Our POENB meeting was held in person at the Fire House. The meeting began at approximately 7:35 PM. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Ryan C. thanked everyone for coming out and for keeping their masks on.
Roll Call of Officers:
Ryan Cote, President;
Frank Pasquale, Vice President;
Nora Beck, Treasurer;
Steven Neuf, Assistant Vice President;
Anthony Fusaro, Assistant Vice President;
Yvonne Lambertson, Recording Secretary;
Ryan Schaefer-Walker, Corresponding Secretary
Minutes (Readings and Update):
Nineteen members attended the meeting
A motion was raised to accept the minutes of our January meeting as posted to our website and in the Changing Tides. The motion was seconded and approved.
Correspondence:
Ryan Schaefer-Walker provided the Correspondence Report.
John Ballow emailed us to suggest we support the town of Huntington and Asharoken’s joint application for FEMA grant money to address the deteriorating Asharoken Ave seawall; The Board plans to follow up in support.
John also suggested that we write PSEG a formal thank you letter for all of their recent line maintenance & tree trimming work. Their mitigating efforts have resulted in fewer outages. He has suggested we invite them to perhaps out next zoom meeting to discuss their next planned steps.
We received a few reservation requests for Prices Bend. Such requests are not entertained until April 1st as per our beach rules.
A few other members wrote to let us know they will be removing their watercraft in the coming days. Ryan then mentioned our plans to assist anyone who would like help moving their craft.
SCWA acknowledged a leak in our feed pipe and will be issuing a credit.
Presidents Report:
Ryan C again thanked those in attendance for wearing their masks during this often-confusing time as positive cases trend downward with mandates being lifted, only to have them put back in place again the next day by appeals. We hope to continue to hold our meetings in person at the firehouse; hopefully for the foreseeable future.
Tonight, we will be voting on the 2022 budget which is a key issue vote. One vote per household; passed by a simple majority. Ryan highlighted some of the new allocations on the budget, such as: starting address the PB fence, re-work of the dingy area to increase capacity and adding a paddle board rack. Valley Grove plans include improvements to the stairs and cutting back some of the scrub. We hope to be able to hold social events again and have allocated funds accordingly. Ryan then welcomed anyone interested to attend our internal meetings.
Ryan emphasized the importance of membership in our POENB. Whether it be our beaches, social events or just our simple, peaceful residence, we all benefit from the varied gems of our community, all of which are embodied by the POENB having only a modest annual membership fee.
We plan to keep the membership dues the same as last year. Standard membership remains at $265; $240 if in by 3/31. Senior memberships will continue to be $175; $160 if in by 3/31.
Ryan recapped, what does this get me? Beaches & the maintenance thereof, the Changing Tides, one (1) watercraft spot (if needed), social events big & small. This all requires volunteerism of the membership. Unless everyone does just a little bit to support the community, the community falls apart.
Surplus money will be used to pay off any notes remaining on the seawall project. Special thanks to those who removed their watercraft. Help was offered to those who could use a hand. Please remove your craft so we can prepare the spaces and the upcoming lottery. Please also don’t dump your personal garbage in the dumpster.
Ryan then welcomed Valley Grove beach chair, Tom Bishop to offer his input. Tom agreed that cutting back the brush, effectively widening the property would be beneficial.
Ryan indicated that we are in need of a Prices Bend beach chairperson. A question was asked about what the beach chair does. Ryan indicated a document would be forthcoming. Prices bend duties include: being a liaison between the POENB, reservations and party hosts; coordinating with vendors & service providers.
Ryan brought our attention to the recent wash out & damaged sea wall at the Town of Huntington storm water exit pipe at Valley Grove. This damage exemplifies why we needed to replace our wall as we did (with returns at the north & south property lines).
Treasurer’s Report
Budget Vote:
A motion was raised to adopt the 2022 budget as printed in the changing tides. The motion was seconded and a vote was conducted. All present voted in favor and the budget passed unanimously.
Committee Reports:
Membership: The membership drive officially begins in March. Membership ends March 31st.
Watercraft:
(From last meeting but worth repeating:)
A reminder was provided to Members that 2022 is a watercraft re-assign year. the Board kindly asked that all kayaks, dinghy’s paddleboards, canoes and sailboats be brought home immediately. Ryan C. mentioned that after publishing this on our website, in the Changing Tides and on our sign at the Fire House, the Board will soon be removing all remaining watercraft.
Ryan shared also that Yvonne has been hard at work looking at ways to make our system for watercraft space assignment more efficient.
Changing Tides: No report made.
Social: No report made
Beach: No report made
Planning and Zoning: No report made
New Business:
Ryan C. shared the sad news about two (2) recent passing of members/member parents:
Ken Black of Argyle Drive – a gifted engineer and always active POENB member who shared generously of his engineering expertise to make Eaton’s Neck a better place to live. Christine Ballow chimed in to say that whenever POENB had anything complex it had to deal with, we would turn to Ken who would advise us or just handle it. All the roping down at Price’s Bend is, in fact, Ken’s handiwork—among many other projects. We send our condolences to his wife Grace, his children and grandchildren.
Also, the POENB recognized the passing of Bethany’s father, Cliff Potenza. He was a gifted artist, and accomplished sailor and loving father. The Board extends its condolences to Bethany and her family.
New business
Greg Atkins discussed his daughter’s effort to collect DVD’s for donation to the VA. A lot of the veterans are isolated and they have DVD players but not a lot of DVD’s. so, if anyone has spare DVD’s that no one watches anymore, please consider donating them to the VA hospital as many veterans can use them.
John Ballow asked the POENB to support the Town of Huntington and Asharoken’s joint application for federal funding to repair the Asharoken seawall. Ryan indicated that the POENB supports all efforts to repair the wall itself but had a few questions regarding the placement of groins to hold Asharoken sand in place as part of the Army Corps project. Ryan wondered if groins would further stop the littoral flow of sand up and around Eaton’s Neck, which the Neck need for the health of its beaches. Ryan asked John Ballow to clarify this
John was good enough to do so. One of the proposals of the Army Corps of Engineers, he indicated, is the placement of groins that would be angled at about 45 degrees facing back toward the power plant to hold the sand on Asharoken’s beaches. The problem is that houses on the outside of the groins then get starved for sand. That person who has really been protesting this is the owner of Beacon Farms. John feels based on her opposition and the fact that she’s a big taxpayer, the groin proposal will not pass.
Ryan commented that we have fought many years for sand. Do the groins detrimentally impact us? John’s take is, anything is better than what we’ve got.
John then shed some light of the history of Asharoken wall. The seawall that is there was proposed as a temporary fix until a permanent solution could be found. The Army Corps came in did their study, the ASDRP (Asharoken Storm Damage Reduction Program. The study indicated Asharoken Village needed 616,000 cubic yards of sand to rebuild its sound side beach. As part of the ASDR proposal, sand was slated to be moved in from the sound – likely sand that was diverted out by the power plant — and bring it back up on the beach. But to do this job, the government required public access. There are over 300 houses in Asharoken and only 70 of those face the sound with the bad erosion issue. There are over 300 houses in Asharoken. There are 100 out here past the seawall. The others face the bay. Folks on the sound side say, we’re not giving our beach rights and the other Asharoken residents didn’t care enough about the proposal. The Army Corps said Asharoken has formally turned it down and the project stalled. What about the seawall maintenance? It’s an Army Corps project. Army corps legal said, you turned down the permanent solution, we don’t have to maintain that the rest of our lives. So anything Asharoken can do to get it fixed is good.
We adjourned at 8:10 PM.
