A recent visit to the sculptor Arline Wingate in the East Hampton house where she has lived for the last 45 years serendipitously coincided with her 91st birthday: a dainty birthday cake with pink and green icing sat on the kitchen table, baked by her dealer, Arlene Bujese.

The long-lived Arline/Arlene affiliation has been a happy one, according to Ms. Wingate. This summer Ms. Bujese's gallery gave her a 60-year retrospective of work dating from the early bronze and marble figures of her classical roots through her more abstract, cubist, faintly surrealist, and often very witty later sculptures of natural and human forms.

Ms. Wingate had lighted a fire in her huge, sculpture-filled white brick living room, formerly a garage to six cars and a fire engine on a large estate, but the interview took place in her cozy kitchen with Mr. Su Su, an impeccably pedigreed ash-blond Pekinese, lounging in her lap.

Hated Smith

A sprightly, diminutive redhead, the sculptor was born and grew up in New York City. After dropping out of Smith College, which she hated, she studied at the Art Students League and with Alexandre Archipenko in New York. She then moved on to work and study in Paris, Madrid, Stockholm, and Rome.

Her sculpture has been widely exhibited at the Metropolitan and Whitney Museums, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Heckscher Museum, the Petit Palais in Paris, Museo des Belles Artes in Buenos Aires, and the Ghent Museum in Belgium, to name but a few.

Her work is also in the permanent collections of many of the above institutions, as well as in other museums throughout the world including the Parrish Museum in Southampton and East Hampton's Guild Hall.

Silvia Sydney, Harpo Marx, George Gershwin, and Prince William of Sweden number among the celebrities she has sculpted; a rather large pastel drawing Gershwin made of her while she worked on his bust hangs in her living room.

The Prince

"Doing Prince William's portrait was fabulous," she said, getting out a photo of herself looking like the young Myrna Loy, the Prince, and the striking larger-than-life head she did of him that calls Boris Pasternak to mind.

"I met the Swedish royal family here on Main Beach. They picked me up, actually, and begged me to come to Stockholm with them. When they threw in the sculpting job as an added incentive, my husband finally agreed." Two bronze castings are displayed in Swedish museums.

"I've also taught," she went on, mentioning classes at Southampton College and private sessions, most recently with her landscaper, who is learning to work in papier-mach‚. "I even taught Noguchi something, when I was very young."

"Usually sculptors have a lot of hair, I've noticed; Noguchi was one of the few bald ones. I recognized him in an art supply store on Canal Street that then was to artists what Bergdorf Goodman was to women who cared about clothes."

"He asked me if I could tell him how to do a patina - a technique for making plaster look like bronze - and I did. I laugh to think about it, me teaching one of the greats when I should have been learning from him. I never saw him again."

As one of six American women sculptors to participate in "New York Six," an exhibit installed at Le Petit Palais in 1950, she also met Giacometti.

"He was a cute little guy with plenty of hair who asked to meet me, and told me how much he admired my work. It takes a big artist to do a thing like that - I was completely unknown."

"David Smith and most of the other male artists at the time, even those who came to parties at my house, treated women artists as if we were half-witted children," she added with asperity.

Moves Nimbly

"Only Mark Rothko, another great, was different. He never missed one of my shows, and always left his name. I was a pygmy compared to him, but the real giants are different; often they are very special people."

Ms. Wingate reached for her cane - she recently broke her hip but gets around quite nimbly - and took her visitor on a tour of her two studios, one off the living room for viewing, the other, looking out on the back garden, strictly for work.

There are stocky nudes in bronze and marble - she was "into short, fat people for a while" - distributed among lyrical flower shapes, austere, towering amphora-like bottles, and tender little terra cotta figures. A small heart-shaped bronze face gazes at us as gravely and mysteriously as a primitive stone deity.

A small rosewood head, a huge abstract "put-together" piece of black steel and white styrofoam, little marble owls, bronze and steel "fragmented" torsos, a plaster cast of a "Broken Heart," and a surreal "Garden of Torsos" are also displayed indoors.

Outside, on spacious lawns under spreading trees, whimsical congregations of mushrooms and occasional weeds are scattered about. Massive abstract and figurative sculptures stand at respectful distances, impressive, austere, almost Druidic in their agelessness. Both primitive and intensely modern, they are haunting works.

"Art is in my blood," said Ms. Wingate, back in her kitchen again. As a child in Westchester she turned her playroom into an art gallery, and covered one wall with an enormous mural.

