From left, Judy Greiman, Chief Deputy to the President and Senior VP for Government and Community Relations, Shawn Heilbron, Director of Athletics, President Maurie McInnis, Mayor Lauren Sheprow, Carol Gomes, CEO, COO of Stony Brook University Hospital, Rick Gatteau, VP for Student Affairs (L-R Rear) Trustees Drew Biondo, Robert Juliano, Stan Loucks, and Rebecca Kassay. Photo by John Griffin/SBU
From left, Judy Greiman, Chief Deputy to the President and Senior VP for Government and Community Relations, Shawn Heilbron, Director of Athletics, President Maurie McInnis, Mayor Lauren Sheprow, Carol Gomes, CEO, COO of Stony Brook University Hospital, Rick Gatteau, VP for Student Affairs (L-R Rear) Trustees Drew Biondo, Robert Juliano, Stan Loucks, and Rebecca Kassay. Photo by John Griffin/SBU
On April 24, at the Port Jefferson Board of Trustees Regular Board Meeting, Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis and members of the university’s leadership team were presented with a proclamation by Port Jefferson Mayor Lauren Sheprow declaring Port Jefferson as “Seawolves Country.”
In addition to President McInnis, the other university leaders in attendance included Chief Operating Officer of Stony Brook University Hospital, Carol Gomes; Vice President for Student Affairs, Rick Gatteau; Director of Athletics, Shawn Helibron; and Chief Deputy to the President and the Senior Vice President for Government and Community Relations Judy Greiman.
“In Port Jefferson, we are so lucky to be here as a resource and a respite for the 40,000 plus…people who live, work, and study on that beautiful, amazing [Stony Brook University] campus six miles down the road from us,” said Mayor Sheprow, who worked for the university for sixteen years.
Highlighting the time honored relationship between the Village of Port Jefferson and Stony Brook, the proclamation formally presented a step forward in identifying the Village as a welcoming place for students, faculty and staff to “enjoy all that the Village of Port Jefferson has to offer.”
“On behalf of everybody who is here, our students, but really the entire Stony Brook community, I could not be more excited to accept, on behalf of Stony Brook University, this great proclamation, and, Go Seawolves!” said President McInnis.
The Village is home to the Port Jefferson EMS, which provides a residential paramedic training program available to Stony Brook students. Also nestled in the Port Jefferson Harbor is the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences’ Research Vessel, the Seawolf, which provides research capabilities through large-scale oceanographic sampling and trawling. Approximately 250 students and 500 faculty and staff also live in Port Jefferson.
On April 24, Councilwoman Jane Bonner (center) was a guest speaker at the Eastern Suffolk BOCES Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services (ESBOCES) Community Legislative Committee meeting. The Community Legislative Committee, which is open to the community, is generally comprised of ESBOCES students, staff, parents, and ESBOCES Board Members. The committee is for those who are interested in learning about the issues impacting school districts and BOCES and how to advocate for positive change.
Also pictured are (left) ESBOCES Chief Operating Officer, David Wicks and (right) ESBOCES Board Vice President, Bill Miller. Councilwoman Bonner said, “The training that the students receive from BOCES will give them a smoother path when they are seeking employment. Navigating the employment market can be a challenge, but the career training they get at BOCES will help to turn their dream job into a reality.”
East Setauket Pond Park is due for a facelift next year, and Brookhaven Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) is assembling a diverse set of voices to help make plans for the landmark property, which sits next to Se-Port Deli on Route 25A.
Kornreich said the people he invited to join the committee include descendants of the Setalcott Nation and parents of young children — in addition to residents who are often involved in Three Village area community service, leadership and decision-making.
The park sits on a likely landing point of the first European settlers of Brookhaven, an event commemorated by a 1955 mural housed in Town Hall. The mural depicts a busy Setalcott village with European ships approaching in the distance, and some believe the perspective of the painting is East Setauket Pond Park.
Kornreich said he wants to be sure he is considering the history as well as the future of the property.
“When you’re doing something as important as creating a park that’s going to be there for the next 100 years, I think we have to be thoughtful and include some other voices that maybe we don’t always listen to,” Kornreich explained of his effort to broaden his advisory group to include more than the usual suspects. “A diverse set of voices generally yields better decision-making.”
