During Tuesday’s State of the Town presentation, Supervisor Gerry Siller said the Town Board would pursue improving Center water quality “holistically.”
Siller said an integral component could be the addition of public water, with a supply well possibly in Sachems Woods.
He argued the Town is at a crossroads, and how it resolves questions of water quality and other essential issues will determine whether Shelter Island remains “unique and welcoming” or becomes “an enclave only for the wealthy.”
[Watch the presentation on the Town’s YouTube Channel.]
Defending public health
Siller characterized the Town Board’s efforts to improve water quality in the Center as defending public health.
“Public health is not a negotiable topic or political item. It needs to be addressed immediately to protect the health of our residents and the health of our waterways.”
At the meeting on Tuesday in Town Hall, Deputy Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams and Town Councilmembers Jim Colligan, BJ Ianfolla, and Meg Larsen flanked Siller on the Town Board dais.
With minor disagreements on the process, they’ve been united in seeking ways to improve water quality in the Center, an area home to many year-round Islanders.
But opposing them, Siller said, is “a well-organized and well-funded opposition that is trying to undermine and stall any work the Town Board is trying to do.”
“This is not a political ‘us vs them’ concept,” he said. “This is a reality. This group is actively trying to stall any efforts to improve water quality, using water as the ‘catch-all’ for stopping any forward thinking on housing and zoning.”
“If successful, they could shut down all volunteer services, including fire and ambulance service, as well as potentially leading to the outright closure of our school,” he said.
“I would urge you to be cautious and pay attention to exactly who is trying to preserve the value of their properties as opposed to who is trying to preserve our sense of community.”
Proposed wastewater treatment system
Since 2021, Town Engineer Joe Finora has advocated for a system to collect wastewater from municipal buildings and pipe it for treatment to a new facility on Town-owned property. (Solid wastes would be periodically pumped and trucked for disposal at an appropriate off-Island processor.)
Finora and consulting engineer Pio Lombardo of Lombardo Associates initially recommended locating the facility at Klenawicus Airfield. But after an outcry over using land purchased with Community Preservation Fund revenues, the Town Board directed planners to focus instead on a Manwaring Road site previously earmarked for community housing.
In response to concerns about potential environmental impacts at that site, the Town conducted extensive studies, including groundwater modeling. However, Siller noted Tuesday that such in-depth research typically isn’t done for small projects like the proposed wastewater treatment plant.
The Town also hired an independent environmental consultant for the required state environmental quality review (SEQR). The consultant found the proposed facility posed no significant adverse environmental impacts.
Town minus the school
The Town Board had hoped the Shelter Island School would join the system. But in April, Board of Education members said they could no longer wait for the Town to take definitive action. So instead, they voted to replace the school’s four aging septic systems with three innovative alternative onsite wastewater systems (I/A systems).
Finora argued before the school board that while the I/A systems would lessen the amount of nitrogen that’s now percolating untreated into groundwater, the Town’s centralized system would further reduce the pollutant.
After the school withdrew its support, Siller said the Town planners reexamined an option to use I/A systems to treat wastewater from the remaining seven municipal buildings. (They are: Town Hall complex, Town-owned housing, Shelter Island Police Department HQ, Shelter Island Justice Court, Shelter Island Fire Department Center Firehouse, Shelter Island Public Library, and the Community Center/Legion Hall).
But Siller said Tuesday that I/A systems are “unable to serve all municipal buildings, will constrain use and community services, and will not restore drinking water quality.”
“You can do a quick fix on things,” he said, “but we’re looking to do the whole package and not just little bits.”
While the centralized wastewater system still seems the best way to go, the Town is open to considering alternative treatment methods, he said. Lombardo recommended using a filtration process called Nitrex, which he says would reduce nitrogen in treated effluent to 3 milligrams per liter. By comparison, the standard for I/A systems is 19 mg/l.
Critics have questioned why the Town didn’t investigate other filtration processes, noting that Lombardo holds a patent on the Nitrex system. But Lombardo has repeatedly said there’s no financial incentive at play — the system’s components are available to any installer, and he receives no remuneration for their use. He’s said he’s agnostic about the choice of filtration so long as the Town gets nitrogen in the effluent as low as possible.
Possibly treating residential wastewater
With the school going its way, Siller said the Town Board is now considering opening the treatment system to private properties along the route.
Siller said the Town’s Water Quality Improvement Advisory Council is also examining possible additional incentives to encourage homeowners in the Town Center to swap out aging septics for I/A systems.
Now, homeowners may apply to reimburse I/A system installation costs through local, county, and state grants. But that’s little help for those who can’t afford to make the initial outlay. So the Town, along with Suffolk County, is seeking ways to help homeowners with upfront costs.
Public water for the Town Center
Siller said that a next Tuesday’s work session, the Town Board will hear from the Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) about the process for and costs associated with providing water to municipal buildings in the Town Center.
