Charlie’s Lane application in limbo

The discomfort Town Board members are expressing about a proposed 8,297 square-foot house on Charlie’s Lane has resulted in a request that the applicant file an extensive, or what’s known as a “long” environmental form.

There’s also a suggestion the overall proposal be scaled back to include fewer bedrooms and bathrooms.
Applicant Brad Tolkin was absent from Tuesday’s Town Board work session, but his attorney and architects were there, arguing that they have complied with every request the Town Board has made, but are now being held to another standard, resulting from what architect Peter Cook called a “smear campaign” by neighbors.

Mr. Tolkin’s team has previously complained to the Town Board about letters that continue to come in long after the August 22 deadline for public comment.

Supervisor Jim Dougherty said the letters now total 96. But he and others on the Town Board insisted that the late letters weren’t entering into their concerns about Mr. Tolkin’s application.

A group of the neighbors have established a website at shelterislandwater.org encouraging others to email the Town Board to support requiring a long environmental form because of their concerns about the neighborhood’s water quality being harmed by the Tolkin’s plans.

Attorney Kieran Pape Murphree agreed she would carry the Town Board’s message to Mr. Tolkin about filing a long environmental form, while arguing there is no requirement for the long form for a single-family residence. This is especially true of one that had Suffolk County Department of Health Services approval and plans that mitigated concerns about water use and septic system operations, she added.

The house that stands on the property now has a greater impact on the environment than Mr. Tolkin’s house would have because of the mitigating factors, Ms. Murphree said.

Mr. Cook argued that when Mr. Tolkin purchased the property, he knew what he was allowed by code and that he understood he would need a special permit, but said he was now being held to requirements not included in the code.

Councilman Ed Brown told his colleagues he thinks there’s a need for tougher laws to be applied in fragile zones.

Noting his reputation for being an advocate of property rights, Councilman Paul Shepherd, said he’s “seeing an underlying reality to what the neighbors are expressing.”

At issue for him is the size of the project that not only has eight bedrooms, but would provide bathrooms for each. “The appetite expressed here in this application is rather large,” Mr. Shepherd said.

While Councilwoman Chris Lewis acknowledged that Mr. Tolkin had mitigated every aspect of the project the Town Board requested, she said her concerns were about a potential future owner of the property who might be less responsible about environmental concerns.

Planning Board member Emory Breiner warned the Board that they would have a legal problem since they had previously approved nine large projects without requiring the long environmental form.

While Mr. Dougherty said the long form would help to answer the questions he has about the application, Mr. Shepherd said he wasn’t confident that would satisfy him.

Trim the size of the project, he suggested.

Where that leaves the application at this stage will depend, at least in part, on whether Mr. Tolkin bows to the request for the long environmental form or tries to fight it.

IRRIGATION
Having concluded their efforts to draft a revised code affecting irrigation, the Town Board expects to set a date Friday for a public hearing to be held in early October.

It needs public information before it’s “tweaked” any further, Councilman Peter Reich said. He, Mr. Shepherd and Town Attorney Laury Dowd have been meeting as a subcommittee to review recommendations from the Irrigation Committee that spent 11 months studying the issue.

At this stage, they are suggesting that turf irrigation systems already in place be grandfathered in, but be required to be upgraded and permitted annually.

More details of the draft proposal will be forthcoming in advance of an October hearing.

PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS
Town contributions to employee pension funds is expected to be less than budgeted when the bill comes due in December, Mr. Dougherty said. But police pensions will be a little higher because of salary differentials, he said.

On the better news side, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has announced that thanks to increased returns on investment, pension contributions will be lower in December 2015.