Town officials talk sidewalks, cops at Fishers Island meeting

The Southold Town Board approved two separate $250,000 bond initiatives for sidewalk improvements last Wednesday during its annual meeting on Fishers Island, one for Fishers Island and the other for Southold.

Gordon Murphy, one of four Fishers Island residents who raised concerns about the state of the island’s sidewalks, suggested that the town look to create a long-term capital project to address the ongoing problem.

“Our sidewalks are over 100 years old and it’s roughly a million dollars a mile for these things,” he said. “I’d like the board to consider looking at a 10-year window of doing $200,000 to $500,000 a year out here to catch up. It’s a hundred-year deficit we’ve got to go through so maybe it’s something to consider for next year. The sidewalks are bad and they’re not going to get any better.”

Town Supervisor Al Krupski said the board would consider Mr. Murphy’s suggestion and thanked him for his comment.

“There’s a great demand [in Southold] because of increased traffic,” Mr. Krupski said. “We want … to have better highway safety for pedestrians.”

These are incremental steps to resolve the issues residents have raised to the board, Southold town attorney Paul DeChance noted.

“The bond is not meant to address all of the problems all in one year, from a number of standpoints, including budgeting,” he said. “In addition, Fishers Island is an area where in the past we’ve obtained funds to replace or repair sidewalks but were not able to locate or hire contractors to do the work, at least the work that the town couldn’t do.”

Southold Highway Department Superintendent Dan Goodwin said that it’s late in the construction season to be starting new concrete work this year. He added that repairing the sidewalks on Fishers Island requires “far more design and surveying as to where they actually are to ensure that they’re placed in the public right of way. 

“That project is a bit more extensive,” Mr. Goodwin said. “We have a section of sidewalk that’s been identified that we’re interested in pursuing for a project next year, but the majority of the money that was approved this week here will be spent in 2025.”

Sidewalk repairs were last performed on Fishers Island in 2021 and Mr. Goodwin said that due to inflation, the cost of construction has gone up “quite drastically.”

The highway department declined to specify which area it is targeting for initial repairs until funding for the project is fully secured, Mr. Goodwin said.

“It’s a nice substantial stretch of sidewalk in an area where there’s no other ways for pedestrians to get around without walking in the road,” he said. “I think everybody will be pretty happy with it.”

Southold will directly manage the bidding process and hire the contractor. Mr. Goodwin said.

“There’s no zone set up on the Suffolk County contract to handle doing work on Fishers Island,” he said, “so we’re forced to go to bid on that on our own.”

The sidewalk project for the rest of Southold Town will be focused on repairs near Greenport High School and three roads off Sixth Street in addition to other unspecified locations. 

“The thing with the sidewalks is they need to be tied into the road paving. So if we have a road that has a sidewalk along the side of it, sidewalks need to be brought to [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliance at the same time,” Mr. Goodwin said. 

Another issue raised at the meeting was the state of policing on Fishers Island. Southold Town police officers have been patrolling the island since fall 2023, when New York State troopers vacated the town-owned barracks they had used as a police station for more than a decade.

Island resident Beth Cashell, a member of Fishers Island School District, asked for an update on the policing situation.

“It would be very helpful if we had one voice on what is happening with the state police and the policing on Fishers Island,” she said.

In January, the Town Board voted on a bond resolution to spend up to $2.1 million to purchase the vacant U.S. Coast Guard Station on the island. 

The board considered using the facility as barracks and headquarters for state troopers as part of a plan to return them to patrolling the island. At an April board meeting, the resolution for the bond was withdrawn and Mr. Krupski confirmed to The Suffolk Times that the town was no longer interested in purchasing the facility and would shift their focus to addressing the infrastructure needs of the existing barracks.

“We’re committed to fixing that building. The town owns it, so in some fashion we will use that housing,” Mr. Krupski said. “Right now we’re looking at asbestos remediation before we start to renovate it but we have not abandoned that. It’s still unclear if the state police are going to police the island on a scheduled basis or if the town is going to continue its obligation here.”

The Town Board also approved a $2,460,667 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration through the Department of Transportation to rehabilitate Elizabeth Field Airport on Fishers Island. This is part of a grant that was secured by Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Suffolk County) this month totaling $3,760,667.

The investment funds the final phase of the airport’s renovation, which includes the restoration of 2,345 feet of existing runway, according to a press release from Mr. LaLota.

“Elizabeth Field Airport is a vital transportation hub for Fishers Island, and this funding is crucial for maintaining its operations and safety,” Mr. LaLota said in the release. “Rehabilitating the runway not only enhances the airport’s functionality but also ensures the safety and reliability of air travel for residents and visitors alike.” 

The off-site Southold Town Board meeting is held annually at the Fishers Island School. The roughly 5-square-mile island counts just 61 full-time residents, according to 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data, but the population swells to as many as 2,000 during peak summer weekends. In addition to members of the Town Board, other Southold officials — including representatives of the economic development committee, historic preservation committee and police advisory committee — met in Orient for a ferry ride to the island.