Some of those usual suspects include members of the Setauket Harbor Task Force, whose advocacy started the process of the park rehabilitation in the first place. The tidal pond water drains into the harbor itself, and when the task force formed in 2014, the pond was filled with sand, sediment and pollutants from Route 25A road runoff.
Task force co-founder George Hoffman remembers working to bring the park onto Brookhaven’s radar. The town’s parks department began mowing and clearing some invasive plants, he explained, as the task force worked with former state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) to secure a $1 million clean water grant in 2016. After various delays, the money went toward dredging the pond in 2022 and building an appropriate drainage system for the highway in 2023.
Hoffman said he understands the need to include a variety of voices in developing the park, but he acknowledges it is hard to adjust after advocating for it for so long. “We’ve always seen ourselves as unofficial stewards of Setauket Pond Park,” he said. “It’s been our baby, but now it’s kind of everyone’s baby.”
He added that he hopes the environment will remain an important aspect of any development. “The pond is tied into water quality as the headwaters of the harbor,” he said. “It’s important we don’t do anything to jeopardize that.”
Hoffman and Kornreich both said they hope a redeveloped park will serve as an anchor for revitalization of downtown East Setauket as well as provide an economic boost to the area, giving residents a clear view of the harbor and providing an enjoyable outdoor space near local businesses.
One woman tapped for the new committee, East Setauket resident Stephanie Alwais, said she is excited to be a part of the process. In her five years on the board of North Shore Montessori School in Stony Brook, she has had a lot of exposure to the needs and desires of area families with young children.
“North Shore is such an embedded school within the community, and the park is also right in the center of the community,” Alwais said. “As a mom in Setauket, I’d love for the park to be a place where families can go.”
Kornreich said his advisory committee will work with the parks department to figure out the best use of the land, which will expand to include the parcel that currently houses Setauket Automotive, next door to the current park. Brookhaven purchased that land late in 2022 with plans to tear down the auto-shop building once the business-owner tenant’s lease expires at the end of July 2025.
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.”
For World Water Day on March 22, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R) announced the start of the 2024 funding cycle for the county’s Water Quality Protection and Restoration Program. Under this annual program, grants are provided to eligible projects designed to protect and restore the county’s groundwater and surface water resources.
The Drinking Water Protection Program was originally approved by the electorate in 1987 and has been modified over time to bring in other issues such as land stewardship. WQPRP funding is drawn from revenues generated by the 0.25% sales tax, as detailed in Article XII of the Suffolk County Charter. This article is designated to the program for environmental protection, property tax mitigation and sewer district tax rate stabilization.
With 11.75% of the total revenues generated each year under the 1/4% Drinking Water Protection Program, WQPRP grants funding to municipalities and nonprofit organizations for projects that fit under one of the following umbrella categories: (1) habitat restoration, reclamation and connectivity (2) non-point-source abatement and control and pollution prevention initiatives (3) no-discharge zone implementation (4) land stewardship initiatives or (5) education and outreach.
Proposers have until June 7 to apply for an award, ranging from $50,000 to $250,000, toward planning, engineering and construction costs. Applications from last year will roll over without further action.
According to the Suffolk County Press Office, 10 to 15 projects are approved every year, each serving to “maintain the ecosystem services that our natural aquatic environment provides.” This perennial attention to water quality is essential considering the county is enveloped by the South Shore Estuary Reserve, the Peconic Estuary and the Long Island Sound and replete with rivers, streams, tributaries, lakes and ponds.
One notable 2022 grant recipient was the Town of Brookhaven Cedar Beach Habitat Restoration. With the help of WQPRP funding, invasive plants were removed from coastal dunes and forest areas and replaced with a native plant species. This undertaking set out to harmonize the ecosystem through reduced erosion and improved nutrient/pollutant removal. The blueprint also proposed underground wildlife tunnels to provide diamondback terrapin turtles with a safer passage to their nesting grounds than treacherous Harbor Beach Road in Mount Sinai.
The WQPRP Review Committee evaluates projects with a mix of multiple choice and written responses, and also takes into account whether the project is of present priority and/or involves construction or site improvement components.
Online attendance at the Proposers Conference at 11 a.m. on April 16 will garner candidates points toward the scoring of their application. The standout projects will be recommended to the county Legislature for approval.
