Close to 150 Southold VOICE members, invited guests and observers filled the Town Recreation Center yesterday morning for our Annual Meeting, which is always a good networking event with fresh coffee and donuts, and keynote speakers offering an educational forum of particular interest to the town’s waterfront property owners. Instead of soaking up the sun, folks soaked up the information, and a large group of Town officials willingly presented themselves to field some hard hitting questions from the audience. Supervisor Scott Russell was there, and panels of both Town Trustees and Tax Assessors on both sides of the room spoke to the audience, then answered questions on various issues.
There was talk of exemptions, benchmarks, appeals and overlapping jurisdictions, amongst other topics. Bob Scott and Kevin Webster from the Assessors Office clarified confusion about why waterfront property owners are penalized using a 1967 benchmark and encouraged anyone seeking further clarification on their particular property to call them on 631 765-1937.
Leslie Weisman, Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), identified and outlined the different category of appeals that can be made using a series of slides, which you can also review below. We were graced with a full complement of the four Town Trustees. Chair Jill Doherty outlined the scope of Trustee responsibilities, and individual Trustees Dave Bergen, Bob Ghosio and John Bredemeyer each answered various audience questions, covering a wide range of topics including stairs down the bluffs, working with the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC), channel markers, swim channels, dredging and the town’s two pump out boats. Did you know that if you call channel 73, anyone can get a free pump out for their boat?
It was great to see so many local government officials from different departments all in one room, giving proper consideration to problems that arise from overlapping jurisdictions in the permitting process, and explaining how this is further complicated by the requirements of the DEC and other out of town agencies, with whom they also have to contend, not just us. Scott Russell spoke about wanting to streamline the process and eliminate overlapping jurisdiction within the town for the waterfront property owner. It was also great to hear support expressed for the extra burdens imposed on waterfront property owners, for cleaning up the beaches, then paying for the privilege of dumping the trash. Questions were raised about how to deal with a fallen tree hanging dangerously, or being over-run with poison ivy in a non-disturbance buffer. There were light-hearted moments too, and everyone came away with something, a few questions were left hanging, but none left unanswered.
Whatever is of concern to our members, SoutholdVOICE in cooperation with the Officials who regulate us, was able to shine more sunlight on them in two hours inside the room, than was blazing down outside the center when everyone dispersed on this glorious midsummer Saturday morning. Thanks to one and all for participating.
Here’s the powerpoint slide presentation:
Following soon, a few photos of the event. To receive an email notification when these are posted to the site, enter your email address below:
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