Waterways Management Advisory Council meets

Removing a dock, bulkhead or groin requires a permit, Councilman Peter Reich told members of the Shelter Island Waterways Management Advisory Council Monday night. Town code has always been clear on the need for a permit to build or replace such structures, but was silent on whether a person wanting to remove them needed a permit, Mr. Reich said.

In a conversation with Town Attorney Laury Dowd, he said they resolved that removal would also need a permit. While removing a dock might not have an effect on neighboring properties, removal of a bulkhead or groin could certainly affect neighbors, Mr. Reich said.

Continuing concerns about erosion at Reel Point elicited an agreement from Council Chairman John Needham to check on the status of requests that have gone to Suffolk County and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to be able to take actions to shore up the strip of land. Left unattended, Reel Point could become a tombolo, an area only accessible by land at times of low tides.

The newly formed Friends of Smith Cove informed the council that an effort is afoot to raise money to repair bulkheads on the east side of the cove and said they would later be looking to get dredging done in the area once the bulkhead was repaired.

The WMAC agreed to recommend the Town Board pass five of six applications it reviewed. They want applicant Nicky Hunt of 11 Wheeler Road to stake a proposed dock project that would see construction of a 4-foot by 18-foot fixed dock, a 2.5-foot by 12-foot ramp and a 6-foot by 20-foot float with two anchor piles. The staking needs to show both high and low water marks. Once the project is staked, the council can determine what action to recommend to the Town Board.

The WMAC is recommending approval of the following applications:

• Carmel and Eugene Krauss of 183 Ram Island Drive, want to remove 215 feet of bulkhead and a 210-foot retaining wall and construct 215 feet of new bulkheading and a 30-foot new south bulkhead return and  a new 210-foot retaining wall. Clean, trucked-in fill would be used on the void landward and the area would be regraded revegetated with native plants to match existing vegetation. Revegetation would also take place between the bulkhead and retaining wall with non-turf plants and missing lower support members of an existing stairway would be rebuilt. They want to construct a new three-foot wide access stairway from the bulkhead to the beach to replace a destroyed staircase.

•Jeannette Williams of 85 Ram Island Drive wants to replace 260 feet of bulkhead, filling void areas with clean, trucked-in fill and revegetate and repair the area and repair a stairway down to the bluff.

• Louise Calvin of 48 Gardiners Bay Drive wants to construct 40 feet of a new rock revetment return using one to three tons of rocks. The project would include filling the area landward with clean, trucked-in soil  and regrading and revegetating the area with native plants to match existing ones.

• Brian Shea of 118 South Midway Road wants to transfer a previously approved stake, mooring and pulley systems permit from Russell Ireland to himself. Mr. Shea bought the property from Mr. Ireland.

• Charles Dlhopolsky of 12 Thompson Road wants a new mooring in Smith Cove.