Although there is a wide range of eligible applicants, the priority project types for this year include wastewater treatment improvements, green stormwater infrastructure implementation, nature/nature-based infrastructure for coastal resilience, fertilizer use mitigation and habitat restoration, reclamation and connectivity.
Projects must have a thorough work plan and budget, as well as proof of the funds that Suffolk County would be matching. The project also must be ready to commence within a year of assuming the grant and completed within three years of the agreement between the applicant and the county.
“This program is an effective tool in our ongoing work to clean and protect Suffolk County waters,” Romaine said. “It is unique in the way it brings towns, villages and the not-for-profit environmental community together with the county to work on projects that make an impact locally and regionally.”
The Suffolk County Press Office adds that everyone’s small contribution toward protecting and restoring our local fresh and saltwater systems is “crucial for preserving and benefiting the environmental, economic, aesthetic and recreational advantages afforded to our community by our unique aquatic environment.”
Information on policies, eligibility and classifying water bodies and their quality can be found by searching “WQPRP” at www.suffolkcountyny.gov, along with an application.
Left to right are Councilman Neil Manzella; Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich; Councilwoman Jane Bonner; Frank Rivera; Supervisor Dan Panico; Councilmember Karen Dunne Kesnig; Town Clerk Kevin LaValle and Councilman Michael Loguercio. Photo from TOB
At the April 4 Brookhaven Town Board meeting, Councilwoman Jane Bonner presented a proclamation to Sarcoidosis of Long Island founder Frank Rivera declaring April as Sarcoidosis Month in the Town of Brookhaven.
Mr. Rivera is a Patients Rising Senate Member and Autoimmune Association volunteer, a Global Genes RARE Foundation Alliance Member and Advocate, an ambassador for The EveryLife Foundation and a Working Group Member.
The organization supports people afflicted with Sarcoidosis, a rare disease characterized by the formation of tiny clumps of inflammatory cells in one or more organs of the body. These clumps can interfere with an organ’s structure and function. Symptoms could include chest pain, seizures, meningitis, swelling of the joints, hearing loss and blurred vision.
Mr. Rivera founded Sarcoidosis of Long Island in 2012 after being diagnosed with the disease in 2011. He has been a local, state, and federal advocate for Sarcoidosis and has spoken at two Congressional briefings. He is a former National Ambassador for the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research, a Global Genes RARE Foundation Alliance Member and Advocate, an ambassador for The EveryLife Foundation and a Working Group Member. For more information about Sarcoidosis of Long Island, go to www.sarcoidosisofli.org.
On April 6, Town of Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner (6 th from left) attended the Rocky Point Historical Society’s 3 rd New York Regiment Encampment held at the Hallock Homestead Museum (c.1721).
The regiment spent the day encamped at the museum, firing volleys and marching to the Long Island Sound. Activities at the all-day event also included the dedication of the Joan Dochtermann Pollinator Garden, guided tours, and a mourning salute by the 3rd NY Regiment to the patriots buried at the Hallock Burying Ground on Hallock Lane.
The Hallock Homestead Museum is located at 172 Hallock Landing Road in Rocky Point. The Rocky Point Historical Society promotes and encourages historical research of the historic north shore community. For more information, go to www.HistoricalSociety.org RockyPointHistoricalSociety.org .
Mike Utevsky, left, Lisa Davidson, center and Judy Ogden. Photo courtesy Judy Ogden
By Sabrina Artusa
Village of Head of the Harbor has inducted Mayor Mike Utevsky, trustee Lisa Davidson and incumbent trustee Judith Ogden to its Board of Trustees.
Utevsky unseated the previous mayor, Doug Dahlgard, who had occupied the position for 10 years. All three members are on the Heritage Party line, a party whose principal approach to governance is preservation.
A real estate attorney who hasn’t run for office before, Utevsky said he decided to run after noticing the desire of other residents for a change. Indeed, Dahlgard and his board experienced pushback after a vote allowing a monastery to build a church on a historically significant property.
As a resident who regularly attended board meetings, Utevsky said, “When [the citizens] made comments … we were met generally with stony silence.”
Davidson, a retired television producer, echoed this sentiment, and expanded on her desire to represent the people of Head of the Harbor “It was purely my wish that the village government should be more inclusive,” she said. “I ran so that governance is kind.”
The three inductees emphasize transparency and revived vigor for code enforcement as guiding values for their term.
