Town officials are preparing for a vote in the fall on whether to let a portion of the community preservation fund, now earmarked for land purchases only, be used for water quality improvement projects.

Referendums will be on the November ballot in all five East End towns to extend the life of the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund through 2050, continuing the 2-percent real estate transfer tax that provides money for the fund, and to allow up to 20 percent of the C.P.F. to be used to combat the increasing pollution, by septic waste and runoff, of ground, drinking, and surface waters.

The local law, mirroring state legislation, would define the types of water quality improvement projects that could be funded, including wastewater treatment systems, pollution prevention, and aquatic habitat protection and restoration. Some of the money earmarked for water quality could be pooled with money from other East End towns for regional projects that fall within the guidelines.

Money could not be used for “projects that accommodate new growth,” said Nancylynn Thiele, a town attorney who presented a draft law to the town board at a meeting on Tuesday. Projects would have to be consistent with adopted water quality plans, including one that is being drafted by town staffers, and individually authorized by the town board after public hearings.

The commercial areas of Amagansett and East Hampton outside the incorporated village were in the spotlight when residents met in discussion and hands-on design sessions with planning consultants last week. Following similar meetings that concentrated on Wainscott and Springs, Harry Dodson and Peter Flinker of Dodson and Flinker, a firm hired by the East Hampton Town Board, Lisa Liquori, an independent planner who was East Hampton’s planning director in the 1980s, and traffic and economic planning consultants led residents in walking tours and workshops from last Thursday through Saturday.

The town’s comprehensive plan, a blueprint updated in 2005 that addressed overall zoning and land preservation, had called for additional studies to home in on the town’s hamlet centers so that new laws and policies could shape how what are considered their downtowns would be allowed to change over time.

During one of the sessions last week, Mr. Flinker said the consultants had been hearing, overall, that residents don’t want to see more development or traffic. The key, he said, is to achieve balance between “allowing for appropriate growth,” shaping the future of what is already here and setting conditions in place for it to change in desirable ways over time, and not doing anything to destroy what’s cherished.

“If this was going to change —  and certainly it’s going to change over time — we want to guide it in some way,” he said.

Those who have taken part in the hamlet sessions have focused generally on creating or maintaining a village ambience in the hamlets even if Montauk Highway runs through them, as it does in Amagansett and Wainscott. In Mr. Dodson’s view, by setting standards the town can foster areas that have “pedestrian amenities . . . pleasant places to be.”

Among the goals discussed for all of the hamlets were enhanced transportation and traffic safety, for pedestrians and bicycles as well as vehicles, and identifying services and amenities desired by the community and then suggesting ways in which the town might help maintain or achieve them. New regulations governing private property and town actions, such as designating parkland, were mentioned.

With plans for such things as access roads behind commercial buildings, which would be set back and screened from the road by trees and bushes, “walkable centers that feel like they are a natural part of a historic town like East Hampton,” can be created, Mr. Dodson said last week.

  “Not doing anything would just allow the current trends to continue, and it will get worse,” Mr. Dodson said. “Instead of just waiting for things to happen to you, it’s so important to solve these problems of affordability, to solve these problems of traffic, of having businesses to serve year-round locals. Change —  especially if it’s change that you control, can be very positive,” he said. “New development can be a tool to address the needs of the community. It doesn’t have to be ugly. It can fit in with the historic character of the town.”

“We want to make sure that the plan reflects your concerns, and isn’t something that’s imposed from outside. You need to take control — which is what tonight is all about,” Mr. Flinker told a group of residents.

According to Mr. Dodson, there’s a high potential for future development in the hamlet of East Hampton outside of the incorporated village. More than 900 housing units could be created in the hamlet under current zoning, he said. With an average of 16,000 vehicle trips per day, the North Main Street area is second only to the Montauk Highway in Wainscott in traffic.

East Hampton beyond the incorporated village is also second only to Springs in population density; a third of its land mass is preserved, the largest block of preserved farmland in the town. 

Discussion also centered on potential changes to traffic patterns along North Main Street to relieve congestion, on the possible future commercial use of the former Stern’s department store site on Pantigo Road, and on the use of the Bistrian mining pit on Springs-Fireplace Road at some time in the future after the sand extraction that takes place there is exhausted. That area has the potential to provide a mix of parkland, housing, and space for local businesses, the consultants said.

