a lot of areas,” Mr. Giardina said of the incoming town board. “You have to wish them luck.” 

“Two years,” Mr. Larsen repeated, in reference to his future plans. “We’re going to build the party, we’re going to come back, and we’re going to come back strong.” 

Ms. Campolo also looked for a silver lining in the disappointing results. “I think there’s a lot of positives in this,” she said. “We have a united party, and I think if we make some tweaks in our personnel, we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

East Hampton Town

Extend Wainscott Moratorium

A yearlong moratorium on commercial development along Montauk Highway in Wainscott is likely to be extended for six months while planners hired by East Hampton Town finish a study of the hamlet. The moratorium was set to expire on Nov. 30. The town board is expected to vote on the extension at its meeting tonight in Town Hall. The extension would also need Suffolk Planning Commission approval.

Marguerite Wolffsohn, the town planning director, said on Tuesday that a final draft of the hamlet study should be completed in January. It would then go to the town board for review and be the subject of a public hearing prior to adoption.