By Chad Kushins
Photos by Jennifer M. Klei
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Photo by Jennifer M. KleiThere are specific images that always spring to mind when thinking of Long Island, not just to the frequent visitors and tourists, but also the many longtime residents who call the island their home. As summer rolls around the corner, scenes of beaches, lighthouses, and – especially for the nautical-minded – boats drifting along Long Island’s numerous harbors and ports, are synonymous with a unique way of life.
Here, in Smithtown, however, that latter idyll can come with a price – years of seemingly endless waiting to attain the necessary passkey to the town’s waters: the all-important boat slip.
When Hauppauge resident Andrew Szeglin purchased his first boat two decades ago, he never expected that the wait to house his beloved investment along his own hometown’s waters would stretch well into his senior years. “I applied for the necessary boat slip over twenty years ago,” Szeglin told Smithtown Matters, chuckling at the frustrating scenario. “Since then, my family and I have actually been through a bunch of different boats. I ended up having to house that first one out east and I’ve had to trailer every other one since.”
Szeglin is far from alone in playing the waiting game to attain the needed town approval to dock in Smithtown’s public marinas. According to the town’s official website, which makes all such requests public domain, there are nearly 3,000 residents still waiting for the needed boat slip. The average wait to attain it? In Smithtown, it’s 20 to 25 years. Even the website itself carries the disclaimer, “Boat slips and moorings are in high demand by Town of Smithtown residents.”
“With a wait like that, I’ve known people who willed their slip requests to their children,” Szeglin continued. He has even changed residences since filling out the original paperwork, yet stayed within Smithtown’s borders, keeping him eligible once his name finally comes up – not that that’s made a difference. ;)
Szeglin added, “I’ve been trailering my boat for so long, that it’s like second nature. A friend of my son-in-law applied for the slip when he was a teenager. He’s in his forties now, and is still waiting!”
In his practice of trailering his boat during the off-seasons, Szeglin is joined by the majority of fellow local boat owners.
“We still have our boat, but we’ve usually had to trailer it,” said Saint James resident Donald Cantwell, another boat owner who has been on Smithtown’s list for close to eight years. “I’ve also docked it out east and on the south shore.”
Cantwell continued, “I check in with the town’s waiting list regularly … I think I’m still about a decade behind many others.” Cantwell added that while the town can’t possibly control the amount of water space available for boat owners, with a list that includes over 2,000 names, it should be necessary for officials to double-check and make sure all those waiting have remained eligible in the interim.
“It would be interesting to see if all those people on the list are still even here in Smithtown,” Cantwell added. “Time passed and people move, or maybe have forgotten that they’re waiting, if they even still have the boat at all.”
According to Smithtown Town Clerk Vincent Puleo, the practices in issuing both boat slips and mooring slips are run according to seniority. “In general, we have a certain amount of slips to be granted and they’ve been full for years,” Puleo told Smithtown Matters. “Unfortunately, many residents have to turn to private facilities to store their boats, find other locations, and – more often than not – trailer them at home.”
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photo by Jennifer M. KleiAccording to the Town Clerk’s office, town code dictates that applications for the boat slip cost $55, with a minimum of 1,100 feet per boat; while some claim to have passed down” their spots on the list, the actual boat slip can only be issued to the person who first applied – a measure instituted to avoid any temptation to “lease” or sell a spot on the list itself, since the list is often viewed as a valuable commodity.
As there is only an age requirement for mooring slips, one frequent practice has been for residents to attach their children’s names to the boat slip application while still in adolescence, knowing that the slip may not even be issued until the child reaches adulthood. On a few rare occurrences, residents’ names have come up, yet having upgraded the size of their boats over time, the boat owner was “passed up” since the spot initially applied for can no longer accommodate the size of the new boat.
Puleo went on to state that, currently, 619 Smithtown residents are waiting for the possible 180 mooring slots, while only 178 slots exist to accommodate the 2,743 boat slip applicants. For the 2011-12 season, over 100 residents have applied. On public record, the longest current wait for a boat slip belongs to Smithtown resident Carl Superina, who first applied on March 5th, 1991. Although listed as number 97, when the 2013 list is updated, Superina will be the next in line for the slip.
“The wait is probably about twenty years,” Puleo reiterated, adding, “It’s very unfortunate, but we only have what we have as far as space.”
All information in regards to boat and mooring slips for the Town of Smithtown, including the current list and downloadable applications, is available on their official website: http://www.smithtowninfo.com/TownClerk%27sOffice