As for Amagansett, the consultants said 11 percent of the land is still vacant and subject to development under current zoning. The hamlet has 2,500 residences, fewer than almost every other hamlet in the town, and only 24 percent are year-round residences, Mr. Dodson said. An additional 403 houses could be built. It was noted that the farmland behind the municipal parking lot on the north side of Amagansett’s Main Street is not preserved and is zoned for two-acre house lots

Some of the Amagansett discussion centered on the future of the eastern part of the hamlet along the Montauk Highway. This included the potential for redevelopment of the IGA shopping area, and the inclusion of affordable housing above stores. One group listed new businesses residents would like to see: a variety store, drugstore, dry cleaner, hair and nail salon, hardware store, shoe repair, and bank.

But Michael Cinque, the owner of a liquor store in the center of Amagansett’s downtown, said the hamlet’s central Main Street should be the focus of planning efforts “instead of creating an ‘Amagansett A’ and ‘Amagansett B.’ ”

To ease traffic and beautify the area near the Amagansett train station — perhaps also screening the unsightly new power substation built by PSEG — there was a suggestion to reconfigure the end of Old Stone Highway and its railroad crossing, creating a right-angle intersection with Montauk Highway and eliminating the Y-shaped jog motorists must take to get on and off the highway. A planted expanse was suggested there.

 Also last week, Russell Archambault of RKG Associates, the economic consultant for the hamlet studies effort, surveyed year-round residents during a number of focus group sessions, polling them on positive and negative factors of life here, shopping patterns and preferences, and priorities for economic development.

The consultants will return in the fall for sessions on the last of the hamlets to be studied — Montauk. In the interim, they will draft plans to be considered by the public and town officials for the four hamlets already studied.

A long hoped-for local shuttle-transport service, involving light diesel trains that would coordinate with buses and taxis, may be in place as soon as next year.

New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced recently that the Long Island Rail Road had agreed to explore a South Fork shuttle service similar to one that ran with success on a trial basis in 2007 and 2008.

“This is a major breakthrough, getting the L.I.R.R. to agree to this as a goal,” Supervisor Larry Cantwell said at an East Hampton Town Board meeting on Tuesday. Representatives from the five East End towns are expected to attend a strategy meeting with Patrick Nowakowski, the L.I.R.R. president, in Riverhead early next month.

A commitment on the part of Suffolk County and the local governments to provide connecting transportation services, marketing, and public outreach, in a campaign to gain riders, is key to the plan’s success, Mr. Thiele said. The initial goal would be to establish two morning shuttles and one in the afternoon.

“I view this as the first positive development for increased South Fork service in years,” said the assemblyman, who met with Mr. Nowakowski last month. “However, it will take a concerted effort among the L.I.R.R., local government, business leaders, and the community to make this successful. I look forward to leading this effort.”

With local governments, Mr. Thiele has worked to expand public transportation here for some years. Five Town Rural Transit, a grassroots organization, was instrumental in getting the pilot shuttle program on line. Mr. Thiele successfully pushed for the inclusion of $37.5 million in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 2013 budget for the purchase of lighter diesel trains to be used for shuttling, but the L.I.R.R. could not find such trains that were both compatible with their system and also met federal requirements.

Instead, diesel trains already owned by the railroad will be used, and the L.I.R.R. will use the $37.5 million for other capital projects.

Last Thursday, the town board voted to endorse the state’s proposed creation of a Peconic Bay Transportation Council, facilitating cooperation on public transport among East End town governments. According to the resolution, “Traffic congestion has resulted in increased trip delays, declining air quality, adverse impacts to historic and rural resources in  the region’s villages and hamlets, parking problems, [and] adverse impacts to residential communities and neighborhoods resulting from the diversion of traffic from major highways and arteries to rural residential streets and roads.”

Residents of a neighborhood surrounding a sand-mining pit off Middle Highway in East Hampton asked the town board last week to investigate dumping they said was taking place there. The pit, which is legal because it was created before local zoning laws, is owned by the Talmage family and has both local and state Department of Environmental Conservation permits.

Nanci LaGarenne, representing the Freetown Neighborhood Advisory Committee, spoke to the board, as did her husband, Jim LaGarenne. Use of the site is of concern, the LaGarennes said, as it is in an area now zoned for three-acre minimum residential lots as well as a water recharge zone. A Suffolk County Water Authority well is in the vicinity, Mr. LaGarenne said, as is the Soak Hides dreen, a water course that drains into Three Mile Harbor. Ms. LaGarenne also said she thought the property had recently been sold, but town officials said it had not changed hands.

