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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJune 5, 2023 Public Hearing Transcript1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD COUNTY OF SUFFOLK: STATE OF NEW YORK ------------------------------------------- X TOWN OF SOUTHOLD PLANNING BOARD MEETING RE: STRONG'S STORAGE BUILDING DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT ------------------------------------------- X Southold, New York June 5, 2023 6:00 P.M. B E F O R E: James H. Rich III, Member Martin Sidor, Member Pierce Rafferty, Member Amelia Jealous-Dank, Member Heather Lanza, Planning Director Mark Terry, Assistant Planning Director Brian Cummings, Planner Jessica Michaelis, Senior Office Assistant James Squicciarini, Deputy Town Attorney 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 2 STRONG'S STORAGE BUILDING MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Welcome everyone to this Public Hearing for Strong's Storage Buildings, also known as the Strong's Yacht Center. Strong's Storage Buildings Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The site plan is for the proposed construction of two buildings for the boat storage. One at 52,500 square feet and the other at 49,000 square feet. Located on 32.6 acres in the MII and R-80 Zoning District, where they are 69,000 square feet of existing building. Existing boatyard buildings. Property is located at 3430 Mill Road, Mattituck. Suffolk County Tax Map #1000-106-6-10 and 13.4. Before we get started for this Public Hearing, Jess is gonna give a few ground rules. And then I have a couple more comments to make. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Good evening. Please be respectful and remain quiet while others are speaking. This hearing is recorded. For a clean record at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 3 times, please refrain from applauding, calling out or making other noises. The technical consultants will speak first. Expect this segment to take up to an hour. Topics to be covered by the technical experts at tonight's meeting will be water, groundwater modeling, ecological resources, air quality, project alternatives and their impacts, and unavoidable impacts. Next, we will open the floor to everyone that wishes to speak on any topic in the DEIS. Each person may speak only once. You may line up at both of the podiums. And if you're on Zoom, raise your hand. If you are calling into the meeting via telephone, *9 to raise your hand. When you reach the microphone, please state your name first. Direct all your comments to the Planning Board. Your comments will be limited to three minutes. A tone will sound after 2 minutes and 30 seconds to alert you that you only have 30 seconds remaining. And the second tone will sound at 3 minutes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 4 to let you know that your time is up. We appreciate your adherence to this time limit. If three minutes is not enough, you can submit the rest of your comments in writing. You have until at least July 10th to do so. Written comments have the same weight as verbal comments. After you're done speaking, write your name on the sign-in sheet. Those attending via Zoom will be invited to speak after all in-person attendees have spoken. To submit written comments up until July 10th, you can e-mail them to one of the Planning staff or mail them by regular mail to Southold Town Planning Board at PO Box 1179 in Southold. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thanks, Jess. So just to go over a couple more comments that I have to make. The DEIS is -- was required -- is required by the Planning Board under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act called SEQRA, to evaluate the impacts of this and any other project may have on a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 5 community environment. This document must follow and answer the final scope, which outlines all potential impacts. No decision will be made tonight. This is not a referendum. It is for gathering comments. The next step after this night will be to continue gathering written through July 10th. Unless we limit that, but I don't think we will. Once the comment period has closed, a Final Environmental Impact Statement, also known as FEIS is prepared. The FEIS must answer all the questions and address all comments made both in writing and verbally. So all your comments to us are gonna be recorded and/or some of them may be redundant, but they will basically be all addressed in the FEIS. After the FEIS is completed, the Board prepares a final statement. This is where the Board states their findings about whether or not the impacts have been mitigated. The findings must be supported by the FEIS. The last step is a decision on 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 6 the project by the Planning Board. This decision will be made by resolution at a public meeting on a future date. After the finding statement has been completed. This decision must align with -- align with the Board's findings. It's a complicated project and I would like to personally thank the entire staff of the Southold Town Planning Board led by Ms. Heather Lanza and Mr. Mark Terry for the tremendous amount of work they have done on this, and it has been a tremendous amount of work. This is the second hearing on the DEIS. Again, written comment period is open until July 10th. We are gonna address tonight as Jess said, groundwater, groundwater modeling, ecological resources, air quality project alternatives and unavoidable impacts. But we will start this meeting with Member Mia, has some questions for the applicant's traffic consultant and noise consultants. And they are apparently available on Zoom. So Mia, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 7 I'll turn this over to your questions. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Thank you, Chairman. I'll be brief. Just one traffic question for the traffic engineers. Did you actually drive the 55 foot truck the entire length of the route to 495 or was it ended at the Sound Avenue intersection? I want to know if the impacts to the -- where Southold Town meets Riverhead was considered in your -- in your studies? Do you know if anybody can answer that, Jess? JESSICA MICHAELIS: I just brought Ron Hill in. Just state your name before you speak, please, Ron? RON HILL: Ronald Hill from Dunn Engineering. Can you hear me? MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Yes. RON HILL: Okay. Obviously, I didn't personally drive a truck. The truck was brought out from the company that's going to do that work or doing the transport. And he came out to the site via that route. As far as I know. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 8 The truck was brought out, brought back. The company is in -- MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Can we get some information on what they found driving that route? That's a huge truck to drive over those very slender roads. And I wanted to know if there was any comment that he had? RON HILL: Not that I'm aware of, but that company supplies -- and you'll find a letter in the DEIS. That company supplies gravel to asphalt and concrete plants out in Greenport, and use that road practically the same path. Except for Cox Neck or West Mill, they use that route continuously. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: All right. Thank you. RON HILL: Okay. You're welcome. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: The second question I had was for the noise consultants. Part of -- in the noise and vibration mitigation, you talked about the sand mitigating -- the Long Island sand mitigating the vibrations in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 9 the soil, and therefore the distance of transmittance. Is that a known documented mitigation or is that just an assumption based on sand properties everywhere? JESSICA MICHAELIS: Which consultant was this? MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: It was for noise and vibration. If he's not available, he can -- we can just add it to the record and he can answer it by the deadline. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: We'll transfer that question to the applicant. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Great. Perfect. My next question has to do with, where is the nearest New York State DEC Part 360 depo disposal site? Which may be a traffic engineer question again. I'm not certain who would know that, but we make reference to it repeatedly in the DEIS, but no specific location is noted. I want to know how far they have to go with all this soil? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 10 MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Can we get Ron Hill back on that? JESSICA MICHAELIS: Yes. Ron. RON HILL: I'm sorry, that's not a question I can answer. I'm not familiar with that -- that disposal site. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Okay. We'll just ask -- MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Look for a written answer on that then. Anymore? MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: No, not for now. Later. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: So I guess we'll open the meeting up to applicants consultants to address water, groundwater and modeling first. And again, I would ask as we move forward if, if you spoke last month, maybe give somebody else a chance unless you have something really different to say than you did the last time. And all comments are being recorded. So, Charles, do you have a -- CHARLES CUDDY: Charles Cuddy. I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 11 represent the applicant. I have an office in Riverhead, New York. I'm also a resident of Mattituck. The first speaker tonight will be Paul Boyce, will speak on groundwater. And William Bowman will speak on Ecology. Massimiliano Leli will speak on air quality. These are people from Grosser Consultants. And Kim Gennaro, who's Vice President of that company will speak on alternatives and unavoidable impact. So I'd like Paul to start. PAUL BOYCE: Thank you. Good evening members of the Planning Board, and everyone else. My name's Paul Boyce, as I was just introduced. I am with P.W. Grosser Consulting. Our address is 630 Johnson Avenue, Bohemia, New York. I'm president and CEO of the firm and also the lead groundwater modeler. I was responsible for conducting the groundwater modeling for this project for the Strong's Yacht Center, and what we did and how we did it, is what I'm gonna try to explain and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 12 as brief and as succinctly as possible as I can. We utilized a 3D or three dimensional numerical groundwater model, to analyze the existing aquifer conditions and to predict how the aquifer would respond to different new stresses post the proposed development at the site, which would include the instruction of the two boat storage buildings. We started by using the existing Suffolk County Regional Model, which was a known and published model as our framework. From there, we paired it down to a subregional or a local model. And what that means is, we basically took it from all of Suffolk County down to a model centered around Mattituck Creek, about 19,000 feet in the north, south direction. And about 18,000 feet in the east, west cross section. Again centered at Mattituck Creek. Just about where the Yacht