On Tuesday, Laser Industries, an excavation and clearing company brought on board by the Springs School District’s architect, BBS Architects and Engineers, began excavating leaching pools near the back of the school to determine the state of its beleaguered septic system.

“Pipes have been uncovered as well as a large pool that does have water in it,” the superintendent, Debra Winter, wrote in an email on Tuesday. “Making progress.”

During a special meeting last Thursday, the Springs School Board announced its decision to tear up the asphalt covering a play area in order to “assess what is going on with our system, as well as determine what the dollar amount will be for repairs,” Ms. Winter said.

The school’s septic system has not been functioning since April and has had to be pumped out every 10 days since then. Preliminary assessments performed by BBS and Lombardo Associates, an environmental consulting and engineering firm called in to evaluate the problem, found that several pools marked on the original site map can no longer be located.

Michael Henery, the school’s business administrator, said that Laser Industries is on the county list as recommended excavators and has worked on the Sag Harbor schools. He said that the company comes in “like gangbusters” to open up the designated area to make an assessment, “then they repair it to a better condition than when they started,” he said.

Ms. Winter added that the company has promised to do the work in “the least costly manner.” According to the school’s attorney, the work is considered “an ordinary contingent expense and should not exceed $130,000.”

If excavation results indeed prove that the school has a failed system, Ms. Winter said the course of action would be to close it up and continue pumping until all the right approvals and permits are secured.

Kim Shaw, East Hampton Town’s director of natural resources, who was at last week’s meeting, expressed dismay at the board’s decision to excavate. “By definition, their system has already failed,” she said. “Suffolk County’s guidelines state that if you are pumping weekly, the system has failed. I understand that they feel the need to be cautious, but I hope they don’t go over $130,000 only to determine they need to keep pumping, which is something they are not supposed to be doing.”

On Monday, New York State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., and Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming visited the school to learn firsthand about the septic system issues and the school’s pending capital improvement project.

Two men charged with felony drunken driving were arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court Saturday morning.

Spencer A. Irving, 26, of Port Washington and Hampton Bays, was westbound on Route 27 near West Lake Drive in Montauk in a 2009 Nissan Altima when he failed to signal a turn, leading to a traffic stop early Saturday. He failed roadside sobriety tests, according to town police, who transported him back to headquarters, where, they said, a breath test produced a reading of .16, over twice the legal limit.

Justice Lisa R. Rana noted during Mr. Irving’s arraignment that this was the third time he had been charged with either misdemeanor drunken driving or driving while ability impaired by alcohol, a violation. In separate incidents in 2014, he was convicted of both charges. Mr. Irving could lose his driving privileges for five years or more under the State Department of Motor Vehicles “lifetime lookback” policy, which can be triggered by a third alcohol-related arrest.

“I’m handing down the suspension of your driving privileges,” Justice Rana said. She set bail at $25,000, which was not immediately posted. Mr. Irving was turned over to the county sheriff’s department and taken to jail. His father posted bond the next morning.

The other man arraigned on the felony D.W.I. charge, Diego Juan Matias of Riverhead, 34, has been in custody since his arrest on Friday. Police pulled his 2002 Hyundai over around noon, on Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett, for swerving, and said his breath test produced a reading of .23, the highest of the week. The charge is an automatic felony because of a 2012 conviction for driving while intoxicated.

Mr. Matias was also charged with felony unlicensed driving. Bail was set at $10,500, and had not been posted as of yesterday. He was scheduled to be released today if not indicted, as required by law.

Leland C. Muller of Springs was arrested Saturday night after his 2005 Chevrolet swerved at least three times off Shore Road, near Lazy Point Road in Amagansett, according to police. The charge against him was classified as an aggravated misdemeanor, his breath test having reportedly come in at .21.

  “This [charge] is only an allegation, I get that,” Justice Rana told him, “but an alleged reading of .21 at your age, 23?” She agreed to release him without bail, but with a future date on her criminal calendar.