Supervisor Larry Cantwell said the East Hampton Town Building, Code Enforcement, and Attorneys Departments were investigating the status and use of the property, and that it could continue no matter who owns it. But, he said, “We’re not going to tolerate any illegal dumping there, under any circumstances.” He encouraged anyone who observed any allegedly illegal activities there to inform the Code Enforcement Department. 

Betsy Bambrick, the head of that department, said Tuesday that an investigation was ongoing, but she said the only thing observed being placed on the property so far was topsoil.

In their ongoing effort to resolve the dispute over the ownership of stretches of the ocean beach on Napeague, East Hampton Town officials moved ahead this week with eminent domain proceedings.

The town resolved in 2014 to condemn, depending on the outcome of the current legal proceedings, two separate parcels totaling just over 22 acres of shorefront between the mean high water mark and the toe of sand dunes.

One parcel includes 4,000 linear feet between the end of Napeague Lane and the border of Napeague State Park; the other stretches for 1,550 linear feet from the eastern boundary of Napeague State Park to the road-end at Dolphin Drive.

On Tuesday, a consultant hired to complete a required environmental review before condemnation can take place briefed the town board. To move ahead with an environmental impact statement, he said, the board should declare itself lead agency on the project and then schedule a meeting to hear public comment on the potential environmental impacts of claiming town ownership.

As the beat of the summer season begins this Memorial Day, live bands that have been booked for performances this season at many an East Hampton Town restaurant and bar could be silenced, depending on the outcome of a systematic license review being conducted by the town.

News of the town’s review just before the start of high season has led to criticism and charges of a “no-fun” regime.

“How quickly people forget last Fourth of July weekend,” East ­Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said this week, explaining that officials are using all the tools at their disposal to rein in an out-of-control summer resort scene that so many residents complained about last summer.

Montauk, which has a particular concentration of bars and music venues, “has a long history of music; it’s an important part of the community today,” he said this week. “However, business establishments should be in compliance with the local zoning and public safety laws of the community.” Those lacking all the proper licenses could see their music shows shut down.

Public drunkenness, overrun bars and clubs, taxi traffic jams, disorderly visitors, and overcrowded and illegal summer rentals created so much chaos in Montauk last Fourth of July weekend that close to 300 residents flowed into a town board meeting several days later to express their concerns and frustration and plead for relief. Town officials responded with stepped-up enforcement by police and code enforcement officers and the enactment of new regulations designed to tamp down out-of-hand party spots.

The live entertainment that draws many patrons to a growing number of venues requires not only a music entertainment permit from the town but also approval from the New York State Liquor Authority, if a business holds a liquor license.

The liquor authority held a hearing recently regarding the Surf Lodge, which is the subject of several summonses issued by the town. Five noise complaints, two overcrowding charges, and two charges related to yoga classes offered on site are pending in town justice court, according to the town attorney. (An issue regarding a mural on the Surf Lodge building was resolved on Monday with a guilty plea and a $1,000 fine. The business plans to apply to the zoning board of appeals to keep the mural, or paint it over.)

In its review the liquor authority found that the Surf Lodge is not categorized as a live music venue under its license classification.

After town officials learned this, they decided to review the status of other businesses that offer music under town music entertainment permits “to determine whether or not they’re operating within the scope of their S.L.A. permits,” according to Michael Sendlenski, the town attorney.

That information could be compiled by next week, said Supervisor Cantwell. Businesses with live music whose liquor authority licenses lack that designation are subject to charges by the agency. “Contrary to some opinions it’s not about shutting down businesses in Montauk. Businesses should be operating within the law, and that includes local laws, and state liquor authority laws,” Mr. Cantwell said.

While authorization for live music under the S.L.A. appears to be only a matter of categorizing oneself as a live music venue in licensing paperwork, rectifying a license could take an estimated four to six weeks.

In an email, Jayma Cardoso, a managing partner at the Surf Lodge, said she believes numerous other Montauk businesses will find themselves in the same position as her business as far as their liquor licenses.

“The town has allowed live music via a town-issued music permit,” she said.  “Now that the town is pursuing/encouraging enforcement of the liquor license limitations, any business operating without live music on their license is at risk.” The Surf Lodge, she said, is working with state and local officials “to adapt to new methods of enforcement of state and local codes.”

