Ram’s Head Inn docks raise issues: Court deals with one; Board discusses environmental study

The Ram’s Head Inn dock saga is proceeding on two separate tracks:

• The first is the court case pending in Suffolk County Supreme Court over action the Town Board ordered to block access to the dock, which was used by present and current owners of the Inn for customers.

• The second involves a proposal to substitute what has been known as the Bennett dock, now owned by Aandrea Carter, who purchased the Inn from James and Linda Eklund, long-time proprietors of the business.

Both are playing out this week with some court action expected Thursday, Sept. 22, where Supervisor Gerry Siller and Town Attorney Stephen Kiely are being personally sued for action the Town Board ordered last May.

The order involved fencing-in part of the original dock and taking out planks that had been used by boaters to leave their crafts and walk up to the Inn.

The second issue occurred at Tuesday’s Town Board work session when Mr. Siller and Mr. Kiely had to leave the meeting because of their involvement in the lawsuit while the remaining Board members reviewed the latest plan for adapting the Bennett dock for use by the Inn.

At issue is whether the application requires a short or long environmental study (SEQRA) by the applicants.

Deputy Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams ran the discussion, calling on Councilwoman Meg Larsen to outline information that will lead to a decision.

Attorney Timothy Hill stood in for Mr. Kiely on that discussion because of the lawsuit.

Issues need to be resolved with the applicant because of conflicting names on the application and because some information in the application to the Town doesn’t match what was submitted to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Alex Kriegsman, Ms. Carter’s attorney, accessed the discussion virtually.

While there were some differences of opinion on aspects of the SEQRA review, and nothing has yet been decided about whether the Town would request a short or long environmental study, it appeared the four remaining Town Board members would be satisfied with the applicant filing a short SEQRA report.

A full story on the discussion will appear on the Reporter website later this week.