“Preservation, natural resources, code enforcement and understanding policy — those are the key pieces,” Ogden said.
One of the primary concerns of the new administration is reopening one of the three access points to Stony Brook Harbor and making the area more accessible for people to enjoy. Currently, there is one road available to lead to the harbor, which according to Davidson has limited parking and accessibility. The new administration is confident that at least one of these access points will be restored.
“If everything goes according to plan, we will have no additional docks in the harbor, people will not be clearing the trees and the buffers will be remediated and the access points will be reopened,” Davidson said. “The village will look as it does now, but better.”
Utevsky said of the subject, “It won’t be easy – there are many legal and practical issues – but it is very important to many residents of the community.”
The mayor also said that he plans to be vigilant with new construction and development, and wants to improve the village while still being cognizant of how it will affect existing housing and landscapes.
“I don’t want us to turn into another overbuilt suburb. That doesn’t mean abandoning all construction, it means well-considered design that works well with the existing historical fabric of the village,” he said.
Development has been a frequent subject of contention in Head of the Harbor and neighboring municipalities. As a member of the Saint James-Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition, Ogden has advocated for the preservation of Flowerfield Fairgrounds and its release from a subdivision proposal that many citizens deem excessive.
In addition to being an incumbent trustee and coalition member, Ogden is also a landscaper and wants to be reinstated as highway commissioner. In the pursuit of transparency, Ogden intends to organize a newsletter, an endeavor she hopes will foster communication not only between administration and constituents but also among bodies of governance.
“I think there will be more communication among the departments rather than it coming from one person and one perspective,” she said. “The village does not operate because of one person, there are many that make it happen.”
Deer population control is another concern of the mayor who, in the name of preservation and safety, wants to implement a solution.
Utevsky acknowledged that a lot has to be done to create change, but was eager to start. “We would like to revive a spirit of community in the village,” he said.
The next public trustee meeting will be held Wednesday, April 17.
**Amendment made – 04/17/2024 – “Utevsky usurped the previous mayor, Doug Dahlgard, […]” the incorrect use of verbiage was changed from usurped to unseated.
Port Jefferson Station/Terryville civic association with Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich and Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico. Photo by Samantha Rutt
By Samantha Rutt
At the March 26 Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association meeting, civic members elected a new civic board and engaged directly with elected officials from the Town of Brookhaven, namely Supervisor Dan Panico (R) and Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook).
As a result of the election, Ira Costell and Carolyn Sagliocca will remain in their roles as president and vice president, respectively. Sheila Granito will serve as the temporary recording secretary, Lou Antoniello as treasurer and Jerry Maxim as corresponding secretary.
Following the election, the floor was opened up between the civic association and elected officials. Costell led the discussion dealing with issues the civic has addressed in recent meetings.
Community beautification projects and Sheep Pasture Road bridge
One of the key topics discussed was community beautification projects, with residents expressing interest in initiatives aimed at enhancing the aesthetic appeal of Port Jefferson Station and Terryville. From antique lighting additions to increased landscaping efforts and an addition of a community park, there was a seemingly shared enthusiasm for projects that would foster a sense of pride and belonging within the community.
Another key mention was that of the dilapidated Sheep Pasture Road bridge. Panico assured the civic that the highway superintendent would be tasked with the bridge construction.
“The highway superintendent is going to be working on that project almost exclusively in the design, and is supposed to be moving forward in design to take away some of the angles and make it easier for vehicles like buses and oil trucks to traverse the bridge in a manner without starting at the nearly 90 degree angles,” he said.
“That’s the information we have on that bridge … it is over 100 years old. Everyone knows it needs to be replaced, the weight limit was taken down from 5 tons to 3 tons. Hopefully soon you’ll invite the highway superintendent to come here so he can show you the design,” Panico assured.
Following mention of the decaying bridge, Costell brought up the proposed train car park as well as the Kunz property — two locations of community interest. About the Kunz property, formerly a greenhouse business, the supervisor assured the community that the town has an appraisal out for the property.
“Our town attorney has that property out for appraisal. We hope to get back an appraisal that is fair and we hope to acquire that property for the community,” Panico said.
In addition, to efforts to beautify the community, Sagliocca has contacted the town Highway Department regarding the posting of illegal signage and banners along the roadways with a goal to eliminate some of the roadside distraction the signs create.