James Ray Ewing, 47, of Palm City, Fla., was arrested in Montauk early on Aug. 2; police said he failed to signal as his 2017 Ford turned from West Lake Drive to East Flamingo Avenue. He refused the breath test at headquarters, resulting in an automatic yearlong license suspension in this state. He was additionally charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, enhanced marijuana. Mr. Ewing was released after posting $500 bail.

East Hampton Village police received a report of a minor accident in the Georgica Beach parking lot last Thursday night. When they arrived, one of the two cars involved was gone. They located that car, a 2012 Toyota, in the side parking lot at Main Beach, and charged its driver, Jefree Cortes of Springs, 22, with leaving the scene of an accident in addition to D.W.I. His breath test produced a reported reading of .15. He was released without bail.

Jack Donald Brierley, 19, of Northwest Woods was driving a 2008 Mercury when police pulled him over on South Debusy Road in Montauk early Monday. His breath test produced a .16 reading, police said. He too was released without bail, but will reappear before Justice Rana at a future date.

A lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court against the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, the town’s Building Department, and the owners of the Breakers Motel in Montauk, which has been in limbo since it was filed in May of 2016, is expected to be decided upon in the coming months in the Riverside courtroom of Martha L. Luft, an acting New York State justice, who has agreed to preside in the case.

Action on the 2016 lawsuit bogged down because a number of judges recused themselves, explaining that they knew one of the owners of the Breakers, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. Before Justice Luft agreed to take the case, the last justice to recuse himself was Peter H. Mayer, and he had stepped away from the matter last August.

Besides being Southampton’s supervisor, Mr. Schneiderman was the Town of East Hampton supervisor from 2000 to 2004 and also served for many years as a Suffolk County legislator. He owns the Breakers with his sister, Helen Ficalora, a designer of jewelry.

  The lawsuit was filed by Jane Concannon, who is the motel’s neighbor. According to her attorney, Christian Browne of Sahn Ward Coschignano, which is based in Uniondale, she alleges that the zoning board erred when it declined to consider the merits of her appeal of its action that confirmed the legality of a building permit issued by the town in 2015 for a restaurant, now known as Seamore’s, at the Breakers.

Mr. Schneiderman, however, believes the zoning board did exactly what it was required to do under state law. Both men spoke about the matter recently. The East Hampton Town attorney’s office is defending the town and has presented the court with a written response to the suit.

Seamore’s, which leases the space at the Breakers from Mr. Schneiderman and his sister, is owned by a group including Michael Chernow. It has two locations in Manhattan. Mr. Chernow also was a founding partner in the Meatball Shop, which has seven restaurants in the city.

 “The restaurant closed down in the early 1970s,” Mr. Browne said of the Breakers space. He called the restaurant use abandoned. Mr. Browne also questions why a certificate of occupancy that included a restaurant was issued by the Building Department in 2005 since the restaurant was not functioning at the time. He said Ms. Concannon had no way of knowing a restaurant was mentioned in that certificate of occupancy, so had no reason to challenge it at the time.

The problem with that argument, according to Mr. Schneiderman, is that Ms. Concannon had every reason to know there was a restaurant at the site, because the Breakers went through site plan review by the town planning board in 2010, when he and his sister wanted to add a deck to the building. “They tried to argue that they didn’t know about it, but she showed up at the planning board meeting,” Mr. Schneiderman said, basing his opinion on an LTV video of the planning board hearing on the matter, which shows Ms. Concannon in attendance. The restaurant was mentioned three times during that hearing, at which no one from the public spoke, Mr. Schneiderman said. In addition, Ms. Concannon had received and signed a certified letter notifying her of the hearing, which described a restaurant at the site, Mr. Schneiderman said.

“What? Was she supposed to launch an investigation?” Mr. Browne responded when told of Mr. Schneiderman’s statement. The issue was the building permit issued for the restaurant in 2015, Mr. Browne said, calling the proceedings in 2005 and 2010 irrelevant.

