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Lynn Hallarman

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James Burke and Andie Fortier at Port Jefferson Farmers Market this past spring. Photo courtesy Burke and Fortier

By Lynn Hallarman

Here’s why supporting Long Island food producers is more important than ever.

It is a Sunday morning in July, about 5 a.m., and the birds are quiet. Andie Fortier and James Burke are loading their truck with a bounty of vegetables they harvested the day before. The drive from their 3-acre farm in Amagansett to the Village of Port Jefferson is about an hour fifteen this time of day. The weather is iffy, but Andie knows the regulars will show up, making the trip worthwhile.

Packed up, Andie hops in the truck and heads to the market. James stays behind on the farm because there is too much work for both of them to spend a whole day selling.

By the time Andie arrives at Harborfront Park around 7:15 a.m., several vendors in vans are already lined up along the circular drive at the park’s entrance, taking turns unloading their goods. Some are busy setting up plywood tables on stacks of crates, hanging signs or filling buckets with water for flowers. Others are grabbing a quick cup of coffee, breakfast or helping another seller set up their tent. Andie’s mother and a friend are there, waiting on a designated grassy spot overlooking the harbor to help with the setup. Later, when the market starts, they will pitch in to serve customers while Andie keeps the stand piled with fresh fare from the July harvest.

Fortier and Burke feel lucky to have landed a spot at Port Jefferson Farmers Market in 2020. On the South Fork where they work their 3 acres, getting into a market can take years. For their small startup, Sand & Soil, now in its fifth year, competing with roadside farm stands and established growers with a large, loyal customer base can be challenging — sometimes even impossible.

Vital part of community life

Eighteen years ago, Port Jefferson Farmers Market was established by the Economic Development Council under former Mayor Margot Garant. Since then, it has become a vital part of the village’s community life, now featuring around 42 vendors. These include three vegetable farmers, flower farmers, a herb farmer, honey producers, a cheese maker, meat and fish vendors along with a host of local food artisans. To qualify as a vendor, all items must be grown, gathered or processed on Long Island.

Port Jefferson village tapped into a growing trend of using farmers markets to strengthen ties between residents, agricultural communities and local businesses. Nationally, the number of registered markets in the USDA Farmers Market Directory, has risen from 2,000 in 1994 to 8,600 today. Farmers markets are increasingly used as a strategy to create walkable community hubs for all ages, bring fresh produce into urban environments and draw people to local business centers.

Sand and Soil farm stand at Port Jefferson farmers market. Photo by Lynn Hallarman

New farmers

Sand & Soil’s success at the Port Jeff market highlights the promise of the Farms for the Future Program, launched by the Peconic Land Trust in 2009. This program provides affordable land leases and technical support to new farmers, with the goal of creating the next generation of Long Island farmers.

“Fortier and Burke started farming with 1 acre as part of our incubator program. They are our superstars on the South Fork,” said Dan Heston, director of agricultural programs at the trust and leader of Farms for the Future.

According to Heston, farmers markets are the best way for new farmers who can’t afford their own land to get their footing in the Island’s grower community. These markets allow them to build a loyal customer base, with people returning weekly to fill a bag with freshly harvested vegetables.

However, Heston explained that the quality of farmers markets can vary significantly.

“Some of them are a whole lot better than others,” he said.

Most importantly, he added, “Farmers markets have to have farmers.”

Connecting with the farming community

Fortier and Burke remain loyal to the Port Jeff market even though they also sell at Springs Market in East Hampton and the Montauk Farmers Market. For one thing, they grew up in Port Jefferson where the parents of both of them still live, keeping connected to the community. However, the main reason they stay is the atmosphere of the market.

“People out where we live are always questioning why we still bother to drive to Port Jeff, but this is our best market — we love the comradery with other vendors and the customers are enthusiastic. They want to learn about our organic farming technique,” Burke said.

Ask any regular why they come back to the market week after week, they usually mention the relationships they’ve built with specific vendors. 

“It is part of our Sunday routine,” Susan Raynock from Rocky Point said. “We go to church, get coffee and then walk around the market.” Sometimes, Raynock and her friends will have lunch in the village afterward.

Fortier and Burke are happy to answer questions from customers about their products. They want people to know that everything they see on the stand has been grown on their property and picked by them, usually the day before the market.

Melissa Dunstatter, the market’s longtime manager and herself a vendor, sees the farmers market as an incubator for local businesses. She points to several food entrepreneurs in the area that got their start in the Port Jefferson Farmers Market.

“Without the market … our businesses would struggle to be successful,” she said. “It brings people together every week, they look forward to it. And they’re eating better.”

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The crew of 'Go Bananas,' Jason Dank and Ryan Matheson. Photo by Lynn Hallarman

By Lynn Hallarman

The reigning champion boat, Go Bananas, crewed by Jason Dank and Ryan Matheson, was soundly defeated by Doug Santo and Chris Voorhis in their seaworthy vessel, Yacht Rock, during the 13th annual Sikaflex “Quick & Dirty” Boat Build Competition held on Sunday, Aug. 11, at Harborfront Park in Port Jefferson.

After the race, the organization held a raffle drawing for a 12-foot fiddlehead double paddle canoe, custom-built by volunteers. Port Jeff resident Margaret Mansone was the big winner of the hand-built canoe raffle.

This year, six boats competed for the top spot mixed with confidence and trepidation, facing old rivals and hungry newcomers.

“We had a lot to prove,” Santo said in a post-race interview with TBR News Media.

