Shelter Island waters are closed to shellfishing until August 4.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued an “emergency designation” Monday declaring that “the extremely heavy stormwater runoff associated with the extraordinary rainfall event of July 27, 2008 ... may result in conditions causing shellfish to be hazardous for use as food.” As a result, James Gilmore, DEC Bureau of Marine Resources chief, designated the shellfish lands of the towns of Shelter Island, Southampton and Brookhaven as “uncertified.”

That means it is unlawful to harvest shellfish in all the creeks, bays and harbors of Shelter Island until at least August 4, Town Supervisor James Dougherty told attendees at the weekly work session Tuesday.

Supervisor Dougherty passed along a report from Dering Harbor that 3.8 inches of rain were measured there Sunday.

County helicopter regs pitched

Suffolk Legislator Edward P. Romaine has drafted a bill under which Suffolk County would establish a minimum altitude at which helicopters could fly over Suffolk.

The measure is in response to widespread complaints over the last several years from Suffolk residents affected by the raucous noise of helicopters taking New Yorkers to and from eastern Long Island and what the bill describes as the failure of an agreement between Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Tim Bishop and helicopter operators “to alleviate the public nuisance” of chopper noise.

Helicopter traffic in and out of East Hampton Airport, the Southampton Village helipad, and the Suffolk County-owned Francis Gabreski Airport in Westhampton has been generating the complaints. .

However, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association said that the federal government through the Federal Aviation Administration regulates helicopters and Suffolk County would be “preempted” from restricting the altitude at which they fly.

Over the winter, Senator Schumer and Representative Bishop met with helicopter operators and got their agreement to fly at 2,500 feet and stress going over bodies of water — the Atlantic Ocean and the Long Island Sound — on trips between New York City and Long Island.

Since the voluntary agreement went into effect, Islanders have complained that helicopter traffic has increased over the southwest section of the Island. “The voluntary plan is not working,” said Mr. Romaine of Center Moriches, whose district includes the North Fork, Shelter Island and a piece of Brookhaven Town.

The law would make flying private helicopters below 1,500 feet in Suffolk County, except during take off and landing, a violation subject to penalties.

Karl Grossman

Lyme-stricken Romaine pushing for 4-poster funds

First District Legislator Edward P. Romaine has come down with the disease he has lobbied to address.

“I got bit by [a] tick five weeks ago,” said the legislator, laid low last week with “headaches, the sensitivity to light, the weakness” of Lyme disease. “This is the first time I've had Lyme disease,” said Mr. Romaine, although he has heard plenty about it from victims. He sought medical care and was put on doxycycline, an antibiotic commonly prescribed for Lyme disease.

Mr. Romaine had the Shelter Island 4-poster program on his mind as he was interviewed Thursday from his home where he was working because of the effects of the Lyme disease. He complained that County Executive Steve Levy “hasn't released a penny” of the money the Suffolk Legislature has authorized to be spent on the 4-poster program on Shelter Island. The county “was supposed to give money to Cornell to do the work.” He said this year he prepared to submit a new legislative resolution for the county to provide $155,000 for the program and “I was told we can't do it because the money from last year hasn't been used — because of what is being called ‘contract issues.'” Mr. Levy, he complained, was exercising a kind of “veto.”

Karl Grossman

DHS: Plum Island goes high risk or shuts down

Senator Hillary Clinton and Representative Tim Bishop say they have been “repeatedly assured” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that Plum Island is not considered “a suitable location for a BSL-4 [Bio-Safety Level 4] research center.”

However, Amy Kudwa, a spokesperson for DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, would neither confirm nor deny the agency's characterization of the site.

“We will respond to the members in writing, not through the media,” she said, adding, “We decline to characterize anything that may have been said in a private conversation.” She added DHS is legally mandated to include the local lab site as one of the “reasonable alternatives” they must consider.

The DHS is evaluating Plum Island (a 55-year-old federal agricultural research facility located on the 840-acre island, 1 1/2 miles east of Orient Point) and five other locations — Athens, Georgia; Flora, Mississippi; San Antonio, Texas; Manhattan, Kansas; and Butner, North Carolina — as potential sites for construction of this nation's most advanced facility for the study of highly contagious and potentially devastating animal and plant diseases.

The final decision will come before January 20, 2009, when a new administration comes into office in Washington. The decision-maker will be the current DHS undersecretary for science and technology, Jay Cohen.

According to Ms. Kudwa, should Plum Island not be selected for the new facility, the site will be closed. “We will be transitioning all animal and zoonotic work currently ongoing to the new NBAF and shut Plum Island down.”

A public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the new lab will be held by DHS at Greenport School on Tuesday, August 12, from 6 to 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, Southold Supervisor Scott Russell has scheduled an “informational meeting” about Plum Island's current operations for Tuesday, August 5, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

CPF exemption signed into law

State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle announced that legislation he sponsored to provide financial relief to first-time home buyers has been signed into law.

The law, which was also sponsored by Assemblyman Thiele, exempts primary residential property being purchased by a first-time home buyer in Southampton, Shelter Island or East Hampton from the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund (CPF) real estate transfer tax. The property purchase price and income limits would be defined by the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) low interest rate mortgage program in the non-target one family category for Suffolk County.

“This law will help many young families achieve their goal of living on the East End as well as benefit the local community,” Senator LaValle said in a statement to the press.

The Senator and Assemblyman also sponsored a separate measure, which was also signed into law, to provide additional fiscal oversight and controls of the CPF.

Revenues for the CPF in June were the lowest since 2003, totalling only $4.46 million for the five East End towns combined. Shelter Island revenues are down 18.2 percent compared to the same time period last year.

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