“When a building inspector decides to issue a building permit, he is making a new decision and is giving you new rights, which she challenged,” Mr. Browne said. He called the Z.B.A.’s major mistake failing to examine that building permit. Ms. Concannon “is not trying to outright stop him, she is just saying it needs to be reviewed,” he said. In his opinion, he said, there was never proper site plan review, including such matters as parking, for a restaurant at the site. 

However, Mr. Schneiderman insisted that under state law Ms. Concannon needed to challenge the 2005 certificate of occupancy within 60 days of learning that it included a restaurant. He called this requirement vital, saying, “If we were forced back to planning, it would make every single building permit in the State of New York vulnerable.” If challenges to such certificates were allowed at any point after they were issued, how could anyone invest in a building, Mr. Schneiderman asked. He said that would stifle reasonable growth and development.

In its written response to the suit, the town said the Z.B.A. was correct in its finding. First, the town said that in such a lawsuit the scope of the court’s review is limited to “ascertaining whether the action taken is illegal, arbitrary and capricious, or an abuse of discretion.” Instead, the brief, written by John Jilnicki, a town attorney, states that the “decision was rational, and supported by substantial evidence.” It reiterates Mr. Schneiderman’s point that Ms. Concannon was notified of the presence of a restaurant on the certificate of occupancy in 2010, and failed to act. It is, Mr. Jilnicki wrote, “a matter of fundamental fairness to landowners, who are entitled to rely on a decision after the 60-day statute of limitations has passed.”

The Cedar Point Lighthouse, a beacon that stood sentinel for the busy port of Sag Harbor  for some 100 years, will be restored after falling into a perilous state.

On Monday at 11 a.m., Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming will join State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, and County Legislator Kara Hahn at the end of Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf to announce the appointment of the Lee H. Skolnick Architecture and Design Partnership to renovate the roof and exterior of the building, which stands facing Shelter Island between Gardiner’s Bay and Northwest Harbor. The County Legislature has approved $500,000 for work.

“We’re just thrilled to be part of this important and historic project,” said Lee Skolnick, founding partner of the eponymous  firm. Mr. Skolnick’s company has worked on other public and landmark properties on the East End, including the East Hampton Library, Guild Hall, the headquarters of the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society, and the Children’s Museum of the East End. “This is the crowning jewel,” Mr. Skolnick said, “with so much historical impact.”

Lighthouses have always captured the imagination, harking back to an era when nautical travel reigned and life moved at a slower speed. The purpose of the sturdy Cedar Point fortress was to guide ships, and in particular whaling vessels, into Northwest Harbor and the thriving whaling port of Sag Harbor.

  The Cedar Point Lighthouse has its own romanticized lore. The land on which the lighthouse sits was once a two-acre island, home to small bushes and trees. The first lighthouse there was constructed in 1839 as a wooden, one-and-a-half-story keeper’s dwelling with a small tower centered on its pitched roof and a cast-iron beacon in a lantern room. By 1858 the structure was dilapidated and struggling to support the heavy lantern and in 1867 Congress approved $25,000 to rebuild it.

The resulting lighthouse, completed in 1868, was constructed with granite blocks atop a circular granite pier. The L-shaped structure with a new square tower was of the Victorian-Gothic architectural style, similar to other lighthouses of the time. The lens from the 1839 lighthouse was placed 44 feet above the water in the new tower. In 1882, a machine-operated foghorn was added to the station. As with many light stations, the keeper and his family were important members of the community. One such overseer was peg-legged Charles Mulford who was appointed keeper in 1897. The Civil War veteran was famous for buying up every wooden leg available. It is reported that after a 1974 fire at the lighthouse, firefighters found a storeroom filled with wooden legs that had only partially survived the fire.

