Drip, drip: Town Board parses draft irrigation law
A two-hour Town Board work session Tuesday discussed a draft of an irrigation law and placing limits on the construction of large houses, making little progress on either score.
After a lengthy discussion on the latter issue, Councilman Paul Shepherd speculated if it all boiled down to a question: “Is there any validation to this at all?”
The board seemed unclear on an answer.
On the irrigation draft law, the board spent time parsing minutia of the document, spending 30 minutes on the watering of tennis courts before finally agreeing to remove language in the draft law regulating court irrigation.
Councilman Ed Brown suggested several times that the board focus on clarity. Councilwoman Chris Lewis agreed, noting “when we go to a public hearing we’ll have to make it easy for the public to understand.”
Resident Howard Johansen had some questions, including one that suggested putting the section on listing definitions in alphabetical order.
Councilman Peter Reich acknowledged the difficulty inherent in drafting a law, and that it would “not be cast in stone and put to bed for 30 years,” but would be subject to change.
The other agenda item Tuesday, “large house regulations,” springs from weeks the board spent examining special permit applications for a large house to be built on Charlie’s Lane by Brad Tolkin.
When the board was reviewing the applications amid charges from some neighbors about the size of the project, what enabled Mr. Tolkin to prevail — in addition to compromises he made to scale back the original plan — was an agreement by the board to look at the zoning code with an eye to implementing some restrictions affecting future construction.
That future is here with the board beginning to examine what limits it might impose on construction to maintain the character of the Island.
Tuesday the board spent time discussing lot coverage and square footage of living spaces. The discussion ended when it was decided to examine East Hampton’s code for ideas.
At the end of the meeting, Supervisor Jim Dougherty mentioned there had been a meeting with PSEG and town officials on November 10. He referred to an article in the November 13 issue of the Reporter (“PSEG: no news yet”).
The article quoted Mr. Johansen asking the board why there had been silence by the power company for four months after public opposition killed a proposed power station. He also asked why PSEG had not answered nearly 20 questions the Shelter Island Association had put to the them on how power needs here would be met.
In addition, Mr. Johansen told the Reporter he was surprised that Police Chief Jim Read, the emergency management coordinator for the town, wasn’t pushing the power company harder for answers.
Mr. Dougherty defended both the power company and Chief Read, saying the town was “so fortunate” to have the chief and PSEG, “which is willing to spend tens of millions of dollars on a handful of customers on Shelter Island to ensure our power needs now and in the future.”
By law, PSEG has an obligation to ensure reliable power to customers.
Mr. Dougherty said he rejects “the highly publicized criticism of one individual who purportedly was speaking on behalf of the Shelter Island Association.”
Mr. Johansen correctly pointed out that in the Reporter article he wasn’t representing the Shelter Island Association. He also said that he hadn’t said that Chief Read wasn’t doing a good job.
“I was just trying to say that after four months we haven’t heard anything,” Mr. Johansen said.
