Construction by the Army Corps of Engineers of a new sand dune to protect property along the downtown Montauk beach against erosion and coastal flooding could get underway at the start of 2015, according to a presentation made at the Montauk Firehouse last Thursday by federal, state, and local officials.

Although the clock began ticking this week, with the intention that work should be completed before next summer’s tourist season, a number of questions and concerns were identified at the meeting that might delay the $8.9 million project. The plan calls for creation of a 161/2-foot-high dune along 3,100 feet of shoreline, with a core of 14,000 geotextile bags filled with sand. Because it is considered an emergency measure following extensive beach loss, the work would be paid for with federal money administered by the Army Corps.

Speakers at the meeting questioned the project’s design, whether it would introduce a different and undesirable type of sand to the Montauk beach, and even whether a reinforced dune should be built at all, with at least one person suggesting it could do more harm than good.

Also questioned was whether the town or Suffolk County would become the project’s local sponsor, the entity designated to bear the annual costs of monitoring the dune and replacing sand lost to erosion or storms. Reconstruction or repairs would be covered by the Army Corps only after severe storms.

The county had signed on to sponsor the Army Corps’s decades-old Fire Island to Montauk Point beach restoration project, an initiative that is nearing a start date, but it has not agreed to sponsor the downtown Montauk project, which is considered a short-term, interim measure. Depending on weather conditions, the Army Corps has estimated the cost of annual maintenance at $157,000, but it could fluctuate widely. That estimate was challenged at the meeting by Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, who suggested the cost could be much higher.

Because the state Department of Environmental Conservation had set yesterday as the deadline for establishing the local sponsor, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell issued a letter saying the town would be the local sponsor, but that town and county atorneys were still negotiating an agreement by which the county would shoulder half the annual maintenance costs. The agreement is to be presented to the Suffolk Legislature next week.

“We haven’t seen the final plans and specs yet,” the supervisor said in an interview Tuesday, commenting that discussions with the Corps are difficult. “There are some serious considerations here for the town, in terms of cost, in terms of liability . . . how well is this designed; what is the likely outcome. . . .”

The Fire Island to Montauk project, under which more extensive rebuilding of the Montauk beach is expected, has been authorized by Congress, and funding for it appropriated, Mr. Cantwell said. But preliminary legal and planning steps are likely to delay any work on it until early 2017, according to Frank Verga, the Army Corps project manager. Financial arrangements for the downtown Montauk project, as an interim measure, would expire when the Army Corps completes the more permanent beach restoration. Maintenance costs for that project are to be shared by federal, state, and local municipalities according to an established formula. 

 

‘Our beaches are one of the most important assets we have, and every piece of it, every aesthetic piece of it, is important.’

— Supervisor Larry Cantwell

 

 

 

Besides the financial aspect of becoming the interim project’s local sponsor, “I think the town can be assuming some liability here,” Mr. Cantwell said. East Hampton has already been named, along with the county, state, and the Army Corps, in a lawsuit by Montauk property owners over the Corps’ installation of a jetty at the mouth of Montauk Harbor, which, the suit claims, has exacerbated nearby erosion.

Another complication is that before work on the downtown beach can begin, the town must obtain easements from oceanfront property owners allowing sand to be placed on slivers of private land to create a gradual slope to the beach. If any property owner balks, Mr. Cantwell said, “this project’s going to be delayed — that’s the bottom line.” It was reported at last week’s meeting that a New Jersey beach reconstruction project had been delayed for years while one municipality attempts to use eminent domain to obtain the land needed.

In addition to building the new dune, pedestrian walkways would be placed over it at each of the oceanfront road ends. Vehicle access has been proposed on the dune’s eastern end, at South Edison Street, and the town has asked for a second vehicle access at South Eton Street, the western entrance to the downtown area.

