Board work session discusses Comprehensive Plan, and plans for beaches

At Tuesday’s Town Board work session, members discussed finding $150,000 for consultant’s fees to put together a Comprehensive Plan for the town. Other issues on the agenda were parking restrictions on Bootleggers Alley to discourage people from off-Island fishing there, and regulating food trucks and other business at the beaches.

Near the end of the meeting, Police Chief Jim Read said that the town had added another case of COVID-19 coronavirus to the town’s tally. The latest is a person who has been “cleared” medically of the illness. This brings the number of confirmed cases to nine. Two have died from the virus — Forrest Compton and Kevin Brooks — and the others have since been cleared, the chief said.

Islander Edward Hindin, who will be the project manager to oversee producing a Comprehensive Plan, outlined the methods and procedures to achieve the goal of having it in place by October 2021.

A municipality’s Comprehensive Plan dictates policy on multiple fronts, including development, land use, transportation and housing. In 1994, a Comprehensive Plan was adopted by a Town Board resolution. A seven-month effort of discussion and research in 2008 produced an update to that plan, but the board rejected it.

Mr. Hindin, a former licensed professional planner, who has worked in two municipalities creating Comprehensive Plans, has drafted, with Councilman Mike Bebon, a timeline and goals. The idea is to update the 1994 plan, and make it work.
Supervisor Gerry Siller said that the effort “is critical to our future” and “will reflect the views of Island residents.”

Speaking about the $150,000 price tag, the supervisor said the town “needs to make an investment” and will reap great returns.

The Comprehensive Plan laid out by Mr. Hindin is just that, encompassing the Island’s environment, businesses, economic development and other aspects of Island life. Residents will be part of the process and there will be regular reports on progress and a goal of complete transparency.

The timeline set forth is to get authority from the board to proceed next month; “mobilization” by September; complete a draft by June 2021; approval by the board in October 2021; and implementation in December of that year.

To pay an outside consultant will require an estimated $50,000 this year and $100,000 next year.

Mr. Hindin said he “hopes the plan survives contact with reality.”

The reality of the cost concerned some board members.

Although Councilman Jim Colligan said that even though it “was a lot of money,” the board should be able to “find $50,000 somewhere” for this year. He noted, as did other board members, that part of the cost could be secured through grants.

Councilwoman Amber Brach-Williams was concerned, noting that she was “trying to wrap my head around the money” especially “in this environment of COVID costing the town in revenues.”

Councilman Albert Dickson was also concerned about the cost, and was in favor of the idea of aggressively pursuing grants, as was Mr. Bebon, noting the investment was well worth the benefit to the town, since municipalities with Comprehensive Plans find it easier to receive grants.

Mr. Hindin said it was “critically important to start and move forward robustly.”

BEACHES
This spring the board has passed on granting applications to businesses that have been fixtures at Crescent Beach, such as the massage service and the paddle board business.

Recently, the Islander has asked about having a food “trailer.”

With “brick and mortar” restaurants taking losses since the shutdown, Mr. Siller said he wouldn’t want to hurt them further, when some restaurants are considering food trucks in their parking lots.

Police Chief Jim Read suggested that three business, including the Islander, who were applying for permits to set up on or near the beaches, should be invited to a work session to discuss their plans.

BOOTLEGGERS ALLEY
For two years, Mr. Colligan said, he and others have heard complaints about people from off-Island coming in significant numbers to fish from the beach at the end of Bootleggers Alley.

Mr. Colligan said he has personally noticed large groups there. Many come from “Brooklyn and Queens,” Mr. Colligan said, and are mainly Spanish-speaking.

On weekends they can spend up to 14 hours a day there, Mr. Colligan said, and there had been complaints the visitors use vegetation near the beach as toilets.

He noted that intolerance of others is “a fact of life” for some people.

One way to discourage people using the area is to make one side of Bootleggers Alley a no-parking zone, Ms. Brach-Williams suggested. This led to a lengthy discussion of regulating all roads near beaches and town landings, before Mr. Dickson brought it back to discussing Bootleggers Alley.

Chief Read said he will review reports and emails to find if there is a problem and offer possible solutions.

The board has decided there will be no daily beach passes this summer, but only weekly, monthly and for the season, which will be lengthened, from May 15 to September 15.