On Friday, as United States Secretary of State John Kerry presided over the raising of the American flag over the reopened U.S. embassy in Havana, Luly Duke, an East Hampton resident who left Cuba as a girl in 1960, was on hand.

An invited guest among the American and Cuban dignitaries, Ms. Duke said this week that it was “overwhelmingly exciting” to witness one of the results of President Barack Obama’s re-establishment in December of diplomatic relations with the country of her birth.

The embassy was closed 54 years ago after Fidel Castro’s revolution gained control of Cuba and diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed.

Ms. Duke arrived in Cuba last Thursday and early the next morning joined the crowd of about 200 gathering at the new embassy for the ceremony, which included the guests as well as a crowd of Cuban citizens on the outside of the gates looking on.

It was “an amazing day,” she said Tuesday from her house overlooking Three Mile Harbor.

As a girl, Ms. Duke left Cuba with her grandparents shortly after Castro took over; her parents came to the United States a year later.

The family never returned to Cuba to live, but Ms. Duke has made many trips there. She established Fundacion Amistad, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to foster positive relationships between Cubans and Americans.

“I’ve been working for a very long time to improve [things],” she said. “I’m so excited; I can’t tell you how excited I am.”

It is amazing, she said, that it took just eight months from the time a diplomatic relationship was re-established to the reopening of the embassy, which operated for the intervening years under Swiss government jurisdiction, as the U.S. Interests Section. Now, said Ms. Duke, “They have the word ‘Embassy’ outside, with the seal” of the United States. “It was beautiful to see.”   “Let me be clear: The establishment of normal diplomatic relations is not something that one government does as a favor to another; it is something that two countries do together when the citizens of both will benefit. And in this case, the reopening of our embassies is important on two levels: People-to-people and government-to-government,” said Secretary of State Kerry in his remarks at the ceremony, which was streamed live online by the State Department.

Behind him, outside the embassy grounds gates, three of the vintage American cars that have endured in Cuba were parked along Havana’s seaside avenue, the Malecon, with the water — 90 miles of it separating Cuba and Key West — gleaming beyond.

“The U.S. and Cuba are now finally in a place that they can discuss the issues at a higher level,” said Ms. Duke this week. “It is secretary of state to foreign minister, and ambassador to foreign minister,” she said. “And that is extremely important,” and “key to all of the negotiations.”

The formation of committees, with representatives from both countries, charged with focusing on particular issues, is planned, she said.

Mr. Kerry’s visit to Cuba was the first made by an American Secretary of State since 1945. Now, said Ms. Duke, “all of us are waiting for new regulations from the State Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control to come out.” Current regulations limit visits by Americans to Cuba by restricting the spending of money there.

“While a U.S. embargo on trade with Cuba remains in place and can only be lifted by congressional action,” Mr. Kerry said in his remarks last week, “the president has taken steps to ease restrictions on remittances, on exports and imports to help Cuban private entrepreneurs, on telecommunications, on family travel,” and wants “to go further.”

“The goal of all of these changes is to help Cubans connect to the world and to improve their lives. And just as we are doing our part, we urge the Cuban government to make it less difficult for their citizens to start businesses, to engage in trade, access information online. The embargo has always been something of a two-way street — both sides need to remove restrictions that have been holding Cubans back,” Mr. Kerry said.

The Fundacion Amistad board will meet on a retreat at the end of next month, Ms. Duke said, to develop plans for its next initiatives in Cuba, to align and assist with the expected developments growing out of new governmental policies.

For instance, she said, workshops and training programs will be offered in Cuba for those interested in going into private business, an option that has heretofore been constrained.

Preschool education is also a current focus. Fundacion has been supporting a preschool in Cuba for almost a decade but is working to expand early childhood education in the country, where it is not generally offered. The group is collaborating with the Ross School in East Hampton to establish a preschool at the Havana Cathedral church, and this week, said Ms. Duke, four Cuban teachers are here, attending a preschool teacher training session at Ross.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Mr. Kerry singled out the work done by Ms. Duke and others like her in attendance.

“We also want to acknowledge the special role that the Cuban American community is playing in establishing a new relationship between our countries,” he said. “And in fact, we have with us this morning representatives from that community, some of whom were born here and others who were born in the United States. With their strong ties of culture and family, they can contribute much to the spirit of bilateral cooperation and progress that we are seeking to create, just as they have contributed much to their communities in their adopted land.”

