Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: Aug. 5-12

No to country club building

To the Editor:

It has come to our attention that the Gardiner’s Bay Country Club (GBCC) has made application to construct an exceptionally large building for the purposes of employee housing on Dinah Rock Road at the northwest entrance to the Hay Beach community.

To the best of our knowledge the Hay Beach community is an AA-zoned residential neighborhood, which would mean that the GBCC’s project would require a variance/exception in order to be approved.

We’re writing to make clear, our agreement with the Hay Beach Property Owners Association’s objections to the project and our sincere wish that it is not allowed to go forward. We feel this variance, were it granted, would have a tremendous negative impact on the neighborhood in ways varying from noise, traffic and parking infringements, to the even more serious potential consequences of the impact to our water table and the surrounding waters that could be effected by the septic runoff from what amounts to a small apartment complex.

There’s also the very real probability of watching our property values drop dramatically. As long-time property owners here, the whole proposition seems beyond absurd.

Additionally, the site being considered for this potential development is just a stone’s throw from a four-way, roundabout-style intersection where Dinah Rock intersects with Country Club Road and leads into the community.

Is that relatively busy intersection really an appropriate place to house 64-plus people and their vehicles, visitors and deliveries? Does the GBCC really need year-round housing for this many employees? And what will the club use the property for when it’s not fully occupied year-round by club employees?

We were also wondering why, if the GBCC committee has been working on this plan for over a year, that the community has just recently been made fully aware of the scope of these intrusive plans?

We hope that our concerns and those of our neighbors and the Hay Beach Property Owners Association will be given the fair and serious consideration they deserve.

LESLIE and JED FELDMAN, Shelter Island

Gift of Life

To the Editor:

The Island Gift Of Life Foundation is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. The Foundation which traces it’s roots to the battle that Islander Cheryl Hannabury waged against the enemy of Non Hodgkins’s Lymphoma. The Foundation was created in her honor with the mission of aiding our neighbors in the four towns east of Riverhead with uninsured expenses resulting from battling life threatening illness. Further, the mission includes support and expansion of the world wide Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

We are at a critical juncture in our history. We have survived the world’s fight with the  COVID 19 virus and have emerged financially healthy thanks to the love and support of our neighbors. We now, however, much like many other entities in the country, find that our ranks have been decimated and available manpower has dwindled to what, at best, could be described as a skeleton crew.

We need help, your help, if this organization is to survive for the next 20 years and beyond. For anyone who has a desire to in some way give back, this organization can provide a perfect opportunity to become involved in an entity that provides support to our neighbors when needed most, has solid funding, but needs people. Will you help?

JAMES W. EKLUND, President, Island Gift Of Life Foundation