To the surprise of many in the audience, Tom Sperry, an employee of the Meeting House restaurant in Amagansett Square who had just delivered a vocal performance uncannily reminiscent of Frank Sinatra, was not crowned Mr. Amagansett at last Thursday’s fifth annual pageant.

Instead, the honor was bestowed on one Billy Buckhorn, a k a East Hampton Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc. Mr. Van Scoyoc, in the guise of a deer, played an electric guitar and sang plaintively about the plight of his species in a town where bullets, vehicles, and proposed sterilization schemes are a constant threat.

The pageant, a fund-raiser for the Donald T. Sharkey Memorial Community Fund, drew a large crowd to the Stephen Talkhouse, where eight contestants vied for the title. Mr. Sharkey, formerly the town’s chief building inspector, died in 2009.

Donations were still being tallied on Monday, but Britton Bistrian, one of five judges of the pageant, said that the fund would likely cover either the annual $2,500 scholarship to a community-minded student or the annual $1,500 donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Peter Honerkamp, an owner of the Talkhouse and perennial losing contestant in the pageant, introduced the event by welcoming the “seven or eight idiots who once again participate.”

Prior to the competition, a video depicting the late Carl (the Greek) Gust, a bartender who worked at the Talkhouse, was shown. Mr. Gust, a contestant in the first Mr. Amagansett pageant in 2010, was the deserving winner of that competition: The video had last Thursday’s audience in hysterics, along with many of the Talkhouse staff who were impersonated by Mr. Gust in his performance. Mr. Gust, who died in 2012, was also the grand marshal of the Am O’Gansett parade that year.

Performing as Boo Bonac, Gordon Ryan, an attorney, once again sought the title with his sidekick, the Plague. Once again Mr. Ryan demonstrated either an unwillingness or inability to carry a tune.

Two UpIsland men, from Sayville and Selden, followed, each delivering a bawdy stand-up routine. “You get an ‘A’ for effort. That’s about it,” Mr. Honerkamp told the first upon his performance’s conclusion. “Nail it,” he begged the second as he took the stage. “Save us.”

Nick Kraus, a manager of the Talkhouse, was in San Diego for a Soldier Ride event and unable to attend. In his place, a short film provided laughs that had theretofore been in short supply. Mr. Honerkamp’s entry, also via video presentation, also drew laughs. The self-described “least interesting man in the world” poked fun at himself and his myriad frustrations.

Marco Marin, a bartender at Indian Wells Tavern, thrilled but ultimately disappointed some in the audience with an aborted striptease. Mr. Honerkamp’s exhortations to return to the stage and complete his performance went unanswered; the crown would not be his.

Finally, Mr. Sperry dazzled the crowd with his song and snappy attire, singing his own, localized lyrics to Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn’s “My Kind of Town,” popularized by Sinatra. Mr. Sperry’s channeling of Ol’ Blue Eyes was remarkable, and the Talkhouse crowd erupted in cheers long before he had finished.

Ms. Bistrian congratulated Mr. Sperry for “an amazing freshman effort,” but announced that the coveted title belonged to Mr. Van Scoyoc. Mr. Sperry, Ms. Bistrian wrote in an email, was “a showstopper with talent.” But, she wrote, what swayed her and her co-judges, Erica Yardley, Maura Gledhill, Beth Baldwin, and Debbie DiSunno, was “the humor in Peter’s performance about the timely issue of the deer cull.” Mr. Van Scoyoc “took an intriguing position of a buck that would rather be shot than have his does sterilized,” she wrote.

During his performance, Mr. Van Scoyoc occasionally paused to remove an oversized, felt “tick” from his furry costume, which he then threw at the judges. The town councilman’s humorous take on current events put him over the top, in the judges’ eyes.

“It was a tough debate,” Ms. Bistrian wrote, “but in the end it came down to the uniqueness and humor, and the desire to see Tom perform again next year.”