The Long Island Seaport and Eco Center, based at the Bayles Boat Shop at Harborfront Park, hosts the race annually as part of a fundraiser to support its community-based educational activities.

The boat-building competition required teams to design and build a small boat within a five-hour time limit using only materials supplied by LISEC. Teams raced against the clock on Saturday, Aug. 10, to finish seaworthy ships in preparation for Sunday’s race.

Doug Santo and Chris Voorhis with their seaworthy vessel, ‘Yacht Rock.’ Photo by Lynn Hallarman

Prior to the race, judges Mayor Lauren Sheprow, former village trustee Rebecca Kassay, (now Democratic candidate for the state Assembly District 4,) and mother-son team Donna and Michael Antignano scored boat designs based on five criteria: uniqueness, neatness, construction, creative paint design and paddle design.

“We have learned from our past mistakes,” said Peter Charalambous, the captain of Winner II. As the 2019 champions, Charalambous and his fiancée, Sunny, have refined their building technique as they prepared for this year’s event to recapture their past glory.

Sadly, Winner II took on water and sank yards before the finish line.

Capsizing the start line, The Joey Z’s, was manned by Brian Tierney and Joe McNaughton, who “have no regrets.”

Heads held high, Mike DeMacia and Lyle Ross — crew of The Candy — gave it their all to the finish well behind the leaders.

Redeemed, Go Bananas was named the winner for best boat design, sharing top prize with Ken Callirgos and Matt Deveau, of The Wall, a paddleboard-style vessel. While some questioned whether a paddleboard qualifies as a boat, the United States Coast Guard recognizes it as such.

Go Bananas, Yacht Rock and The Wall raced in calm seas with precision and determination. In a surge of strength, Yacht Rock pulled ahead in the final seconds of a close contest for the win as the crowd’s roar reached a fevered pitch.

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Andrew Thomas argues his case to remain on the zoning board of appeals. Photo courtesy PJ Village website

By Lynn Hallarman

Andrew Thomas, architectural designer and village resident, made his case to remain as a member of the Village of Port Jefferson Zoning Board of Appeals at the Board of Trustees meeting July 31.

Having served on the ZBA since 2014 and the Architectural Review Committee since 2020, Thomas highlighted his experience in a detailed statement. Thomas is the husband of former village trustee Rebecca Kassay, now Democratic candidate for the state Assembly District 4. 

Despite his efforts, trustees voted 3-1 in a resolution to “fill the vacant position under which Thomas was serving in a holdover capacity.” He was replaced with real estate agent and ZBA alternate member, Alexia Poulos. Trustee Kyle Hill cast the dissenting vote, while trustee Stan Loucks was absent. 

Addressing prior concerns about possible conflict of interest from his dual roles on the ZBA and ARC, Thomas offered several solutions to the board including withdrawing from the ARC or recusing himself from certain matters. He stated that legal counsel from the New York Conference of Mayors indicated no conflict exists. 

Zoning procedures

Zoning is the process by which a municipality is divided into separate districts or zones. The goal is to avoid incompatible land uses, like a car wash being built in a residential area. If an applicant, such as the builder of a car wash, is dissatisfied with the zoning regulations, a petition can be lodged with the ZBA for a variance. The ZBA then decides whether to grant or deny this request. 

Holdover status

According to the July 1 organizational minutes of the Board of Trustees, Thomas, along with another ZBA member and three members of the Planning Board are currently in “holdover” status, with terms that have expired as far back as 2022. 

Additionally, a total of 17 volunteer members across several different committees and advisory councils have also been identified in the minutes as serving in holdover status due to expired terms. 

Holdover status occurs when a volunteer member continues to serve after their official term has expired, ensuring that the board, committee or council remains functional. Volunteers in holdover status can be reappointed or replaced by a governing body such as the Board of Trustees according to New York State Public Officers Law. 

When a ZBA member is in holdover status, the Board of Trustees can replace that member without a formal public hearing. This is an exception to New York State law, which mandates a public hearing when a member is being removed “for cause,” such as meeting absences or ethics violations. 

Thomas underscored the importance of the ZBA’s independence from political influence and called for the reappointment of all holdover members to restore proper procedure. He concluded by requesting continued service, stressing the importance of “experience, continuity and public trust” in the board’s functions. 

“I understand how directly and even emotionally land use decisions can affect individual citizens. It is one of our most direct and meaningful interactions with government and it requires great care and respect,” Thomas said in his statement. 

Mayor Lauren Sheprow in an email to TBR stated that “we have recently discovered a comprehensive and consistent lack of timely and accurate recordkeeping of our land use board members by prior administrations over the years, resulting in term start and end dates that are not verifiable.” 

She added, “We are diligently working to bring all boards, committees and councils into compliance with NYS Village Law if they are not.”

The Board of Trustees will hold a work session Aug. 14. The next trustees board meeting open for public comment will be held Aug. 28.

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Political banner on the balcony of the Frigate ice cream and confection store. Photo by Lynn Hallarman

By Lynn Hallarman

A lawsuit upheld in 2022 a local business owner’s right to display a political banner, and now raises questions about municipal control over sign safety and aesthetics. The same sign, “In Trump We Trust,” is back up again.

In 2013, then Port Jefferson Village Mayor Margot Garant knew she had a problem — a proliferation of cheaply made signs cluttering the village’s visual look. Some signs were made of flimsy plastic, pressboard or haphazardly tacked up to storefronts. Some were waving in the breeze, at risk of flying off a facade or airlifting skyward off a property lawn. Others were just unsightly. 

