Meeting Minutes March 23, 2007 Meeting Spring Equinox Meeting of the Eastern Long Island Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation About 40 activists welcomed Spring by attending the Spring Meeting of the Eastern Long Island Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation at John Duck’s Restaurant in Southampton on March 23, 2007.  Chapter Chair, Tom Naro warmed up the evening by providing an overview of recent and up-coming chapter events: The Chapter has been leading a letter-writing campaign aimed at Congressman Tim Bishop & new NYS Director of Parks, Carol Ash.  Letters to Bishop have been encouraging him to endorse our position of re-locating the Montauk Lighthouse rather than providing funds to the Army Corps of Engineers to design and ultimately construct an 840 seawall around Montauk Point in order to save the Lighthouse.  Letters to Ash have been encouraging her to enable surfers to legally surf at Montauk Point.  The Chapter had additional letters at the meeting and most attendees signed letters which the Chapter will mail to these officials.  Both the Surfrider Foundation and Save the Waves have posted information about the proposed revetment on the internet. Those interested in learning more or participating in this campaign can visit the following websites. http://actionnetwork.org/surfrider/home.html http://www.savethewaves.org/alamo.asp With Bruce Lieberman’s help, the Chapter is planning an interscholastic surf contest to be held at Ditch Plains on June 9, 2007.  The contest is for middle school and high school students.  The day will include a “Respect the Beach” program and we anticipate encouraging students to join our Chapter, as part of our strategy to reduce the average age of our membership. We would like to put together some sort of Summer Solstice Event in coordination with Surfrider Foundation’s International Surfing Day.  The Chapter is seeking event ideas and volunteers.  Please let us know if you have any ideas and/or enthusiasm for the Summer Solstice Event.  Margo Pellegrino is paddling a kayak from Florida to Maine to raise awareness and $$$ for environmental causes.  We would like to welcome and honor her when she passes through our area this summer. One of Our Own needs our help!  Gary Ventura has been a tireless Surfrider activist for many years.  He was our Lead Guy in saving a local surf break at Shinnecock, from the Army Corps’s engineers.  Unfortunately, Gary has been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and needs our help; he does not have health insurance.  Wednesday, March 28 at Casey’s on Montauk Highway in Westhampton Beach there will be a Cancer Relief Fundraiser to help Gary defray his medical expenses.  Additionally, contributions can be mailed to:  Friends of Gary Ventura. PO Box 575, Quoque, NY. 11959. Volunteers were identified at the meeting to disseminate fliers at a March 25 event designed to raise funds for Congressman Bishop’s political campaigns.  The fliers urge Bishop to support our efforts to re-locate the Montauk Lighthouse. The Chapter needs a volunteer whose business can accept a shipment of SoBe beverages & store the shipment for use during the year by the Chapter. Tom Naro indicated that Surfrider Foundation has designated our Lighthouse Campaign as a Spotlight Campaign, which will provide us national exposure, professional expertise, and financial support.  This represents a great opportunity for us to strengthen our position and get our message out.  He then asked Thomas Muse, our Environmental Director to up-date the Chapter regarding our Lighthouse Campaign.  The highpoints of Thomas’s presentation include the following: Our efforts have gotten the attention of policy makers in Washington, DC and Albany. A recent draft of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) includes funding to the Army Corps for design of the seawall.  WRDA does not authorize or provide funds for construction of the seawall. Our Chapter is building a coalition of environmental groups which we hope will include The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Group for the South Fork and others.  Considerable discussion followed Thomas’s presentation.  Eugene Alper provided a brief review of our activities focused on gaining legal surfing access at Montauk Point.  He reported that the former NYS Director of Parks, Bernadette Castro, did not take action in response to our letter writing campaign regarding access at the Point.  However, Eugene reported that “our message was heard loud and clear at the regional level, by NYS Parks, and by our local legislators”.  We are now focusing a letter writing campaign on the new Director, Carol Ash.  All members are encouraged to send a letter to Ms.  Ash. Eugene also reported that the Town of East Hampton responded favorably to our request that the parking restrictions be more strongly enforced at Turtle Cove.  Our Chapter formed a coalition along with Concerned Citizens of Montauk, East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, and Group for the South Fork to request that the parking restrictions be enforced and the Town responded.  Parking restrictions were moderately well enforced this past autumn, which represents a dramatic improvement.  Mara Hogan summarized the status of the Town of East Hampton’s draft coastal legislation.  The Town has been focused on strengthening technical language in the draft as a strategy to respond to possible litigation.  The Town has also been responding to petitions of individual property owners.    The Town Board expects to vote on the draft legislation this spring and it is likely to be passed. Mara also provided an up-date on the Zoning Board of Appeals application by Ocean Beach Resort to build a stone revetment on the dunes in front of their property.  She indicated that both the Town & NYS DEQ found the applications to be incomplete.  The applicant has not yet provided any of the additional information requested by the ZBA, so it isn’t likely that there will be a ruling on this application any time soon. Tom Naro reported that the Chapter has joined a large environmental coalition opposed to the Broadwater Liquefied Natural Gas facility proposed for the middle of LI Sound.  He indicated that Broadwater is opposed by all local state and federal legislators.  The ultimate decision to allow this facility will be made by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  FERC has already accepted the Draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared by Broadwater, but is awaiting a decision from New York State before proceeding.  NYS needs to decide whether this facility is consistent with the NY Coastal Zone Management Act and if the State is going to agree to release the bottomlands of the Long Island Sound to Broadwater.  The chapter has submitted comments in opposition to the Broadwater plan to FERC, the Governor, the NY Department of State and our legislators. Tom closed the meeting by reminding members of the Gary Ventura event. A date and location for our next meeting will be set shortly. Check www.surfriderli.org for details.