Registration is open for National Public Gardens Day, which will be noted locally by Bridge Gardens Trust, as well as the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack and LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, on Friday, May 8. Free, one-hour guided tours will be given, beginning at LongHouse at 10:30 a.m., to be followed by a tour at Madoo at 1 p.m. and one at Bridge Gardens at 3.

Reservations are being taken by the Peconic Land Trust office in Southampton or via email to [email protected]. Those taking part will have to provide their own transportation.

Sag Harbor Mayor Brian Gilbride’s last budget before he leaves the village board in two months would increase spending by under 1 percent. The tax rate would go up ever so slightly, to about $2.74 per $1,000 of assessed value. For example, a house valued at $795,000 would pay about $2,180 in taxes.

Board members and Mr. Gilbride, who said this week he would not seek re-election, approved a proposed $8.58 million budget during a meeting on April 14. Spending would go up .89 percent, according to Beth Kamper, the village clerk.

The financial plan does not include the sewer allocation of $581,143, bringing the total budget to $9.16 million for the fiscal year beginning June 1 and ending May 31, 2016.

There was little room in the tight budget for big-ticket items. Perhaps the biggest change is the proposed inclusion of $110,000 for paid responders for the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps, allowing for a hired emergency medical technician to be on hand 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Ms. Kamper said the ambulance corps, which serves the village, Noyac, and North Haven as well as some outlying areas, hopes to have the new position staffed by June 1.

A paid position was included in the 2014-15 budget, in the amount of $63,500, but the money was transferred elsewhere when the ambulance corps decided to put the program on the back burner for one year, and amended it.

At the urging of village board members, two items were put back into the budget before it was voted on. The police department will get a much needed replacement for an old squad car, to the tune of $28,000, and the Fire Department will get $30,000 for a new assistant chief’s vehicle. Mr. Gilbride had pulled both items from the budget.

The metropolitan New York region will experience a broad-based acceleration of climate change in the coming decades, marked by coastal flooding, heat waves, and extreme precipitation, according to panelists at a discussion held at the East Hampton Library on Saturday. A corresponding acceleration in adaptation and mitigation measures, the audience was told, is critically important.

“Meeting Climate Change Challenges: A Coastal Community Perspective” was the second event in the new Tom Twomey Series, launched to honor the late chairman of the library’s board of managers.

Daniel Bader, a research analyst at Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research, delivered dire predictions for the future, should current trends continue. As measured at the Battery in Lower Manhattan, a sea-level rise of one foot has occured since 1900, he said, greater than the global average. The rate across Long Island is comparable, he said. This is due both to the warming of the oceans and, recently, the loss of land-based ice fromAntarctica and Greenland.

“What’s driving our science?” he asked. The answer: higher concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, caused by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. “We know how the planet systems work,” he said, likening the effect of the 90 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere daily to putting a heavy blanket over the earth.

By 2080, he said, an annual temperature increase of up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit is possible, along with a sea-level rise of almost six feet. A “one in 100-year storm” as we now know it, he said, may occur 10 to 15 times as often, along with an increase in the incidence of heavy rainfalls. “We face an extreme risk as a coastal community,” Mr. Bader said. “These are staggering numbers. They justify a response.”

Gordian Raacke, executive director of the East Hampton advocacy group Renewable Energy Long Island, gave a powerful presentation that included both ominous predictions and a blueprint for mitigation. In order to avert catastrophic warming, he said, scientists assert that we must reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per million; it is at present around 400. “The current business model that we have,” he said, “is unsustainable.”

Mr. Raacke, who is a member of the town’s energy sustainability committee, praised Supervisor Larry Cantwell, who was in attendance, and the town board for adopting the goal of meeting its energy consumption through renewable sources. He also cited the state’s Executive Order No. 24, which calls for an 80-percent reduction, from 1990 levels, in greenhouse gas emissions from all sources by 2050. “It’s a tall order,” he said. “Everybody here has a lot to do with it.”

But the tools to make a complete transition to renewable energy are available today, he said. Putting solar panels on every house for which they are suitable is advisable — the number of installed solar electric systems in the town, approximately 400 at the end of 2014, is expected to double this year — as is the creation of utility-scale solar installations. Offshore wind farms, energy-efficient buildings and appliances, and the purchase of green energy from other parts of Long Island would also further the town’s goals, Mr. Raacke said.

In the transportation sector, an electric-vehicle charging station at Town Hall is a positive step, he said, but better mass-transit systems and a more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure are advisable. “And we need to eat locally produced food,” he said, noting the long distance most food travels before reaching consumers.

