LI briefs: Shoreham residents ready to oppose solar panel project at town meeting

Shoreham residents opposed to a 60-acre commercial solar array planned for a sod farm in their neighborhood have hired a lawyer as they prepare to block the project before its Dec. 31 anticipated start date.

Dozens of residents are expected to attend a Brookhaven Town Board meeting at Town Hall at 5 p.m. Thursday to voice their opposition and pressure the town to delay the project, residents said.

"We're all in here," said Mike Harding, whose property abuts the location. "We're trying to stop this and see why it happened. There's just so much wrong with this project it's absurd."

Residents have hired environmental lawyer Frederick Eisenbud of Commack. "We're exploring all the options that we have for challenging the approval both with regard to the LIPA contract and the [Brookhaven] town approvals," Eisenbud said.

He and others have pointed to the original LIPA contract with developer sPower that lists a location in Calverton rather than its Shoreham location. They also note that the contract was signed by National Grid electric president John Bruckner on Dec. 31, 2013, the last day of National Grid's contract with the Long Island Power Authority.

After complaints by LIPA trustee Marc Alessi, who is also a Shoreham resident, LIPA last month agreed to review the contract.

LIPA and PSEG Long Island staff are providing information to outside law firm Holland & Knight for the authority's review and analysis of the feed-in tariff process, according to a LIPA source. The review could be completed "shortly," the source said.

"One of the things I'm looking at is how LIPA could have entered into a contract for this project and allowed it to be switched to a residential neighborhood" without the environmental reviews generally required for such projects, Eisenbud said.

Naomi Keller, a spokeswoman for sPower, and a Brookhaven Town spokesman both declined to comment.
-- MARK HARRINGTON

EAST HAMPTON TOWN
Noise consultant hired for airport study

The East Hampton Town Board hired a consultant Wednesday to help draft policies to reduce noise at East Hampton Airport.

Harris Miller Miller & Hanson Inc., a Massachusetts consulting firm specializing in airport noise, is expected to present recommendations to the town board on Dec. 2.

East Hampton agreed to pay the firm $40,000 from the town's airport account, which is funded through airport fees.

The study is part of the town board's effort to curb noise related to the airport before next summer, following a spike in air traffic and a wave of complaints this summer from across the East End.

Lawyers for East Hampton have said any noise-reduction policies considered too broad, arbitrary or discriminatory may not stand up to a court challenge by pilots and other airport interests.

Harris Miller Miller & Hanson is tasked with helping the town board narrow a list of possible solutions that includes banning certain aircraft, imposing a curfew on flights or a "slot" system limiting takeoffs and landings per hour.

Young Environmental Sciences Inc., a Manhasset consulting firm, presented findings of an initial noise analysis to the town board on Oct. 30. That study cost the town $60,000.

Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in a statement Wednesday that the town board wants to "adopt whatever lawful measures we can to ensure the peace, quiet, tranquillity, and health of communities affected by airport noise. We will thoroughly consider all points of view before we take action," she said.
-- WILL JAMES

ISLANDIA
Plan calls for budget, taxes to stay flat

The village of Islandia is proposing a $2.77 million budget for 2015, about the same as the current budget. Taxes will remain at 1.62 percent, Mayor Allan Dorman said.

In September, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli included Islandia on a list of fiscally distressed communities — the village's second year on the list — which is meant to warn municipalities of potential financial problems in the future.

Dorman said he disagreed with the comptroller's assessment of village finances.

"We're fine," he said. "I think it's a three-year [term] on this stressed municipality list — they watch you for three years."

Dorman said the village had come to the comptroller's attention last year after losing significant revenue because Suffolk County took over traffic ticket revenue that once went to Islandia.

Suffolk County's restructured traffic violations bureau took income from the village, which sits near exits 57 and 58 on the Long Island Expressway. The village used to receive a percentage of fees from violations issued on that stretch of the LIE because the cases were heard in Islandia's traffic court, but the county has taken over the cases.

The village is losing about $270,000 to $500,000 each year in ticket revenue, Dorman said, and added the village has filed a lawsuit against the county over the lost revenue.

The Islandia board will hold a special public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Village Hall, 1100 Old Nichols Rd. The board will vote on adopting the budget at its upcoming work session on Nov. 25.
-- SOPHIA CHANG

SUFFOLK COUNTY
Family's latest judgeship sets record

The election of former Islip Town Attorney Pierce Cohalan as a Republican district court judge last week sets a new state record as he will become the sixth member of the Cohalan family over four generations to become a judge.

Of course, the Cohalans held the old record as well.