The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1934 and its beacon replaced by an automatic light. It was purchased in 1937 by Phelan Beale, an uncle of Jacqueline Kennedy, who at the time owned 4,000 nearby acres as a game preserve. Later, it was used as a summer home, with murals on the dining room walls and oak paneling, for Isabel P. Bradley of Darien, Conn.

Over the years, erosion caused much of the island on which the lighthouse stood to shrink, and the Hurricane of 1938 filled the 200-yard gap between the island and the shore.

Advances in satellite marine navigation reduced the need for light beacons across the world, and in 1967 Suffolk County purchased the Cedar Point Lighthouse. Vandalism and weather took its toll and eventually it was gutted by fire, in 1974. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mr. Skolnick and his business partner, Paul Alter, submitted their firm’s proposal to the county last fall. With their appointment now official, he said the first phase would be to stabilize the structure, which will include repairs on the roof and the plinth on which it stands. The windows are either bricked-up, he said, or covered with leaves and debris. “We need to repair them to keep water and animals out and stop it from deteriorating any further,” he said.

The architect referred to the project as “a labor of love,” which can sometimes be euphemistic for a not-for-profit venture. “Well, we’ll see how far $500,000 will take us,” he said smiling, before adding, “but we’re prepared to go as far as necessary to do it well.”

In 2014, the four-and-a-half-ton lantern room canopy was hoisted off the lighthouse and barged to the Sag Harbor Yacht Yard on Bay Street, where it is being restored. This will be the site of Monday’s press conference, when state and county officials are expected to reveal plans to turn the approximately 900-square-foot keeper’s dwelling into a bed-and-breakfast.

While Mr. Skolnick said the firm would not touch the interior during the first phase of the project, he said, “We’ll be the first to submit a proposal when that time comes.”

Legislator Fleming said it was a “very special project for a real landmark that is part of our area’s maritime history.” She said she was grateful to her colleagues for recognizing the significance of an iconic structure in local waters.

Mr. Skolnick said he was uncertain how long the initial phase of the restoration would take, but he stressed that it is a job they will not rush. “Public projects are not for the impatient,” he said

The East Hampton Town Trustees’ harbor management committee will host officials from Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company planning to construct a 15-turbine wind farm approximately 30 miles from Montauk, when it meets on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the trustees’ offices at the Donald Lamb Building in Amagansett.

The public, particularly members of the town’s commercial fishing industry, has been invited to attend, according to Rick Drew, who heads the committee and is a deputy clerk of the trustees.

Deepwater Wind is at present engaged in survey work for its proposed South Fork Wind Farm, which in addition to the turbines will include a transmission cable to be laid under the sea bottom that will make landfall at a location to be determined. Officials of the company expect to submit permit applications to a number of federal, state, and local agencies beginning next year. The wind farm could be operational by the end of 2022, Deepwater officials have said.

Wednesday’s meeting, Mr. Drew told his colleagues on the trustee board last month, will focus on the environmental impacts of the proposed project, “particularly with the installation of the turbine bases” and the transmission cable. “I’m looking forward to hearing from some of their environmental experts,” he said of Deepwater Wind, adding that, “we are looking to have more representation from the commercial and recreational fishing community at this meeting.”

The committee’s sessions that have focused on the proposed wind farm are leading to a public meeting at which a summary of research from all stakeholders will be presented, Mr. Drew said. That could happen as early as next month, he added.

President Trump was repeatedly scorned by a full house at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Tuesday as the first Hamptons Institute discussion of 2017 focused on climate change and how to combat it.

Introduced by the actor Alec Baldwin and moderated by David E. Rattray, the editor of The Star, the event’s three panelists encouraged those in attendance to act individually and collectively, and to remain optimistic despite already visible manifestations of climate change and increasingly ominous warnings from scientists.

Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the gathering that in the nearly 50-year history of her organization, “I can unequivocally say this is the worst we’ve ever seen it,” with respect to the Trump administration’s denial of climate change and embrace of fossil fuels at the expense of a transformation to renewable energy that is well underway in other countries. “I can go through the several dozens of actions that this administration has already taken” in undoing progress made by the previous administration, she said, along with “the very disturbing signs that we’re seeing also from the legislative branch.”

