“This is only the second meeting in what I anticipate will be a somewhat lengthy process,” Andrew Goldstein, chairman of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals, said when Friday’s meeting turned to a new irrigation system planned for the Maidstone Club’s 27-hole golf course.

    As the topic was brought forward, the board announced that it intended to hire its own consultant to study the plans and possible consequences. This did not assuage the dozen or so residents — golfers and environmentalists — who filed up to the podium to express concern. Some were alarmed about noise from a pump station that would be constructed, others about a proposed manmade pond, while still others worried about the irrigation system’s effects on Hook Pond, its denizens, and the long-term water supply.

    Speaking on behalf of the club, David Eagan, an attorney, told the audience that the applicant was “not doing anything to the wetlands. The whole purpose of this project is to act as a supplement to Mother Nature,” only operating when rain was scarce.

    James Sykes, who has lived near Hook Pond on Middle Lane for over 40 years, questioned the location of the new pond, which would be in a field that his property overlooks.

    “Maidstone has always been an exceptionally good neighbor,” he said. He mentioned the noise that would be made by compressors to be installed near the pond. A similar setup at the Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton, which Mr. Sykes had visited, creates, he said, “a tremendous amount of noise in an insulated and sheetrocked structure.”

    He was also concerned about the impact on trees and wildlife and the possible increase in mosquito activity, as a result of the pond.

    Stephen Angel, a lawyer hired by Michael Schulhof of Egypt Lane, also discussed noise, pointing to a report on  three irrigation pumps to be installed, which, he noted, was to have a proposed output of 96 decibels, equivalent, apparently, to the maximum noise level of New York City subway cars. “That’s a very dramatic noise in an area where there hasn’t been this sort of noise for centuries,” he said.

    Linda James, who has lived in a house on Hook Pond for 45 years, wanted the potential long-term impact “on the environmental resources so vital to East Hampton” considered, while Karen Earle and Polly Bruckmann objected to the plan in a different light.

    “Maidstone is a 100-year-old golf course, one of the top 100 courses in America,” Ms. Earle said. “For 100 years we’ve gone without this irrigation. Why do we need this now?”

    “I think if we took a vote of Maidstone members,” she continued, “you might find that this doesn’t make the cut.”

    Ms. Bruckmann, who has “played the Maidstone course for 40 years,” also saw little need for a new irrigation system. “Why do we have to be like every other course?” she asked. “Why? Are we trying to keep up with the Joneses?” She reiterated a point made by almost every speaker: “Hook Pond is home to many resident birds and amphibians. This should not be any compromise to the wetlands,” she said.

    And Telisport W. Putsavage, an attorney appearing on behalf of Bill Speck and Evelyn Lipper of Jefferys Lane, commented that a proposed well field would be “in relatively close proximity to the wetlands.”

    Janet Van Sickle — who commented, “I don’t have any skin in the Hook Pond issue” — spoke about the wider effects of the system.

    “They would be using the extra water at a time when it would be most absent, and needed, from all areas,” she said. “A decision now by the zoning board would have a very long-reaching impact.”

    “Why is the reservoir in that location and not closer to the clubhouse?” Howard Katz asked as the audience and the board laughed. “We are not in the business of suggesting alternatives,” Mr. Goldstein answered.

    “This is the start of the process,” he said. The hearing has been adjourned until June.

    The prospect of a change in the town code that would allow veterinary clinics to locate in central business districts gave the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee some jitters on Monday night.

    The East Hampton Town Board plans to discuss the change at an upcoming meeting, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, who is the town board liaison to the committee, told the gathering. The request to change the code came from the advisory committee in Montauk, on behalf of Molly Miosek, a veterinarian who hopes to establish a clinic on Essex Street, in the easternmost hamlet’s downtown area.

    Ms. Overby could offer little as yet about specifics. Several people wanted to know just what a veterinary clinic would entail. “Whatever a vet clinic does,” Ms. Overby said, somewhat uncertainly. “Keeping animals overnight? I think a vet clinic means everything. Boarding.”

    “There’s a lot of barking,” said Sheila Okin, “and a lot of houses on Main Street, including mine.”

    “I would rather have a dog clinic in Amagansett than another nail salon,” said Betty Mazur.

    “I think it’s an inappropriate use in Amagansett,” Ms. Okin said, to murmurs of agreement.

    Britton Bistrian, a committee member who is an architect, pointed out that “Amagansett has very limited central business.” In fact, she said, “I don’t think there’s a single piece of C.B. in Amagansett that would allow [for] it.” In any event, she said, such a code change would require “layers and layers of planning and approval.”

