Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: Feb. 2, 2022
Back to the future
To the Editor:
Although I am a member of the Community Housing Board, the ideas herein are mine alone and I write as a private citizen unaffiliated with any group.
Whenever I think about the crisis of moderate income housing on Shelter Island, I say to myself: I wish we could take the Island back to how it used to be. Here’s the “used to be” I wish for: You could get a house here without being a millionaire.
You could build a house that was eco-friendly without even trying because your house was modest in scale and fit into the landscape.
Your house didn’t put a strain on any natural resources because your house had humility. Houses didn’t have to make big statements.
Houses didn’t have to have five bathrooms or massive HVAC systems, or three-car garages, or swimming pools that butt up against the water.
Houses were simple because the values of this Island were simple — be a good neighbor, respect the town and its beauty, don’t be a showoff.
This was the Un-Hamptons, remember?
I wish some of our new residents were like the ones I met when I first moved here 22 years ago. Teacher, postal worker, painter, plumber, cop, ferry worker, store clerk, small business owner, construction worker, artist. Some of those folks are still here but a lot aren’t because they simply can’t afford it.
And they simply can’t afford it because the average price of a home on Shelter Island is over $1 million. No one who works the kinds of jobs I just mentioned makes that kind of money.
And most of the people who work the jobs I just mentioned already have more than one job.
I want a future that looks more like our past than our present. A place where you don’t have to be rich to raise your kids or your chickens or your voice. I believe this is possible and we don’t have to fight about water to do it.
We just have to remember our past — modesty, humility, community and the dogged insistence that this place is special because it still believes that the best place to live is a place where everyone is welcome.
MARIA MAGGENTI, Shelter Island
Clean water
To the Editor:
Concerning the Center’s proposed sewage treatment facility, we have heard conflicting statements from the Board and Lombardo Associates, the engineering firm who developed the NitrexTM System. In the 12-23-21 Shelter Island Reporter, page 20, Mr. Lombardo is quoted as saying the discharged effluent leaving the NitrexTM System, “would affect the drinking water quality for an estimated 50 years.”
He may have been misquoted, but I heard similar language from him and Board members about placing the system at Fiske Field and the Fire Department. When he was asked about the effluent coming out of the system at Klen’s Airfield, he repeatedly said, “It would be clean.”
Board members also repeated that statement. I don’t understand how it can be both. There is no information that I can find on the Lombardo Associates’ extensive website, that gives the composition or toxicity of the effluent. We need answers and good information before this plan goes any further.
The Lombardo website shows data from some of their completed facilities in a table with a nitrate removal average of 95% which is very good. But there was no way to compare their performance based on the size of the facilities.
Many listed were single residences and several had the caveat that they had to be shut down during the winter due to the waste water arriving at the facility at a temperature below 48 degrees. Will this system be able to maintain the appropriate temperature to function here year-round?
In closing, I hope in this age of global warming and carbon footprints this facility would be a Leadership Energy and Environment Design (LEED) certified facility. This requires the off-grid capability of a solar array, battery backup and “green” materials used in construction. We owe it to future generations of Islanders to get this right.
JOHN KERR, Shelter Island
Protecting Island water
To the Editor:
When the West Neck Water District (WNWD) was established roughly 25 years ago, it was importantly seen as a way to maintain home rule. If the alternative had been allowed, the Suffolk County Health Dept. (not to be confused with the Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA, whose name cleverly suggests it is an official government agency), which by law must provide water to its residents, would have taken over operation of the area’s water system.
The Town voted to allow the residents within the “footprint” of customers to establish and operate the District.
That footprint was approved by the State and one of the things it prevented was the development of properties on the right side of Stearns Point Road, overlooking the water. Only properties within the footprint are allowed access to the water of the District.
But history repeats itself and the Island is now faced with a take-over of the WNWD by SCWA which, if their proposed contract is approved by the Town Board, will permit them to ignore the footprint and dig wells for water anywhere on the Island that the owners permit. What the State has to say about this is unknown, but SCWA would make its best argument. Is a pipe from Sag Harbor to the Island’s waterfront a possibility?
We could find out. The financial argument would be hard to resist. So make no mistake, this is an effort beyond the WNWD.
It is true, as Gerry Siller noted in the Town Board meeting of Jan. 18 that I, Lisa Shaw and Lori Beard Raymond have been responsible for keeping the District in operation while other Board members have come on board.
What is the alternative now that John Hallman is no longer operations manager? The Town can work with the WNWD Board to hire a new manager who would be paid by the District and report to the Board of Directors.
WNWD would continue to operate as it always has. And it would then be possible, with approval from the State, for those whose properties abut the footprint but who cannot get potable water, to connect to WNWD, which has already received requests.
But none of that will happen if the Town Board continues with its plan to sign a 40-year contract with SCWA. That can be stopped but it must be stopped now, and it is the only way to protect Shelter Island Water.
