The State Department of Environmental Conservation closed 490 acres of Sag Harbor Cove on April 26 to shellfishing due to detected saxitoxin, a biotoxin, in the water. The cove reopened in May, yet the incident has brought to the surface the issue of continuous water quality decline on Long Island.

    Many in the field believe it vital to spread awareness of the issue now in order to find solutions before it sinks to the bottom of the public agenda. Besides restaurants and fisheries, farmers and the general public are affected by degrading water quality.

    Long Island’s economy thrives on its agricultural and fishing prosperity. However, the natural quality and state of many of the island’s waterways have been unnaturally diminishing for quite some time. While summer residents and Jet Skiers come and go, water quality will remain as a continuous threat to the island’s  long-term well-being.

    Waterways such as Long Island’s South Shore Estuary, an integral part of the region’s economy that goes largely ignored, have been placed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s impaired-waters list. Biotoxins have spread east to Sag Harbor Cove. People may begin to question why unpleasant algal tides have begun to invade the idyllic beaches. With water quality becoming an increasing problem, recognition is an important step toward potential solutions.

    Over the past 50 years, harmful algal blooms have occurred worldwide. The blooms create colorful tides, which can expand and become intrusive within marine ecosystems. The tides are then fed on by shellfish, raising the specter for consumers of paralytic shellfish poisoning, which can be fatal.

    In the 1950s, green tide blooms appeared in Long Island’s South Shore bays, resulting in a decline in oyster fisheries. In 1985, brown tides were recorded in Shinnecock Bay, Great South Bay, and the Peconic Estuary. In the past decade, the scope of red and brown tides has increased. The State lists multiple sources of excessive, and therefore harmful, nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, including stormwater runoff, urban runoff, agricultural activities, and onsite septic systems. Recent reports by the Nature Conservancy and the Peconic Baykeeper point to commercial and residential septic runoff into groundwater as the primary source of excessive nitrogen, which enable algal tides.

    The baykeeper, Kevin McAllister, agrees, and pointed to the E.P.A.’s report of high nitrogen levels in New York water as the primary cause of damaging algae. “Seventy-five to 80 percent of people have septic systems in their backyards, which all release nitrogen into the groundwater,” he said. “The entire East End contributes. Wherever you live in Suffolk County within a mile of a local pond or creek or bay, it’s probably on that [impaired waters] list of some form of excessive pollution.”

    For the East End, with its communities dependent on a vital marine life, diminished water quality can have a financial backlash. “Our waters are becoming more and more polluted on Long Island, leading to health risks and economic hardships,” said Marci Bortman, director of conservation programs for the Nature Conservancy.

    What can be done about the high levels of nitrogen? For residents, complex filtration systems for septic systems can be costly, though effective. New York State has slowly begun to consider implementing a higher standard for water quality. A new standard could see tax dollars go toward improved filtration options, such as a revamped, state-run sewage plant and additional tests on waters for both preventative and necessary measures. 

    Today, the nutrient level in New York water is held to a “narrative” water-quality standard, as opposed to a “numerical” one. While some observers, such as Mr. McAllister, have said that narrative standards can be “ambiguous,” the Conservancy finds complications in adopting a full numerical standard; for example, the need for some nutrients in waterways, and the immense scale of nutrients in the environment that make precise measurements difficult.

    Yet Mr. McAllister and many others have urged intensified numerical reports for specific sites, which have led to closures such as was seen here in Sag Harbor Cove in April. In a sink-or-swim issue, these tides pose a real threat to the future of Long Island’s marine life and economic prosperity.

East Hampton Town

County Money for Amagansett Rentals

    The St. Michael’s Senior Housing Project, under construction in Amagansett, has been awarded $300,000 of federal funding, which will come to it through through the Suffolk County Office of Housing and Community Development.

    The money comes in the form of a deferred payment loan from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to the owner and contractor of the project, the St. Michael’s Windmill Housing Development Fund Corporation.

    It is one of several sources of funding for the $10.8 million project, which will include 40 low-income rental apartments for senior citizens and a community center.

    All the units are to be occupied by people whose incomes are below 50 percent of the area’s median income. They will receive Section 8 rental assistance and no tenant will pay more than 30 percent of their income toward rent.