Two speakers last week argued against the use of geotextile bags to reinforce the dune. Kevin McAllister, the former Peconic baykeeper who has a background in coastal management, said the bags would have the same effect on the shoreline as hard structures, which accelerate erosion. “Two feet of sand over a hardened structure is nothing more than a veneer,” he said. “When exposed,” the bags will “act every bit as a rock revetment or seawall.”  He said the project should be limited to sand.

“In the big picture, we have to start retreating from the shore,” Mr. McAllister said. He suggested using the community preservation fund to acquire shoreline properties, a purpose for which the fund has been authorized in recent state legislation.

In a letter commissioned by the Surfrider Foundation, Robert S. Young, a geologist and director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines in North Carolina, concurred, calling the project’s design “ill conceived” and a bad precedent that would result in loss of the public beach in order to protect private properties.

Mr. Samuelson raised the question of whether the sand trucked in for the dune would be compatible with the natural sand, both visually and ecologically.  “There’s beach sand, and there’s quarry sand,” Mr. Samuelson said. Sand excavated from the beach to create a location for the geotextile bags would be used on top of the manmade dune, Lynn Bocamazo of the Army Corps’ New York District engineering division said, although imported sand could be used to fill the bags. Mr. Samuelson was not mollified. “When these bags break, our beach will be covered with upland quarry sand,” he said.

Mr. Cantwell agreed this week that which sand was used was important, noting that the issue had been raised with the state and Army Corps. “Our beaches are one of the most important assets we have, and every piece of it, every aesthetic piece of it, is important,” he said. Ms. Bocamazo said which sand was used could be spelled out.

Mr. Samuelson also questioned the dimensions and volume of the sand-filled bags as well as their placement. “I have not heard a resounding approval of this design from professionals,” Mr. Samuelson said. In fact, “I have heard the opposite, he said. Ms. Bocamazo’s response was that the design was based on engineering and was “an affordable solution.”

“Compatibility of sand, and the size and design” of the geotextile bag component remained “two open questions,” Mr. Cantwell said. He said Kim Shaw, the town’s natural resources director, had consulted with independent coastal geologists and shoreline experts about the Corps’ proposals, that their comments had been forwarded to the agency, but the issue remained “somewhat unresolved.”

A man who said he was  a beachfront motel owner asked what the area would look like when the project was underway. That information would impact his decision on when to reopen for next season, he said. Ms. Bocamazo said the contractor selected would set a schedule so that property owners would know when work was slated along their stretch of beach. The work would probably start at the eastern edge and move to the west, she said, with several bulldozers or front-end loaders plus other equipment occupying a possibly 100-by-100-foot area on the beach. There also would be several sand stockpiles, and attendant noise. On many Corps projects, work is conducted 24/7, she said, but this project would probably be limited to business hours.

 

 

Town Budget

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marked for programs for senior citizens in Montauk and at the East Hampton Senior Center, and to increase the hours of a cook for the nutrition program. A $10,800 allotment would cover a new, part-time youth coordinator in the Human Services Department.

Allocations to outside groups would be continued, such as $80,000 to the East Hampton Day Care Learning Center, $35,000 to the Project Most after-school program, and $50,000 to the Family Service League. In addition, a $25,000 grant would be made to the South Fork Behavioral Health Initiative to help cover the costs of providing mental and behavioral health services.

The East Hampton Historical Society would receive $20,000 toward repairs to the Second House Museum building in Montauk.

The executive assistant to the supervisor, a post held by Alex Walter, would become full time under the tentative budget. A 2-percent salary increase for department heads has been budgeted for, and provisions made for the settlement of a contract under negotiation with the Civil Service Employees Association.

Because of a financial deficit accrued under a previous administration, the town had to borrow $21 million in 2010 and 2011, and has been paying that off. The total now owed is $12.9 million. The supervisor has proposed moving $1.7 million of surplus next year to a reserve fund earmarked for debt repayment, which would bring that reserve to $2.9 million — enough to cover approximately 25 percent of the deficit borrowing still due. A $2.5 million principal payment is due next year.