ANN DUNBAR, Former WNWD Board member
Control of water
To the Editor:
Despite the great work of Lisa Shaw and Andrew Chapman with the current WNW (West Neck Water)-SCWA (Suffolk county Water authority) lease agreement, it raises many concerns.
First, it’s vague concerning the nature and cost of proposed improvements. While many seem good, the cost benefit must be weighed, utilizing the cost bidding process the Town uses for infrastructure projects. WNW customers may not be able to afford all SCWA’s demanded improvements.
The estimated cost of which has inexplicably increased from the preliminary estimates to $24,285 plus interest per customer, without including general operating costs. All improvements and costs should be specified in the agreement, which should be made available before the public hearing.
Second, the contract should provide for reasonable rates, fees, surcharges, and expenses and prohibit SCWA from selling our water to others. SCWA Rules and Regulations conflict with the draft agreement and some of the rates are much higher than charged in Dering Harbor. The contract references appendices of selling water to others off-Island after the WNW customers have paid for water treatment.
Third, the burdens imposed Island-wide must be considered and limited. The agreement references possession and use of Town land anywhere, expansion to Town land outside of WNW district, and additional payments due if the agreement is terminated or non-renewed. It inappropriately provides that SWCA has the right to continue to use and/or purchase town property and/or WNW equipment at the end of the agreement.
Fourth, the draft agreement leaves unclear the roles of SCWA (owner or manager?), the Town (does it have any role?), and WNW (does it still exist?) and whether current conservation measures and prohibitions, like irrigation systems continue.
Lastly, the role of the WNW Board and the Town’s oversight of SCWA should be addressed on behalf of the customers.
LORI BEARD RAYMOND, Shelter Island
Pooh
To the Editor:
Remember being a kid and taking a drink from the garden hose? Remember Grandma filling up the big pot to make spaghetti? Please, Town Board, end your focus on pumping effluent around the Island and maybe think about delivering clean water to my faucet.
Where is all this pooh in the Center coming from anyway? I graduated from Shelter Island School and only remember doing number two there maybe once. I have spoken to many of my fellow alumni who say they never went there at all. So maybe people are doing it at the library? Or maybe at the police station? Are the people waiting at Justice Hall doing this? Last time I went to Town Hall I don’t remember looking around for the bathroom.
And what about the deer? There are a lot of them and they are pretty big. Are they coming to the Center to do their business?
Would it be a better option to deliver clean water by making small water district loops managed by the town?
I would love to retire here but am not looking forward to maintaining a water well. I would gladly pay a water meter bill and know that what is coming out of my faucets is professionally filtered and reliably delivered.
I’ve heard the argument that it is a big job to do this. Well, sure, but with money available from Uncle Sam and our commitment to get it done and the prospect of collecting a fee for its delivery, isn’t that good? Our roads, our power lines, that was a big job too, but we got it done.
And to those who say “Pay for water? We get it for free,” I say, “No you don’t.” You have to pay for the well, the pump, tanks, filters, electric to run it and after all that maybe you can’t drink it anyway. What about when your power goes off?
I’ve heard the argument that it will cause run-away zoning. Really? Don’t we have a Zoning Board? I don’t see any high rise apartment buildings in the West Neck water district.
Please, Town Board, forget your plans to consolidate pooh and start thinking about delivering some clean fresh water to us.
Let’s get back to spaghetti night made with good old Shelter Island water instead of water from plastic bottles from Maine.
PETER MIKOCHIK, Shelter Island
What is going on?
To the Editor:
So, the town is planning to put a convoluted septic system on Klenawicus Airfield. Why not Sachem’s Woods where the water is already polluted with oil from the replacement of State Road 114 when there was a dumping ground for the asphalt? Or Peder’s pit on Bowditch Road? Makes sense to me.
Why do we need this in the first place? Isn’t potable water more important? Seems the water in Mashomack must be as clean as the driven snow. Mashomack could have received the 300 million gallons of floodwater during the 100-year flood, but Mashomack refused and it was pumped into the sea. It would have gone into Mashomack’s kettleholes and would be filtering into our aquifer. I believe Mr. Colligan made mention of this at a previous Board meeting.
And the unaffordable affordable housing situation — get a 14-page building permit. I did to build on a property I owned. I ordered surveys in November and may get them this week. The .05% coming out of the conservation tax should go to the HOA from where it was received, not to build someone an unaffordable affordable house.
Someone does not like the spruce up of the Chequit by the new owners, and their other acquisitions? They did a fabulous job. I shall miss my FAO Schwarz outlet at Jack’s and will be forced to shop at Wally’s World.
And that ad for the jobs at the Town. Does that mean the current jobs are in jeopardy? I’m so confused. This new Board with the three wise women, will need to get their act together.
And from one of the many winter books I’ve had the pleasure to read, the mole responded, “We need cake!” So I am all for cake and perhaps a cup of tea to try and figure out what is going on.
GEORGIANA KETCHAM, Shelter Island
