A proposed administrative change to Gibson Lane Beach prompted backlash from longtime beachgoers after the Sagaponack Village Board voted on July 17 to notify Southampton Town of the village’s intent to take over maintenance of the beach next summer.

In March, a dead bald eagle was found below a nest in Montauk County Park, a victim of rodenticide. Another nest at the edge of Georgica Pond in East Hampton was lost when the pitch pine it was built in was removed because it had been killed by a southern pine beetle infestation.

After a public hearing two weeks ago on removing the nature preserve designation from the triangle at the intersection of Springs-Fireplace and Three Mile Harbor Roads in East Hampton, the town board is set to vote Thursday evening on a resolution concerning the future of the property.

East Hampton Town hopes a two-acre plot it bought last April — a dairy farm until 1959, home to cows that produced for a milk delivery business — will become a public park and community gathering space.