Federal Fort Pond Suit Settled

    East Hampton Town officials have reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit that alleged Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley had violated the federal and state Constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, of people who spoke out against a plan to sell the town’s Fort Pond House property in Montauk.

    The plaintiffs, Third House Nature Center and its director, Edward Johann, claimed that the town closed the facility in retaliation for their vocal opposition to the property sale plan. The house, which had been used by various community groups, including the Third House Nature Center, was declared unsafe for public occupancy and closed in 2010 shortly after the town’s controversial decision to sell it.

    In exchange for dropping the lawsuit, according to James Henry, a Sag Harbor attorney representing Mr. Johann, the plaintiffs will be allowed to enter the Fort Pond House to retrieve property left there, and to use space at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center free of charge for nature center activities.

    A separate lawsuit in state court challenging the decision to put the Fort Pond House property up for sale remains before the court.    

Wastewater Plan’s First Step

    Three East Hampton Town Board members are expected to pass a resolution tonight initiating the process of creating a master plan addressing wastewater management, including what to do about the town’s scavenger waste treatment plant, which is in need of repair and is being used at present as a transfer station only. At a board meeting tonight, Councilman Dominick Stanzione will offer the measure, which is supported by Councilwoman Sylvia Overby and Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc.

    Councilwoman Theresa Quigley and Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, the only two board members willing to accept a proposal earlier this year from the sole company that responded to the town’s request for private entities to take over the waste treatment plant, have refused to consider other courses of action and indicated Tuesday that they would not vote for Mr. Stanzione’s resolution.

    The councilman had also moved to temporarily close the waste transfer station, which is costing the town $30,000 a month to run and, according to a recent report, is being used only by one septic waste carter. Mr. Wilkinson and Ms. Quigley also oppose that idea, which is endorsed by the town’s budget and finance committee. At Ms. Quigley’s insistence, the other board members agreed to hold a public hearing before deciding on the closure.

Code Comments Rankle

    Comments by David Buda, a Springs resident and town board watcher, were interrupted at the town board meeting on Tuesday by Theresa Quigley, who objected to Mr. Buda’s use of a posterboard showing alleged violations of town zoning laws.

    “It’s a completely inappropriate use of town board time, and camera, and space,” Ms. Quigley said. “You’ve abused this town board platform for too long, and I’m not going to stand for it,” she said, before walking out of the room. Mr. Buda went on to speak for his allotted four minutes during the board’s designated public comment period.

    Ms. Quigley’s comments came after a complaint by another speaker, Tina Piette, an attorney representing Rusch­meyer’s, a Montauk club that has been cited for zoning violations, that the town board should not entertain comments by citizens about matters that are before the courts.

Gansett Purchase No More

    The town’s proposed purchase of 1.4 acres on Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett is off the table, the town board learned this week, as the landowner, Lynda Edwards, has accepted a higher offer from a private buyer, reportedly a neighbor. A hearing was to have been held tonight on the town’s planned $775,000 purchase.

    The site was to have been used, in part, for a public parking area for those visiting a 1.2-acre waterfront parcel across the street, which the town board voted unanimously to purchase on Aug. 2. Residents of the area who attended a hearing on that purchase that night had expressed concern about using the nearby parcel for parking.    

    ­Indian Wells Beach was again on the radar Monday night at a meeting of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee, though the talk was more temperate this month than last, when many members were hearing for the first time about the throngs of 20- and 30-something beer drinkers who have made the beach their own on weekends this season.

    A recent lifeguard tournament held there was a welcome change for local families who have been mourning the loss of “their” beach, according to Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, the town board liaison to the committee, and the newly permanent presence of a marine patrol officer who “tries to be friendly, handing out fliers, the friendly way to try to get compliance” has helped, she said.

    The disappearance of the snow fencing that protects the nests of piping plovers, which are listed as endangered by New York State, also helps, said Kieran Brew, ACAC’s chairman. “Since they removed the plover fence the crowds have spread out down the beach,” he said.

    “There’s still the alcohol problem,” someone objected. East Hampton Town has no law against drinking on its beaches, other than prohibiting glass containers, and ACAC wrote to the town board after its last meeting suggesting that it might be time to enact one. Asked what board members had to say about that letter, Ms. Overby answered that “nobody responded.”

