Hogue seeks town intervention with Dering Harbor

A former mayor of the Village of Dering Harbor sought Town Board intervention at Tuesday’s work session on issues involving the mooring field in Dering Harbor and parking at the Mildred Flower Hird Preserve.

For years, there existed an agreement that, while the town owns water bottoms surrounding the Island, the village would be able to control moorings within 500 feet of its shores, former Mayor Tim Hogue said.

“It worked very nicely,” Mr. Hogue said.

About two years ago, the village took out the buoys in the water that had marked that 500-foot area at summer’s end and were installed each spring, he said. Now, Mr. Hogue told the board, there’s a proposed village law to expand the 500-feet limit and essentially have no anchoring. This is a major concern, and is why Mr. Hogue asked the board to intervene, he said.

There’s a need to restore the buoys in season and Mr. Hogue asked the Town Board — as he had to the Water Management Advisory Council (WMAC) the previous night — to take three actions:
• Delay a vote scheduled by the Village Board on Saturday, June 8, on any issues relating to the mooring field since they might have to be rescinded.
• Reinstall the buoys marking the 500-foot area from shore.
• Create a subcommittee that would include John Needham, chairman of the WMAC; Mike Anglin, a WMAC member who has been putting the buoys in place in spring and removing them at the end of the season; two Dering Harbor Village Board members; and Councilman Jim Colligan as liaison to work out the issues.

At the recommendation of Mr. Colligan, who is liaison to the WMAC, the Town Board agreed to all three and planned to send a letter to the Village Board requesting a delay on any vote on Saturday until the subcommittee could be created and discuss the issues.

A second issue Mr. Hogue asked the Town Board to assist with is the creation of a parking area at the Mildred Flower Hird Preserve. The land was acquired in two purchases from the Hunt family. Esther Hunt, at a recent Village Board meeting, said she had been misquoted as saying she objected to parking in the area.

She clarified the situation, explaining that she would object to a large, blacktop parking area, but would have no objection to creating an area where hikers could park at the roadside without obstructing traffic.

“This is modest parking,” Mr. Hogue told the Town Board. But he said the Village Board hasn’t been cooperative. He suggested that the board has too many new members who may not understand how government works and said he would like the town to intervene.

Supervisor Gary Gerth offered to put together a meeting with Village Board members,  Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board Chairman Gordon Gooding and other interested parties.