The East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to authorize an agreement with Hampton Hopper to provide the town’s “last mile” shuttle service when the Long Island Rail Road expands East End service on March 4.

The shuttles will take people from Long Island Rail Road stations to commercial districts throughout the town and return them to the stations, coinciding with the introduction of expanded rush-hour train service originating in Speonk.

Hampton Hopper, which has operated an app-based shuttle network comprising converted school buses since 2014, offered the most flexibility, cost-efficiency, and reliability among the respondents to its request for proposals, according to the board. It is to cover routes using two 25-passenger buses. Exact routes are to be determined and subject to modification based on ridership.

The Towns of East Hampton and Southampton were awarded a $500,000 grant from New York State, which is to be split evenly, with each town independently contracting with a shuttle provider. Hampton Hopper will be paid an amount not to exceed $305,500 for the period from March this year through April 1, 2020.  

The East Hampton Town Board last Thursday authorized the $900,000 purchase of an approximately 3.92-acre parcel on Route 114 just outside Sag Harbor on which up to 27 units of affordable housing will be constructed.

The property is adjacent to cottages owned by the Sag Harbor Community Housing Trust, and there is potential for the sites to be developed in conjunction with one another. Despite their proximity to Sag Harbor, both parcels are in the Wainscott School District, whose board registered its opposition to the plan at a public hearing before the vote.

David Eagan, president of the Wainscott School Board, which opposed a previous effort to create affordable housing in the hamlet, said that the district “takes no position on the concept of affordable housing or this board’s policy of seeking to build additional town-sponsored or initiated housing projects.” It does, however, take a strong position on “our community’s desire to preserve and continue the historical mission of our unique school district.” That mission, he said, is character-

ized by the kindergarten-through-third-grade schoolhouse’s open-classroom format, which “promotes a highly collaborative and caring learning environment,” that has been the district’s model since 1730.

Despite having just 279 year-

round residents, its 129 students from ­prekindergarten through 12th grade who live in the hamlet make up 46.23 percent of the population, Mr. Eagan said. Moreover, “Wainscott has multi-

ple multifamily units that are used for affordable housing.” 

But those statistics were cherry-picked, complained David Buda, who said that the hamlet could easily absorb an influx of school-age children resulting from an affordable housing development. The school tax rate in Wainscott, he said, is a tiny fraction of that in Springs, where he lives. “I think the Wainscott district can cope with this,” he said. “The town needs affordable housing.” 

More speakers sided with Mr. Buda than with Mr. Eagan. On behalf of the Sag Harbor Community Housing Trust, Ed Reale, who is on the trust’s board, voiced support for the acquisition, as well as a joint venture or some other cooperative arrangement by which the adjacent properties’ housing potential could be enhanced. 

Mr. Reale said that his son “had a treasured experience at the Wainscott School. He, his brother, and almost all of their childhood friends can no longer afford to live here. . . . That, to me, is very telling.” 

Arthur Schiff, representing a group called Progressive East End Reformers (PEER), spoke of a “critical need for affordable work-force, next-generation, and senior rental apartments.” 

Michael Hanson of Wainscott summarized supporters’ argument in favor of the acquisition for affordable housing. “The woman at the King Kullen that I chat with, she lives in Manorville. My mechanic lives in Riverhead. The employee at our post office in Wainscott, he lived in Moriches, and the commute in the summer was nearly three hours. . . .  That’s what we’re dealing with in Wainscott.”

After the hearing was closed and the board voted to purchase the property, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said that, “We have to be able to figure out how to accommodate this need and do so as quickly as possible, without abandoning our values.” He acknowledged the concerns of the plan’s opponents, but said that, “if we’re not going to take care of our community” and allow new generations to continue living in East Hampton, “we’ve really lost some­thing important, a core of who we are as a community.”

The town will purchase the property, at 780 Route 114, from the Triune Baptist Church, which acquired the land in 1993 but fell short in its effort to raise money to construct a church at the site.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced that he had reversed his position and now opposed the South Fork Wind Farm, a 15-turbine installation proposed to be constructed approximately 35 miles off Montauk.

Mr. Thiele's statement cited what he called "the classic 'bait and switch' " on the part of its developer, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, formerly Deepwater Wind. He had given the project his qualified support last year.

A spokesman for Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind said the company was confused by Mr. Thiele's about-face.