     Ms. Overby agreed. “There would have to be a hearing for the entire town,” she said. “We can’t just put it in Montauk. We’d have to do it for everybody.”

    “I think we need more research,” said Kathy Mullen.

    “They asked me at a work session, how does Amagansett feel,” said Ms. Overby. I said, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

    Kent Miller, chairman of the committee, called for a show of hands. Three members voted yes, five no, and six abstained, saying they wanted more information.

    Also on Monday night, the committee pondered the question of how to convey its sentiments to the town planning and zoning boards without defying Supervisor Bill Wilkinson’s explicit instruction not to do so directly. Ms. Mazur, citing two forthcoming requests from homeowners in the dunes, each wanting an unusual number of variances, expressed discouragement with “the proliferation of large houses that are changing the face of the hamlet” and wondered “what good is it to go to Z.B.A. meetings” when one could not write or speak in the name of the entire committee.

    Tom Field, a committee member, suggested that “Betty brought it here, now we can go out and share it with our community. Twenty-five letters would carry a lot more weight than one.”

    Kieran Brew, vice chairman of the committee, agreed. “We need to go to people and say, ‘If you don’t like this, say so.’ ”

    “And we should care about the whole hamlet, not just where we live,” said Ms. Bistrian.

    “The lanes should care about Beach Hampton and vice versa,” someone else remarked.

    Another member of the audience wondered whether the town board might relay the committee’s disapproval of the two dunes applications to the zoning board. Councilwoman Overby made it clear that it could not. “The town board cannot collaborate with or influence the zoning or planning boards,” she said, ending the discussion.

    Toward the end of the meeting there was a brief exchange about the Amagansett Farmers Market, with several members bemoaning its appearance. “Nothing has been done to improve the look of the property,” said Joan Tulp. “The fence is falling down. It’s disreputable. . . . we’d like it to look nice all year long, not just in the summer.”

    “It doesn’t look nice in the summer either,” came a voice from the audience. “It looks like they picked up furniture at the dump.”

    Ms. Tulp said she complained a while ago to the Peconic Land Trust, which  manages the property, to no avail. There are two years left on Eli Zabar’s lease on the market, which will open for the holiday weekend on Friday, May 25.

    Finally, Ms. Overby told the committee that the long-awaited public bathroom to be built in the parking lot behind Main Street will not happen this summer. All the necessary county permits have expired, she said. The town will have to start again from scratch.

    Last Thursday, the State Department of Environmental Conservation closed approximately 490 acres of bottomland in Southampton Town to shellfishing due to detection of a marine biotoxin associated with paralytic shellfish poisoning.

    The closing includes the bottom of Sag Harbor Cove and Upper Sag Harbor Cove and their tributaries lying west of the Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge on Route 114. “All harvesting of shellfish and carnivorous gastropods (whelks, conchs, and moon snails) is prohibited until further notice in an effort to protect the public’s health,” according to a D.E.C. press release.

     The action was taken after shellfish collected from a monitoring site in Sag Harbor Cove tested positive for saxitoxin, a type of neurotoxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. Paralytic shellfish poisoning can be fatal in individuals with compromised immune systems.

    Among the symptoms are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, tingling or burning lips, gums, tongue, face, neck, arms, legs, and toes. It can also cause shortness of breath, slurred speech, a choking feeling, and loss of coordination.

    The testing was conducted as part of a regular testing program.

The D.E.C. closed areas in western Shinnecock Bay early last month. Sag Harbor’s closed bottomland will remain closed until tests prove there is no longer a threat to public health.     

    The toxin in question is produced by tiny algae known as dinoflagellates. Because shellfish are filter feeders they tend to store the toxin. Testing stations are typically set up in early spring. Testing continues on a regular basis until algal blooms dissipate later in the summer months.

    A Two Mile Hollow rebuild on a beachfront property was on the docket again, with revised plans, at Friday’s East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.

    Beautiful Joy L.L.C., which owns the property next to, and a little behind, the asphalt-covered village beach parking lot, had revised previous requests and moved the project back from the contour line of the dune ecosystem.

    Now, the only portion that would not meet the setback and would require a special permit is a portion of the swimming pool, which was moved to run parallel to the ocean and almost far enough from the dune line to meet code requirements.

    However, John Tarbet, an attorney for the neighbor to the west, argued that even though it was “a step in the right direction,” it still was not enough. “They’re still looking to build within the 25-foot setback of the dunes,” he said.

    “You are opposing a variance which would ask for a build within the 25-foot buffer line,” said Andrew Goldstein, the zoning chairman, “and you are representing a client who has done that already, and a little bit beyond. Are you aware of some facts that your client’s property has had a negative effect?”