“Today we are at a crossroads,” Mr. Raacke said. “We have a choice between sticking with the old business model that doesn’t work, or choosing a clean energy future.” The town board, he said, “has shown tremendous leadership to take the right fork.” He urged the community to “take pride and ownership in developing solutions to solve this problem. . . . It will take each and every one of us to make it happen.”

With David Zaslav, the president of Discovery Communications, and his wife, Pam, present, the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals continued a hearing on the couple’s application to make several changes to their property at 26 Drew Lane.

The applicants sought additions and renovations to their house, as well as the demolition of an existing swimming pool and pool house and construction of a new swimming pool and accessory building to be used as a garage, storage area, and pool house. They also seek to install a new sanitary system, drainage structures, stairways, and landscaping, and to expand a driveway. The property, formerly owned by Jerry Della Femina, the advertising executive, is entirely seaward of the coastal erosion hazard line, which triggers both Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations and greater scrutiny from the board.

Richard A. Hammer, the Zaslavs’ attorney, told the board that the couple had abandoned the plan for a new swimming pool and now propose to eliminate several paving stones. Eliminating the expanded swimming pool, he said, would reduce the fill to be removed from the site by 132 cubic yards, approximately 22 percent of the original estimate. The new garage/pool house would be constructed in a location conforming to the dune crest setback, on the landward side of the swimming pool. “We think this minimizes disturbance of the site,” Mr. Hammer said.

Additions to the residence would be modest, Mr. Hammer said, including first-floor additions he characterized as “fill-ins of unusual foundation features.” But when he added that his clients were also “trying to reconfigure” existing bay windows, Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, spoke up.

“You say in your presentation that there’s no proposed excavation of the dune crest,” he said, but “the existing bay windows are 11 feet wide, and according to your plan, you’re proposing two new bay windows on the oceanfront side, each 17 feet wide and 3 feet deep.”

“Also,” Mr. Newbold said, “there seems to be, from the second story, a splay-out of the roof,” and six columns along the ocean side that are “even more forward to the ocean than the current bay windows.” The board and its environmental consultant, Rob Herrmann of En-Consultants, would be concerned that, “Foot by foot, it seems to be getting closer to the ocean.”

The columns could be abandoned in favor of brackets that would not disturb the ground, Mr. Hammer said.

Mr. Herrmann would have an opinion about that, Mr. Newbold said, “but I wanted to be clear that it is expanding out toward the ocean. Modestly, but it is expanding out.” The hearing would remain open, he said, pending Mr. Herrmann’s further review. It will be revisited at the board’s meeting on Friday, May 8.

The board announced several determinations. The Ayer family of 81 Ocean Avenue was granted a freshwater wetlands permit and setback variances to allow the maintenance of an existing patio with a built-in barbecue, slate walkways, and an air-conditioning unit, as well as a proposed fence, all within wetlands or property-line setbacks. The permit and variances were granted on the condition that a brick wall at one end of the patio be removed and the patio reduced so that the wetlands setback is consistent with wetlands-setback relief granted in 2009.

The premises, including an adjacent parcel, are for sale. The Ayers’ attorney, William J. Fleming, had previously characterized the application as an effort to “clean up the residence” for the sale, the Ayers having been misinformed by a contractor as to the necessity of a building permit for the patio. Wary of setting precedent, the board insisted that the patio be reduced and the brick wall removed.

Howard and Sherri Lippman of 112 Georgica Close Road were granted a freshwater wetlands permit and area variance to allow the installation of a generator within property-line and wetlands setbacks on the conditions that landscaping be installed around the generator, that it include sound-attenuating features, and that it is not used except in power outages and during a weekly test of 20 minutes, to be performed midweek.

And Vivek Nasta and Roshini Rajapaksa of 3 Georgica Road were given a variance to allow the maintenance of a bluestone patio in place of a pre-existing, nonconforming wooden deck located within the side property line.

Thomas A. Twomey’s sudden death in November came just five months after the grand-opening ceremony commemorating the East Hampton Library’s $6.5 million expansion and renovation. Mr. Twomey, a lawyer, civic leader, and chairman of the library’s board of managers, had played an integral part in the yearslong project, which added 6,800 square feet and houses the new children’s reading room and the Baldwin Family Lecture Room.

