The East Hampton Town Republican Party will launch its campaign for the Nov. 3 election at a party from 6:30 to 9 tonight at East Hampton Point restaurant.

Tom Knobel, the G.O.P. candidate for supervisor, Lisa Mulhern Larsen and Margaret Turner, candidates for the town board, Stephen Lynch, the incumbent highway superintendent, and candidates for town justice, assessor, and trustees are expected to attend.

Tickets, which are $100, can be purchased at the door or online at eventbrite.com or ehnygop.com.

At its first meeting with new officers at the helm, the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee inspected draft outlines of hamlet and business-needs studies and agreed to compile suggestions to improve them, heard from the town’s chief harbormaster about a proposal that beach fires be confined in metal containers, and hoped anew that a public restroom might someday be constructed in the business district parking lot.

While the hamlet study outline was closely aligned with many of the committee’s topics of discussion, such as land use, parking needs, and affordable housing, the business-needs study provoked references to the growing clash of commercial and residential interests in Montauk.

“What benefit does a year-round resident get for the diminution of quality of life?” asked Jeanne Frankl. “What does the town get in tax revenue?”

The study is intended to look at commercial and residential needs alike, said Supervisor Larry Cantwell, the town board’s liaison to the committee.

A healthy tax base and adequate funding for public services are important, Ms. Frankl said, but asked, “How do we balance the desire to have a thriving tourist economy with the concerns of a residential community for a high quality of life?” An analysis of the taxes, and costs, generated by businesses, and an assessment of their impact on quality of life and environmental goals should be part of the inquiry, she said. Another element of the study “might also be, where do these revenues go to? Are local entrepreneurs really reaping the benefit, or are we providing people an opportunity to come from all over and exploit the environment we provide?” Vicki Littman, the group’s new chairwoman, asked Ms. Frankl to put those thoughts in writing to be forwarded to the town board by tomorrow. 

Ed Michels, the town’s chief harbormaster, told the committee that 36 of 92 summonses issued by his department over the July 4 weekend were for beach fires, with another 44 issued last weekend. Officers, he said, have found everything from couches, garbage, and glass to snow fencing and even lifeguard stands in beach fires. Visitors unaware of town regulations, he said, “think that by burying it it’s going to go out,” but people and dogs have been burned by embers long afterward. “If they’re real good at burying it,” he said, a northeaster in the fall will uncover the remains, “and the beach is black.”

A proposed amendment would require that fires be fully contained within a metal container, as in East Hampton Village. Mr. Cantwell said that in his experience as village administrator, “With enough control, over time, people become aware that they need” a container, and that the regulation “did significantly improve the amount of debris left behind.” He said that the proposal has been referred to the town trustees, who have jurisdiction over most town beaches, and that a public hearing is likely.

The committee voted 9 to 4 to support the amendment. Those opposing it felt it was ambiguous and should be worded differently, or that additional regulation was unnecessary.

Mr. Cantwell told the committee of a potential new location for the long-desired public restroom, construction of which was again delayed after opposition to its previously proposed location, directly behind the Amagansett Library. The latest proposal is on the north end of the lot, occupying four to five parking spaces. “It fits back there without real modifications to the building,” he said. A sidewalk along the lot’s north side, connecting to the one on its west  side, might also be added, providing a path to the restroom without the need to walk through the lot.

The lot would also be re-striped, an effort that was to coincide with the since-postponed construction of the restroom, with a resulting net gain of around five spaces. “The parking lot could use a facelift,” said Michael Cinque of Amagansett Wine and Spirits. “We haven’t cleaned up from last year’s dust storms yet. I think if we sweep it, seal the asphalt, and restripe it, that would be great.” Mr. Cantwell sent an email to Stephen Lynch, the town’s highway superintendent, asking that the lot be swept.

A hearing before the East Hampton Town Board last Thursday on a management plan for a town nature preserve on Napeague, which abuts Dolphin ­Drive on its western edge, rekindled a debate over parking on Dolphin Drive, a concept to which neighborhood residents are vehemently opposed.

Opinions are also divided among members of the town’s nature preserve committee, which presented a draft management plan to the board that includes a call for up to 25 parking spaces on the east side of Dolphin Drive, adjacent to the preserve, in order to provide the public with access to the preserve and its oceanfront stretch.

Neighborhood residents, who had complained to the town when a parking prohibition on the other side of the drive was lifted and succeeded in having it restored, painted the parking element of the plan as destructive to the preserve’s fragile ecosystem.

Those in favor of the idea, calling parking key to upholding a policy of ensuring access to public properties, said that there is ample space for parking along the road right-of-way, without harming the preserve. Beach access should be preserved for all, Brian Buckhout of the group Citizens for Access Rights, which has been advocating for beach vehicle access on Napeague, told the board.

