Islip fees cut for private bulkhead work

Islip Town homeowners looking to do maintenance, improvements or new construction on their jetties, marinas, bulkheads or docks this summer are in for a nice surprise.

The town board this week approved code changes that cut fees for work on such structures in town-owned waters, lowering the price of work in some cases by tens of thousands of dollars.

The changes, which take effect immediately, apply to all privately used docks, bulkheads, fixed piers and boat or jet ski lifts that encroach on town-owned waterways.

Town planning commissioner Dave Genaway said the update followed calls from residents highlighting how out of proportion the former fee structure was compared to overall costs of projects to the point people were delaying work. Councilwoman Trish Bergin Weichbrodt said the fees were "exorbitant and unrealistic."

"In reality, many residents were either doing their bulkhead resurfacing without proper permits to avoid the over-the-top cost, or they were letting the bulkhead deteriorate because they couldn't afford the town fees," she said.

Bay Shore resident Joe Silhan, 46, who lives on Bull Ditch Canal, said he contacted the town two years ago about resurfacing the bulkhead on his property and was shocked to learn the permit would cost as much as $30,000, roughly the same amount as the actual resurfacing work. Town officials said the same permit will now cost less than $2,000.

"It doesn't look too bad now, but I want to keep it that way. It needs doing in the next year to keep it from falling into the canal," he said of the maintenance. "But the cost of the permit was phenomenal." He said he had put the project on hold but will now go ahead.

He wasn't alone. "I think they just didn't think it through," said Daniel McCarthy, 50, of Islip, president of the One Fathom Boat Club on Fire Island. McCarthy pressed his case Tuesday before the town board after being told the permit to carry out $60,000 in repairs to the eight-slip marina would cost $33,500.

After the code change -- which alters both the unit of measure and pricing used to calculate the fee -- and a reconsideration of the extent of the work, McCarthy's permit cost $1,639.38. He was at Town Hall to pay up first thing Wednesday.

"Pretty much a $32,000 saving," he chuckled afterward. "Isn't that something?"

McCarthy said he'd called his dock builder and expects work will start within a week.

William Marquardt, partner at Patchogue-based Stout Construction, which does bulkhead maintenance work, said he had several Islip customers who had held off on applying for permits because of the steep fees. "I have three clients off the top of my head, but probably know another half-dozen jobs that have been held in abeyance," he said.

Residents still must get town wetland, state Department of Environmental Conservation and Army Corps of Engineers permits where applicable.