On Saturday, his last wish for the library will come to life with the dedication of the Tom Twomey Gallery and the launch of a new lecture series named for him. The Tom Twomey Series: Conversations With . . . comprises 12 free Saturday afternoon programs to be held in the Baldwin Family Lecture Room. The series will explore a wide variety of ideas, issues, and topics ranging from climate change, local history, and government to professional sports, North Korea, and popular songs of World War I.

The program will run through September. Each event will begin at 4 p.m. with a wine reception, followed by the presentation and question-and-answer session from 4:30 to 5:45. A member of the library’s board of managers will host each lecture.

A website dedicated to the series, TomTwomeySeries.org, offers details of the series and each event and includes a wealth of additional resources such as links to documents, videos, and the library’s Long Island Collection. Those interested in attending lectures can reserve a seat via the website. Reservations can also be made at the library’s adult reference desk, by calling the library, or by sending an email to [email protected].

On Saturday, Gina Piastuck, head of the Long Island Collection, will talk about recent acquisitions. The event will also launch the sixth and final volume of the East Hampton Historical Collection book series, which Mr. Twomey edited.

“We started working on this early in the fall, before Tom passed away,” said Dennis Fabiszak, the library’s director. “He saw it as a great way for the board to get re-involved in the library’s service and programs after spending so many years working on getting the addition built.” A committee was formed to create the series, Mr. Fabiszak said. “After Tom passed away, everybody really got busy and got to work. We made sure we could put together a successful event.”

Mr. Twomey’s death, while the series was in development, motivated the library’s board, Brooke Kroeger, chairwoman of the series, agreed. “Everybody sprang into action and it was heartwarming,” she said. “How people felt about Tom was evident.”

The Tom Twomey Gallery, just outside the Baldwin Family Lecture Room, will play a part in each lecture, Mr. Fabiszak said, with a display of images from the Long Island Collection related to the particular topic. “It will change as we move through the series,” he said.

For the April 25 event, “Meeting Climate Change Challenges: A Coastal Community Perspective,” for example, images from The Star’s coverage of the 1938 Hurricane will be featured. Content from The Star’s archives will also be featured, along with letters and postcards from Europe, in “Over There: Greatest Hits of the Great War,” on May 23.

“I think we’ve got something for everyone,” Ms. Kroeger said. “Some will probably be pretty heated, I hope.”

The New York Council for the Humanities provided funding for the series, as did Suffolk County National Bank, which is marking its 125th anniversary.

“We’re going to get better and better at this,” Ms. Kroeger said of the series. An interactive multimedia experience via the dedicated website was important, she said, providing participants a means to be better informed and prepared for the events, should they choose to be. “Libraries should open pathways to knowledge and exciting discourse,” she said. “We should have the resources readily available.”

The East End Disabilities Group will host a discussion of mental health services on Tuesday, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the community room at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett. The event will be free and open to the public.

Art Flescher, director of the Suffolk County Department of Mental Hygiene, will speak about mental health services on the South Fork including preventive services, psychiatric care, accessing services, emergency services, financial issues, and social and recreational services.

Members of the audience have been encouraged to ask questions and participate in the discussion.

In an effort to improve the water quality of Hook Pond, which the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has listed as impaired, the Village of East Hampton is planning projects to reduce stormwater runoff and contamination from aging or malfunctioning septic systems.

The pond, in which concentrations of nitrogen typically exceed Environmental Protection Agency criteria, is a collection basin for the 2,369-acre watershed that includes the Main Street and North Main Street commercial districts, the 207-acre Maidstone Club, and residential areas.

The remediation plans result from a study of Hook Pond commissioned by the village following the completion last year of a Wastewater Management Plan for East Hampton Town by the environmental consulting and engineering firm Lombardo Associates. The study confirmed that nitrogen and phosphorus  had damaged the pond’s water quality.

With a combined cost of $92,750, the projects are to be implemented either in the fall or the spring of 2016. The village will shoulder half the cost, with the other half provided by the Suffolk County Water Quality Protection and Restoration Program. Legislator Jay Schneiderman sponsored the projects in the County Legislature.

In the first project, an existing 250-foot-long channel that conveys stormwater runoff from the North Main Street commercial area to Hook Pond will be converted to a half-acre wetland and drainage course, or bioswale, intended to trap and filter stormwater, while reducing the flow into the pond by increasing the time stormwater is retained in the bioswale.

Eleven stormwater filters to help remove pollutants will be installed in existing storm basins in the vicinity, including at and near Pantigo Road, Hook Mill Road, Accabonac Road, Main Street, and North Main Street.

