A hearing at the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday to legalize fencing that does not comply with code briefly morphed into a debate about deer and residents’ efforts to shield their property from the animals.

Morton Olshan of 61 Further Lane seeks variances to allow both the construction of eight-foot-tall fencing and to legalize the existing fencing of the same height around his 3.9-acre property that he proposes to replace in kind. The village code prohibits fencing higher than six feet but allows an additional two feet of parallel wires.

Mr. Olshan also seeks a variance to allow an approximately 357-square-foot playground area to remain within a rear-yard setback.

Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, asked why the applicant could not conform to code by installing a six-foot-high fence with parallel wires. William J. Fleming, an attorney representing Mr. Olshan, answered that errant golf balls from the adjacent Maidstone Club sometimes fly onto the property. “That’s the primary reason for wanting to retain this,” he said. “In truth, nobody knows who put up that fence initially,” between the Maidstone Club and Mr. Olshan’s property, implying that it may have been the private club.

Mr. Olshan and his wife, Carole, have been in litigation with the club over the latter’s irrigation system upgrade, which calls for a pump house that the Olshans fear will produce a disturbing level of noise.

The applicant has grandchildren, Mr. Newbold said, and the eight-foot-high fence better protects his family from golf balls. He has also negotiated a boundary line agreement with his easterly neighbor, onto whose property the fencing encroaches.

Patrick Gunn, also representing the applicant, said that the playground equipment is in a little-used area and cannot be seen by neighbors. Board members were unmoved. “There’s plenty of room” to situate it in a conforming location, said Larry Hillel.

And, said Lys Marigold, the vice chairwoman, the board had compelled the owner of a nearby property to move playground equipment to do the same. “We have precedent to worry about.”

When Mr. Newbold asked if anyone present wished to comment on the application, Ron Delsener, a concert promoter and animal-rights activist who has a house on Middle Lane, stood. “I like animals on my property,” Mr. Delsener, who has been critical of the village’s efforts to thin the deer population, said. “This is too much consumption by the Olshan family.”

Mr. Delsener then delivered an impassioned argument against fencing and for the rights of animals. “The deer craze here, it’s like ‘Reefer Madness’ in the ’50s,” he said, referring to the propaganda film about the dangers of marijuana. “It has nothing to do with the grandchildren.” He said that very few houses in the area do not have deer fencing, and criticized the board and Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. for allowing its proliferation.

“What’s the matter with not having fencing?” Mr. Delsener asked. “Here, it’s just ‘build bigger and bigger and bigger.’ When are we going to stop and say, ‘Let’s see the vistas that we used to have here, let’s let the animals roam’? Let the hunters kill them if they have to. But for God’s sake, don’t panic. . . . It just makes me sick to see this whole thing happen.”

The sense of the board, Mr. Newbold said, was that, except for the property’s boundary with the Maidstone Club, new fencing would have to conform to code, and the playground equipment would have to be moved to a conforming location.

The hearing was closed, but it was agreed that Linda Riley, the village’s attorney, who was not present, should weigh in on the boundary line agreement that Mr. Olshan negotiated with his easterly neighbor.

As Ms. Riley was on vacation, the board postponed issuance of determinations until its next meeting, on Nov. 13.

The East Hampton High School class of 1966 is planning a reunion for next year, but its organizers have been unable to find addresses for several classmates. They are Michelle Bossey, Linda Catalano, Peter Flohr, Jane Walsh, Marva Conklin, Roger Price, Ulysses O’Connor, Peter Burrascano, and John Schutzel.

An email to mar42048@ aol.com with any information would be welcomed.

Georgica Pond in East Hampton, which the town trustees have closed to the harvesting of crabs for part of the last two years due to dense blooms of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, was opened to the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 7.

Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, announced that the pond had been opened to the ocean at the group’s meeting on Tuesday. “It’s running well,” Sean McCaffrey, a trustee who had been on site, said of the channel created between the pond and ocean. “It did what it’s supposed to.” The high salinity of the ocean water will kill the algal bloom.