Later, in her New York studio, she "just worked and worked and never stopped. I feel I am obsessive and impulsive, influenced mostly by nature, lyrical and feminine. But don't call me a sculptress - there's no such thing."

In 1934 she married Clifford Hollander, an investment banker. "Even though he was on Wall Street, he was a very nice guy," she said. "Really sociable, as opposed to me. After working 10 hours a day, I wanted to stay home."

The couple lived on the Upper East Side and had a son, Richard, now a businessman married to Bruce Clerk, a fashion magazine editor. They have a son, Dick, who works in computer technology.

"I was spoiled," she said, "We had a wonderful life and the best of everything. I can still remember when you could get a damn nice dinner for a dollar and a half on Madison Avenue and 85th Street, a lovely dinner. You can't get a bag of peanuts for that now."

"I haven't been to New York in close to 10 years," she added. "It got me depressed. I'd stand on Madison Avenue and cry, besieged by such strong memories. It's just not my city any more." Ms. Wingate's husband died 25 years ago.

"All I want to do now is stay home and work and not be distracted by things like having the chimney fall down, as it did recently," she laughed.

"If you work all day you get pretty pooped. I haven't been to a cocktail party for five years. I watch a little TV and read a lot to relax - well-written junk, nothing too philosophical, please. I'm only an intellectual when it comes to art books."

Although she now weighs only 89 pounds, Ms. Wingate is getting her energy back, doing her exercises, and driving herself to therapy sessions. "I started driving when I was 8 so I can really drive," she said. "I drove an ambulance during the war."

Ms. Wingate's broken hip, until it heals, has forced her to sculpt sitting down. "I never thought I could do it, but I'm learning. Usually I stand for hours, and walk all around my work."

A lovely blue-gray slab of Carrara marble rests on a stand in her studio, along with a small hammer and a set of little chisels.

From it a face is emerging, the raised profile of a woman heading into the wind, hair streaming back, ear delicately shaped. She seems to have the indomitable spirit of the figureheads on the prows of old clipper ships, not unlike the spirit of her creator.

Ms. Wingate attributes her longevity to good genes-her grandfather died at 99 - to luck, to living sensibly, and to the pure air of East Hampton.

More than anything else, however, she credits an abiding passion for her work, and the fellowship of a good dog.

"He knows we're talking about him," she said as Mr. Su Su rolled his beautiful, dark brown eyes.

Long Island University has accepted the State University at Stony Brook's offer to buy its Southampton College campus for $35 million.

Senator Kenneth P. LaValle said yesterday that the agreement will now go back to the state university trustees for their ratification, which is expected to take place at a meeting on Wednesday. He said that the state university's acting chancellor, John R. Ryan, will make an official announcement after that meeting.

According to Mr. LaValle, the offer did not include any lease-back arrangements for L.I.U.'s graduate programs and radio station.

The State Legislature voted to include $35 million in this year's budget for the purchase of the campus, including $5 million for needed improvements to its facilities. Even though that left $30 million for the purchase, Mr. LaValle said that the language of the legislation allowed for some flexibility in negotiations.

New York State and Stony Brook representatives have said that they would like the deal to be completed as soon as possible so that a solid plan can be made to bring an undergraduate honors program focusing on environmental sustainability to the campus. Shirley Strum Kenny, the Stony Brook president, and the university faculty have been outlining such a program since last year.

Mr. LaValle said that L.I.U. has indicated that it will cooperate with Stony Brook as it tries to move forward to have a student body of 500 to 800 students return to the campus in September.

Even after the chancellor ratifies the agreement, the state attorney general, comptroller, State Education Department, and other officials will have to approve the terms.

"It's perfunctory, but the bureaucratic process is time consuming in order to get all the i's dotted and t's crossed," Mr. LaValle said. "This is just one more happy event in a long process to get us to the point where students arrive on campus in September '06." Many months could pass before the state grants full approval.

Everyone would like to see the deal finished soon, Mr. LaValle said, adding that L.I.U. would lease the campus to Stony Brook if necessary so that it could begin work there.

The state university took over Southampton's undergraduate marine science program earlier this year and began offering a few classes and labs this semester. Long Island University has continued to offer graduate-level classes in writing and education at the campus. The school also began a new program in homeland security, but will offer many of those classes online.

Another election over and done with, and not a moment too soon. On Monday night we had a telephone call that went something like this:

"Hello?"

"Hello! Is this . . .?"

"Yes, who's this?"

"This is . . ., and I'm calling tonight to ask for your vote tomorrow. East Hampton Town needs me in office because . . . ."

