A planning study of the commercial areas in each of East Hampton Town’s hamlets will continue this month with a focus on Montauk, both the harbor area and downtown.

During six sessions from Sept. 14 through 17, planning consultants will meet with interested members of the public to examine the issues, challenges, and needs of the two areas, and to shape planning and design ideas for the future.

The process gets under way with a walking tour of downtown Montauk and a group discussion beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 14 at the gazebo on the Montauk green. At 2:30 that afternoon there will be a walking tour of the harbor area; participants will meet at the parking lot on the water next to Gosman’s.

Then at 6:30 p.m. that day, at the Montauk Playhouse gymnasium, a public workshop on hamletwide issues will present an opportunity to share ideas and opinions with the planning consultants about “what’s working well, what needs to be fixed, and how best to plan for the future of Montauk’s commercial centers,” according to a press release.

A “visioning workshop” at which members of the public will work with consultants to explore various ideas and alternate scenarios for downtown Montauk will take place at the playhouse gymnasium on Sept. 15 at 6:30 p.m. It will be followed by a session for a similar process, but centered on the harbor area, on Sept. 16 at 6:30, also in the gymnasium.

After analyzing the comments and ideas from the workshop and tour sessions, on Sept. 17 at 9 a.m., the consultants from Dodson & Flinker will offer options for shaping the future of the two Montauk commercial areas and solicit public opinion about which are desirable.

The public has been invited to attend any of the charrette sessions, described in the release as “an intensive, multi-day planning and design exercise leading to a vision for the future of Montauk.”

“We need your input to better understand how homes, businesses, recreation, and community work today, and how they can function better in the future,” town officials and consultants said in the release.

However, those who wish to attend have been asked to R.S.V.P. by sending an email to EHHamletStudy@gmail. com.

Yoga instructors, artists, healers, and musicians from the South Fork and around the world will unite for the second annual Hamptons YogaFest tomorrow through Sunday at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton.

The festival, with a theme of Living From the Heart, launches tomorrow with a 4:30 p.m. opening ceremony. Dance, the chanting of a healing mantra, and concerts follow. Yoga classes and workshops and more music begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. A full schedule can be found at hamptonsyogafest.com.

The festival also offers a vendor village, a kids village with activities and classes including yoga, organic cooking, art, and mindfulness, and a healing village on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. featuring massage, aromatherapy, reiki, acupuncture, and shamanic healings.

Ticket prices vary, with a full weekend pass including all classes and music going for $192. A full pass for Saturday costs $98, and for Sunday the cost is $88. Admission to tomorrow night’s opening ceremony and events is $48, and for the Saturday night concert it is $30. Single-class passes are $40.

Onsite camping, with showers and toilets provided, costs $108 per person for the weekend, with campers asked to provide their own tents. Orders by credit card are being taken at the festival website.

A rundown of East Hampton Village’s insurance policies, which are due to be renewed, and the impact of cellphone use while driving on insurance rates were topics at a meeting of the East Hampton Village Board on Friday. The board also asked the owners of the  house once owned by the Bouvier family to reduce the amount of vegetation in an easement so that the public could see the house.

George Yates of the Dayton Ritz and Osborne agency told the board that the renewal of the village’s policies reflected “only very modest changes” from the prior year, with annual premiums up $16,138, or slightly less than 5 percent, to $354,060. The overall message, Mr. Yates said, was “steady as she goes in terms of premiums, in terms of coverage.”

One change, however, is an increase in the cost of automobile insurance.  “Commercial auto is becoming a problem, particularly in the area of distracted driving. There are more and more accidents as a result of people on their personal communications devices,” Mr. Yates said. Although he suggested the board consider prohibiting village employees from using cellphones while operating municipal vehicles, after the meeting, Becky Molinaro, the village administrator, said the village already requires that employees operating village-owned vehicles comply with state laws, which require hands-free use of cellphones and prohibit texting.