“But above all, above all, I want to pay tribute to the people of Cuba and to the Cuban American community in the United States,” he said.

Mr. Kerry quoted Jose Marti, a beloved Cuban poet: “Jose Marti once said that ‘everything that divides men . . . is a sin against humanity.’ ”

To Ms. Duke, Mr. Kerry’s comments were “very properly positioned and very properly well said.”

“Matters of the Sea,” or “Cosas del Mar,” in Spanish, a poem written for the occasion and read by Richard Blanco, an American poet whose family is Cuban, “was spectacular,” Ms. Duke said. The poem addresses “the chance for all of us to see each other as human beings.”

In attendance to hand over the new American flag that was hoisted last week were the three U.S. Marines who, in removing the American flag at the embassy’s closure so many years ago, had vowed one day to see it go up again. That, Ms. Duke said, “was so emotional and beautiful.”

A brass band played Cuban music of the 1950s, including a mambo, and there was dancing at the ceremony, Ms. Duke said. “It was an amazing experience; I’m very grateful and honored to have been there.”

“I am very excited; I think a lot of new and good things are going to come to the Cuban people.”

Steven Cohen, an expert on sustainability and public policy who is the executive director of the Columbia University Earth Institute, will speak at the Ross School next Thursday on topics ranging from global economics to the effects of climate change on New York’s coastal areas. His talk is titled “A Positive Vision of the Transition to Sustainability: the Role of Research, Education, Communities, and Institutions.”

“I know that many projections of our environmental future seem bleak, but these projections do not account for the brainpower, creativity, and ingenuity of the next generation of sustainability professionals,” Mr. Cohen said in an announcement from the school.

Columbia University’s Earth Institute brings together researchers and collaborators from international organizations to study the complex issues facing the planet. In addition to his role as executive director of the institute, Mr. Cohen is a professor of public affairs at Columbia University who  directs its master’s degree programs in sustainability management and environmental science and policy. He is the author or co-author of a dozen books and writes a weekly blog for The Huffington Post.

The free talk is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the school, which is on Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton. Those interested in attending have been asked to respond by calling 907-5300 or emailing [email protected].

Gordian Raacke, the executive director of East Hampton-based Renewable Energy Long Island and a member of the town’s energy sustainability committee, will be among the participants in a webinar titled “What Does 100% Renewable Energy Mean for Local Governments?” on Wednesday at noon Central European Summer Time, or 6 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

The International Solar Energy Society and the Global 100% Renewable Energy Campaign are presenting the webinar, participation in which is free.

Ana Marques, an environmental engineer who is a senior officer for the Low-Carbon City Agenda of ICLEI — Local Governments for Sustainability, and Yannick Regnier of CLER, a French association that promotes a transition to renewable energy, will join Mr. Raacke in the webinar.

Mr. Raacke will discuss the actions behind the Town of East Hampton’s plan to become the first municipality in New York State to set a communitywide goal of 100-percent renewable energy and set out the steps required to achieve it. Ms. Marques will present examples of measures that local governments are adopting to transition their communities to 100-percent renewable energy, and Mr. Regnier will discuss a political, strategic, and systemic approach to energy for regional development. Jennifer McIntosh of the International Solar Energy Society will be the moderator.

Those interested in participating in the webinar, which will include a question-and-answer section, can register at the ISES website, ises.org. A recording, including the participants’ presentations, will be publicly available at ises.org for 24 hours after the live webcast. After 24 hours, it will be accessible by members only.

The early morning weather was blowing a gale northwest, and the overcast sky gave Nov. 15, 1934, an ominous look. Len Bauer, Dad, Charles Mulford, and three other friends met at the Promised Land boat basin to go duck shooting in Len’s Jersey boat to the shoals off Cartwright Island at the tip of Gardiner’s Island. The weather didn’t look very good, and Len was afraid the duck boats and sharpies would be tossed about in the rough seas, possibly overwhelmed. So the duck hunters decided since they were up early and ready to go, perhaps they should try another venue.

They headed instead for the lee side of Hicks Island off Lazy Point, which is about two miles east of the Promised Land boat basin. They loaded their duck boats and sharpies onto Charlie’s platform truck and followed him to the Lazy Point launching ramp.

The gunning party rigged out in their sharpies and duck boats in the channel and found some duck activity, shooting a few coots and old-squaws. As they were ready to leave, a Lazy Point resident happened by and told them about boxes with two-to-three-gallon bottles of alcohol scattered along the beach by the old fish factory. Being curious, the hunters walked over to take a look and saw what looked like a beach full of new lumber.