Garant and the trustees decided to revise the village code to help business owners have more choices as a first step to cleaning up junky and unsafe signs. 

‘We had many work sessions to improve the code and make businesses feel like they had options,” Garant said. “Uptown was a sign disaster, but we made progress cleaning up storefronts in line with the village’s character overall.” 

Garant found the sign issue perennial and hard to keep up with. New businesses were easier to manage, but for some older establishments compliance with sign rules felt like government overreach. A few businesses ignored the permitting process altogether or accepted a fine as the price of doing business, according to Garant.

Then, in 2020, George Wallis, from Nissequogue, and the decades-long owner of the property housing the Frigate ice cream/confectionary store and The Steam Room restaurant in the village, used the location to express his support for former President Donald Trump (R). 

Wallis hung an oversized banner containing a political statement off the second-story balcony of the Frigate, a prominent spot at the bustling intersection of East Broadway and Main Street. The building is directly across from the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry terminal, making the display hard to miss. 

From the perspective of village officials, the banner violated several village sign requirements and Wallis did not apply for a permit. 

For one thing, the banner has Goliath-size proportions relative to the dimensions of the two-story Lilliputian-style building. Banners affixed to buildings are not allowed per the code and the pliable plastic material used does not comport with the aesthetic standards of the code. Village officials also worried that the oversized banner, strung across the building’s second-floor balcony, was a driving distraction, as it faces west directly into a three-way intersection — with pedestrians, oftentimes, dashing across the road. Officials wanted it taken down. 

Wallis had wrestled previously with the village government over an unpermitted political sign and had it taken down, but this time he refused to budge.

So the village escalated the situation to a legal remedy in the courts in hopes that he would back down, according to Garant. Wallis, instead, hired a lawyer and fought the charges leveraged against his business entities.

But in several interviews for this story with Garant and current Mayor Lauren Sheprow, opinions from municipal legal experts and a review of publicly available documents suggest that the legal battle, which Wallis won using a free-speech argument, has hamstrung the village’s ability to enforce its sign code and established a legal precedent allowing any person or business to erect a prohibited sign if the content is political. 

The legal complaint

A series of legal briefs filed in 2020 and 2021 by then deputy village attorney Richard Harris, for the Village of Port Jefferson, accused several business entities owned by Wallis of violating local sign ordinances. According to documents reviewed by TBR News Media, these entities allegedly failed to apply for permits and displayed signs of prohibited type, size and material. 

The briefs detail the hanging of two signs in different time frames containing political speech: “In Trump We Trust” and “Impeach Cuomo,” referring to the then New York governor. The charges did not pertain to the banners’ political content, which is protected under the First Amendment’s right to free speech.

Still, Wallis’ attorneys claimed the alleged accusations violated his right to free speech and requested dismissal of the case.

Harris argued, in a nutshell, that Wallis needed to follow the village sign code like everyone else. 

In July 2022, the Honorable Tara Higgins, judge of the village Justice Court, ruled in favor of Wallis, stating that the village’s arguments defending sign ordinances regarding aesthetics, safety and permitting were “unconvincing.”

Village withdraws legal appeal 

Harris submitted a legal appeal, reviewed by TBR News Media, to the Appellate Term of the New York Supreme Court arguing that the judge’s arguments were poorly reasoned and ignored legal precedent regarding a municipality’s ability to govern signs.

According to the New York State Division of Local Government Services, local governments may impose reasonable “time, place and manner” restrictions on speech to set forth the circumstances under which signs may be displayed. Obscene content is not allowed.

“All I can say is that based on the United States Supreme Court precedent, the village can enforce its code against the sign like that,” Mark Cuthbertson, lawyer and municipal legal expert, told TBR in a phone interview. 

He added, “If that’s the village’s policy going forward, based on this legal decision, someone can put up a huge Kamala Harris banner wherever [and however] they want.” He noted that other municipalities may face similar challenges to their sign code rules based on this new legal precedent, which seems to allow political signs to bypass municipal sign ordinances. 

The Sheprow administration subsequently withdrew the village appeal, stating that it “wanted a fresh start” and planned to take “steps against any sign code violations” regardless of the sign’s content.

Reactions from the public

TBR spoke with several patrons on the weekend of July 20-21 near the Frigate to gauge their opinions on the newly-placed banner with the same political message that was displayed in 2020. 

Most expressed approval using descriptors such as “delighted,” “ecstatic” and “in favor.” One woman thanked me for reminding her to take a picture of the banner for her Facebook page. She loved the sign. 

The general sentiment among those surveyed was that the banner represented an expression of free speech and that the village needed to “chill out,” as one supporter put it. Others noted that the village seemed to be enforcing its sign code selectively, singling out the Frigate for sanctions while similar style banners are hung undisturbed throughout downtown Port Jeff. In 2020 press reports, Wallis surrogates had voiced this belief of selective enforcement, suggesting that the village’s actions were driven solely by the banner’s political message. 

Wallis has consistently declined to speak with the press. TBR did not receive a response, either, from the Frigate’s store manager for comment.

During a casual stroll around the village, this reporter identified about seven prohibited banners across various businesses, though these banners contained nonpolitical messages. 

Most of the complaints about the current Frigate banner are directed to the village Town Hall or The Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, according to Sheprow. These complaints primarily concern the political content, accusing the village of allowing it to remain. However, the village never had or wanted control over the political content, even before Wallis’ victory in court. 

“The village is nonpartisan,” Sheprow said. “The village would never enter into an endorsement situation or sanction the political speech of any candidate.”

