Government

A look back at this week in Shelter Island history

JULIE LANE PHOTO | JULIE LANE PHOTO
Today, New York Avenue limits truck traffic to those making local deliveries and trucks can’t weigh more than 9 tons — 18,0000 pounds.

10 YEARS AGO
Town makes it official: water crisis is really over

It was a winter with 30 inches of rain in 2003 and that was 10 inches more than normal for Shelter Island. The town had been in a level four water emergency since March 2002 when the aquifer levels were the lowest they had been in at least 20 years. What caused the crisis was not only months of dry weather in 2002, but several years of below average rainfall prior to 2002. The town was forced to prohibit most lawn and shrub irrigation except for manually watering for a brief period each day and the filling of pools with local water.
POSTSCRIPT: Today, pools must be filled with water trucked in from off-Island and as of September 1, 2013, residents will be prohibited from installing underground automatic irrigation systems. Existing systems must have cisterns filled with water trucked in from off-Island. The legislation creating the restriction was passed in 2003, but the ban wasn’t due to take place until this year. The Water Advisory Committee recently reaffirmed its support for the ban.

20 YEARS AGO
New York Avenue weight limit

The Town Board voted 20 years ago to limit the gross weight of vehicles using New York Avenue to under 20,000, including cargo. The road is owned by the Shelter Island Heights Property Owners Corporation, but regulations governing its use are enforced by town police. HPOC representatives had asked for a 12,000 pound limit that would still allow small dump trucks to use the roadway.  With the HPOC bearing the costs for broken sewers and concerns about how narrow the road is, the argument was made to stop long-standing abuse of the roadway by heavy trucks and buses.
POSTSCRIPT: Today, the roadway allows only truck traffic for local deliveries only and limits the weight to 9 tons — 18,000 pounds.

30 YEARS AGO
Then supervisor Mal Nevel suggested that the Shelter Island Town Board meet a second time each month with the second meeting devoted to “non-controversial” business items. At the time, the board was meeting twice in what it called caucus meetings ­ — today’s work sessions at which no votes are generally made — and once a month in regular session. Mr. Nevel said the second regular board meeting would not be for introduction of any new business and no bills would be paid at that meeting.
POSTSCRIPT: Today’s Town Board meets weekly in a Tuesday early afternoon work session and twice a month on Fridays, generally at 4:30 p.m. in regular session to conduct any and all business.

50 YEARS AGO
While residents 50 years ago agreed that there should be some action that could be taken to deal with unsafe buildings in town, they didn’t want the Town Board to pass a proposed ordinance that would have empowered the board to seek a court decision about whether specific buildings were safe or needed to be taken down. Former councilman Louis Price argued that he opposed all legislation because it invariably “becomes tighter and tighter.” His view was reflected not only in the statements of other town residents, but reflected in then Public Works commissioner Harry Bowditch who said the town already had more laws than it could enforce.
POSTSCRIPT: The same  Shelter Island attitude that held true 50 years ago is alive and well today with many who object to passing a “dark skies” proposal to ensure  people use lighting fixtures that cause bulbs to shine downward so they won’t shine in neighbors’ windows. Town attorney Laury Dowd, who had already drafted a new proposal meant to simplify language and requirements is back at the drawing board at the behest of the Zoning Board of Appeals trying to further simplify that proposal. There’s no guarantee yet that any such ordinance will gain favor with Islanders.