Committee critical of ad by primary candidates: Gooding team objects to Near Shore for ADUs

The chairwoman of the Community Housing Board told the Town Board at Tuesday’s work session it’s time to change the dialogue about affordable housing and water quality.

CHB members are concerned about water quality and quantity and Water Advisory Committee (WAC) members are concerned about the housing crisis, Elizabeth Hanley said. The two groups should be working together to support a united front in support of both critical issues.

“Water is certainly important, and we’re in a housing crisis,” Ms. Hanley said. “We keep trying to solve them individually and it’s not working.”

She also said there is an inaccurate perception the Housing Board wants to establish accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in the Near Shore & Peninsula Overlay district, which includes sites around the Island considered in need of special protection. Members have had discussions about eliminating the ban on being able to establish ADUs in the area. But there isn’t a consensus on the subject.

At the Housing Board’s own meeting on June 8, there was discussion about a political ad members believe misrepresented their views about opening the Near Shore area to ADUs. The ad, promoting the candidacy of Town Board candidates Gordon Gooding, Albert Dickson and Benjamin Dyett, carried a sub-headline: “Town Board’s Proposal to Permit Accessory Housing Units in Sensitive Shoreline Areas.”

The Town Board has made no such proposal, and only invited CHB members to bring their views on eliminating a ban for ADUs in the Near Shore district to a work session.

That was done Tuesday. Ms. Hanley spoke with Mr. Gooding about the ad and she said he told her he would “make it right.”

Although Supervisor Gerry Siller was marked absent in the minutes of a May 11 meeting at which the subject was discussed, he later joined via Zoom, Mr. Gooding said. He pointed to the published minutes of the May 11 meeting, which stated: “Gerry recommended they bring a proposal to the Town Board and public regarding this request.”

That appeared to Mr. Gooding to indicate “the proposal was moving forward with the supervisor’s support.”

At the same he said he and his team concede the title on the advertisement may be misleading, but the third bullet point in the ad states: “Community Housing Board that oversees the affordable housing program is proposing the Town Code be changed to allow affordable accessory housing units in the sensitive shoreline areas.”

Mr. Gooding said, “Our belief is that there are more workable sites, including town-owned land, which are more appropriate than these vulnerable areas of the island. We commend and support the Housing Board’s efforts and hard work towards creating affordable housing options and would like to see construction begin as soon as possible.”

Mark Mobius, one of the more recent appointees to the Housing Board, said the Water Advisory Committee has indicated the areas aren’t in danger of running out of water, but concerns exist about saltwater intrusion into wells. He asked his colleagues if there are enough places for affordable housing without getting into the controversy over the Near Shore areas.

Bill Mastro, another recent appointee to the Housing Board, said it’s important to show why any site considered for affordable housing needs to be vetted to ensure a proposed project wouldn’t compromise the environment.

Rental site

Deputy Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams told the Housing Board the site at 12 South Ferry Road adjacent to the Shelter Island History Center will be the subject of a variance hearing by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services on June 20.

The variance would be needed since the plan calls for creating eight rental units within one or two structures on the site, without a subdivision on the property, she said.

A preliminary pro bono design by architect Michael Shatken showed a building looking like a single large house from the exterior but incorporating apartments within the structure. Whether that would be the design going forward has not yet been determined. The site has been used as an impound lot by the Police Department.