As of writing, village officials have moved to cite all businesses, many for the first time, which are displaying code-prohibited banner-type signs. 

“Personal notifications went out today, including to Mr. Wallis’ business entities,” Sheprow said. 

Many prohibited banners have already been removed to date. As at press time, the Frigate banner was still hanging from the building.

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Project Action Committee member Beth Watson, trustee-elect Kyle Hill, Deputy Mayor Rebecca Kassay, Andy Freleng, director of Planning & Building Department, PAC members Bob Laravie, Mary Ann Bernero, Frances Campani and Michael Schwarting. Photo by Lynn Hallarman

By Lynn Hallarman

Increasing intense storms and rising sea levels compound the risk of damaging and costly flooding in the Village of Port Jefferson. 

On June 20, village officials hosted the second of two interactive community workshops to explore project proposals for addressing flood risk in the downtown area. The initial workshop was held in April 2023. 

Climate Resilience Plan

In 2021, the village secured grant funding from the New York State Regional Economic Development Councils to tackle the longstanding flooding problem in Port’s downtown watershed. The total project is budgeted at $110,000, for which the state funding covers 75% ($82,500) and the village is responsible for 25% ($27,500), according to village Treasurer Stephen Gaffga.

Village officials formed the Project Action Committee, composed of expert consultants, to collect and analyze data related to flood risk and use it to create the Climate Resilience Plan. The plan currently outlines five potential projects focused on innovative flood and storm surge prevention as part of the village’s strategic planning. The purpose of the June workshop was for PAC leadership to receive community input on several of their proposals and to inform the public about the committee’s progress. 

The initiative, led by outgoing Deputy Mayor Rebecca Kassay who is the village’s sustainability commissioner, includes PAC members such as architectural experts from Campani and Schwarting; Amani Hosein, legislative aide to Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook); village residents and other local experts. 

Mayor Lauren Sheprow, Kassay, trustee-elect Kyle Hill, Andrew Freleng the village’s director of Planning and Building Department, Kornreich, several PAC members and members of the public attended the workshop. 

“Our village is experiencing issues related to stormwater runoff, a high-water table and tidal flooding that all impact downtown Port simultaneously,” Kassay said. “Tonight’s workshop is part of the village’s ongoing efforts to explore all angles of the problem and to find solutions that will truly make a difference.” 

Project proposals

Michael Schwarting, partner of Campani and Schwarting Architects, presented updated committee findings and outlined five potential projects. A breakout session allowed the public to learn about individual projects from PAC experts. 

“The village watershed is a bowl, collecting water from the south, east and west, all going to one place — down into the commercial district of Port Jefferson,” Schwarting said. “Then there is the harbor from the north, whose sea level is rising and having increasing storm surges.”

According to data from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Long Island region is predicted to experience a sea rise of up to 12 to 25 inches by around 2050.

Blue line represents downtown watershed area in the village of Port Jefferson. Maps courtesy of CASA.

Overview of the projects: 

1.  Develop designs for reducing stormwater flowing from the numerous steep streets upland of the village into the downtown area. 

2.  Assess the flooding problems of the culvert (underground drainpipe) that collects stormwater from Main Street and Barnum Avenue to Old Mill Creek at Village Hall. Convert portions of the culvert into a series of cased ponds for flood mitigation. The water is naturally cleaned when exposed to light. 

3. Complete the 2011 Old Mill Creek restoration plan from Brook Road to the harbor, restoring Old Mill Pond and daylighting the creek culvert — removing obstructions covering the creek — from West Broadway to the harbor.  

4. Update the 2013 village-approved Harbor Front Revitalization Plan in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, incorporating storm flood mitigation and rising tides solutions as well as creating a green Harborfront Park. This plan would require relocating the harborfront marina parking. 

5.  Research ways to contain stormwater on-site in public off-street parking lots and mitigate these heat islands with trees. 

Water table levels below the surface of the village of Port Jefferson. Courtesy of CASA

Public concerns, official responses

Most concerns voiced at the meeting focused on project feasibility and potential costs to the village. One resident questioned the impacts on village parking if the Harborfront area, currently used to park up to 300 cars, is converted into a green space. 

To date, Campani and Schwarting Architects has billed the village $33,200 for its work studying the flooding problem as PAC members. According to Gaffga, the village has been reimbursed $17,850 of this cost by the state as part of the grant funding. The state grant will ultimately cover 75% of the total costs of the PAC initiative studying flooding risk in downtown Port.  

This reporter asked PAC members if the impacts of the recent uptick in housing development projects and installation of impervious surfaces, such as the Mather Hospital parking lot and asphalt repaving of the walkway at Harborfront Park, have been accounted for in the data analysis and project proposals.  

“That is a good question,” Frances Campani of CASA responded. “We can consider overlaying those impacts in our next mapping update.” 

“This is a step-by-step process,” Sheprow told TBR in a post-workshop interview. “The village has to put together many preliminary studies like the PAC initiative to garner support from the state to win big funding opportunities for major infrastructure projects. Without the studies, we’ll never get those large state and federal grants.”    

Rendering of the proposed Harborfront Park. Courtesy of CASA

New funding

Kassay informed the public at the workshop about the recent attainment of a $300,888 grant, including $270,799 from FEMA with the difference covered by the village, for an engineering study of flood mitigation at especially vulnerable sights in the downtown watershed. Kassay hopes this new funding for an expert engineering study will create synergy with the PAC initiative to set up the village to receive funding from New York State to implement the proposed projects and other innovations. 

The full workshop and slideshow can be viewed on the Port Jefferson YouTube channel. Comments about the project proposals are open until July 15. 

