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Town Board at work on GIS and Reel Point

AMBROSE CLANCY PHOTO | The Town Board in work session Tuesday afternoon. From left, Councilman Paul Shepherd, Deputy Supervisor Chris Lewis, Councilman Peter Reich and Councilman Ed Brown. Supervisor Jim Dougherty is on vacation.
AMBROSE CLANCY PHOTO | The Town Board in work session Tuesday afternoon. From left, Councilman Paul Shepherd, Deputy Supervisor Chris Lewis, Councilman Peter Reich and Councilman Ed Brown. Supervisor Jim Dougherty is on vacation.

The Town Board took up the issue of hiring a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) consultant for the town at its work session Tuesday.

GIS is a global digital mapping system used to record locations of all infrastructures in a municipality. Once mapped, the information can be stored in a database.

Most town departments would benefit from a GIS system, especially the Zoning Board of Appeals, board members agreed. Councilman Peter Reich said the only problem is that this item wasn’t included in the town’s 2014 budget. Total cost would be somewhere around $3,900. The board said it wouldn’t be hard to find the money in the budget, and a decision was delayed until further discussion can include Supervisor Jim Dougherty who will be back from vacation next week.

The board also looked at large subdivisions that will fall under New York State Department of Conservation guidelines to create a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). Town Attorney Laury Dowd said engineers must be hired for these projects and the issue is how to pay for them. She suggested the applicant use an engineer suggested by the town, put up $3,500 and if that amount is not fully used will revert to the applicants.

The board returned to a discussion of blocking access to vehicles to Reel Point. Deputy Supervisor Chris Leis suggested that a more extensive discussion should take place a t the February 4 work session, when fishermen and other interested parties can attend and weigh in on the issue.

The town is trying to restore the beach at Reel Point with plantings but those efforts might be undermined by people driving on the beach.”

Pam Greene, a vice president with the Peconic Land Trust, told the board last week that it would be necessary to block vehicles, but not pedestrians, for at least a year to allow the plantings to take root. Plantings are not scheduled to begin until this spring.

Highway Superintendent Jay Card Jr. said last week that a plan was in place to block off part of the area and have another area with a chain and key lock so emergency vehicles could respond to the area.

It was suggested that the 30 or so residents who have permits to use vehicles on beaches might also be allowed on the beach at another location.

Councilman Ed Brown, liaison to the Deer and tick committees said he was skeptical about the suggestion that a new position be created by the town to hire a full time manager. This official would be in charge of deer management and managing and maintaining the 4-poster program to reduce ticks, among other duties.

Councilman Paul Shepherd also was skeptical of creating a new town job.