Getting stuck between the spindles of a wooden gate in Sag Harbor Village on Friday may have been a blessing in disguise for a male opossum, which was spotted by a passer-by and rescued. The animal had obviously been trudging through several feet of snow despite the extreme cold and windchill.

James J. Froehlich phoned village police when he noticed the rat-like creature wedged in a Madison Street gate at around 11:30 a.m. Police called the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays, which sent out Penny Moser, a volunteer who lives in the Mount Misery neighborhood of Sag Harbor. Ms. Moser said the opossum was an adult male and already “terribly hypothermic” when she reached it.

“In the 12 years I’ve been doing it, it was one of the saddest predicaments I have seen an animal in. He was dying,” Ms. Moser said. Though lethargic, the opossum perked up a bit when she used gloved hands to push his body back and forth, hoping to free him without having to break the gate. It started to wriggle, and then, with her help, broke free. She scooped up the opossum, which she described as very docile, and drove it to the Hampton Bays center. 

It was fortunate that the opossum was found, she said, because as southern animals that moved north in the last 100 years they are highly susceptible to frostbite. They don’t usually wander about in extremely cold weather, Ms. Moser said, surmising that the opossum must have been startled by something that caused it to leave its den. “I’m so grateful to that person who called,” she said.

 At 7 pounds 10 ounces, the opossum is 18 inches long from nose to derriere, but 28 inches long if you include its tail. Ms. Moser said it was the biggest opossum she had ever seen, explaining that they tend to live only two or three years, and keep growing until they die. The rescued opossum is reasonably old because of its size and weight, she said, although they can weigh several pounds more in the summer.

Veterinarians at the wildlife center, which can be reached for rescues at 728-WILD, are treating the opossum for lice and mites. Once the weather improves, it will be released back into the wild. For now, Ms. Moser said, the opossum will enjoy the rest of the winter out of the cold.

 “It was kind of a good move on his part,” she said.

The Friends of the East Hampton Airport coalition, an aviation advocacy organization that has become active as East Hampton Town officials are working to enact new airport use restrictions to reduce aircraft noise by next summer, has filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration alleging that the town has failed to maintain safety and security at the airport, and a federal lawsuit challenging the recent expiration of agreements with the F.A.A. about how the airport is run.

The expiration of those agreements, called grant assurances, allows the town more leeway for imposing local airport rules, though the F.A.A. maintains general authority over the airport.

According to a press release from the aviation coalition, which includes a national aviation trade organization, the “town has failed to close critical safety and security holes at the airport.”

Among the issues cited are runway and airport ramp maintenance, replacement of an aging lighting system along a taxiway, removal of “hazardous obstructions,” including trees, and the construction of a fence around the airport to protect against trespassers and deer. The complaint asks the F.A.A. to direct the town to resolve the issues.

Airport maintenance projects, including those cited in the complaint, have been ongoing even as consultants for the town board have been collecting and analyzing data to underpin decisions about how to address airport noise, overseen by Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the board’s airport liaison. According to the board, while noise reduction is a goal, so also is keeping the airport open and in good repair.

As of this week, repairs to former runway 4-22, now a taxiway, have been completed, as has the installation of new taxiway lighting. The town issued bonds of $360,000 and $353,600, respectively, for those projects.

Engineers have been hired to develop plans for removal of trees in the airport clear zone, for deer and security fencing, and for the installation of an automated weather observing system, for which $263,000 has been bonded; the system is due to be installed before summer.

The aviation group plaintiffs, who include the Helicopter Association International, Heliflite Shares, Liberty Helicopters, Shoreline Aviation, and the Analar Corp, are seeking a court judgment that the F.A.A. lacks the authority to waive grant assurance commitments, which are normally in effect for 20 years from the date federal airport money is accepted. They have asked the court to reinstate one of the grant assurance agreements until September 2021.

Those in question expired early, as of Jan. 1, pursuant to a 2005 settlement agreement in a lawsuit by the Committee to Stop Airport Expansion, an East Hampton citizens group, against the F.A.A. over its acceptance of an airport layout plan — a planning document required before federal grants will be issued — submitted by the town for its airport.

The layout plan was invalidated (a new one has since been developed and submitted), and the F.A.A. agreed to a Dec. 31, 2014, expiration of grant assurances that required the town to make the airport available for public use “without unjust discrimination to all types, kinds, and classes of aeronautical activities,” among others.

