HomeMy WebLinkAboutVENTOSO, LINDAJune 22, 1988
Linda Ventoso, President
West End Properties
Association of
Camp Mineola
P.O. Box 479
Mattituck, N.Y. 11952
Frank Kajawski, President
Board of Town Trustees
Town of Southold
Town Hall, 53095 Main Road
P.O. Box 728
Southold, N.Y. 11971
Dear Sir:
We are in receipt of your letter of May 25, 1988. Unfortunately, it does
not shed much light on why the Town Board made a series of irresponsible
decisions concerning the dredging of Jar~es Creek, the location of the spoil
site and the notification of local residents.
Specifically:
You claim that the location of the spoil site was not in
your jurisdiction. This is true. However, we have
information that the Town specifically requested that the
spoil site be moved further back from the beach SO THAT
YOU COULD CLAIM THAT YOU HAD NO JURISDICTION, and
therefore, absolve yourselves of any wrongdoing.
You are quick to blame the DEC for making a bad decision,
however, it was your action that allowed the DEC to be
the decision-making authority in this situation.
Holding a so called "Public Hearing" on February 26th in
a community that consists of 95% "summer" residents
strikes me as being somewhat callus. It meets the
"letter" but not the "spirit" of the law. If you were
concerned about ALL the taxpayers of Southold, you would
have either:
- Held the Public Hearings in the summer, or,
- Notified the local property owners.
Frank Kajawski June 22, 1988
Even though you may not be legally responsible to notify
the local propertyowners, you are MORALLY responsible to
do so! We are incredulous that you can justify notifying
local propertyowners if a neighbor wants to build a deck
one foot too close to the road (a real case from our
community) and, then justify NOT notifying anyone when
you allow 50 tons of sand to be dumped on another
neighbors property!
You state that permits are "routinely" reviewed. After
hearing all of the concerns of Mr. Wamback (and
interruptir~ your dinner!) why did you approve the
renewal of the permit the next day? If you were indeed
concerned why didn't you refuse to renew'the permit since
this obviously wasn't a "routine" situation? (We
would like a copy of the minutes of that meeting)
You have also neatly avoided the issue of floodin~ in
this area. Who will be responsible for the damage -
Mr. Cicorelli or the Town?
Finally, you state that there is misinformation in our letter - if that is
so - then it is dwarfed by the MISREPRESENTATIONS in your letter.
We are still callin~ for Public Hearings on this matter since we were not
given that opportunity earlier. We will not stand idly by while you make
irresponsible decisions that have major impact on our community.
cc: Albert J. Krupski
John M. Bredemeyer,III
John L. Bednoski Jr.
Henry P. Smith
Camp Mineola Con~unity Members
FRANK A. KUJAWSKI, JR., President
ALBERT J. KRUPSKI, JR., Vice-President
JOHN M. BREDEMEYER, III
JOHN L. BEDNOSKI, JR.
HENRY P. SMITH
TELEPHONE
(516) 765-1892
BOARD OF TOWN TRUSTEES
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
Town Hall, 53095 Main Road
P.O. Box 728
Southold, New York 11971
May 25, 1988
Ms. Linda Ventoso, President
West End Properties
Association of Camp Mineola
P. O. Box 479
Mattituck, New York 11952
Dear Ms. Ventoso:
I would like to state that the Town Trustees acted in a
responsible and legal manner in their handling of the dredging
application referred to in your letter of May 17, 1988 concerning
'James Creek. The points raised in your letter contain many
errors in fact and I would like to clarify:
1. Elected officials of Southold Town are not giving away
your natural resources. The sand dredged from James Creek belongs
to the State, and the State of New York (D.E.C.) had the sole
authority to establish a spoil site. The site in question was
not in the jurisdiction of the Town Trustees. From a historical
perspective, the Town Trustees for 300 years controlled only to
the mean tide boundary on the creeks. Through the efforts of
elected officials and many citizens this was changed several
years ago to extend for an additional 75', but not as far as the
spoil site in question. This was not within our leqal
jurisdiction.
2. Local property owners are notified for a variance,
because a variance is an exception to the law. This maintenance
dredging project was not an exception, but within the legal scope
of the laws. This application originally was advertised and a
public hearing was held prior to approval. (Public Hearing was
held on February 26, 1987.)
3. Town permits .are granted for a period of two years.
Those dated for one year are routinely renewed for the second
year. We would like to have all projects completed within one
year, but this is not always possible or practical. An emergency
meeting of the Trustees was not held as you stated.
4. I personally held three telephone conversations with Mr.
Norman Wamback, and one with Mr. Eugene Daneri concerning this
project. In addition, I interrupted my dinner one evening to
meet with Mr. Wamback and Mr. Eugene Daneri at the spoil site
site in Camp Mineola. I don't believe this constitutes a "Public
be Damned" behavior. I explained all of the points I am
presently discussing in this letter with both gentlemen. The
next day Mr. Wamback informed me that he had contacted a lawyer
in an attempt to stop the spoil from being deposited, but could
find no means to do so.
It is by request of the Town Trustees that spoil is
deposited down drift by the County when creek mouths are opened,
as James Creek was in 1987. This is not a method of erosion
control, but rather beach nourishment that acknowledges erosion
and will continue as a natural process.
Finally, I believe the Town Trustees would agree that the
choice of depositing sand on this site was a poor decision by the
Department of Environmental Conservation. We would always prefer
sand to be used as beach nourishment.
I believe a better line of communication could have
prevented the misinformation in your letter and I would welcome
any future discussions concerning Trustee matters. My home phone
number is 298-9146. I would request that this letter be shared
with all of your members.
Sincerely,
Frank A. ~u~awski, Jr.