The town currently has a fund balance totaling $18 million. The proposed budget would rely on a total of $677,499 in appropriations from fund balances and reserves. This year, $800,000 in set-aside money was used.

The budget relies on conservative estimates of income next year from mortgage tax and other revenue sources, such as grants, fees, and fines. While mortgage tax revenue this year is expected to reach almost $4.7 million, the proposed budget estimates $4.1 million coming in next year. “This is a cyclical revenue source subject to change in the real estate market, and it is prudent to be cautious in estimating this revenue,” according to the budget message.

Should mortgage taxes result in more income than expected next year, Mr. Cantwell said Tuesday, the overage would help the town improve its financial standing.

Closure of the town scavenger waste treatment plant this fall will save the town almost $460,000 next year, compared to this year’s budget.

A proposed spending plan for the community preservation fund, which is separate from the town’s operating funds and receives income from a 2-percent real estate transfer tax rather than property taxes, calls for $25 million to be spent next year on land purchases. As of Sept. 20, the preservation fund had a cash balance of just over $52 million, of which $30 million has been earmarked for pending acquisitions.

The current part-time position of environmental technician would become a full-time job, with the C.P.F. paying half the cost of the increased salary. Because the staffer would also help to manage properties not acquired with the preservation fund, the remainder of the salary would come from the town’s general fund.

C.P.F. revenue this year is expected to total $25.2 million. Next year’s spending plan was crafted with a “conservative projection” of $18.3 million in 2015 income in mind.

The town board will review and discuss the proposed budget at its next two work sessions, on Tuesday and Oct. 14, and will schedule a public hearing during November. A final vote on the budget must take place, according to state law, on or before Nov. 20.

 

The Springs community is planning a fund-raiser for a family that narrowly escaped a fire at its house on Saturday morning and lost everything to the flames. 

Judi Bistrian and her children, Violet, 11, and Roman, 4, got out of the burning house just moments before the windows began to explode, Ms. Bistrian said on Tuesday. Their two dogs and two turtles also made it out. "It's quite a miracle we're alive," she said. All three were transported to Southampton Hospital for observation for smoke inhalation. Ms. Bistrian was admitted for treatment and was released Saturday afternoon.

Her husband, Rob Bistrian, was on the third day of a commercial fishing trip at the time.

Their home of 13 years was destroyed. The family is staying with Ms. Bistrian's mother, Peggy Miller, and her husbnad, Chuck Miller, both members of the Springs Fire Department. Since the children were homeschooled, they've also lost their classroom and supplies. 

The fire's cause is still under investigation.

"I am not sad. I am not depressed. I am just thrilled to be alive and thrilled my children are alive and just in awe of my community," Ms. Bistrian said.

One of Ms. Bistrian's closest friends, Dawn Green, a lieutenant in the Springs Fire Department, which responded to the blaze, said the Bistrian family has been overwhelmed by the help they've received so far. "Harbor Bistro donated dinner to them, there's been an outpouring of food and toys and books and clothes — every crevice of East Hampton and Springs, especially, has just been amazing. Even food and stuff like that for the animals," Ms. Green said. 

However, she wants to ensure that her friends have money to replace what they still need. The benefit will be held on Saturday at the Springs Firehouse on Fort Pond Boulevard from 4 to 7 p.m. There will be live music, food, and a 50-50 raffle. Admission is $40. 

Donations by check can be sent to the Springs Presbyterian Church with "Bistrian" written on the memo line. The address is 5 Old Stone Highway, East Hampton 11937. Pastor Tony Larson has been helping organize the effort, along with Ann Glennon, the Springs Fire District treasurer and a firefighter. 

A mother and her two children barely escaped a fire that destroyed their house in Springs early Saturday morning. The family and a firefighter were taken to Southampton Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Springs Fire Department First Assistant Chief David King said the family, whose name was not released, was "very, very lucky" to make it out of their house at 787 Accabonac Road, next to Green River Cemetery. A call for help went out at about 4:20 a.m.