Center is located. We did that to get a better degree of accuracy. When working with a regional model for application like this, you're 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 13 just gonna lose precision and accuracy based on the grid size and whatnot. So we did pare it down quite a bit. We did -- we calibrated our model using USGS data. That's the United States Geological Survey. We had local monitoring wells where we had multiple years worth of data. Was probably about 12 to 15 years worth of data. Maybe even more for some of the wells. And what we did there was, we averaged it. So we took long term averages for these groundwater levels. All right. As opposed to a single one or, you know, a variable one. We took a nice long term average. So we established, you know, for those -- for calibration targets and then from, we also established boundary conditions. All right. So I mentioned the north and south, you know, sort of dimensions, as well as, the east and west. So at the perimeters of the bound are the model that we had, the Long Island Sound to the north and we had the Great Peconic Bay to the south. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 14 And we had the east and west boundaries. We used as just regular groundwater flow. Right. And also Mattituck Creek is considered a boundary because it's right there and it's connected to the Long Island Sound. We also utilized two of the lakes in the area, which were Maratuga and Laurel as boundary conditions. We also got the long term averages for water levels and those -- all those water bodies that I just mentioned for our boundary conditions. But the objectives of the model, essentially was twofold. One was to analyze groundwater hydraulics and flow patterns in the local area, as well as, travel times, well capture zones for nearby wells. And as I said before, water levels. What happens when we start pumping, recharging all that fun types of stuff. The second objective really was to get into the saltwater. All right. We wanted to take a look at the saltwater interface, you know, what the depth was, the thickness of the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 15 saltwater or the freshwater lens. And possibly what would happen, you know, post development or construction, in terms of saltwater intrusion and upcoming issues that may result post the site improvements. And besides that, we also took a third objective, which we kind of added on a little bit later. Was looking at sea level rise. What happens, you know in the future? If sea level does increase, what happens to water levels on site in the local area? So we took a look at that as well. We did a lot with model inputs and parameters. Obviously, when you build a model a lot goes into it. It's very complicated. It's very sophisticated. As I mentioned, it's a numerical solution to, you know, reality here. So we had to analyze a bunch of inputs and parameters that include all the different hydro geologic properties. Like the hydro (inaudible) the layer geometries and orientations. You guys are all familiar -- some of you may be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 16 familiar with the aquifer system beneath the island. You know, the various, you know, zones, where we have fresh water and how it interacts. The hydro geological properties, such as the hydraulic conductivity values, store activities, transmit activities, porosities. We researched all of that data. We had numerous references. Like I said, we, we utilized the existing Suffolk County model as a start of a framework. But the bulk of our resources, our references were with the USGS. Mean, they've got a lot of good published information specific to the North Fork, and right around Mattituck Creek, which was invaluable. All right. Once we got that model constructed, like I said, that framework, in 3D, you know, plan view and then depth, we then started to calibrate it. Using those targets I told you about. Those USGS monitoring wells for the area. And we got this stuff -- we started to calibrate it down till we got acceptable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 17 industry recognized statistics. And the output started to really approximate what the groundwater contour maps looked like for the area. And you know, we got it well within the acceptable standards for, you know, calibration statistics. So it's a fairly high tuned model for the area. Once we had the model calibrated, you know, it looked like it should. It was considered, you know -- it was deemed complete and ready to go. So we started running some analysis. All right. We looked at the existing and proposed site conditions. Both were simulated under various model runs. And again, these were used to predict what's gonna happen when we do something new. But basically under the existing conditions, you know, it did not include any new excavations at the site. We had no increases in stormwater runoff or a recharge. And all the existing wells on site were left active and running. All right. Proposed conditions, just the opposite of that. You know, we had a an 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 18 excavation right where the two boathouse buildings are proposed to go. We had an increase in stormwater recharge because once we make these improvements, we're gonna have less runoff and more recharge to the subsurface through leaching structures. And we also deactivated two of the four onsite active pumping wells. So what happened? Right. The model predicted post-excavation. The site would not have any noticeable effects on the existing groundwater flow pathways or nearby domestic supply well capture zones. Again, the biggest thing here, is the cut, the proposed cuts. Not below