Government

Town Board: Hearing set on non-conforming uses

PETER BOODY PHOTO | Dory owner Jack Kiffer made his annual appeal to the Town Board on Tuesday for public toilets on Bridge Street.

The Town Board last week set a hearing for 4:50 p.m. on Friday, March 16 on the board’s revised proposal for amending the rules for non-conforming businesses operating in residential zones.

The issue has been a touchy one, with business leaders angrily opposing the board’s attempt last summer to satisfy a request from the Zoning Board of Appeals to clarify the current rules. Opponents said the board’s revisions were aimed at snuffing out local businesses.

The board backed off and formed a committee headed by Councilwoman Chris Lewis to develop a new proposal, which was unveiled at a board work session two weeks ago. So far there has been no public sign of opposition to the revised proposal.

Committee members included Town Attorney Laury Dowd, local businessman Mike Anglin and resident Lisa Shaw, a neighbor of La Maison Blanche — one of dozens of businesses that predate the residential zones in which they are located. Ms. Shaw is an intervenor in a lawsuit filed by inn owner John Sieni seeking to overturn a ZBA ruling that La Maison Blanche illegally expanded its business by using what had been an adjacent residential lot for customer parking access. The lot was purchased by a previous owner. It was Ms. Shaw’s complaint that prompted the ZBA review and decision against La Maison Blanche.

The text of the proposal appears in the legal notice in this week’s edition of the Reporter starting on page 24. It would strictly prohibit the expansion of pre-existing, non-conforming business operations beyond the boundaries of their original properties. In addition, the proposal would give owners who had stopped operating their businesses the option of renewing their pre-existing, non-conforming zoning status for up to 10 years before the town would consider the business to have been discontinued.

OTHER VOTES

In other action at last Friday’s regular meeting, the board set a public hearing for 4:55 p.m. on March 16 on the application of Richard Tarlow for a special exception permit to construct a 10,431-square-foot house that would exceed the town’s 6,000-square-foot size limit; an 864-square-foot garage; and two pools at 29 Nostrand Parkway, next door to Mr. Tarlow’s current residence. No opposition to the proposal has surfaced at the board’s work sessions.

The board voted 3-2 on Friday, with Paul Shepherd and Ed Brown voting no, to support legislation that comes up every year in the state Senate and Assembly that would establish a Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority (PBRTA). It would have the power to float bonds in order to finance the development of a light rail system on the MTA’s Long Island Rail Road tracks on the North and South Forks, with connecting north-south shuttle bus routes.

Sponsored by Assemblyman Fred Thiele and Senator Ken LaValle, the legislation requires “home rule” support from each of the five East End town boards and the two sponsors seek it every year. Their bills have died in committee each year without ever coming to the floor for a vote.

Mr. Brown and Mr. Shepherd have said they don’t think Shelter Island needs to participate in planning for a mass transit system because the Island itself has no need for one. Mr. Brown has also said the system might hurt local people by bringing in outside workers who would compete for jobs. Also, he opposes chipping in any more town contributions to help support planning efforts.

The two board members voted in favor Friday of a related home rule request for Thiele- and LaValle-sponsored bills that would create a governing council to set goals and plan for the PBRTA. Mr. Shepherd, a new councilman, commented at the board’s subsequent work session on Tuesday that he had learned the lesson that he should never vote for a resolution he hadn’t read.

Two similar home rule requests came up at the Town Board’s February 3 meeting, when the votes were 3-2 in favor, with Mr. Shepherd and Mr. Brown voting no on both. Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar said the Senate and Assembly bills were back on the agenda on Friday because they had been slightly revised.

COMPOST QUALITY

PETER BOODY PHOTO | Highway Superintendent Jay Card shows Town Board members samples of the higher grades of mulch the Highway Department has been able to produce with the more efficient screener the department has been renting.

In other Town Board business, Highway Superintendent Jay Card showed the board samples of a finer grade of mulch and topsoil that highway workers have been able to produce at the Recycling Center, thanks to a “ball deck” screener the town has rented for the month at a cost of about $500 a day or $15,000. Mr. Card said the machine, along with a grinder the town rented, has allowed the town to produce a finer product. It reduces disposal costs for leftover waste and leaves more room at the landfill by getting rid of more leaves, bark and brush, Mr. Card said.

Mr. Card proposed a new set of fees for the delivery of mulch and topsoil based on truckload, not cubic yardage, because the current rate system does not always cover the town’s delivery costs.

BRIDGE STREET TOILETS

Spring is in the air and a Bridge Street business person’s fancy turns to … well, public bathrooms.

Dory owner Jack Kiffer this week renewed his annual call for the town to provide toilets for summer visitors on Bridge Street.

At Tuesday’s Town Board work session, he told the board he’d rather see the town give up a parking spot on the congested street to make room for a pair of Port-o-Sans than have to “alienate the people I alienate” again this summer by telling them they can’t use bathrooms at his waterside bar and restaurant.

Mr. Kiffer said he turns away “80 to 90 people” — he did not indicate the time frame — because his private septic system can’t handle any more users.

Councilwoman Chris Lewis said she had talked two years ago to Bridge Street businesspeople who were going to get back to her about possible locations but never did. She said Volunteer Park was “out” as a location.

Board members discussed the possibility of locating two portable toilets in a parking spot adjacent to the entrance to the town dock at the east end of Bridge Street.

Mr. Kiffer agreed to Councilman Ed Brown’s request that he get other Bridge Street businesspeople “on board.”

CABLEVISION TALKS

With a 10-year franchise agreement due to expire August 9, Cablevision and a Shelter Island Town Board subcommittee will start talks April 12 to reach a new contract, Councilman Ed Brown reported at Tuesday’s work session of the Town Board.

Mr. Brown urged residents who have any concerns or complaints about their Cablevision service to submit them in writing to the Town Clerk’s office before the April 12 meeting, at which Mr. Brown and Supervisor Jim Dougherty are expected to meet with Cablevision’s director of government affairs, Joan Gilroy.

Mr. Brown said he and Mr. Dougherty would address any concerns raised by the public during their meeting with Ms. Gilroy.

Mr. Dougherty has mentioned at past board work sessions that it appears to him that Shelter Island receives the smallest cut of Cablevision’s revenues of any neighboring town.