Mr. Yates pointed out that the village had low flood insurance rates for its Sea Spray oceanfront cottages. Despite the flooding that occurred during hurricanes in 2011 and ’12, he said, “We’re getting a wonderful deal on many of the units that are being insured.” The cottages are rated as being in the lowest flood hazard area. “Sooner or later, somebody will have to pay the higher premiums,” he said, but because it is politically unpopular to raise municipal premiums, “the federal government, in their wisdom, continues to grandfather in those rates,” he said.

Another example is the insurance on the Main Beach pavilion. It is insured for $500,000 and carries an annual premium of $975. “It seems like a bargain to me,” Mr. Yates said, noting that the comfort station at Two Mile Hollow Beach is being insured for considerably less yet has a premium higher than $7,000. “I don’t know what the actuarial science is on that one, but those are the rates they tell us that we have to charge you.”

Premiums on liability insurance for the Fire Department and the ambulance corps rose from $10,282 to $12,588. This, Mr. Yates said, is a result of an increase in emergency calls from 1,919 to 2,457. “The more calls, the more chances of liability.”

 The former Bouvier family estate, which was the childhood summer home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, was designed by Arthur C. Jackson in 1917 and was once called the George Schurman House. Known by the Bouviers as Lasata, it is one of three side-by-side estates of the 1917 to 1930 period, which for many years defined the architectural character of construction on the dunes that extend from Egypt Lane east to Cross Highway, according to Robert Hefner, the village’s historic preservation consultant.

The property was before the board because its owners asked for the modification of a large-lot easement in which the boundary between 121 Further Lane and 40 Middle Lane was to be straightened. Both parcels are owned by Reed Krakoff, the designer and former creative director of Coach, and his wife, Delphine Krakoff, who is the founder of Pamplemousse, an interior design firm. Both have scenic easements across the width of their front property lines to allow the house, which is of architectural and historical interest, to be seen. The board approved the modification but found that the easement had become overplanted. As a condition of approval,  the Krakoffs must comply with a new vegetation plan for the easement that will maintain the view.

In other news, the board set Sept. 16 at 11 a.m. for a public hearing on a proposed law amending the village code so that license fees for services such as taxi and livery cabs, garbage removal, and cesspool maintenance will be fixed by resolution of the board rather than by amendments to village law. The current fee for licenses under this code is $100 per year, which is unchanged since 1994, Ms. Molinaro said.

The board also recognized the efforts on behalf of the village by Don Hunting, whose resignation from the planning board was accepted. Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. explained that Mr. Hunting was not in good health. “But I think I speak for the board of trustees, the village government, and residents of the village profusely thanking Don for the contribution that he’s made over the years to the planning board in conjunction with his historical knowledge. . . . Don cares very deeply about the village and for that we are all beneficiaries.”

“We’re in the waning days of summer,” the mayor said. “Before you know it, Labor Day is going to be here. Let’s put a smile on our face and welcome the visitors to our community. Not too long from now, we’ll have it back.”

Two neighbors’ long dispute over a tennis court in East Hampton Village, a quarrel that occupied the zoning board of appeals at many meetings over two years, has been scheduled for yet another hearing because the property of one of the combatants has been sold. At the board’s meeting on Friday, the board also continued to discuss an application for a substantial renovation of a house on Hook Pond, with its chairman, Frank Newbold, looking favorably upon it.

 Shahab Karmely had received variances in 2014 to build a tennis court at the historical Gardiner property at 127 Main Street. Mr. Karmely’s neighbor, Kenneth Kuchin, of 121 Main Street, had objected that the court would be too near a cottage he uses for meditation. The dispute had seemed settled on July 22 when Mr. Karmely agreed to add soundproofing to a fence separating the properties. His property has been listed for sale at $26 million.

On Friday, Mr. Newbold said 121 Main Street, which had been listed for sale at $11.95 million, had a new owner who had asked that the agreed-upon sound-attenuating material be put on hold. He did not name the new owner, as the board agreed to review the matter on Friday, Aug. 26.