A sand pedestrian path and a vehicle access way traverse the corner of the preserve from Dolphin Drive to the beach.

If the concern is providing an additional public beach, said Jeremy Samuelson of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, then the town board should discuss that matter directly. The management plan for the preserve, known as the South Flora preserve, should be considered on its own, he said, with a focus on the specifics of how the preserve, which contains protected species, should be maintained and protected.

The town board is to discuss the draft management plan at an upcoming session.

Suffolk County

Climate Action Plan Accepted

The Suffolk County Legislature accepted what is called a Climate Action Plan at its general meeting last month in Riverhead. The plan, a framework for efforts to combat climate change, also assessed the county’s achievements, including an estimated $5 million in recurring annual savings from reduced energy use. Additionally, greenhouse gas emissions have dropped, with the plan setting a goal of reducing emissions 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

The $5 million annual savings results from energy-efficient changes in heating and cooling systems in 30 buildings. Solar panels have also been installed on six buildings, and new buildings must meet the highest green certification standards.

A proposed change in how landing fees are calculated for aircraft using East Hampton Airport will result in a 15-percent increase in revenue to the airport this year — enough to cover just over $212,098 in unexpected or increased airport expenses that were not budgeted for this year.

The change — basing fees solely on aircraft weight, regardless of whether the plane is a rotary or fixed-wing craft — will align the town airport’s fee structure with the systems commonly used at other airports, according to Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who proposed it.

Adjustments to landing fees over the years have “unintentionally created certain discrepancies,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said, which have been brought to the town’s attention by many airport users, including the Friends of the East Hampton Airport coalition, which is among the plaintiffs suing the town over recently enacted airport access restrictions designed to reduce bothersome aircraft noise.

The councilwoman said she would ask the board to approve the fee change at its meeting next Thursday.

In addition to snow plowing — the cost of which came in at $53,300 over budget after last winter’s repeated storms — payments to several contractors providing services for the airport, including noise monitoring and air traffic control, rose above the expected amounts this year, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said.

The new rates would impose a graduated fee based on weight, per thousand pounds, beginning at $10 per thousand for craft that weigh 2,600 to 4,999 pounds, and topping out at $20 per thousand pounds for aircraft that weigh 25,000 pounds or more. Light craft under 2,600 pounds would incur no charge.

Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell indicated his agreement with the shift. “I think it’s a matter of approach here that airport users and operators be paying for the airport,” he said, “and this is consistent with that.”

The growth of solar power generation in New York State increased by more than 300 percent from 2011 to 2014, twice the national rate, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced this week. On Long Island, which has more solar installations than any other region in the state, megawatts of solar capacity increased by 154 percent over that span, with the number of solar installations rising by 122 percent.

Elsewhere in the state, solar capacity tripled, quadrupled, or quintupled in every region, while the number of projects at least doubled. The largest increase in percentage of megawatts was in the North Country, followed by the Finger Lakes, Central New York, and New York City.

A total of 314.48 megawatts of solar electric was installed statewide as of December 2014, equivalent to powering more than 51,000 homes. The growth is attributed to factors including the NY-Sun initiative, an effort to stimulate the marketplace to reduce costs associated with residential and commercial solar systems. As of May 2015, more than 304 megawatts of solar photovoltaic was under contract to be installed, with an additional 65.6 megawatts of applications accepted but not yet contracted. 

New York State

Taking Shellfish

The Department of Environmental Conservation has announced the reopening of approximately 4,000 acres of shellfish habitat in the Towns of Southampton, Riverhead, and Southold that were closed to the harvest of carnivorous gastropods — whelks, conchs, moon snails — due to the presence of marine biotoxins in shellfish.

Effective yesterday, the biotoxin closures were rescinded in all shellfish  areas in western Shinnecock Bay in Southampton and the uncertified Terry and Meetinghouse Creeks in Riverhead and James Creek in Southold.

The areas had been closed in May after the D.E.C.’s Bureau of Marine Resources detected saxitoxin in mussels collected from sites being monitored in each area. Saxitoxin is a naturally occurring marine biotoxin found in dinoflagellates that can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, which can be fatal in humans.

The D.E.C.’s website has information and maps of affected areas. A recorded message advising shellfish harvesters of the status of temporary shellfish closures can also be heard by calling 444-0480.

An overnight curfew on aircraft using East Hampton Airport will go into effect next week, despite a legal challenge, however tougher flight limits remained on hold following a court decision released on Friday.