These, she said, “represent twin threats that we’ve had in the past, but I don’t think we’ve had it quite at this level of magnitude.”

Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science and affiliated professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University, said that recent travel around the world illustrated that “people know the climate is changing, people accept the scientific evidence, people think it’s a serious problem, and people are trying to do things about it.” Returning to the United States, however, was “like going through some weird ‘Twilight Zone’ episode.”

Alex Soros, founder of the Alexander Soros Foundation, lamented “a president that is engaging in policies that are out of whack with the majority of the American people.”

That disconnect, the panelists said, is partly a result of democracy: Changes in the executive and legislative branches of government inevitably bring changes in policy. Another factor, Ms. Oreskes said, is the fact that climate information comes from scientists, “and I can tell you they’re terrible communicators. They don’t like to personalize things.” Consequently, climate change remains an abstract and distant concept, she said.

Regardless of federal policy, however, a majority of Americans recognize that climate change is real and man-made, Ms. Suh said, and there is ample cause for optimism even in the face of regressive policies at the federal level. Several states — and not just California and New York — are taking aggressive action to sharply reduce carbon emissions and implement a clean-energy infrastructure. “I think we are continuing to make progress regardless of the man that’s in the White House,” she said.

In New York, Ms. Suh said, there is a direct correlation between the Public Service Commission’s Clean Energy Standard and the South Fork Wind Farm, an offshore installation that Deepwater Wind, a Rhode Island company, hopes to construct approximately 30 miles from Montauk. She credited Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for acting to transform the state’s electricity generation to clean and renewable sources.

But, she told Mr. Rattray, “I can’t help but get triggered. When you say ‘Deepwater Wind,’ I think ‘Deepwater Horizon,’ ” a reference to the largest marine oil spill in history, in which some 4.9 million barrels of oil were discharged into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. “The reality that this administration wants to actually open up development, to actually expand that type of deepwater drilling, will have direct impact on coastal communities, like the one that we’re sitting in right now.”

Concerned citizens can look to the year 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act and the federal Environmental Protection Agency was established, for inspiration, Ms. Oreskes said. “Nixon was acutely aware that the American people wanted this,” she said. “He was responding to the pressure of public opinion. That’s where we all come in.”

Many leaders, she said, are in fact followers. “We need to make sure that our congressmen, our senators, our local representatives, and our president hear from us, because they do respond to what they think voters think are going to do at the next election.”

Ms. Suh told the audience to take heart in the millions who have taken to the streets to protest the Trump administration, many of them first-time activists who “felt like they needed to stand up and speak out. . . . People want to know what they can do. It’s not just about calling a congressman or signing a petition, it’s what they can do in their own communities, in their own states.” A “movement moment” is upon us, she said.

With that in mind, Ms. Oreskes noted her surprise at the scarcity of solar panels on rooftops in East Hampton despite the affluence of many of its residents. For less affluent people, the up-front installation costs are a barrier, she said. “We need to think about micro-financing to help working-class families, middle-class families make that up-front investment. But in a well-off community, I think there’s no excuse for not having solar panels on your roof. . . . And it’s something you can do tomorrow.”

Another way individuals can lessen their impact on climate change, she said, is to reduce or eliminate beef consumption. Animal agriculture, according a report by the Worldwatch Institute, is responsible for at least half of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

Mr. Baldwin asked the panelists what larger-scale, immediate actions could be taken to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

“Stop subsidizing all fossil fuels,” Ms. Oreskes said, and cease construction of fossil-fuel infrastructure, “because every pipeline, every export terminal is committing us to 30, 50, 75 years of continued fossil-fuel use.”

Mr. Soros advocated an executive order banning hydraulic fracturing, the practice known as fracking, in which natural gas or oil is extracted from the earth, and a return to America’s positive engagement with the world. These, he acknowledged, are unlikely during the Trump administration.