    Mr. Brew then observed that he had heard from Tom Field, who was unable to be there Monday night, that Supervisor Bill Wilkinson was at Indian Wells on Saturday to see the scene for himself. Mr. Field “would like the committee to write and thank the board for responding,” said Mr. Brew.

    “There’s been no response on the massive drinking issue on a public beach,” said Kent Miller, whose term as ACAC chairman ended last month.

    “But they’re beyond the flags,” said Mr. Brew. “These guys walk a good bit down the beach.” He again urged that the committee send a letter to the town board “to thank the town for stepping up response.”

    “Thank Eddie Ecker [chief of the town police force] and Ed Michels [head of the marine patrol],” someone muttered.

    Mr. Brew persisted: “Tom Field wants ACAC to write and thank the town board.” Members eventually voted to do so, though not without some headshaking.

    “Why are we thanking them?” somebody said afterward. “Because Bill Wilkinson went to the beach?”

    Bud Light cans and other leavings at the end of the day, not just on the beach but in the hamlet as well, were another concern. “Can you limit how much trash people leave?” one woman wanted to know.

    “You’d have to have someone standing there,” said Ms. Overby. The Parks Department has increased the number of employees who pick up trash, she added, and “I give credit to town employees. They do their job and don’t complain.” She said that the town will soon be getting two solar-operated recycling cans capable of holding far more trash than the bins do now.

    “I can ask that Indian Wells have one,” she said without much hope.

    Sheila Okin, the committee’s vice chairwoman, remarked that having two cans in front of Mary’s Marvelous now has helped. Nevertheless, beer cans and plastic cups are often spotted on fenceposts or in “the little hollows of trees,” one person complained, especially on Saturday mornings before the trash collectors make their rounds.

    Not only that, but “open containers are all over,” not just on the beach but in the town, said Ashley Silverman. “There are tailgate parties in the town parking lot [behind Main Street] on Friday nights. They bring the beer in on the train. Friday night is like a block party.”

    She said she was “uncomfortable walking to Indian Wells from the Jitney on Friday nights.”

    “They drink in the street where they don’t have to pay for it,” someone agreed. “Then when the good band is on, they go in [to the Stephen Talkhouse].”

    After the talk about drinking in the parking lot and on Main Street, it was a short jump to Amagansett’s continuing lack of public facilities. Bathrooms, which would be built toward the rear of the parking lot, have been promised to the hamlet since before a few of the people there that night were born. At one point all the county health permits were in place, a bond was floated, and the project seemed set to go, but it never went, and now the permits have expired. Last month one of the two toilets at the Amagansett Library backed up and overflowed beneath the pressure of anxious tourists who have almost nowhere else to turn.

    “It’s ridiculous,” said Mr. Brew. “The permits have expired, the money is gone, but it has to happen.”

    “You need to make sure the town board promises to fulfill the promise of public bathrooms,” said Ms. Overby. “For the businesses, the tourists, and the residents.” The councilwoman noted that the board is starting to look at budget items this very month, and urged the committee to move quickly. “Put it in a letter,” she advised. “A short, strong letter that says, ‘It’s time.’ Short and sweet. A lot of capital letters. Exclamation points!”

    “Throw something in about drinking and urination,” said Britton Bistrian.

    “If it ever gets built it’s going to be a very busy bathroom,” Joan Tulp predicted. “We’re not a little town anymore.”

    The meeting came to a resounding close with a volley of potshots at Eli Zabar’s farmers market, which has been in ACAC’s sights since it opened on Memorial Day weekend. A broken-down fence out front has been a particular target, and on Monday, after someone pointed out that a new, split-rail one has been put in place, all hell broke loose.

    “The trellis is still filthy dirty,” said Rona Klopman.

    “The cart is the worst,” said Ms. Bistrian. “It’s totally dilapidated.”

    “There’s still weeds and garbage,” came a voice from the back. “When Pat Struk was there it was always neat and clean.”

    People all over the room began chiming in.

    “It’s like a disaster.”

    “The playhouse is the worst. Rusty nails, no floor.”

