Among the most egregious falsehoods published by Friends of Coecles Harbor in four pages of July 21 newspaper ads is the unfounded assertion that the Town would “divert” Community Preservation Fund money to Community Housing.
Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. , who wrote the enabling legislation for both the CPF and Community Housing Fund, deemed that assertion to be untrue.
Specifically, Freinds of Coecles Harbor claimed that the Town “would divert part if not all of the approximately $15M cash accrued in the CPF accounts into uses that promote high-density developments.”
“The Town can’t do that,” Thiele explained in a recent phone interview. “It’s a dedicated fund. The Community Preservation Fund can only be used for the purposes of acquiring land for open space, farmland, parkland, and preservation — those four categories.”
CPF was established by state law in 1998. To fund it, voters approved a 2 percent real estate transfer tax on certain real estate deals. A transfer tax is a one-time tax the buyer pays when purchasing certain vacant or improved properties.
In 2016, voters extended the tax through 2050 and agreed that up to 20 percent of the money can also be used for water quality projects.
“That’s it,” Thiele said. “That’s all it can be used for.”
Friends of Coecles Harbor
The group — represented by Bill Derrough, Jan Sudol, and Kim Noland — has lately been posting advocacy ads in the local paper, as have other recently formed special interest groups.
The ads appear to be aimed at casting doubt on the Town’s efforts to update its Comprehensive Plan and develop a Community Housing Plan.
A third issue generating a lot of disinformation is Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), which the Town Board wants to investigate as a potential tool to assist in the siting of Community Housing.
The first two initiatives are well underway, with 20 citizen volunteers working alongside Town officials to bring them to fruition.
Regarding TDR, the Town Board issued a request for proposals seeking a consultant with expertise in developing such programs. It received one bid and hasn’t yet announced whether it will move forward. Simply gathering data will take many months, so the Town is not imminently about to adopt a TDR program.
Exasperation and frustration
On Tuesday, Town Board members expressed exasperation with the continued publication of false assertions. Derrough joined the board’s Tuesday evening meeting. The way he put it, the group posted the misleading ads out of frustration.
“We don’t know what the plans are,” Derrough told the board. “We hear statements here and there at meetings. We hear people talking on the streets. And I think we all want to know what the plans are.”
Councilwoman BJ Ianfolla pushed back. With Councilwoman Meg Larsen, Ianfolla represents the board members on the Task Force charged with updating the Comprehensive Plan.
“What’s the plan?” asked Ianfolla. “Like you said, there are rumors, there’s talk on the street. But there is no plan. What we’re doing right now is creating the plan with the public.”
Sudol said he has tried to speak with Ianfolla and Larsen about his group’s concerns but, without providing details, said he was rebuffed. With a three-minute limit on comments during Town Board meetings, he said the group felt “we don’t really have a channel to express our concerns.”
That’s why the group wants to set up “a dialogue “with the board, Derrough said.
But Derrough also made it clear that he’s not interested in supporting the Town’s strategy, saying he’d prefer the Town not pursue the Comprehensive Plan Update and Community Housing at the same time.
Read more in “False claims in newspaper ads: What’s a Town Board to do?”
Thiele corrects other falsehoods
We asked Thiele about other assertions in the ads that stood out as obviously wrong.
Regarding the use of CPF funds, Thiele clarified that even if the 2 percent transfer tax expires in 2050 — should voters choose not to extend it — each town’s CPF remains in place until all the monies within are spent.
“It’s the tax that sunsets in 2050,” he said, not the fund.
Friends of Coecles Harbor incorrectly wrote that the Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act (which passed with bipartisan support and signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in October 2021) allows “East End towns to use development rights acquired with CPF monies to provide community housing.”
Instead, Thiele said, TDR has been available as part of the Community Preservation Fund since the enabling legislation was enacted in 1998. The option to pursue TDR is included in the Shelter Island Town Code section devoted to the Community Preservation Fund:
“The purposes of the fund shall be exclusively:
- To implement a plan for the preservation of community character as required by § 64-e, Subdivision 6, of the Town Law.
- To acquire interests or rights in real property for the preservation of community within the Town, including any village, in accordance with said plan.
- To establish a bank pursuant to a transfer of development rights program consistent with § 261-a of the Town Law, at the sole discretion of the Town Board. To provide a management and stewardship program for such rights and interests acquired by the fund, consistent with this article and in accordance with said plan.”
“That authority was there right from the beginning,” Thiele said. The open question on Shelter Island is whether, during past CPF purchases, the Town affirmatively extinguished development rights.
“If they extinguished them, you can’t bring them back,” Thiele said. “If they didn’t, they’ve kind of been in limbo all these years.”
While he was not aware of an East End Town having set up a new TDR program using rights acquired from previously purchased CPF lands, Thiele said, “they have the legal authority to do it.”
At the time the CPF came into being, he said, people weren’t really thinking about resuing development rights because towns were attempting to limit density.
“Now, people are starting to look,” he said. “Overall, you still want to limit density, but you’re also trying to provide affordable housing.”
Comes down to affordability
“Every issue on the East End ultimately comes down to affordability,” Thiele said. “If you’re talking about local businesses — whether it’s the hospital or the school district or the main street businesses — being able to hire people, it comes down to can people afford to live here.”
The lack of housing options for low- and moderate-income households doesn’t just impact hiring, he said. It also affects critical volunteer services, such as EMS and firefighters.
“They’re either working too many jobs, and they can’t do it anymore, or they can’t afford to stay here,” he said. “You just can’t recruit people.”
“What’s exacerbated it is everything got accelerated by the pandemic,” Thiele said “It increased prices on housing, it reduced the inventory that was available for local people because people moved out from the city and bought up stuff — anything.”
“I understand the dilemma the Town is going through, but they have to try to find the right balance. It’s not easy.”
How to get involved
As many people have pointed out, it can be difficult to attend Town Board work sessions, which take place during the day, as in most East End municipalities. But CPAC and CH-FAB meetings take place in the early evening and are accessible via Zoom.
The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee generally meets on the fourth Monday of the month at 6:30 PM, but may add workshops to gather input on draft chapters as they’re written. The next meeting is August 22.
Find details on the committee’s Town webpage at shelterislandtown.us/comprehensive-plan-update. You can view recordings of the most recent meetings on the Town’s YouTube channel.
The Community Housing Fund Advisory Board aims to complete the Community Housing Plan prior to a vote in November on whether to enact a 0.5 percent real estate transfer tax to supply revenue for housing.
That’s in addition to the 2 percent CPF transfer tax. These are one-time taxes paid by the buyer of property upon purchase — with certain exemptions.
The vote is only on the transfer tax. The Town has already set up a Community Housing Fund. The revenue generated from the transfer tax would be one source to supply the fund; others include grants, gifts, and general fund balances. As Thiele noted, money in the fund can only be used for Community Housing.
CH-FAB hosts an open house on Saturday, August 6 from 3 to 5 PM at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church for anyone interested in learning about Community Housing or weighing in on what Community Housing should look like here. It holds its next regular meeting on Thursdau, August 18 at 7 PM.
Find details and participate in a survey on CH-FAB’s Town webpage.