    “Obviously, your client being the staunch environmentalist, if the experts come back and say that it does have a negative effect, will your client be willing to take the structure down?” Mr. Goldstein asked.

    “To my unexpert eyes,” added Frank Newbold, a board member, “the property in question is behind the neighbor and behind the parking lot.”

    “And this is not an area that at this point is inhabited by any wildlife,” Mr. Goldstein added. “It’s cleared.”

    Rob Herrmann from the environmental consulting firm En-Consultants in Southampton, hired by Beautiful Joy, ventured that “even under the broadest definition of the double dunes area, this latest pool now steps out of this area. It’s landward of the retaining wall, and even landward of the parking lot.”

    Lys Marigold, a board member, agreed. “The tendency is to be more vigilant with undisturbed areas,” she said. “But this is between a parking lot and an overdeveloped property. I’m somewhat satisfied with this application.”

    “You have rescued victory out of the jaws of defeat,” Mr. Goldstein told Eric Bergman, the attorney for the applicant. “You’ve won over the hard-to-sell on the board.”

    The hearing was adjourned until May 11 for more discussion.

    The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs will share in nearly $3.66 million raised from the Stars of Stony Brook Gala held on April 25 at Chelsea Piers in New York City. The money the benefit raised includes funds for student scholarships at the State University at Stony Brook.

    The center on Springs-Fireplace Road, which was the house and studio of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, is in the process of a capital campaign to build an endowment, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Pollock’s birth.

The endowment will help support the house and study center efforts to further its programs and preservation. The property includes a barn that was converted into Pollock’s studio, where he painted some of his most famous drip paintings. The remnants of the poured and splattered paint from those works can still be seen on the studio floor. After Pollock’s death, Krasner took over the space and then painted some of her most significant work there.

    Late last year, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation announced a matching gift challenge of $1 million for the endowment, which has been met, according to the Stony Brook Foundation, a non-profit affiliate of Stony Brook University, which owns the site. The Pollock-Krasner Foundation is a separate entity set up by Krasner primarily to fund grants for artists.

    In addition, Samuel L. Stanley, president of Stony Brook University, announced at the gala that the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust will endow the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center directorship for $1.5 million.

    Finally, the school itself will receive $1.5 million as well from the James and Marilyn Simons Fund to support an endowed professorship for the study of Abstract Expressionism in Stony Brook’s art department.

    Ed Harris, who directed and starred in the film “Pollock,” was honored at the event along with the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and Charles C. Bergman, its chairman and chief executive officer. 

    Spring on eastern Long Island “has been changing slowly during the last 75 years,” Richard G. Hendrickson, the United States Cooperative weather observer in Bridgehampton, wrote in his monthly report for April.

    In the springs of his youth, when his family had milk cows and chickens, hatching 1,500 baby chicks a week, he recalls once having to shovel the door free of snow so he could tend to the coal stove keeping 350 baby chicks warm and toasty.

    “We had to keep more than an eye on the weather every day and night,” he wrote.

    Mr. Hendrickson, who has been observing the weather for over 75 years, said that the last 50 or so winters have been less severe than earlier ones. “Our cattle pasture hill used to be covered with kids and their sleds. . . . For how many years will these remain snow-free hills and the ponds remain ice-free as they have this winter?”

    “We are in a period of milder winters and warmer summers, plus I believe, periods of greater precipitation,” he wrote. “The ocean and all bay harbors have a slightly higher water level, and that means in time of storm, they creep farther landward, over all that is in their way.”

    The warmest days last month were April 16 and 17, when it was 77 degrees. Most daytime temperatures were in the 50s, with a few in the 60s. The thermometer dropped to 29 on April 3 and 6.

    Rainfall will be most important this month, as “nothing, plant or animal, grows without water,” Mr. Hendrickson said. There were only five days last month with rain. The heaviest, 1.25 inches, came on April 22, and the total for the month was just 1.38 inches, well off the long-term average for April of about 4 inches.

    In Bridgehampton, Mr. Hendrickson did not record any fog. He noted 15 clear, 3 partly cloudy, and 12 cloudy days last month, and winds from the northwest on 14 days. In most Aprils, winds are from the east, he said.

    As temperatures rise, Mr. Hendrickson wrote, “we need also greater amounts of rainfall . . . because our long-term high temperatures will be slightly higher, and moisture evaporation will be on the increase with our sandy soil.”

    For May, Mr. Hendrickson predicts “higher temperatures, increased rainfall, and occasional fog.”

    The Montauk Playhouse Community Center is kicking off the fund-raising season with a new slate of officers on its board of directors — Lisa DeVeglio as president, Carol Nye as vice president, Rori Finazzo Butterfield as secretary, and Kathy Beckmann as treasurer.