President ~
Board of Town Trustees
FAK:ip
cc: Town Trustees
Town Attorney
Mr. Norman Wamback
Mr. Richard A. Curcio
Mr. Eugene Daneri
May 17, 1988
Linda Ventoso
President,
West End Properties
Asso. of Camp Mineola
Camp Mineola Avenue
P.0.479
Mattituck, N.Y. 11952
Frank Kujawski
President,
Board of Town Trustees
Southold Town
Town Hall, 53095
Mainroad, P.O. Box 728
Southold, N.Y. 11971
Sir:
The West End Properties Association of Camp Mineola is most distressed by
your position on the recent dred~in~ of James Creek· Instead of placin~ the
sand on our beaches to control erosion, you allowed the Department of
Environmental Conservation to give. that sand to a local propertyowner. This
is a mis-use of our natural resources and we believe that you and the board
have abrc~ated your responsibilities as Trustees of SoutholdTown. Your
action raises several serious questions:
· Why are the elected officials of Southold town givin~ away our
natural resources to one individual?
Why weren't local propertyowners notified (as they are when a
zonin~ variance is called for) when this application was bein~
sought?
When questioned abOUt an out of date permit for the dred(3in~,
why did you hold an emergency meetin~ of the Board the next day
to extend the date of the permit?
Why were calls and requests from the residents of the West End
Properties Association of Camp Mineola repeatedly ignored by you
and other Board members?
Frank Kujawski
Now that the dredging is complete (and an 8 foot high "plateau" exists on
this property) there are several other serious issues at hand:
. Flooding is already a serious problem in this vicinity. We
believe that building a house on top of this "plateau" will have
a serious impact on the surrounding areas.
· What is to be done about our erodir~3 beaches - who will pay to
have them replenished?
We demand Public Hearings to address these issues. We want answers on why
this was allowed to happen and how it can be prevented from happening in the
future.
We have attached copies of two letters:
. A letter to Thomas Jorling of the DEC on their role in this
fiasco.
· A letter to the "Suffolk Tim~s."
We refuse to accept your "Public-be-damned" behavior.
We await your response.
Linda Ventoso /~
cc:
John Bredemeyer /
PhillipGoubeaud
Albert Krupski, Jr.
Ellen Larsen
-2-
May 3, 1988
Richard A. Curcio
Camp Mineola Avenue
P.O. Box 522
Mattituck, N.Y. 11952
Mr. Thomas Jorling
Con~issioner, N.Y. State Dept.
of Environmental Conservation
50 Wolf Road
Albany, N.Y. 12233
Dear Sir:
Recently, % contacted your agency to protest dredging activities in James
Creek in Mattituck, New York. It appears that DEC had given approval to
dredge part of James Creek and instead of replenishing our beaches with this
sand, it was given to a propertyowner to raise the level of his property so
that he could build a house. When I called DEC to complain about this
mis-use of our natural resources, I was given the "run-around." Robert
Green, a supervisor in your Stoneybrook office, was extremely rude, stating
"We don't have time to talk to you about this and we~are not going to stop
the dredging,"
I want to know why the DEC agreed to mis-use the natural resources of
the State. Our beaches are eroding and the best use that your agency can
find for our sand is to give it to a propertyowner so that he can build a
house. This is worse than. mis-management, it is the wanton destruction of
the environment that your agency is chartered to protect.
The DEC file numbers are:
Salt LakeVillage ... 10-86-1714
Cicorelli ... 10-87-0856
The DEC claims that they filed a "Legal Notice" in the newspaper. This is a
summer community; people are not here everyday of the year and therefore, do
not have the option to read the "fine print" in the newspaper. Responsible
behavior on DEC's part would have been to have public hearings and/or notify
all adjacent homeowners when the original application was being considered.
IF THIS REQUIRES A CHANGE IN YOUR POLICIES AND PROCEDURESTHEN THAT CHANGE
IS LONG OVERDUE.
Mr. Thomas Jo~linq
The Camp Mineola Comn~nity association sent a letter to Suffolk County last
year concernir~3 future dredging of James Creek and the use of that sand to
replenish our beaches. (I will send you a copy at your request) DEC should
have contacted Suffolk County before approving any permits.
I have also attached a copy of a letter sent to the Suffolk Times, our local
newspaper.
The rude "pubticbe damned" attitute and behavior emhibitedby some of your
employees will not be tolerated by the people of Southold Township. We want
a public apology, an explanation of how and why these applications were
approved, and a change in how these applications are approved in the future.
We await your response.
cc:
Mario Cuomo
Louis Concra
Herbert Doig
Richard A. Curcio
//7 ; '
-2-
RICHARD A. CURCIO
Camp Mineola Avenue
Mattituck, New York
April 29, 1988
11952
Editor
Suffolk Times
P.O. Box F
Greenport, New York 11944
Dear Sir:
Recently, part of Dames Creek in Mattituck was dredged with approval of
both the Town Board and the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation. Much to the consternation of local residents, the sand from this
dredging was not placed back on local beaches in order to help control
erosion. It was given to a local property o~ner in order to raise the level of
his property so that a house could be built. When confronted with this misuse
of the natural resources of Southold To~n - the To~n Board and the DEC ali hid
behind bureaucratic legalistic mumbo/jumbo.
The main issues raised from their actions are:
° Why are elected officials of Southold To~n and State government
employees giving away our natural resources?
° Why weren't public hearings held?
* Why weren't local residents notified (as they are when a zoning
variance is called for) when this application was being sought?
Residents of the Camp Mineola Community are asking that public hearings
be held in order to investigate why this was allowed to happen and how it can
be prevented from happening in the future.
Sincerely,