This week in Shelter Island history
Raging waves and severe winds during a March 1984 storm lashed Shelter Island causing an estimated $3 million in damages. The Town Board suspended public hearings for repairs to docks and bulkheads until mid June, then in mid June had to suspend the hearings for another month to accommodate the number of people whose properties had sustained damage.
50 YEARS AGO
Island’s electricity coming from new source
While Islanders slept in June 1964, the Long Island Lighting Company was switching on cabling running from Greenport to Shelter Island, described then as “the most ambitious improvement” to electrical service here.The cables replaced miles of wires that had been previously strung by the Shelter Island Light & Power Company that was sold to LILCO in 1959.
“Reliability of service to our customers is of paramount concern to us,” a LILCO spokesman said at the time the new cables went into operation. The cables were backed up with a reinforced transmission system feeding the North Fork and construction of a 15,000 kilowatt electric generator located in Greenport. The overall project cost almost $2 million.
POSTSCRIPT: Today, only one of three cables installed 50 years ago is still functioning and that’s what sparked the effort last year to install new cabling last year. But the effort ended in failure of what would have been a $9 million project. Now PSEG is proposing a Shelter Island substation, anticipated to cost about $7 million.
30 YEARS AGO
Councilmen extend storm-repair cut-off
When a major spring storm clobbered the Island on March 29, 1984, with winds of more than 90 mph and tides 5 feet above normal, many docks, bulkheads and other property sustained what was estimated as $3 million in damages. The Town Board suspended hearings for dock and bulkhead repairs needed because of storm damage and set an outside date for the suspension at June 15.
But the Town Board, recognizing that many projects were still pending, extended the deadline for repairs to be made without hearing until July 15.
POSTSCRIPT: Similarly, the Town Board acted in the wake of damage to docks and bulkheads from superstorm Sandy that hit in October 2012.
20 YEARS AGO
Real estate tax reassessment hearing attracts few
An editorial in June 1994 commended the Shelter Island Association for an informative forum on revaluation of real estate and how it would affect taxes. But it pointed out that while this is a pocketbook issue, few turned out to find out how they might be affected. The editorial pointed out that the Reporter had run lengthy information on the revaluation, but it was clear from questions that residents were ill informed.
POSTSCRIPT: Property revaluation remains as a tool for ensuring that each taxpayer is being properly assessed, but, sadly, the lack of knowledge residents had about the issue in 1994 remains similar to what public officials have said seems to be a lack of knowledge about many of today’s issues. Both the Deer & Tick Committee and the Irrigation Committee have noted the wealth of misinformation being discussed by too many on these critical issues.
10 YEARS AGO
North Ferry gets rate increase
It was in June 2004 that North Ferry got approval from the Suffolk County Legislature to raise its rates. As often happens, the original proposal put forth by the ferry company was tweaked by the legislators. One change the legislators imposed was a 7,000-pound limit before a surcharge would be imposed on SUVs. The company had proposed a 6,000-pound limit. Among the changes in rates that kicked in that year was approval for the company to grant resident commuter fees to employees who live elsewhere but work on Shelter Island.
POSTSCRIPT: North Ferry is now awaiting a Riverhead hearing — the first was on June 3 in Hauppauge —and anticipating approval of rate increases that could take effect in July.