    The group has been networking all winter, holding cultivation dinners, which they call friend-raisers. They invite residents to dinner at board members’ houses and at Montauk restaurants to speak about the Playhouse project, raise awareness, and answer questions. The dinners, Ms. DeVeglio said, have been very successful, with guests not only offering money but also getting more people involved to help move the project forward.

    While the main section of the Playhouse has been open for six years, it has always been the foundation’s goal to raise at least another $10 million to add an aquatic center, a lap and recreation pool, a 299-seat performing arts center, and a community room where people can cozy up in overstuffed chairs to socialize with their friends and neighbors.

    Now the president, Ms. DeVeglio has risen through the ranks on the board and, with her husband, Bob (otherwise known as Bing) DeVeglio, was part of a small group that met monthly, starting in 1998, at the Montauk Firehouse with then-East Hampton Town Councilman Pete Hammerle to get the project off the ground. The group was confronted with many obstacles, some of them from town officials who suggested it would be less expensive to tear the building down and rebuild.

    But like the little engine that could, they wouldn’t take no for an answer, forged through mounds of paperwork and bureaucracy, and opened in 2006, with a children’s and adult day care center, town-run recreational programs and a town clerk’s annex, a fully staffed gym, the Manual and Sports Physical Therapy center, and a branch of Body Tech Health and Fitness. On most days, the parking lot is full.

    “The building, as it is, is buzzing all the time with activities,” Ms. DeVeglio said. “The pool and theater could add so much more.” The goal now, she said, is to get the whole community involved, “from the cashier at the local grocery store to the second-home owner with the $5 million oceanfront home, and everyone in between.”

    The board has also spent much of the winter researching private foundations and having the raw outdoor spaces graded, readying for the annual party, which will be held under a tent on the grounds on Aug. 4.

Taste of New Orleans

    Although smaller activities take place year round, summer is when the Playhouse Foundation steps up its fund-raising events, starting on Saturday night with A Taste of New Orleans at the Solé East resort, which is owned by Dave and Cindi Ceva, who, it was noted, have been very helpful to the Playhouse by hosting several events on their property on Second House Road and donating most of the proceeds back to the foundation. They have also reduced room rates that evening, so guests can whoop it up and pretend to be in the Big Easy.

    The party runs from 7 to 10 p.m. and will feature Dr. Zsa’s Powdered Zydeco Band, a crawfish boil, and fancy cocktails, beer, and wine, all with a taste of Louisiana. Tickets, at $50 apiece, can be purchased at Ms. DeVeglio’s store, Willow, on the south Plaza in downtown Montauk or online at MontaukPlayouse.org.

    The East Hampton Village Board voted at its April meeting to pierce the 2-percent tax cap if necessary, but it needn’t have bothered. At last week’s work session the board unveiled the 2012-13 budget, which came in a hair’s breadth under the allowable amount.

    The new budget of just over $19 million is an increase of $626,574, or 3.4 percent, over this year’s spending, and reflects a rate increase of 2.9 percent, $15,176 less than the tax cap’s ceiling.

    Offsetting the increased retirement contributions (up over $400,000), some purchases, and capital improvements, is a projected additional $144,500 expected from raising the price of nonresident beach stickers from $325 to $375.

    “We believe we have struck a balance,” said Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach last Thursday, reading from a statement, “between funding necessary services, maintaining our infrastructure and buildings, cutting expenses where prudent, and modestly increasing revenues where appropriate.”

    A public hearing on the budget will be scheduled for sometime early next month.

     Some Montauk residents say the dim lighting in the hamlet’s business district is unsafe, and they want the town to turn up the lights downtown.

    At Monday’s monthly meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee, Kathleen Beckmann, who lives on Main Street at the eastern end of the hamlet and who like others has noticed the new, brighter lights in East Hampton Village, wondered if Montauk could receive the same treatment. Ms. Beckmann also said she has watched in frustration each night as police officers remove the pedestrian cones near her house at about 5 p.m. She said she asked them why, and was told the cones are taken away at night because cars often knock them down.

    “I don’t know who to talk to about that but I’d like to see it improved,” Ms. Beckmann said.

    Crosswalks, said others in the audience, create the most dangerous areas.

    Jim Grimes, a volunteer with the Montauk Fire Department, said the department is frequently called to Main Street in summer for accidents caused by unsafe conditions. Instead of launching yet another study, as one committee member suggested, “We might find that illumination fixes the problem,” he said.

    “It’s bad for business if people get hit on Main Street. It’s like sharks; sharks are bad for business, we don’t want sharks,” said Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the town board liaison to the committee. The board is moving toward a resolution on Montauk lighting, he said.