It seems that during the evening hours a small freighter had unloaded this boxed contraband (grain alcohol) onto the old fish elevator at the end of the factory dock. (A fish elevator is a contraption designed for unloading fish from fish boats into the factory.) But this load of alcohol seems to have been too much for the old elevator, and it failed. Everything had spilled into the water and onto the beach.

The gunning party seized at the opportunity to collect some of the bootlegged liquor. Len and Charlie drove back to Promised Land, got Len’s Jersey boat, and ran back to Hicks Island. They loaded aboard 65 boxes of alcohol into the boat, and then ran back to the Promised Land boat basin and piled it on Charlie’s truck. From there, Charlie parked his truck in an empty shed that he knew about near an old seine house at the former Hayes fish factory. Len and Charlie then ran the boat back to Hicks Island and this time picked up a load of 85 boxes.

Len put the stern of his Jersey boat close to the beach. The boat was loaded to capacity with about six inches of freeboard. It was aground. All hands gathered around and shoved and pushed to get her off. When the old Hayes factory watchman finally notified the authorities, the word got out and a free-for-all began at the beach. Soon the boxes began to disappear like the dew in the early morning sunlight.

While Len and Charlie were heading back with their second load, the rest of the party secured their sharpies and duck boats and helped themselves to more boxes of alcohol to put in their cars. However, by now the competition was fierce. There was stealing from unguarded piles and rumors flying that federal agents were on their way to seize the alcohol. This made everybody nervous.

The gunners drove back to the Promised Land boat basin and helped Len and Charlie load the truck. Charlie parked his truck in the shed fully loaded while the rest of the group laid low all day listening for rumors of federal agents and took turns standing guard. That evening a suspicious car drove up and they suspected it was federal men, but they didn’t see the truck. Charlie stood by with the motor running and guessed if they heard they would think somebody was charging his battery. The suspicious car backed around and headed east. Charlie backed out of the shed and headed west.

Charlie drove the load over the back roads to dump sites in Amagansett and East Hampton where the loot was hidden in cellars and attics until the coast was clear. Dad hid his share in a little barn where he kept fertilizer and farm equipment and covered it with a tarpaulin. Since it was 1934, Prohibition had been repealed only a year earlier, and surveillance for smugglers had eased off somewhat and their efforts were not as well organized as they once had been.

Now that the contraband was distributed, the next concern was how to get rid of it. The alcohol was still a hot item and still required a plan for orderly release, lest folks begin to get curious as to its origins. Somehow this hadn’t been discussed when everyone was loading it on the boat. Suddenly, the situation seemed a bit riskier.

Soon thereafter, Charlie got a call from federal agents who had heard that he had trucked a load of alcohol to another location. Charlie knew he was in a tight spot and admitted he had indeed delivered a load to a “party” in Northport the day before. They wanted to know if he had any left. Charlie said the party had given him a leaky tin of the stuff. Naturally, they wanted to see it. Charlie said he would have to fetch it because he had hid it in his attic. While the federal men waited, Charlie poked a hole in a tin and gave it to them. They took it and left. No charges were made against Charlie.

The cat-and-mouse game continued when others of the group tried to get rid of their alcohol. As the duck hunters got organized, Tom Rose, a notorious bootlegger and rumrunner, was contacted at his Village Green Grocery and Meat Market, next to Guild Hall in the Village of East Hampton. Tom acknowledged that he had heard about the alcohol incident at Hicks Island. Further, he had talked to some buyers only a few minutes before — they had just gone east but would be back in an hour or so. Tom suggested if this buyer or any other should come along, it would be best for the group to take the offer. In the meantime, they should be looking over their shoulders and keeping a low profile.

I was still in school while all this was going on and not in the know on the whole affair. So when the school coach, Frank (Sprig) Gardner, one of Dad’s duck shooting partners, asked me if my father got any of that alcohol from Hicks Island, I didn’t know what to say. Sprig would have been in on this adventure, but this all happened during a school day while he was at work. I was surprised to hear about the alcohol, real rumrunner stuff, and my mind raced with the thought of adventure. Dad had been out with Len many times duck shooting and always talked about how good or bad the shooting was. Never was there any excitement to speak of in those outings.

As soon as I got home, I told Dad what Sprig had asked me. He said, “I’ll show you,” and took me to the little barn where, sure enough, there was a pile of wooden cases covered with a tarpaulin.