       With hearings on new restrictions on parking in East Hampton Village municipal lots and on the commercial use of landscaping equipment scheduled for the village board’s meeting on Friday, March 21, the board considered both topics at its work session last Thursday.

       The hearings will be held at 11 a.m. at the Emergency Services Building.

       The board has heard from people for and against year-round two-hour parking restrictions in the village lots off Main Street, Newtown Lane, and North Main Street, Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said. Under current law, the two-hour limit is in effect from May 1 through Nov. 30 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Last Thursday, board members seemed to be backing away from the proposed year-round restrictions.

       Barbara Borsack asked about the feasibility of putting the two-hour restriction in place on weekends from January through March. “It seems to me that the weekends are the problem,” she said.

       Capt. Michael Tracey of the Village Police Department said such a scheme would be easy to implement, as would adding only April and December to the restricted period, another idea that has been discussed.

       “I think it’s a viable option,” said Elbert Edwards. But, he added, employees of village businesses must still be encouraged to park at the far end of the lots to allow customers the ability to park near stores. “The day before yesterday, I saw some of the people who wrote letters saying employees should be parked out in the parking lot [parked] right in front of the stores.” Ms. Borsack suggested asking the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce to send a notice to businesses with that encouragement.

       Adding April and December, and weekends from January through March, to the two-hour period “would certainly help,” Captain Tracey said. “The two options that we are endorsing, if that’s what you’d like, would be including April and December as phase one, and if you wanted to go beyond that, adding weekends in January, February, and March.”

       “Then we’re accommodating the workers, to allow them to park closer in the bad weather,” Ms. Borsack said. “If we find that it’s still a problem, we can always expand it later.”

       Mayor Rickenbach suggested that weekends include Friday through Sunday and federal holidays.

       As for the added restrictions on gas and diesel-powered landscape equipment, the village board has invited representatives of landscaping companies that have implored them not to ban the tools of their trade to attend and comment at next Friday’s hearing.

       The board has proposed limiting use of such equipment between April 1 and the second Friday in December, as opposed to the current May 1 through Nov. 30 restrictions. Under the revised rules, commercial operators could only use the noisy lawn and landscape equipment between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday. Current law allows the equipment from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

       Although the restrictions would also be extended farther into the year for homeowners and tenants, the times that they could use the equipment would remain as is: from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and federal holidays.

       Board members last Thursday referred to correspondence received from Rich Sperber, who owns a landscaping company in East Hampton, and Joe Morgano of Power Equipment Plus, an East Hampton dealer of landscaping equipment. “We really did not have a landscaper in on the discussion,” Ms. Borsack said. “Maybe we should have a meeting with someone like that as part of the conversation.”

       Mr. Morgano, Mr. Lawler said, had sent literature detailing leaf blowers that are designed to produce less noise. For example, the Stihl BR 500, according to its manufacturer, is “a quiet, yet powerful backpack blower for professionals working in noise-sensitive areas.”

       Mr. Lawler said that when the board is considering “local ordinances that may have an adverse effect on the local business community,” Mr. Lawler said, “I would feel a whole lot better if we had some input from [landscapers] before we go changing our code,” Mr. Lawler said.

       The board continued to debate a further restriction of the times in which commercial use of gas or diesel-powered lawn care equipment would be allowed,  but resolved to hear from landscapers before acting.

       Ms. Borsack said that the board could enact further restrictions while also making some kind of concession to landscapers. Bruce Siska suggested that allowing landscapers to replace old equipment at the end of its lifespan with new, lower-decibel models could be such a concession.

       The legislation under consideration would also limit the hours when excavation, demolition, and construction would be allowed between May 15 and Sept. 15. Anyone other than a homeowner or tenant would be allowed to do that work only between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays and between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Current law allows work to go on from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

       Also at the meeting, the board accepted the $71,900 bid received from Johnson Electric to install a lighted crosswalk on Newtown Lane. The village received a $37,000 grant from the Suffolk County Legislature for the project, said Becky Molinaro, the village administrator.