Judge Joanne Seybert of United States District Court in Central Islip issued an injunction Friday against a town law that would limit summertime takeoffs and landings by noisy aircraft to one per week, but agreed that the town may institute the nighttime curfew on use of the airport.

A curfew that will close the airport from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and prohibit takeoffs or landings by aircraft that fall into a “noisy" category, which includes most helicopters, from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m., will go into effect on Thursday.

Town officials received word late Friday on the decision. It had been expected after a delay of several weeks following a conference with Judge Seybert earlier this spring.

“We’re pleased the judge has acknowledged that the Town was justified in adopting restrictions to provide relief to the growing number of people who are negatively affected by aircraft noise. Although we regret that one of the key laws cannot be enforced for the time being, we are gratified that the Court recognized that the law allows the kind of restrictions that are essential to protect the residents of this Town,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said in a press release.

The East Hampton Town Board adopted laws in April establishing the overnight airport curfews and limiting types of aircraft deemed noisy to one takeoff and landing per week during the summer season. They were challenged in a lawsuit by a coalition of aviation interests calling itself Friends of the East Hampton Airport. After Judge Seybert heard oral arguments on May 18, the town agreed to postpone enforcement of the laws pending her decision on a injunction.

The Federal Aviation Administration supported the injunction request, saying that it needed time to examine the legality and impact of the laws.

In a 45-page decision, Judge Seybert reviewed applicable laws and constitutional principles raised by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which included a number of federal aviation regulations. She affirmed the right of East Hampton Town to adopt restrictions to address excessive airport noise, noting that “it cannot be argued that the Town lacked the data to support a finding of a noise problem at the Airport.”

“The Court’s decision today is an important first step, but we must recognize that our opponents are well funded and will not give up easily,” said Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the town’s airport liaison, in the release. “In light of today’s ruling, however, we encourage our opponents to rethink their strategy. It’s time to do what’s best for the Town and adapt aircraft operations to fit our reasonable restrictions,” she said.

The East Hampton-based Quiet Skies Coalition, a citizens group that has advocated for use restrictions at the airport to ameliorate aircraft noise, said on Twitter, “With today's disappointing ruling by the judge, she has permitted businesses to prevail while East Enders suffer.”

Ed Deyermond, who was re-elected last week to another term on the Sag Harbor Village Board, is going to have a new 9-to-5 job as of next week, though it’s one with which he is very familiar.

Mr. Deyermond is to be appointed as the North Haven Village clerk, a position he held from 2001 to 2006. Georgia Welch, the current clerk and a 30-year village employee, is retiring.

“I’ve always had a really good relationship with the folks over there,” Mr. Deyermond said of North Haven, adding that he wanted to help with the transition. “I’ll stay as long as they want me — not really sure where the whole thing is going to end up,” he said when asked how long he planned to stay on the job.

Mr. Deyermond has spent the past five years in semi-retirement. He left his North Haven post and stepped down as Sag Harbor Village mayor to take an offer he couldn’t refuse as assessor for the Town of Southampton in 2006. He worked for the town until the end of 2010. He has also served as an assessor in the Town of East Hampton.

Mr. Deyermond rejoined the Sag Harbor Village Board in 2008, then stepped down, but was re-elected in 2013, and again just last week, to two-year terms.

While serving in North Haven, he became the mayor of Sag Harbor Village in 2003. “I was thoroughly vetted when I was clerk before I wanted to run for mayor,” he explained of any potential conflicts of interest. The issue has once again been researched.

“This is just a village trustee spot and clerk — it’s much less of a problem now,” Mr. Deyermond said. One way he will avoid conflicts is that he will not be the Sag Harbor Village Board’s liaison to the Sag Harbor Fire Department and Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps since the Village of North Haven has contracts for those services.

Mr. Deyermond’s appointment will be finalized with a vote by the North Haven Village Board at its meeting on Wednesday. Ms. Welch will step down at the end of July, so there will be some time for her to bring Mr. Deyermond up to speed.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has endorsed Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst in her bid for Congress. Mr. Thiele, whose district includes the Towns of East Hampton, Southampton, and Brookhaven, is a former Southampton Town Supervisor and Suffolk County legislator.

His endorsement came one day after Emily’s List announced its support for Ms. Throne-Holst, who is running for the Democratic nomination to take on Lee Zeldin, a Republican who is serving his first term in Congress.

“Now more than ever,” Mr. Thiele said in a statement, “Suffolk County needs a representative who will look out for the needs of hard-working families. In Southampton, Anna has shown a proven commitment to the values that we share both as Democrats and as Long Islanders — better managing the town budget to invest in job creation, education, and senior services. I know Anna will work hard in Congress to make sure every Long Island family has a fair shot at the American dream.”