The lawsuit recently filed also questions the F.A.A.’s stance that the town is not required to comply with federal airport regulations under the Airport Noise and Capacity Act unless it wishes to remain eligible for further federal airport grants.

In the face of widespread complaints about noise from helicopters and other aircraft using the airport, and pleas from residents of East Hampton and neighboring towns to do something to control the noise, the town board has held off on accepting new F.A.A. grants, and putting new 20-year grant assurances in place, in order to determine what restrictions could legally be adopted.

The aviation group claims in its press release there is a “town strategy to de-fund [the] airport,” by refusing further federal grants. In the aviation organization’s view, the “arbitrary and discriminatory aircraft restrictions” that are being considered would “drastically reduce airport traffic during peak months, slashing the airport’s revenue and further depriving the airport of desperately needed safety and security improvements.”

“Waiving the F.A.A. grants and imposing restrictions not only would place the flying community at risk, but it would hurt homeowners, who would inevitably see their taxes increase as the town struggles to support an underfunded and unsafe airport,” according to the coalition.

Ms. Burke-Gonzalez declined to comment this week on the coalition’s action. The town board was to hear a presentation yesterday on the third phase of the airport noise study and to consult with its aviation attorneys.

Three organizations looking to provide prekindergarten for the East Hampton School District in the 2015-16 school year discussed their proposals at a school board meeting on Tuesday.

Hoping to expand the current pre-K offering from a half-day to a full-day program, in December the school board put out a request for proposals from organizations able to make that happen.

The Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center (which now runs the district’s half-day program at its facility on Gingerbread Lane Extension), Long Island Head Start, and SCOPE Education Services responded with proposals and were on hand Tuesday; only one appeared to have met the board’s criteria.

Currently, about half of the kindergarten class at John M. Marshall Elementary School attended the pre-K program at the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center.

Robert White, its treasurer, explained that a half-day program for 54 children would cost the district about $342,000 (or $6,346 per child) for the 2015-16 school year. By contrast, a full-day program would cost about $440,000 (or $8,156 per child). If the program were expanded to serve 72 or more students, the annual costs would increase by roughly another $100,000. As of now, 44 pre-K students are on the center’s roster.

“Given all of the research on early childhood education, pre-K is a critical moment to start in the district and bring the whole community together,” said Laura Anker, a Whitmore Center board member. “We really have cut our costs as much as we could to get the program. All that we’ve increased are literal staffing costs.”

Next, two representatives from Long Island Head Start explained that 16 children could be accommodated at its current location at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. No information was provided as to proposed costs. Afterwards, however, board members noted that the request for proposals specified that each program must be located within East Hampton. Furthermore, the district will not cover transportation costs.

Finally, two representatives from SCOPE Education Services, a Long Island nonprofit that currently serves 1,300 children in Suffolk and Nassau Counties (including providing the half-day pre-K for the Springs School), explained that monthly tuition for a half-day pre-K program would cost $270 per child. The district would have to provide space, equipment, and various other services. Currently, SCOPE is only licensed to offer half-day programs that run for two and a half hours a day. In the East Hampton proposal, 18 children could be accommodated in the morning session, with another 18 enrolled in the afternoon.

Beth Doyle, the principal of John Marshall, spoke strongly in favor of a full-day pre-K program, citing data that shows children who attend such programs receive lifelong benefits related to graduation rates, salaries, and homeownership. She also said that the districtcould ultimately save money, with children who need special services receiving targeted interventions at earlier ages.

“We know right away the students who have attended pre-K and those who haven’t,” said Ms. Doyle. “Full-day pre-K is a gap-closing lever. We have a moral imperative to serve our kids and to provide this service to them.”

With budget season just beginning, Richard Burns, the superintendent, said that the board would crunch the numbers and have a more detailed discussion — including a final vote — at its next board meeting.

Later in the meeting, the board tackled the 2015-16 school calendar. Each year, the district includes two snow days in its calendar. Because of last week’s blizzard, the district has used three snow days. The current policy is to take days from the back end of the weeklong April recess. This year’s break, from April 6 to 10, will be shortened by one day, with students and staff expected in class on April 10. Should another snow day be necessary, April 9 would be the next vacation day to go.