Strangers with ready cash began to show up at the house, even in those Depression days. Dad got rid of most of his little stash overnight, and the rest very soon afterward. He said his alcohol sold for enough to pay for the new rowboat Uncle Dan Parsons built for him a year or so before.

One member of the party had taken his share to Southampton. Then somebody talked, and the federal people began to ask him about the alcohol. He had to admit to having a small stash. They confiscated it. No doubt this was a plus for the feds. Fortunately for most of the hunting party, most all of the alcohol had been sold by then.

A couple of decades or so later, when the excitement had passed and the principals were no longer around and details of the gunning trip had been long forgotten, I thought about the Hicks Island alcohol. Who was heading the rumrunning operation, where did it come from, how did it get there, and where was the intended destination?

I questioned Leslie Ball, Tom Rose’s nephew, about the Hicks Island alcohol incident and asked if he knew whether his uncle had anything to do with it. Les’s answer was quite emphatic: Tom had had everything to do with it. That answered my question with respect to Tom Rose, something I had long suspected.

The next thing I asked was, how did it get there? Les explained that a small freighter had tied to the fish factory dock and was unloading the alcohol onto the old fish elevator when it failed. The contraband fell overboard into the water, with some drifting onto the beach. The freighter captain put on full power and pulled a big timber off the fish elevator that landed on the deck. The rumrunning freighter was last seen steaming full throttle to the northeast with that big timber still on deck.

When the dock began to groan and sway, the remaining gang unloading the crates scrambled ashore. They were soon picked up by a small speedboat that took them to Three Mile Harbor, where Tom had other transportation waiting. Lucky for those men, Tom had taken proper precautions and always had a speedboat stationed close by should anything go wrong.

My last questions were, where did it come from, what was to become of it, and for whose purpose? Now, since Tom and Les are no longer alive, these answers are left to one’s imagination. I suspect Tom lost a good deal of money on this deal, but I never heard he had to pay for any of the repairs to the old fish elevator.

—

Edwin Sherrill lives in East Hampton Village.

On Tuesday night, one month into a temporary moratorium on construction of most new single-family houses and major improvements on existing ones, the Sag Harbor Village Board heard some complaints, as well as four requests for exemptions.

Noel and Gwendolyn Hankin are seeking an exemption so they can expand their house at 27 Harding Terrace in Ninevah. The small two-bedroom house, just over 1,000 square feet, was built in the 1950s for weekend use, they told the board, and they want a larger, two-story, three-bedroom house, as they now live in the village full time. Mr. Hankin said he was the only full-time resident in a neighborhood of 13 properties, all of which have been enlarged over the years.

“I feel a lot of other people have been speeding and I’m getting a ticket,” he said. 

In July, the village board unanimously imposed a temporary moratorium halting development while it considers how to strengthen the village’s building code. On Tuesday night, members agreed after a hearing to amend the zoning code by redefining a property’s “degree of non-conformity.” Fred W. Thiele Jr., the village attorney, said the law would compel property owners to apply for a variance before adding on to a pre-existing, nonconforming building, or a part of one

“This is Mrs. Olejnik’s case, I think, to a tee,” Mr. Thiele said, referring to Carol Olejnik, a Main Street homeowner whose neighbor essentially tore down the house next to hers and rebuilt it right along her property line, expanding it in accordance with its pre-existing, non-conforming dimensions. An eight-foot section of her property caved in during the initial construction.

“Those would at least now have to go to the zoning board of appeals for a variance before a building permit could be granted,” Mr. Thiele said.

Though she said she was happy the law was being passed, Mrs. Olejnik mumbled from the front row, “a little late.”

During the hearing, Tim Culver, a former village board member who lives behind Mrs. Olejnik, raised some questions about the way the law was written, and said he wondered if it would not force the zoning board, already reviewing a large caseload, to hear even more.

Beyond the amendment, several others spoke during the hearing. Lydia Bucks said she had received all the approvals except for one from the Suffolk County Health Department, which is expected soon, but now will not be able to build an addition to her house, at least not during the moratorium. “After that, we were told we could spend $33,000 on the renovation, which is not going to go very far.”

The moratorium allows for some exclusions, among them renovations that are not considered “substantial improvements” to existing one-family detached houses. A substantial improvement is defined as any change whose cost equals or exceeds 50 percent of the house’s market value before the construction begins. Assessments, however, do not always reflect market value, as in Mrs. Bucks’s case.

