On Friday, the Shelter Island Town Board formally hired a new Town Attorney to replace Bob DeStefano, who will stay on during the transition as special counsel to the board.
“After much discussion, the Town Board has decided to make a change with our legal representation,” said Supervisor Gerry Siller, reading from a prepared statement.
“Bob DeStefano has served as Town Attorney for the past four years and has done everything requested of him by the Town Board. And, for that, we are forever grateful.”
DeStefano guided the board through several legal issues “and always had the best interests of the Shelter Island community in mind,” Siller said.
“But with all the legal challenges ahead of us, we decided to cast a wide net for legal counsel,” he said.
On Friday, the board hired Stephen F. Kiely of Mattituck through December 31 at a rate of $140,000 per year. Siller described him as a sole practitioner with extensive experience in municipal law, including rental properties, affordable housing, historic preservation, and other relevant issues.
“Through family connections, he is also quite familiar with Shelter Island,” Siller said.
Board issues proclamation, sets TNC land deal hearing
The hybrid meeting had limited capacity at Town Hall for vaccinated and boosted members of the public. You can watch a recording on the Town’s YouTube channel or Channel 22, the public access station.
Deputy Town Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams read into the record a Town Board proclamation honoring SIPD Sgt. Terence LeGrady, who retired earlier this month.
The board set dates for public hearings. A hearing on February 18 around 5:10 PM on the proposed Town purchase of a 0.92-acre commercial/residential parcel at 69 North Ferry Road from The Nature Conservancy is among them.
The Town’s cell tower account would fund the proposed $365,000 purchase. The Town would use the property to construct workforce or affordable housing utilizing IA system wastewater technology. In addition, the Town would provide and maintain an open space easement to enable access across the property to the adjacent Sachem’s Woods preserve.
The Town also accepted donations from the Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation totaling $112,800 and amended the appropriate revenue budget lines to reflect the unanticipated gift.
The board approved $308,081 to purchase a new ambulance. And it approved $213,531 to support the purchase of three new medium-duty snowplow dump trucks and sanders, a vertical vegetation grinder, and an excavator with a low-boy trailer.
Thanks to an unanticipated increase in 2021 building permits revenue, the Town Board amended revenue budget lines to reflect $30,500 in additional funds.
Waterways applications
The board reconvened hearings on mooring applications reviewed and approved by the Waterways Management Advisory Council. In each case, former WMAC member Bert Waife, who runs a marine services business, asked that the Town specify that no particular contractor is required to perform the work of installing a mooring once approved.
Waife alleged that WMAC member Mike Anglin charges his clients a permit fee, as much as $500, to submit the Town’s paperwork. “That’s his business; it’s not an illegal thing to do.” However, Waife said, it gives the appearance of a conflict of interest for Anglin to serve on the WMAC even if he recuses himself from deliberations.
“You might want to discuss that with your new lawyer,” Waife said, noting he’d also like to serve again on the WMAC.
Councilwoman BJ Ianfolla asked to move the discussion to a Town Board work session, and Waife agreed. Councilman Jim Colligan, WMAC liaison, said the WMAC membership has been largely unchanged for years. But, he said, the Town Board doesn’t actively seek to change the committee membership; instead, it waits for a sitting council member to give up his place.
“We know your expertise,” Colligan said. “I wouldn’t want to give the public the … idea that we wouldn’t entertain a shellfisherman or fisherman to be on the WMAC in the future.”
But, Siller said, “it’s not a given that if you’re on the committee, you stay on it.”
Weber/5 Winthrop Road LLC
The board reconvened Susan Weber’s application for 5 Winthrop LLC to install a Dering Harbor mooring at latitude 41.0849° north and longitude 72.34949° west, formerly occupied by the D-3190 Corl mooring. Previously, the WMAC suggested alternate coordinates: latitude 41.084737 north and longitude 72.349486 west.
WMAC also expressed concerns about issuing riparian moorings to LLCs rather than individuals. Town Code limits the number of moorings available to an applicant. But when the applicant is an LLC that may comprise numerous members, it’s hard to say whether any individual member of the LLC may benefit more than their allotted share of moorings.
