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Councilman gives optimistic report about Goat Hill

JULIE LANE PHOTO The Shelter Island Country Club's clubhouse.
JULIE LANE PHOTO The Shelter Island Country Club’s clubhouse.

Following a meeting of town officials with Marc Scola, board president of the Shelter Island Country Club, Councilman Jim Colligan updated a recent report on how the club that struggled for several years is getting back on its feet.

Membership is up slightly, he told his colleagues at a recent work session. The club that operated in the red for a few years is now operating profitably, Mr. Colligan added.

The town owns the property, but leases it at a token fee to the Country Club.

“The partnership with the town has been wonderful,” Mr. Scola said.

A $10,000 loan that the previous administration provided to the club a couple of years ago has been repaid and Department of Public Works staff have been making improvements to the clubhouse and plan further improvements, Mr. Scola said.

The golf course is in good shape, Mr. Colligan said, and noted that the driving range may be moved down range and angled east to west instead of north to south for safety reasons.

There have been issues of neighbors complaining about noise emanating from the country club from time to time and that’s something both town officials and club board members are working to control.

There’s a need for a new stove in the kitchen of the clubhouse and Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr. is making an effort to keep it working through the summer season while looking to replace it, Mr. Colligan said.

The club originally only provided food to golfers, but has served non-members for several years. Mr. Scola said the food service has been increasingly popular, adding that the emphasis is to provide good food at reasonable prices.

“We don’t need another five-star restaurant,” he said.

The Flying Goat restaurant has returned for a second year with operator John DeLeo expressing optimism about a long-term relationship. He’s the first operator to gain agreement from the board to operate both the restaurant and bar.

Past restaurant operators have had to share the space with a club employee operating the bar and turning its profits over to the club. Having two businesses in the same space and not giving the restaurant operator access to bar profits resulted in failure for several restaurant operators.

Supervisor Gary Gerth, who attended the recent meeting, called Mr. Scola “a visionary” in his efforts to move the country club forward and continue to increase its membership.

The only concern voiced by Councilman Paul Shepherd was the country club is a nonconforming use. Mr. Shepherd cautioned his colleagues as they work with the club to try to ensure it doesn’t increase its nonconformity, something the town tries to restrict Island residents from doing on their properties.