Mr. Thiele told her she could apply for the exemption, as four others had done before the meeting. He offered to help guide her through the process.

Frank Ahimaz, who owns houses on Madison Street and Howard Street, said the amendment seemed “pretty broadsweeping,” and he wondered if having just one nonconforming portion of a house would prohibit the expansion of another, conforming part of it. Mr. Thiele said that was not the case.

Mr. Ahimaz also said there had not been enough opportunity for the public to weigh in on the moratorium. Some details, he said, were not available until after the hearing, which was followed by the moratorium’s passage. “It would be helpful if we used part of the meeting to look at it,” he said, “and then, the next meeting, vote.”

Mr. Thiele told him the moratorium, as well as Tuesday’s amendment, had been presented at a public meeting and noticed in newspapers at least 10 days before, as is required. It had been available to the public over a month in this case, he said.

Steven Barr, who owns houses with Mr. Ahimaz, took umbrage with changes to the code that, he said, are being “dribbed and drabbed out.” He likened it to “Chinese water torture.”

Mr. Thiele answered that the amendment had been under consideration for several months, mainly in response to what happened next to Mrs. Olejnik, which he called “one of the most publicized issues” in the village. “If you missed it, I don’t know how,” he said.

“That’s kind of a rude comment,” Steven Barr said from the audience, adding that the “Tomato Lady,” as Mrs. Olejnik has been known in the village, seemed to be setting the tone.

Changes specifically related to the moratorium would be coming later, Mr. Thiele said. Mr. Ahimaz said they seemed to be tied together.

“We consider changes to the village code every month, and that is part of the job of the trustees,” Mr. Thiele said. Mr. Ahimaz said that he thought the idea was to stop McMansions.

After a bit more back-and-forth with Mr. Ahimaz, Mr. Thiele said, “I know a lot of people have been trying to scare people out there” about the moratorium.

Meanwhile, the board agreed to hear four applications for exemptions to the moratorium, all of them filed since it was passed.

Melissa A. Dedovich, the president of Peconic Environmental Associates of Southampton, filed an application for 154 Redwood L.L.C. at the same address. The owner, Andrew Friedwald, who purchased the property in September, wants to raze the existing house, which predates the zoning code, and build a new five-bedroom residence in its place. The project was held up last year by the village’s wetlands moratorium, and has since been revised to conform to the new wetlands code, which is under review by the harbor committee.

“It seems clear, based on public comment and discussion of the trustees, that this application is not the intended development the moratorium is seeking to curb or halt,” Ms. Dedovich wrote. “In fact, it is clear that this application will enhance the character of the community and is well outside of the historic district.”

The board will hold a hearing at its next meeting, on Sept. 8, to decide if the planning and zoning boards can hear the applications during the moratorium. The other two proposals set for hearing were for 209 Division Street and 18 Howard Street.

In other news, the board passed a new law allowing for two alternate members on the zoning board of appeals, the planning board, the harbor committee, and the board of historic preservation and architectural review. Each alternate member on the Z.B.A. and planning board will serve for five years; the terms will be three years otherwise.

Mayor Schroeder said the alternates would ensure that there are always enough people to hear applications. Alternates are expected to show up at every meeting, just like a sitting member of a board, but will not vote unless a member is absent or has to abstain.

“It’s like being an alternate juror. You’ve got to be there,” Mr. Thiele said. 

Also, Brendan Skislock has resigned from the zoning board of appeals. Robert Plumb was appointed to replace him.

Meeting on Friday at the close of its fiscal year, the East Hampton Village Board authorized money to improve the quality of two highly visible and important bodies of water, Hook Pond and Town Pond.

Pio Lombardo, principal of the firm that has conducted water-quality studies for the village and town, had reported to the board in May that Hook Pond, which is surrounded on three sides by some of the most expensive property in the village and the Maidstone Club’s golf course, will not be returned to health unless more than 70 percent of its nitrogen and phosphorus is removed.

Accumulated sediment, stormwater, residential wastewater discharge, fertilizer, waterfowl feces, and agricultural practices have all contributed to the situation, Mr. Lombardo told the board. Excessive levels of nitrogen and phosphorus promote harmful algal growth, which in turn deplete dissolved oxygen.