In the second project, a quarter-acre of the village green, where stormwater collects from Route 27, Route 114, and the Main Street commercial district and overflows into Town Pond (which is connected by culvert to a feeder stream of Hook Pond), will be excavated to a depth of 12 to 18 inches and replanted.  The shallow swales there will promote filtering and reduce the intensity of stormwater flow to the pond. Eight stormwater filters will be installed in existing storm basins at the green.

In both projects, the removal of silt and debris from the water flow is expected to assist in water-quality remediation.

In the village’s application for a grant from the county program, Drew Bennett, a consulting engineer, estimated that the bioswales will result in a 40 to 60-percent point-of-contact reduction in nitrogen and phophorus. Wastewater, contaminated by waste from warm-blooded animals, especially waterfowl, is cited as a primary source of excess nitrogen in water bodies.

 In addition to Hook Pond, Georgica Pond in East Hampton and Fort Pond in Montauk are impaired by discharges of phosphorus from stormwater and aging or malfunctioning septic systems, according to Lombardo Associates.

The town’s Wastewater Management Plan also recommends establishing and enforcing regulations on the use of fertilizers. The East Hampton Town Trustees, who oversee many of the town’s beaches, waterways, and bottomlands on the behalf of the public and are collaborating with the village on the Hook Pond effort, have spoken in favor of such regulation.

Armed with evidence of sleeping accommodations in a finished storage space over a garage and pool house on Cove Hollow Road — something prohibited under East Hampton Village Code — the village’s zoning board of appeals appeared ready Friday to deny a request to keep the storage space, which includes a full bathroom.

“They’re not using the upstairs portion for any kind of sleeping or habitable space,” Karen Hoeg, an attorney representing Lawrence and Lisa Cohen, told the board. “The bathroom is used very infrequently.”

“It’s not your typical garage,” John McGuirk, a board member, said dryly.

“Nor was it a storage space,” added Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, describing a visit to property at 207 Cove Hollow Road during which an alarm clock, end tables, and empty space between them were observed.

“And an outline of a bed on the carpeting,” Lys Marigold, the board’s vice chairwoman, continued, “and a screwdriver and all the screws for taking the bed apart” left on the floor.

The second story of the detached garage on the Cohens’ property was converted into finished space before they bought it, Ms. Hoeg told the board. With that conversion, it exceeds the maximum permitted gross floor area for accessory structures. The Cohens also seek variances for two air-conditioning units adjacent to their house and within the side-yard setback, one adjacent to the garage, and for an existing trash bin on a concrete pad.

The Cohens’ application, Mr. Newbold pointed out, included an air conditioner for the garage. “It’s been converted, obviously, to habitable space with a full bathroom, and air-conditioned.”

Granting the variances would cause no detriment to the neighborhood, Ms. Hoeg said, as the finished space is within a legally existing two-story garage and the structures are heavily screened by vegetation.

But board members were clearly unhappy about the finished space. “As you are aware, our code clearly says the definition of garage states that no habitable space, toilet, shower, or bathtub shall be permitted inside a garage on any level,” and no plumbing is permitted on the second floor over a garage, Mr. Newbold said, adding that it should have been clear that the bathroom had been illegally installed.

Her clients would remove the bathroom, Ms. Hoeg said, but wish to maintain the storage area in its present state. Board members and Linda Riley, the village attorney, discussed whether or not the space would then be counted in a gross floor area calculation; if not, the variance request for the excess square footage could be disregarded.

But Ken Collum, a code enforcement officer, told the board that the Building Department includes finished storage space in that calculation, and reminded members that in a previous determination they had required that wall board and insulation on the second floor of a garage be removed. “If you want to be consistent,” he said, “if I’m not looking at roof rafters and no insulation, it counts” as gross floor area.

The board was divided, but, Ms. Marigold said, “I’m leery of precedent. We have made other people strip it down over garages. . . . We have to be very careful that this does not happen again.”

The consensus of the board, Mr. Newbold summarized, “seems to be to strip it down to what the Building Department considers storage space.” The board, he said, was less concerned about the air-conditioning units. The hearing was closed and a determination is expected at the board’s next meeting on Friday, April 24.

Several determinations were issued at the meeting. As expected, the board denied Andy and Jane Graiser’s application for variances to permit a proposed garage at 42 Mill Hill Lane to be built 10 feet from the rear and side property lines, where 22 feet is required. The Graisers’ application for a variance to install an eyebrow window in their house, which is still under construction, was also denied.

