The Town Board has transferred wetlands permitting authority to the Planning Board. And, it adopted new rules for Town-owned rights of way and set public hearings for a new Ethics Code and changes impacting owner-occupied vacation rentals.
Also, during Tuesday’s lengthy meeting, the Town Board heard comments on a proposed 12-month pause for large home permits; read our separate coverage at “Objections to and support for large home moratorium.”
Supervisor Gerry Siller and Councilwomen BJ Ianfolla and Meg Larsen supported shifting wetlands administration to the Planning Board. Deputy Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams voted no, saying she objected to “piecemealing legislation.”
Over two sessions of a public hearing since March and in written comments, many Islanders said they wanted the Town’s elected officials to retain the responsibility for vetting wetlands permit applications.
Speakers also encouraged the Town Board to forego altering the wetlands code, expressing concerns the proposed changes might weaken protections.
Town Attorney Stephen F. Kiely advised the Town Board it could handle separately the issues of who should manage wetlands permitting and whether to adopt wetlands code changes.
Councilman Jim Colligan wasn’t present Tuesday but wrote in to say he supported giving the Planning Board primary responsibility for wetlands permitting.
Currently, the Town Board relies on the Planning Board and Citizens Advisory Council to review wetlands applications and usually follows their recommendations closely.
Siller said he was persuaded by arguments made by Larsen, Kiely, and the Town Board’s legislative aide, Kristina Madjisova Martin, that the Planning Board had the time and expertise to manage wetlands permitting.
Find details in our post, “Town Board: Planning Board wetlands oversight would be more effective.”
Brach-Williams, an accountant who had to miss one of the public hearings due to tax season obligations, said she’d caught up by listening to meeting recordings.
“I think we have a lot of opposition where the public does not want us turning this over to the Planning Board,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting. While specific proposed changes were removed from the final resolution, she said the Town Board does intend, at some point, to review proposed code changes.
“I do not like piecemealing legislation,” she said. “I feel like we should get it all fixed in one fell swoop.”
Ianfolla noted that by turning over authority to the Planning Board, the Town Board frees up time to examine any legislative changes. And, while some people have spoken out against the move, others may support it or be indifferent, she said.
Rather than weakening protections, Larsen said that by moving the process to the Planning Board, the Town Board would strengthen wetlands governance because, among other reasons, “there will be more consistent oversight.
The board also adopted proposed Town Code changes clarifying activities in Town-owned rights of way. The purpose is “to protect the health, safety, and welfare of those who traverse Shelter Island roads by prohibiting obstructions within the shoulders.”
Notably, the amendment allows the Town to remove obstructions if a property owner fails to do so. To read the complete text, follow this link to the meeting agenda and scroll to page 42.
The board also granted a waterways permit to Serena Dugan, 37 Tuthill Drive, to install a mooring at latitude 41.073692° N and longitude 72.285299° W.
Other business
In other business, the Town Board made these appointments:
- Jeanne Richardson, EMS Advisory Group through December 31, 2023
- Clarissa Fischer, Nutrition Program PT office assistant, $30.07/hour, not to exceed 15 hours per week
And it set public hearings for waterways permits for its May 16 meeting (times approximate):
- Dorothy Moorhead, 33 St. Mary’s Road, for a mooring at latitude 41.086831° N and longitude 72.311946° W, 6:10 PM
- Richard Hogan, 1 Shorewood Court, for a mooring at latitude 41.043322° N and longitude 72.325903° W, 6:12 PM
- George DeMan, 4 Summerfield, for a stake, mooring, and pulley system at latitude 41.087696° N and longitude 72.35676° W, 6:14 PM
- Robert Watt, 56 Ram Island Drive, for a mooring at a location designated as latitude 41.072879° N and longitude 72.282324° W, 6:16 PM
- Cape Pridwin Owner, LLC, 81 Shore Road, to install eights moorings at various locations, 6:18
- 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, 6:34 PM
- 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, 6:36 PM
- Carine Maurer, 7 Dickerson Drive, to construct a 4-by-60-foot ramp down to a 4-by-70-foot catwalk and install 3 ladders at the seaward end, 6:38 PM
- Scudder Cottages, C/O Rodney Scudder, 34 Prospect Avenue, 6:40 PM, to:
- remove 43 feet of existing bulkhead and a 12-foot existing return, and construct 43 feet of new bulkhead and a 12-foot return, in-kind in-place
- remove 36 feet of an existing jetty and construct 42 feet of a new jetty in place
- remove 46 feet of an existing jetty and construct 52 feet of a new jetty in place
- dredge a 42-by-140-foot area from an inlet to 4 feet below mean low water, removing approximately 1,000 cubic yards of soil with the dredged soil to be used as backfill landward of a bulkhead, and any remainder 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 the existing 4-by-85-foot fixed dock and construct a 5-by-100-foot dock with a 4-foot wide crossover stairway to the beach at the inshore end; install four 2-pile mooring dolphins at the offshore end; install two ladders, and provide for water and electric service to the offshore end
Ethics Code and Rental amendment hearings
Also, at its May 16 meeting, the Town Board will open public hearings for two proposed code changes.
First, it will hear from anyone for or against repealing the current Ethics Code, to be replaced by a comprehensive update based on the state’s model Ethics Code. Follow this link to the draft Ethics Code posted on the Town website.
You can read our Ethics Code coverage at “Caution: Dense reading ahead as Town Board vets critical Ethics Code update.”
Then, the Town Board will hear comments about an amendment to Town Code Chapter 105, “Rental of Real Property,” that would eliminate owner-occupied premises from being permitted as vacation rentals.
Follow this link to the draft Rental of Real Property amendment on the Town website.
Financial transactions
The board awarded bids as follows:
- Crown Recycling, $89.50 per ton
- Corazzini Asphalt, asphalt delivered and applied, $124.50, and asphalt picked up, $92
- MXI Inc., $200 to $350 per 55-gallon drum hazardous waste, and $3,500 with an on-site technician per event
- Dickerson Electric Co. Inc., service call rate, $140, emergency rate, $250, and labor rate $140/hour
- Zurab’s HVAC Inc., service call rate, $140, emergency call rate $180, and labor rate, $140/hour
- DC Tree Services Corp., aerial truck with operator, $2,500/day or $250/hour
And it approved these other financial transactions:
$17,496 to SOLitude Lake Management for harvesting undesirable and harmful aquatic vegetation in Fresh Pond, with $10,000 to be reimbursed by the Fresh Pond Neighbor Association
$69.42 credit from Mullen Motors to the A4540.485 Ambulance Vehicle Maintenance account for an invoice overpayment
$3,760.50 credit from Creative Information Systems to the A8160.484 Landfill Office & Misc. account for an invoice overpayment
$266.66 credit from Suffolk County to the A3120.200 Police Department Equipment account for scrapped vehicle
$2,716.84 credit from Suffolk County to the DA2302B account for snow removal reimbursement
$200 transfer from the A3120.484 account to iconectiv, LLC, for ELEP transaction