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Leslie and Priscilla Howard at the Case House at Cleo’s corner. Photo by Lynn Hallarman
Howard in front of his 1949 Allis Chalmers tractor. “We got it for free and it is easy to fix,” he said. Photo by Lynn Hallarman
The Howards inspecting their plants at their new home on the Case House property. Photo by Lynn Hallarman

 

By Lynn Hallarman

When Leslie and Priscilla Howard heard they had been chosen, they were shocked and relieved. They knew their pitch to win the farming rights at Cleo’s Corner in Southold was solid. But they also knew the competition was stiff. “We were worried it wasn’t going to happen, a lot of worthy farmers applied,” Leslie said. 

A few weeks after receiving the good news in February, the Howards moved into the Case House, a newly renovated historic colonial from the 1700s situated on 5.7 acres of farmable property owned by the Peconic Land Trust. The house was still empty of furniture, but they stayed anyway, sleeping on an air mattress just “to make it feel real,” Priscilla said. 

The Case House property is located at the intersection of Horton’s Lane and County Road 48, known as Cleo’s Corner. Across the road, lies another stretch of farmland also owned by the Peconic Land Trust. This land is leased to aspiring farmers as part of their Farms for the Future program. The Howards are recent graduates of the program. Priscilla’s Farm, a project they began together in 2018 on a single acre as part of the program, is now being recast as the Case House location as a fully operational, certified organic vegetable farm. Priscilla’s Farm has a community-supported agriculture pledge now with 30 members and sells directly to the public at the Port Jefferson and Sayville farmers markets.

Farms for the Future

Growing vegetables is easy, selling them is hard, according to Dan Heston, director of agricultural programs at the land trust and leader of Farms for the Future. It’s the infrastructure demands — fencing, water access and equipment — that derail farming ventures, he explained. “You also need a solid business plan,” he said. “Just because you grow it doesn’t mean you can sell it.” 

Heston helped launch Farms for the Future in 2009. The program offers emerging farmers technical assistance and affordable land leases. “Everyone starts with one acre,” he said. “An acre is a lot bigger than most people realize.” Participants have five years to expand their farms, adding acreage and crop variety. The program also created a cooperative for equipment rentals, and assists with field layouts, irrigation systems and tractor operation — resources that are hard to master without guidance. “This is not a gardening program,” Heston said. “We’re trying to find the next generation of farmers.” 

The program encourages, but doesn’t require, participants to farm food or organics. “We support all kinds of agriculture — wine, sod [grass], nurseries — but we give more help to food growers, because it’s harder,” Heston said. According to him, Farms for the Future has 32 leases covering 400 acres run by farmers of all ages and backgrounds. “We have a lot of women farmers,” he added. 

After five years, farmers are expected to move on from the program to expand their businesses. “Nobody gets kicked out but you have keep people moving, otherwise it wouldn’t be a program anymore, it will be stagnant,” Heston said. He estimates that 90% of farmers who go through the program continue doing something that relates farming. “Just not always going on to running their own farm,” he said.   

A more complicated piece of the program is land acquisition. The trust buys, protects and sells farms with a verve associated with saving endangered species habitats. The strategy involves selling the development rights of a farm to local governments and then applying an easement that prioritizes food production. “Farmers pay a fair rate, we’re not looking to make money,” Heston said. This approach makes the land affordable for food farmers either to purchase or to lease from the trust. 

The Case House project is a recent example of the trust’s mission to combine affordable housing for a farm family ready to run a larger operation. Heston, who has farmed his whole life, wanted the property to be set up for somebody to be successful. And the land trust predicted that the Howards would be a perfect fit. “They were ready to move on to the next phase about the time we finished renovating the Case House,” he said. 

Food farming in Suffolk County

Organic vegetable farming in Suffolk County is its own microcosm, existing on the margins of the agro-industry that is itself subject to a tangle of state and local regulations, competing interests and the constant pressure to rebuff development. Navigating it all can be daunting and expensive. In Suffolk County there are currently 20 organic certified farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Organic vegetable farming is particularly ephemeral, and cultivating high-quality soil and crops can take years. 

Harder to know is how many of these farmers are sustaining profit margins big enough to stay in business for the long term. Larry Foglia, an executive committee member of the Long Island Community Agriculture Network and himself a farmer for decades, noted that for some farmers sticking with vegetable farming, organic or conventional, is an impossible choice in a marketplace where sod, for instance, offers real profit. He believes that soil preservation is key to sustaining the organic industry in Suffolk — “my soil is like chocolate cake, I have been building it for 60 years” — and in recent years has focused on educating the public about this issue.  

Growing Priscilla’s Farm

As it happens, vegetable farming is Leslie Howard’s secret superpower. He is 50 and when he gave me a tour of the farm, his face hidden by a baseball cap and a reddish beard, his strides were hard to keep up with. He has a calm competence built on years of tinkering with growing techniques, and his opinions about organics come across as missionary, but without the arrogance or bluster. “We never lay down plastic sheeting to suppress the weeds — we could, but we don’t,” he said emphatically. Howard loves soil and water, and old farm machinery. He pointed to his 1949 Allis-Chalmers tractor. “We got it for free and it is easy to fix,” he said. 

Howard is a descendent of the Wells family, whose farming roots in Suffolk County date back to revolutionary times. Although Leslie Wells, Howard’s great-grandfather, was the last of his family line to farm, Howard believes farming is “in my blood.” After spending over a decade as a winemaker for local vineyards, he decided to transition to food farming when a series of personal and health events left him feeling burnt out with the wine industry. Then, in 2016, he met Priscilla. 