In his May 2018 statement, issued as the East Hampton Town Board and the town trustees were debating an easement or lease to the offshore wind developer so that it could bring the wind farm's transmission cable ashore in the town and bury it on a path to a Long Island Power Authority substation, Mr. Thiele expressed his support for renewable energy, including wind power.

"Through legislation, capital investment, and public statements, I have demonstrated support for a clean energy future for eastern Long Island and New York State that is based upon renewable energy," he wrote. "I have also supported producing and conserving energy locally to avoid the need for more above-ground transmission lines to import power to our communities."

His support for offshore wind power in May 2018 should not have been construed as a rubber stamp for every offshore wind proposal, he wrote on Thursday. He referred to the concerns of the commercial fishing industry, which is almost uniformly opposed to the South Fork Wind Farm.

"Since my statement in May, two important changes have occurred," he wrote. One is Deepwater Wind's acquisition by Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, Denmark's largest energy company and the world's largest offshore wind developer. "Second, shortly after acquisition by Orsted, I have read that the project would utilize larger turbines and that the size of the project would increase from 90 megawatts to 130 megawatts, or a 44-percent increase."

The change in output capacity, Clint Plummer, Orsted's head of market strategies and new projects, had said in November, was a result of advances in turbine technology, with larger and more efficient models developed since the wind farm was first designed. The initial proposal for the installation, made in 2015, was based on 6-megawatt turbines, whereas 8, 10, and 12-megawatt turbines have since become available.

But this, Mr. Thiele said, "is the classic 'bait and switch.' What we were originally told about the project and its goals are no longer true. A project originally proposed by an American company to address the growing energy needs of eastern Long Island, now is to be part of the portfolio of an international energy giant, whose first decision was a 44-percent increase in the size of the project. We are left to imagine what other changes might be made or what other projects might show up on our doorstep in the future. . . . Because of the 'bait and switch' tactics of Deepwater/Orsted, I cannot trust them with my community's future."

He also cited concern about LIPA's "ill-considered policy of denying public access to the Deepwater agreement under the guise of confidentiality," for which he said there is no legitimate basis. He said that he would introduce legislation during the upcoming session "making it clear that these kinds of agreements are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. LIPA can either make the agreement public now or be compelled to make it public when my bill is enacted into law."

A spokesman for Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind said in an email on Thursday, "We are as committed as ever to building an offshore wind farm that the South Fork can be proud of. The South Fork Wind Farm is the most affordable solution for the South Fork's energy needs, and that's a major reason why the community has overwhelmingly supported the project for years. We stand ready to make historic investments in East Hampton, including support of the commercial fishing community."

"Thanks to technology advancements," Orsted's statement continues, "we can now provide even more clean energy to the South Fork, at an even lower price. We've talked publicly about what our new ownership, and our expanded project, mean for Long Island. We've requested multiple times over the course of the last four months to meet with Assemblyman Thiele to brief him on the facts -- that offer still stands. Frankly, we're confused why Assemblyman Thiele was such a strong and vocal supporter of the 90-megawatt project, but now opposes the project when it's capable of producing even more clean energy for his constituents at a lower price."

East Hampton Town’s community oyster garden program, under which individuals and families can grow up to 1,000 oysters and keep half of them, will expand further this year, if the town trustees agree to a request made on Monday. 

John (Barley) Dunne, director of the town’s shellfish hatchery, which seeds town waterways with juvenile oysters, clams, and scallops each year, told the trustees that the program, launched in Three Mile Harbor in 2016, has been a resounding success, with “tons of people on a waiting list” to participate. In its second year, the program, intended to encourage residents to be stewards of the environment while enhancing shellfish stocks, was expanded from 15 to 40 plots in Three Mile Harbor, and a second site at Hog Creek was added. It expanded again last year, with 11 growers in Accabonac Harbor.

This year Mr. Dunne said, “we’re hoping to add Napeague to the network, if you will,” while growing the Accabonac Harbor site to around 20 plots. 

A community preservation fund purchase of a parcel at the end of Crassen Boulevard, where a house was subsequently removed, would provide access to Napeague Harbor, Mr. Dunne said. “The only downfall is it’s also very shallow,” he said of the water there. “So this one, I think, would be a little farther offshore, and would probably be a wading spot,” whereas gardeners can access oyster cages from the shore at the other sites. But as most activity will happen in warmer months, it’s “not too torturous,” he said. And, “it allows people to get out there, get in the water, get muddy.” 