    Four people were nominated for the positions of chairmen and secretary at the start of the meeting. John Chimples and Diane Hausman were nominated for the chairmanship, with Ms. Hausman, who presided over the committee in the 1980s, winning 17 to 11. Ms. Hausman, who is president of the Montauk School Board, was asked before the vote if that could be a conflict of interest, but she and other committee members decided it was not.

    Marilyn Behan and Julie Brumm were nominated for secretary, with Ms. Behan receiving 18 votes to Ms. Brumm’s 9. Ms. Behan, who ran unsuccessfully for the town board in November, observed jokingly that now she was one for two in elections.

    “May it be the first of many elections to win,” said Mr. Stanzione.

    Lisa Grenci, who had held both positions, announced last month that after 15 years she was finished serving as chairwoman, but would remain a member. After taking her seat in the audience she received a vigorous round of applause. Linda Barnds, who was the acting secretary, did not run for the job.

    The new officers got right down to work on the agenda. On the subject of restrooms, one member said the ones in Montauk are not clearly identified for visitors, and asked Mr. Stanzione to ask the town board for better signs.

    The new town-owned restrooms that were built last summer on South Edison Street near the Sloppy Tuna look “as if a bomb has dropped on them,” said Dan Stavola, who recently joined the committee. He asked what the town was doing to improve the surrounding area.    

    Not much, Mr. Stanzione replied, as town funding limits any new projects. The councilman suggested that the Chamber of Commerce, or, as one member suggested, the Montauk Village Association, get involved and beautify the area. “The M.V.A. or chamber would move much faster than town government,” said Mr. Stanzione.  

    “You know, we pay taxes. We are not necessarily getting our value here,” said Mr. Grimes.

    Mr. Stanzione promised to tell the town board everything that had been discussed and return next month with some solutions. “I’m looking forward to bringing them back because I’m going to outperform here,” he said with a big smile.

    Membership in the advisory committee has continued to grow, with more business owners joining each month.

    A group of loyal Java Nation customers carried the coffee roaster out the doors of the Sag Harbor shop early Sunday evening like pallbearers grieving over the end of an era.

    Having lost its lease in the Shopping Cove off Main Street, the coffee shop, owned by Cheryl and Andres Bedini, was moving after 17 years.

    Many lined up Sunday to have one more cup of coffee before they went. As the day came to a close, tears were shed and hugs exchanged to the beat of drums, courtesy of Dan Bailey, a local musician who said he “wanted to lighten the vibe and show support.”

    “It’s sad,” Mr. Bedini said on Sunday afternoon, while packing. He will miss the kids, many of whom he watched grow up. He will also miss the international clientele, he said — regulars from a range of Spanish-speaking countries with whom he could chat in Spanish.

    In a press release sent last week, Ms. Bedini announced that Java Nation would move its operations to 112 Maple Lane in Bridgehampton, near the railroad station. She said they will expand their roasting operation through private labeling, mail order, Internet sales, and farmers markets, and added, “We have space for a cafe in the front that should open in a few weeks.”

    On Facebook on Monday, Mr. Bedini thanked “all those who got teary eyed,” and said, “It helps us to know that we have touched people’s lives. We may be back in Sag sooner than you think. But, in the meantime, come see us in Bridgehampton. . . . See how we are progressing.”

    Their former landlord reportedly wanted an upscale business to take over the Shopping Cove location. Shane Dyckman, whose wife, Tisha Collette, owns the consignment shop next door, was to take the lease. By Tuesday, both Collette’s and the former Java space had been gutted.

    Loyal Java Nation customers do not relish the idea of a replacement for their beloved coffeehouse.

    “It’s as if they’re saying, if you like to roast coffee, have a theater troupe, or display public art on your property, please get out of Sag Harbor,” Mick Hargreaves said yesterday, referring to the Bay Street Theatre’s potential move from the village, and the zoning board’s decision that a Larry Rivers “Legs” sculpture must be removed from the side of a property on Madison Street.

    On Facebook , people expressed support, good wishes, and sadness.

    “It’s a terrible loss for Sag Harbor, for all of us that loved Java Nation right where it was,” Kate Mueth wrote. “It’s a tragedy,” said John Monteleone.

    “We’re like lost puppies now,” Billy Sonenfield wrote.

    Ms. Bedini reminded fans that they will be able to find Java beans in local restaurants and delis, such as Tutto il Giorno, Provisions, Dockside, and Cavaniola’s Gourmet in Sag Harbor, Breadzilla in Wainscott, and the Hampton Seafood Company in East Hampton.