Amagansett Fire Department's First Assistant Chief Allen Bennett, who doesn't live far away and knows the family, was the first on scene and said the fire had already engulfed the entire house by that point. "When I rounded the corner from Neck Path onto Accabonac, you could see the glow in the sky," he said. "Thank God they got out." 

The family was outside the house when Chief Bennett arrived. Chief King said he wasn't sure if the woman or a passer-by called 911, but he believes the woman sustained injuries getting her children, two dogs, and two turtles out of the house. They were all taken to Southampton Hospital due to possible smoke inhalation, though the mother was kept for observation, officials said. 

The East Hampton Town fire marshal's office is investigating the fire's cause. Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said the fire does not appear to have been suspicious in origin. 

About 75 firefighters responded and quickly got the flames under control. Springs called for tankers from the East Hampton and Sag Harbor Fire Departments, and Amagansett's Rapid Intervention Team responded, as well. An East Hampton Fire Department engine stood by at Springs headquarters.

Emergency medical technicians from Springs and East Hampton Fire Departments responded along with the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association to help assess firefighters' conditions. One firefighter from Amagansett was treated and released from Southampton Hospital, according to Chief Bennett.

Signs of an active family remained amid the destruction. A "fresh eggs" sign hung on a fence out front, and children's play items were in the backyard. Chief King said the two-story, shingled house with blue trim was over 100 years old. It used to belong to his family on the Miller side, he said. 

Tax records indicate the one-acre property is owned by Judith Bistrian.

While he said he feels terrible for the family, who lost all of their belongings, Mr. King said, "Hopefully they can look back on this someday and say, 'How lucky we were to get out of there.' "

A five-finger discount happening lately at farm stands across Long Island Sound has found its way to East Hampton: the theft of corn.

When John Domanic, the hands-on half of the partnership that owns the Little Dog farm stand on Pantigo Road, came to work on Aug. 25, he knew immediately that hooligans had hit the stand — not only stealing but vandalizing as well.

“They took half the heirloom tomatoes and smashed the other half,” he said this week. Produce left in a cooler was stolen as well, along with two big sacks of corn. “They must have had a car,” the farmer said. “These things weigh 60 or 70 pounds each.”

The corn, the only thing sold at the stand not grown on the 10-acre site, which straddles the border between East Hampton Town and Village, is brought in daily from Polak Farms in Riverhead.

Worse yet was the damage done. The thieves knocked all the jams, pickles, and other jarred items to the floor, leaving it strewn with bits of preserves and glass shards. Mr. Domanic speculated that the sound of the jars smashing might have scared them away.

It was a big cleanup, on a day when he was at the stand by himself.

“They took stupid stuff. The white and red-checked towels, they stole all of them.” Mr. Domanic uses the towels to line baskets. He had cleaned them the day before at closing, and had hung them up to dry from a trellised roof above the stand.

“We work too hard,” he said. “Our margin is so slim.” He did not call the police, but plans to now that the season has ended.

He put up a sign that night, hoping the thieves would see it: “If your family is hungry, and you need food, come and speak to me. I will provide you all the food you need.”

With his partner, Marsha LaTessa, Mr. Domanic is in his second year of operation. Last season was a break-even year for Little Dog, he said, but this one was tougher. Besides two-legged thieves, the four-legged ones have been a problem. “The deer made a hole in the mesh fence,” he said. A doe and two fawns ate their way through his sunflowers before he discovered the gap, and he has had to bring in extra sunflowers from other local stands.

But, he said, the partners are in it for the long haul. Mr. Domanic takes great pride in the medicine wheel, an herb garden planted by Ms. LaTessa, as well as their many strains of tomato. In preparation for next year, he has already mapped out a larger growing area.

In Connecticut, where the theft of corn from farm stands has become a recurring problem, farmers are said to be planting feed corn, used for livestock, around the perimeter of their fields to confuse thieves. On Aug. 27, The New York Times reported on the theft of corn from farm stands in Bristol and Wethersfield.