What began as a chance encounter while working on the same organic vegetable farm quicky blossomed to romance, and in 2017 they married. Starting an organic vegetable farm together was a natural next step.

For Priscilla Howard, 46, a gardener and vegetable grower her whole life, realizing she was a farmer took years. She spent her 20s and 30s raising two children and working in the public school system teaching social studies. What ultimately drew her to take the plunge into farming was the challenge of figuring out the magic of growing, turning that into a plan to earn a living — and being outside while doing it. 

Priscilla has showstopping green eyes and a schoolteacher’s penchant for listening. Together the couple can come across like characters from a Tolkien novel — he working wizardry, she earthbound and observant. While Leslie described the intricacies of organic pest management, Priscilla wandered among rows of newly-sprouted beans, digging up remnants of plastic sheeting left by the previous tenant. 

 “It’s a labor of love for us and we like the lifestyle. We just need to make enough that we can support ourselves,” Leslie Howard said, adding, “And we really like to eat fresh food.” 

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Photo by Lynn Hallarman

By Lynn Hallarman

During the April 24 Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees meeting, discussions surrounding the Port Jefferson school district budget for the year 2024-25 and the new village parking initiative took center stage. 

School budget 

Deputy Superintendent Sean Leister provided a detailed overview of the school district’s financial landscape, emphasizing ongoing challenges. These challenges include an uncertain timeline for resolving the Child Victims Act litigation and decreases in revenue due to the LIPA glide path agreement. 

Leister reported that the Board of Education deliberated extensively on budget allocations for the upcoming year, focusing on necessary construction projects. Due to budget constraints, the school board approved four projects totaling $1 million. These projects relate to demolishing a no-longer-habitable high school portable classroom, renovating the high school orchestra room, renovating the elementary school pool and continuing a roofing project. 

Reduced enrollment prompted reductions in staff positions, amounting to 3.6 full-time equivalent positions. 

“I don’t say this lightheartedly for any reduction for a staff member is tough, but someone may be reduced from 100% to 80% meaning going from five classes to four,” Leister said. 

The budget breakdown highlighted that 77% of the district’s funding goes to salaries and benefits. 

“Once you take into account collective bargaining agreements, state regulations and state mandates, of this whole budget probably only about 4% is controllable,” he said. 

Leister noted increases for the coming year in medical insurance (10%), liability insurance (4%), teacher retirement insurance (9.76%-10.25%) and utilities (4%). 

Mayor Lauren Sheprow sought clarity on the reserve funds in the budget presentation. Leister indicated that the presentation did not explicitly state the details of the reserve funds. However, residents can find information about the funds on the district’s website. Leister summarized for the mayor a general breakdown of the reserve into six parts that comprise a fund for workers compensation, unemployment insurance, spikes in the retirement system, the teachers and civil service unions, and capital projects. 

“Right now, our capital reserve fund is $3.1 million. We use that to do different capital projects. The way we fund it is when we have a surplus at the end of a given year — the board will pass a motion to fund that reserve up to no more than $1.5 million each year,” Leister said.

Trustee Drew Biondo asked, “Is there any working group going on to bring the community in and talk about what we are doing as a district as our enrollment drops and how we maintain our services?” 

Sheprow responded, “In fact, the village created a school district interactive working group in response to taxpayer feedback about this issue. My perspective is that it is about building trust with community members to show that you are listening to them and being fiscally responsible.”

The 2024-25 second draft budget is projected at $48,018,335 ($47,066,099 in 2023-24), an increase of 2.02%.

The total amount of taxes levied by the school district for the 2024-25 academic year is estimated at $39.8 million ($39.3 million), a 1.24% increase. 

The vote for or against the 2024-25 budget will be held at the Earl L. Vandermeulen High School cafeteria on Tuesday, May 21. 

Managed parking

Andrew Freleng, director of the Building & Planning Department, reported on the progress of the newly-implemented parking management system. His presentation reviewed the village’s recent effort to streamline its parking infrastructure and improve user experience. The new system departs from previous practices, informed by operational recommendations from the parking committee. 

The initiative kicked off with the removal of redundant signage and simplified messaging. The new system also retooled pay stations to emphasize functionality and user experience.

Freleng emphasized the use of empirical data to inform operational decision-making. The overall approach is to refine the parking management strategy over time in response to data-driven outcomes such as revenue generated and community feedback. 

Managed parking in the village began April 15. Homeowners must each renew their virtual permit to park for free in village lots every two years. Renters renew every year. 

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Port Jefferson Village trustees meeting. File photo

By Lynn Hallarman

During the April 10 Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees workgroup meeting, Treasurer Stephen Gaffga presented the modified tentative budget for fiscal year 2024-25, highlighting the steps the new administration is taking to stay within the New York State 2% tax cap.

Gaffga divided the presentation into four sections: 

• Overview of operational challenges and strategic initiatives 

• Breakdown of the village’s funding sources  

• Allocation of taxpayer dollars across services and obligations 

• Explanation of the impact on resident taxes. 

Operational challenges and strategic initiatives 

Gaffga provided a detailed breakdown of a $541,000 rise in nondiscretionary spending for fiscal year 2024-25. This increase in spending is mostly due to contractual obligations, including employee health insurance, dental insurance, retirement and workers compensation. Notably, there is a large uptick in municipal insurance costs amounting to $131,000, signifying a 50% increase over the previous year. 