       The fifth annual Mr. Amagansett pageant, a fund-raiser for the Donald T. Sharkey Memorial Community Fund, happens tonight at 7 at the Stephen Talkhouse.

       The venue will open at 6:30. Admission to the lighthearted pageant is $20. To compete, contestants pay a $150 entry fee.

       The fund named for East Hampton Town’s former chief building inspector, who died in 2009, supports the community in myriad ways. It has helped pay fuel bills, mortgage payments, and medical bills for those in need. It also funds a scholarship for a local student, pays for children’s summer camp programs, is directed to local fire departments, and sends a soldier to the Wounded Warrior Project Courage Awards and Benefit Dinner, to be held May 29 this year at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York.

       “We’re continuing to raise money and give back locally,” said Tina Piette, an attorney and organizer of the pageant. “We really appreciate those who give to the cause.”

       Last year’s pageant raised $5,000 for the fund. Its winning contestant, Matt Schmitt, competing under the name Matt from the Meeting House, is ineligible for the title this year, Ms. Piette said. But Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, an unsuccessful contestant last year, will again make a pitch for the crown, she said. There will also be a rendition of “the Don Sharkey version of ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ ” she added.

       Another, “very famous” politician will be involved, said Britton Bistrian of Land Use Solutions, who will head a panel of five judges. Ms. Bistrian, who is married, would not reveal her colleagues’ identities except to say that the panel consists of “a very esteemed group of single ladies — except for me. Four single-lady jurors, plus the tiebreaker.”

       Laughter is likely to flow as freely as the alcohol, but spectators should anticipate an undercurrent of suspicion and jealousy among the contestants. Last year, both Peter Honerkamp, an owner of the Stephen Talkhouse, and Dominick Stanzione, then a town councilman, issued wild, unsubstantiated accusations of bribery in accounting for their unsuccessful bids. Mr. Honerkamp went a step further. “Prior to the contest,” he confessed to a reporter following last year’s pageant, “I paid off every one of the judges, and all of them betrayed me.”

       “I did hear that the scepter was so valuable that it was stolen from last year’s winner,” Ms. Piette said. But, she added, “It’s all for fun, really.” Ms. Bistrian agreed. “It’s a great night, for a good cause,” she said.

       The live music venue’s Outrageous Open Mike, at which singers and musicians are welcome to perform, will follow the pageant at 10 p.m.

       Harry Blumenfeld and Martin Falzack, East Hampton residents for over 50 years, were married at City Hall in Manhattan on March 4.

       Mr. Blumenfeld, 86, and Mr. Falzack, 80, were introduced at a dinner party in New York about 60 years ago, when Mr. Blumenfeld had just graduated from Brooklyn College and Mr. Falzack was still a student. They dated briefly, remained friends, and rekindled a relationship nearly 20 years later. After eight months they moved into an apartment on 10th Street and University Place and have been partners ever since.

       Mr. Blumenfeld was the assistant executive director of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services and a professor at Hunter College and Columbia University. Mr. Falzack was a successful commercial artist and a pastry chef specializing in frozen desserts. He went back to school at Hunter to earn a master’s degree in social work and became a social worker at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. He was also the director of a project with the Gay Men’s Health Crisis providing mental services to its clients. Most recently he taught clothed figurative drawing at the Miami Art League.

       In East Hampton they lived most recently on Timber Lane before moving to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., this year.

       Mr. Falzack’s sister, Anne Goldstein, was the witness at their intimate wedding ceremony. Also in attendance were Mrs. Goldstein’s husband, Jack, and their daughter, Jennifer, Mr. Blumenfeld’s brother, Philip Blumenfeld, his wife, Nina, their daughter, Lynn Blumenfeld, and her husband, Simon Sheridan. After the ceremony the group had a celebratory lunch at the Knickerbocker restaurant and enjoyed cake and a champagne toast at the Goldsteins’ apartment.

       Organizers of the sixth annual Am O’Gansett Parade, happening on Saturday at 12:02 p.m., may have outdone themselves in the selection of this year’s grand marshal.