(A two-minute campaign spiel followed. Then there was a pause. We seized the opportunity to ask the candidate a question):

"Are you a recording or a real person?"

"Thank you very much for your time. Have a nice evening." (Click.)

Every one of the candidates involved in Campaign '97, one of the nastiest and most bitterly contested in a long time, is entitled at this point to go take a vacation. Some of them may have left early.

As the heat of argument over East Hampton Town's proposed ferry legislation has cleared, a consensus has emerged: No one wants vehicle ferries to land anywhere in town. The course of action for the town, therefore, is to move ahead with that part of the legislation that bans vehicle ferries without delay and to rework the rest of the proposal.

There is nothing in the Town Code now to regulate the vessels that come and go in our waterways, except for a five-mile-an-hour speed limit in harbor channels and for a parking requirement that marinas provide one and a half spaces for every boat slip. That is the rule regardless of whether the slip accommodates a small runabout or a boat large enough for hundreds of vacationers.

East Hampton is long overdue in regulating the effects of large vessels. It is mandatory for the community to control the shoreside support services large vessels might need or desire as well as the parking and traffic they would generate. The technology that makes a large craft move at high speeds also has to be addressed, given possible deleterious effects on shore and sea life.

Richard Whalen, the assistant town attorney who wrote the draft legislation with help from Stop the Ferry and its lawyer, Russell Stein, is to be commended for its comprehensiveness. He has raised the public consciousness about the impacts of large vessels. Had there been no existing party boat or ferry operators here, the legislation might have sailed without controversy.

Where his draft ran into trouble was in Montauk. There Capt. Paul Forsberg, who runs party boats and the only ferry service in town, mustered an army to support what he believes to be his right to expand without municipal oversight. Unfortunately, the town missed an opportunity to write less controversial legislation by failing to include those who would be affected in the drafting process.

If the place we live in is our castle, the place we do business in is our sanctuary. Or so it seemed on Oct. 24 at the hearing on the ferry legislation. Captain Forsberg is adamant that he should be able to replace an old boat with a larger one, which he has under construction, and says the town has no reason to worry about whether he can provide enough parking. He and his attorney also argue that since his operation is in existence it should not have to comply with new laws.

This is misguided. Government would be hamstrung if it did not have the right to consider and contend with pre-existing conditions. It does so all the time in zoning matters, and tries, where possible, to bring uses that do not conform with up-to-date laws into conformity to as reasonable an extent as possible.

In the Viking Fleet's case, it should be simple to survey the number and capacity of the boats and the size of the acreage and to grandfather existing uses - both on land and sea. Beyond that, it ought to be possible for the town and Captain Forsberg to negotiate an equitable solution to the fact that he has a new and larger boat under construction. While it cannot be grandfathered if it isn't in operation, it wouldn't be fair to penalize Captain Forsberg for making what must have seemed at the time a legitimate investment.

The solution to the Viking Fleet's particular situation ought not to deter the town from enacting a wide-ranging law to guide boat owners and ferry operators in the future, and soon.

Southampton Hospital has reached a "crisis" situation, according to recent statements from Senator Kenneth P. LaValle and Annette Leahy, the hospital's president and chief executive officer.

In a recent letter to bondholders, the hospital reported a net loss of $3.3 million through June of this year compared to a loss of $3.1 million in the same period last year.

Ms. Leahy said last week that the loss increased to $3.4 million through July: "The situation is financially fragile through July, August, and September."

In announcing recent staff layoffs, the hospital blamed decreased inpatient stays during the summer, usually its busiest time. The numbers for August are not expected to be better. Ms. Leahy said last month that over the course of the summer, the hospital lost more than several hundred thousand dollars.

The hospital was fortunate to have an increase in inpatients and operating income in the winter months last year to offset some of the summer losses. Ms. Leahy said that she does not expect a similar increase in volume and income this winter.

One long-range trend affecting the hospital has been the opening of urgent care centers that take a number of paying patients away from the hospital's emergency room. In addition, doctors have begun offering M.R.I.s and outpatient surgery in their offices.

Ms. Leahy said she will unveil a new long-term strategic plan at a board meeting on Nov. 19 in which she will address some of these issues, including the fact that insurance companies encourage doctors to offer more services in their offices by paying them "a great deal" more in reimbursement fees. If more of those services continue to be done outside of the hospital in the future, she will decrease the staff as necessary, Ms. Leahy said.