Known as the East Hampton Shellfish Education Enhancement Directive, or EHSEED, the program is modeled on Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Southold Projects in Aquaculture Training (SPAT) on the North Fork. Under New York State guidelines, participants are limited to 1,000 oysters and can harvest half that number. 

Residents of the town are given priority to take part. The cost, $250 per individual or family and $150 each year thereafter, includes oysters, gear, and instruction. Last year, residents who own a dock also became eligible for the program, with one waterfront resident at Accabonac Harbor and two at Hog Creek taking part, for a first-year fee of $350. 

The program encourages residents to be stewards of the environment while enhancing shellfish stocks. A single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day, while the gear provides habitat for crabs, nursery fish, and other marine life. Seeding waterways with the “filter-feeding, habitat-producing, nitrogen-sequestering” bivalve mollusks, Mr. Dunne said, both benefits the marine environment and enriches its stewards. “We’re increasing outreach and local knowledge about the existence of our hatchery,” he said. 

This year’s program will launch with a lecture and workshop at the hatchery, on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk, on March 2, Mr. Dunne told the trustees. Participants will learn about brood stock conditioning, shellfish biology, and algae culture. More educational events will follow on March 30 and April 27, the latter at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton. 

A nursery tour is scheduled for May 25, and seed will be distributed on June 22. A tour of the gardening sites is scheduled on July 27, and Kim Teatrault of Cornell Cooperative Extension is to give a talk on the history of New York shellfish in September. The program will also include a cocktail party at Bay Kitchen Bar in Springs on Memorial Day weekend, and another event on Labor Day weekend, Mr. Dunne said. 

The trustees, who have jurisdiction over many of the town’s waterways and bottomlands, seemed agreeable to adding Napeague Harbor to the program, and indicated that they could move toward authorizing the expansion at their next meeting, on Feb. 11.

Members of the Coast Guard stationed in Montauk and Shinnecock, like others throughout the country, did not receive expected paychecks on Tuesday as a result of the federal government shutdown, which is entering its 27th day today. One-time emergency paychecks went out at the end of last month, but Coast Guard employees are now continuing to work without compensation.

The Coast Guard is the only branch of the military unable to pay its members during the shutdown because its funding comes from the Department of Homeland Security. All other branches of the military receive funding from the Department of Defense, whose fiscal 2019 budget was approved before the shutdown.

“Unfortunately, without an appropriation, a continuing resolution, or another legislative measure, the Coast Guard will not be able to meet the 15th payroll,” was the message on the Coast Guard’s web page. 

Coast Guard Station Montauk is an active search and rescue and law enforcement unit, which operates in Gardiner’s and Napeague Bays, Block Island Sound, and the South Shore of Long Island, as well as areas along coastal Connecticut.

On Monday, Coast Guard Station Shinnecock updated its Facebook page, stating, “Due to the lapse in federal funding, information on this social media site may not be up to date.” The message came shortly before Coast Guard employees were to receive paychecks. 

New York Fish, a grassroots organization dedicated to recreational and commercial fishing, has stepped into the financial vacuum by fund-raising on behalf of the Coast Guard. The organization is funneling donations to the Long Island Chief Petty Officers Association, a fraternal organization, since legally donations cannot be given directly to the Coast Guard. 

“The men and women of the Coast Guard are heroes” and “fishermen recognize this,” Daniel G. Rodgers, the New York Fish director, said. “All of it . . . every penny” will be donated directly to members of the Long Island Coast Guard.

The money will be used to help members of the Coast Guard buy food and gas and make mortgage and car payments. Donations can be mailed to Long Island C.P.O.A., P.O. Box 71, West Sayville 11796. Information can be found on the New York Fish Facebook page and website.

The local Coast Guard took part in recovering a plane that crashed in the ocean off Amagansett in June, killing its occupants, who were highly regarded members of the community. A few weeks later, the Coast Guard saved seven people from a sinking ship in the waters off Montauk Point. These are only a few examples on a long list of vital efforts.

An egregious encroachment on waters that have been sailed for generations, or a not-in-my-backyard intransigence that impedes environmental and economic gain for East Hampton residents? Both opinions were aired long and loud at the Jan. 9 informational session on a 10-year review of the Suffolk County Aquaculture Lease Program at Town Hall.