       The grand marshal of what organizers claim to be the world’s shortest parade, a sort of alternate-universe St. Patrick’s Day march, cannot be of Irish heritage. In a way, officials of the Amagansett Chamber of Commerce, who oversee the parade’s planning, have satisfied that requirement: Last week, they named the Amagansett School this year’s grand marshal.

       “We’re delighted,” Eleanor Tritt, the school’s superintendent, said on Friday. “It’s really exciting. We’re looking forward to it.” Ms. Tritt learned of the honor bestowed on the school last Thursday afternoon. “I’m sure that everybody in town will want to participate,” she said. Students, parents, alumni, faculty, and board members have been invited to march.

       The parade begins on Main Street outside of Mary’s Marvelous and proceeds to the Mobil gas station at the corner of Main Street and Indian Wells Highway.

       Joi Jackson Perle, executive director of the Amagansett Chamber of Commerce, said that this year’s parade will feature some new participants. “People are being very creative in how they’re marching, and the groups they’re marching with,” she said. “We hope people come out and support the school and local businesses. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

       Organizers are gathering donations for a raffle to be held on Saturday, Ms. Perle said. Donated items so far include a photo taken by Dell Cullum, a nature photographer who contributes images to The Star, a music lesson at Crossroads Music, and gift certificates to the Salon and Day Spa, Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee, and Felice’s Ristorante, she said. “It’s starting to really add up. It’s so nice that everybody’s getting into the spirit of it.”

       Alas, competing claimants to the world’s-shortest-parade distinction have arisen. The New York Times reported last week that an annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Hot Springs, Ark., spans just 98 feet. Not to be outdone, a pub in the Bronx, An Beal Bocht (The Poor Mouth), will hold its second annual parade on Monday night. Its organizers claim a 47-foot march.

       Following the Am O’Gansett parade, there will be family activities at Miss Amelia’s Cottage, including a bouncy castle, hula-hoops, and other children’s games.

       East Hampton Town officials have come up with proposed new legislation designed to tighten restrictions on taxis and prevent out-of-town companies from making a quick buck during the 8 to 12 weeks of summer. Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, the East Hampton Town board liaison to the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee, went over a draft of the legislation at a meeting of the committee on Monday. He warned, however, that it wasn’t simple to limit business in New York State. “We have very few tools to limit commerce,” he said.

       A loud call for tighter controls came from residents and local cab company owners, who complained of everything from gouging prices and not posting fares to attacking and cutting in front of other drivers, and general reckless behavior.

       Last summer, the town board created a task force to come up with recommendations for tightening the taxi law. It included town officials, Larraine Creegan, the executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, Diane Hausman, chair of the advisory committee,  and James Hewitt, the owner of the Shagwong Tavern.

       The proposed new law would require annual applications for cabs; the permits now run for two years. It would  require proof of year-round residency, although owners would not have to run their businesses from home. It would also require background checks and fingerprinting.

Even if the new rules are enacted in time for this summer, Mr. Van Scoyoc said, some permits issued last year will be valid through the end of 2014. But, he said, “We’re going to hit early, hit hard, hit on big weekends, and hit on a day-to-day basis.”

       Some 20 local cab company owners and drivers attended the meeting Monday. Although they praised the town for trying to do something about the problem, they weren’t pleased about the possibility that the taxi license fee might increase from  $200 to $750, which is commensurate with the fee in Southampton.

       But others said restrictions weren’t enough. They suggested higher fines and more enforcement. It was suggested that larger permit stickers should be required on cabs, and even suggested that plainclothes police officers act as would-be taxi customers so they could issue summonses if violations were found.

       Lieut. Chris Hatch of the East Hampton Town Police Department, who is also the Montauk precinct commander, said the department was already planning stings and considering other ways to improve enforcement. “We’re trying to get as creative as we can with what we have,” he said.