These would include all Town-owned buildings, as well as the library, the firehouse, and the EMS barn on Manwaring Road, and might also be open to nearby homeowners who desire access. He said Sachems Woods is the likeliest location for a well to serve the Town Center.
“Before people get all wound up, Sachems Woods was originally purchased for potential well fields,” he said.
Some have criticized the Town Board for giving too much attention to wastewater when discussing ways to improve water quality. Inviting SCWA to discuss public water for the Town Center is a response to that concern.
What’s more, Siller said the Town’s Water Advisory Committee had been actively studying issues surrounding the introduction of public water to the area.
“They’re going to do a survey of the residents in the immediate area as to their interest in hooking up to public water,” Siller said. The Town would also suss out costs for supplying water to municipal buildings and for homeowners to connect to the system.
“And we would put this all out to a referendum,” he said.
Currently, SCWA manages the Town-owned West Neck Water District and the Village of Dering Harbor’s public water system.
Other key issues
Among other critical issues mentioned in the State of the Town, Siller noted the Town Board had enacted a six-month moratorium on permits for homes with over 5,999 square feet of living area. The board also has resumed its stalled Comprehensive Plan Update and will consider whether and how to limit house size as part of that review.
Thanks to intervention by the Town Board, the Town recently completed a purchase with Suffolk County of 20 acres of open space along West Neck Creek, Siller said. It also installed a dock at Volunteer Park for use by the Town police and fire rescue vessels.
The board worked with Fresh Pond Neighbors to devise a solution to improve water quality in the Island’s largest freshwater pond. Similarly, it has begun working with a Menantic Creek group to address water quality in the creek, which is heavily burdened by nitrates in groundwater flows from the Center.
The Town Board also enacted an expansive new Ethics Code that provides extensive guidance in numerous areas and enables the Ethics Board to investigate complaints from any community member.
The Town is also negotiating to purchase a property next door to Fiske Field as a possible site to relocate the FIT Center, which now occupies space within the school building.
“The school has been very generous with using the FIT Center,” Siller said. “But they remind us on a regular basis that their insurance companies aren’t real happy with the setup and they’d prefer that the FIT Center wasn’t on school property.”
The Town also acquired the Victorian-era house next door to Town Hall.
“I know some people say anything can be fixed, but this building is beyond repair,” he said, noting that the Town was assisting rental tenants with finding new homes.
There’s been some talk of using the site for Community Housing. While there are no specific plans, Siller said the Town did not intend to use the site for parking, as some have suggested.
Strengthen Town government
Noting that the Town Board had worked to “strengthen Town government,” Siller highlighted recent hires: Stephen F. Kiely as town attorney, Joe Finora as town engineer, Kristina Martin Majdisova as administrative aide to the Town Board and Supervisor, Kevin Lechmanski as IT director, Kelly Brochu as director of the Senior Activity Center, Alexandra Hakim as a social worker, and Michael Chih has part-time code enforcer.
He also praised the work of Town staff in all departments, offering kudos to Judy Meringer, Barbara Bloom, Coco Lee Thuman, and Martin, “who have always stepped up their game whenever needed and bring a real sense of professionalism to Town Hall.”
He said the Town Board has implemented new staff hiring and evaluation procedures and professional development protocols “so we can promote growth, development and retention.” Siller said departments have been working together “more than I’ve ever seen in the past.”
Siller, who is running for another two-year term as supervisor, also praised his colleagues on the Town Board who “while not always agreeing on every issue, respect each other’s decisions and work together for the betterment of the Town.”
“I can honestly say that this is the most pro-active board that I’ve ever been involved with and quite possibly the most pro-active ever,” he said. “This board has gone out of their way to publicly address all issues before us. It is a great pleasure to serve with them.”
Shelter Island at a crossroads
In concluding his remarks, Siller returned to an oft-repeated theme of being at a critical junction. Shelter Island, he said, can “grow into the future, continuing to be a diverse community as much as possible, or we can lose our sense of place and become an enclave for only the wealthy.”
This small Town, he said, “has always been a place where residents felt safe, secure, and part of a real community.”
That’s meant being supportive of essential workers, crafts-, and tradespeople, many of whom also serve as volunteers providing fire and medical emergency services, he said.
“But in the last decades, the economic realities have shifted with larger homes and a build-out that is forcing many to leave Shelter Island. The current Town Board recognizes that it’s not too late to save our precious human resources and provide housing opportunities which are affordable for our most essential workers.”
“We will continue to ask for community support at all economic levels to keep Shelter Island unique and welcoming,” he said. “We are confident we can still accomplish this goal together.”
Siller invited public comment. But among those on Zoom and in Town Hall, only one person, Marc Wein, stepped up. He said he thought it was “a wonderful idea” to hold a public referendum on water quality.
Councilman Jim Colligan, who retires from board service when his term ends this year, offered additional remarks, reiterating what Siller said. He encouraged Islanders to elect candidates in November willing to work “together for the good of this Town.”