Hosted by the town trustees, the event was billed as an opportunity for public comment on the program, under which parcels are leased within a delineated zone for private, commercial shellfish cultivation, and which resulted in a lawsuit by the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett against multiple parties, including holders of lease sites. That lawsuit was settled last week (as is reported elsewhere in this issue). 

New York State ceded title to approximately 100,000 acres of bottomland to Suffolk County in 2004 and authorized the county to implement an aquaculture lease program. Over a three-and-a-half-year development process, the county delineated a 29,969-acre cultivation zone in which leases would be issued, identifying 859 10-acre lease grids, each with a 10-acre buffer zone, though the program had a 600-acre cap over its first 10 years. 

Twenty-two of those lease sites are in town waters. Just two are in use, but 12 leases are pending, said Susan Filipowich, a senior environmental analyst with the county’s Planning Department. 

At issue, among those complaining about oyster cultivation in Gardiner’s Bay at the Jan. 9 meeting, are the gear used to grow them. Rather than situating gear on the bay bottom, oyster farmers use floating cages, kept at the surface by pontoons. These, some at the meeting said, present both an eyesore and a navigational hazard, the latter prompting the yacht club’s lawsuit. 

Many of those offering comment prefaced their remarks with the assertion that they support aquaculture. Curtis Schade, the Devon Yacht Club’s commodore, said that he supported the goals of the program, “but the floating gear makes the surface of our bays unusable for others.” Floating oyster cages represent “the taking of a public resource for the benefit of a private individual,” he said. The 22 lease sites in East Hampton are “all clustered in one of the most actively used areas of the bay.” 

Reading a statement from Concerned Citizens of Gardiner’s Bay that she said was signed by approximately 78 home owners, Christina Islay said that the group supports a clean and healthy bay and opportunities for fishermen to harvest, but does not support “allowing surface equipment and gear to be placed in locations that are frequented by boaters, sailors, or other recreational users, or destroy scenic views of residents and visitors to our nearby parks.” 

Cages have broken free of their moorings and floated to the shore, where they are difficult to move, speakers said. The stench of rotting oysters from such cages is another problem, they said. 

Peter Mendelman, an owner of Seacoast Enterprises, which operates four marinas in Three Mile Harbor, said he is also in favor of aquaculture, but spoke of nearly hitting a cage’s buoy while delivering a boat to Montauk. 

“It’s a public-use area, and boats go fast though there,” he said. “Surface gear is extraordinarily dangerous.” He advised that lessees have insurance, given our litigious society. “Please,” he said, “put the gear on the bottom. Surface gear is a major conflict.” 

Patrick Coleman of Amagansett likened the conflict to that at the national level over construction of a wall on the United States-Mexico border. “You’ve got everyone in favor of border security, but can’t come to a satisfactory conclusion. It seems that everyone is in favor of the oyster grower, we just have to figure out how to coexist with that recreational user.” 

Floating cages “seem to be in conflict” with the goals of the town’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan, Mr. Coleman said, reading passages from the L.W.R.P. that emphasize preservation of panoramic water views and the prevention of man-made structures. “That floating gear is not aesthetically pleasing, and hundreds of contiguous acres of floating black plastic pontoons covered in bird droppings destroys our scenic vistas.” 

But Bob Valenti of Multi Aquaculture Systems on Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett, who holds one of the active leases in town waters, said that there are important reasons for oyster growers to float cages. “One of the reasons you float the cages is not to become an obstruction, but simply because in the spring and summer, the phytoplankton that they eat” is plentiful near the surface. “All these animals do is filter seawater,” he said. 

Growing oysters on the bay bottom is problematic, he said. “Bad weather flips the cages, the wonderful oysters can’t move, and get suffocated under the sand and die.” His approximately 30 floating cages are almost 1,500 feet offshore, in waters as shallow as four feet, and are submerged in the winter months, he said.  

Adam Younes of Promised Land Mariculture Company agreed. Floating cages allow significantly faster growth, protection from predators and parasites, easier access, and reduced labor costs, “not to mention that they look and taste better because they’re not covered in muck,” he said. A strong bottom current topples cages, which become buried by shifting sand, leading to suffocation. 