Senator LaValle called the hospital's situation a "crisis" and said, "I strongly encourage Southampton Hospital to have discussions with Stony Brook Hospital to join Central Suffolk and Eastern Long Island Hospitals" in its network. Mr. LaValle has said that involving the state in the operation is in the hospital's best interest.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said that Southampton Hospital officials met with Stony Brook officials last week to discuss affiliation. He agreed that such a move would be prudent given the hospital's growing financial problems, and could make Southampton eligible for state aid.

In the wake of several recent hospital bankruptcies, a new state commission is examining how hospitals are functioning and plans to target certain underperforming ones for closing or consolidation. Given the geographic realities of the area, none of the three regional hospitals in the Peconic Health Corporation are likely to close. However, recommendations that certain departments of the hospitals be consolidated could be issued.

Once hospitals are more efficient, the commission plans to reconsider its Medicaid reimbursement rates, which are one of the main causes of diminished revenue for the hospital along with bad debts.

Last year, when Southampton announced its affiliation with the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System, hospital officials said that they were reluctant to join either the state hospital at Stony Brook or the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System. The perceived pressure to consolidate the three area hospital services in the other two systems was one of the reasons Southampton said it chose New York-Presbyterian.

Now, they may have no choice. The hospital has hired a financial consultant to restructure its $40 million debt for which it is paying principal and interest of $3.5 million per year. Fund raising continues to lag behind expectations.

Ms. Leahy said she had deferred her salary increase for this year to May 1 and senior staff members had decided not to accrue any time-off benefits. The staff layoffs and cutbacks in services are supposed to result in the equivalent of reducing 26 full-time positions even though only 13 actual positions were cut from a staff of 700 employees. The letter to bondholders states that the hospital has had "difficulty acquiring needed medical equipment this year."

Construction of the hospital's new maternity center, which it has been advertising in local newspapers, had to be delayed because the hospital said it could not solely rely on a multiyear pledge for the project's flow of funds.

Last week, Ms. Leahy said that many steps remain to the project's completion. Both construction and new equipment need to be funded. As construction is completed on each new space, it must be inspected for code compliance. A certificate of need must also be filed with the State Department of Health and approved before construction can begin. Ms. Leahy said she planned to file that before the end of the year if the funding is adequate.

Additionally, the letter said Southampton has an unfunded pension liability of $9.3 million. Its self-funded malpractice trust investment returns are not keeping pace with the trust's expenditures. The hospital must also pay an additional $350,000 in malpractice insurance premiums, which tripled from last year, over and above its trust expenditures.

The letter concludes that the hospital management "needs to address the unusually large debt of $40 million and looks forward to discussing this matter with the trustee and bondholders."

If philosophy is what distinguishes electoral candidates and their parties, then the 10 nonincumbent candidates for East Hampton Town trustee interviewed last week - four Republicans and five Democrats - could easily form a party of their own, so similar were their views.

The Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of East Hampton were described, by Republicans and Democrats alike, as the town's bedrock governing body; nevertheless, the candidates said, the trustees need to communicate better with the East Hampton Town Board and town agencies, as well as with the people of East Hampton.

Candidates from both parties said they would like to see the trustees expand their responsibilities.

"Trustees have to maintain their historic duties in areas they govern and own. Don't give them up to the town," said Lynn V. Mendelman, a Republican candidate. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology, manages three marinas on Three Mile Harbor, and has worked on water-related issues with the Peconic Estuary Program.

Ms. Mendelman said she would like to see the trustees work more closely with the Town Natural Resources Department on aquaculture projects, a view shared by a fellow Democratic candidate, Capt. Norman Edwards Jr.

Ms. Mendelman said that if elected she would press to have the nine-member board share its resources with the town's municipal agencies. She wanted to know why the town's Web site explaining its new comprehensive plan had no link to the trustees, saying, "They have expertise that they don't have in the other boards."

The trustees own and manage, on behalf of the public, most of the bottomland, beaches, and shoreline in East Hampton Town, as well as some roads and trails. Speaking of adding to the trustees' agenda, Ms. Mendelman drew the line at getting involved with controlling road runoff, even though runoff affects the quality of the waters the trustees protect - "unless it becomes a legal issue." Runoff is now the responsibility of the Town Highway Department.

However, Ms. Men-delman raised the possibility that the board might add, to the town's inventory of public lands, "critical natural resource areas and groundwater recharge areas" - if Community Preservation Funds could be directed their way.