 

A body was found floating in Montauk Harbor near Uihlein's Marina on Monday morning. 

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo confirmed that the body was off West Lake Drive Extension. An investigation is under way, he said, adding that no other information was available at this time. 

The chief did not say whether the body was that of a man or a woman, but it is believed to be a man. Despite rumors in Montauk and on Facebook as to the person's identity, the chief would not confirm his or her name as of 11:15 a.m. According to police, no one had been reported missing. 

The body was discovered sometime around 9:30 a.m.

Uihlein's Marina was bustling with police activity with detectives and East Hampton Town Marine Patrol on scene. Officials from Coast Guard Station Montauk are assisting, but deferred all questions to the town police.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have been in their Amagansett rental only a few days, and already a paparazzo has stirred up trouble.

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo confirmed that the Secret Service detained "a subject who appears to be a freelance photographer" on the property line of the Clintons' rental home Sunday night. 

Town police were called to assist at 44 Broadview Road in Amagansett at 7:58 p.m. 

Police confirmed the identity of the shutterbug, whose name was not publicly released, Chief Sarlo said. The man was released without criminal charges. 

The Clintons reportedly arrived on the South Fork on Wednesday for their annual summer holiday in the Hamptons. This year, they are renting a house overlooking Gardiner's Bay in the Bell Estate.

The future of the 19-acre parcel now called Amagansett Farm, purchased by East Hampton Town for $10.1 million in the spring, could include crop production, a center for local small farms and food producers, a horse rescue and breeding operation, or even a golf driving range, according to proposals that have been submitted to the town.

Six entities responded to a call for proposals, which were due last Thursday. They included the South Fork Country Club, in a partnership with Balsam Farms of Amagansett, which would like to use 60 to 65 percent of the farmland for a driving range, golf instruction area, putting greens, and other golf activities. Another portion would be farmed by Balsam Farms, which is owned by Alex Balsam, who is also an attorney, and Ian Calder-Piedmonte, a member of the town planning board.

Balsam Farms separately partnered with Amber Waves Farm, also of Amagansett, and Britton Bistrian, an Amagansett land use planner, on the Bunker Hill Corner Farm Collaborative proposal, which, they said, would allow use of some of the site by other local farmers and a beekeeper, who have already expressed interest.

Good Water Farms, an organic farm founded in Amagansett that specializes in growing microgreens, also envisions hosting others in the burgeoning local food and farming industry here should it be awarded use of the site by the town.

Jennifer Faga of Montauk submitted a proposal to establish a horse breeding and rescue facility that would provide educational programs for local residents who want to learn about equestrian activities and husbandry. She is a former breeder of Arabian horses and a member of the National Council of the Humane Society of the United States. A veterinary school alumna, Ms. Faga worked at Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk while growing up, ran a horse breeding operation for 23 years, and has served as a consultant to the Suffolk County Parks Department on an equestrian facility. “It’s my dream,” she said of what she envisions on the Amagansett site.

Also responding to the town’s request for proposals were Henry C. Blazer of Amagansett Farm, who could not be reached by press time, and George C. Stankevich, an Amagansett attorney. Town officials would not release the proposals that were submitted.

In a letter to the town, Mr. Stankevich said that he represents “several ultra-high net worth individuals, Fortune 500 companies, and local founding families” who were responding to the request for proposals. However, he said, he was “forbidden to disclose their identity or proceed further” until the town conducts an environmental analysis of the property, including a check for pollutants and an investigation of the water table and the structural integrity of the buildings.

The town’s criteria for proposals specified an agricultural use of the site, including use of a stable and residence there, as well as the ability for Soldier Ride, a nonprofit veterans’ organization founded in Amagansett, to continue to hold annual fund-raisers on the property.