The board then returned to Greg Blatt’s application for extensive variances and a wetlands permit to allow the substantial renovation of a house at 14 Hook Pond Lane. A hearing had been held on July 8.

Andy Hammer, an attorney representing Mr. Blatt, told the board that concerns about the project’s impact on both the neighborhood and the pond had largely been eased following a meeting with neighbors, several of whom had now sent letters of support. Furthermore, he said, his client’s request to extend the cellar beyond the exterior walls of the first story of the house, which the village prohibited last year, had been abandoned.

While a septic system would be just 132.5 feet from wetlands, where a 200-foot setback is required, the applicant proposes to split the effluent into two systems, one of which would be in a conforming location. Mr. Hammer called this a better alternative to moving the existing system. A landscape plan also proposes a vegetative buffer along the Hook Pond side of the property, and a portion of the house’s east and west ends are to be razed.

“Our application is largely making almost every condition on this property better, including retreating the house,” Mr. Hammer said. “That vegetative buffer, we feel, is adequate mitigation for all the improvements.”

The board remained concerned, however, about the building’s height, proposed to be 32.6 feet. Under one interpretation of the zoning code, which Mr. Newbold said was “admittedly very complicated,” the structure could be 34 feet high, whereas the board’s position on July 8 was that 26 feet was the maximum permitted.

The roof is considered flat due to a proposed deck. However, according Mr. Newbold, flat roofs that have gabled roofs around them are a way for developers, frankly, to get a bigger mass by not going all the way up to the peak, so from the ground level it would appear to be a gabled roof while actually being much thicker and bigger.

Linda James, who has owned a house on Hook Pond Lane for 48 years and was highly critical of the renovation at the July 8 meeting, returned on Friday, her concerns only slightly assuaged. She quoted extensively from an editorial in last week’s issue of The Star supporting laws to restrict allowable floor area and lot coverage on residential properties.

“Shoreline owners are the stewards of this village’s extraordinary natural resource,” Ms. James said. “This is one opportunity to address an owner’s stewardship awareness to the future well-being of shoreline responsibilities, and how their plans will support their property’s native habitat.” The board, she said, now bears “the difficult responsibility to weigh requested variances on behalf of laneway residents and the precedent your decision will have on future variation applications for projects that reach beyond the scale of their neighborhood.”

Mr. Newbold, however, called the plans “a net positive for the neighborhood,” given that the floor area is less than the maximum permitted, that the septic system is to be upgraded and part of it farther from wetlands, and a 30-foot buffer created. The hearing was closed. 

Three decisions also were announced at the meeting. The Everit Albert Herter Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars was granted variances to legalize extensions and alterations to the Highway Restaurant and Bar, a pre-existing nonconforming restaurant use on its property at 290 Montauk Highway.

The variances permit the relocation of three outdoor dining tables from a slate patio on the west side of the building to a wood deck on the east side, and an air-conditioning unit, roof overhang, walk-in cooler, and shed to remain inside required setbacks. The board also granted the V.F.W. a special permit to continue using a separate building there, which has a certificate of occupancy for a dwelling, as a meeting hall.

Several conditions were attached. The restaurant’s deck must be reduced to 15-by-18 feet and the benches along its perimeter removed, no more than 12 seats for dining are to be on the deck, with the number of seats inside the restaurant reduced commensurately whenever there is seating on the deck so that the maximum number of seats never exceeds 116, and there can be no dining on the slate patio.

In another decision, Alan Patricof was granted variances allowing play equipment to remain at 49 Huntting Lane, a lot that does not have a main structure. Along with adjacent parcels at 55 and 63 Huntting Lane, his property is a family compound, the applicant told the board on July 22, and the play equipment was installed several years ago.

Christian and Francesca Howe were also granted variances to allow a swimming pool, spa, patio, dry well, and retaining walls within required setbacks at 20 Egypt Close.