On Friday, the board authorized $30,000 to study a high-groundwater area along Egypt Lane up to North Main Street. The goal is to prepare an engineering plan for a neighborhood wastewater system, which would be the basis for a water quality improvement project under a State Department of Environmental Conservation program, and a grant from the State Environmental Facilities Corporation’s “green innovation” program. The board approved submission of that grant application.

It also authorized $14,500 to study the feasibility of dredging Town Pond, which discharges into Hook Pond. Lombardo Associates will analyze sediment samples to determine the nutrient content and the existence of any toxic substances.

The firm is also preparing an engineering plan for a “rain garden” at Town Pond, designed to maximize nitrogen and phosphorus removal before the water seeps into the ground. That plan will support the village’s application for the green innovation grant.

The board voted to accept a $14,200 proposal from Aquatic Habitats, a Speonk company, to remove the algae from the surface of Town Pond, which Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. called “more cosmetic than anything else.”

The village is seeking additional funding for the projects. “It’s a public-private partnership,” the mayor said. After the meeting, he spoke of a “concerted willingness” by pondfront property owners to make financial contributions to the water-quality remediation efforts. “We’re cautiously optimistic that, with government working with the private sector and other municipal agencies, they will come to the end of the exercise, look at what we achieved, and say, ‘Wow, we did it.’ ”

“It’s going to take time and money, but it’s something I think we’re morally obligated to see to the finish line.”

The administration of the John M. Marshall Elementary School is changing the way its students in grades two to five will be dismissed at the end of the school day.

In response to concerns that the system was too time-consuming, too chaotic for the kids, and too much of a burden on teachers, Beth Doyle, the principal, and Dennis Sullivan, the assistant principal, devised a plan they unveiled during Tuesday’s meeting of the East Hampton School Board. It will be implemented beginning on the first day of school, Sept. 8.

Ms. Doyle said Mr. Sullivan worked with fire department and police officials in the village and the town to plan new traffic patterns aimed at reorganizing dismissal — and, as a side effect, morning drop-off as well.

“Our proposed plan will really increase access and efficiency,” Ms. Doyle said. “What it looks like from the outside, if you’re picking up a student, is that it’s working. Behind the scenes, it’s really not.”

She said the current dismissal system involved corralling students into the gym while they waited sometimes up to 30 minutes for buses and parent pickups, supervised by staff members who are contractually bound to have a 10-minute dismissal duty but who were frequently staying much longer than that. Ms. Doyle called the old system appropriate for a school with fewer students.

“Now that we’ve grown tremendously, it doesn’t work anymore,” Ms. Doyle said. “It’s unsafe, it’s inefficient, and it’s extending [staff members] beyond their contractual day. Our proposed plan will address all three issues.”

Afternoon dismissal and morning drop-off for students in kindergarten and first grade will remain the same. The procession of buses will also remain the same at the front of the school. Staff members will be equipped with radios to make the process smooth.

In the new system, Ms. Doyle said, essentially all individual drop-offs that were occurring in the front of the school will now happen at the back of the school.

All parents picking up students in grades two to five will enter the school grounds through the gate on Church Street, which opens to a two-lane road around the back of the school. Two segments of that back road will be delineated: an immediate section for grades four and five, and, around the corner of the school past the multipurpose room, another section for grades two and three. Cars will be asked to pull up on the left side of the road, meaning the children won’t have to cross the road to get picked up. Cars will then proceed around the back of the school and out toward Gingerbread Lane. For students with siblings, the older sibling will move to the area where the younger sibling is being picked up.

Morning drop-off for grades two to five will be similar, with parents entering on Church Street, but all students will enter the gym and wait there, supervised by teachers, until it is time to go to class.

The gate on Church Lane will be opened around 2:30 p.m., Mr. Sullivan said, which prompted questions.

“What happens if there is a big line and you’re going to have backup on Church Lane?” Liz Pucci, a school board member, asked.

Ms. Doyle responded that it wouldn’t be too much of a backup. “We’ve counted the cars. It may be 10 minutes,” she said.

Jackie Lowey, another school board member, asked for a system for collecting parent and community comment. “This needs to be couched as a pilot test, and we employ a feedback loop to get some real, empirical information on this,” she said. “To keep in touch. How’s it working? What’s the feedback? I’m guessing the people on Church Street are not going to be very happy. We’re saying we’re trying this because we think it’s a solution and it’s promising.”

Christina DeSanti, the vice president of the school board, said that “on paper” it looked like a good solution. “You’re taking the major bottleneck that was in one spot and making it a shorter bottleneck in two spots,” she said.