“We should be moving to electrification of the vehicle,” Ms. Suh said, and be moving quickly to reduce carbon emissions from power plants.

“While we are in this time of great, great distress, don’t ever forget that you can make a difference,” she said. “It really is the basis of how we’ve always made progress in this country.”

Update: Due to rain, Bridgehampton Day has been postponed until Sunday, Aug. 13, from 1 to 6 p.m.

"I just love Bridgehampton." This is a phrase no one who knows Willie Jenkins would be surprised to hear him say.

The 34-year-old decided to put his pride on full display and organized Bridgehampton Day, which is set for Saturday at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center.

Mr. Jenkins, who grew up on Narrow Lane and lives in Riverhead now, said he has been saddened to see his once close-knit community start to fade. People have been priced out of the real estate market in Bridgehampton and have moved either farther west on Long Island or down south, he said.

"The inspiration really just is as far as seeing how the community is dissipating, disappearing," he said. "People becoming estranged."

Mr. Jenkins said he is one of those people. "There was no way I could afford to live out there unless it was affordable housing. When I moved away I wasn't ready to buy a house. There is no way for a young adult to live out there unless you're going to live in your mom's house."

He misses the days when "everyone was family," when his friends' parents looked out for him, even sitting him down when he needed a good talking to. Residents cared about one another.

He chose the child care center because it was, literally, the center of the community for him and for many others who grew up in Bridgehampton.

"I don't feel home unless I go past Carvel," he said with a laugh. "Once you pass the Commons, a sense of calm comes over you."

Starting at 11 a.m., the day will be a community gathering of sorts, first with a brief program on the history of the hamlet and then games, a barbeque, music, and photo opportunities. There will be a basketball game, too — after all, Bridgehampton High produced all those Killer Bee championship teams. Raffles are in store, as are chances to buy T-shirts showing the names of streets residents might have grown up on and hats displaying "Bridgehampton." The event will continue until at least 4 p.m.

Mr. Jenkins promises it will be a day for all generations. The rain date is Sunday.  

SagTown Coffee reopened on Main Street this week, bigger and better than before the fire that destroyed it and several other businesses, including the Sag Harbor Cinema, nearly eight months ago.

 “We did it,” said Shane Dyckman, who started the business in 2012. He quietly opened its doors over the weekend. “We finished construction at midnight on Friday and opened Saturday at 6.”

Mr. Dyckman, a volunteer with the Sag Harbor Fire Department, was among those who responded on the morning of Dec. 16, when a fire broke out in the building next door to his coffee shop. While the building was not destroyed, his shop was so damaged that it had to be gutted.

Working with Alex Baranovich, a Sag Harbor architect, he designed SagTown’s new home. It takes up not only his old space but also the front of the building, which housed Collette Consignment at the time of the fire. SagTown is now twice the size and has a new open, airy, beachy look, Mr. Dyckman said.

With more space, the shop is able to offer more than just coffee drinks. It now has sandwiches, flatbread pizza, fresh fruit, and acai bowls, all prepared on site. There is cold brew on tap, as well. Mr. Dyckman said draft lattes seem to be the biggest hit on the new menu. The condensed espresso infused with milk and nitrous oxide “settles like a Guinness,” he said.

SagTown’s hours are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, till 11 on Saturday nights.

“The best part is I don’t have to buy a cup of coffee anymore,” Mr. Dyck­man said.

Beginning in 2018, installation of advanced technology septic systems that treat waste for nitrogen will be required in East Hampton Town for new buildings, according to a law passed Tuesday by the town board, and home and business owners who want to switch to the environmentally friendly systems could,  beginning this fall, receive a rebate covering as much as the entire cost.

Nitrogen flow from traditional septic systems, which release untreated waste, have been tied to increasing ground and surface water pollution, and efforts to reduce nitrogen pollution are key to water quality protection plans enacted by the state and county as well as the town.

