Shelter Island residents split over proposed irrigation permit rules in long public hearing

Shelter Island officials heard more than two hours of public comment on proposed changes to the town's irrigation code that would tighten permitting for certain irrigation systems.

Supporters of the amendments said the measures are designed to protect the island's shared aquifer and to give the building department a clear way to respond to neighborhood complaints. "When we get those calls...we could the building department could say they have a permit for it," the chair said while explaining the rationale for an administrative permitting system that would require applicants to file a map and contact information. The town's environmental consultant recommended permitting periods of two to three years for temporary irrigation to match industry survivability standards.

Opponents — including landscapers and owners of grandfathered systems — said an island-wide permit requirement for drip systems would create an unworkable workload for staff and private businesses. Walter Richards, who said he had been on the irrigation subcommittee, argued the draft would impose excessive new burdens and questioned the need to change a code that has worked historically: "...I do not support this," he said of the proposal to require permits for all drip systems in the nearshore and beyond, adding concerns about processing hundreds of new permits.

Technical points dominated the discussion. Speakers debated whether to keep a limits-by-emitter count (historically 250 in the nearshore) or to rely on a simpler permitting trigger, and whether cisterns should be required for nearshore drip systems. Contractor witnesses suggested technological alternatives to reduce water withdrawal rates and urged targeted rules limited to the most sensitive nearshore overlays. One consultant advised: "In the nearshore and peninsula overlay zone...shall be equipped with a master valve time clock and moisture sensor," and suggested allowing exceptions where a drip system uses less water than the grandfathered system it replaces.

The board said it would not finalize the text that night and scheduled further review at a work session, noting the need to balance enforceability and environmental protection. A range of concrete suggestions emerged from the hearing — focused permitting for nearshore areas, multi-year temporary permits to allow plantings to establish, mandatory leak-detection or shutoff devices, and better mapping of grandfathered systems — that the board said staff and the subcommittee would weigh before re-noticing any revisions.