The pond has been closed to crabbing since August. “The opening of the cut in Georgica has ended the blue-green algae bloom that had persisted since Aug. 1, Stephanie Forsberg, the trustees’ assistant clerk, said in an email yesterday. “Levels are almost zero and we do not expect to see any blue-green algae again in 2015. The salinity is close to ocean levels within the south of the pond.”

Because the bloom has dissipated, the trustees will rescind the prohibition on crabbing, Dr. Forsberg said, though they had not done so as of yesterday morning. When they last voted to extend the closure, the trustees agreed to authorize Ms. McNally to take appropriate action on their behalf. “As soon as the data is in the office,” Ms. McNally said yesterday, “we should be good to go.”

While blue-green algae are naturally present in lakes and streams, an abundance, caused by warm water temperatures and a lack of tidal flushing, can lead to blooms. Exposure can cause vomiting or diarrhea; skin, eye, or throat irritation; nausea, or allergic reactions or breathing difficulties.

All trustee-managed waters, Dr. Forsberg said, “are looking very good” as of yesterday. “We have had no rust tide to speak of this season, which is great.”

In a brief meeting on Friday, the East Hampton Village Board gave notice of three upcoming public hearings, which are scheduled for Nov. 20 at the Emergency Services Building.

One hearing concerns an amendment to the village’s lighting code, which was revised after numerous business owners and their representatives criticized the initial proposal last winter. The proposed changes are intended to update a chapter of the code, enacted in 2004, to address light trespass, regulate lighting deemed needless, maintain the village’s rural character, and save energy through new technology and reduced use. A proposed dusk-to-dawn prohibition of “nonessential” lighting in the commercial district was removed from the legislation, and another of the business community’s concerns was alleviated with a revision allowing conformance at the time a fixture or bulb is repaired or replaced, rather than upon the effective date of the legislation.

The second hearing is on a proposed amendment to require issuance of an updated certificate of occupancy upon a change of ownership. The amendment, which would codify what has become a standard practice in most of the legal community, is intended to make the village’s zoning code easier to enforce.

The third proposed amendment would enhance the village’s collection of unpaid false alarm fees by providing that any such fees become a lien on the property where an alarm was generated. The Towns of East Hampton and Southampton, and the Villages of Sag Harbor, Quogue, and Westhampton Beach have similar provisions.

In other news from the meeting, the board authorized Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. to accept the donation of the Dominy clock and woodworking shops, which date to 1797 and 1850 and have stood at 62 Further Lane since 1946. The timber-frame structures originally stood on North Main Street and were joined when they were moved to Further Lane. A timetable on the move is still to be determined.

The donor was shielded by the corporate name 62 FL but is widely believed to be Barry Rosenstein, a hedge fund manager and founder of Jana Partners who purchased the 16 acres at 60, 62, and 64 Further Lane last year for a reported $147 million. The clock and woodworking shops are to be moved from his property.

The board also voted to accept the donation of a 1935 fire truck from John Hiscock, a former member of the fire department. That donation is reported elsewhere in this issue.

Bruce Siska, a member of the board, thanked the family of Mr. Hiscock and reminded residents to change the batteries in smoke detectors when they turn clocks back one hour on Nov. 1, the end of daylight saving time. “They should be changed every six months,” Mr. Siska said. “Remember to do that, and stock up on batteries.”

Barbara Borsack, who had referred to Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the importance of mammograms at the board’s Oct. 1 work session, concluded the meeting with a message. “There are so many cancers that are so easily treatable nowadays,” she said. “Take care of your health, get your screenings done, and be well out there.”

The East Hampton Town Trustees’ 25th annual Largest Clam Contest, a popular event that had been scheduled for Oct. 4 but was postponed due to inclement weather, has been rescheduled for Nov. 15 at noon. It will be held at the American Legion Post 419 in Amagansett.

In the days leading up to the contest, Hurricane Joaquin intensified in the Atlantic Ocean, making it increasingly possible that shellfishing areas would be closed to would-be contestants. No clams, no contest.

The event also includes a clam chowder competition, a free raw bar, free chowder from Fred Overton’s great big vat, and presentations by officials from the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Marine Program. Also, the East End Classic Boat Society will display the craft it has constructed this year and sell raffle tickets for it.