Joseph Lipani, supervisor of the district’s transportation department, said he is on board with the reconfiguration. “Everything is worth the effort,” he said.

The Montauk Playhouse Community Center’s annual summer gala will be held on Saturday under a lighted tent on the playhouse grounds. Event organizers promise an enchanted evening with the artwork of 70 artists on display for bidding, a mural by Aubrey Roemer being painted during the event, a live theatrical performance by the Neo-Political Cowgirls, and the Nancy Atlas Project rocking the dance floor.

In previous years, various benefactors have been honored at the event, but this year the honorees are the supporting artists of the playhouse fund-raising project, which includes the works of Edward Albee, Eva Iooss, Jessie Joeckel with Whalebone Creative, Diane Mayo, Dalton Portella, Aida Turturro, Mary Daunt, Dick Cavett, Noel Arikian, and others.

People can bid in an online auction of the artists’ work at montaukplayhouse.org/pop-up-gallery. It can also be seen at a pop-up gallery in the harbor area behind Ben and Jerry’s from 4 to 7 p.m. tonight. Tomorrow the artwork will be transported to the playhouse site. Bidding will continue live or online through 10 p.m. at the event, which runs from 7 to 11 p.m. There will be valet parking.

The evening begins with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres around the artwork. There will also be items displayed for a silent auction. Then guests will be invited under the tent for a dinner with various wines, and there will be an open bar. Lee Skolnick, the principal of Lee H. Skolnick Architect and Design, will be on hand to discuss the latest concept for the building’s aquatic and cultural centers.

Tickets cost $350 per person and are available at montaukplayhouse.org or by calling the playhouse office at 668-1124. An entire table can be reserved for a donation of $5,000 and up.

While the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals announced favorable determinations on nine applications at its meeting on Friday, it delayed until its next meeting a decision on an application from Michael Ostin, who sought to relocate and expand a dilapidated two-bedroom cottage at 115 Montauk Highway, near Cove Hollow Road.

Mr. Ostin, a music-business executive, had applied for permission to move the pre-existing nonconforming accessory building from near the property line to a conforming location, and to expand it from 507 to 958 square feet with the addition of a second story and bathrooms.

But on Friday, Andrew Goldstein, representing the applicant, brought in revised plans. The structure would remain at 507 square feet, a second story would not be added, and the proposed two bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms would be reduced to one each. Mr. Ostin would like, however, to add a porch and still hoped to move the cottage to a conforming location, he said.

Although the zoning code says nonconforming structures cannot be expanded, and the plan called for extending the height of the structure from 14  to 18.1 feet, Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, said the porch was a “fairly benign” addition that would not impact the neighborhood.

Previously, Mr. Newbold said, “we have encouraged people to keep nonconforming structures in like, in kind, in the same location.” But in this case, “the applicant has proposed moving it away from the property line to get it farther from the neighbors.” Granting variances to move the structure, he indicated, was a fair trade for the reduced intensity represented by removal of a bedroom and one and a half bathrooms from the original plans. The applicant has also agreed to erect a six-foot-high fence and evergreen trees to shield it from neighbors, and to limit the cottage’s use to lodging for family and guests.

The board was divided, however. “I still have a problem with it,” Lys Marigold, the vice chairwoman, said. “We’re going to be setting a precedent. . . . We’re saying, ‘You have a large lot, move it, basically create a new, second residence, much nicer, taller, with a big porch.’ Structurally, it’s going to look amazingly different from what’s there.”

While Mr. Newbold agreed, he said the cottage is legal, had existed for 50 years, and practically straddles the property line. By moving it to a conforming location, “at least the neighbor on that side no longer has that burden,” he said.

“But that neighbor also has structures on the property line,” Ms. Marigold said. “I would say leave it where it is.” If Mr. Ostin needs additional space, she argued, he could add it to the main house. A new, 6,193-square-foot house has been proposed to replace the house Mr. Ostin bought, which he demolished.

“What exactly is the detriment to the neighbor?” Mr. Goldstein asked. If the granting of variances to move the cottage sets a precedent, he said, “it’s not such a bad precedent.”

Two of Mr. Newbold’s colleagues agreed with  him. “I don’t think it’s going to change the character of the neighborhood at all,” John McGuirk,  said. “I agree with John,” Larry Hillel said. Craig Humphrey sided with Ms. Marigold, however, saying that the structure should remain in place.

