This week in Shelter Island history

10 YEARS AGO
Headlines for Island land deal in D.C. Post

Whoever said any publicity is good publicity couldn’t have been thinking about the attention The Nature Conservancy and Jim Dougherty got from the Washington Post 10 years ago.

In an effort to preserve additional land at the Mashomack Preserve, Mr. Dougherty, who was then a Conservancy trustee, was allowed to purchase a 10-acre tract of land for less than the Conservancy had paid.

But while he purchased the $2.1 million tract for only $500,000, he also contributed $1.6 million to the Conservancy. At issue for the Washington Post was such inside deals with trustees such as this one that the paper said shouldn’t be allowed as charitable contributions. But Mr. Dougherty fought back, saying he had cleared the transaction with his tax counsel. With the purchase came covenants that kept the land from being developed. The Conservancy argued that without such deals, it wouldn’t have the money to preserve the amount of land that needs to be saved from development. The Internal Revenue Service hadn’t challenged the transaction or the tax deductions taken by Mr. Dougherty.

POSTSCRIPT: The Mashomack Preserve today occupies approximately one-third of the Island and no one will ever be allowed to develop the land for private use. Despite the  furor of 10 years ago, most Islanders were just grateful that there were among them individuals like Mr. Dougherty who had the means to buy the land with its covenants intact.

20 YEARS AGO
Islanders ‘traditional’ and ‘pace-setters’

A Suffolk Community College poll conducted 20 years ago confirmed what Islanders thought of themselves — they’re both traditional in their values, but pace-setters in some of their views. At the time, they held to a forward looking view, wanting to see the East End developed as a county of its own, separate from Suffolk County. At the same time, they eschewed a new jetport, wanting to keep their skies as clear from air traffic as possible.

POSTSCRIPT: While there’s no new poll, it’s safe to assume that attitudes haven’t changed a lot and certainly the recent response to dark skies legislation and helicopter traffic reveals a hold to independent attitudes and a pride in doing what works for Islanders, whether or not it’s the way of the world elsewhere.

30 YEARS AGO
Defeated school budget will be voted on again

Voters turned down a $1.97 million school budget in May 1983 that called for a tax rate of $7.09 per $100 of assessed valuation. But Board of Education members were contemplating putting the same budget up for a second vote on June 8, 1983.  More than 100 people came out to hear Mr. Bement defend the budget prior to the re-vote and many more showed up at the polls June 8, but the budget still went down by a 367 to 420 vote, forcing the district to adopt a contingency budget that not only cut spending, but had the state dictating what cuts would take place.

POSTSCRIPT: The news the Board of Education got in 1983 is certainly what members don’t want to hear this year as a result of balloting slated for May 21. They hope voters will smile on their slightly more than $10 million budget request that stays within the state-imposed 2 percent tax levy cap.

50 YEARS AGO
First house to rise in Silver Beach community

Having passed muster with necessary town requirements, developer Reginald Hudson was preparing to begin work 50 years ago on the first house that would part of the Longview section of Silver Beach. Mr. Hudson had spent the previous year clearing the land, laying out plots and constructing roads for the community of homes that he expected would sell for $20,000 to $30,000 each.
“I’ll build one house at a time and when it’s sold, will build another,” he said. The new houses were planned to be of the same general design and quality that had won praise from other residents of Silver Beach.

POSTSCRIPT: While today’s Longwood neighborhood has many modest homes, none could be had for even 10 times what Mr. Hudson sold them for back in 1963.