'Mega docks' proposals could damage ecology, view around Stony Brook Harbor, neighbors say 

Proposals by two Nissequogue Village homeowners to build docks more than 100 feet into Stony Brook Harbor have roiled sedate waterfront neighborhoods there and in adjacent Head of the Harbor. 

Applications filed at Village Hall show Beverly Sinkin plans to build a roughly 180-foot structure — permanent stairs and pier with seasonal ramp and floats — from her Spring Hollow Road property. On Swan Place, Andrew Georgakopoulos would build a similar structure, roughly 136 feet from his boathouse to a point in the harbor deep enough to tie up a 19-foot Carolina skiff.

Neighbors have called the structures "mega docks" and say they could damage the ecology and the view of one of the North Shore's most pristine pocket bays. 

State environmental officials approved the Georgakopoulos application and are reviewing Sinkin's, which does not yet have a date for a Nissequogue Planning Board vote. 

Georgakopoulos’ application could get a vote in September, but the path to approval is complicated. That's because the Joint Village Coastal Management Commission, a waterfront board composed of residents of both villages, has already found the applications inconsistent with the communities' water revitalization program.

Most of the land around the harbor is in the villages and Smithtown, with a smaller portion in Brookhaven. Despite mean depths of only a few feet, in the 19th century it supported shipyards. Grand estates followed, then dozens of million-dollar homes. Today the primary commercial developments are a golf club and three marinas on the harbor’s north end, where it meets Long Island Sound. Suffolk County 2020 images show eight private docks.

The new docks would be among the largest built in the area since the 1970s, said Leighton Coleman, historian for both villages. “Everyone who came to the area bought into the area because of its natural beauty. Collectively, all this construction... acts like plaque in your arteries.” In a public letter, he warned “mega docks” could lead to yachts and "jetskis."     

Lawyers and an environmental consultant representing both applicants did not comment, but in planning hearings this April said their clients would float modestly sized motorized vessels and kayaks.

John Armentano, a lawyer for the Sinkins, said his clients’ waterfront property came with the right to access the water. The dock’s length was necessary to reach “navigable depth,” he argued; anything shorter would be useless, because the water nearer the shore is too shallow. 

But the proposed Sinkin dock, built over intertidal wetlands, could irreparably harm a delicate ecosystem, Commission chairwoman Kaylee Engellenner wrote in an April findings letter. 

The Georgakopoulos dock would obstruct beach walkers and harbor vessels, she wrote in a separate letter. It would also degrade the view from Cordwood Park, owned by Smithtown, that gives water access to fishermen and picnickers without waterfront homes, she wrote.

Environmental consultant Kelly Risotto said in the hearings any construction impact from the docks would be temporary, and their design would minimize shade on the ecosystem below. She dismissed navigation concerns, saying the Georgakopoulos dock’s length comprised just “7 percent of the waterway” of the harbor.

Lisa Blake, a commission member who lives in Head of the Harbor next to Cordwood Park, recused herself from the Georgakopoulos application and is circulating a petition against new docks. Nissequogue Mayor Richard Smith, who said he was not speaking in his official capacity, suggested the applicants berth their vessels at a marina.