Editorial

Shelter Island Reporter Editorial: Going radical the right way

CHARITY ROBEY PHOTO Councilman Paul Shepherd's idea to impose community service as a penalty for certain building code violations has been enacted.
CHARITY ROBEY PHOTO Councilman Paul Shepherd’s idea to impose community service as a penalty for certain building code violations has been enacted.

Leaving Town Hall after the September 22 work session a man said, to no one in particular, “What’s next? Public stoning?”

He was referring to Councilman Paul Shepherd’s idea to punish those who repeatedly violate town building codes by imposing community service rather than fines.

Too often, Mr. Shepherd said, people with the means will willfully ignore rules and regulations, construct what they want and pay fines imposed by the town as just another cost of doing business.

At first blush the idea of having a resident hauling bins of plastic and aluminum at the Recycling Center or picking up trash for a building code violation seemed over the top. Even Mr. Shepherd acknowledged it was “a radical idea.”

Councilman Peter Reich noted that for years, dock builders have regarded fines as an easy way to get around New York State Department of Environmental Conservation restrictions.

Mr. Reich’s concern with community service sentences was that any person with deep pockets can hire representatives who will find loopholes large enough to drive backhoes through, including finding a way to appoint some hapless fall guy to do the time for the property’s owner.

Town Attorney Laury Dowd noted that community service for building code violations, if passed by the Town Board, might invite immediate legal challenges.

“Challenges” is a polite word for a hornet’s nest of litigation that the town would be poking with a stick.

But what was more radical than Mr. Shepherd’s idea was his colleagues going along with him and quickly imposing 20 hours of service on a property owner who had violated the rules on more than one occasion.

To the owner’s credit, he agreed to do his time without a fight.

What might be even more important to curb egregious construction abuses into protected wetlands, is to raise the fines for this activity, an issue Councilman Ed Brown has pushed. As Mr. Brown has pointed out, the top-of-the-fine range for someone building in environmentally fragile areas is $5,000.

For someone building a $5 million house, this is a pittance to get what you want by imperiling wetlands that belong to all of us and keep the Island’s eco-system healthy.

Congratulations to the Town Board for working quickly and efficiently in the ongoing battle to save our Island from excessive and dangerous construction.