Next year’s calendar poses a particular challenge. Since Labor Day falls late, on Sept. 7, students and staff will return on Sept. 8, even though the first day back has traditionally been a professional development day for administrators, teachers, and staff. In the coming school year, they will arrive earlier, and the school day for students will begin two hours later. Should the district go over its two allotted snow days next year, they would again extract dates from the April break — working backwards from April 29.

“Somebody is unhappy no matter where we take them from,” said Christina DeSanti, a board member. The board briefly debated whether to include the Wednesday or Friday of Thanksgiving week as an added instructional day so that three snow days could be planned in 2015-16. “April is not a guaranteed vacation,” said Jackie Lowey, a board member.

Joseph Vasile-Cozzo, the district’s athletic director, updated the board on progress made since last month’s heavily attended athletic forum. In response to various parent complaints, he said that a booster club would meet on Wednesday, with a dozen parents already committed. Besides administering a yearly athletic survey, he said that various districts planned to meet later this month to discuss middle school athletic programs.

Mr. Vasile-Cozzo also said that plans were underway for a sports summer camp for grades kindergarten to 6. In addition, four candidates are being interviewed for the vacant football coaching position. For the coming year, a junior varsity team is planned, with a varsity team hopefully in place by the fall of 2016.

In other news, the board approved Renee McCormack and Diane Yastremski as uncertified daily substitute teachers, each at a daily rate of $125. Teresa Lawler was also appointed as set-drawing coordinator at an hourly rate of $55. Finally, Annette Shideler, who teaches linguistics at Stony Brook University, was approved for 12 English as a second language/bilingual professional development sessions, at a cost of $1,200 per day.

Before adjourning, citing security concerns, the board briefly discussed pushing back on a board of elections requirement that schools be designated as polling locations. Currently, East Hampton High School and John Marshall are used, with residents going in and out of each building from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., which, school officials say, poses undue security risks.

The board will next meet on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the district office for the first budget workshop of the 2015-16 school year. While the public is welcome, comments are not allowed.

PSEG Long Island’s three-year rate plan calling for an annual increase of almost 4 percent in the utility’s fuel delivery charge has drawn harsh criticism from Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who accused the utility of having done “nothing but put their hands in our pockets” since it assumed operation of the Long Island Power Authority’s electric grid in January 2014.

The proposal, which the utility filed with the State Department of Public Service on Friday, would go into effect next year, upon expiration of the three-year rate freeze imposed by the LIPA Reform Act. A statement issued by PSEG Long Island said that the rate increases, which would boost its revenue by $72 million per year, would help maintain reliable service by funding  upgrades to transmission infrastructure and the incorporation of more renewable energy and demand-side resources onto the power grid.

The increased revenue would also improve customer service and storm response and preparedness, and enhance tree trimming and vegetation management, according to the statement. The plan would result in a monthly increase to residential customers of approximately $3.25 next year and $3.30 in 2017 and 2018, or 2 percent of their overall bill.

Mr. Thiele, who recently called for state oversight of the New Jersey-based PSEG and creation of a consumer utility advocate, decried the plan in a statement issued on Monday.

“While businesses, families, and government are all taking actions to cut their costs and operate more efficiently on Long Island to restore the economy, PSEG has reached its hand in our pockets at every opportunity,” he said. “Long Island already has among the highest utility rates in the nation; we can’t afford to send more of our money to Newark, New Jersey, for electricity. The only thing PSEG is missing is a gun and a mask.”

Jeffrey Weir, a PSEG spokesman, fired back at Mr. Thiele. “Relics of the past like Fred Thiele are apparently having trouble understanding how things are being made better for customers across Long Island now that there is a professional utility running the business,” Mr. Weir said on Monday. “As Fred very well knows, when we were selected as the new service producer, we faced immediate and significant challenges — of note, well-publicized issues with customer satisfaction, customer service, communication, and maintenance of equipment.”

In the 13 months since PSEG Long Island assumed operation of the power grid, Mr. Weir said, the utility has shown “the most improved and overall customer satisfaction of any large electric utility anywhere in the nation.”

PSEG Long Island’s infrastructure upgrade in the Town of East Hampton, for which it installed new, taller poles and a higher-voltage transmission line through some residential neighborhoods last year, has angered many residents of East Hampton and Amagansett. The potential for a toxic preservative with which the utility poles are treated to contaminate soil and groundwater has also worried residents as well as Town and Village of East Hampton officials.