“It is very frustrating as a resident and business owner, but I am committed to figuring out how to strike a balance and deliver the experiences our guests love and being a good neighbor and member of the community,” she wrote.

Ken Grille, a retired teacher and music aficionado, is among the numerous participants in a discussion of the issue on Facebook, many of whom have criticized the town for its actions and their potential impact on live music shows, particularly just before the start of the summer season.

“It seems like there’s a war on live music,” he said on Tuesday, “and I think it’s going to affect the community. People are not going to want to go to Montauk. I go for the live music; it’s part of the culture.”

“Does anyone realize how much business live music brings into a community?” Mr. Grille wrote in a Facebook post. “I can say that pretty much every time we have been to Montauk for live music we have dinner, drinks, and shop in other locations. In my opinion, this is a town that is shooting itself and its business owners in the foot. I hope they see this before it is too late.”

“It’s a shame that it’s coming up at the beginning of the season,” he said Tuesday of the town license review. “Be careful what you wish for.”

“We understand that there needs to be a balance, but we are at risk of seeing a central part of the culture of Montauk disappear,” said Ms. Cardoso. The Surf Lodge’s series of free summer concerts, which brings well-known as well as up-and-coming nationally acclaimed acts to town, has been put on hold, though Ms. Cardoso said she is optimistic that the club’s issues will be resolved in time to put live music back on the summer schedule.

Paul Monte, the president of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, also expressed concern this week about the town’s actions just before the high season. While businesses must comply with regulations, “we are a resort community, and a big part of the allure is being able to enjoy music, both indoors and out — respectfully of course,” he said Tuesday. “The chamber is concerned and ready and willing to work with the town and any of the establishments to ensure that music will go on in Montauk.”

Nancy Atlas and her band have been playing weekly shows at the Surf Lodge from Memorial Day to Labor Day for nine years. “I realize there are issues that need to be addressed, for sure. It just seems that they’ve really put a crunch down right before the season’s beginning to start,” Ms. Atlas said this week. “Musicians book three to six months ahead, so to pull the rug out just before the season starts is kind of playing dirty. I’ve lost seven shows in the next month.” To soften the blow, she said, the Surf Lodge is sponsoring the move of her weekly Wednesday night performances to Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor.

A resident of Montauk, Ms. Atlas, who was among the crowd at the Montauk Firehouse calling for action last year, said she shares concerns about the hamlet but that the town’s actions must be balanced. She suggested that the enforcement pendulum has swung too far.

Both she and Ms. Cardoso raised questions about the decibel readings used to enforce the town noise code, which have been described as unfair, since the noise violation threshold is barely above normal ambient noise.

“We need to reexamine what constitutes inappropriate noise level, as our primary interest is to work with the town and the S.L.A. and serve as a thoughtful member of the community,” Ms. Cardoso wrote in her email.

Last year, Ms. Atlas said, officers issued $1,000 noise violation tickets without first issuing a warning and giving bands a chance to turn it down. Now, she said, “restaurants aren’t so quick to have live music, because they come in for music and get them for three other things.”

“It’s really, truly affecting a lot of people that live and work and support families out here.”

 The state liquor authority seeks input from local municipalities and police when issuing liquor licenses, and Mr. Cantwell said that “assuming a location is in compliance with our local laws” the town will “be happy to support” an application or a license modification to include live music.

But, he acknowledged, for those operating illegally, the liquor license issue will provide leverage, bringing pressure to bear on business owners to clean up their acts. “It presents an opportunity to motivate establishments to come into compliance,” the supervisor said.

He defended the timing of the review initiative, saying it was based on the liquor authority’s discovery about the Surf Lodge license at a recent hearing.

“We didn’t make it happen that way,” he said. Once the situation came to light, “we’re not going to turn our back on the problems that exist . . . which has been done too long in this town.”

“If I were a local musician, I don’t know if I’d want to play in an establishment” lacking the proper permits, Mr. Cantwell said.

The town music entertainment permit, he said, was “designed to provide a music amenity at a restaurant or bar.” Instead, he said, what has happened is that places have morphed into music venues.

The town board had planned to discuss an overhaul of the permit system and would still like to review the law, he said.

It calls for a board hearing and possible license cancellation after three noise violations for any license holder. Last year, permits were pulled for two Montauk restaurants/music spots, Harbor and Ciao by the Beach, both of which are now out of business.

