This week in Shelter Island history
50 YEARS AGO IN HISTORY
The last Beatles concert tour of the United States began.Actress Halle Berry was born in Cleveland, Ohio.
The first of five lunar orbiters began orbiting the moon to capture pictures used to map the lunar surface.
The House Un-American Activities Committee investigation of anti-war demonstrators was interrupted by demonstrators. The committee later declared that leaders of the groups were revolutionary hard-core communists.
And on Shelter Island …
50 YEARS AGO
Public tells board, ‘not enough’
Thirty people showed up at a Town Board public hearing to say the proposed increases in minimum house sizes was insufficient.
The proposal in Zone A residential called for increasing the minimum from 800 square feet to 1,000; and in Zone C residential, from 480 square feet to 780.
Those who spoke said zone A should have a minimum house size set at 1,200 square feet. In Zone C, there was a provision for an accessory building of only 480 square feet with the thought that many Island families at the time rented out their main houses during summer months and lived in the smaller structures in order to increase their incomes.
Full-time occupancy of such small houses would have the effect of downsizing in Zone C to a quarter acre instead of the required 20,000 square foot lots allowed at the time, the neighbors said.
POSTSCRIPT: Ironically, today’s concerns are focused on limits to how large a house can be at its maximum with concerns about the impact large houses with many bedrooms and bathrooms could have on scarce water resources.
30 YEARS AGO
Heights residents hear annual report
It was at this time 30 years ago that members of the Heights Property Owners Corporation were discussing an annual report that referenced concerns about North Ferry lines. The concern then was largely focused on what ferry lines in season have on neighboring houses with respect to traffic flow and congestion.
At the time, the concern was with Island roads and congestion here. There was no mention of any concern in Greenport. There was talk about the need for a Montauk ferry slip to absorb some of the traffic that goes across the Island to the Hamptons, but East Hampton has an ordinance prohibiting ferries.
POSTSCRIPT: Today, the focus is on the same subject, but appears to be more of an issue on the Greenport side where residents and elected officials have been vocal about tlong ferry lines and concerns about how to address the issue.
Some have suggested a $1 per vehicle surcharge to offset road maintenance in Greenport, something that could only happen if the Suffolk County Legislature approved it .
20 YEARS AGO
Town Board sets hearing on fireworks
Back in 1996, the Town Board was discussing whether to enact an ordinance requiring a public assembly permit for fireworks. Independence Day fireworks, that had long been presented by the Chamber of Commerce, weren’t at issue. But a private fireworks show at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club in celebration of its 100th anniversary raised the question of whether such events should be controlled by a town ordinance.
POSTSCRIPT: The ordinance was placed on the books and continues to be enforced. The group of Island residents who for the past two years have operated spectacular fireworks programs in July after the Chamber of Commerce had decided it could not continue to do so, have been granted public assembly permits for their extravaganzas.
10 YEARS AGO
Zitek reports no permethrin on tested deer
It was two years before the Cornell University-Cornell Cooperative Extension program to test 4-poster units began in 2008 and the community was exploring the pros and cons of participating.
Among concerns then were whether the use of the tickicide permethrin might infect deer meat.
Dr. William Zitek, a veterinarian and member of the town’s Deer & Tick Committee at the time, reported to the Suffolk County Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee that four deer tested by Cornell University’s Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory showed no signs of permethrin in the deer.
POSTSCRIPT: Ten years later, Deer & Tick Committee members are wondering about whether there are long-term effects of permethrin and whether it is effective. But there has been no testing to determine those factors. Tests have shown that despite some skeptics, deer meat is safe even if the deer have been exposed to permethrin.