In December, LIPA rejected a proposed offshore wind farm, citing a prohibitively high cost. Instead, it opted to pursue 11 land-based solar farms in western Suffolk County, which are projected to provide 122 megawatts of power, significantly less than the 280 megawatts of renewable energy it had announced as a goal in 2012.

LIPA’s board of trustees must approve PSEG Long Island’s rate proposal, and public comment sessions will be held.

“Yes, there will be public hearings,” Mr. Thiele said in his statement. “However, in the end, there will be no accountability to the people of Long Island.”

Mr. Weir accused the assemblyman of “ignoring the facts.” For the first time, he said, “Long Islanders are being given the opportunity to have an open and transparent conversation with their utility, and PSEG Long Island is pushing for that transparency and encouraging that dialogue.”

A United States Army Corps of Engineers erosion-control project planned for the Montauk oceanfront will be larger than previously thought and could require as many as 3,000 truckloads of sand, according to bid documents.

Additionally, with a planned start date for its first phase in March looming, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has not issued the necessary permits.

Potentially necessary East Hampton Town permits have yet to be secured, something a spokesman for the Army Corps said would be the responsibility of the contractor performing the work.

According to specifications prepared by the Army Corps, an artificial dune will be built from thousands of plastic-fabric sandbags and will be covered by mostly imported sand extending more than 100 feet from its landward side, reaching beyond the Atlantic’s mean high water line in some places. Earlier, the fill had been described as extending 50 feet. Much of the material to be used for this will come from a remote sand mine and will not be taken from the beach itself.

In a new addition, the project will also incorporate long, sand-filled “geo-tubes” at the seaward and landward edges of the sandbag structure.

“It is unfortunate that the level of detail in the specifications was not available to the public and town officials before it went to bid,” Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, said yesterday.

“There are aspects that we have serious questions about that no one was aware of,” Mr. Samuelson said. These include the addition of permanent, raised walkways that cannot be removed in the event of a storm, and the removal of native primary dune to accommodate the sandbags, he said. Questions also remained about the apparent lack of a plan for stormwater on the inland side of the new dune.

The project is slated to begin in mid-March, with seven-day-a-week activity on a first section ending by May 21. The initial work zone will be from about the road end at South Edison Street and run east to the Atlantic Terrace resort, a span of about 1,200 feet.

The balance of the project, which is expected to begin in the fall, will extend from South Edison Street to about 240 feet west of South Emery Street. Under the terms of the bid documents, the contractor could return to the Montauk beach as early as Oct. 1 No work will be allowed over the Columbus Day weekend.

In all, 3,200 feet of shoreline will be encased with sandbags and buried under the new berm.

At a projected maximum, some 102,000 cubic yards of sand will be required, a portion of which will come from the site itself, Chris Gardner, a spokesman for the Army Corps, said on Monday. Earlier project descriptions had estimated the total amount of sand necessary at about 45,000 cubic yards; that figure grew after a series of storms, including a bad one in December, ate away at the beach.

Money for the estimated $8.9 million undertaking comes from a 2013 Hurricane Sandy relief bill passed by Congress.

Along with the additional beach fill, the documents describe three raised pedestrian walkways that will be built over the new, 15-to-16-foot-above-sea-level dune. These will be at South Emery Street, South Embassy Street, and South Edgemere Street. East Hampton Town officials have asked the Army Corps and the state D.E.C., which is taking the lead on the project, if lower roll-out wooden walkways could be used instead.

Mr. Gardner said that the Army Corps and the D.E.C. would consider acceptable alternatives.

No walkways or stairs are depicted in the Army Corps plans to provide access to the beach directly from the motels and several condominiums there. Neither are there pedestrian access provisions in the documents for the area covered in the first phase of the project, including a town-owned pathway at Surfside Place. This would effectively prevent guests at several properties from easily reaching the beach, unless additional walkways were built up and over the artificial dune.

Four-wheel-drive vehicle accesses are planned for South Essex Street and South Edison Street. One at South Edgemere Street will be eliminated.

A thickness of about three feet of sand will be placed on top of the rectangular sandbags, which will be stacked step-like in a sloped configuration. The resulting surface is to be planted with beach grass and surrounded with snow fence. Public access to the work area and a 500-foot-wide buffer around it will not be allowed during construction.

