As expected, the Town Board enacted a 6-month large house moratorium on Tuesday; it also approved a new ethics code and adopted rental regulations to enhance safety and expand year-round housing options.
The moratorium applies to special permits for homes greater than 5,999 square feet of living area (SFLA). It temporarily suspends any applications in process, including those already permitted but not yet under construction.
When the Suffolk County Planning Commission endorsed the moratorium earlier this month, it recommended that the Town reduce the duration from 12 to 6 months.
As part of the ongoing Comprehensive Plan Update, the Town Board wants to “evaluate the potential impacts of granting such permits on the community character, the environment, and the aquifer,” the moratorium states.
Arguments for exemptions
A few projects currently in process are impacted by the moratorium, which includes a hardship exemption that homeowners may use to apply for a variance.
Before adopting the moratorium, the Town Board approved a special permit for 149 Ram Island Drive, where a previous owner had finished a basement without authorization. The work expanded SFLA to 9,094 without impacting the overall size of the structure.
Under the Building Department’s fee structure, the new owners will have to pay five times the original cost of the special permit — based on the amount of SFLA — plus a basic $150 building permit fee for a total of $32,495.
During a work session earlier in the day, Building Inspector Reed Karen said the new homeowners had approached the Building Department early on about correcting the situation.
“I think sometimes people involved in a sale will downplay the extent of the possible cost and liability in a situation like this,” he said.
Under different circumstances, the Town Board may have insisted the new owner remove the unauthorized finishes, resulting in an even greater cost.
The Town Board is mulling whether to require new homeowners to show proof of a Certificate of Occupancy within 30 days of closing as a way to make sellers take responsibility for unauthorized changes. Or, as the Building Inspector put it: “Hold their feet to the fire.”
Exemption for 11 Serpentine Drive?
At the Town Board business meeting Tuesday evening, attorney John Bennett of Bennett Read LLP reiterated previously aired concerns about the moratorium’s impact generally, and on his clients, Crescent Beach LLC, owners of 11 Serpentine Drive, who initially proposed over 12,000 SFLA. (Read earlier coverage in this Gazette post.)
“This is a Town that’s always had a great spirit and sense of property rights and didn’t fall prey to some of the draconian measures that they use against property owners in some of the surrounding towns,” Bennett said.
“Why is this happening in this Town that always prided itself on independent thinking on land use matters,” he asked.
Bennett said the Town, having granted special permits in 38 instances over the last 15 years, was changing the rules in the middle of the game.
He said the 11 Serpentine Drive project has received all other required approvals, and the owners were willing to make further concessions, but the Town Board had “slow rolled” the special permit process “until you got your act together to pass this moratorium.”
“And that’s not fair to my client. He’s expended an enormous amount of money. he has all the permits that you required him to obtain, and I ask that you specifically exempt him from the moratorium.”
Supervisor Gerry Siller said the Town Board is concerned about property rights, “but that doesn’t mean that you can do anything you want because you own the land. If it’s going to have a detrimental effect either on the neighborhood or on the Island itself, that’s the reason we’re doing this is to take a step back, try to make it fair for everybody, but have some guidelines.”
Councilman Jim Colligan said the Islanders he’s spoken to support the moratorium and that the general response to imposing it is, “what took you so long?”
A Pandion barn
The board also heard Tuesday from Joshua Greenwald, owner of a home under construction at 1 Pandion, where plans for a finished basement were abandoned due to a higher-than-expected water table.
About 700 SFLA was intended for the basement. Greenwald wants to credit that amount plus another 500 to create an additional 1,200 SFLA in a barn — a structure already approved and under construction. Since he’s asking for additional SFLA, he could ask for a moratorium variance or wait until it expires to seek an amendment to his special permit.
Ethics Code and rental regulations
The board also adopted a new ethics code that provides specific guidance in 15 major areas and allows anyone to bring a complaint to the Ethics Board. The previous code covered requests brought by Town employees only. Read about the new code in this Gazette post.
Also Tuesday, the Town Board amended rental regulations to eliminate accessory apartments at owner-occupied homes from being used as short-term rentals (except under hardship exemptions). The change comports with recommendations in the Town’s Community Housing Plan and reverts the use of the accessory apartments at owner-occupied homes back to the original intent in the zoning code, Kiely said.
In response to the deaths of two young women at a short-term rental house in North Haven last year, the updated law puts in place new safety regulations to “ensure that every rental dwelling unit within the Town provides a safe environment.”
