Editorial: Pools and the rules
The case of the Chequit now pending before the Zoning Board of Appeals looks likely to become the perfect example of why businesses in residential zones have nothing to fear from public concern and oversight when they seek to expand.
There’s no question that putting in a pool constitutes an expansion — albeit a minor one — of a non-conforming use. In addition to permission from the Appeals Board to expand as a non-conforming use, the Chequit also needs two setback variances. Judging from the way the case has progressed so far, Appeals Board members seem pretty well satisfied that the inn needs a pool to remain competitive. The only issue is how much noise it might generate and how much of a nuisance it might be in the neighborhood.
It’s hard to believe the small pool planned for the Chequit is going to attract crowds of screaming, splashing kids or people with blasting radios. No one listens to radios anymore; they listen to iPods with earbuds. The nook in which the pool is to be located seems way too cozy and confined for crowds to form. And the inn can’t tolerate a noisy pool outside its guests’ windows any more than residential neighbors.
Anybody who’s spent some time at a fine inn with a pool knows the pool area tends to be a pretty quiet place most of the time. As for a couple of laughing little kids now and then, that’s not noise. It’s a lovely summer background score.
Okay, maybe not to everybody and certainly not all day long.
Acoustical engineers working for both the Heights Property Owners Corporation and Cape Advisors — the experienced and proven company that will buy the Chequit if the pool wins approval — are working on a noise-abatement plan.
The Chequit sale is important to the future of Shelter Island. That’s not a legal or proper reason to grant zoning variances or permission to expand. But as long as the legal standards can be met — unique circumstances, financial hardship that is not self-imposed and a negligible impact on the neighborhood — it’s a good reason to be relieved if and when the Appeals Board says yes in this case.
The same things can be said of the application of La Maison Blanche to put in a pool. That seems headed for approval, too.
The feeling in the business community is very strong that any attempt to limit and control them represents some new and serious threat. But rules have been on the books for years here limiting their expansion and defining their abandonment after a long period of inactivity. So why all the fuss about them?
The two pending inn cases demonstrate that, despite some confusing language in them, the rules can work well, both for nearby residents and for the Island’s businesspeople.
