The Aquaculture Lease Board (ALB) is the entity responsible for determining which proposed lease sites shall be available for leasing under a given application cycle. Lease Applicant eligibility shall be determined by Department staff and shall be based on the criteria outlined in Section 3.1 of the Revised Administrative Guidance document.
Pursuant to Local Law Number 9-2021 (Chapter 475-18, Article II of the Suffolk County Code), the ALB shall be comprise of nine board members. The Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development and Planning (or their designee) shall act as Chairperson, the Director of the Division of Planning and Environment in the Department of Economic Development and Planning, and the Commissioner of the Department of Health Services, or their designees, will also serve on the ALB. The County Executive shall designate a representative from the Towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton, and Southold; of these representatives, at least one and no more than two shall be a member of the following user groups: the shellfishing industry, member of a recreational boating organization, and commercial harvester/baymen. The County Executive shall also designate one representative from a marine organization that works in the Peconic Estuary to be part of the ALB.
Current Aquaculture Lease Board Members:
| Name
|
Representing
|
| Sarah Lansdale
|
Commissioner of Economic Development and Planning, Chair
|
| Joseph Sanzano
|
Director of Planning, SC Division of Planning and Environment
|
| Michael Jensen
|
Commissoner of Dept Health Services, Designee
|
| John Dunne
|
Town of East Hampton - Shellfish Industry
|
| David Lessard
|
Town of Riverhead - Recreational Boating
|
| Joseph Finora
|
Town of Shelter Island - Shellfishing Industry
|
| Edward J. Warner Jr.
|
Town of Southampton - Commercial Harvestor/Baymen
|
| Gregory Cukor
|
Town of Southold - Recreational Boating
|
| Harrison Tobi
|
Peconic Estuary Marine Organization - Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County
|
The ALB shall conduct meetings as necessary to provide an opportunity for oral and written testimony or evidence concerning each proposed lease site. All written comments received during a Lease Application Cycle’s 60-day public comment period shall be presented during the ALB meeting. The ALB shall make its decision, based on a regional environmental perspective and Division staff commentary. The ALB will act on by a majority vote to either approve or disapprove each of the lease sites that were proposed under a given Lease Application Cycle. The ALB shall keep minutes of its proceedings, and may establish its own meeting procedures.
Please be advised that determinations made by the ALB to disapprove a lease site(s) during a given lease application cycle does not eliminate the respective lease site(s) from the adopted Shellfish Cultivation Zone (Map 1) or Aquaculture Lease Sites (Map 2) maps. This determination is effective for that year.