The land was bought by the town using the community preservation fund for “the preservation of agricultural open space and recreation,” according to a town board resolution approving the deal. The purchase was put in motion after the land’s former owners proposed a large luxury senior housing development, prompting a public outcry.

Besides raising crops, the Bunker Hill Corner Farm Collaborative proposes a community garden, a public green and walking loop, and events such as agriculture classes and other educational programs, and farm-to-table meals.

In light of “a groundswell of new farms and farmers” in recent years, the partners wrote in their proposal, they “want to further this trend and re-establish farming as a cornerstone of the local experience,” focusing on sharing work and resources among local farmers.

Local food and farm-related organizations, such as the Amagansett Food Institute, Slow Food, or the Edible School Gardens groups, would be afforded use of a meeting room in the barn.

Bedrooms in the structures would be used for farm worker housing.

Hoop houses or other structures would be placed only in two sunken pits on the property, which would hide them from view and protect the property’s scenic vista.

The Bunker Hill partners have asked that a five-acre area for Soldier Ride’s use be excluded from the lease. They have offered an annual rent of $6,000 for the remaining acreage and the barn. They would pay more, they said, if the town allows on-site worker housing or undertakes the construction of a deer fence.

Good Water Farms has offered $70,000 rent for the first year, with 2-percent increases each subsequent year, and the golf club has offered $75,000, with maintenance and repair expenses, and utilities, estimated at $25,000 annually, to be borne by the town.

In addition to planting in-ground crops, Good Water Farms would set up its indoor microgreens cultivation area in a basement.  A greenhouse would be constructed in the sunken area of the land.

According to its proposal, a commercial kitchen would be made available for rent at a “reasonable rate” to local artisanal food producers.

A farmstand would be set up in the barn, with a year-round community-supported agriculture program available. The remaining barn area, according to the proposal, could be used for a variety of community activities, from health and wellness lectures to meetings of nonprofit groups, exhibits, or other events, similar to the use of Ashawagh Hall in Springs.

Office space would be offered, also at an affordable rate, to local not-for-profits, especially those involved in sustainable organic agriculture, food, health, and education, creating, the proposal says, “a support network for these organizations by housing them under one roof.”

Good Water Farms proposes using the kitchen for cooking demonstrations by chefs and nutritionists as well as for preparing community farm-to-table dinners.

Community farm plots would be offered, modeled on those at the East End Cooperative Organic Farm in East Hampton, also on public land, with fees based on a sliding scale depending on family size and financial need to “help address food scarcity issues for those in need.”

Good Water Farms also proposes creating a greenbelt around the land’s perimeter planted with wildflowers and with a walking trail.

Both farm groups’ proposals include plans to restore the health and fertility of the soil on the fields, where topsoil has likely been removed. Good Water Farms proposes soil testing for heavy metals or other harmful chemicals.

In its proposal, the South Fork Country Club, which has an 18-hole course and clubhouse on Old Stone Highway in Amagansett, not far from the town property, asserts that its plan to incorporate both agricultural and recreational use “is entirely consistent with the purpose of the acquisition,” which was described as both agricultural open space and recreation.

The driving range and other facilities, the club says, would be open and available to the public during daylight hours, and instructors would be available for private golf lessons and clinics. School teams, the club says, would be afforded use of the site.

Both Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell and his executive assistant, Alex Walter, have long been affiliated with the country club. Mr. Walter served on the club’s board of directors beginning in 2000, and was the president from 2003 through 2012. Mr. Cantwell was a board member during Mr. Walter’s tenure as president. Both stepped down from the board in 2012.

Both men said Tuesday that they will have no involvement in vetting the proposals. The submissions will likely be handed to the town’s community preservation fund committee to be evaluated and rated, Mr. Cantwell said. Tim Brenneman, the chairman of that committee, is also a country club member and will recuse himself from the review, Mr. Cantwell said.

 

A man and a woman  were arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens on Thursday night on charges in connection with making terrorist threats against the Jewish Center of the Hamptons over the past several months, East Hampton Village police said on Friday. 