Also at the meeting, nine applications were approved. George E. Doty Jr. and Le-Ellen Spelman of 25 and 31 Fithian Lane were granted a freshwater wetlands permit and variance for a six-foot-high stockade fence along Fithian Lane and the continued maintenance of an eight-foot-high deer fence inside a wetlands area. Mr. Doty had complained about trespassers on his property, which abuts the Nature Trail. The permit and variance were granted on the condition that any fencing or gates north of the applicant’s northerly property line along Fithian Lane be removed.

Gregory and Diana Porges were granted variances to allow a trash bin, foot shower, two sets of stone steps, and a slate patio within side-yard setbacks at 133 Further Lane. Barbara and Elliot Cooperstone of 50 Egypt Close were granted variances to allow the renovation of an existing pool house that is 15.5 feet high, 1.5 feet over the maximum, and within the side-yard setback. The pool house is not to be heated.

The board granted variances to the Bonnie Reiss 1998 Qualified Personal Residence Trust and the Richard Reiss 1998 Q.P.R.T., of 88 Apaquogue Road, to permit the continued maintenance of a generator, tree house, and two air-conditioning units within required setbacks. An entity called Cinnamon L.L.C., which purchased 15 Ruxton Road for $9.5 million in February, was granted variances to permit the continued maintenance of a generator and trellis within required setbacks.

Jorge Magide and Kari Kontu of 195 Newtown Lane were granted variances to allow reconstruction of a pre-existing accessory cottage, and to add an air-conditioning unit and front and rear patios, all within required setbacks, as well as the continued maintenance of a slate walkway. The cottage had fallen into disrepair, and its replacement will look very much like the pre-existing cottage, the board agreed.

The Nancy Blakeman Grantor Trust was granted a coastal erosion permit to allow relocation of an air-conditioning unit and generator seaward of the coastal erosion hazard area line, and a variance to permit the continued maintenance of another air-conditioning unit within the front-yard setback, at 98 Ocean Avenue.

John Porter Wolf of 204 Newtown Lane was granted variances to permit the continued maintenance of a trash bin, two air-conditioning units, and walkways within required setbacks. And Bruce Siska, a member of the village board, was granted a variance to allow the continued maintenance of air-conditioning equipment within the required side-yard setback at 89 Meadow Way.

Montaukers’ unhappiness about the crowds, noisy parties, and illegal behavior overwashing their once-quiet hamlet this season has become prime summertime fodder for the metropolitan news media, including “CBS This Morning,” which aired a piece about the situation on Tuesday morning.

Two Facebook pages, Montauk Locals and Fighting for Montauk, have become forums for constructive discussion as well as venting, and a bumper sticker created by Keri Lamparter of Montauk, a public relations professional, is being distributed around town. “Bad behavior is NEVER in season,” it says. “RESPECT MONTAUK (or leave).”

In a statement presented Tuesday to the East Hampton Town Board, the Ditch Plains Association, a Montauk neighborhood group, said that the “lawlessness cannot continue.”

“A strong message must be sent to those who disrespect our community,” the group’s president, Laura Michaels, told the board. More enforcement officers are needed, she said, to stop the “abhorrent behavior.”

“We need to follow the example of Fort Lauderdale and Hampton Bays to stomp this cancer out immediately,” she said.

The group stressed the importance of enforcing current laws. Establishing a rental registry at this point, as the town board is discussing, would only produce more administrative work, they said, and dilute the real focus.

The association has also suggested increasing fines as well as prices for nonresident parking passes, tightening a recently passed law regarding new bars and restaurants at motels, establishing a taxi commission, and running a public or private bus service until 2 a.m.

Property taxes on commercial properties that have “enjoyed staggering growth” but in many cases “are the same ones that have caused a large increase in town expenses for sanitation and enforcement” should be reassessed, the group said.

Meanwhile, residents speaking against the behavior of patrons at places such as the Sloppy Tuna are getting a bit of blowback on social media and, in at least one case, in person. Frans Preidel, who lives next to the club, was on camera being interviewed by the CBS news crew when a man on the beach confronted him, suggesting that the townspeople should appreciate the tourist dollars.

And others, including the Sloppy Tuna itself, through its Facebook and Twitter accounts, have responded to people’s comments, challenging their views. Several days ago the bar posted a picture of the logo of the Montauket, a longtime Montauk bar and restaurant, depicting a Native American, with the hashtags “#SuckitFranz,” “#STOPRENTING IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT,” and “#stfu.”