Another challenge area is the gradual reduction over time in taxes collected from the Long Island Power Authority under the “glide path” agreement. This year, the village saw a decrease in LIPA’s tax contribution to the property tax base by $135,990. Gaffga noted a roughly $570,000 decline in the assessed valuation of LIPA properties, reflecting their reduced worth. “That decrease has an effect on the tax rate ultimately down the road,” he said. 

Gaffga indicated that the village exceeded the state tax cap eight times in the last nine years. However, he asserted that will not be the case this year.

According to him, “spending under our control” — or discretionary spending — will decrease in the 2024-25 budget “by more than $260,000.” This decrease is due mainly to eliminating the managerial parking position and redistributing those duties over several departments.

“This operational change will result in a $190,000 decrease in spending, which will be passed on to the taxpayer,” he said. 

Gaffga reported that the “deep dive” into the capital fund audit by specialized CPA firm PKF O’Connor Davies of Hauppauge continues. “They’re getting far along in that process. By the end of the fiscal year, we’ll have some idea of the results of that deep dive,” he said.

The treasurer stressed, “It is important that any changes made to this budget are made by the board and they’re done in full view of the public so that everybody understands that the board controls this budget.”

Funding sources

Property taxes account for 60% of the total revenues collected for the village’s general fund, which supports the operational aspects of the village’s budget. Other significant funding comes from managed parking, tax agreements with utilities and recreation fees. 

Expenses 

Employee benefits are the most significant expenditure at 23%, or $2.6 million, of the general fund. General governmental support, which includes funding the treasurer’s office, attorney support, the clerk’s office and the justice court, amounts to roughly $2.4 million.

Other village services funded by the general fund include public safety — fire marshals, building inspectors and code enforcement; culture, parks and recreation, including the Village Center programs; transportation, including sidewalk repaving; and home community services such as the building and planning department and street cleaning. 

“The large majority of our spending [nondiscretionary] we do not have control over,” Gaffga said. There is a total village spending increase of 5%.

Tax impacts

The general fund appropriations in the modified tentative 2024-25 budget are projected at $11,458,475 ($11,371,826), an increase of 0.76%. In addition, the Port Jefferson Country Club budget is shown at $3,550,000 ($2,904,882), an increase of 22.21% that is paid for by raising dues and fees according to Gaffga. 

Total amount of taxes levied by the village for the fiscal year are shown at roughly $6.8 million, about a 2% increase from last year. “New York State establishes the 2% tax cap to ensure local governments don’t grow their tax base beyond what is necessary. The village is coming under what the New York State allows,” Gaffga confirmed.

Residential individual taxpayers could see a tax increase of $1.45 per $100 of assessed valuation. 

Residents can view the modified tentative budget on the village website. Public comments are open until 5 p.m. April 20. Comments should be directed to Sylvia Pirillo, the village clerk, at [email protected].

The Board of Trustees will meet again on Wednesday, April 24, at 6 p.m.

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Further destruction of terracing and plantings on the East Beach bluff after recent rainstorms. Photo by Lynn Hallarman

Recent setbacks in East Beach bluff stabilization project have officials and residents on edge 

By Lynn Hallarman

East Beach is a village-owned strip of sandy shoreline situated between the northern front of the Long Island Sound and the base — or toe — of a steeply set bluff, roughly 100 feet high.

A jetty opens into Mount Sinai Harbor eastward of the bluff. To the west, the shore stretches past a series of private properties, then past the village of Belle Terre, and finally curves inward, reconfiguring as Port Jefferson Harbor. 

For decades, the village-owned Port Jefferson Country Club, perched near the crest of the bluff, was invisible to beachgoers below, shielded by a thick tangle of greenery clinging to the bluff’s north front. 

But in recent years, a series of intense rainstorms, combined with sea rise and pressures from human-made alterations in the landscape above the bluff, have set in motion deforestation and scouring, denuding the bluff of vegetation and accelerating erosion in the direction of the country club’s foundation. The club has become precariously close to the bluff’s edge. Without a plan, there was no doubt it would slide down the bluff onto the shoreline below within a few years. 

To make matters worse, the bluff stabilization project, whose aim is to stabilize the position of the club, has been beset with complications in the wake of a series of recent storms unraveling costly work completed just last summer as part of Phase I of the project.

As communities across Long Island are confronting relentless coastal erosion, TBR News Media focuses on the obstacles facing the bluff stabilization project at East Beach, exploring the complexities, costs and alternative solutions to rescuing the country club.

The big picture

Bluffs change naturally over time, feeding sand to the beach and replenishing the shoreline. They respond to the force of winds, waves and tides, creating new states of equilibrium with the beach below and the landscapes above. The Long Island shoreline has been reshaping for thousands of years, sometimes imperceptibly and sometimes in dramatic fits of landslip — that is, chunks of shoreline abruptly falling into the sea. 

East Beach and its bluff are inseparable from the adjacent coastline — they move as the coastline moves. When humans make changes in the shorelines by adding bulkheads, jetties and other rigid structures, the effects resonate laterally, affecting the movement of sand and ocean from beach to beach along the shoreline. 

“Port Jefferson’s experience with bluff restoration is a microcosm of what has been happening all over Long Island,” said Chuck Hamilton, a marine biologist and former regional natural resource supervisor for the state Department of Environmental Conservation for some 33 years.

“For a long time, farmers on Long Island had their farms right on top of the bluff, and shoreline erosion happened naturally,” he said. But now those same areas are being subdivided and developed, adding weight and impermeable surfaces abutting the shoreline. “And guess what? Now we need to stabilize.”

