Town Board sets terms for businesses on town land: Seasonal businesses must apply by end of March
With applications from business owners seeking to operate on town-owned sites during the warm weather season, the Town Board has set March 31 as the deadline for others.
It will act by April 25 on applications received. The tight scheduling resulted from the Town Board getting a late start on its organization of procedures for such operations. In future years, the application process will start on Feb. 1 and run until March 1 with decisions to be made on what businesses get permits by April 1.
Only five businesses will be allowed to operate at Crescent Beach, and only two at Wades Beach.
A subcommittee met last week to recommend procedures for those operations.
They include:
• Applications must be filed with the Town Clerk who would assess each for completeness and no incomplete application would be considered.
• No duplication of services is to be allowed at a site. Wades Beach, for example could have a food truck and an ice cream truck operating, but not two food trucks competing with one another.
• Given limited space, the maximum square footage for an operation would be 20 feet by 20 feet and if a tent or tents are used, they can’t exceed 10 feet by 10 feet.
• Businesses with brick-and-mortar operations on the Island would be favored over other applicants.
• No retail operations would be considered other than those selling food.
• Vendors would be allowed a single parking space for a $250 seasonal pass and the vehicle in the space would have to have a town permit.
• The season for these operations would be from May 15 to Sept. 15.
In addition, any operation that is required to have state and county permits from any agency must produce copies of those permits.
WATER TESTING
Councilwoman BJ Ianfolla spoke about the possibility of allowing the Peconic Baykeeper to conduct tests of bacteria in Coecles Harbor and, perhaps, other Shelter Island bodies of water during the summer months. She suggested the levels of bacteria might be high because of the number of boats in the area.
REEL POINT
Councilman Jim Colligan said 15% to 20% of the county dredge performed two months ago at Reel Point has been lost because of coastal storms. The town still awaits word on an Army Corps of Engineers study to deal with the erosion on the eastern shore. He said something must be done to protect the eastern shore.
POLICE
Chief Read noted the effort PSEG has made to support the town, sending crews to the Island in advance of nor’easters and other foul weather events. He said the relationship with the utility company has been excellent. “They really, really have our back,” Chief Read said.
He also appealed to Islanders between the ages of 20 and 36 with any interest in law enforcement to consider taking the county police exam on June 17, filing their applications for the test by April 19.
Chief Read said he wants a diverse group of police on the Island, and that can happen with a number of local candidates passing the test.