the water table. Everything is still up above it. It did -- the model did predict a slight rise in the groundwater elevation directly beneath the site. And again, that goes -- that's attributed to what we just said. We're gonna turn off two active pumping wells. We're gonna take less water out of the ground. We're gonna have more groundwater recharge going in. And the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 19 model substantiated all this, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Especially when you start to look at stuff like saltwater intrusion. So that was really it. Travel times were unaffected by the proposed site improvements. Capture zones of all the nearby wells. Even the on-site wells, unaffected. All right. And these are very small wells and they have very small capture zones. So with regards to the saltwater interface, all right, as I just mentioned by removing two wells from the from active service or pumping, we're removing less water. Right? So if we're removing less water, that's a good thing, in terms of the saltwater interface. Because when you start pumping more and more and more, you get that landward or -- yeah, landward intrusion or you could have up conning. Neither of those are actually gonna happen here, because again, we're moving less and we're putting more back in. So saltwater actually -- the opposite happens here. So it actually 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 20 starts to recede a little bit seaward towards Mattituck Creek as opposed to inland because of the results of the project. Again, pretty good stuff. And lastly, when we looked at sea level rise, all right, what we did is, we adjusted our boundary conditions, like the Great Peconic Bay and the Long Island Sound. We raised those heads by about 16 inches to accommodate a 16 inch seawater sea level rise. And as expected, water levels beneath the site do rise when that happens. You know, and that will happen whether or not the project proceeds or doesn't proceed. You know, that's what's gonna happen. But what we did is, we looked at where the proposed elevations of say top of a slab, bottoms of leaching pools and sanitary structures. Would those be impacted by a 16 inch sea level rise? Obviously, groundwater levels will get closer to them, but we didn't see any conflicts. So they weren't actually intersected by it. So, again, not much 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 21 going on in terms of groundwater issues with the proposed project. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Can you expand a little bit about the 16 inch seawater rise or does that -- is that over a certain amount of time period? Is that an assumption? PAUL BOYCE: No, that's based on you know, I believe the NOAA and FEMA and a few other places that we looked up. It's over like the next 30 to 50 years is what we're expecting. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. PAUL BOYCE: You're welcome. WILLIAM BOWMAN: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the Board. My name is William Bowman, principal and senior scientist at Land Use Ecological Services, 570 Expressway Drive South, Medford, New York 11763. In my 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 22 presentation, I will summarize the ecological sections of the DEIS related to existing ecological conditions, potential impacts, and proposed mitigation. As a background, I have a PhD in Ecology from Columbia University, and have been working as a Consulting Ecologist on Long Island for the past 18 years. During that time, I had been contracted to design and/or supervise the implementation of substantial ecological habitat restoration projects by Suffolk County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York State Parks, New York City Parks, the Central Pine Barrens Commission and Peconic Estuary Partnership. For this site, I completed the -- the ecological resources were assessed during multiple surveys during different seasons. Between September 2020 and August 2021. As we can see, this is an Ecological Communities Map produced by those field studies. We have kind of four typical ecological communities or dominant ecological 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 23 communities at the site. We have the Coastal Oak Beach Forest shown in Blue. We have a succession of shrub land. That's about 10.8 acres in that Light Green. We have that successional forests in that Darker Green. That's about 4.7 acres. And a small area of tidal wetlands in the southeast corner of the site, right there. Somewhat cut off. That's about 0.63 acres right along Mattituck Creek shoreline. However, the site's current ecological conditions are somewhat best understood by looking at its past land uses and disturbance history. I mean, would you mind switching to the next slide? Okay. This -- perfect. All right. This is in a 1962 aerial of the site. During this 1962 aerial, you can see the construction of the boatyard and the filling of the Mattituck Creek shoreline along this east side of the site. And then also filling and disturbance along the south-end of the property. Where, it joins what is now road preserve and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 24 the residential areas to the south. The western, about 11 acres of this -- of the site, were agricultural -- agricultural uses. Those agricultural uses were abandoned in the 1980's. So in this 1962 aerial, you can see these forested areas. Those are the approximately 12 acres of Coastal Oak Beach Forest, that exist at the site today. And the former agricultural lands have transitioned to young successional forests and successional shrub lands. If we could switch back to that ecological communities map