Town Board outlines goals for 2026: Comprehensive Plan tops the list

The list of goals the Town Board set for itself for 2026 isn’t lengthy, but it’s substantial if pursued the way in which it was discussed at the Tuesday, Jan. 6 work session.

Topping that list is to finish the Comprehensive Plan, something Deputy Supervisor Meg Larsen has never forgotten since she has been a Plan Task Force member, assisted by clerk Coco Lee Thuman, to compile changes from discussions at the Town Board level.

Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams has joined in to make changes suggested by the Board to finalize a draft that would be ready for another round of public hearings.

A municipality’s Comprehensive Plan dictates policy on multiple fronts, including development, land use, transportation and housing. In 1994, a Comprehensive Plan was adopted by a Town Board resolution. A seven-month effort of discussion and research in 2008 produced an update to that plan, but the board rejected it. The current work on a Comprehensive Plan has been going on for years.

The aim for 2026 is to hold a public hearing in late April on a weeknight and then another on a Saturday in May with a final decision coming by the end of the summer.

Newly sworn in Councilwoman Liz Hanley wants a strong section on housing, which has been her area of concern in recent years. She told her colleagues she would like to push for transferring development rights from Community Preservation Fund acquisitions to apply to areas in the Center where affordable housing could be constructed. But that is something the Suffolk County Department of Health Services controls and the Town has been unable to gain approval because of its lack of sewer and water infrastructure in the Center.

Ms. Hanley also said she would like to see a strong commitment for a spring groundbreaking on at least one of the affordable rental sites this spring.

“I know it’s ambitious, but I’m an ambitious girl,” she said.

Another major goal is a Town facilities master plan. Town Engineer Joe Finora has been soliciting bids to help develop that plan. He has had several responses and three primed to submit bids.

The wetlands code is in process of undergoing an update and the Town Board expects movement on it could be forthcoming later this month.

There is also work underway on an Irrigation Code and a Contractors Licensing code; Councilman Albert Dickson pointed out that there are areas in the Town Code that need more teeth to enforce them. The Board wants a code that fits with responsible contractors, but has the ability to pull licenses from the few who are abusing the regulations. Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams said she wants communication with the Building Department about what it needs to strengthen the code.

Mr. Dyett said he wants the Town Board to revisit limits on housing sizes to halt the increasing tendency for larger residential structures.

Mr. Dickson called for work on the code dealing with tree clearing and to further explore the possibility of an historic preservation law, an issue brought to the Town Board by Robert Harper who, with his wife Catherine, own structures in Shelter Island Heights and Mattituck. They are long-time preservationists who worry that without code, structures true to the character of neighborhoods could disappear at the whim of any property owner.