The bid specifications for the project are for an initial 50,000 cubic yards of mined sand to be purchased from upland sources. There are several sand mines on eastern Long Island, including the Sand Land Corporation’s facility north of Bridgehampton and East Coast Mines in East Quogue.

At a capacity of 25 cubic yards of sand for a large dump truck, the project will require about 2,000 trips to deliver the minimum 50,000 cubic yards of material to Montauk. Larger trucks could be available, but it is not clear if they would be permitted on the area’s roads. The first phase of work would require about a third of the total be delivered.

The bid documents allow the contractor to purchase up to an additional 26,000 cubic yards of sand, which would require about another 1,000 loads to be hauled over the local roads. As much as 26,000 more yards of sand would be gathered and re-used on site.

“What will the impacts be to our local infrastructure? Where is the sand coming from? How big a staging area is needed and where? The people and the business community of Montauk deserve to know this type of information before we sign off on this carte blanche,” Mr. Samuelson said.

By comparison, a 2013 town project to rebuild the beach at Ditch Plain required 3,500 cubic yards of sand, about 140 truckloads.

With the contingency volume contained in the Army Corps’ project bid documents adding up to 76,000 cubic yards of mined sand, the downtown Montauk project would generate more than 20 times the truck traffic, roughly 3,000 round trips.

“It’s fair to say that the community had more information about the infinitely smaller dune restoration project at the former East Deck Motel than we have about the number of truck trips and staging associated with the Army Corps project,” Mr. Samuelson said.

East Hampton Town’s shoreline is divided into four categories for regulatory purposes. In the category, or zone, in which the Montauk effort is being planned, erosion control structures, including geotextile tubes and sandbags, are prohibited.

In a statement yesterday Mr. Gardner said, “The state of New York and the Town of East Hampton are close partners in the project and we are coordinating closely with them on all aspects of this shared project as we move forward together.”

“There potentially may be localized building permits that the contractor would coordinate,” he said.

According to earlier statements from Army Corps representatives, the sandbags would be removed as part of the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation project if and when work on that begins. However, maintenance expenses and the sandbags’ removal before the larger Fire Island to Montauk work starts would be the responsibility jointly of the Town of East Hampton and Suffolk County.

A representative of the Department of Environmental Conservation office handling the project did not return a call seeking comment.

This is the fourth article in a series that examines the changing face of East Hampton by following a diverse group of kindergartners from a single class at John Marshall through the school year and beyond.

One day last fall, kindergarten students at the John M. Marshall Elementary School came dressed as what they want to be when they grow up.

For Ephraim Munoz, 5, the choice was an easy one. Donning a tool belt and hardhat, he wore a carpenter’s uniform.

Still, his father, Carlos Munoz, 48, who works as a carpenter and a handyman, has grander dreams for his son’s future. He wants Ephraim to go to college and be a professional — maybe even a doctor. In 1992, Mr. Munoz moved from Cuenca, Ecuador, to East Hampton.

“That is often the hope and dream of the immigrant, and one of the reasons they immigrate, so that their children may become something that they may not have had the ability to become,” explained his mother, Marci Vail, 45, who grew up in East Hampton, with ancestors dating back 13 generations. When she thinks of Ephraim’s future, she’s more focused on him finding something that makes him happy.

By December’s parent-teacher conferences, Ephraim showed steady academic gains, generally performing at or above grade-level. According to his teacher, Kristen Tulp, many of his peers regard Ephraim as a leader.

Ephraim is one of 18 children in Ms. Tulp’s kindergarten class at John Marshall.

According to John Marshall’s 2012-13 New York State Report Card, among the 621 students that school year, 31 percent qualified for either a free or reduced-price lunch. According to the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, a family of four living on an annual income of $30,615 or less currently qualifies for a free lunch, with $43,568 the cutoff for a family of four qualifying for a reduced-price lunch.

As with many local residents trying to make ends meet in a seasonal economy, the winter months are lean times in the Munoz household. Ephraim qualifies for free meals. While breakfast and lunch are served at school, Ephraim takes the bus to school each morning, often eating a bowl of Cheerios at home.

The family lives in the same ranch-style house in East Hampton that Ms. Vail grew up in. Israel, Ephraim’s half-brother, is in the eighth grade at East Hampton Middle School. Natalie, his 18-year-old half-sister, joined the family in December. A United States citizen, she last lived in Colombia. Betty Vail, 78, Ephraim’s grandmother, occupies one of the three bedrooms.