The East Hampton Historical Society was granted a special permit to relocate the historic Hedges Barn on Edwards Lane to the Mulford Farm on James Lane, as well as variances so that it can be situated within the side-yard setback and exceed the maximum permitted height and gross floor area for accessory structures.

The Maidstone Club, at 16 East Dune Lane, was granted a special permit and variance to construct a 1,102-square-foot building, with a 214-square-foot patio and entrance that will fall within the required rear-yard setback. It is to be used in conjunction with a golf practice facility.

William and Judith Hiltz of 118 Lily Pond Lane were given variances to keep a garbage bin within the required front-yard setback and an air-conditioning unit within the rear-yard setback. Lawrence and Susan Naeve’s application for a variance so that her house, which is 129 feet greater than the maximum allowable gross floor area, can remain as is.

David and Diana Swartz of 32 Cottage Avenue were granted variances for a stoop within the front-yard setback and walkways within the front and side-yard setbacks. And a prior determination, for Alfred and Stephanie Shuman of 33 Windmill Lane, deleted the stipulation of an annual inspection of their two-story pool house. The board’s ruling that no beds or sleeping be permitted in the structure’s lower level and that the applicants record a covenant to that effect, remains in place.

Petitions are circulating in Sag Harbor Village once again, ahead of the June election for mayor and two village board positions.

Brian Gilbride, who has served as mayor for six years and has been on the board since 1994, said this week that he will not seek re-election.

“I’ve been on the board 21 years — I’ve never missed a meeting,” Mr. Gilbride said. But now he wants more time to travel down South to see his grandchildren, who are in college. He spent this past weekend at an awards ceremony for his granddaughter who plays field hockey for the University of Richmond. “That don’t mean I’m going away forever,” he joked.

  Two village board members are stepping up for the position of mayor. Sandra Schroeder, who is halfway through her first term on the board, and Robert Stein, who has been on the board for six years, both said they plan to run.

“I have my signs all ready,” Ms. Schroeder said. She worked for the village for 23 years, retiring as clerk in 2010. She ran for mayor two years ago and lost to Mr. Gilbride by 11 votes in a four-way race. Last year, she was elected to the board for a two-year term.

“I’ve always wanted to do this, since when I started working for the village,” Ms. Schroeder said. She and Mr. Stein have met about the election and are supportive of each other over all, she said. They agree on many issues, such as the need to take a look at the village’s residential zoning code.

“I think I understand government better — I’ve been there longer,” she said when asked what made her a better candidate.

Mr. Stein, a children’s psychotherapist, said he offers a different perspective. “I feel like I’m outside of what has been the village operant for a long time,” he said, adding that the time is right for him to move up before he turns his attention to other projects in the future, like writing. He wants to develop a long-term plan for the village and “not patchwork it as we have been.”

The two other board members, Ed Deyermond and Ken O’Donnell, said this week that they will seek re-election. Mr. Deyermond, a retired assessor who worked for the Town of Southampton most recently, rejoined the board in July 2013. He had served as mayor between 2003 and 2006.

Mr. O’Donnell, who owns La Superica restaurant in the village, is finishing his first two-year term on the board. “I would say the first 12 months, I was trying to figure out how it all works. It takes one full cycle,” he said yesterday. “Now I’m kind of feeling like I’ve got the hang of how municipal government works.”

Petitions are still available and can be turned in as early as May 5. They must be submitted by May 12. The election will be held at the Sag Harbor Firehouse on June 16 from noon to 9 p.m.

East Hampton Village is soliciting bids from farmers interested in growing crops on the Gardiner home lot at 36 James Lane. The request for proposals, on two acres of the lot reserved for agriculture, stipulates a five-year commitment.

Proposals should be submitted to Robert Hefner, the village’s director of historic services, at Village Hall, 86 Main Street, East Hampton 11937, no later than April 28. Specifications can be obtained there from the village administrator’s office, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The village board will review the proposals and interview the candidates.

Last year, at the board’s request, the Town of East Hampton bought the Gardiner home lot, which Olney Mairs Gardiner had put up for sale. The lot had been in his family since 1648, when Lion Gardiner, the first of the line, acquired it. The property contains the 1804 Gardiner windmill, which was deeded to the village in 1996 and restored, and a mill cottage, which will also be restored.

Last month the village board asked for proposals to relocate or demolish an uncompleted house behind the mill cottage, which is to be removed in order to restore the agricultural land and setting of the mill and mill cottage. Bids will be opened at Village Hall on Monday.