that would be appreciated. The archaeological -- the Coastal Oak Beach Forests are shown in this, in this map. These forests provide high quality habitat with abundant large trees. On average, average tree diameter is about 12 inches, but they range up to 39 inches in diameter. The dominant trees include American Beach, various Oaks, Black Oak, White Oak, Chestnut Oak, Scarlet Oak, and Red Maple. The shrub 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 25 and ground layer vegetations in these -- in these communities are fairly sparse, due to the shade from the overlying tree canopy, and browsing from our White Tailed Deer. These Coastal Oak Beach Forests are listed as a vulnerable ecological community type by the New York Natural Heritage Program. The successional forest and successional shrublands, in light green. Forests in darker green, have regrown on the former agricultural fields and cleared areas. They're dominated by Black Cherry, Black Locust, Eastern Red Cedar, and Norway Maple. So there's obviously other species present as well. In the shrublands areas, invasive autumn olive is dominant with small stands of successional trees with heavy infestations of invasive bittersweet vine. Both the successional forests and shrublands and dense thorny thickets of Multiflora Rose, Briars and Brambles and Poison Ivy. These successional communities are abundant locally and in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 26 New York State. And considered demonstrably secure by the New York Natural Heritage Program. A small area of tidal wetlands in the southeast corner. Consists mostly of intertidal marsh. Dominated by smooth cord grass. The landward margin of the wetlands is dominated by Invasive Common Reed, with native salt shrubs, such as ground bush and Marsh-elder throughout the entire 33 acre property. In order to characterize these ecological communities, each tree was mapped, identified and measured. There are approximately 2,408 trees on the property. Measured by hand. With 1,054 trees in the R-80 zone portion of the property and 1,354 trees Marine II portion of the property. The mean diameter of the sample trees was -- is about 12 inches, 11.9 inches. During these various field surveys conducted in 2020-2021, a total of 105 plant species were observed in the sites, forests, shrubs and wetlands. These forests and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 27 ecological communities provide high quality habitat for about 110 species of wildlife. Including 20 mammal species. Including bats, several species of reptiles and amphibians, and more than 20 resident and migratory birds. Approximately 60% of the birds expected to utilize the site, will do so for our breeding habitat. Correspondence was requested from the New York Natural Heritage Program dated December 1, 2020, which identified Piping Plover as an endangered or threatened species. That may be expected to be -- occur in the project area. No substantial impacts to Piping Plover are expected to result from this project, which is located in uplands and largely forested areas. More than 2,000 feet from Plover nesting beaches, which is well beyond the distance that the DEC usually looks for setbacks from over nesting areas, unless you have some very loud activities. Like blasting going on. However, several species that were -- that are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 28 classified as endangered or threatened for special concern, were observed or expected to occur at the site. Most notably Northern Long Eared Bat and Eastern Box Turtle, but also including special concerned species like the Coopers and (inaudible) and hawks. The predominant ecological impact of the project is the loss of 5.5 acres of forest, including that 4.32 acres of Coastal Oak Beach Forest. The mature trees within, and the ecological functions and service and services provided by. However, the proposed action maintains 75% of the site's 2,400 trees. Including 65% or 8.3 acres of the site's Coastal Oak Beach Forest, and the wildlife habitat and ecosystem services provided in those remaining forests. With specific regard to the Marine II zoned area, 54% of the trees will be maintained. And more than 50% of the Marine II zone will consist of natural vegetation under proposed conditions. This greatly exceeds the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 29 20% of natural vegetation or landscaping required under the Town Code. The loss of 5.5 acres of forest will decrease the abundance of wildlife that utilize the site, due to reduced habitat availability. Those wildlife species that used successional habitats, are habitat generalists and/or tolerance of human activity, will not be significantly impacted by the project. These species will be able to persist on the site. Albeit at lower abundance due to that less available habitat. As noted, the site provides Summer foraging and roosting habitat for the Northern Long Eared Bat. The Northern Long Eared Bat was reclassified from threatened to endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NYSDEC in January of this year. In the summer months, these bats root during the day in tree cavities and underneath loose bark in a variety of hardwood trees. The population decline in Northern Long Eared Bats has triggered its listing is caused by White 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 30 Nose Syndrome. This is a disease caused by an invasive fungus that kills hibernating bats in their colonial overwintering sites. Quite often caves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NYSDEC have concluded that this disease and not habitat availability, is currently limiting the bat population. Therefore, per the NYSDEC, removal