Growing up, Ms. Vail’s father worked as police officer for the East Hampton Village Police, becoming a sergeant before he retired. Her mother was a legal secretary and later a homemaker.

Ms. Vail graduated from East Hampton High School and received a bachelor’s degree in history from Carnegie Mellon University. She also has two master’s degrees — one in secondary education from Duquesne University and another in library science from Southern Connecticut State University, which she completed through a distance-learning program. She formerly worked at the East Hampton Library.

As a child coming of age in Ecuador, Mr. Munoz’s father was a farmer and his mother stayed home, looking after the couple’s eight children. Mr. Munoz graduated high school and enlisted in the military before completing a few years of medical school in hopes of becoming a dentist. Before leaving Ecuador, he last ran a small dump truck and taxicab business.

The couple met at the Christian Church of the Nazarene, a Spanish-speaking congregation, which had been meeting at the Methodist Church in East Hampton. They married in 2004.

As born-again Christians, religion plays a big role in their lives. For the past decade, the family has attended a weekly service at the Community Bible Church in Noyac. Ephraim, which means fruitful, was named after Joseph’s second son in the Old Testament. While Mr. Munoz recently started attending the Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton, the entire family has yet to make the switch because of a beloved Sunday school program in Noyac.

Though both parents would love for Ephraim to become bilingual, English is the primary language spoken at home. “One of my hopes this year is that it’s supposed to be the year that children learn how to read,” said Ms. Vail. “He likes to pretend that he’s reading, but he’s just beginning to get a handle on it.”

An active, imaginative boy, wooden blocks are a favorite, as are Legos and a toy toolbox. Pizza, along with raspberries, broccoli, carrots, and watermelon are his preferred foods. In social circumstances, Ephraim can be shy at first, but quickly becomes the life of the party.

Most evenings, after Ephraim completes his homework, the family sits down to dinner together. When Ms. Vail was growing up, nearly every house in the neighborhood would pass out Halloween candy. Now, with an increasing number of second homeowners, many of the neighboring houses are unoccupied during the week.

Over the past four decades, she has witnessed a vast change in the backgrounds of year-round residents who call East Hampton home. For instance, the John Marshall that Ms. Vail attended was a markedly different one than the elementary school her son now attends. It wasn’t until middle school, for instance, that Ms. Vail first encountered a classmate who spoke Spanish. By contrast, more than half of the students in Ephraim’s class have Latin American surnames.

“Children are very adaptable. They can just see someone and be friends,” said Ms. Vail, as Ephraim played in the background, tool belt on and pencil behind his ear, during last week’s blizzard. “Ephraim now has a range of play dates with children of different backgrounds — girls included.”

Oversized basements that extend beyond the footprint of the house they are beneath are adding undue density and unanticipated living space to East Hampton Village, according to a discussion at the village board's meeting on Thursday

At the invitation of Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., Kenneth Collum, the village's code enforcement officer and fire inspector, told the board that, among the numerous residential renovations and tear-down or reconstruction projects in recent years, nearly all involve not only rebuilding to the limit of the allowed gross floor area but fully developing lower levels to include bedrooms and bathrooms as well as home theaters and recreation rooms. While these basements are not adding to a structure's mass, he said, they do add to a residence's density. This is a particular concern on smaller residential streets such as Mill Hill Lane, Meadow Way, and Conklin Terrace, he said.

Of 41 demolition permits issued last year, Mr. Collum said that 35 were for a tear-down and reconstruction. "We have seen where basements extend out underground," beyond the footprint of the house, Mr. Collum said, which led to questions about what should be included when calculating gross floor area. Zoning codes in surrounding areas, he said, do not regulate the gross floor area of basements. "If we do go forward with this, we're going to make a lot of nonconforming-use properties," he said. "We have to look at that as well." He suggested, as a first step, restricting the dimensions of basements to the physical footprint of the house.

Lys Marigold, the vice chairwoman of the village's zoning board of appeals, told the board of the phenomenon of "iceberg houses" in London. "What you see above ground is the tip of the iceberg," she said, explaining that residential structures there can extend three stories below ground level. "We're probably not going to have a rash of these because of the high water table that will prevent that much digging down," but she warned the board about applications before the zoning board in which multiple additional bedrooms are sought in subterranean spaces, which will inevitably add more cars and people to the village.

