All members of the Town Board were present, plus Clerk Dorothy Ogar and attorney Laury Dowd. Supervisor Jim Dougherty announced that NYS had approved a first time home buyers exemption from the 2% transfer tax – houses under $650,000, income under $97,000. Limited application for Shelter Island, but a measure we had supported. The Supervisor also commented favorably on the High School graduation ceremony, pointing out that it had been recorded on Channel 22 and that there were now skilled editors available to cut these events down to a manageable length – he hoped that in the future the same would be done for graduation. He also noted that at a recent School Board meeting the doors had been closed. They should be open he felt, strongly supporting open government.

 

Third Stories  Richard Smith, an architect from the NYS Code division responsible for code interpretation in Suffolk County, was introduced by Billy Banks who said he had been a trusted friend of Shelter island for more than ten years. The current issue for code interpretation was third stories; NYS allows two stories, anything over that attracts automatic sprinkler systems covering the entire house. A well that supports a house should be able to support a sprinkler system. There followed a lot of discussion regarding the definition of a story. Any concerns or questions about these definitions can be addressed to the building inspector or Richard Smith, who invited calls from constituents

 

Geothermal systems: A member of the D. B. Bennet Consulting Engineers was on hand to provide his assessment of the impact of geothermal wells on Shelter Island, and to advise the Board whether new regulations might be required. He discussed Open Loop systems where water is taken out of the ground, passed through a heat exchanger, and then returned to the ground, and Closed Loop that circulates water to make use of ground temperature, but without actually using ground water. The former is used with smaller (sic) houses – less that 5,000 square ft., the latter, much more expensive, with larger houses. At the moment regulation only affects units using more that 45 gallons per minute, or with pipes going more that 500’ deep. Suffolk County Health Dept. hasn't yet addressed geothermal, it’s not on their screen. In response to a Board question, Smith said there were indeed risks attached to geothermal: open loop systems might bring up salt or contaminated water and discharge it into fresh; closed loop, which can involve as many as 40 pipes going down through the clay layer allowing salt to penetrate into fresh water, or fresh to drain away into the salt table. Although most local drillers do understand these concerns, there was nothing in statute to ensure that they actually behave appropriately. Supervisor Dougherty suggested that maybe Shelter Island, in the light of fragile water table, should take the lead in developing regulations. Glen Waddington wondered if other systems would have relevance to our rather unique situation, and wondered if the heat of returning water might raise the temperature of our ground water. Also, penetrating the underlying clay might have a serious impact.

 

Highway Department C of O: Mark Ketcham was pretty sure we would have it by Monday
Shell Beach Bulkheads: The cost of removing and replacing defective Shell Beach bulkheads could, depending on what was done, be as much as $300,000. We need to see what is available in the form of Federal (FEMA) funding for recreational beaches. Greenport was very successful in getting Federal funds for waterfront bulkhead restoration. Peter Reich said we must be sure as to what we really need to do – remove, repair, replace. Need a survey to help determine what is needed and what will it cost. Need to price out the cost of the survey as well.

 

Seniors Computer Request. After consideration by the Seniors the original estimate for $1,300 had increased to $1,936. The Board agreed to go ahead (before it went any higher?).

 

Computer Meeting Follow Up (Peter Reich) (i) Battery back up for 35 work stations and one server: $2,500 to $3,750 –see if there is room in the budget or wait until next year. (ii) Need to upgrade firewalls – there are four in the Town now, upgrading is pretty expensive – a 25 user firewall could be $1,000 for one year, $1415 for three years. Jim Dougherty said that we didn't want to become a Tiffany of the Computer business. We should get all requests in writing and then see what we really need. (iii) Offsite back up – costs had been escalating. East End Computers had offered to provide it for $267/month; this had been implemented and will save us money.

 

Application Fees: Special fees for special permits, amount should bear some relationship to the work involved. We need a local law for this, but fees need to be decided before the law goes into effect. Permits after the fact (i.e. work done without needed permit), fee would be ten times the original fee, with possibility of a fine on top.

 

Round the table; Peter Reich thought we should be looking at replacement fuel tanks – above ground – and driveways, these should be on the agenda in a week or so. Also we need to think about community housing, but the Committee should be up and running first. Glen Waddington thought we should get a consensus from the Planning Board regarding special fees. Chris Lewis reported a “spirited discussion” the Zoning Board had on various items, that would be continued.

 

Michael Coles
for the League of Women Voters of Shelter Island.