       If the town were to charge higher permit fees, several at the meeting suggested using the money in a dedicated fund to hire more police officers, even part-timers. Steve Kalimnios of the Royal Atlantic Motels in the downtown area said he hires off-duty officers on Friday and Saturday nights to patrol his sites.“The local guys are getting killed. This town needs to step up, unlock the money and provide public safety,” he said.

       “The weather for our past month of February has given this weather observer and recorder a very uneasy time,” Richard G. Hendrickson, a United States Cooperative weather observer, wrote from Bridgehampton.

       One reason for that, he said, was the high temperatures during the daytime and the very low temperatures at night. “High temperatures during the daytime varied greatly, from above 32 degrees on 18 days to highs in the 50s,” he wrote. “It was 40 or higher on 10 days, with a high of 53 degrees on the 21st.” At night, lows ranged from 32 degrees to a frigid 3 degrees on Feb. 4. It was under 20 on 12 nights in February, and there was enough ice that ice boaters could set out on Mecox Bay for a brief period.

       Melted snow and rain — the total precipitation for the month — was 4.13 inches. Winds were mainly from the northwest on 15 days.

       In January, Mr. Hendrickson reported, wind was from the northwest on 19 days and there was a good amount of snow. He recorded 18 inches on Jan. 3 and 4 inches on Jan. 28. Snow was on the ground for the first week of that month and again for the last 11 days. “Sleighing downhill could be done most of the month,” he wrote.

       He recorded lows of minus 5 on Jan. 3 and 4 degrees on Jan. 7, and then a warm spell that lasted until Jan. 22, when temperatures dropped down to 8 degrees, followed by a low of 5 through the next night. It was below freezing every night for the rest of January.

       The East Hampton Library’s expansion and renovation is “coming down the final lap,” according to its chairman, with an additional 6,800 square feet set to open to the public in late spring or early summer.

       More than $6 million has been raised to finance the expansion, Tom Twomey, the library’s chairman, said last month, with an additional $250,000 needed. In November, the actor Alec Baldwin donated $1 million to the project.

       “We’re proud to say we are coming in under budget,” Mr. Twomey said. He attributed that to “a great team effort” led by Dennis Fabiszak, the library’s director, and Ben Krupinski, the project’s general contractor.

       Mr. Krupinski and other contractors, Mr. Twomey said, have made significant donations in the form of reducing their billing to the library. “He has been working with the library for over 10 years,” Mr. Twomey said of Mr. Krupinski. “He’s been donating much of his services over the years. He has a full-time foreman on the job working with Dennis every day.”

       Mr. Baldwin’s donation, made through the foundation that bears his name, is underwriting completion of the Baldwin Family Lecture Room within the expansion. The room will be used for children’s programs, film screenings, poetry readings, historical lectures, and author and book events. It will also house what Mr. Fabiszak called an ambitious audio-visual system.

       The library, he said, has partnered with the New York Public Library to allow streaming of the latter’s programs into the new room. “We’ll also be able to stream from other institutions around the world,” he said. A 7-by-12-foot screen has been installed, and cameras will be added “so we can record or stream programs that happen here to other institutions, or even to the homes of our residents, so they can view things that are happening here on the Internet.” he said. “It’s really connecting that room with the world, bringing things in and sending things out.”

       The new children’s section, Mr. Fabiszak said, “is really designed as a learning space.” Age groups from birth through eighth grade, he said, will have dedicated areas housing their own collections, computers, and furniture. “We really wanted it so that everybody feels like they have their own place within the library, their own place to call home,” he said.

       Mr. Fabiszak described a mural to be mounted that will teach the alphabet to younger children, and a ceiling painted to depict the sky. “We have 30 custom light fixtures being made that look like big white books, but they’re bent at different angles,” he said. “They’re going to come through the ceiling and it’s going to look like a flock of birds flying through the sky.”

       A computer monitor will teach children about the solar panel array situated on the roof, Mr. Fabiszak said. “We’ve gone out of our way to make this as energy efficient as we can,” he said of the expansion. 