"The village in the summer can hardly handle any more cars," Ms. Marigold said. "It's a stretch on our ecosystem. . . . If each house on all these streets goes from three to six bedrooms, what is going to be the long-term implication? We have to think not only of our own properties, but to keep the village safely protected as our village," she said.

Richard Lawler, a village board member, voiced concern that such houses would then be rented, with the subsequent additional vehicles and attendant traffic and noise presenting a significant inconvenience to neighbors. With the emergence of short-term rental websites like Airbnb, Ms. Marigold said, "it's going to be explosive."

Board members discussed with Linda Riley, the village's attorney, how sensible regulations might be enacted while maintaining the rights of homeowners. "You need to zero in on what you see as the issue you want to address," Ms. Riley said, suggesting that with more bedrooms, more people can live in a house, meaning there would be more vehicle congestion. "If that's the issue, maybe we should focus the research there. I don't really know, sitting here, whether it would be lawful to limit the number of bedrooms in a basement. I could look into that. It's relatively unprecedented in this area."

"My concern is that if we go forward, we have to do a lot of due diligence to make sure we're not creating a huge zoning issue," Mr. Collum said. "We have to look at all those things to make sure we're not creating a lot of nonconforming properties."

The mayor called the discussion "an opening salvo" that represented a part of that due diligence. "We all recognize what's happening within the footprint of our beautiful Main Street and secondary bucolic roads," the mayor said. "To an extent, it's beyond our control." The board has a responsibility to "grapple with this problem," he said, and "if it means piecemeal, we'll certainly do it piecemeal." A working group would be appointed to study the issue in concert with the zoning and planning boards, he said, predicting an incremental, step-by-step approach.

Much of the Nathaniel Baker House on Town Lane in Amagansett, which is owned by the actor Alec Baldwin, has been torn down as part of a substantial renovation.

The house, at Stony Hill Farm, dates to the early-18th century. It originally stood on the north side of Main Street, just east of what is now Gansett Green Manor, according to Robert Hefner, a historic preservation consultant and neighbor. In the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller spent a summer in an accessory structure on the property.

Originally a saltbox design, the house was made into a full two-story house in the 1790s by Samuel Schellinger, a carpenter and millwright who built its Federal period stairway, Mr. Hefner said in an email.

Harry and Mary Hamlin purchased the house in 1913 and moved it to Town Lane. Joseph Greenleaf Thorp, the architect who designed the Grey Gardens estate in East Hampton that was later made famous by Jacqueline Kennedy's cousins, Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith Bouvier Beale, known as Big and Little Edie, remodeled the structure into a country house that was the centerpiece of the Hamlins' farm.

Mrs. Hamlin was a collector of early East Hampton houses, Mr. Hefner said. She moved Rowdy Hall and Gansett House to the green on Egypt Lane, and owned and operated the Hedges Inn. She was also an important figure in the preservation of Mulford Farm and Home, Sweet Home. She sold Stony Hill Farm to Jeffrey Potter in 1949.

Mr. Baldwin and his then-wife, the actress Kim Basinger, bought and enlarged the Nathaniel Baker House in 1996. The late Mr. Potter's son, Job Potter, whose family owns a parcel adjacent to Mr. Baldwin's, would not comment on the present state of the Nathaniel Baker House.

According to some reports, Mr. Baldwin put the property up for sale last year and purchased a house in East Hampton. That was not the case, according to an Amagansett real estate broker who is familiar with the properties in question, but asked not to be named. In fact, he said, Mr. Baldwin had bought a house on Fresh Pond Road in Amagansett, but soon put it on the market again.

"He loves that house too much" to sell it," the broker said of Mr. Baldwin and the Nathaniel Baker House. "I know that for a fact. The fact that he has been doing renovations, which he'd been planning for quite some time, is indicative of that. He is improving it to continue to enjoy it."

Update, 11:30 a.m.:  A driver for the East Hampton Town Highway Department was plowing and sanding Old Montauk Highway Monday morning around 6 when he saw flames shooting out from the truck. A few minutes later it was engulfed.

The Montauk Fire Department was dispatched to a truck fire near Washington Drive, and did not discover it was a town vehicle until the first firefighters arrived, according to Vinnie Franzone, the first assistant fire chief, who was the first chief on the scene. Jim Nigro, the driver, was already out of the truck, unscathed. 