Cohalan's father, Peter Fox Cohalan, was a Republican Suffolk County executive and later a state Supreme Court justice for 25 years until he retired in 2012. He is now Suffolk's county historian.

His grandfather, John P. Cohalan, was onetime Suffolk district attorney and state Supreme Court judge from 1962 to 1983, and he served eight years in the Appellate Division.

His great-grandfather John P. Cohalan started it all by serving as a Democratic Surrogate's judge in Manhattan from 1908 to 1922. He also served as a state Supreme Court judge from 1934 to 1950. His two brothers, both Democrats, were Daniel Florence Cohalan, who served for 26 years in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, and Dennis O'Leary Cohalan, who served on the same bench for 17 years.
-- RICK BRAND

MEDFORD
Former multiplex to house OTB site

After a nearly yearlong search, Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corp. has closed a $10.95 million deal to buy the 31-acre former Medford movie multiplex for its new electronic slot machine casino.

The agency closed on the property Oct. 30 with the Massachusetts-based National Amusements Inc., and OTB officials hope to break ground on a 1,000-machine complex in late December or early January. A federal bankruptcy judge last month approved OTB's reorganization plan.
-- RICK BRAND

NORTHPORT
Trustees to consider bid to bust tax cap

The Northport Village board of trustees will hear from the public next week as it considers whether to authorize itself to bust the property-tax levy, should it became necessary during the 2015-16 fiscal year.

The public will be allowed to discuss the issue at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

If trustees decide to give themselves the power to bust the property-tax levy cap, it doesn't necessarily mean they will use it, said Henry Tobin, deputy mayor and finance commissioner. He said it's recommended that all villages empower themselves to bust the cap.

"It is just to prepare yourself for what you cannot predict and to give yourself the flexibility to meet various contingencies," he said. "It's prudent to adopt such a measure."

Northport has authorized itself to bust the cap every year since it was enacted in 2011 and went into effect in 2012. The village actually wound up exceeding the cap two out of those three years.

Tobin said the village is projecting the 2015-16 fiscal year cap increase will be 1.64 percent.

"At the moment, we don't have any reason that it's [busting the cap] more or less likely than in the past," he said. "We have to get further into the budget. We have to get figures from mandated expenses, over which we have no control, before we can start to make these estimates."

For school districts that wish to bust the tax cap, they must have a supermajority — 60 percent of voters — supporting the levy increase, which can be difficult.

According to the state comptroller's website, local governments just need a 60 percent supermajority from the governing body; in the case of Northport, a 3-2 board of trustees vote.

Northport operates on a fiscal year that begins March 1.
-- VALERIE BAUMAN

BALDWIN
Meeting to focus on community issues

Hempstead Town Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby plans to hold a community meeting in the Coes Neck Park Community Room at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Goosby said she will discuss town news related to Baldwin and detail the many town programs and services available to residents.

"The town . . . is committed to upholding the excellent quality of life we enjoy in the Baldwin community," Goosby said. "I encourage all neighbors to attend this informative meeting."

Representatives from various town departments will be on hand to answer questions about building permits, sanitation, parks, events and other town programs and services. What's more, residents can inform town officials about any town-related issues of concern.

The park Community Room is at 1240 Coes Neck Rd.
-- SID CASSESE

COPIAGUE
Voters to decide fate of renovation plan

A $69.4 million "repair and renovation" bond issue will go before Copiague School District voters Thursday.

The bonds, if approved, would be paid off over 15 years, with New York State building aid reimbursing the district for about three-quarters of the total amount. The average Copiague household would pay $239.58 a year in addition to the $6,779.52 it now pays in school taxes.

The money would go to renovate electrical, heating and plumbing systems, expand classrooms and science labs and restore sports fields.

Depending on the timing of state approvals, work could start as early as next summer and would take about two years to complete, Superintendent Charles A. Leunig said. The most disruptive work would be done in summers but some could go on year-round, he added.

Aging facilities are one reason for the bond referendum, Leunig said. "We're dealing with massively aging buildings," Leunig said, citing water main and electrical system failures in recent years in schools that are between 50 and 90 years old.

Overcrowding is another reason, he said. With the district's enrollment of about 5,000 children approaching historic highs and programs in place such as in-school social work and academic intervention that weren't contemplated when the schools were built, schools are simply running out of room to teach, he said.

"Wherever we could free up space, we carved out a space, and the result of that now is that we have kids in closets. We have converted storerooms, with the walls lined with shelves, where we've shoved a table and chairs in there."

Voting is Thursday at the Great Neck Road School from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
-- NICHOLAS SPANGLER