Another hearing on the board’s heavy agenda for Friday afternoon is a proposed amendment to the Near Shore Overlay Protection District rules to allow impermeable driveways as long as storm-water runoff is captured and directed back into the aquifer.

The most significant change in the proposed legislation since it came up months ago for discussion by the Town Board is language giving homeowners the right to install up to 1,000 square feet of impermeable surface without having to submit a runoff plan prepared by a licensed engineer if a drywell is installed with it.

Like the causeway rules, this proposal hasn’t had a strong proponent on the board either — it has been pushed by Planning Board member Ian McPherson — but it makes a lot of sense. The existing rules promote the use of crushed concrete aggregate driveways that, over time, become as impermeable as pavement. That denies homeowners the option of a paved driveway but defeats the whole purpose of the rule — to reduce runoff and promote aquifer recharge.