It is neither logical nor reasonable “for industry outsiders to demand I use a certain type of gear,” Mr. Younes said. Floating gear is “an integral part of the modern-day oyster aquaculture operation.” His lease site is 2,000 

feet offshore, he said, allowing ample space “for other stakeholders to enjoy the nearshore beach area unimpeded by an oyster farm.” 

Remarks from Chuck Westfall, an oyster farmer, caused an outcry. “The entire program is utilizing less than 1 percent of the surface area — a fraction of 1 percent is what is actually being used now. That’s after 10 years. I don’t see how less than 1 percent of the total surface area can create all this navigational hazard we’re talking about. . . . It’s a Nimby issue.

The room erupted in groans and murmurs, prompting East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc to demand that they let him speak. 

“I didn’t think I’d be popular,” Mr. Westfall quipped. 

Stephen Frattini, a veterinarian who works with fish farmers and has a practice in Dutchess County, reminded the audience that this country is the second-largest consumer of seafood yet imports 90 percent of its supply. “The East End of Long Island is on the leading edge of aquaculture in the United States,” he said. “If we’re going to make a national move to decrease our reliance on foreign and imported seafood, it’s going to come from aquaculture.”

Rather than constricting the program, he asked that it be expanded and that “regulatory efficiencies” be built in. “Let’s try to make aquaculture in New York and the United States the best it can be.”

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, and Councilman David Lys have announced their intentions to seek the Democratic Party's nomination to run for re-election in November.

Mr. Van Scoyoc, Ms. Overby, and Mr. Lys announced their intentions to the East Hampton Democratic Committee at its meeting on Wednesday.

Mr. Van Scoyoc, who was elected to the town board in 2011 and re-elected in 2015, is halfway through his first two-year term as supervisor. Ms. Overby, also elected to the board in 2011, is in the final year of her second four-year term.

Mr. Lys was appointed to the board one year ago to the seat vacated by Mr. Van Scoyoc upon his election to supervisor. He won election to the seat in November, with 71.4 percent of the vote, for the final year of Mr. Van Scoyoc's term.

According to a statement issued by the Democratic Committee, Mr. Van Scoyoc spoke of the town board's work, under his supervision, on water quality protection and remediation, renewable energy, affordable housing, historic preservation, and resiliency planning. Protection of ground and surface waters, through legislative efforts and water quality improvement projects, will remain a priority, as well as furtherance of renewable energy efforts.

Councilwoman Overby told the committee that she looks forward to continuing to address affordable housing needs. The town board voted unanimously on Thursday to acquire an approximately 3.92-acre parcel on Route 114, for $900,000, on which up to 27 units are to be constructed. "Each little bit counts," she said, according to the Democratic Committee's statement, "and with this project we will have increased our affordable housing throughout the town and provided more affordable opportunities for families and seniors." She also referred to advancing the comprehensive plan's hamlet study process.

Should he earn the committee's nomination, Mr. Lys will conduct his first election for a full four-year term. The committee will also screen candidates for assessor, superintendent of highways, and for the nine trustee positions, seven of which are now held by Democrats. Betty Mazur, the committee's vice chairwoman, is making appointments for prospective candidates who wish to screen.

The nominating process is happening earlier this year than in years past, following the New York State Legislature's passage of several election reform measures last week. Among the reforms is the consolidation of the federal and state primaries, which will now be held on the same day. Last year's primary election was held in September. This year, it will be held in June. Thus, nominating petitions will be carried in February and March instead of in June and July.

As members of the Coast Guard stationed in Montauk and Shinnecock continue to stand watch, braving dangerously low temperatures on the water without the benefit of a paycheck in this fifth week of the partial government shutdown, the East Hampton community is coming together to take care of them.

"We are doing all we are able to do to get the support of the local community to support our Montauk Coast Guard,” said Summer Borsack, who, with her husband, Joshua Borsack, started a drive at his business, Strong Insurance Agency in East Hampton. "It not only helps meet their obvious immediate needs, but to build morale as these people are working without pay in freezing weather conditions," Ms. Borsack said.

There are 27 members at Coast Guard Station Montauk and 11 assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Bonito, a separate unit out of Montauk. Most live in Montauk or Springs. A few who work at Coast Guard Station Shinnecock also live in Springs. They are among 42,000 active-duty Coast Guard members who did not receive pay on Jan. 15, the first time in the nation's history that service members have not been paid during a shutdown, according to a statement from Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz.

