Town Board: Selling fish and the 5K: Not a great mix

Police and 10K race officials will try to develop a traffic plan so packs of strolling 5K walkers won’t discourage customers of Bob’s Fish Market on Route 114 from stopping in to the market.

Kolina Reiter told the Town Board at its work session Tuesday that the store probably loses about $3,000 in costs and revenues because of the 5K, which she said is “a walkathon” with “so many people” who take a long time to finish the route. “Closing Route 114 for two hours is just not copacetic,” she said. She wondered if the 5K route could be moved elsewhere, away from the Island’s main artery.

Police Chief James Read, who was on hand for the discussion, said that police could keep the 10K and 5K runners and walkers in one lane on the north side of the street by running traffic cones from the traffic circle near the Whale’s Tale to Bob’s Fish Market. That would keep one lane open for traffic. He said the 5K course was laid within the 10K course for a reason and that creating an entirely independent 5K course elsewhere would be “hard to cover” for the police department.

The 5K course was developed by Cliff Clark and Kevin Barry because the 10K organizers received many calls over the years from people who wanted a companion event for non-racers, Race Director Mary Ellen Adipietro explained. “I know the mindset was to make it be the least intrusive but try to include the 10K for the walkers,” she said.

“We want to work with you,” Ms. Adipietro said, expressing hope that keeping a lane and shoulder open to traffic on the south side of Route 114 would resolve Ms. Reiter’s problem.

CAUSEWAY DEADLINE

Also on Tuesday, board members informally agreed to plan a special meeting on December 27 as a target date for adopting revised rules to control development on the Ram Island causeways. Councilwoman Chris Lewis had been pushing for an earlier decision but she accepted Supervisor Jim Dougherty’s proposal for setting December 27 as the date for a vote.

The board is expected to vote at its next formal meeting on July 8 to extend its current 16-month-old moratorium on causeway construction through the end of the year. Meanwhile, it will continue to fine-tune the causeway proposals in response to comments and criticism. Supervisor Dougherty noted that no new written comments had been submitted since the June 10 public hearing and that the deadline for comments is June 30.

RETHINKING CODE PROPOSAL

There have been some signs of “tension” over a proposed code amendment to clarify the rules for non-conforming uses, Councilman Ed Brown said on Tuesday, particularly in relation to non-conforming uses that are extensively damaged by fire. The proposal, which will be the subject of a public hearing at the board’s Friday, July 8 meeting at 4:55 p.m., would prohibit the reconstruction of non-conforming uses if more than 50 percent “of the physical structure” is damaged by fire.

Board members agreed to remove that provision from the proposal, which Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar said would not require re-advertising the revised proposal and setting a new hearing date because it was less restrictive than the initial proposal.

The proposal has been in the works since last winter. It may have been prompted by issues that came up last year when the owner of what was then known as the Olde Country Inn installed a driveway for the business on what had once been an adjacent residential parcel. The Zoning Board of Appeals ruled that the driveway constituted an unapproved expansion of an non-conforming use.

The proposal’s remaining elements would clarify the definition of a non-conforming use as well as the circumstances under which an expansion would be permitted and when it would be considered to have been abandoned after one year of disuse.

EELGRASS CLIPPED

Spider crabs seem to be mowing down the eelgrass beds in Coecles Harbor that have been carefully cultivated for the last two years through a program run by the Suffolk County Cooperative Extension and supported by the Peconic Estuary Program.

“Spider crabs are eating all the eelgrass,” Town Supervisor Jim Dougherty reported at the work session. “Hopefully the roots are still there and the beds can come back,” he said.

Eelgrass beds off the causeway are a vital ecosystem for scallops and other aquatic life. Many beds have been lost throughout the Peconic Bay system, apparently as a result of pollution. Among the last healthy beds are those that have been restored in Coecles Harbor and a band of eelgrass that rounds Ram Island and the causeways on the north.

Spider crabs are known to travel along the bay bottom mowing down eelgrass with their pincers, Mr. Dougherty commented at the work session. During scalloping season, he and other board members said, baymen who hauled up spider crabs made a point of killing them. But scallop season ended in early spring and no one has been killing spider crabs since then.

“Now spider crabs are flourishing,” Mr. Dougherty said.

FIREWORKS

Also at the Tuesday work session, the board held a conference call with the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Sean MacLean, to finalize details of the chamber’s July 9 fireworks show at Crescent Beach, which requires a Town Board permit.

Mr. MacLean said the chamber had a barge and insurance lined up for the show, which would follow the same format used for the past three years. All it needed was a U.S. Coast Guard permit, which depended on the “plovers making a decision” on when their nesting season is over at nearby sites.

Mr. MacLean said the Chamber would complete its application to the board by the middle of the coming week and he asked that a permit be made conditional upon the Coast Guard’s approval. Board members appeared to be satisfied, and seemed likely to grant a conditional permit at their July 8 meeting.

Also on Tuesday, the board:

• Discussed Peter Reich’s idea that the town consider a parking ticket amnesty program like the one he found in St. Petersburg, Florida. People who shop locally and spend a minimum amount can file for a reprieve on the parking ticket. Mr. Reich said it would be good for business and create a more welcoming environment for visitors. Supervisor Dougherty said the town justices were “not on board” with the idea because of the extra clerical work it would require. Some board members also said there were no businesses that would benefit if people got their tickets at the beach.

• Saw a sketch by Island artist Peter Waldner of a shelter that Brian Sherman wants to see built to provide a roof over the Recycling Center. He said grants may be available to help fund it and there might be money in the budget that could be applied to it.

• Heard from First Assistant Fire Chief John D’Amato about the practice drill the department will be conducting soon in the Gruber house adjacent to the Recycling Center. The town acquired the property some years ago, giving Mr. Gruber a life estate. He died late last year. Chief. D’Amato said there is likely to be a lot of damage to any contents left in the house. The department will run a smoke machine inside to train firemen how to maneuver in the blind inside a burning house.