Tim Kromer, a Republican who was appointed to the chair vacated when Jim McCaffrey died in January, stressed the need for a better working relationship with the town board and with the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

He faulted the town board for what he said was a reluctance to work with the trustees. He reserved special criticism for Councilwoman Pat Mansir, the board's former liaison to the trustees, for failing to alert his board when issues important to the trustees were on the town board's agenda.

"Thank God for Larry Penny," Mr. Kromer said, referring to the head of the Town Natural Resources Department. Mr. Kromer said Mr. Penny had made it his business to facilitate trustee projects by obtaining grants and required state permits. Because the trustees do not recognize state authority over East Hampton's public lands, they have done business with the state through the Natural Resources Department.

Mr. Kromer said the trustees' harbor management committee, formed last year to include representatives from other parts of town government, was another step in the right direction. "It gives the trustees more of an edge," he said.

Norman C. Edwards Jr. said that if Mr. Penny, a candidate for town board, was elected, "the trustees would have an ally." Captain Edwards is a commercial fisherman who retired from the Coast Guard six years ago. He stressed the importance of protecting the town's natural resources, particularly its fish and shellfish populations, and said he would work to expand programs such as the trustees' flounder farming to help maintain fish populations.

"The trustees are more knowledgeable about the environment, dealing with the beach and waters. They have a bank of knowledge. They can advise the town board," he said. "They have to keep their authority. . . . Their authority has decayed over time, but they still have a major role."

He said the trustees' dealings with the town board should be more proactive. On the question of public access, Captain Edwards said it should be "preserved where there is access, and improved where it is not."

Francis Bock, another Republican candidate, is the brother of Tim Bock, an incumbent trustee now running for town assessor. He said the town board was "slowly eroding the power of the trustees."

If elected, Mr. Bock said, he would work to create a program to inform young people about the trustees' work. Ms. Mendelman seconded the idea of a trustees' "educational outreach program, and scholarships." Mr. Bock also suggested that the presiding officer's (clerk's) job be made a full-time position because of the trustees' growing list of responsibilities.

All the Republican candidates said they favored creating a trustees' environmental resources permit instead of the town zoning board of appeals' special permit, which is required for building projects in sensitive areas.

The TERP, as the trustees-issued permit has been called, would be for projects on trustee lands. The town board would need to delegate to the trustees, instead of the Z.B.A., the authority to give final approval on projects on public land.

William F. Taylor, East Hampton's waterways management supervisor and a Democratic candidate for trustee, echoed the primary theme of his Republican counterparts. "I don't think the trustees are interacting with other agencies even though they have common problems."

Mr. Taylor said a potentially powerful alliance, combining the town board's regulatory powers with the trustees' proprietary authority, was being squandered through lack of cooperation.

He said the trustees could do more to reach out to the State Department of Environmental Conservation on issues of erosion and beach nourishment, and to the Army Corps of Engineers regarding its erosion control policy. Mr. Taylor said he would like to see the trustees have more say in upland matters. "As adjacent landowners, they have the right to comment," he said.

As for TERP, Mr. Taylor had reservations. "The trustees are in the best position [to review coastal projects], but it would make a lot of waves. No one gives up power willingly," he said referring to the town board and Z.B.A.

Jacques Franey, a Democrat whose mother, Betty Franey, served as a trustee in the 1970s, described the trustee-town board relationship as "like butting heads."

"I don't want to see a realignment of power," he said, "but the trustees should go to the town board with a trustee point of view. Both are competing to be the regulatory authority."

"The trustees should exercise their proprietary powers," that is, as "owners" of public lands, he said. Mr. Franey said he would push for the trustees to make an arrangement with the State Parks Department so that East Hampton residents would be permitted to drive along the state park beach on Napeague. He said he would also work toward creating a new public access to Georgica Pond.

On the issue of public access, another Democrat, Arthur French, a Wainscott resident and retired Nassau County policeman, seemed to differ slightly from his fellow Democratic candidates. He said he would like to see "greater use of the town's resources," while Mr. Taylor said, "we want to keep it open, but avoid intrusion by too many people." Mr. Franey agreed.

"You can't put the genie back in the bottle," John Gosman Jr. of Montauk said in agreeing that trustees had to walk a fine line by providing access, but not too much.

Mr. Gosman also decried the relationship between the trustees and the town board. "Politics get in the way," he said, adding that the trustees needed more, nonpartisan "gumption." Although the trustees lost their authority over public lands in Montauk back in the 1800s, this Democratic candidate said that having a Montauk voice on the board was important.