• Click here for the East Hampton Town septic rebate program brochure

The nitrogen reduction requirements adopted this week in East Hampton are the most stringent of any town in Suffolk County. “The town board has adopted the highest standard for water quality protection, and the rebate program should encourage property owners to replace failing waste systems with low-nitrogen alternatives,” Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said this week in a press release.

The Suffolk County Health Department has approved five different low-nitrogen septic systems for use, and approvals for others, which have been undergoing testing through a pilot program, are forthcoming. A county grant program for septic system replacement got underway earlier this summer; East Hampton residents are eligible for that program as well as the town’s rebate.

Owners of primary residences in East Hampton, with incomes less than $500,000, and all commercial property owners are eligible for town rebates.

Those with properties in water protection districts, which surround the town’s harbors and watersheds and include high-density areas such as neighborhoods in Springs, or who meet county affordable housing income guidelines, may receive rebates of up to 100 percent of the costs, up to $16,000. Others are eligible for rebates of 75 percent of the costs, up to $10,000.

The rebate money may be applied to the costs of removing an old system and the design and installation of a new one. Restoration of landscaping that may be removed in the process will not be covered.

The money will come from the town’s community preservation fund, a 2-percent real estate transfer tax that was extended through 2050 in a referendum last fall. Voters also approved allowing up to 20 percent of the fund, traditionally reserved for land preservation only, to be used on water quality improvement projects.

Applications for the program will be accepted beginning on Sept. 1. Those interested can contact the town’s Natural Resources Department.

In a townwide study that led to the development of a wastewater management plan, consultants for the town estimated that there are more than 19,000 failing septic systems in East Hampton, comprising the largest source of nitrogen entering groundwater, ponds, and bays. An excess of nitrogen results in algal blooms, low oxygen, and bacterial contamination that harms plant and animal species and can pose health dangers to swimmers. 

Approved septic systems are those that reduce nitrogen levels of emissions to 19 milligrams or less per liter; that standard will become more stringent, at a maximum of 10 milligrams per liter, once the Health Department approves systems that can achieve that reduction.

The new low-nitrogen systems will be required for all new construction as well as when there is a substantial expansion of existing structures, when a sanitary system is to be voluntarily replaced, and when a commercial property proposing more intensive use requires site plan review.

A second hearing on the regulation was held by the town board last week after changes were made to exempt those who have already received Health Department permits, “grandfathering” their already approved traditional septic systems.

The exemption should also apply to those who are before the planning and zoning boards, Britton Bistrian, an Amagansett planning consultant, said, as those property owners have already spent substantial time and money planning development.

Chris Tucci, a contractor also speaking at the hearing, called the septic rebate program a “fantastic initative,” but suggested that those building new houses in a moderate price range also be eligible for town money. The increased cost of a low-nitrogen system, usually in the $15,000 range, will have a “significant impact” on the overall cost of some houses, he said. Property purchasers, who pay the preservation fund transfer tax, “have put into the C.P.F.,” he said, and should be eligible for rebates that will bring down construction costs.

In a letter submitted last week to the town board, the Long Island Builders Institute said that the low-nitrogen system requirement should at first only be applied in environmentally sensitive areas of the town. In view of the costs and additional permitting processes, the industry group said, new requirements should be implemented gradually. The letter also questioned the income restrictions for eligible residential property owners, and the lack of them for commercial landowners. Under the county program, Mitchell H. Pally, the chief executive officer of LIBI notes, commercial property owners are not eligible for rebates, a position his group supports.

“Protecting water quality is our highest priority because our quality of life and economy depend on safe drinking water and pristine surface water,” Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said in a press release.

The first fish I ever caught was a snapper. Fishing off our rickety community pier on the east side of North Haven, the baby bluefish took a piece of spearing that was fished from the end of a saltwater-aged bamboo pole. The pole itself was a remnant salvaged from a broken-off Greenport Oyster Company oyster bed marker that had washed up on our beach a few months earlier. The fishing line was not much more complicated — old kite string. We’re talking old-school fishing here, a setup not far from the pages of Huck Finn. From a fishing point of view, it does not get any simpler than that.

