Town board: Town lets Homans keep fence on beach at Menantic Creek

The Menantic Peninsula Association’s president Kathryn Cunningham asked the Town Board on Tuesday to “do the right thing” and have Richard and Rita Homan take down fencing on their waterfront at the end of Monclair Avenue as an eyesore that blocks public access along the beach and may end up as debris in winter’s ice and wind.

After discussing the case, Town Board members seemed inclined to let the Homans keep the fencing up until November 1 to protect plantings of beach grass from geese and ask the board early next year for permission before putting it back in place for the months of April and May — as was requested by their environmental consultant.

The plantings were part of a revegatation project for which the Homans obtained a wetlands permit from the Town Board earlier this year. The project included the use of “coir” logs — artificial logs made of organic fibrous materials designed to absorb the energy of high tides and waves and prevent erosion of the point at the mouth of Menantic Creek.

Hurricane Irene broke up and scattered the logs into nearby wetlands. Lion Zust, a friend of the Homans who defended the project at Tuesday’s Town Board work session, said the site had been cleaned up and new logs re-secured in place.

Councilman Peter Reich complained that nothing had been said about a fence during the discussions and formal hearing the board held before granting the wetlands permit. Mr. Reich said the fence violated the town code because it blocked the public’s passage along the “foreshore,” the area of beach between the high and low tide.

Ms. Zust said the project’s “greater good” is to “preserve the integrity of the point and keep it from eroding into the channel.” She said the Homans had invested $30,000 in the project.

Neighbor Howard Johansen complained that the Homans’ environmental consultant, William Bowman, had said during the hearing on the case that the project would be installed in June but it wasn’t fully in place until August, as hurricane season arrived. He said the beach grass planted there was not growing at this time of year. He said the fence should come down and the vegetation replanted in the spring. He said that although the site had been repaired after Hurricane Irene, “coir log residue is all over the marsh there. The town has to be more responsible and concerned about the wetlands. I agree with the project but I think the method and the timing is incorrect.”

He said the whole west side of Menantic Creek had been badly eroded during the storm — the creek is five feet wider than it was, he claimed.

Councilman Glenn Waddington said the site looked like “a war zone” on Friday after Hurricane Irene. The board had been assured, Mr. Waddington added, that the coir logs would be secured. “The storm wasn’t much worse than a February storm and we learned the way they were secured wasn’t adequate,” which needs to be taken into consideration when rebuilding.

He said the board considered the use of the artificial logs and the revegatation effort to stop erosion an “experiment” and “we want to see it work.”

Councilman Reich said, “I certainly don’t want to see that fence up after Memorial Day” next year.

Supervisor Jim Dougherty suggested that the board allow for the fence to remain until November 1 and then ask the Homans to come in to discuss the project again before spring “and look for alternatives in the meantime.”

Mr. Waddington told the Homans’ friend that they might consider putting up a plywood black Labrador, like those seen in farm fields, to discourage geese from pulling up seedlings. He said the cutouts were even more effective with a black plastic bag attached to their muzzles. To geese, it looks like one of their own, he said.

OTHER BUSINESS

Also at Tuesday’s long work session, the board:

• Heard Steve Dickerson complain about a settlement between the town and Vincent Testa that did not include the neighbors’ interests. See separate story page 3

• Heard American Legion Commander Mike Loriz report on a formal ceremony planned at the Legion for 8 a.m. Sunday, September 11 to honor the dead of the terrorist attack. The public is invited.

• Heard the supervisor report that the town’s August receipts were generally down, with fees collected in town hall down from $4,600 last year to $3,000 in August this year; garbage bag sales down from $24,300 last year to $23,400 this year in August; but landfill receipts were up from $13,000 last year in August to $18,000 this year.

• Heard from the producer of a photo shoot with models that will take place at the Perlman Music Program on September 13!

• Briefly reviewed changes in the proposed draft of a zoning code amendment that would allow impervious driveways in the North Shore Overlay Zone to be built if they have engineered recharge systems. It was agreed that a provision to allow unlisted pervious materials to be used without a recharge system, instead of the double-washed gravel specified in the code, should require applicants to obtain approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals.