Politics & Government

Don't Miss: Community Discussion on Town Road Use Policy

The community discussion will take place Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

A community discussion will be held Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. to discuss a new Southold road use policy that has some seeing red.

After the Southold Town board voted recently to approve a policy that would nix for-profit 5Ks, race or bike events on local roads, some members of the public cried foul.

Some feel that the policy was passed without the usual public input, Supervisor Scott Russell said.

"People were more or less given assurances that we would have a community meeting on the subject and that didn't take place," Russell said.

The supervisor asked the board if they'd prefer a special meeting to vet the issues or that the discussion would just dovetail an evening town board meeting.

Councilwoman Louisa Evans said she preferred that the discussion be dovetailed into an evening meeting. She added that the policy should be left in place and "people can criticize it or support it as they like. I think there's general support for it out there."

The policy also limits the number of participants a not-for-profit event can have. The goal of instituting some parameters was to put the brakes on the thousands of participants that have been involved in events on Southold roads, sparking traffic and safety woes for police.

Russell said the issue involved the "mechanics" by which the policy was adopted. "We've always worked very hard to include the public." He added that while the policy was not law, a policy is a public document and residents should be included in the process.

Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley has expressed interest in attending the meeting, Evans said.

Councilwoman Jill Doherty suggested an evening meeting.

Russell said the community meeting will be held on June 4, at the end of the regularly scheduled evening town board meeting. The policy will be printed for all to review and discuss, he said.

Doherty said some of the confusion has arisen because some think that they aren't even allowed to go bike riding with a group of friends on town roads; that's not the case, she said. Some ask why cars, but not bikes, are allowed on the roads.

"We don't have 1000 cars at one time," she said.

"Part of our obligation is to explain our point of view and the necessity for the policy," Russell said. "We need to make sure everyone gets heard."

Doherty said if the public objects, the policy can always be changed.

Russell reminded that the policy is not law and there is a waiver provision.


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