About 800,000 federal workers have been furloughed or forced to work without pay since the shutdown began on Dec. 22. President Donald Trump is demanding $5.7 billion to pay for wall at the southern border, and he is at an impasse with the Democrat-controlled House, with neither willing to approve funding-tied legislation. 

Unlike other branches of the military, the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security, whose agencies are affected by the shutdown. Active-duty personnel are considered essential workers who must continue their duties with the promise they will receive back pay. When, however, no one knows. 

The uncertainty has triggered several members of the community to collect donations for their neighbors who are serving in the Coast Guard.

The East Hampton Food Pantry is also answering the call to help and has started a collection for the Station Montauk families. "We want to show our appreciation for these brave men and women for what they do to help protect and serve the community,” said Vicki Littman, the chairwoman of the food pantry. Those wishing to contribute are asked to drop off nonperishable foods at the food pantry building behind Town Hall at 159 Pantigo Road in East Hampton, Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

The Borsacks have had several friends who served in the Coast Guard over the years. After checking in with the family of a Coast Guard member who runs the cutter out of Montauk, they were moved to lend a hand. "It started off with a small conversation, seeing how their family is doing. It evolved into something bigger fairly quickly after seeing there was an immediate need," Ms. Borsack said.

In just a few short days since the drive began last week, the Borsacks collected nonperishable foods, hygiene products, paper products, gift cards, and more. "The community has been so generous," Mr. Borsack said. 

The American Legion in Amagansett is taking donations daily between 2 and 7 p.m. for Coast Guard families, asking for gift cards to local restaurants and grocery stores, monetary gift cards, and toiletries, canned goods, and other essential items. 

Both the Borsacks and the American Legion are working with the United States Coast Chief Petty Officers Association, a nonprofit made up of active and retired Coast Guard members that is not affiliated with the Coast Guard, an important point because federal ethics regulations prohibit members from directly accepted donations. However, the Coast Guard's legal officials in New London issued a determination recently that allows Coasties to accept donations through the C.P.O.A. because it disseminates donations equally and does not favor those with a higher rank.

A truckload of groceries was picked up at Strong Insurance on Friday and the monetary donations that have come in so far have been handed over, as well. The Borsacks are trying to distribute the donations almost as quickly as they receive them. 

The couple, members of East Hampton Presbyterian Church who also serve on boards there, said the church offered monetary donations through the board of deacons and its mission committee and even held a special offering on Sunday to give to the C.P.O.A. Mr. Borsack said Monday that the church and deacons have pledged over $4,000 to the cause.

Scot McCachren, the church pastor, also reached out to the East Hampton Clericus, made up of churches and synagogue leaders on the South Fork, for donations. "We have also reached out to local civic organizations for donations. We are members of Rotary, and they agreed to a donation of $1,000. One of the carriers we work with through Strong Insurance Agency, Security Mutual, is looking to make a donation," Ms. Borsack said. Some local businesses, like One Stop Market and Luigi's, have donated gift cards. She is trying to get donations from the grocery stores as well.

"It's so important that the Coast Guard experience community support during this time. We can be present for them while they are working hard without pay," Ms. Borsack said.

Meanwhile, other members of the business community are also finding ways to help. At East Hampton Physical Therapy in Montauk, military and furloughed government employees can enjoy free physical therapy services for the next two weeks. "We can’t take your financial pain away, but we can certainly help with your physical pain," Dr. Rachel Lys posted on her office’s Facebook page.

By phone on Monday, Dr. Lys said she saw that a friend in the Coast Guard who used to live in Montauk but lives in Georgia now, was asking for toilet paper. "It really pulled at my heart. It's through no fault of their own. Their job is keeping us safe, and they can't even provide for their own," she said.  

Strong Insurance Agency, which is at 41 Pantigo Road, across from the East Hampton Post Office, will take donations Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (The office is closed Monday in observance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.) 

Requested items include nonperishable food, toilet paper, personal hygiene items, toiletries, laundry items, trash bags, paper towels, cleaning items, and gift cards to local food stores and eateries, for entertainment, and for gas. Checks can be payable to the Chief Petty Officers Association. Ms. Borsack can be reached at [email protected].   