The Amagansett Presbyterian Church will hold its 103rd summer fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the church grounds. Children’s games, pony rides, a raffle, a bouncy castle, and a petting zoo will be offered, as will baked goods, homemade crafts, produce, plants, and refreshments. A magic show happens at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The rain date is Sunday.

Part of the fair’s appeal, the Rev. Steven Howarth said, is that “it doesn’t change much from year to year,” with the exception of more, and more exceptional, raffle prizes. “I think we’ve got somewhere around 170 prizes,” he said last week. But the continuity of the annual event, he said, is in its children’s activities, craft items, and refreshments. 

As the summer fair nears, so too does the opening of the rebuilt Scoville Hall, across Meeting House Lane from the church. The reconstruction, after the hall was destroyed by fire in 2011, is nearly complete, Mr. Howarth said, with the East Hampton Town Building Department having approved a certificate of occupancy.

“We are now close to opening,” he said. “There’s just a little work to do,” including installation of kitchen cabinets. “We’re really pleased we’re at this point.”

Groups that relied upon the hall as a place to meet are also pleased to see its imminent availability. They include groups for those struggling with alcohol and substance abuse, a Masonic lodge, and a congregation of the Church of the Nazarene. “We’ve had quite a number of folks expressing interest in utilizing the kitchen,” Mr. Howarth added.

For Scoville Hall, named in 1973 for the Rev. Clarence Beecher Scoville, who led the congregation from 1919 to 1943, the road back has been long and winding. More than 18 months after the Oct. 15, 2011, fire that destroyed the building, its charred husk continued to stand, to the annoyance of many residents of the quiet, picturesque lane. Church officials and Peerless Insurance were at odds over a settlement, which the former deemed very low.

“Honestly, it doesn’t feel right to the community,” Mr. Howarth said in 2013. “We don’t want to leave a lot of money in the insurance company’s pocket, and we don’t want to put up a modular piece that doesn’t fit the nature of the community. We want this to last a few centuries.” A sticking point in the dispute concerned the building’s foundation, the insurer contending that it should remain and a new structure be built upon it.

It was finally demolished, later in 2013, following the intervention of Barry Slotnick, an attorney who has represented high-profile clients including Bernhard Goetz, Anthony Quinn, Joseph Colombo, and Mario Biaggi, a former congressman. “I was very offended by the fact that I saw this burned-out building sitting on Meeting House Lane without anyone doing anything,” Mr. Slotnick, who owns a house on the lane, told The Star in 2013. “I took one look and said this is the folly of the insurance company — they’re going to keep everyone strung out.”

He offered his assistance to Mr. Howarth, who accepted. “We got in touch with the insurance company,” the lawyer said. “We told them unless and until there’s a resolution, we would do a $100 million lawsuit. They realized we were not kidding.”

Approximately $75,000 is still needed to fund the reconstruction, Mr. Howarth said. Donations can be made by check to the Scoville Hall Rebuilding Fund, P.O. Box 764, Amagansett 11930, and at amagansettpresbyterian.org/give.

The East Hampton Village Board closed its fiscal year on Friday with an amendment to the village code regarding building permits and the appointment of an ordinance officer. Building permits are now valid for one year, and can be extended by one year. The amendment allows them to be extended for up to three additional one-year periods.

Ken Collum, the village fire marshal and one of its ordinance officers, told the board that contemporary construction often extends beyond two years, making the old law, which required an applicant to resubmit plans and pay a renewal fee after two years, impractical. The term ordinance  officer has replaced the code enforcement officer under Civil Service rules.

“We felt that the code should be changed because we have been extending” permits, he said. “The houses have become very complex, and products are being brought into this country from afar to complete them.” Houses now often require, he said, “a lot more rebar, a lot more concrete,” and foundations once poured in a few days may now take months.

The amendment also streamlines the process, he explained. “A lot of times we’ll issue a permit, then they come in and want to add a garage, a pool. At one point . . . we were seeing projects, sometimes, with nine open building permits.” Closing out permits and issuing a certificate of occupancy within that framework was “very difficult at best,” he said, while under the amendment “we have one set of papers, one set of plans . . . and we close out one single permit instead of chasing nine permits and all of these bits and pieces that we need to make them whole.”

Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said the village had received correspondence from one resident objecting to the amendment. “But based on what Kenny indicated, this was the right way to go.” The amendment was adopted unanimously.

The board appointed Robert Jahoda, who was the village’s traffic control specialist, to the position of ordinance officer at an annual salary of $60,000. The new position was effective Monday. Mr. Jahoda is replacing Dan Reichl, an ordinance officer and building inspector, who will soon retire, Becky Molinaro, the village administrator, said after the meeting.

The board also approved an estimated $83,340 for the removal of seven trees that Ms. Molinaro said are “severely infested” with Dutch elm disease. The cost will be shared with the Ladies Village Improvement Society.  Seven other trees must be pruned, Ms. Molinaro said, to protect neighboring trees from the disease. “Apparently, there’s a statewide outbreak, that has become very severe, especially upstate,” she said.

Hearings that had gone on for months and even years were finally closed when the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals met on Friday, though not before the board heard a lot of scorn and a smidgen of praise from one applicant.

A 2014 determination granting Shahab Karmely variances to construct a tennis court at the historic Gardiner property at 127 Main Street, provided that several conditions were met, was reconsidered this year after a building inspector determined that the landscaping was not in accordance with the board’s approval. Mr. Karmely’s neighbor, Kenneth Kuchin of 121 Main Street, had objected that the court would be too near a cottage that he uses for meditation, and after its construction he told the board that his fears of excessive noise had been realized.

At the board’s July 8 meeting, Mr. Karmely complained of his neighbor’s “unhealthy obsession” with his tennis court, but offered to attach soundproofing to a fence separating the properties. The board asked to see a plan before closing the hearing, and Mr. Karmely returned on Friday.

It was his seventh time before the board, and he delivered a long statement denouncing its conduct. “I find myself here again defending arbitrary, false, and unsupported allegations despite ample evidence to the contrary,” he told the board members, complaining of the use of Google Earth photos to support the contention that he had not sunk the court four feet below grade as stipulated. The board “then went on to immediately dismiss a report from a leading acoustical engineer,” Mr. Karmely said, and claimed the existence of a retaining wall along the tennis court, which he called “utter fiction.”

“Additionally,” he continued, “you cited specifically that your inspection supports Mr. Kuchin’s fabricated and undocumented claim that the court was raised two feet” and that vegetation to screen it was not as tall as stated. Addressing Frank Newbold, the chairman, Mr. Karmely asked, “Did you, sir, in fact measure the said shrubs, sleuth said invisible retaining wall, and reach back in time to document the exact conditions of the site prior to the installation?”

In fact, he said, he had gone to great lengths and expense to comply with every condition of the approval, including a prohibition on installing any fencing around the court, “which we did not, and now are asked to do so.”

Before concluding, however, Mr. Karmely called the board’s work “crucial to maintaining the beauty and quality of life in our beloved village,” and commended “the passion and dedication you bring to what must often be a thankless task.” Nonetheless, he said, the board “must either rely on the trust of the citizenry or engage in brute force. You, Mr. Chairman, have cast a shadow on that crucial trust by your actions and behavior in regard to this matter.”

Members of the board called Mr. Karmely’s offer to affix dense soundproofing material to a fence separating the properties “reasonable” and “a very fair compromise,” and Mr. Kuchin, who has also attended the meetings, seemed satisfied. The hearing, to everyone’s relief, was closed.

Another hearing that concluded on Friday concerned the Highway Restaurant and Bar on the grounds of the Everit Albert Herter Veterans of Foreign Wars post, at 290 Montauk Highway. At previous meetings, the village’s code enforcement officer complained that allowing the restaurant to offer dining on a wooden deck that had grown larger than allowed by a prior approval would place an undue burden on his department.