    “You would never let your kids play back there.”

    “They haven’t done anything since Pat left.”

    “Except increase the prices,” Mr. Brew said above the din, standing up to signal that the evening was at an end.

    Air traffic controllers have shifted helicopter traffic to and from East Hampton Airport onto an old route, along power lines and over Jessup’s Neck in Southampton, prompting complaints from residents living below. Some of them had some questions on Tuesday for Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the town board’s airport liaison.

    “Is there a new route?” Supervisor Bill Wilkinson asked. “How did the new route come about?”

    Mr. Stanzione said that in meetings between pilots and the controllers, in which he had participated, it was determined that traffic would be asked to use the power line route, which sends aircraft primarily over Southampton Town rather than over the Northwest Creek area of East Hampton.

    “Their professional opinion was that the safest route was over the fewest homes,” Mr. Stanzione said.

    “And who are we to do that to Southampton?” Ms. Quigley asked. “The point isn’t where the route is, the point is, how was the decision made?”

    Several speakers at an East Hampton Town Board meeting earlier this month had said they were told Mr. Stanzione had dictated the new route, a charge the councilman refuted. But Ms. Quigley said that she did not necessarily believe Mr. Stanzione’s version of events.

    In erecting the control tower and hiring the controllers, town officials had to first have the Federal Aviation Administration classify the air space around the airport as a controlled zone. By having controllers dictate the routes that aircraft — particularly helicopters — take into and out of the airport, it was asserted, the noise impact could be spread out, providing some relief for those living under frequently used paths.

    “No town councilperson should be making decisions on their own that impact the town,” Ms. Quigley said. “It’s a complete abuse of process. To find out that, especially a fellow Republican, is doing things clandestinely, is startling, and makes us look like fools.”

    “We as a town should have had some say in the route,” Ms. Quigley said.            “There is no ability of anyone in the town government to direct helicopter traffic,” Mr. Stanzione replied.

    The board  argued over just how much control the town has over decisions affecting the airport, a key factor in contentious, longstanding community discussions about noise control and the center of debate about whether East Hampton should continue to take F.A.A. money, which obligates the town to “grant assurances” about how the airport is run.

    “But we have the ability, as the town, to close the airport,” Mr. Wilkinson said. Not so, under the grant obligations, said Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc. “If we gave up grant assurances from the F.A.A., then we have the ability to close the airport, as the proprietor,” he said.

    “I have a real problem with the airport being a goddamn taxing district, and we don’t have any control of the airport,” Mr. Wilkinson said. “Give it to the F.A.A. and let the F.A.A. run it.”

    “I’m not going to leave this alone, because it’s a town facility. I have to start to understand what rights the town has,” the supervisor added.

    “So you want the town to have control over the airport?” Mr. Van Scoyoc responded. “That would mean not taking F.A.A. grants.”

    “That’s ridiculous, Peter,” Mr. Wilkinson retorted. “You go down that road.”

    “If we’ve lost control, I will start an initiative to privatize that airport,” he added.

     Councilwoman Sylvia Overby noted that the board had “paid an attorney — a very expensive attorney — to answer some of these questions.” The attorney, Peter Kirsch, an aviation specialist, has made several presentations to the board regarding the ability to restrict airport access in order to control noise, both under the F.A.A. obligations and without. 

    The issue of aircraft noise was the subject of a forum last Thursday sponsored by the Village Preservation Society of East Hampton.

    According to Bonnie Schnitta of SoundSense L.L.C., a sound engineer and one of the panelists, an increase in noise above ambient levels of five decibels or greater “is significant and perceivable, and will cause a disturbance.”

    She said numerous studies show that increased noise, especially at night, is tied to a loss of productivity and health problems. “At night, I feel very strongly, you should be able to sleep, and sleep undisturbed,” she said, “because there are numerous health factors involved in someone who cannot sleep undisturbed.”

    Air routes have a “vast impact area that should be considered if we are going to address this correctly,” said Peter Wolf, a planner and also a panelist. “It’s a problem of courage and governance. These planes do not perform any economic function that’s valuable to the town, and they have no enduring social quality. Under one percent of our community has any use for the airplanes.”

