Site plan review ticketed for public hearing; legislation would be a first for Island

The Town Board is moving toward holding a public hearing on legislation requiring all commercial property owners to formally submit plans for development — a process called site plan review.

Shelter Island is the only municipality on the East End lacking one. The review process would exclude the Village of Dering Harbor.

Site plan review, if approved, would be conducted by the Planning Board for final Town Board approval. It would include requirements by owners to outline the uses of the property and detailed descriptions of everything from parking, trash, signage and more.

The purpose of the site plan review legislation, stated in a draft of the legislation prepared by Town Attorney Laury Dowd, is to “mitigate the environmental impacts of new development on the land, and water resources” and “prevent overcrowding of land or buildings.”

The issue came to a head in March when Supervisor Jim Dougherty said at a work session that “Route 114, north and south of the Center, is becoming an eyesore and maybe we have to be a little more careful in our review of proposed projects. We want to be respectful of people, but we want to meet our responsibilities.”

Two properties in particular caught the board’s attention. One is a proposed storage facility at 18 North Ferry Road under construction by John Sieni. The town issued a building permit on February 11 and work began, but a stop work order was issued, since, according to the Building Department, the original permit “was issued in error” because the development “constitutes expansion of a pre-existing, non-conforming use.”

The other property in question is just down the street, 13 North Ferry Road, owned by Dan Calabro and leased to Marcello Masonry. The board has discussed this site several times over the last several months because of its unsightly appearance and noise. Earlier in they year the board heard complaints about the operation of a concrete grinding machine on the premises.

New landscaping has appeared to screen the property from the street and a new curb cut and driveway is being installed.

The public hearing on instituting site plan review could be set for sometime next month.

In other business: Town Building Permit Coordinator Mary Wilson discussed property owned by Hap Bowditch at 1 South Midway Road. Ms. Wilson noted that the property is zoned residential and yet there is a business operating there. The business, Mr. Bowditch said, was started by his father in the mid-1940s before there was zoning on Shelter Island.

Ten years ago, when there was discussion of selling the property, the Town Board looked into the situation. In a memo from February 2006, Ms. Wilson, then a town code enforcement officer, wrote that there was discussion of “grandfathering” a public garage section of the property. “Welding would be permitted, accessory to the garage potion, as it currently exists,” the memo states.

The memo concludes that there will be discussion of “further issues when the need arises”

The problem, Ms. Wilson told the board Tuesday, is that there has never been further discussion and the situation should be clarified. The board agreed to discus the issue at next week’s work session.

Ms. Dowd walked out of the meeting before one of her neighbors, Gerald Mallow of Congdon Road, began to address the board. She said she wouldn’t sit through another “slander fest” of her character by Mr. Mallow, who went on to complain of barking dogs from her property and inaction by the town because of Ms. Dowd’s position.

This isn’t the first time Mr. Mallow has complained to the board. Three years ago, he told the board there was a connection between Ms. Dowd’s drafting the so-called “dark skies” legislation and vandalism on his property. He claimed that after Ms. Dowd asked him to move a light, which he did, he discovered lights broken and beer bottles on his property.

Tuesday, Mr. Mallow said he was getting no satisfaction from town offices on the barking dog, and that “she has people living [illegally] in her garage.”

Supervisor Jim Dougherty said he would look into the matter.

Building Inspector Chris Tehan told the board to remove his name from the list of potential candidates to replace chief Building Inspector and Zoning Officer Bill Bank when he retires later this year.