Thank you, Irrigation Committee
From the beginning, when the Shelter Island Irrigation Committee was formed, there were complaints of wasting time and heated discussions among members that turned nasty. One member threatened to walk out of a meeting in the middle of an argument and, in fact, another member resigned after one session because of what she perceived as a toxic atmosphere.
There were other complaints questioning the Irrigation Committee’s reason to exist, with some saying it was created as a political stall tactic by a Town Board that couldn’t make up its mind or lacked the political courage to rule on automated irrigation systems.
As for the length of time, it only seemed endless, stretching to 11 months with many critics both on the committee and off complaining of an obsession with minutiae.
It still hasn’t come to an end, with a draft report now in the Town Board’s hands, but an end to the beginning can be glimpsed. At Friday’s hearing John Hallman, a member of the committee and chairman of the town’s Water Advisory Committee, continued to voice strong views about the draft report and water issues here. On Friday others let the board know how they feel in no uncertain terms.
The board now will consider new legislation and a decision will be made before the end of the year.
But the committee, led carefully by Chairman Thom Milton through all the rapids, eddies and waterfalls of discussion, has served an indispensable service to the Island. We’re not speaking so much about regulating inground irrigation systems, but the committee’s increasing focus on not just the quantity of water, but the quality of our essential resource, the aquifer.
Special praise should also go to Councilman Paul Shepherd, the Town Board’s liaison to the committee, who was always prepared and took his role seriously.
We now are aware of issues of how much water we have and how fresh or salted or just plain polluted it is. Just one example of this new awareness was the applications brought by Brad Tolkin to build a house on the bay at Charlie’s Lane. The board, after weeks of discussion and negotiations, and pushed by an organized protest of the project that came up short, finally approved the project in a split decision Friday.
One of the main objections to the plan that sparked much public discussion, was the effect it would have on water use and the aquifer.
That might not have been ammunition used by people objecting to Mr. Tolkin’s plans a year ago. And though the project was approved — with Supervisor Jim Dougherty standing his ground for environmental reasons — it has moved the discussion further along.
Unintended consequences are often a negative shake-out from most endeavors, but in this instance, we can all be thankful for the ideas on our water supply voiced by the Irrigation Committee.