    While the rights of aircraft users should be maintained, Mr. Wolf said, the issue should be considered in its proper context.  Airport user fees should be “commensurate with the special privileges” and “the trouble they’re causing everyone else,” he said.

    Based on laws governing residents’ “peaceful enjoyment” and barring “nuisances,” “there’s an incredible basis here for a class-action suit, if it had to get to that,” Mr. Wolf concluded.

    Bruno Schrek, a pilot, said that what is anathema to some is pleasing to others. And, he said, “To say the airport has no intrinsic economic value to us is absurd.” Aircraft owners, he said, are “richer people to help with our property taxes,” who also provide jobs and help maintain property values.

    The future of East Hampton Town’s scavenger waste treatment plant — specifically whether to temporarily close the facility — will be the subject of a town board hearing next Thursday night at 7 at Town Hall.

    For the last several months, the plant operated solely as a waste transfer station, with on-site waste treatment suspended.

    The town-appointed budget and finance advisory committee has been studying the waste plant for about a year and a half, and, after issuing an initial report with recommendations in March 2011, recently submitted an updated report to the town board. Among the new recommendations, the committee advised the town to close the transfer station by Labor Day, which would save $30,000 a month in operating costs for the remainder of the year. The treatment plant was shut down following citations from the State Department of Environmental Conservation for environmental violations, and is in need of cleaning and rehabilitation before it can be used again.

    While three board members — Councilmen Dominick Stanzione and Peter Van Scoyoc and Councilwoman Sylvia Overby — have agreed with the recommendation to suspend accepting waste for transfer elsewhere, Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley did not, and suggested that before making a decision the board seek public input.

    The committee also recommended in its report that the town begin drafting a long-term wastewater management plan this fall. In a 3-to-2 vote, with Mr. Wilkinson and Ms. Quigley against the idea, the board voted earlier this month to solicit proposals from consultants who could help prepare such a plan.

    In its recent report, the committee reiterated its primary recommendation from last year — that before proceeding with any plans for the plant, the town complete an environmental study, establishing a baseline of environmental conditions, including any possible contamination surrounding the plant, and an examination of the potential future effects of its continued operation.

    The committee said that town officials should “revisit privatization or other disposition of the plant only after an environmental assessment and a town-wide waste management plan have been completed.”

    “Consultants to the town have stated there is a plume under the scavenger waste plant,” the committee’s report says. “When you pump tens of thousands of gallons a day of plant effluent into the ground for 30 years, a plume is created. There are actually two separate plumes at the town’s Springs-Fireplace complex. The scavenger waste plant has had no thorough studies done as to the impact of its effluent on the groundwater since its installation over 30 years ago.”

    “Before any third-party agreement for the plant is finalized, the town should conduct a study to evaluate the environmental impact of continuing to operate a plant of this age and older design at its present inland location for an extended period of time,” the report states.

    The committee believes that privatization of the plant “could be a viable alternative if there was a baseline environmental study and limits imposed by the town to protect itself from environmental concerns.” However, the committee wrote, “the town’s environmental concerns (water and odor) might be at a level higher than those sought by a for-profit operator who might seek authority from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to expand throughput from historical levels and/or to reduce some effluent testing requirements.”

    The terms offered by the one company that responded early this year to a request for proposals to take over the plant were not acceptable to the majority of the board, though Ms. Quigley and Mr. Wilkinson wanted to proceed. The specifics of an agreement could have been negotiated, Ms. Quigley said. The budget and finance committee has advised seeking a revised and final offer from the company.

    The recommendations of the committee were based on extensive research and consultation with a list of professionals cited in the report. The more than two dozen sources include the County Health Department, hydrologists and engineers, the National Academy of Sciences, aquatic scientists, waste management specialists, environmental groups, septic waste carters, and operators of waste treatment plants, among others.

    Hearings will be held by the East Hampton Town Board next Thursday on the proposed purchases of two parcels of land. Money for both purchases would come from the community preservation fund.

    In Amagansett, the town is discussing the $635,000 purchase of 6.2 acres of a 7.7 acre tract at 114 Fresh Pond Road. The Suffolk County Water Authority is installing a drinking-water well on the remainder of the site. The property is owned by the Bistrian Land Corporation.

