Shelter Island Town Board, Water Committee seek Gardiner’s Bay Country Club info

There will be no immediate decision on the Gardiner’s Bay Country Club site plan application to install a 116,000-gallon holding tank, plus a 15-by-25-foot garage building to house a pump and related equipment. The aim, according to the site plan application filed with the Town, is to collect storm water runoff for irrigation purposes.

If approved, the system would reduce saltwater intrusion in neighboring houses while delivering water to the club over a lesser period of time, according to the application the club filed, D.B. Bennett of  DB Bennett Engineering of East Hampton said Monday night. Mr. Bennett is the club’s engineer on the project.

At two meetings on Monday, members of the Water Advisory Committee (WAC), Town Board, and residents, peppered Mr. Bennett with questions during a public hearing,  many of which produced no immediate and clear answers.

The Town Board said it still lacked a Planning Board report on the site plan application; environmental consultants representing the Town raised other concerns. Accordingly, the public hearing was left open to continue at the Feb. 24 Town Board meeting.

The Town Board had hoped to get some advice about the application from the WAC, but its members found information lacking, and no one available to respond.

Jay Card Jr., who led the effort introduced in 2023 to increase water use at GBCC from 6 million gallons a year to 12 million gallons, was reported on sabbatical.

WAC members wanted to know:

• Does this irrigation plan replace the application to double water use or is it a part of that initiative?

• Does the water collection mean a reduction to what would flow into the aquifer?

• Might water collected for use at the club affect water to surrounding houses?

WAC Chairman Peter Grand said his committee lacks sufficient information to answer those and other questions. Resident Dave Ruby said that while the plans describe the installation, there’s insufficient information about its planned operation. Similar questions came from Town Board members and those commenting at the public hearing Monday night.

Councilman Benjamin Dyett’s concern was identical to WAC members’ queries whether the irrigation system would replace the need to double water use, or was a part of a larger project. Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams wanted to know how much water that now goes back into the aquifer could instead be captured in the GBCC cistern on club grounds. Councilman Gordon Gooding said he would like more information on the current irrigation system and the previous system it replaced.

Two environmental consultants made suggestions about plantings around the pump house, with Theresa Masin — Southampton Town Principal Planner consulting on the project — saying native plants should be used. Katelyn Kaim of P.W. Grosser, another environmental consultant used by the Town, said she agrees with Ms. Masin.

Resident Pam Demarest said the Town Code requires completion of the SEQRA (New York State Environmental Quality Review Act) evaluation within 45 days of the time an application is filed and, in any case, the Town Board needs to do more work before it closes the public hearing.

Residents worried the pump house would be noisy, disturbing the enjoyment of their properties, and if houses near the area would see their wells affected by the water being pumped from areas on the GBCC grounds. Mr. Bennett said the proposed system would slow the draw down of water, causing no disruption to surrounding wells.

Resident Virginia Walker said she wants more information on the depth of the excavation to accommodate the irrigation system, and how close it would be to the aquifer.

WAC member Greg Toner told the Town Board Monday night he thought the plans could rob Hay Beach residents of the views they are accustomed to enjoying and resident Stephen Jacobs called the application incomplete.

Bill Mastro, president of the Hay Beach Property Owners Association, said what rankles him is that his members were promised GBCC representatives would outline plans and answer their questions. This time, no effort was made, and while it might be because of Mr. Card’s absence, it still leaves neighbors without the information, he said, they need to assess the project.