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Resident: Board shirking responsibility on water usage

REPORTER FILE PHOTO
REPORTER FILE PHOTO

At its Tuesday work session, the Town Board turned once again to the subject of “proportionality,” the term used for at least year of discussion to codify workable constraints on the size of new construction,

Tuesday’s session was different when a new voice offered an opinion.

When the idea of limiting water usage by restricting the size of new houses was discussed, resident Seth Madore angrily interrupted from the audience. He castigated the board for not even considering new technologies, such as “green” building practices that ensure efficiencies in water usage.

The board was shirking its responsibilities, Mr. Madore added.

He noted that a house Zach Vella is building with 11,615 square feet of living space on the old Herman’s Castle site on Shore Road would probably be much more efficient than what it’s replacing.

Councilman Jim Colligan responded forcefully, saying that residents had “filled this room” and many constituents have lobbied him personally to do something about huge houses being constructed on Shelter Island.

Later, Mr. Colligan said Mr. Madore’s ideas should be considered, but he would not ‘back down” from trying to achieve some sense of proportionality in building on the Island.

In other business, the board allowed a “pre-application submission” to proceed for a project real estate broker Janalyn Travis-Messer has brought to the Community Housing Board to build a three-bedroom rental with an attached one-bedroom rental at North Ferry and Hedges roads. Supervisor Jim Dougherty said that the board was not approving the project, but just allowing a process to take its course.

The project would provide  “community” or “workforce housing” at the site, with established rental guidelines.

In 2008 — following a contentious public hearing — the Town Board instituted a “Community Housing Floating Zone” meant to be a plan for affordable housing. The legislation opened the door to “creative and imaginative” land use, according to the resolution that became part of the town’s zoning code.

The aim was to allow a property owner to rent units and to maintain them at affordable rental rates as determined by a scale maintained in the Town Clerk’s office.

Ms. Travis- Messer’s project has drawn fire from neighbors of the site, including Mr. Madore, who have said it was inappropriate zoning for the location and that many adults would have to be packed into the house to make the rent, plus as many as eight cars would be parked at the property.

Supervisor Jim Dougherty reiterated what he had said at the beginning of the discussion, that it was not an approval of the project, but just allowing the process to proceed.

Chapter 51 of the town zoning code provides for such a pre-application submission that could be followed by a formal submission to the Town Board, referral to the Planning Board and a public hearing.