On Friday, Andy Hammer, an attorney representing the applicant, submitted a revised survey showing the deck resized according to the prior approval, and its benches removed. Three tables would sit on the patio with occupancy consistent with the original site plan, he said. The tables on a slate patio on the other side of the building will be removed. A request to raise the restaurant’s sign, which is already taller than permitted by code, was withdrawn, and its roof will be removed, rendering it compliant.

Satisfied, the board, which first considered the application in April, closed the hearing.

Four determinations were announced at the meeting. In separate applications for 85 and 93 West End Road, Katherine and William Rayner were granted coastal erosion hazard area and dune setback variances to construct an outdoor pizza oven, alter stepping stones, and retain air-conditioning units, all of which come too close to beach grass and the 15-foot contour line of the ocean dune. The board found the structures insubstantial and posing no detriment. The Rayners were also granted variances to alter a retaining wall and construct a garden gate and retaining walls straddling the two properties, and for the gate to be 11 feet high where the maximum permitted height is six feet.

The board also granted Steven Cohen, the founder of Point72 Asset Management, variances to allow 18,186 square feet of lot coverage at 96 Further Lane, where the pre-existing coverage was 16,657 and the maximum permitted by current code is 15,295. Patios, which fall into the side property line setbacks, and a generator account for the overage.

Jonathan Schulhof and Kimberly Kravis were granted a variance to construct an addition to their house at 101 Georgica Close Road that will result in 10,718 square feet of floor area, where the pre-existing nonconforming floor area is 9,747 and the maximum permitted under current code is 8,258. An attached garage accounts for some of the floor area, and the applicant offered to reduce the floor area of accessory structures to 94 square feet. Approval was granted on the condition of that offer, which the applicants must record in the county clerk’s office.

The efforts of an East Hampton Town lifeguard who helped an elderly woman get on to a Montauk beach to join family members on an ocean outing have garnered widespread attention and heartfelt thanks from the woman’s family as well as from East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, who expressed his accolades in a Facebook post.

Janet Dunne of Bethel, Conn., wrote an open letter to the Montauk Chamber of Commerce lauding Shane McCann, the lifeguard who went out of his way to help her 94-year-old mother onto the sand.

The family has been visiting Montauk for a dozen years, and until this year they managed to help her mother get to the beach, said Ms. Dunne in her letter. They needed a beach wheelchair this time, and were referred by the Chamber of Commerce to the town lifeguards.

The lifeguards didn’t have one available, Ms. Dunne said, but Mr. McCann drove an all-terrain vehicle to the door of the family’s hotel room, picked her up, and drove her to where the family was sitting, in front of the Surf Club. He picked her up later, and when he dropped her off back at her room, “he gave her a hug and told her she was an inspiration to him,” Ms. Dunne wrote. “The look on my mom’s face was something I will never forget and this made our vacation. . . . I love Montauk and always have. This may be Mom’s last visit, so this meant more than I can ever say.”

“This makes me proud of our community, lifeguard staff, and Shane,” Mr. Cantwell wrote in his Facebook post. “You’re the best.”

Though Ms. Dunne’s mother may have needed help to get to the beach this year in any case, the Army Corps of Engineers’ new sandbag seawall requires climbing up wooden stairways and then down to the beach at several of the downtown access points. That poses a difficulty for the mobility-impaired, and town officials have opted to foot the bill to install ramps from the landward side of the steps to their center platforms. The ramps cannot continue down the other side all the way to the sand, however, as the beach is not wide enough to accommodate a safe slope.

Drew Bennett, an East Hampton engineer, is working on the design of ramps that will comply with Americans With Disabilities Act specifications, to be installed at the pedestrian beach accesses at South Edgemere Street and at Surfside Place. He will be paid $6,000.

At its meeting last Thursday night, the board approved the issuance of a $155,000 bond to pay for construction of the ramps.

The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals considered an application on July 8 for extensive variances and a wetlands permit to allow the substantial renovation of a house at 14 Hook Pond Lane, a narrow, private road that leads to the pond and services nine properties. The village is engaged in water quality remediation in the area, and the hearing drew concerns from several neighbors. 