With winds still blowing fine topsoil from Amagansett farm fields into the hamlet’s adjacent commercial district and anxious residents demanding action, the Town of East Hampton announced a plan on Tuesday that includes the placement of straw atop the barren fields and installation of snow fencing to help keep it in place.

On Tuesday afternoon, straw delivered from another farm was being laid down on the field immediately north of the business district using a bale-shredding machine lent to the effort by Alex Balsam of Balsam Farms, who is chairman of the town’s agricultural advisory committee. Balsam Farms has fields off Town Lane in Amagansett, and in East Hampton.

“We don’t use the machine for this practice,” Mr. Balsam said on Tuesday morning, “but we certainly think it will have a positive impact. We use the machine to mulch during the growing season between rows of growing crops like tomatoes, melons, and strawberries, but we’re pretty sure we can adjust it to broadcast straw out more.”

Fencing was delivered and is to be installed “as soon as practicable,” according to a statement from Town Hall issued on Tuesday afternoon. “Right now the ground is probably rock-hard frozen,” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said Tuesday afternoon. The temperature surpassed 40 degrees yesterday, however, and rain and a high of 53 degrees were forecast for today, which he hoped would allow stakes to be driven into the earth.

Tuesday’s action followed the supervisor’s meeting last week with Barry Bistrian, whose family owns the field north of the municipal parking lot off Amagansett’s Main Street; Peter Dankowski, the farmer who leases the land; Corey Humphrey, district manager of the Suffolk County Soil and Water Conservation District, and Mr. Balsam to develop a plan to mitigate a situation that brought dozens of residents to the Jan. 14 meeting of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee and last Thursday’s meeting of the town board. At both meetings, residents complained that the dust represents a public health emergency. It has blanketed the commercial core inside and out, including the Amagansett School.

In a letter to parents and guardians of Amagansett School students dated Friday, Seth Turner, the superintendent, said that a presentation and discussion of the situation would be held at the school board’s meeting on Tuesday evening “regarding the steps taken by school officials to address concerns” over the dust. “The health, safety, and welfare of our students is our highest priority, and every effort is being made to insure the school facility is conducive to learning.” The “outdoor air quality,” Mr. Turner wrote, had been a factor in the decision to hold recess indoors on Jan. 11, and “additional steps were taken to temporarily reduce outdoor air vent intakes to limit the dust from coming into the school.”

Last Thursday, the town board authorized an expenditure of up to $2,500 to the FPM Group, an environmental remediation services provider, for an analysis of the soil, after Amagansett residents worried aloud about arsenic, once used as a pesticide, or other, unknown compounds in the soil. Toxins aside, the tiny soil particles themselves, which have been compared in size to flour, are worrisome to residents who fear that they and their children are inevitably ingesting it.

Soil testing was conducted on Tuesday, with results expected in about one week, Mr. Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday. Mr. Bistrian “is confident that results would not show elevated levels of arsenic,” the town’s statement said, as the field was used for dairy pasturage until the 1960s, after farmers had discontinued use of the chemical.

Mr. Van Scoyoc’s office, according to the statement, contacted the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Air Resources about air quality concerns posed by the dust storms, and was informed that the measures the town is taking are those that the D.E.C. itself would implement.

After complaints about the dust storms reached the town board, Councilman Jeff Bragman suggested legislation requiring that farmers plant a cover crop after the fall harvest. The lack of such cover is blamed for this winter’s conditions. While Mr. Dankowski did plant a cover crop after harvesting potatoes, the crop did not take hold, owing to an unusually wet autumn.

Mr. Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday that Mr. Bistrian and Mr. Dankowski will not plant potatoes in the field in question in the future “due to the uncertainty of establishing a cover crop.” While that is “likely to take care of the longer-term problem,” he said, the town board is considering legislation to codify the annual planting of a cover crop. Mr. Dankowski did not return a call seeking comment.

At the town board’s meeting last Thursday, Mr. Van Scoyoc told the crowd that the farmer and property owner were “very dismayed with what’s happened.” Both “feel terrible and are very sympathetic with residents” and mindful of the health concerns, inconvenience, and damage to property posed by the dust. Both, he said, “feel that the climate has changed to the point where they cannot reliably harvest potatoes and expect to get a cover crop on the field because it stays wet later into the fall.” He said that Mr. Dankowski had told him that 30 working days were lost to rain between Sept. 30 and Nov. 9. “Soils were too soft to get into the field with equipment,” he said.