The dredging - or lack of it - in the Montauk Harbor inlet, and greater protection of beaches were issues Montauk shared with the rest of East Hampton, he said.

On the subject of erosion control, Mr. Gosman said, "I don't want to see hard structures, but it gets dodgy. It's your castle even if it's a shack, and you'll fight tooth and nail for it."

"I don't believe in hard structures, but each should be reviewed on its own merits. There's too many variables," Mr. Gosman said.

If elected, the Montauker said he would steer the board toward creating an educational program for high-school-age kids, "to teach them respect for the beaches."

Bill Taylor said the patrolling in Montauk of the trustees' marine sewage pumpout boat was an example of how the trustees' oversight might be applied in Montauk. Regarding Mr. Gosman's candidacy, Mr. Taylor observed that Montauk's taxpayers paid for the trustees' budget, and elected them to office.

Mr. French said he too would stress "cooperation and communication" with the town board if he were elected.

Mr. Taylor said trustees should be more vocal on issues outside of East Hampton, for instance, the Broadwater project to place a natural gas storage depot in Long Island Sound, the Millstone nuclear power plant in Connecticut, and the future use of Plum Island.

Like their Republican counterparts, Democratic candidates agreed that staggering the election of trustees was a good idea, with three members standing for election every two years. Mr. Taylor said this was especially important should the board take on more regulatory powers. "Wealthy landowners could get together and put five trustees in," Mr. Taylor warned.

"Most important of all is an all-out education program that will take every East Hampton student, scout style, into land, water, and marshlands they've never seen before," said Robert Tulp, another Democratic candidate. Mr. Tulp also stressed better communication with the town board.

Joe Peel and Brian Byrnes, two other Democratic candidates, will also appear on the ballot come Election Day, as well as five incumbent trustees, Thomas E. Knobel, William J. Mott, Diane E. McNally, and William A. Vorpahl, Republicans, and Stephen M. Lester, a Democrat.

"I've spent time overseas recently and have seen what goes on in fish farming, and restocking, and I'd like to see more of that here," said Mr. Peel, a Montauk resident.

"Fishermen become farmers. There's a hatchery here, and the trustees are raising fluke also. I would like to see fishermen fatten fish in floating pens. Get some new thinking in the fishing industry. Other ways of making a living from fish."

Ceding to a groundswell of opposition from neighbors and concerns from Southampton Town planners, the would-be re-developers of Water Mill's historic Hotel James have withdrawn their plan for now.

In a letter to the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals earlier this month, Gilbert Flanagan, a lawyer for Mecox Bay Inn Inc., requested the application be withdrawn "without prejudice" to re-submit.

Mecox Bay Inn, and its principals, Harold and Carol Konner of Bridgehampton, had hoped to restore the dilapidated turn-of-the-century build ing on Montauk Highway and convert it to a 50-unit hotel and conference center, with a 70-seat restaurant.

Too Intense

The application, however, drew staunch opposition from nearby residents, who argued the use was too intense for the site and that the commercial use of the property had been abandoned, changing it to the area's current residential zoning.

He said Konner Development Corporation was still in contract to buy the property from Thomas H. James and Lorraine Kluge on the condition that permits can be obtained to reuse the site.

The developers had first applied for a "use" variance to permit the conference center, but later amended the application to seek permission through another zoning provision that allows the reuse of landmark buildings, provided the use preserves the building's historical qualities.

The latter application received scrutiny from Z.B.A. members who questioned whether two proposed additions to the original building would compromise its historic integrity, even if the original portion was restored in-kind. Mecox Bay has been seeking to have the building listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.

Believed to have been built between 1906 and 1916 as a summer residence, the stately 7,000-square-foot building has served through the years as a house, an inn, a general store, and, from the '60s to the '80s, a nightclub.

The Water Mill Citizens Advisory Committee, which has opposed the redevelopment of the site, welcomed the news of the withdrawn application at its Oct. 20 meeting.

Aside from the committee's concerns, the plan had faced a petition signed by more than 200 residents and neighbors against the plan. A group of neighbors hired a lawyer to represent them.

Mr. James had originally hoped to subdivide the property after closing the nightclub, but a number of hurdles, including possible archaeological remains, held the plan at bay. He eventually put the lot on the market. Konner Development has been in contract since October 1996.

As more details emerge on the plans for the construction of a convenience store at the site of the Hess gas station in Wainscott, concern over the project is also emerging on the part of town planners.

Members of the East Hampton Town Planning Board last week voiced reservations about the plan, saying a 3,045-square-foot store could be too big for Hess's less-than-one acre lot and could add more traffic congestion to an already burdened portion of Montauk Highway.

