Plans to shore up Silver Beach landing

Shelter Island’s Waterways Management Advisory Committee is asking the Town Board to approve spending between $20,000 and $22,000 to upgrade the Silver Beach Lagoon town landing.

“It’s really sloppy down there,” Bill Geraghty told his fellow committee members Monday night. He and member Al Loreto have developed a plan that would involve cleaning up debris and old moorings and having new pilings installed to create boat slips and new moorings.

Costello Marine provided a quote for 10 pilings — five on the north side and five on the south — at an estimated cost of $12,000, while permits for the work would cost approximately $3,000. Another $5,000 could be spent dredging, although Mr. Geraghty said it could be as low as $2,000 depending on how long the work would take.

He predicted that the expenses would be recovered within 10 years or less since fees would go up for those using the boat slips.

“It’s one of the busiest launching ramps on the Island,” Mr. Geraghty said, explaining why there’s a need to restore it.

The committee has its own budget from which the money would likely come if the Town Board gives a thumbs up. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation would have to approve the project, including the dredging. Past dredging at the site went down the middle, allowing buildup on the north and south sides that would have to be cleared to accommodate boats, Mr. Geraghty said.

He also recommended purchasing pile protectors that fit around each piling to keep them from becoming damaged and give them more stability as well as providing a means of securing boats so they wouldn’t be damaged when tied up in the slips.

On a separate matter, member James Eklund asked his colleagues to look at a concrete ramp at the end of Silver Beach he said has “created a mess” and either remove it or repair it. That’s up for further discussion at the committee’s February 2 meeting.

REEL POINT
Despite dredging in December 2013, erosion is continuing “at an alarming rate,” Chairman John Needham told the committee. Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr. has had an engineering firm look at the situation and come up with a proposal to protect it, he said. That, too, is likely to be on the agenda for further discussion in February.

In other action, the WMAC:
• Had no alternative but to recommend approval of a request for an L-shaped fixed timber pier requested by Free Breeze LLC at 70 Peconic Avenue. But members cautioned that the location is not safe because of the exposure and will leave it to the Town Board to make a final decision. Because the request meets code, the committee couldn’t reject it, but unanimously agreed it’s a poor idea to build it.

Mr. Geraghty said the house there is “a spec” that the builder probably wants to enhance by adding the dock as a means of selling it, but because of the location and the water currents, it wouldn’t be usable for safety reasons.

• Recommended the Town Board reject dock, bulkhead, jetty and mooring applications filed by 7 Winthrop Road LLC where there’s already a non-conforming dock. To allow requested extensions would set a poor precedent, they agreed.

• Requested a hardship letter from the Sean O’Shea Qualified Trust explaining why there’s a need for an L-shaped fixed timber pier in West Neck Harbor to serve 5 Proposed Road.

• Recommended rejection of an application from Congdon Point LLC for a 32-foot extension to an existing dock serving 34 North Cartwright Road. Committee member Marc Wein, who participated in the discussion by telephone although he couldn’t cast a vote, warned his colleagues that approval would lead to a large number of requests for boat lifts from others with houses along Coecles Harbor.

• Recommended approval of a private mooring for Ralph Whipple of 20 Thompson Road for a mooring in Smith Cove.

• Agreed that an application from Andrea Gannon Brereton of 17 Point Lane doesn’t need to have a boat associated with it to qualify for a Riparian mooring and recommended approval by the Town Board.