WMAC member Bill Geraghty said, “This is a woman who has various LLCs, so if you research moorings under her name alone, you don’t find any. But she owns various LLCs, so she has a number of different moorings through different LLCs. That’s the perennial problem we keep having with LLCs is we can’t track it back to individuals.”
Siller said the board’s pending discussion of Town Code definitions might help to clarify the matter. As a result, the board recessed the hearing and will discuss it further at its Tuesday work session.
Moorings approved
The board approved the following mooring permits:
- Nina Pinto, 2 Seagull Road, Smith Cove mooring at latitude 41.05063° north and longitude 72.31666° west, taking it over from the applicant’s father
- Gregg Pasquarelli, 30 Little Ram Island Drive, Coecles Harbor mooring in front of applicant’s property at latitude 41.0801174° north and longitude 72.303073° west, formerly occupied by Montgomery (C-2323).
- Charles Magill, 89 North Ferry Road, West Neck Bay mooring off the Cackle Hill landing at latitude 41.064603° north and longitude 72.364641° west
Future mooring hearings
The board set February 18 public hearings for these waterways applications, beginning around 4:45 PM:
- Andrew Marks, 7 Lari Lane, Coecles Harbor mooring approximately 160 feet off community dock, 160 feet southeast of Hoffman mooring (C-2721) at latitude 41.083586° north and longitude 72.321942° west
- Sarah Hand and Raul Vidal, 6 Cozy Lane, stake, mooring and pulley system at Town Landing at Bay Shore Drive; stake to be on Silver Beach Association property (applicants are members), at latitude 41.053913° north and longitude 72.357176° west
- Erin Eisenberg, 10 Lari Lane, Coecles Harbor mooring about 190 feet east of applicant’s dock; formerly occupied by Denahan mooring (C-3305), latitude 41.082675° north and longitude 72.321461° west
- Richard Tarlow, 2011 Trust, 25 Nostrand Parkway, to remove and replace (in-place) approximately 486 linear feet of existing timber bulkhead and plus 19 foot southerly timber return with vinyl bulkhead and return; backfill with approximately 100 cubic yards of clean sandy fill to be trucked in from an approved upland source; and temporarily disconnect/remove/replace (in-kind/in-place) intersecting portion of dock/ramp, as needed;
- Highpoint Rock LLC, c/o John Borthwick, 71C Nostrand Parkway, to remove and dispose of 111 feet of existing bulkhead and construct 111 feet of new bulkhead in-kind, in-place
- John and Sandra Fifield, 3 Heritage Drive, Coecles Harbor mooring off Captain Bob’s Landing, 100 feet north northeast of the Smith mooring (C-3172);
- David Daly, 33 New York Avenue, West Neck Bay mooring off Town landing near Cackle Hill, at latitude 41.065103° north and longitude 72.363803° west;
- Noah Topliff, 16 Jaspa Road, Coecles Harbor mooring off Captain Bob’s Landing, midway between the Coyle mooring (C-3012) and Fetherston mooring (C-2920), at 41.087966° north and longitude 72.323411° west
Wetlands permit applications
The board reconvened a public hearing on the wetlands permit application of Nathan Graf and Marisa Ryan, 12 Petticoat Lane, to construct a second floor over the existing first floor within wetlands regulated area with no outward expansion within the regulated area.
[Editor’s note: You can see the application documents on the Town Board website.]
The Planning Board approved the proposal to use the existing foundation. However, should the existing foundation prove inadequate, the project should move outside the regulated area. The Conservation Advisory Council also reviewed the project and had several recommendations, including relocating the AC unit.
Matt Sherman, the project engineer, said some of the CAC recommendations don’t apply. No suitable location at the main house was available outside the regulated area for the AC unit. Councilwoman Ianfolla asked that he consider moving the unit to the accessory dwelling. Sherman said he’d inquire about feasibility.