    The purchase of approximately 11.7 acres of land off Town Line Road in Wainscott would add to over 100 acres of preserved woodland owned by the town in the immediate area. The cost would be $1.2 million. The site is owned by Kenneth Brown, David Brown, James Schneider, Richard Schneider, Margaret Schneider, Harrison Schneider, and Margaret Gatto.

    The hearings will begin at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

    Another potential property purchase in the town’s sights could be Ronald Webb’s land on Oakview Highway in East Hampton. Neighbors have long been calling for the town to preserve the acreage. Mr. Webb recently received conditional approval for an eight-lot residential subdivision on the approximately nine acres, after dropping a previous plan, opposed by nearby residents, to create 57 units of affordable housing. Laurie Wiltshire, a land planner working for Mr. Webb, confirmed earlier this week that her client had given town officials the go-ahead to get an updated appraisal of the land.

    During a discussion last week at their August meeting, the East Hampton Town Trustees decided to once again deny the Devon Yacht Club’s application to create a “deposition basin,” a hole on the beach to fill with sand excavated from its marina inlet. The project had approvals from the zoning board of appeals and the Army Corps of Engineers.

    However, according to the trustees, the yacht club’s property ends well above the mean high-water mark. The beach is trustee-owned, and therefore public — a fact that Devon has not acknowledged. The trustees have sent a letter to the Army Corps informing the agency that the application has been denied.

    Reached after the meeting, Diane McNally, the trustee clerk, said “there seems to be an assumption among Z.B.A. members that the beaches on Gardiner’s Bay are not trustee-owned.  They can’t do that on public property. We don’t want to get into a legal fight with Devon, but that’s a stable shoreline. What they want would be environmentally detrimental. Ownership of the beach aside, the board doesn’t like the concept. It would be a bad precedent.”

    Separately, if and when the Suffolk County Department of Public Works sends its dredge to relieve Accabonac Harbor of serious shoaling, the trustees will pull out all the stops to have the dredge dig farther south to free the boat-launching ramp. The nine-member board agreed to come up with the cash to pay for overtime, as much as $10,000, if it would keep the dredge in place long enough to do the job.

    In another matter, Mollie Zweig of West End Road was given permission to replace a 13-foot-long staircase from her badly eroded dune to down to the beach. Ms. Zweig, whose house faces Georgica Beach, took a lot of heat last year when she attempted to fence off a portion of beach that was being used by the public after the usual access was badly eroded.

    The fencing was later obliterated by wave action. Ms. Zweig agreed to remove a pole left over from don’t-fence-me-out days, and to remove “private property” signs, except for one on her front gate.

    Also during the Aug. 21 meeting, trustees discussed the purchase of a third marine sewage pumpout boat, smaller than the two (one in Montauk, one on Three Mile Harbor) in service now. A 19-foot boat was envisioned, powered by a four-stroke 90-horsepower engine. Trustees said they would apply to the Environmental Facilities Corporation, a state body that could provide the major share of the cost, as it did for the other pumpout boats.  

    With the East Hampton Town Board beginning budget hearings, trustees agreed it might be wise to request an increase in their “outside counsel” budget, primarily due to the cost of hiring Anthony Tohill to defend them against lawsuits lodged by oceanfront property-owners  who are claiming sections of public beach. From Jan. 1 through yesterday, Mr. Tohill was paid $52,330.29 in suits filed by Lloyd and Barbara Macklowe, the White Sands Motel, and nine property owners and individuals with property on the ocean side of Napeague.

    In other business, trustees approved the application of the Clearwater Beach Property Owners Association to replace 300 feet of bulkheading along its section of the Hog Creek inlet.

    The board denied an application for a mass-gathering permit to hold three days of windsurfing lessons on Napeague Harbor from the end of Lazy Point Road.

    It was announced that weigh-in ceremonies for this year’s Largest Clam Contest will take place on Sept. 23, the day of the big event. This year there will be separate white and red clam chowder competitions.

    By a vote of 4 to 1, the lone dissenter being its chairman, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals granted a variance on Tuesday that will allow Glen Pushelberg and George Yabu to keep their two-story house as is. The house lacks an interior staircase between the two floors, which is contrary to town code.