Village detectives apprehended Asli Dincer, 44, and her former husband, Melih Dincer, 31, who live in Riverhead and are from Turkey, after they arrived on overseas flight.

Chief Gerard Larsen Jr. said the case began when written threats that had been sent to the Jewish Center, located on Woods Lane in East Hampton Village, were turned over to police.

The pair were wanted for questioning, but had left the country earlier this summer. "The investigation of the threats and the identification of the suspects was a joint effort between village police and detectives from both the Suffolk County Police Department and the New York State police working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force," he said in a press release on Friday afternoon. 

"We took the threat very serious and we took major precautions to make sure everybody at the Jewish Center was safe," Chief Larsen said Friday.

Both people are charged with making a terrorist threat and falsely reporting an incident in the first degree, both felonies, menancing in the second degree and conspiracy in the fifth degree, both misdemeanors. 

They will appear in East Hampton Justice Court for arraignment on Friday afternoon.

Suse and Peter Lowenstein have withdrawn their offer to give Ms. Lowenstein’s sculpture “Dark Elegy” to East Hampton Town for placement in Montauk’s Kirk Park, “with much regret.”

The sculpture was created to ­memorialize victims of terrorism, ­particularly the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which the Lowensteins’ son Alexander lost his life. It features 74 larger-than-life unclothed figures of grieving mothers, wives, and grandmothers who contacted Ms. Lowenstein to share their remembrances of their postures in the throes of grief.

The couple presented the idea and an overview of the sculpture at a town board meeting in May. The board said it would solicit the public’s opinion about the gift. Since then the proposed display of the sculpture at Kirk Park has engendered numerous letters to the editor and calls and emails to Town Hall, both pro and con.

Those in support of a permanent home for “Dark Elegy” in Montauk underscored its place as an emotional and moving tribute to any loss and to the effect of all acts of terrorism.

Those against the idea, while almost always acknowledging the Lowensteins for their offer and regretting their loss, raised questions about the emotional impact of the sculpture, the nudity, and the appropriateness of positioning it so centrally at Kirk Park.

In a letter of their own to The Star this week, the Lowensteins said that “after serious and amicable discussion with [Larry Cantwell, the East Hampton Town Supervisor], it was made clear to us that this gift is seen to be having the effect of dividing the town of East Hampton; specifically Montauk.”

“We do not want to initiate a split among the residents of the town we love,” the couple said. The opposition to a permanent home in Montauk for the sculpture “is very disappointing,” they wrote.

The sculpture has been on display for many years in the Lowensteins’ garden in Montauk at 11 East Lake Drive. It is open to the public daily, all year round, from 10 a.m. to noon. Thousands come each year to see the piece, including many affected by the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The couple had proposed having the original work, of steel and synthetic stone, cast in bronze. The cost of that, which Ms. Lowenstein described earlier this year as a “multimillion-dollar project,” would be paid with the Lowensteins’ portion of the $2.7 billion compensation payment made to the families of Lockerbie victims by Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi’s Libyan government, which acknowledged responsibility for the bombing in 2003.

“We didn’t want to spend it for anything else but this,” Ms. Lowenstein had said of the money. The couple had also offered to cover the cost of moving and installing the work.

The sculpture has been exhibited in a number of communities throughout the Northeast. A proposal sponsored by Representative Tim Bishop to have it installed in Washington, D.C., was rejected in 2008 by the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission, because the work was “too raw” and not generic enough as a tribute to victims of all acts of terrorism, Ms. Lowenstein said in May.

Mr. Cantwell said yesterday that there had been “significant input” from residents about the sculpture, and that “it seems fairly certain from those discussions . . . there’s a difference of opinion about whether locating ‘Dark Elegy’ at Kirk Park is a good thing or not.”