“We’ve made a priority of getting out there because we’ve been aggressively cracking down on illegal housing and things of that nature to have those same individuals out serving tickets, and serving summonses,” Panico said on the issue.
“We just hired another individual who’s going to be helping along the same lines to clean up the signs along the roadway. All those signs of litter, whether they be feathered flags or Coroplast signs, we just unilaterally, we sweep them up, we take them and the ones that can be recycled, get recycled, the other ones just go in the trash,” Panico added.
Zoning and development
Proposed developments were also a focal point of discussion, with residents eager to learn more about upcoming projects and their potential impact on the local landscape.
Concerns were raised regarding issues such as traffic congestion, environmental sustainability and preserving the character of the neighborhood. Kornreich offered insights into the development process and assured residents that their input would be taken into consideration during decision-making.
“Nothing formal has happened yet. There was a public hearing that I and most of you were at, and I think that I’m representing the community correctly by saying we’re not opposed to the project, we think that the area is in need of some redevelopment, but the scale of it is more than what we want,” Kornreich said about the proposed Staller development.
Ultimately, those in attendance were looking for open communication between the developers and the community to best incorporate an accepted plan for the space going forward.
“I think one of the concerns we had in the public hearing was that a decision not be made before some site plan — that might be acceptable to the community — was an issue that we could talk about,” Costell said.
Panico explained further that the site plan still needs to be approved by the Planning Board, now the regular Town Board, which will allow for more direct representation from elected representatives and will create a space for the community to meet before the Town Board as well.
“This entire community will be back, either here or before the Town Board for ultimately the site plan. They [the developers] still have to go through the entire site buying process before the Town Board, which is different than an appointed Planning Board. So you have more direct representation from your elected representatives,” Panico explained.
Overdevelopment was one of the main concerns throughout the meeting for several residents of the Town of Huntington who joined the Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, March 12, sharing their concerns on the plans to develop the Vineyard Bay Estates property, located at 78 Bay Ave. and 211 Vineyard Road, Halesite.
“This is not a request, but a plea on behalf of a neighborhood, on behalf of the conservation of wildlife, and the history of Huntington,” said Karen Witkowski, a Huntington resident.
Residents worried that the aftermath of this project would lead to extensive traffic in the area, more parking needs and more exhaust in the air, in a space already limited to handling these increases.
“Both of the roads that I use to leave the neighborhood would be impacted by this because they both would be developed,” said Gillian Inglis Glaser, a new resident of Huntington Bay Village.
Glaser spoke on the lack of notifying the residents on the proposed development, having spoken on the restrictions that would be put on their community not just after but also during the construction process of this project.
“I think that’s what we are looking for, transparency,” Glaser said. “In general, we need more information and transparency about the process and what’s happening.”
Other residents addressed that only a few members of the community received notification of the plans for development, with some expressing that even with the notification, there was a lack of transparency in the impact that this development would have on the community.
Construction for the development is expected to last at least two years, with the developers intending to build eight homes in the area.
There were further concerns about the outcome of the future on displaced wildlife. Some feared that wildlife would be pushed into the community, into residents’ homes and yards, after being displaced from their natural environment. One resident explained that this is already an issue, which he attributed to past developments.
The Nathan Hale Nature Preserve Committee has requested that the Town of Huntington favorably considers and records a motion to order the Planning Board to vacate its findings that the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act has been met with this subdivision. Furthermore, that there be no significant environmental impacts and the issuance of a negative declaration pursuant to the Planning Board’s review of the environmental assessment data and the regulations as set forth in the resolution filed with the Town Clerk’s office on Feb 6.
There is a call from NHNPC for the Planning Board to undertake a comprehensive assessment of environmental, wildlife, safety, traffic, flora, fauna, water and air issues associated with the development.
The committee is requesting that the Town Board requires the Planning Board to instruct the developers to immediately stop any further development and create architectural renderings of the project, with detailed depictions of the proposed homes, as situated on the proposed sites, along with the true heights of the 200-foot-long walls that are calculated to be 10 feet high and possibly 20 feet high to hold back the slope.
“There are countless reasons that this development should be halted,” said Denise Goodwin Pace, a 44-year resident of Huntington and a member of the Nathan Hale committee.
