Village of Dering Harbor
Board of Trustees
Minutes
May 9th, 2026, 9:00 AM
● The meeting was called to order at 9:02am
● Attendance- Ari Benacerraf (mayor0, Sam Ashner, Karen Kelsey, Eric Deutsch, Tom Kusner; , Wayne Bruyn (Village attorney), Vicki Shields (Village attorney), Donna, Patrick Parcells
● A motion to accept the minutes from the April 11th, 2026 meeting was moved by Sam and seconded by Eric. All Board members voted in favor.
● A motion to accept the minutes from the April 17th, 2026 Special meeting was moved by Sam and seconded by Eric. All Board members voted in favor.
● A resolution authorizing payment of the outstanding bills abstract was moved by Sam and seconded by Tom. All Board members voted in favor.
● New Business
a. A motion for a resolution moving the Board of Trustees meeting to June 6th was moved by Karen and seconded by Sam. All Board members voted in favor.
b. A resolution to Schedule a Public Hearing on a Local Law amending §230-47 of the Zoning Law to replace the existing requirements to obtain a certificate of occupancy and require an updated certificate of occupancy upon change of ownership was moved by Sam and seconded by Eric. All Board members voted in favor.
c. A resolution to Schedule a Public Hearing on a Local Law to require removal of underground fuel oil storage tanks upon transfer of property was moved by Sam and seconded by Eric. All Board members voted in favor.
d. A resolution approving the use of roads and road closures by the Town of Shelter Island during the Shelter Island 10K Run on June 20th, 2026 was moved by Sam and seconded by Eric. All Board members voted in favor.
e. Election Announcement- Village election will be held on Friday, May 22nd from 12pm-9pm at Village Hall. Absentee Ballot applications may still be delivered to the Village clerk at Village Hall, but no later than Monday, May 11th, 2026 (10am -1pm).
● Old Business
a. Fire Contract renewal- Karen reported that the Fire Department Board was meeting April 27th and Amber said she did not think there would be any issues drafting the renewal.
b. Ari reported that he and Karen met with Ken Lewis and the Town engineer, Joe, about slowing down bike riders. There was push back from the town in terms of impeding emergency vehicles. The Town suggested the Village put signs up. Joe suggested a speed bump connected to the island at the sharp corner of Harbor Lane. Rumble strips are installed by the state and a lot of feedback is that they are noisy. Sam commented from a cyclist standpoint that a speed table would be the best solution, placed between his driveway and the Webster driveway and replace the speed bumps with speed tables. Karen said the Town thinks it’s a very good idea to put up signage. Ari recommended the Village order one speed table and ask Chris Johnson to install it.
● Legal/Litigation Update- no new claims or litigation to report.
● A motion to adjourn the Board of Trustees meeting at 09:21am was moved by Karen and seconded by Sam. All Board members voted in favor.
● A motion to open the Planning Board at 9:22am to discuss a matter was moved by Karen and seconded by Tom. All Board members voted in favor.
● Ari Benacerraf and Eric Deutsch recused themselves
● Wayne distributed a draft resolution for the Lot Line Modification application. He explained the resolution is to approve the application with certain conditions. Once the applicants get Health Department Approval, they can submit the map for signature. There was one condition related to issuance of updated CO’s for two of the lots and the attorney for the applicants wrote the village opposing that condition. Wayne read the emails from Beth Baldwin and they were made part of the record.
Sam commented that he doesn’t think the village should require an updated CO in the resolution. There was a discussion regarding this.
A motion to approve the Transfer of Property/Lot Line Modification application with the conditions that the survey be updated to change “Locust Point Avenue” to “Locust Point Road”, correcting the spelling of “Dering Harbor”, and removing requirement 6 from the draft resolution was moved by Karen and seconded by Sam. 3 members voted in favor, 0 opposed. 2 members recused themselves.
● A motion to adjourn the Planning Board meeting at 9:39am was moved by Tom and seconded by Karen. All Board members voted in favor.
● A motion to reopen the Board of Trustees meeting at 9:40am was moved by Sam and seconded by Tom. All members voted in favor.
● A motion to move to Executive Session at 9:40am to discuss Litigation/Personnel was moved by Sam and seconded by Tom. All members voted in favor.
● A motion to reconvene the Trustees meeting was moved by Sam and seconded by Karen. All members voted in favor.
● Date for next Trustees Organizational meeting –Saturday, June 6th , 2026 at 9:00AM
● A motion to adjourn was moved by Sam and seconded by Karen. All members voted in favor.