       The project, which included an additional 16 spaces in the parking lot, has also allowed improvements to the existing spaces, Mr. Twomey and Mr. Fabiszak said, including upgrades to the furnaces, new carpeting, and new alarm, air-conditioning, and sprinkler systems. “We’re taking the opportunity, as we move through and see the quality of the individual subcontractors, to have them spruce up the existing building,” Mr. Fabiszak said. “We’re really excited about the way that’s coming out.”

       The expansion will include a dedicated space for the library’s sale of donated books on amazon.com, an effort that raised $35,000 last year, Mr. Fabiszak said.

       As the project nears completion, Mr. Twomey praised the library’s 22 board members, a group that includes residents of various hamlets as well as second-home owners, for the fund-raising abilities that allowed it to happen. “We have an extraordinarily generous community, and a very hard-working board of managers,” he said.

       A consent order signed earlier this month has closed a case brought by the state Department of Environmental Conservation against Montauk Shores Condominium, which owns the mobile-home complex at Ditch Plain in Montauk, and Keith Grimes Inc., which reconstructed a rock revetment on the oceanfront there last year.

       Although the order asserts that the condo association and its contractor believed the work complied with the permit received in March last year, it says they have acknowledged the violations and waived a hearing on the matter.

       The D.E.C. had levied a $40,000 fine, which Montauk Shores has paid, and the agency has agreed to suspend an additional $80,000 fine provided corrections are made in accordance with the consent order, which was signed by  Peter A. Scully, the agency’s regional director, James R. Graham, the president of Montauk Shores Condominium, and Susan Grimes, vice president of Keith Grimes Inc.

       The state permit authorized  approximately 5,000 cubic yards of “site-compatible sand and cobble and up to 2,500 cubic yards of 100 to 150-pound stone” to be brought in “to restore and stabilize approximately 885 linear feet of shoreland bluff.” It also authorized the “recovery and resetting” of stone that had been shifted by wave action and the reconstruction of a walkway and stairs. In its investigation, the D.E.C. found that the stones used  were larger than allowed and the pile of stones exceeded elevation limits.

       The work also drew the attention of East Hampton Town officials. In May of last year, the condominium association was charged with four town code violations: constructing an erosion control structure in a coastal zone where new ones are not permitted,  failure to obtain a building permit for “an approximately 900-foot by 80-foot rock and sand structure, with non-indigenous rocks and sand,” and for failing to obtain a natural resources special permit and a certificate of occupancy for that structure. The charges are pending in town court.

       The agreement with the D.E.C. calls for the stones to be moved, within 45 days, so that the revetment does not exceed an elevation of 14 feet at its eastern edge, as measured from and including the beach elevation, and drops to a 10-foot elevation at its western end.  Once that has been done, it says, the stones may be covered with sand, which is to be planted. The agreement also specifies that “no seaward expansion of the toe of stone armor is authorized.”

       A previous D.E.C. permit in effect from March 2003 through March 2012 had specified that Montauk Shores use smaller stones of 20 to 50 pounds in “a maximum three-foot-high pile,” along with “site-compatible sand and cobble.” At the condominium’s request, the state had, in 2006, already modified those terms to allow 100 to 150-pound stones “to repair and reform” the revetment and authorized the recovery and resetting of stones that may have shifted seaward.  An annual report to the D.E.C. about the condition of the site and any work undertaken was required.

       Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, this week questioned the terms of the consent order. “It appears to allow a series of activities that weren’t authorized under the previous permit,” he said. Besides an increase in the height of the revetment, he noted that the agreement allows stones that are removed from the pile to be stockpiled upland “for future maintenance.”

       Both Mr. Samuelson and the town, in issuing violations to Montauk Shores, contend that the stones used are not indigenous and are incompatible with the Montauk shore. Mr. Samuelson contends that they should not be reused. However, the nature of the stones was not among the violations cited by the D.E.C.

       The agreement also requires Montauk Shores to have an engineering firm prepare and submit a storm-water management plan within six months, detailing a “ready and standby project to be implemented at such time as a hazard mitigation grant or other grant relief funding becomes available.”