Hess submitted plans last month to split its property in two, allowing the station to relocate its pumps to one lot and build a "general store" on the other. The board reviewed the proposed layout of the site at its Oct. 22 meeting and reviewed the town engineer's comments on the proposal.

Add Stores

The Amerada-Hess Corporation has embarked on a $120-million plan to add stores to many of its 600 gas stations nationwide over the next several years. The company already has applications in to the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals for smaller stores at its stations in Water Mill and Tuckahoe. The proposed Wainscott store would be more than double the size of those two.

"The board, from an engineering standpoint, should be concerned with the density of what's being proposed for these lots," said the town's consulting engineer, Vincent Gaudiello. He pointed to new traffic being generated by the store as well as a potentially congested traffic-and-parking flow within the property.

He urged Hess to obtain traffic-generation data from a similar store, and not rely on general estimates for convenience stores. Hess now has smaller convenience stores at gas stations in Riverhead, Wading River, Miller Place, and Farmingville, as well as off the Island.

"I have a problem with this whole thing," Gary Swanander, a Planning Board member, said during the discussion. "This is just going to be a congested nightmare. . . . I don't see how it's going to work."

Hess has proposed placing the traditional-style general store on the southeastern corner of the lot, where Georgica Drive meets Montauk Highway. Three pump islands would be set toward the back of the property.

After a lengthy discussion about potential conflicts between parking and fueling cars, a Hess representative, Tom Thill said the plan could be scaled back to two pump islands with four pumping stations.

"The capacity now can be served with four pumps," he said.

Basic Groceries

Iris Osborn, another board member, suggested Hess consider building a smaller store.

Eric Bregman, a lawyer representing Hess locally, argued that the purpose of the store was to offer basic groceries and convenience items where there are not many available. "The smaller it gets, the less likely it's going to be anything but a place for coffee and cigarettes," he added.

Mr. Bregman said Hess would consider scaling back the project and to return with traffic figures from a similar-sized business.

"Wainscott's getting tighter and tighter," sighed the Board's chairwoman, Pat Mansir, after the discussion. "It's going to get like a gauntlet going through there."

AMAGANSETT

MacGregor to John Howie, Main Street, $185,000.

Cangro to Gregory Guercio, Treasure Island Drive, $485,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Teresi to Lawrence and Jacqueline Gates, Worchester Court, $280,000.

Halsey to Alexander, Peter, and Michael Koleoglou, Deerfield Road, $160,000.

EAST HAMPTON

Barnds to Michaels L.L.C., Maidstone Park Lane, $335,000.

Meltim II Inc. to Noam and Geraldine Gottesman, Briar Patch Road, $2,675,000.

Twomey Jr. to Takuhl Ovanessian, Oyster Shores Road, $590,000.

Homes by Arabia Ltd. to Carmen Arabia, Blue Jay Way, $240,000.

MONTAUK

Blau to Larry and Diane Tetelman, Franklin Drive, $233,000.

Rovenger to Rita Marks, Homeward Lane, $170,000.

NORTH HAVEN

McGrath to Roy Ward and Sheva Maxwell, Cove's End Lane, $340,000.

Brook to Thomas Mottola, Ferry Road (two lots), $2,100,000.

NORTHWEST

Cedar Woods Ltd. to Rear Realty Corp., Owl Nest Lane, $154,000.

Ross to Vivian Polack, Jason's Lane, $545,000.

SAG HARBOR

Mandel to Misson/Shaw Properties L.P., Middle Line Highway, $180,000.

Snellenburg (referee) to Carl Marino, West Water Street, $155,500.

SAGAPONACK

Bayrami to Sheri Kominsky, Northwest Path, $387,500.

SPRINGS

Miller Jr. to Allan Feldman, Fireplace Road, $295,000.

WATER MILL

Byron to Timothy and Barbara Davis, Montrose Lane, $530,000.

Walker to 674 Millstone Road L.L.C., Millstone Road, $285,000.

Brennan to R. Reuel and Maxine Stanley, Brennans Moor, $775,000.

Danikki Inc. to Shirley Glick, Cobb Hill Lane, $365,000.

Piccirillo to Hovel L.L.C., Montauk Highway, $157,500.

Candidates for Southampton Town Board and the Suffolk County Legislature had their last significant face-off before the election at the Rogers Memorial Library last Thursday evening. The debate was taped for the town's new education and government channel, Sea- TV, and will be broadcast regularly until Tuesday.