“I think this was a gracious gift offer,” he said. “And it makes a profound, worldwide statement about terrorism.” But, the supervisor said, for him it was “always a question about how does the community of Montauk feel about using Kirk Park for this artwork. It seems clear to me, Montauk is split.” To accept the gift and site it there, he said, “would require much stronger support.”

The Montauk Historical Society, which is planning a Native American museum on the Second House property adjacent to Kirk Park, was among the supporters of the offer.

The East Hampton Arts Council, a fairly new advisory committee to the town board, has recommended revolving, rather than permanent, art installations at public sites.

Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, who has worked to spearhead the use of the town-owned Duck Creek Farm property for several art installations, said yesterday that he would like to see management plans created for public sites outlining allowable uses, including art exhibits. “It’s important to have art in public places,” he said. “It’s equally important to have it done in an orderly way.”

Mr. Van Scoyoc said that he had hoped that another suitable site could be found in the town for “Dark Elegy.” The Lowensteins’ offer, he said, was “very generous. It’s a very, very moving piece.”

An $6.5 million expansion and renovation of the East Hampton Library, which added 6,800 square feet housing a new children's reading room and the Baldwin Family Lecture Room, will be unveiled Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony, a musical performance by the East Hampton Middle School Bonnettes, tours, refreshments, and entertainment for children are planned. There will be a presentation of prizes to elementary and middle school students who submitted entries in the library's writing and drawing contest by the actor Alec Baldwin, who has donated substantial sums to the library.

Saturday's ceremony caps a years-long effort to raise money and complete the expansion and renovation. The opening will be commemorated with the placement of various items into a time capsule.

"It's been a long haul," Tom Twomey, the library's director, said. "We're very excited about the opening."

At approximately 4,000 square feet, the children's section is large and bright, including areas dedicated to age groups from birth through eighth grade. It allows for 10,000 more children's books, new computers, and other technology. Each area will have its own collection, computers, and furniture.

The Baldwin Family Lecture Room, on the lower level of the addition, will be used for film screenings, poetry readings, lectures, children's programs, and author and book events, and will house a state-of-the-art audio-visual system. In a partnership with the New York Public Library, the new system, which includes a 7-by-12-foot screen, will allow streaming of that library's programs, as well as content from other institutions worldwide, directly into the room. Mr. Baldwin's $1 million gift, bestowed in November, "made all the difference in the world as far as being able to outfit and install very sophisticated equipment," Mr. Twomey said. Mr. Baldwin, who is honorary chairman of the library's annual Authors Night fund-raiser, also donated $250,000 to local libraries, including East Hampton's, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The library's existing spaces and infrastructure have undergone a thorough refurbishing, such as painting, upgrades to furnaces, and new carpeting, shelving, air-conditioning and heating, fire sprinklers, alarms, and landscaping. including a children's "secret garden." For the latter component, Mr. Twomey said that Marders Garden Center and Nursery of Bridgehampton had been "stunningly generous." Without Marders, he said, "We couldn't have finished this job right."

The Hedges Room has been renovated and will now house media including DVDs and CDs. The Ed and Frances Barlow Media Room, where digital media was previously situated, will be an adult reading room that Mr. Twomey said would feature an elegant, living room-type atmosphere with seating. It has been renamed the Ed and Frances Barlow Reading Room. The project also included the addition of 16 parking spaces and a dedicated space for the library's sale of donated books on amazon.com. A second elevator allows for the entire building to be accessible to the handicapped.

The latest project represents the second of a two-phase initiative, following a $3.5 million expansion and renovation, completed in 1997, in which the brick courtyard and the side of the building housing the adult fiction collection, the Horticulture Room, the director's office, and the rear entrance were added, said Dennis Fabiszak, the library's director. The $10 million represented by the two phases was contributed entirely by local residents, and "not a penny from taxpayer money," Mr. Twomey said. "East Hampton always had a tradition, going back to 1912, of raising that from generous individuals in the community." As of last week, the library's leadership was still seeking to raise $250,000 to complete the project.