Twelve winners will be selected, the grand prize going to the largest clam taken by anyone, adult or junior age 4 to 14, anywhere. Prizes will also be awarded for the biggest clam from Lake Montauk, Three Mile Harbor, Napeague Harbor, and Accabonac Harbor. The best chowders — red, white, and over all — will also win prizes.

On Tuesday, Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, said that before the canceled Oct. 4 contest only five clams had been submitted to the four participating seafood shops, and just one of them included the required information, including the waterway where it was harvested and the contestant’s shellfish-license number. They have been photographed, measured, and returned to the water.

Zoning code amendments adopted by the East Hampton Village Board in June, which added graduated formulas for lot coverage and maximum floor areas of structures for parcels larger than one acre, caused a number of construction plans to become noncompliant and led to the revocation of several building permits.

One such instance brought the president of Discovery Communications and his wife back to the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday, where their attorney once again sought variances to allow renovations and additions to their oceanfront house at 26 Drew Lane.

David and Pam Zaslav, who were granted the variances just prior to the amendments’ adoption, also plan to raze an existing pool house, install stormwater drainage structures and a new sanitary system, enlarge the driveway, and construct stairways, steppingstones, and a garage with a storage area and pool house on the 1.3-acre property.

The Zaslavs require additional variances to allow the floor area of their house to be 498 square feet larger than the code now allows and lot coverage to be 786 square feet greater. In addition, they would like to extend the cellar wall beyond the residence’s first floor, which was also prohibited by the amendments.

The Zaslavs, said Richard A. Hammer, their attorney, are “handicapped by the fact that we’re using that original house” rather than demolishing and reconstructing it. Great effort was made to best utilize its existing spaces, he said, but the original layout and design “don’t lend themselves well to just chopping off 498 square feet. . . . It would entail essentially starting from scratch after so much effort was expended.” Staircases, Mr. Hammer said, account for most of the excess lot coverage. “There’s not a lot of existing coverage we can remove from this site,” he told the board. “Once it was rendered nonconforming by the new local law, it became even more difficult.”

The applicants propose moving the house three to four feet away from the existing foundation, Mr. Hammer said, and adding a cellar that would extend 236 square feet outside the house’s footprint. The addition to the foundation is on the side away from the ocean, he said, and is intended to “create a softer approach” that mirrors the house’s existing features. “I don’t think this is a substantial request,” he said, given that most of the house is over a crawl space. 

Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, asked Mr. Hammer if the Zaslavs would reconsider the cellar addition, eliminating the need for a variance.

“We had never looked that closely at this area of the project because it was in the conforming building envelope,” Mr. Hammer said. Nonetheless, “We’re happy to go back and look at it.”

Addressing the board, Mr. Zaslav spoke of “a fair amount of anxiety” over the course of their application. “Focusing on that one area is fair,” he said of the cellar, “and we’ll work on that over the next two weeks and come back to you.”

The hearing was held open, to be revisited at the board’s meeting on Oct. 23.

The board also announced three determinations. Peter Robbins of 67 Lily Pond Lane was granted retroactive variances for an addition and interior alterations to a pre-existing nonconforming house and accessory structures within the front-yard setback, as well as a 296-square-foot stone walkway, a 28-square-foot stone pad, and air-conditioning condensers within the front property setback.

Rajesh Alva of 36 Hedges Lane was granted variances to allow a 6,204-square-foot house where the maximum permitted is 5,861, and to allow construction of new accessory buildings having 1,212 square feet of floor area, where 1,123 square feet is the maximum permitted. Mr. Alva had received a building permit in June only to have it revoked days later when the village adopted the graduated formulas for lots larger than one acre, rendering his proposed structures noncompliant. 

Michael and Barbara Bebon of 93 Main Street were granted variances to allow alterations to a pre-existing nonconforming garage just inside the required front-yard setback, and to allow the floor area of the house and garage, which are 14 feet apart and are to be joined with a 548-square-foot addition, to be 7,385 square feet, where the maximum allowable for a principal residence is 5,701 square feet. Lys Marigold, the board’s vice chairwoman, voted against approving the application.

