Babylon opens piers to non-residents

UPDATE: At around 4 p.m. the Village of Babylon gave the OK for all boaters to use its property to pull their vessels out of the water, Mayor Ralph Scordino said.

Scordino said about a half dozen non-resident boaters used the village’s ramps until they were closed at dark.

Long Islanders who don’t live in the Village of Babylon should avoid using the village’s piers, said Mayor Ralph Scordino.

On Friday night, village security was at the pier at the end of Fire Island Avenue checking the paperwork of people trying to pull boats out of the water before Hurricane Irene arrives. Non-village residents who did not hold a permit to use the village ramp were turned away.

“We give first preference to our village residents. They're the ones that pay for the ramps,” said village Mayor Ralph Scordino Friday night.

Scordino said in an effort to quickly remove boats from nearby piers, non-village residents were driving into the waters off of the village docks and illegally using the ramps to pull their boats out.

“I understand there's an emergency situation but they [boats belonging to non-village residents] shouldn't be in there,” he said.

Scordino added that boaters can use open-access ramps in nearby hamlets like West Islip.