       An application to install AT&T antennas and ancillary equipment on the ground and an oil tank at P.C. Schenck and Sons continues to draw skepticism from the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals.

       “You’re saying there are so many things going on here, plus you have an oil tank very near the village, which doesn’t make people very happy, and now you want to put something more,” Larry Hillel, a zoning member, said at a board meeting on Friday. “Maybe there’s too much. . . . It raises the question, is this the straw that breaks the camel’s back?”

       Adjacent neighbors on Barns Lane, and a representative of the commercial building at 66 Newtown Lane, have voiced opposition to the proposed installation, fearing noise generated by the equipment cabinets’ cooling fans. Concern about the antennas’ radio frequency emissions was also voiced, but the board’s consulting engineer, Drew Bennett, reported that such emissions represent a small fraction of allowable exposure.

       The site of a proposed 32-by-21-foot concrete slab on which six equipment cabinets would be installed is 33 feet from the nearest adjacent property line, at 19 Barns Lane, and approximately 60 feet from the house there.

       In previous testimony, John Huber, an attorney representing the applicant, and Mike Patel, a consultant for AT&T, told the board that the ambient sound level, measured when the Schenck fuel trucks were idle, was 44 decibels. A worst-case scenario, in which all of the cooling fans would be operating, would produce 65 decibels at a distance of five feet from the cabinets, 54 decibels at the property line, and 52 decibels at the house.

       The board asked Mr. Huber to seek alternative sites for the ground-based equipment, as well as a proposal for minimizing the additional noise, and on his third visit to the board on Friday, Mr. Huber said that the proposed location of the cabinets was the only possible site on the property.

       Mr. Patel described a sound barrier that he said would mitigate the fans’ noise and achieve the 44-decibel ambient background noise level at the house at 19 Barns Lane. “There will be no difference in noise level to anyone in the surrounding area,” he said.

       Two freestanding walls, eight feet tall and running the length of the concrete pad, would be situated four feet from the cabinets, Mr. Patel said. Sound absorbers, which he said would look like quilted mattresses, would hang from these walls and on two walls of existing structures. “It will be hung on a heavy-duty, structural steel framework that’s galvanized, designed to stay outside,” he told the board. “It’s a framework like a shower curtain . . . hung from the top and framed on all sides as well.”

       The idea, Mr. Patel said, “was to make sure there is no difference” between the ambient noise level at adjacent properties with or without the equipment cabinets. “You will not feel or hear any difference if the fan is running or not running,” he said.

       Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, pointed out that the applicant will also need approval from the design review board, which requires a minimum of 20 feet of landscaping between commercial and residential properties. “In your calculations, are you including what the effects of that 20 feet of additional landscaping would be?” he asked.

       Mr. Patel said he was not, and that the addition of vegetation would further reduce noise levels.

       The existing vegetation is bamboo. “Sometimes, it’s onerous,” Mr. Huber said, but “in this situation I think it actually helps, because it’s a maintenance-free form of vegetation.” The area is difficult to access and receives little sunlight due to the fuel tank, he said, and suggested that it be left alone.

       Lysbeth Marigold, a board member, pressed Mr. Huber and Mr. Patel on the proposed location, referring to the previous installation of antennas in the steeple of the East Hampton Presbyterian Church. There, additional equipment was situated in the church’s basement. “I’m sure the Presbyterian church basement was problematic too, at one point,” she said. “They probably had to move . . . hymnals and things out of the way. You tend to fill storage spaces, but if you really want something, you can find the space.”

       Mr. Newbold asked the men to provide a measured drawing and said that the board would seek independent verification of Mr. Patel’s testimony from Mr. Bennett. The hearing was adjourned to the board’s next meeting on March 14.

       In other news from the meeting, the board granted variances for the property owner at 174 Further Lane to build a new house designed by the architect Annabelle Selldorf as well as accessory structures, but officially denied the applicant’s request to allow a squash court in a new detached garage, a plan the applicant had already abandoned.