Gitlin gets OK to repair bulkhead on Silver Beach lot where he plans to build house

Andrew Gitlin can replace 100 feet of bulkhead along his waterfront lot at 70 Peconic Avenue in Silver Beach but it must be done with more costly materials than the toxic CCA-treated wood he wanted to use to minimize costs.

That was the unanimous decision of the Shelter Island Town Board Friday night. The board agreed the bulkhead, damaged when Tropical Storm Irene walloped the area at the end of last August, needed to be repaired but not with CCA-treated wood, the use of which the town has discouraged for years even though the town code does not prohibit it.

In addition to requiring a non-toxic alternative, the  board agreed that new steps to the beach must be built parallel to the bulkhead, not perpendicularly, which is more susceptible to storm damage and more intrusive for beach walkers.

In its decision, the board encouraged Mr. Gitlin to consider a complete replacement of the bulkhead because it said repairs are unlikely to hold up more than five years.

The decision followed recommendations made in December by  the Waterways Management Advisory Council.

While other East End towns ban the use of CCA-treated wood in their waters, Shelter Island hasn’t. But it has been requiring vinyl or other non-CCA alternatives in docks and bulkheads for years. Councilman Peter Reich said in December he expected the WMAC to ask the Town Board to follow the lead of surrounding communities and ban CCA wood early in 2012.

Now that Mr. Gitlin has obtained approval for bulkhead repairs, his controversial application to renew a wetlands permit to build a  two-story house on his one-third-acre lot can come off a back burner. Neighbors have argued that the proposed structure is too large for the lot.

Mr. Gitlin received a wetlands permit for the project from the Town Board in late  2008. That permit expired and the question remains whether or not Mr. Gitlin will be allowed to renew it.

Supervisor Jim Dougherty has said he opposed issuing a new permit because recent studies have shown residential development is the main cause of nitrate pollution in the Peconic Bay system. Other Town Board members have said they could find no grounds for reversing their 2008 decision because the laws had not changed since then nor had Mr. Gitlin’s proposal.