    The code was written to prevent homeowners from creating multiple units in a single house by building separate entrances with no internal connection between them. “There shall be at least one common entrance on the ground floor, through which every room . . . shall be readily accessible by passage through the interior of the residence,” it says.

    The problem for the board was that no town agency — not the planning board, not the building inspector’s office, not even the Z.B.A. itself — had ever noticed that the oceanfront house had been designed with an external staircase. Everyone had approved the plans. The Z.B.A. granted variances for the 100-foot-wide parcel, at 90 Shore Road on Napeague in an area known as Montauk-by-the-Sea, in 2009.

    The house is partially encased in a cedar-slatted exoskeleton, and the staircase, which is invisible from the street, appears from inside to be enclosed.      Designed by a team from Stelle Architects, headed by Viola Nouhani, it emphasizes open air and light throughout, with the external staircase as a key element.

    “I find this a little mysterious that nobody found this along the way,” said Alex Walter, the Z.B.A. chairman. “It is a beautiful house, there is no doubt about it, but the question needs to be asked.”

    A story about the house appears on the front page of the Habitat section in this issue.

     “No one noticed until it was built that there was no interior staircase,” said Don Cirillo, a board member. He argued that the cost of altering the steel and wood structure, which is essentially finished, would be prohibitive.

    “It would be a burden to retrofit an interior staircase,” he said.

    “No one caught it in the application process,” agreed Brian Gosman, a board member.

    Mr. Cirillo and Mr. Gosman were joined by Sharon McCobb and Lee White, voting to approve the variance, allowing the structure to remain unchanged.

    “I feel strongly about this. I’m going to vote to deny it,” said Mr. Walter.

    Two hearings were held the same night. The first was on a request by Elizabeth Corrigan of 8 South Ferncroft Place in Montauk to allow a shed to remain in place; it was built within two feet of a front yard where 30 feet is the standard. Ms. Corrigan also asked for a variance from the pyramid law, which is designed to prevent buildings from looming over neighboring properties and blocking public views. Mike Varitt, a relative of Ms. Corrigan, told the board the property was on a triangular lot and no neighbors were affected by the shed.

    Richard Whalen of Land Marks made the second request on behalf of a corporation, 225 Old Montauk Highway L.L.C., which owns adjoining properties on Old Montauk Highway. The owner wants to install a tennis court at number 225, 40 feet from the property line at 221. The required distance is 50 feet.

    No one spoke in opposition to either request, though a neighbor of 225, who did not put her name into the public record, asked informally from the audience if night lighting was going to be installed for the tennis courts. Mr. Whalen told the board there were no such plans, and agreed, should approval be granted, to a stipulation banning lighting.

    In preparation for the coming hurricane season and other potential emergencies, Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst has urged residents by press release to sign up for the town’s emergency communications services. The goal is to establish methods of contact for the dissemination of important and time-sensitive information.

    Individuals and businesses in the Town of Southampton can log on to a secure server through the town’s Web site, SouthamptonTownny.gov, and add or update their contact information. Those without Internet access can call the Suffolk County Office of Emergency Management to supply their information over the phone. Ms. Throne-Holst has promised that the data collected will be used only in emergencies and other instances when communication is vital.

    Portions of the town’s Web site are being overhauled and will soon have links to Facebook and Twitter accounts, so that “friends” and “followers” can access real-time updates regarding emergencies as well as less critical happenings.

    A recent six-hour traffic backup from the closure of two lanes of County Road 39 was cited as an example of how the town needs to be able to send updates via social media regarding detours or closures resulting from road work, accidents, or special events.

    CodeRED, on the other hand, is limited to emergency situations. Residents who register for notification by way of it will be able to receive customized prerecorded messages at home and work or by cellphone. The service can deliver millions of calls, e-mails, and text messages, or it can single out specific neighborhoods, ZIP codes, or commuters.

    In praising the emergency preparedness measures, Southampton Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming said William Wilson, the chief of police, did a “stand-up job” during Hurricane Irene last year, especially amid budget and staff cuts. She said town leaders got out ahead of the storm and made the rounds. With regard to evacuations, shelters, and communications, she said, “the town is extremely effective.”

