Boat party
Party organizer Sean Scanlon needs an outdoor assembly permit to hold his annual water-borne concert and boat party, held for 17 years on the first Sunday of August. Last year's event in Major's Harbor with its estimated 2,000 people on 400 boats was anything but a party for Mashomack Preserve, where trespassers and shoreline litter caused major headaches. The 2008 party also entailed a significant law enforcement presence on the water. In response, the town changed its code to include boat parties in its permit requirements.
Mr. Scanlon explained that he tries to locate his parties where they are inaccessible to cars and also in shallow waters for the safety of families attending. Major's Harbor fits that bill, or so he thought.
Mashomack Director Mike Laspia told him that people “made their way” to the party “however they could” — driving and parking on private roads, leaving cars at the Manor House, asking for directions at the Mashomack Visitor Center and “bushwhacking” their way off trail, even hiking the shoreline from Smith's Cove, creating “a massive trespass problem,” facilitated in part by vehicles equipped with GPS.
He was the only employee on the preserve the day of the party but needed another worker and three volunteers to clean up the beach the next morning.
“It was the worst preserve management day I've had in 28 years. It was nightmarish,” Mr. Laspia remarked. Despite Mr. Scanlon's claims to the contrary, Mr. Laspia said he never saw a clean-up crew from the party.
“I try to play by the books,” Mr. Scanlon said. He was the first to get a permit for such a party in East Hampton and now he will be the first on Shelter Island, he claimed. He was granted a permit from East Hampton Town in August 2007 but he acknowledged that neighborhood issues prevented him from having it in Northwest Harbor in 2008.
Mr. Scanlon said that he didn't know about the problems last year at Mashomack and suggested that someone prevent the cars from entering the preserve.
“I'll have to hire more people and someone's going to have to pay for that,” Mr. Laspia said.
Police Chief James Read asked the party host how code-specified sanitary requirements will be met. Mr. Scanlon said he could set up a barge with two latrines, if required. But he did so grudgingly, saying that his event is just one day and that boaters anchor in Island bays all summer.
A friend of Mr. Scanlon, who did not identify himself, said that party-goers will come to the Island the day before and buy food and supplies to take to the party, benefitting Island businesses. He praised Mr. Scanlon for volunteering to organize the party and commented to the board, “To get this kind of bureaucratic about it seems antithetical.”
“You're talking about 2,000 people coming in our waters,” Councilman Ed Brown responded. “That's as many people as we have on the whole Island in the winter.”
Chief Read recommended that the applicant put up the following refundable deposits: $1,000 to cover cleanup, $2,000 for police time and $1,000 to cover Mashomack staffing costs. Mr. Laspia said he would agree to that but Supervisor Jim Dougherty wasn't sure the town could require payment to Mashomack.
The board took no action on the application.
Permethrin testing
Resident Bill Smith presented a petition with over 500 signatures, collected in four-and-a-half hours last weekend, of residents who want the town to conduct independent testing for permethrin in the environment.
“Since March you've discussed doing some sort of independent testing” of permethrin, the pesticide used on 4-poster stations and in commercial spraying of lawns to kill ticks. “For whatever reason, it has yet to begin,” he said.
He offered to bring in more petition signatures — “There seems to be a real concern about these things. People want this done,” he said.
“To get the ball rolling ... I'm going to do two tests myself” with kits sent by Long Island Analytical Laboratories in Holbrook. Mr. Smith invited the Reporter to document the sampling of soil near 4-poster stations; he also invited Chief Read who respectfully declined. Mr. Smith agreed to add a third test away from 4-posters as a control. He said he would pay for this first round of samples, which will be analyzed at $150 each, but encouraged the town to do more than “pay lip service” to the issue of independent testing.
Mr. Dougherty responded by saying that the June Lyme disease forum was “convincing to a lot of people,” referring specifically to statements by state pesticide official Vincent Palmer on the relative safety of 4-posters versus broadcast spraying.
Mr. Dougherty questioned whether the town would have any funds for additional testing this year; money saved by waiving an aerial survey fee will be eaten up by an over-run in the costs of corn used in the 4-posters as deer bait.
Chief Read confirmed the Deer and Tick budget status, saying, “There's not going to be any money in that line. The funding is going to have to come from another source.”
Councilman Glenn Waddington spoke in favor of testing. “I'm for taking sediment samples of creeks ... if we can find the money and the three votes.”
Resident Richard Kelly gave the board members “two reasons why you should go ahead with this.” That “correct” representative government compels them to adopt the position of the many petitioners and that claims touting the safety of 4-posters have been wrong. Residents Frank Vecchio and Bruce Rehab also urged the town to conduct more testing.
Audience member Paul Shepherd commented, “I was in favor of the 4-posters. I still am but I agree with you that it's only reasonable to spend a little bit of that money to check” on the environmental impacts.
Councilwoman Chris Lewis encouraged respect for both sides of the 4-poster debate and commented on additional testing by saying, “I think it's sensible science to want that information.”
Other topics
During the July 14 work session, the Town Board also discussed:
• A compromise reached on dredging Crab Creek. After a meeting between Supervisor Dougherty, Councilman Brown and Silver Beach Association representatives, the SBA agreed to contribute above and beyond the $4,000 they already invested in securing permits to dredge the opening to the creek. The town will also pay a portion of the costs from the Waterways Management fund, which currently totals approximately $290,000.
• Fresh Pond swim floats. Only one swim float was seen anchored in the pond during a kayak tour by Mr. Reich and Supervisor Dougherty; another was found along a private property. The consensus of the board is that town code restrictions on float materials and other physical features, but not permits, are adequate to address floats in Fresh Pond.