At the Sept. 25 hearing, Ms. Marigold had criticized both the proposed raising of the house’s roofline above two bedrooms and Mr. Bebon’s stated need for the alterations — to accommodate family members and guests. “The idea that we’ve been barraged lately with people who want their whole family to come and stay, therefore they have to increase bedrooms, gets me scared,” she said at the hearing. “The more people here, the more clogged the streets get.”

The Bebon variances were granted on the conditions that a shower on the three-car garage’s second story, which was converted to a recreation room without a building permit, is removed, and that the applicants file a covenant with Suffolk County stating that the garage will not be converted to habitable space.

Nine months after business owners and their representatives expressed displeasure at proposed amendments to the East Hampton Village lighting code, prompting the village board to table them, the board took up the amendments at a work session last Thursday.

The proposed amendments to the code, which was enacted in 2004, were intended to curtail light “trespass,” regulate lighting deemed needless, maintain the village’s rural character, and save energy. The amendments would have required lighting deemed nonessential to be off between dusk and dawn. Lighting in violation of light-trespass limits could have been ordered removed or altered. The amendments also would have prohibited foliage illumination and “wall washing” by spotlights on nonresidential properties.

On Thursday, Becky Molinaro, the village administrator, reported that she had circulated revisions to the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, East Hampton Business Alliance, and East Hampton Library, as well as board members. The dusk-to-dawn prohibition of lighting in the commercial district deemed nonessential has been removed from the proposal.

The amendments now require conformance at the time a fixture or bulb is repaired or replaced, rather than upon the effective date of the legislation, a provision that Elbert Edwards, a village trustee, said would eliminate another of the business community’s objections. Ms. Molinaro told the board that the business community appears to accept the revisions. Mr. Edwards agreed, noting that no one had come to the work session to discuss the revisions, in contrast to the initial public hearing in January.

Dennis Fabiszak, director of the library, had asked that the board consider a limit of 3,500 Kelvin (a measurement used to describe the hue of a light source), rather than the 3,000-Kelvin limit in the revised proposal. The board indicated a willingness to adopt his suggestion.

“If everyone is comfortable,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said, “we can notice for a hearing.” The hearing is likely to be held at the board’s meeting on Nov. 20.

Discussion then turned to the proposed engineering projects to deal with wastewater and improve the quality of Hook and Town Ponds, which a consultant had presented to the board last month. The village, Ms. Molinaro said, has applied to the county and state for grants to offset the cost of groundwater and wastewater treatment systems. “Hopefully, by the end of the calendar year we will hear from one or both,” she said.

Nonetheless, “the assumption would be, to offset matching amounts the village would have to put up, the village would have to borrow,” she said. She recommended that the board amend the capital plan it had updated in May to include the projects. Board members agreed.

The mayor called water quality “one of the cornerstone issues on Long Island,” saying that the board “is committed to, as applicable and fiscally responsible, deal with some of the issues regarding remediation — bringing back quality and aesthetics.” Board members are cognizant of the significant cost, he said, but “we’re not going to spend money willy-nilly.”

Scott Fithian, the superintendent of public works, told the board that new drainage systems have been installed on Georgia Road near the intersection of Cove Hollow Road as part of a separate storm sewer system program, known as MS4. The project is intended to mitigate stormwater runoff entering Georgica Pond. “It’s working quite well so far,” Mr. Fithian said.

The East Hampton Town Trustees’ 25th annual Largest Clam Contest, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday at the American Legion Post 419 in Amagansett, has been postponed.

Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, said yesterday that, with Hurricane Joaquin intensifying in the Atlantic Ocean, the potential for shellfishing areas to be closed by today meant that participants would not be able to harvest clams to enter the contest.

Competing clams were to be dug through Saturday and brought to one of four seafood shops in the town. Winners in adult and junior categories were to receive a package of prizes donated by sponsoring shops and restaurants. A clam chowder contest was also planned.

The event was also to include presentations by John (Barley) Dunne, director of the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery, and Kimberly Barbour, outreach manager of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Marine Program, and the East End Classic Boat Society was to display the Pooduck skiff it constructed this year and sell raffle tickets for the craft.