A host of town code violations and court charges led to the closure of Cyril’s, another longtime hot spot. The owner of the bar and restaurant on the Napeague stretch said complying with the standards required by the town made it impossible to continue to do business

East Hampton Town officials are discussing changes to the town code aimed at encouraging homeowners to create rental apartments to add to the town’s stock of affordable housing.

A 2007 law that allowed homeowners to attach an accessory apartment to a house, provided it is registered with the town and offered year-round at a capped maximum rent, has resulted in only about 15 new apartments throughout East Hampton. The law allows permits to be issued for up to 20 accessory apartments in each of the town’s five school districts.

A revision suggested by the town’s community housing committee and being discussed by the town board would allow apartments to be created in detached outbuildings. Whether new buildings could be put up for that purpose is being discussed, as is the size of lots where they could be built.

The amended law would allow more flexibility for homeowners, who are required at present to be living in the primary residence if an affordable apartment is to be rented. The code change would allow the property owner to take the apartment and rent the house to tenants.

The town board will schedule a public hearing on the proposed changes after finalizing a draft law.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has honored Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences for his research on Long Island’s water quality problems. On Friday Dr. Gobler received an Environmental Champion award, which recognizes individuals dedicated to protecting public health and the environment in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand nominated Dr. Gobler for the award.

A marine biologist and leading researcher on the harmful algal blooms that have become common in Long Island’s coastal waters, Dr. Gobler was enlisted by the East Hampton Town Trustees in 2013 to perform water quality testing of waterways under trustee jurisdiction. More recently, the Friends of Georgica Pond foundation, a group of property owners at the East Hampton pond that experienced dense outbreaks of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, in 2014 and ’15, hired Dr. Gobler to assist in their efforts to restore the pond’s ecological health.

Dr. Gobler runs a research lab at Stony Brook’s Southampton campus, where he and his colleagues investigate brown tides, fishery collapse, and the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. He also helped to develop the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan and is working with Suffolk County to address how septic systems and cesspools are contributing to the area’s nitrogen pollution problem.

A comprehensive financial audit of LTV, the nonprofit organization that provides public access cable TV in East Hampton and is funded largely by the town, found no misappropriation of funds but pinpointed 19 financial practices that fell short.

The town funnels the lion’s share of the franchise fee it receives from Cablevision to LTV — at present some $677,000 annually. In light of the audit’s results, officials have called for LTV to prepare a corrective action plan addressing every one of the auditors’ findings and for the submission of periodic written progress reports.

Auditors from the accounting firm Nawrocki Smith discussed the audit, which covered 2010 through 2014, at a town board meeting on Tuesday. The administration of LTV underwent wholesale turnover after the audit period, with Jim Shelly now the board chairman and Morgan Vaughan executive director. They attended the meeting on Tuesday, along with a number of current board members.

Among the areas where the auditors said improvements were needed were recordkeeping regarding payroll and employees, the handling of cash receipts and bank statements, the use of credit cards, and adherence to a policy requiring approval from the LTV board for purchases of over $5,000, and from the town board for purchases over $10,000.

The audit was set in motion after Robert Strada, the former LTV board chairman, raised the question of possible misuse of funds by its former director, Seth Redlus, who had resigned after a clash with Mr. Strada and his wife, Michelle Murphy Strada, who was also on the LTV board. Town officials commissioned the full review of the books last summer. The approximate $40,000 tab for the audit will be deducted from the money the town gives LTV.

Mr. Strada questioned continuing payments to Mr. Redlus for technical consulting services even after he had relocated. But others defended the arrangement, saying Mr. Redlus’s expertise was needed during a transition period. A rift among board members followed, which resulted in the ouster of Mr. Strada and his wife as well as several of their allies. Mr. Strada then asked the county district attorney for an investigation. The auditors said this week that they had met in December with the D.A. to discuss the audit, but did not address  any possible investigation.

 Citing “the seriousness of the findings and recommendations that were made,” Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said after Tuesday’s presentation that improvements were needed “to insure that the contribution that’s being made by the town is accounted for.”

Mr. Shelly called the recommendations the auditors made “invaluable.” Thirteen of the suggestions have been implemented and six are in progress, Mr. Shelly said.

“This audit, painful as it was, has provided us with a roadmap to the future. We realized that some of our management practices were inadequate for the organization we have become,” he said.