Public hearings
The board also held public hearings on and approved the following waterways permits::
- Dorothy Moorehead, 33 St. Mary’s Road, Coecles Harbor mooring at latitude
- 41.086831° N and longitude 72.311946° W (location to be clarified by WMAC)
- Richard Hogan, 1 Shorewood Court, mooring at latitude 41.043322° N and longitude 72.325903° W
- George DeMan, 4 Summerfield Place, relocate riparian mooring O-3498 to a stake, mooring, and pulley system at latitude 41.087696° N and longitude 72.35676° W
- Robert Watt, 56 Ram Island Drive, mooring at a location designated as latitude 41.073235° N and longitude 72.28213° W
- Cape Pridwin LLC, 81 Shore Road, for eight moorings at:
- latitude 41.070988° N and longitude 72.375806° W
- latitude 41.071054° N and longitude 72.375439° W
- latitude 41.071149° N and longitude 72.375083° W
- latitude 41.071233° N and longitude 72.374743° W
- latitude 41.071319° N and longitude 72.374388° W
- latitude 41.071242° N and longitude 72.375699° W
- latitude 41.071337° N and longitude 72.375352° W
- latitude 41.071429° N and longitude 72.374996° W
- Kristian Clark, 56 N. Cartwright Road, to construct stairs leading up to a new 4-by-101-foot fixed dock with a 4-by-30-foot fixed “L,” 16 inches lower than the dock
- David Cohen, 62 Westmoreland Drive, to construct a 4-by-10-foot ramp leading up to a 4-by-89-foot catwalk to stairs leading down to the bottom
- Carine Maurer, 7 Dickerson Drive, to construct a 4-by-60-foot ramp down to a 4-by-70-foot catwalk and install three ladders at the seaward end
- Scudder Cottages, C/O Rodney Scudder, 34 Prospect Avenue, to remove and construct new in place 43 feet of existing bulkhead and 12 feet of existing return; remove 36 feet of an existing jetty and build in place 42 feet of jetty; remove 46 feet of an existing jetty and construct in place 52 feet of jetty; dredge a 42-by-140-foot area from inlet to basin to 4 feet below MLW, removing approximately 1,000 cubic yards of soil (dredged soil to be used as backfill landward of bulkhead and the remainder of the soil to be used as fill in eroded areas as noted on the site plan); install a 3-by-12-foot seasonal aluminum ramp onto a 6-by-20-foot seasonal floating dock secured by four 10-inch diameter anchor pilings; remove existing 4-by-85-foot fixed dock; construct a 5-by-100-foot fixed dock from MHW with 4-foot wide crossover stairway to beach at the inshore end; install four 2-pile mooring dolphins at the offshore end; and install two ladders
Scheduled public hearings
The board also scheduled public hearings as follows for its June 6 meeting at 6 PM in Town Hall (times are approximate):
- William Herzog, 5 Hillside Drive, for a mooring at latitude 41.06627° N and longitude 72.36325° W, 6:10 PM
- James Royer, 36 Peconic Avenue, maintenance dredging per DEC permit at an existing boat basin, 6:12 PM
- Amendments to local law Chapter 33 relating to outdoor assemblies to clarify which events trigger the need for an outdoor assembly permit, 6:14 PM (see proposed amendment on Town Board website)
Appointments
The board made these appointments:
- Donald P. D’Amato, reappointed to Green Options Committee, through May 11, 2026
- Kal Lewis, FIT aide at $17 per hour
- Michael Chih, provisional code enforcement officer, $65 per hour, maximum 15 hours per week under the direct supervision of the Town Attorney
- Claudine Loria, justice court clerk, $65,000 per year
- Michelle Donahue, full-time cook for the nutrition program, $45,000 per year for 30 hours per week
It ratified an agreement with William McCoy, who had been hired as a sole assessor in a plan to shift away from elected assessors but worked only briefly in the role. No additional details were provided.
Updates to the Town’s employee handbook were approved to clarify policies relating to payment for unused sick days and vacation days when an employee resigns or is dismissed.
Other business
The board granted an outdoor assembly permit to the Shelter Island 10K Run and 5K Run/Walk for the footrace on Saturday, June 17; the permit covers the day’s events beginning at 10 AM through 9 PM at the Community Center.
And the board endorsed a proposal by Green Options Chairman Tim Purtell to apply for an Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy. The program provides expertise to help island communities transform their energy systems and increase resiliency through technical assistance with energy analysis and planning. There is no cost to the Town to apply.
Financial transactions
The board authorized these financial transactions:
- $154.15, credit to the General Fund from NYS unclaimed accounts
- $10,835.84 B1990.400 Part Town Contingent and $20,364.16 from B Fund balance to B8664.100 Code/Ordinance Enforcement
- 2023 General Claims 671 through 824, $167,725.35; 2023 Highway Claims 73 through 89, $16,109.45, and 2023 Community Preservation Fund Claim 7, $12.99
