New Coecles Harbor group seeks housing meeting, asks not to be defined by other groups

It was a calmer exchange about affordable housing at the Town Board’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday than the work session, which preceded it (see story, Heated exchanges, accusations, at Town Board meeting over affordable housing).

But Bill Derrough, president of the Friends of Coecles Harbor, appealed to Supervisor Gerry Siller not to put all groups that have placed advertisements with questions about affordable housing in the same basket.

He declared himself not opposed to affordables, but said his group has questions about what’s in the plan for community housing. He agreed with Bob Kohn’s statement at the 3 p.m. work session that three minutes to speak was insufficient.

“We want to know what the plans are” for community housing, Mr. Derrough said.

To that question, Councilwoman BJ Ianfolla reiterated her previous statement that the plan is not yet developed, but would be available toward the end of September, prior to the Nov. 8 referendum on whether or not voters want the Town to participate in the Community Housing Fund real estate transfer tax.

The State legislation that created the program requires a report be approved before any money can be spent from the fund, but it doesn’t have to be available to voters prior to Nov. 8. Nonetheless, Town officials have been actively working with a consultant to finish the plan so it can be publicly available in advance of the vote.

“We all want to work together to a constructive outcome,” Mr. Derrough said, and asked that a large town meeting be scheduled so he and others can get their questions answered.

Instead, Mr. Siller said he would reach out to set a convenient meeting time for Mr. Derrough’s group and others to bring their questions to a work session, or even hold two or three work sessions to answer questions.

Councilman Jim Colligan said it would be helpful for Mr. Derrough to submit his concerns, while Town Attorney Stephen Kiely pointed out the concerns are already contained in the Friends of Coecles Harbor advertisements. Jan Sudol, treasurer of the Coecles Harbor group, said he wants to know more about what the Town would do with development rights stripped from preserved properties.

Ms. Ianfolla and Councilwoman Meg Larsen pointed out meetings of the Comprehensive Plan Task Force and Advisory Board and those held by the Community Housing Board and the Community Housing Fund Advisory Board are open to the public and people are given ample opportunity to comment or raise questions.

Mr. Derrough pointed out that people are busy and don’t have the time to attend a lot of committee meetings.