    The East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals had a busy session Tuesday night at Town Hall, holding three hearings for variance and special-permit applications  and handing down two decisions.

    One hearing was somewhat unusual: a request for a variance from the town code to allow a house with a second floor that does not have access from inside. This is at odds with a code provision, aimed at preventing illegal apartments, that reads, “There shall be at least one common entrance on the ground floor, through which every room, other than a utility room, shall be readily accessible by passage through the interior of the residence.”

    Such is not the case in a Napeague house at 90 Shore Road.

    Glen Pushelberg and George Yabu, prominent Canadian interior designers, are “ninety-nine-point-nine  percent finished” with the construction of a house that has separate entrances for the first and second floors, said their attorney, Richard A. Hammer. Instead of an interior access, there is a wide spiral exterior staircase.

    Mr. Hammer recalled that he had first gone before the Z.B.A. in 2009 to present the original plans for “what was essentially a knock-down and rebuild.” He pointed out that the plans clearly showed the exterior staircase.

     “It was missed by the planning department, the zoning board, the architect, and the building inspector,” said Mr. Walter.

    “It is basically a series of off-set boxes,” said Mr. Hammer, adding that the downstairs has no kitchen facilities.

     “It is a beautiful house, there is no doubt about it,” said Mr. Walter. “But at the end of the day, there is an outdoor kitchen. What is to prevent somebody from renting the downstairs as a separate entity?”

     “That is not the intent of the current owner,” Mr. Hammer replied.

    “We all know that [the design] stays with the house, not the current owner,” Mr. Walter said.

    “Unfortunately, we just missed this,” Mr. Hammer said.

    The board explored with the attorney possible remedies, but Mr. Hammer pointed out that a lot of steel had been used in construction and the cost of bringing it into compliance would be prohibitive. “It is a one-of-a-kind house. Anything you do would be to its detriment,” he said.

    Tyler Borsack of the town planning department said the department took no position on the matter. The board kept the hearing open for three weeks to allow comment from the East Hampton Town Trustees, who own the land on which the house is built.

    Another appeal, also for a structure already standing, came from Lauren and Neal Rose of 12 Ocean Lane in Amagansett’s Beach Hampton neighborhood. The Roses have a 160-square-foot deck on their 12,000-square foot property that sits too close to wetlands at 86 feet away, 14 feet short of the standard. It is also 10 feet closer to side property lines than required.

     “It’s my fault,” Mark Lazarovic, the father of Laura Rose, told the board. Mr. Lazarovic, a builder, said he did not realize he needed a permit for the small deck area.

    Don Cirillo, a board member, observed that the area in question was not visible from neighbors’ houses. No one spoke in opposition.

    Tuesday’s third hearing involved a request from Inergy Propane, which, according to Bloomberg News, is a billion-dollar propane distribution business that recently purchased both Pulver Gas and Schenck Gas, to place a 256-square-foot mobile trailer on their industrially zoned Montauk property at 72 Second House Road, also known as Industrial Road. The land already has two 30,000 gallon  propane tanks on it. The trailer would sit 57 feet from wetlands, where 100 feet is required.

    John Ryan, speaking for the company, explained that when it purchased Schenck Gas (it did not purchase Schenck Fuels, which is still an independent company) it expanded its work force by five, leading to the need for a base in Montauk, one with self-contained sanitary facilities but no cooking facilities and no sleeping quarters.

    “It’s like a locker room,” Mr. Cirillo said. The board is expected to rule on that application and the Roses’ on Tuesday.

    Also this week, the board okayed two applications, neither of which was controversial. Elisa and Frank Burriesci of Cedar Drive in Springs will be able to keep their pool, despite its being too close to the property lines, provided that if they sell their house they must move their pool equipment. Several neighbors had written to support their request.

    Joel Horowitz of Montauk will be able to put a 387-square-foot addition on his historic West Lake Drive property to accommodate his growing family, as he had asked. The house is near wetlands, but a neighbor who is an environmental activist, Richard Kahn, endorsed the plan on the grounds that, when combined with a planned new septic system, it would benefit Lake Montauk. The town planning department also recommended approval.