Steve Papa of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency has agreed to sign off on the project, Highway Superintendent Mark Ketcham reported. But the Army Corps of Engineers permit that went to the wildlife agency did not include the paragraphs on piping plover habitat that Mr. Papa required.

“Once it's written into the permit, it will be a couple of days and we should have it,” Mr. Ketcham said.

The town will then be ready to bid out the first phases of the project. Mr. Ketcham suggested that shoreline stabilizing groins be installed first before rock gabions, which will shield the slope between the beach and the road. The third step is for the Highway Department to backfill the sand slopes and build the road, he added.

Mr. Ketcham also suggested that any prospective contractors visit the site before submitting bids so they know the conditions and can see just how narrow the road has become. Town Councilman Peter Reich showed a video of the drive down the road, which has been closed to vehicles since an April 2007 nor'easter exacerbated a recurring road washout on the south side of the peninsula. Today most of the southern shoulder and road edge are gone and numerous gullies have cut into the road on both sides.

Town Attorney Laury Dowd said that the restoration plan, approved and funded in large part by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, calls for Fagan Engineers of Elmira, New York to be the project administrators. “Can they really do this from Elmira?” she questioned.

“The distance to Elmira has somehow been a bigger obstacle than I would have guessed,” Town Supervisor Jim Dougherty commented, adding that “a hands-on” approach is lacking.

Mr. Ketcham suggested that a local engineer could work “hand-in-hand” with Dave Andrews of Fagan Engineers.

Councilwoman Chris Lewis emphasized the need for strict oversight of this “critical project.”

During the November 12 work session, the Town Board also discussed:

• A revised SEQRA request for the North Ferry Road site owned by Marcello Masonry. Septic flow restrictions set by Suffolk County bar an industrial building originally proposed for the back of the property. Storage bins for masonry materials are planned instead.

• Geothermal legislation. Don Kornrumpf commented about the proposed legislation suggesting that the systems may be too risky for the Island's shallow sole-source aquifer. Only those with large sums to invest up front can benefit from the systems but “if something does go wrong, it's going to be costly to the entire community.”

• Wetlands permits. The board conducted completeness reviews of five wetlands permits, including one from the town itself for the gazebo planned at the Bridge Street Volunteers Park.

• A dock permit/wetlands issue. George Costello told the board that a deck he built out from a bulkhead on the Rainer Schoenbach property, 37 Nostrand Parkway, did not comply with the dock permit the town granted in 2007. Town Attorney Laury Dowd told him to apply for a wetlands permit.

• A concern raised by resident Barbara Allen-Lieblein. She questioned the Town Board appointment of James Eklund to the Waterways Management Advisory Council. “What possibly could have made you appoint someone who turned the whole Island against him?” she asked, making an implied reference to the Ram's Head Inn rehab plan. Most board members defended their choice saying that Mr. Eklund was qualified. Councilman Ed Brown acknowledged her concern and said that it's the Town Board's job to make sure appointees do not act in their own self-interest.

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