Town Board looks at irrigation report

A subcommittee — Councilmen Peter Reich and Paul Shepherd and Town Attorney Laury Dowd — continues to review recommendations from the Irrigation Committee.

The Irrigation Committee’s  report recommends that the town:

• Allow existing systems to continue to be used providing they are upgraded;
• Require annual permitting of systems to assure they are in proper working order;
• Require annual chloride tests of well water in grandfathered systems located in the Near Shore Overlay District; and
• Create regulations affecting any new systems on a townwide basis, abandoning thought of creating three different districts with varying regulations.

While acknowledging that water problems are different in a sensitive area like Bootleggers Alley than they are in Hay Beach, the idea of three zones with varying regulations was abandoned, Councilman Peter Reich said at Tuesday’s Town Board work session.

As for enforcement and possible penalties, that’s something the subcommittee has yet to consider, Mr. Shepherd said.

The subcommittee will continue to report to the full Town Board at the September 12 meeting and Ms. Dowd said she hoped to have a rough draft ready for review by early October so that a public hearing could be scheduled.

The Town Board, by resolution, is seeking to make a final decision on its irrigation policies by the end of the year.