 “The importance to the town is that we’re funding your organization to a large extent,” Mr. Cantwell told the LTV representatives. “The truth is there has been a serious lack of internal controls at LTV, and the oversight has been woefully inadequate on the part of the board.”

“I think what we’ve realized is, because of the amount of funding we receive from the town and the village, we’re treated differently from other not-for-profits you do business with,” Mr. Shelly said. “The board of LTV now realizes that we have to perform to a much higher standard.”

Following the auditors’ report, Ms. Vaughan, who was appointed LTV’s interim executive director last spring after Mr. Redlus departed and stepped into the position permanently in August, addressed each of the auditors’ recommendations, assuring the board that the problems had been addressed.

But the supervisor called her assurances insufficient. “As we go through these things, I don’t want you to assume that your response is an acceptable response,” he said. Ms. Vaughan expressed frustration with the criticism. “We’re producing a vast amount of things,” she said of the work being done by LTV. “This is not money that is being squandered.”

Besides providing opportunities for the public to produce their own cable shows on channel 20, LTV tapes and airs meetings of governmental bodies on channel 22, which also airs school and educational programs.

“That’s not the point here today,” Mr. Cantwell told Ms. Vaughan. “This is not about the quality of the services that you are providing. This is about the quality of the accounting of the funds that you are receiving and spending.” An earlier audit of LTV, conducted by the town budget office in 2012, had identified similar shortcomings.

Seven years after twice seizing cars and other belongings from a property on Navy Road in Montauk, the East Hampton Town Board has settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by the homeowner.

The board’s unanimous vote on Tuesday authorized the town attorney’s office to pay $150,000, via the town’s liability insurer, to Thomas Ferreira, a mechanic who operates Automotive Solutions. The town will also pay half the $20,000 lien imposed on the property, the cost of the confiscations, which were conducted by a private contractor.

Mr. Ferreira had argued in U.S. District Court in Central Islip that neighbors, town officials, and civic groups had conspired to force him out of business, and that the town had used illegal closed-door sessions to orchestrate a plan to oust him from the property, which overlooks Fort Pond Bay.

“I’ve been vindicated,” Mr. Ferreira said yesterday. “Now, I’ve been compensated.”

The property in question is in an area whose zoning was upgraded in 1983, from commercial-industrial to residential. Mr. Ferreira held state and town licenses to operate his business, but neighbors complained that cars and debris were an eyesore and a hazard, the latter point disputed by the mechanic. Because the rezoning could have put him out of business, he sued the town, and won. In September 2003, a town building inspector clarified the issue by ruling the business was a pre-existing nonconforming use and thereby legal.

In early 2009, before the town board authorized the forced removal of what it called litter, on the grounds that it was a hazard to public health and safety, Mr. Ferreira settled numerous citations in Town Justice Court related to the condition of his yard. In moving to seize cars and equipment from his property, the board said it was acting on complaints from neighbors and from the town’s litter committee. Dominic Shirrippa, then the director of code enforcement, and Kenneth Glogg, a code enforcement inspector, had declared that the property’s abandoned cars, tires, propane tanks, “and other combustible materials when ignited . . . would lead to possible catastrophic consequences.”

But James Dunlop, then the town’s assistant chief fire marshal, inspected the property in May 2009 and found “no violations of state and local code were noted at the time.” In 2013, he and Michael Johnson, who was Mr. Dunlop’s superior at the time of the June and September 2009 raids, questioned the authenticity of documents attributed to them that were used to justify the seizures.

In the trial, which began on May 9, “Ken Glogg testified that he believed there was some kind of court order, then acknowledged that he had no such court order, and no inventory of items to be seized, so they seized everything,” according to Lawrence Kelly, a lawyer for Mr. Ferreira. Mr. Johnson, he said, “testified that the town attorney had him insert language into a document without advising the inspector who signed the document of the inserted language.”

Mr. Kelly had previously told The Star that the fire marshals believed that Madeleine Narvilas, a former assistant town attorney, had engineered falsified documents.

Mr. Kelly said he read to the jury the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, “and it became clearer with every witness that the town did not have a reason to enter onto the property” to seize Mr. Ferreira’s belongings. In short, Mr. Kelly said, the town board violated Mr. Ferreira’s rights. “That’s the lesson of the case. Towns can overreach, and you need the rule of law to stop them from overreaching.”

A call to the town attorney’s office seeking comment had not been returned as of yesterday afternoon.