 Greg Blatt’s plans would require variance relief for the house, which is to have a floor area of 8,892 square feet and be 32.6 feet high, where the maximum permitted height is 26 feet. He also seeks variances for patios and a septic system that would fall inside the required setback, as well as for stairs, covered porches, and roof drywells, which would fall 52 feet into the required 150-foot wetlands setback.

A utility easement makes a conforming location for the septic system difficult, William Beeton, an architect on the project, said. The system is to be split and half of it would be in a conforming location, Andy Hammer, an attorney representing Mr. Blatt, said, adding that sanitary flow would be greatly reduced. “We want to make sure it’s in the absolute best location,” Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, said, “because we’ve all read the news about concerns about the health of Hook Pond.” 

Mr. Blatt also wants the cellar walls to extend beyond the exterior walls of the first story, which the village prohibited last year.

According to Walter Wilcoxen, one of the architects, design began before the law was changed. While a portion of the house’s east and west ends are to be razed, the foundation will remain. “Our contention,” Mr. Wilcoxen said, “is that it’s part of the existing footprint of the building. We’re improving, we think, by cutting back the closeness of the building to the pond.” 

Among neighbors who spoke was Linda James, whose family has had a house on the lane for 48 years. Noting that Hook Pond Lane is a single lane with no curbs or shoulders, she said, “I need to know what impact I can expect as a year-round resident over the projected year of heavy-duty construction.” She asked how the pond and shoreline would be protected from “extensive demolition runoff.” 

Ms. James said she and her neighbors were conscientious stewards of the land and water. “I saw none of this reflected in the application,” she said. “The project proposed is demanding on the pond’s natural resources, now and in the future. The application requesting a wide range of variances needs to be reconsidered with this goal in mind.” 

“I believe we have standard wetlands protection involved,” Mr. Wilcoxen answered. “Once it gets reviewed, if it has to be upgraded, it will be. This is just the beginning of the process.”

Because the plans call for a roof deck, the roof is considered to be flat, determining the limit on the building’s height,  Billy Hajek, the village planner, said. But Mr. Wilcoxen said the planned height of the house complied with the zoning code’s intent. “You wouldn’t know there’s a flat area on the roof. In our mind this is a gabled structure,” which under the code’s formula could be 35 feet high. 

“We’re not denying the deck,” Mr. Newbold said. “We’re just saying, can you accomplish what you want to accomplish within 27 feet?” 

Dwight Chapin, another Hook Pond Lane resident, worried about the height of the house because it is framed by his living room window, as well as its 10 bedrooms, which he said would present traffic problems.

Also speaking out was Jim Dean, a brother of former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont, who attended with their mother, Andree Dean. “There is already a lot of noise,” he said, adding that a recent party at the property lasted until 1:30 a.m. 

Mr. Newbold asked the applicant to re-examine and try to minimize the variance requests, and Mr. Hammer said he would return with a detailed construction protocol.

“Our point has always been, there’s quite a few things we’re doing to mitigate some problems,” Mr. Wilcoxen said, including eliminating a swimming pool in the wetlands setback and removing an existing structure. “We were hoping . . . you would give us some leeway because we’re making other improvements.”

The hearing was left open and will be revisited at the board’s Aug. 12 meeting. 

A fund-raiser for Maureen’s Haven, which provides shelter and other services for the homeless on the East End, will be held on Friday, July 22, at the Hyatt Sea Star Ballroom in Riverhead.

The Maureen’s Haven program allows East Enders facing difficulties to remain in their communities while getting help to rebuild their lives. It offers over­night accommodations with meals during the winter months at churches and synagogues through­­out the area and operates a day center where counseling, educational services, job training, and assistance in finding housing is provided. According to the group, the need for assistance continues to grow each year.

The gala will begin at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $100 per person, and tables for 10 can be reserved. Reservations can be made by calling Russell Blue, a member of the group’s board of directors, at 631-726-0019 or sending an email to [email protected].