However, the next fish I caught that same afternoon on my no-frills tackle was a blowfish. And to an overly curious 5-year-old boy, it was a fascinating creature to witness for the very first time. Blowfish go by several names — bottlefish, blow toads, northern puffer, sea squab, puffers, chicken of the sea, and a few other local monikers. No matter what you decide to call them, they are one of our oddest-looking fish, as well as one of our tastiest and most affordable. A mix of dark brown and pale orange on top with black, vertical tiger-like stripes, they have a prickly, pearly white underbelly that quickly expands when threatened. Unbeknownst to me at that time, blowfish also possess perfectly honed buckteeth. While eagerly playing with my newly discovered creature in my pail of water, my freshly captured friend must have tired and lost patience with my intruding hand and decided to take a bite of my right index finger. I can’t recall if I yelped in surprise, pain, or fear, but I quickly learned a lesson that day on that long-gone pier. Blowfish may be adorably cute to look at, but they clearly don’t tolerate probing fingers all too well.

Blowfish run in cycles. Back in the 1960s and ’70s, the waters of just about every bay and cove teemed with blowfish in all sizes. I still recall a story told by my mother of my grandfather catching 67 blowfish off that old dock one day. That’s a lot of fish cleaning for sure. By the 1980s, they became scarce and were hard to find on a consistent basis. Over the past five years or so, they have made a solid and welcome comeback to our local waters.

“Up until three years ago, I rarely sold a blow toad rig,” said Sebastian Gorgone of Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton. “Now I can hardly keep them in stock. The action in and around the commercial dock in Three Mile Harbor has been particularly good since May. It’s great to see so many around these days.”

Over at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor, Ken Morse recommends small pieces of squid or clam as the bait of choice to put a catch together. “Smaller, long shanked hooks are best,” said Morse, who noted that Long Beach on the southern end of Noyac Bay is one of the most productive local areas to try.  “And if you are casting from the beach, there is no reason to cast your bait that far off either. The fish are in close to shore.”

Preferring to call them bottlefish, Harvey Bennett, owner of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett for 37 years, has witnessed the peaks and valleys of the species over a number of decades. “Bottlefish are all over the bays right now, as well as the hangar dock in Fort Pond Bay,” he said. “And they are really big too.”

No time to catch a blowfish? Not to worry, as many of our local seafood markets now have them. At Stuart’s Seafood Market in Amagansett, a healthy supply of blowfish can usually be found in their ice-cold display case starting in spring, courtesy of local pound trap fishermen. And compared to other fish, the savory tail meat sections are usually the cheapest on display, rarely reaching more than $15 a pound. A great treat for those in the know.

Beyond the great blowfish run, fluke and striped bass fishing remains strong out in Montauk. Porgies and sea bass are also in great supply. 

Farther offshore, the action for sharks, in particular threshers, has been particularly strong as more than 20 were weighed in on Saturday alone on the various docks of our easternmost port. Bluefin and yellowfin tuna activity has also perked up as well.

Back at the Tackle Shop, Bennett proclaimed the porgy fishing was off the charts. “There is some mighty fine porgy fishing off of Promised Land and Napeague, along with some fluke,” he beamed. “If you want sea bass, try off of Eastern Plains Point. Fishing has been good there. And snappers are snapping baits everywhere too.” Bennett was also enthused about the improved freshwater fishing scene. “Some cooler temperatures got the largemouth bass feeding at Fort Pond in Montauk too.” Bennett suggests trying a yellow popper or night crawlers for optimal results.

Action on the ocean beaches has been a bit quiet, but Bennett did note that a customer from Australia on holiday hooked and released a six-foot stingray while fishing clams, before landing a nice, 37-inch striped bass. Some good eats for the barbie there. 

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