For decades, Port Jefferson Country Club was invisible to the beachgoers, shielded by a thick tangle of greenery clinging to the bluff. Undated photo courtesy Port Jeff historian Chris Ryon

The project

When Port Jefferson’s mayor, Lauren Sheprow, took office in July 2023, the bluff stabilization project was already in motion. Sheprow, a former public relations professional, had campaigned on a platform of two core values: financial transparency and safeguarding of village assets. However, the realities of rescuing the country club — purchased in 1978 when her father, Harold Sheprow, was village mayor — while keeping project costs under control have proven to be complex and demanding. 

Most of Phase I of the project happened before the current mayor took office. This work included the installation of a 454-foot rigid wall at the base, terracing and native grass plantings on the bluff face. With Phase II now under her purview, Sheprow believes it is her responsibility to see the project to completion: the installation of a wall system along the bluff’s crest, directly seaward of the imperiled country club. 

“I swore to protect and preserve the property owned by the Village of Port Jefferson, and therefore the residents. Preserving and protecting is not ignoring an erosion issue,” the mayor said.

Phase I, costing approximately $5 million, relied on local taxpayer dollars financed through a bond repayable over time. Phase II, estimated at $4.8 million, will be financed mostly by federal taxpayer dollars by a FEMA grant of $3.75 million.  

Financing the endeavor has been rife with holdups and stymied by a six-year-long permitting process. It has been almost a year since Phase I was completed. Final signoffs related to the FEMA funding for Phase II are still pending, preventing the village from seeking bids for construction of the upper wall. However, the village treasurer, Stephen Gaffga, said he hopes to see the signoffs come through this month. 

By many accounts, questions about the project’s funding have rankled residents for years. The prevailing sentiment is that the village pushed through a $10 million bond for the stabilization project (phases I and II combined) without a community vote through a bond resolution. 

“When I am asked about my position about the bluff restoration, I never saw the arguments on all sides of the project flushed out,” said Ana Hozyainova, president of Port Jefferson Civic Association. “Village officials took the position from the beginning that the building must be saved, no matter what. That imperative has limited the discussions about options.”

Complications

The uncertainty surrounding the cost and timing of needed repairs because of winter storm damage to the bluff faces further complications in Phase II. “Negotiations are ongoing” between the village and the contractor about who is responsible for absorbing these additional expenses, Gaffga said. 

Drainage issues at the bluff’s crest are also hampering progress, and likely contributed to the recent collapse of the newly-installed terracing along the western part of the bluff, below the tennis courts. “There are huge puddles sitting at the crest, after heavy [recent] rainstorms,” Sheprow said. The strategy and cost related to addressing the drainage issues have not yet been determined, she added. 

Although the project was divided into two phases because of funding constraints, “its ultimate success,” according to Laura Schwanof, senior ecologist at GEI Consultants of Huntington Station, “hinges on both walls working together to curtail erosion and prevent the club slipping down the slope.” 

GEI has been involved with village erosion mitigation projects since 2009. The two-wall system for the bluff stabilization was their design. “The problem with this project is protection number two — the upper wall — has not been installed,” Schwanof said. When asked how long the wall system might hold up, she couldn’t say. 

“What does happen, and has been seen across the Northeast, is that as we get more frequent storms, higher wave energy, higher rainfall events, rigid wall structures may work in the short term. But if you look 50 years down the road, they may not be as effective,” she said. 

“Hard erosion protection structures such as revetments or bulkheads can be costly, only partially effective over time and may even deflect wave energy onto adjacent properties.” Jeff Wernick, a DEC representative, wrote in an email. The DEC, he said, permitted the East Beach project based solely on “the immediate threat to significant infrastructure.” 

Completion of Phase I in spring 2023, before winter storms unravel work on the bluff face.
Photo from the PJ Village website

Retreat?

 When Steve Englebright, 5th District county legislator (D-Setauket) and geologist, was asked about the stabilization project, he started with a lesson about glacial formations dating back 17,000 years. Englebright scrutinized photographs of the bluff during an interview with TBR News conducted after the recent storms. 

“When the bluff, which is partially made of clay, is overweighted it behaves like squeezed toothpaste,” he said. “You can see toothpaste-like extrusions on the beach.”

Missing from the conversation, according to Englebright, is a reckoning of what is happening along the entire Long Island coast. “People don’t understand the overall dynamics,” he said. “That’s why I’m trying to give you the big picture — that the entire North Shore is unstable.”

“Trying to defend a single property is human folly,” he added. “You can buy some time, but how much are we paying? I don’t believe it’s realistic because you can’t stop the overall dynamic. The village should celebrate the fact that they have the ability to retreat and use that ability. Right? The bind is if you don’t have land, but they have the land. Strategically retreat, rebuild the building.”

Stan Loucks, a village trustee and a former country club liaison, was asked to put together a retreat plan by former Mayor Margot Garant — confirmed by her to TBR News. “I did a plan A — proceed with the restoration project — or plan B, retreat —about three years ago,” Loucks said. “I got prices for the demolition of the country club, moving the tennis courts and an architectural rendering of a new club further inland.” 

“The drawings had a huge deck on this side overlooking the Sound, and the huge deck on this side overlooking the golf course. I would have loved to take that plan to the end,” he added. 

Loucks’s retreat plan was never vetted publicly. Sheprow told TBR she never saw a retreat plan. 

Loucks remembers when tennis court No. 5 went in a landslide a few years ago. “It was massive and happened overnight,” he said. “And the slide took the gazebo, too.”

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