As of Tuesday morning, conditions in Amagansett remained bleak. Organic Krush, a takeout shop on Main Street adjacent to the municipal parking lot, had closed indefinitely because of conditions that have made employees sick. Lena Vergnes, the manager, said in an email on Tuesday that the cafe’s owners “decided to close the Amagansett store as they didn’t feel it right to put their employees and customers at such a risk when every few days or so we were inhaling fine dust particles and consequently feeling the effects on our health. We are also an organic eatery promoting healthy living, and it feels defeating to not be able to serve food due to an issue like this. However we won’t give up demanding that something be done so we can be there for the community again soon.”

“We do not plan to reopen until action is taken to cover the fields,” Ms. Vergnes wrote. Yesterday morning, the cafe was still closed, a message on its answering machine explaining the reason. “We hope the situation at the farm behind our store will be remedied quickly so we can be back in business soon,” the message said.

Chris Clark, who works at Innersleeve Records on Main Street, had just returned to Amagansett from out of town on Tuesday morning. “It’s pretty bad,” he said, “seeing how it was overnight,” referring to the winds that had once again left Main Street and the structures and vehicles lining it covered with dust. “Same kind of deal, a lot of really fine, flour-like dust all over the place, in underneath the doors, covering everything outside.”

Residents were planning to attend yesterday’s meeting of the agricultural advisory committee, another Amagansett resident, Carter Burwell, told The Star on Tuesday.

This article has been updated with the version that appeared in print on Jan. 24, 2019. 

Changes to the site plan for the 37-unit affordable housing complex to be built at 531 Montauk Highway in Amagansett were discussed by the East Hampton Town Planning Board on Jan. 16. The East Hampton Housing Authority, which is working with Georgica Green Ventures on the development, cited budget constraints and, in one instance, a directive from the state, which is providing $7 million as well as tax credits for the project, as reasons for the modifications. 

The planning board had approved a site plan for the complex, which the housing authority is calling Gansett Meadow, last June. It will be on 4.6 acres between the Amagansett I.G.A. supermarket and V and V Auto. 

The plan calls for seven buildings with 12 one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units, plus one with four bedrooms, as well as a common building with a laundry and meeting rooms, 74 parking spaces, a sewage treatment plant, and a rain garden. 

The rental apartments will be for those who work full time, year round, in East Hampton Town and do not own property. Only a small percentage of units will be subsidized, and renters will have to meet income eligibility requirements.

In a Dec. 21 letter, Catherine Casey, the executive director of the housing authority, informed the planning board that in the interest of cost effectiveness the seven buildings are to be prefabricated. The decision to use modular construction, she wrote, “necessitated some minor changes,” including a reduction in the size of the building footprints. 

Other alterations were made, she wrote, for budgetary reasons. In the earlier site plan, for instance, carports with solar panels were to be installed; they have since been removed. A full basement planned for the common building will now be a crawl space, and walkway pavers will be replaced by concrete. 

None of the modifications will “change the character or overall aesthetic of the project,” Ms. Casey wrote, but “serve to perfect the plans as we progress toward construction.” 

At the Jan 16 meeting, Marguerite Wolffsohn, the town planning director, listed some other differences between the original and new site plans. No longer included, she said, were low grasses screening a driveway that runs alongside Montauk Highway. 

The modified site plan also contains 5 percent more ground coverage than the previous version. Joanne Pawhul, the assistant planning director, said on Friday that the increased coverage was due to the reconfiguration of stairways and the addition of porches, and was still within the maximum allowed by zoning.

To the dismay of the developers and board members, a community vegetable garden  has been removed at the request of the state. David Gallo, the president of Georgica Green Ventures, said state officials were concerned about a garden at the north end of the property, next to the Long Island Rail Road tracks. Those tending the garden, they said, would be negatively affected by noise. 

Arthur Goldman, the director of the housing authority, assured the board that the changes to the site plan that was approved were minor and the omission of certain landscaping features was an oversight. He also said the housing authority would send an updated plan and other information to the board the following day. All of the department’s questions, he said, would be fully addressed. 

Samuel Kramer, the newly appointed chairman of the planning board, said that members  would review what the housing authority had to say, and he hoped the site plan modification would be approved at last night’s meeting.