Next, the board took up the wetlands permit application of Audrey and Campbell Myers, 2 Bay Avenue, for renovation and expansion of the existing single-family home, construction of a proposed swimming pool, pool patio, accessory structure (including garage, pool cabana, and attached storage shed) outdoor kitchen and fireplace.
The CAC previously recommended: relocating the propane tank out of the 75-foot regulated area; reducing the wetlands intrusion to no more than the 100 square feet allowed by Town Code; adding a pool cover; reducing pool depth; submitting pool fence plans and site plan; verifying the status of west basement wall; eliminating the basement in cabana and garage, and allowing no dewatering.
The Planning Board previously recommended: reducing shed size to minimize intrusion into the 75-foot regulated area, showing flood plain boundaries on the plan, identifying a dry well for the swimming pool, and agreeing to use no pesticides or fertilizers on the property. The Planning Board observed the plan improves walkway permeability, relocates the well and sanitary out of the regulated area, and calls for a new IA wastewater system. It suggested the Town Board ask for a pool cover and cartridge-style filer.
Michael Schiano and Bailey Larkin, project planner and attorney, said they addressed the recommendations, offsetting intrusion into the regulated buffer by adding new landscape features. The landscape plans now include a total of 4,800 square feet of native plantings and a shorefront buffer that’s deeper than what had initially been proposed.
Brach-Williams, Ianfolla, and Councilwoman Meg Larsen said they’re not ready to approve the permit, given the continued intrusion of the shed into the wetlands. The Zoning Board recommended the placement so as not to interfere with other setbacks, Brach-Williams said, “but I’m not happy that it got pushed into the wetlands.”
What’s more, CAC co-Chair Howard Johansen said significant excavation might be required to shore up the foundation within the regulated wetlands. The board agreed to further discuss the application at its Tuesday work session.
Future wetlands permit hearings
The board also set February 18 public hearings on these wetlands permit applications (beginning roughly at 5 PM):
- Josh Sapan, 22 Prospect Avenue, to reconstruct stair to beach with new layout in same general location and install two storage sheds at bottom of bluff
- Thomas Kusner, 11 Dickerson Drive, to construct new in-ground swimming pool outside of vegetative buffer but within the adjacent regulated area
- Scott Goodson, 14 Margaret’s Drive, to legalize stone fireplace and barbecue, pool patio
- wetlands permit to renovate an existing covered porch, construct new crawl space under existing
- Whitney McCarthy, 9 Locust Avenue, to renovate existing covered porch, construct new crawl spaces under existing dwelling, construct new stairs from porch to grade, and construct new walkway to road, all within the adjacent regulated area
Other business
The board reconvened a public hearing on the demolition of a so-called “ghost house” at 9 Cozy Lane that’s been declared an unsafe structure. The board is awaiting additional information from a process server in the state of Maine who is attempting to contact the property owner.
The board also closed a public on new Town Code definitions to give the new Town Attorney a chance to review and make recommendations.
The board appointed:
- Dr. Joshua Potter to the Deer and Tick Committee through June 24, 2024
- Peter M. Swerdloff to the West Neck Water Improvement District board through April 27, 2025
- Donald Dunning as Maintenance Mechanic 1 for the year 2022 at $23.92 per hour
It approved the following budgeted expenses:
- Carr Business Systems, PO Box 936715, Atlanta, GA 31193-6715, for Building Department copy machine maintenance contract October 14, 2021 to October 13, 2022, $335.72 from Building Inspectors contract accounts and $335.71 from Zoning Officers contracts account
- Apex Software, PO Box 100145, San Antonio, TX 78201-1445, for the annual sketching software service through February 1, 2023, $330 from Assessors service contracts account
The board also approved about $146,000 in 93 budget transfers, mostly in incremental amounts, shifting between closely-related budget codes. Of them 72 were below $2,000; 18 were between $2,000 and $8,000. The three above that mark were as follows:
- $8,203 from Zoning Board of Appeals professional services to Planning Board professional services
- $9,225 from Community Preservation Fund trail maintenance to Community Preservation Fund legal fees
- $19,415 from West Neck Water well #7 to West Neck Water professional services