The candidates for supervisor, Gary Schwartz and the incumbent, Patrick A. Heaney, were two to face off. While both were allowed to pass on questions to save time for other responses, Mr. Schwartz exercised the option several times. He declined to answer questions posed by the panelists, Joseph Shaw of The Southampton Press and Sue Wilson of the League of Women Voters, regarding beach erosion, the necessity of a town manager, preservation of Native American and Colonial grave sites, and the increased noise in Southampton Town caused by the East Hampton Airport.

His answers on other topics were sometimes perfunctory. He said he would protect drinking water, prevent transfers of development rights outside of school districts, and work with Bridgehampton residents to determine the best use of the so-called Bridgehampton Gateway or Carvel property. On those issues, he offered few details.

Questions on larger themes such as preservation versus development, efforts to address affordable housing, village incorporation drives, and code enforcement received more complete responses. On the first three issues, Mr. Schwartz went on the offensive, criticizing the town's decision to support a senior citizen condominium development of 189 units in the western part of town. He favors minimal development in the town and as much preservation as possible.

On affordable housing, Mr. Schwartz asked, "Where is the affordable housing" in the town that all of the discussion over the last few years has created. He called it an illusion. He also said he was in favor of ensuring that affordable housing remain so permanently.

Mr. Heaney replied that "no one said we've solved the problem," but said the current board was working in an area that had been neglected for 20 years and that it was starting from the bottom up. He said that while New York State law prevented requirements that affordable units remain so in perpetuity, the town had found a way, through revolving easements, to allow permanent affordability that would be held up in court.

Mr. Schwartz said he believed further village incorporation initiatives could be a drain on the town both in taxes and in the possible loss of control in zoning issues and access to beaches or other resources. He would make it a priority to work closely with civic leaders in the eastern part of town to "prevent secession," he said.

As to code enforcement, Mr. Schwartz said he supported a year-round rental law, increasing the number of officers and penalties for violations, pursuing criminal actions against landlords, and more work on summer share violations. Mr. Heaney and his Republican running mates have made similar proposals during their campaign.

Mr. Heaney said the town had cracked down on illegal share houses and "prom houses" during his administration in addition to the proposed initiatives touched on by Mr. Schwartz.

He discussed his creation of new tax districts for coastal property owners for emergencies and preventive measures. He also mentioned the town's lawsuit against Suffolk County to assume responsibility for beach nourishment that the town believes is required as a result of jetties beng installed at Georgica Beach.

Mr. Heaney said he hoped "to cultivate more trust with property owners on the coastline," who have been wary of the town government since the enactment of the Coastal Erosion Hazard Act of 2003. The restrictions imposed on protection and rebuilding as a result of the law led a group of those residents to begin the Dunehampton incorporation drive.

Addressing development pressures, Mr. Heaney said that it was more difficult to develop property in Southampton than in any other town in Suffolk County. He said that the town, through its requested and required reserves for prime agricultural land, does try to "rein in and control development."

His running mate, Chris Nuzzi, a candidate for town councilman, went one step further in recommending that the town amend its code for larger planned development district projects to mandate that units for affordable housing be set aside in any multifamily project.

The candidates also discussed the right to drive on the beach, which could be challenged by a recent lawsuit brought against Southampton Village and the Southampton Town Trustees. Mr. Heaney said that the trustees had "beat back every challenge" to their authority over beach access given to them since the 17th-century Dongan Patent. Mr. Schwartz agreed that a "few wealthy part-time residents" should not be able to take away that right.

The town board candidates, Councilwoman Linda Kabot, Mr. Nuzzi, Michael Pitcher, and Hank Beck, agreed in principle on requiring organic fertilizers on new golf courses, no casinos, the addition of a police commissioner to the town payroll, and borrowing against the Community Preservation Fund to purchase land now as long as it was done responsibly.

The candidates also agreed that the transfer tax could be increased a quarter of a percent to collect money for affordable housing projects as long as the $250,000 exemption level was raised to a level that was more reflective of area market prices.

The idea of dedicating town board members' responsibilities to certain portions of the town drew mixed responses. The Republicans, Ms. Kabot and Mr. Nuzzi, preferred a townwide election and townwide responsibilities. The current organizational chart, Ms. Kabot noted, is divided by subject matter, not region. Although residents might feel more comfortable calling the representative who lives closest to them, Ms. Kabot said, the town board will still refer them to the person responsible for their topic of concern. The Democrats were more open to assigning board members regional responsibilities.