Waterways panel ponders having a set of guidelines for making its recommendations

Adopt guidelines for bulkhead, dock, mooring, boatlift and other permit requests or make decisions on a case-by-case basis?

That’s the debate among Waterways Management Advisory Council members. They’re working with Councilman Peter Reich to identify priorities and then looking to the Town Board to help them decide which should be codified.

While the list of goals hasn’t been made public pending submission to the Town Board, Mr. Reich said at Monday night’s WMAC meeting he’ll be sharing the information with his colleagues after the 2013 town budget is adopted.

Among the issues that came up at Monday night’s WMAC discussion were under what circumstances to allow boat lift, if they should be allowed at all; whether or not to allow shortened T-shaped docks; what materials can or can’t be used; and whether to change guidelines for dock widths and lengths.

On the one hand, council members would like to have some established guidelines on which to base their decisions about bulkheads, docks, moorings and other issues that are within their purview for making recommendations to the Town Board. But they worry that laws that are too stringent could leave them too little wiggle room for making sensible recommendations.

Clear guidelines are necessary to avoid charges that the WMAC recommendations are “capricious,” something that could lead to lawsuits, said member Bill Geraghty. Recommendations made on a case-by-case basis could easily be interpreted that way, he said.

“It’s a crapshoot,” member George Zinger agreed.

For the full story on WMAC activities, see Thursday’s Reporter.