While the trustees intend to hold the event at a later date, the contest had not been rescheduled as of yesterday.

A swimming pool in the ecologically stressed Hook Pond watershed and what was called the “poster child for non-self-created difficulties” were before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday.

An attorney and consultants for Matthew Twist of 21 Egypt Lane were at the meeting seeking a freshwater wetlands permit and variances to allow a 420-square-foot swimming pool to fall within required property line and wetlands setbacks. Complicating the application are three leaching pools on the approximately half-acre lot, and “lovely, ancient trees,” which Johanna Colecchia, Mr. Twist’s attorney, said prevent the pool from being built in a conforming location.

Suffolk County’s sanitary code mandates that pools are set back 20 feet from a sanitary system. That regulation is very conservative and allows for myriad site conditions, Joseph Fischetti, an engineer testifying for the applicant, said.

Further, according to Bruce Anderson of Suffolk Environmental Consulting, who also represented the applicant, the regulation was intended to prevent a vinyl pool, for example, from collapsing into a cavity excavated for a septic system, while Mr. Twist plans a gunite (cement and sand) pool. “That setback is unimportant because a septic tank, and a leaching pool, for example, can be within 10 feet of a foundation or a cellar,” he said.

Rob Herrmann, an environmental consultant for the village, had recommended that the board ensure that the swimming pool’s dry well be as far from wetlands as possible. Mr. Twist’s representatives agreed to modify the plans to accommodate that request. 

The proposed pool will contain saltwater, Mr. Anderson said, which would use far less chlorine than a freshwater pool, and its recirculating system would have minimal environmental impact. “We wind up with a pool that’s less impactful and a discharge point more distant from the wetlands than what’s proposed now,” he said. “And the wetlands are on the other side of the road, in any event.”

“We understand the wetlands are on the other side of the road,” Frank Newbold, the panel’s chairman, said, “but I’m sure you read, for instance, in The East Hampton Star this week, there is concern about that entire area of Egypt Lane and North Main Street, how it flows into the pond.” Mr. Newbold was referring to recommendations presented to the village board the previous week for a wastewater system for 87 properties, including Mr. Twist’s.

The board asked that details of the proposed pool’s elevation be submitted for Mr. Herrmann’s evaluation, and the hearing was left open, to be revisited on Oct. 23.

The board also heard from a representative of Rajesh Alva, who had received a building permit in June only to have it revoked days later when the zoning code was amended to add graduated formulas for allowable floor areas of residences on lots larger than one acre.

When the village board held a public hearing on the amendments in the spring, Mr. Alva harshly criticized the proposal, stating that he, his wife, and his neighbors would register to vote in the village.

The building permit he received on June 11 for a 6,204-square-foot house and 1,212 square feet of accessory buildings to be constructed at 36 Hedges Lane, became noncompliant when the code was amended eight days later. Under the new formula, he needs variances for both the residence and accessory buildings.

Andrew Goldstein, arguing on Mr. Alva’s behalf, said the property is more than 250 feet from Hedges Lane, so the structures would neither be visible from the street nor affect neighbors. “The neighborhood is what the comprehensive plan describes as a historic summer colony,” he said. “Virtually every house on this street and on the neighboring street exceeds the current limitations on gross floor area,” he said.

 “This is the poster child for non-self-created difficulties,” Mr. Goldstein said, referring to the zoning amendments.   Mr. Newbold agreed, saying, “He got caught in the upzoning.” Board members indicated that they agreed, and the hearing was closed.

The board also announced four determinations. Mark Schryver of 35 Sherrill Road was granted variances to allow a porch within the front-yard setback and floor area and lot coverage 329 and 138 square feet more than what is permitted.

Matthew Mallow and Ellen Chesler were granted a freshwater wetlands permit to allow the removal of approximately 15,000 square feet of phragmites from 40 La Forest Lane and adjacent wetlands and its replacement with native plants. 