Stephen Lynch, the town highway superintendent, said he's not sure what caused the six-wheel truck with a sander-spreader on the back to catch fire. Mr. Nigro "heard a pop" and then saw flames, before he jumped out and used his fire extinguisher. "It didn't do anything," Mr. Lynch said.

The truck, one of the newer ones in the fleet, had only been in use about an hour Monday morning when the fire broke out, Mr. Lynch said. It was destroyed. "Nobody got hurt that's what's important. A truck can be replaced," he said.

Once the engine arrived, the fire was not difficult to get under control, Chief Franzone said. "Because it was a sander, the only thing that could burn on it was the cab," he said, adding there was no threat of explosion because it took diesel fuel. 

Mr. Nigro was among the many highway employees who had reported to work at about 3:30 a.m. to plow and sand as another winter storm dropped 2 to 4 inches on the area. The Highway Department brought a payloader to remove snow from a parking lot on Washington Drive, and then placed the charred truck in the lot.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nigro was quickly given another truck so he could continue sanding Montauk streets before students headed to schools, which were on a two-hour delay, Mr. Lynch said. 

Original, 6:37 a.m.: An East Hampton Town Highway plow truck reportedly was destroyed when it erupted in flames while it was being used in Montauk on Monday morning. 

The Montauk Fire Department was called to Old Montauk Highway and Washington Drive just after 6 a.m. It was located in the middle of the road and fully engulfed when the first chief arrived. 

Due to the hazardous road conditions that included freezing rain, snow accumulations, high winds and low visibility, firefighters were told to use extreme caution while responding. The chief ordered all volunteer firefighters to report to the firehouse, and not to bring personal vehicles to the scene. He also wanted only one engine and a tanker truck to respond. Firefighters were able to douse the flames, and the tanker truck was sent home before it arrived.

No one was injured.

The fire chief called for a tow truck to remove the burned truck from the middle of the road. 

Stephen Lynch, the East Hampton Highway Superintendent, was heading to Montauk to assess the situation. 

Check back for more information as it becomes available.

With a dangerous, icy commute expected Monday evening, East Hampton Town police are urging residents and workers to get off the roads as early as possible.

"I think the roads will be terrible," Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said Monday afternoon. "As all this snow melts and sits on the roads, as we head toward 5 p.m., it will freeze and become a sheet of ice. No amount of salt or sand is going to stop it from becoming very dangerous," he said.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone issued a travel advisory Monday afternoon for all county roads, decreasing the speed limit to a maximum of 45 mph unless a lower speed limit is posted.

The National Weather Service issued a flash freeze warning for all of Long Island, after the mix of snow, rain, freezing rain, and sleet left the roads slushy. While highway crews in East Hampton and Southold tried to clear the slush off and lay out sand and salt, the roads will still ice over as the temperature plummets to the 20s, and even the teens in some areas, on Monday evening. Additional snow accumulations are expected on top of the ice.

"I think it's going to be treacherous," Stephen Lynch, the Town highway superintendent, said Monday morning. He said workers would be out later on Monday to sand and salt, again.

The road conditions were already proving dangerous. Just before 2 p.m., a 14-wheel truck skidded off the road into the woods near Cedar Street. The East Hampton Village Ambulance Association and the East Hampton Fire Department responded to remove at least one person from inside. 

Flooding is part of the issue. "There's flooding all over because a lot of the drains are unopened because they are full of snow," Mr. Lynch said. In Bridgehampton, the portion of Butter Lane under the train trestle was flooded, and at least one car got stuck as it tried to go through the water Monday morning.

Schools canceled after school activities so that students could get home early. The East Hampton YMCA RECenter also canceled its afternoon and evening classes. The Wellness Foundation's Potluck Dinner and "Souper Bowl" contest, scheduled for Monday night at the East Hampton Middle School, was called off, too. The Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee also postponed its meeting, rescheduling it for next Monday.

In Southampton, Town Hall and other government officers were to close early at 3 p.m. The Amagansett Library and East Hampton Library also will close early at 4 p.m.

Looking ahead, the town board work session that was scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m. has been postponed to Wednesday at 10 a.m. due to the "severe icing" that is expected on the roads Tuesday.