Sylvester Manor’s executive director issued a letter to clarify the nonprofit’s position on the Town’s proposed wastewater treatment facility, saying the organization is committed to “following the science.”
Sylvester Manor is across Manwaring Road from the proposed Town-owned site. At a recent Town Board meeting, consulting engineer Pio Lombardo addressed concerns about the facility. Here’s the full text of Stephen A.W. Searl’s letter:
Sylvester Manor commends the Town’s ongoing efforts to improve water quality in the Town Center and their search for solutions to improve wastewater systems for municipal buildings and the public school, and the Island as a whole. Shelter Island is unique among our neighboring communities in that the majority of households depend on private well service from a sole-source aquifer. Protection of both the quality and quantity of this aquifer is of the utmost importance in maintaining a vibrant community on Shelter Island.
At recent public meetings, the Town Board has been discussing a proposed municipal wastewater treatment system to be sited on Manwaring Road across from the Sylvester Manor Windmill Field. At a Town Board work session on October 11th, the Town’s consulting engineer mistakenly claimed that Sylvester Manor has fully endorsed this project. This is not accurate.
While we remain supportive of the Town’s efforts to find solutions, including the possibility of a wastewater treatment system that serves municipal buildings, we are not in a position to endorse the currently proposed project or site at this time. Rather, we remain committed to studying this proposed project further and following the science, wherever it leads. We are working closely with our own consulting engineer to assess the proposed project and its potential impacts on this proposed site’s neighbors, and we support a full environmental review as required under the law.
We look forward to working collaboratively with the Town, experts in the field, and environmental advocates to improve the Center’s water quality while at the same time addressing the impacts that this project might have on our work to preserve and protect Sylvester Manor and share this 236-acre historic property with the whole community.
Gazette Editor Julia Brennan is a former member of the Sylvester Manor Board of Trustees.
