In Oak Beach, a rising tide of discord over a community dock

The community of Oak Beach, on the South Shore in Babylon Town, appears to be an idyllic summer beach haven: Water views stretch out in multiple directions, and seashell-studded sand is only footsteps from many homes.

It's a tiny place on the eastern end of Jones Beach Island, with 268 residents as of the 2020 U.S. Census. The mix of those there seasonally and year-round all seem to know one another by name, with some in a gated neighborhood to the east and others in an ungated area to the west.

But beneath the veneer of a carefree, quiet waterfront life, animosity has simmered among some homeowners for years. It stems from a rift that runs so deep, it's fractured a family bond.

At the center of it all is a proposed community dock.

The dock would be built in the gated section of Oak Beach. The Oak Island Beach Association, which represents 72 homeowners there, first applied to the town to build it on the west end of the neighborhood more than four years ago. According to the association, the dock’s purpose is to give homeowners whose properties are landlocked the opportunity to have a boat on the water.

The move to pursue community boat slips came after a narrow vote of approval in 2021 among 62 association members, according to Arnie Lanzillotta, who has been the association’s president for 18 years. However, that plan for 10 slips was rescinded in 2023 after pushback from some community members over its size, safety concerns and inclusion of parking.

A new plan, with six slips for boats up to 25 feet long, and no parking spots, was submitted later and came before the town board during a public hearing in February.

Lanzillotta said during the hearing that the revisions accommodate those who had opposed the plan.

"We listened to those who were against it and compromised in an effort to address the concerns of all the members," he told the town board. He said a more recent informal survey of 58 members showed that 46 of them were in favor of it.

"Obviously this is an enormous amount of people that want to have this dock," he told the board.

But there are opponents of the plan — and one of the most vocal is Lanzillotta's nephew Michael. The dock would be near the home he shares with his fiance, Matthew Perry, on the dead end of a gravel road. 

Opponents: Build it over there

Michael Lanzillotta said the dock would be better placed at the east end of the community — where his uncle lives — miles closer to those without docks who would use it.

He said a dock, where it's proposed now, would create an emergency access hazard. He showed Newsday a 2025 email from the town’s assistant chief fire marshal stating the location "is really not suitable" due to a need for fire department access.

Michael Lanzillotta and neighbor Vincent Cosentino said they worry the dock would invite more trespassers, who they said already make their way from a nearby public jetty onto their properties. 

Arnie Lanzillotta declined to speak with Newsday. He instead directed former Oak Island Beach Association board member Pat Hackett to speak for the board.

Hackett dismissed Lanzillotta and Cosentino's trespasser concerns.

"Neighbors walk the roads down here regularly, and stop and chat and joke around and talk about the weather and fishing, and that is what Vinny and Michael would be 'subjected to,' " he told Newsday.

Hackett said the association hasn't found another suitable site for the dock due to the area’s sandbars and limited access for boaters. Only 20 homeowners in the community have docks, with "three or four" having insufficient water for boats, he said.

Hackett also said the association has received permission from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers to build the dock at the west-end site. It's estimated to cost $60,000 and would be paid for by association members who have volunteered to bond for the construction. The bond would be paid back through the estimated $1,500-per-slip seasonal fees, he said.

A lottery would be held for each slip every two to three years, Hackett said, noting that he might enter the drawing himself. He said he doesn't have a dock and uses someone else's who is about to make changes that could displace him.

"It is like a Garden of Eden down here for me," he said. "I think that people who aren’t on the water should have an opportunity to have access to the water by boat."

Most of those who are against the community dock have docks themselves, Hackett said.

"Their position is ... 'I got mine, so [expletive] everyone else,' " he said. "In my book, that is not a great neighbor."

Michael Lanzillotta said he takes offense at such an assertion. He said that much like in Hackett’s situation, many with private docks in the close-knit community allow landlocked neighbors to use them, so a community dock is unnecessary.

"My problem is that there is already a glut of available, unused slips within the association, so there is no need to disrupt the environment to build a community dock," Lanzillotta said. 

But Hackett said the association has spoken to many of those dock owners and they will not allow outside use due to liability issues.

Letters from the community

Cosentino and Michael Lanzillotta questioned the accuracy of the survey showing a majority in favor, noting that many people submitted letters to the town in opposition. Newsday received copies of the letters and emails after filing a request with the town and found nearly two dozen association members stated that they are against the dock. One letter in favor was submitted.

Among those who wrote asking the town board to vote down the application was Nicole Kane, who pointed out potential insurance coverage issues, calling the dock "a very real financial and environmental risk that could impact every homeowner in the community."

Several people wrote anonymously to the town because they said they feared "harassment and retaliation" by the association board.

Hackett said such accusations against the association are false. "Desperate people will make all kinds of claims, none of which are grounded in reality," he said.

Others in their letters noted how the dock proposal had pitted residents against one another. "The proposed community dock has created quite a bit of disharmony in an otherwise peaceful community," Daniel McMillan wrote.

Rancor over the issue grew to such a level that last year the town board approved hiring a mediator to help. However, neither side was interested in pursuing that option, town spokesperson Ryan Bonner said. Hackett and Michael Lanzillotta blamed each other for being unwilling to negotiate or pay for the mediator.

Michael said he grew up coming to Oak Beach because of his uncle, his father’s brother. He said he and his father haven’t spoken to his uncle and aunt in three years.

"It’s torn our family apart," he said. "It’s so ridiculous, all over a dock."

It's up to the town

That divisiveness has spilled over into how the town handles the proceedings for the dock. Supervisor Rich Schaffer recused himself from overseeing the public hearing and anything to do with the application.

Town Attorney Joe Wilson told Newsday that Schaffer, in his private law practice, had represented an association member who opposes the dock.

Both sides now await a town decision.

In April, the town board passed a law that establishes a Coastal Erosion Hazard Board of Review to make these types of decisions. Wilson said the new board has more expertise in coastal erosion variances.

"The town board doesn’t usually take upon this role," he said, adding that town board members questioned being tasked with the decision. "For future ones, they thought it was best left to people that are more knowledgeable."

Wilson couldn't provide a timeline for when the town would make the dock decision. 

Meanwhile, summer rolls along in Oak Beach.

Anthony Tanzi, who lives seasonally there, got permission to build a dock off his property last year. He said it's transformed his family's experience.

"I don't have skin in the game," he told the board at the hearing. "But I would love for everyone else that lives in Oak Beach to have that same opportunity."

Access to the water, he said, is "one of the things that makes it such a great place to live."