"That's because there hasn't been a good proposal," Ms. Bonner said in a telephone interview.
But her opponent in November, Democrat John Leonard of Mount Sinai, met with The North Shore Sun this week to discuss his concern that the councilwoman's resistance to development in the communities she represents may not be what's best for her constituents.
"We have a government of no [with Ms. Bonner]," said Mr. Leonard, an attorney who serves as a deputy to Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko. "You have to have a community-developer partnership [for growth]."
It's a difference in philosophies, and one that could prove critically important in how voters reach their decision on Election Day.
Ms. Bonner, 46, has been largely anti-development in her first two years on the Town Board. Mr. Leonard, 39, says he thinks for the sake of economic revitalization in Brookhaven, some major development will need to occur.
Several large mixed-use development proposals such as Fairfield in Rocky Point, Tallgrass in Shoreham and Village Center in Mount Sinai have been floating around the district -- which stretches west from Wading River to Mount Sinai, and includes parts of Ridge, Coram and Middle Island -- over the past several years. Only Tallgrass, which suffered a major blow when it failed to secure a critical waiver from the Pine Barrens Commission, has reached the advanced planning stages.
While Mr. Leonard stopped short of saying he supports any of those projects, the Town Board hopeful said he wants to see some future major development in the 2nd District.
"Building for the sake of building will never be a good thing," Mr. Leonard said. "But there are projects that are going to be built. We need proactive leadership to bring the communities and the developers together."
Speaking specifically about Fairfield, Mr. Leonard said he felt Ms. Bonner was too slow in reacting to the outcry of a faction of the community that opposed the project.
"Only in the end did she decide this was a bad thing for the community," said Mr. Leonard, who stressed that he would have acted sooner.
Ms. Bonner, who lives in Rocky Point, said she won't rush to judgment on any development projects until she's certain she understands the will of the public.
"It's the job of the elected official to listen to the public," she said.
Which is why, Ms. Bonner said, she initiated earlier this year a Route 25A corridor study that will look at development as a whole along the state road from Wading River to Mount Sinai -- an effort Mr. Leonard said he believes may be futile.
Mr. Leonard criticized the study, which will cost the town about $300,000 after a second phase is completed, as an unnecessary expense for the taxpayer.
"Most of these hamlets have conducted their own hamlet studies and many of those are outdated," Mr. Leonard said. "It's a study to study studies that may be outdated studies."
But that tongue twister doesn't sit well with Ms. Bonner, who referred to her corridor study as a necessary expense, and one she said may be paid in part through grant money. She even pointed to the recent announcement of a Route 25A task force to be initiated by Assemblyman Marc Alessi (D-Shoreham) as a sign that representatives on both sides of the political aisle see the importance of reviewing development proposals along the busy corridor.
"We have very little time left to control the development of Brookhaven," Ms. Bonner said. "We have a great list of caring and informed stakeholders taking an interest and having a say in my corridor study."
Mr. Leonard said that if he were elected, he'd give consideration to shutting down the corridor study.
"I'd have to give it a real good look," he said.
gparpan@northshoresun.com