Barrie P. Berg and Antonio Munoz-Sune of 181 Georgica Road were granted a variance to permit an existing porte cochere beneath a portion of their house’s second story to be enclosed. Doing so will increase the floor area to 633 square feet more than what is permitted. The variance was granted on the condition that the area used now for automobiles will not be converted to habitable space.

The board also granted variances permitting the extension and alteration of 10 pre-existing, nonconforming cottages and a maintenance garage at 92 Ocean Avenue, owned by the Bayberry Close Corporation. Structures seaward of the coastal erosion hazard line are to be removed, and steps, walkways, pavers, patios, outdoor showers and bins, a trellis, and air-conditioning units will remain. The property was also affected by the zoning amendments and required variance relief for coverage, floor area, and setbacks.

East Hampton Village in 1657 was, needless to say, a very different place from what it is now, but even so, a series of events in February that year that alarmed and aroused residents — a strange case of alleged witchcraft — still holds fascination today.

The case of Goody Garlick, an East Hampton “goodwife” who was accused of putting a hex on a young woman, leading to her death, will be the subject of a daylong forum on Saturday sponsored by the East Hampton Historical Society.

The favored daughter of Lion Gardiner, Elizabeth Gardiner Howell, who had settled in East Hampton Village after coming onto the mainland from Gardiner’s Island with a handful of tenants and servants, died shortly after claiming to see “a black thing” at the foot of her bed.

The married 16-year-old fell ill on a winter night, complaining at first of a headache and a cold. She quickly became feverish.

Some time later, according to an article by Bernice Marshall in the March 1965 Long Island Courant, reprinted in The Star in 1985, in which historical records are cited, the young Mrs. Howell “cried out ‘a witch a witch, now you come to torture [me] because I spoke two or three words against you.’ ”

Her father was sent for. He, Elizabeth’s husband, Arthur Howell, and two friends were keeping watch over the young woman’s bed when she screamed about the “black thing” and began to strike out at it, crying that she was bewitched.

The next day, when her mother arrived, she repeated the claim and said that she had seen Goody Garlick at the foot of the bed. She complained that she was being pricked with pins and said Goody Garlick had come to torment her.

Those gathered by Mrs. Howell’s bedside as she lay unconscious said they began to hear scratching sounds at the bed and the sounds of stones being thrown in the room, but could see nothing. It frightened them, they later testified. Several of the women tending her said that a pin had been removed from her mouth, when no pin had been there earlier, when Elizabeth had been given some food.

Both occurrences, of stone throwing and pinpricks, had been cited in cases of alleged witchcraft in England not long before.

Soon after Elizabeth Howell died, the three East Hampton Town magistrates of the time, Thomas Baker, Thomas Mulford, and John Hand, began to hear sworn testimony about the case and about Goody Garlick.

Goody Garlick was not trusted by the other women of the village, it came out — and she owned a black cat. Hearsay piled up. Those who testified recounted events, some thirdhand, that tied Goody Garlick to unfortunate occurrences, such as the deaths of two infants.

At a town meeting on March 19, 1657, residents decided that the magistrates, who were going to Connecticut to have East Hampton brought under the regional government, should deliver Goody Garlick to the authorities there for a trial before a higher court.

A jury of 12, along with Connecticut’s colonial governor, John Winthrop, and Thomas Wells, the deputy governor, indicted the East Hampton housewife, under penalty of death, but she was found not guilty at a trial in Hartford, Conn., in May of 1658. Records of the testimony survive.

The strange case, which took place only eight years after East Hampton’s founding, has engendered much study and interest over the years, including, in 1996, a modern-day re-enactment of the trial with East Hampton attendees serving as the jury.

The program on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Session House of the East Hampton Presbyterian Church on Main Street, will feature presentations by Walter Woodward, a Connecticut state historian, Hugh King, an East Hampton historian and the town crier, Loretta Orion, a cultural anthropologist who wrote “Never Again the Burning Times: Paganism Revived,” an ethnography of contemporary witchcraft, and Richard Barons, the director of the East Hampton Historical Society, along with Daniel Cohen and Aimee Webb.

Advance registration for “East Hampton’s Witchcraft Case 1657: A Conference” has been requested through the historical society’s website or by phone. The cost is $50, which includes a hot lunch.