Environmental study set for bamboo plan

Smithtown officials plan to launch an environmental review into a proposed ordinance regulating the growth of bamboo, an unwieldy plant that has divided property owners over the damage it can do and the cost of its removal.

The environmental department's review will be the next step following Thursday night's public hearing on the proposed regulation, which attracted more than 50 residents to the town board's biweekly meeting.

The environmental department will study a transcript of the public hearing and look into the issues that residents raised, said Russell Barnett, Smithtown's environmental protection director.

Officials want to make sure they consider both sides, Barnett said, "to be sure we don't act unilaterally."

The proposed ordinance would apply to both clumping and the more invasive running bamboo and require Smithtown bamboo growers to keep the plant from spreading within 10 feet of neighboring properties.

More than 15 residents spoke in support of the regulation, with at least one resident describing bamboo as a "suburban scourge" for its tendency to creep underground, into the yards of neighbors, and for being almost impossible to remove. Some thought the proposal did not go far enough to curb the plant's growth and called for an outright ban.

"Running bamboo in particular is almost unique in the plant world because of its rapid invasiveness and potential for destruction," said Ann Marie Alletto, a Smithtown resident who has been battling her neighbor's running bamboo for years. "This is much more than a landscaping issue."

Alletto's family has spent more than $15,000 placing underground barriers to slow the invasion of their neighbor's bamboo onto their property, she said. If left unchecked, the sharp, strong roots could cross entire yards, damaging foundations and infrastructure, she said.

Several bamboo owners also spoke. Many of them had bought their homes with bamboo growing on it, and expressed concern about the cost of complying with the ordinance.

"It would prove a tremendous financial hardship to have excavators come in, tear down fencing, move sheds, cut trees down and dig out," said Marguerite Baldwin of Smithtown.

Passing the bamboo ordinance could open "a Pandora's box" of property regulations, Baldwin said.

Jonathan Lehrer, a horticulture professor at Farmingdale State College, said he did not recommend running bamboo for suburban landscaping.

"Their aggressive growth, in time, causes problems in most landscape situations," he said. "The plant can theoretically be contained; the problem all too often is people plant bamboo or some other plant without full knowledge of what the potential of the plant is. Eventually it runs wild and can cause damage to neighboring properties."

Earlier at the meeting, a handful of people challenged a proposed zoning change that would allow a 4,000-square-foot expansion to the King Kullen supermarket in St. James.

Two St. James residents said they worry that a bigger store would worsen traffic congestion on Washington Avenue behind the supermarket due to delivery trucks and other store traffic.

Commander Frank Todaro of Smithtown represented the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 395, adjacent to King Kullen.

"We do not oppose King Kullen expanding their store," Todaro said. "Our concern is the way that they'll expand the store in relation to our property. ... We just hope that you would consider our point of view."

Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said representatives from the VFW post and King Kullen would meet to determine a solution.