of trees from the landscape is generally not considered harmful unless there are potentially bats within the trees during the time that they are cleared. Again, from DEC guidance on Long Eared Bats. Accordingly, all tree clearing for the proposed action would occur between December 1st and February 28th following NYSDEC guidance or Suffolk County. Our investigations also observed Box Turtles at the site. Box Turtles are a New York State species of special concern. This project maintains 85% natural habitats on the site, but there is a potential for turtle impacts during construction. To minimize turtle mortality during 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 31 construction, establish Box Turtle protection measures and protocols. Previously developed by various State and Federal agencies will be used. The perimeter of the construction area would be surrounded by an exclusion fencing prior to commencement of clearing and grading. And prior to turtle hibernation periods. As indicated that turtles -- that clearing -- any clearing would need to occur between December 1st and February 28th in the winter months when turtles are dormant. This exclusion fencing would follow State of Connecticut specifications for Turtle Protection Plans. Specifically with any wire or plastic mesh and permanently entrapped. Turtle sweeps would be conducted to locate turtles within the construction area prior to their hibernation. And turtles would be relocated to outside of the construction area during that time. They may be persistent about it. They often -- they're habitual. And may attempt to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 32 return to previously used hibernaculum. But that -- but routine monitoring of the fence lines could be used to relocate turtles in the -- in the event that they continue to try to enter the construction area. Box Turtle sweeps or surveys would be conducted according to survey methods prepared by the North Eastern Box Turtle Working Group. A consortium of State and Federal agencies including U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and the New Jersey and Massachusetts Divisions of Fish and Wildlife. These protocols provide guidance on recommendations for time of day, weather conditions, survey effort, frequency to permit for effective surveys. As noted in the DEIS, the project would create new edges in areas of forest that currently have a more interior location. Forest edges exhibit differences in light levels, air and soil temperature, soil moisture, relative humidity, habitat quality and other changes compared to forest 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 33 interiors. These changes and forest edges can foster proliferation of invasive plants and wildlife. A review of scientific studies on forest edges effects in the Northeastern United States was conducted as part of the DEIS, and indicated that these environmental changes are expected to occur up to 190 feet from a forest edge. Based on this distance, the potential impacts of the Mill Road Preserve were as -- were assessed. If we can switch to the next slide. Thank you. So this slide here shows the potential clearing limit. It shows a -- it's hard to make out but a cross hatch here area extending 195 feet from that clearing limit. To indicate -- so the total area of the Mill Road Preserve that could be impacted by edge effects from the project clearing is approximately 0.38 acres. This area accounts for only 2% of the 18 acres of forests in the Mill Road Preserve. If you wouldn't mind scrolling up just a little bit. I'm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 34 sorry. Going down. Too far. Keep going until the maybe the bottom edge of the Mill Road Preserve is just at the bottom end of the area. Perfect. Apologies. As stated, this area of hatching equates to about 2% of the forested area in the Mill Road Preserve; however, it should be noted that the forest on the subject site and the Mill Road Preserve are currently influenced by various existing edges, and former edges. That we can see very readily in this in this figure. First, the existing edges of the boat yard. The existing edges associated with residential properties located to the east of the Mill Road Preserve that have kind of somewhat fragmented the air -- that edge of the forest on the east. The former edges associated with the agricultural lands on the -- on the west side of the subject and the west side of Mill Road Preserve. The former area of kind of sand disturbance at the south end of the site, what we saw from the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 35 1962 aerial that showed the disturbance up through this area. And this kind of utility easement that runs north -- northeast, southwest with Mill Road Preserve. According to this 0.38 acre area of potential edge effects are more appropriately considered of an intensification of an existing edge. Rather than an entirely new edge effect. In order to mitigate for the potential impacts described, the following mitigation measures have been incorporated into the proposed development plan to partially offset the impacts of the site's ecological resources. Approximately 0.6 acres of native trees and shrubs will be planted along the western edge of the proposed boat storage area, to mitigate tree clearing and edge effects. As stated previously, protection measures, such as winter tree clearing for Northern Long Ear Bat and construction fencing and surveys for Box Turtle Protection, will be implemented to minimize impacts to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 36 these protected species. As stated previously, the project maintains 8.28 acres or approximately 65% of the site's Coastal Oak Beach Forests, and 75% of the site's 2,400 trees. About 51% of natural vegetation will be maintained in the Marine II zone, which again greatly exceeds the 20% required under the Town Code. The applicant will contribute 50 native trees, a 10 gallon container. Typically one inch caliber for installation at high priority public sites, within the Town of Southold, identified by the Town's Tree Commission. Lastly, proposed -- the proposed stormwater management system and the proposed IA on-site Wastewater Treatment System for both the existing and proposed structures will be -- will serve to reduce transport of sediments, nutrients and pollutants to Mattituck Creek and represents an improvement compared to existing conditions for the Creek and its wetlands. Thank you very much for your time. I'll be happy to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 37 answer any questions. MEMBER PIERCE RAFFERTY: I have a question. So I was a little confused in the citing of New York Natural Heritage Program. Were you -- was any ecological mapping done by that program or were you citing previous? I just didn't quite understand. WILLIAM BOWMAN: Relative to that -- MEMBER PIERCE RAFFERTY: I mean, I was just curious about the plants. I didn't hear any specificity about rare and I know nothing about -- WILLIAM BOWMAN: Rare plants came up in the Heritage Program correspondence. About 105 species of plants observed. MEMBER PIERCE RAFFERTY: That's why I was wondering. Did they do an inventory of this whole -- WILLIAM BOWMAN: No. The Heritage Program has records -- they have records but not for every property, right? So, for -- they -- they're not -- they 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 38 didn't act -- their correspondence didn't indicate any rare plants, but we characterized them all. And did not find any endangered threaten rare species. In some ways that's not surprising. Because one half of this site is the former agricultural lands that is now completely overrun by, you know -- MEMBER PIERCE RAFFERTY: I got that part. WILLIAM BOWMAN: -- of thorny thickets. And then the Coastal Oak Beach Forest, which is a high quality habitat with larger mature trees. There is heavy grounds. Like many places on Eastern Long Island. So that we know endanger threatened plant species where -- MEMBER PIERCE RAFFERTY: I was curious because I've been -- our organization on Fishers Island has been working with New York National Heritage Program for two years straight. Inventorying our area. And I just was 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 39 curious whether there had ever been an inventory -- specific inventory of either this or the neighboring preserve. And I guess there hasn't been for rare -- WILLIAM BOWMAN: No. MEMBER PIERCE RAFFERTY: And that's because they -- you're basically saying they're probably unlikely to be there because of the nature of the successional -- WILLIAM BOWMAN: And that's why you do the survey. Rather than rely on the Heritage Program correspondence. So the Heritage Program correspondence didn't state Northern Long Eared Bat either. But that's a species that is expected to be on the -- expected to be on the property. MEMBER PIERCE RAFFERTY: Okay. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. MASSIMILIANO LILI: Hi everyone. Good evening, Members of the Board, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 40 everyone. My name is Massimiliano Lili. I'm a Project Manager at P.W. Grosser Consulting. I am an environmental engineer with background and air emission evaluations, air permitting with the New York State and Air Quality Survey. I'm here to summarize the Air Quality Evaluation that PW Grosser Consulting performed for this project. The purpose of the Air Quality Analysis was to identify and evaluate the potential emission generated from each phase of the project and the carbon stock loss that would result from construction activities. And to identify any mitigation measures if necessary. Currently, there are no emission sources that require a New York State DEC Air Permit. And the proposed project will not necessitate obtaining any air permits as the addition of permanent emission sources is not proposed in the proposed scope of the project. So based on the result of the of the analysis, the air quality is not 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 41 anticipated to be significantly impacted by the project. Short term impact may occur during the construction phase. However, long term quality impacts will be inconsequential. The Air Quality Evaluation was based on the analysis of three main factors. The mobile source emissions, the dust emissions and the carbon stock removal. For the mobile sources emission evaluation, again short term air quality impacts may occur during the excavation phase of the project. However, long term air quality will be -- impact will be minimal. The analysis of the air quality impact due the construction activity was completed considering the types of vehicles and activities that would be utilized during each phase. The mobile source emission evaluation was split then into two analysis, the off-road equipment and the on-road vehicles or equipment. The off-road -- the off-road mobile emission will be generated from the operation of off-road mobile construction equipment. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 42 The analysis conducted, evaluated a potential impact associated with trucks and equipment that are equipped with engine -- that are EPA Tier Three or Tier Four compliant. And this was done for a conservative approach. In fact, the applicant has committed to utilize trucks that equipment that are all equipped with the Tier Four engine. So the Tier Four regulation of the -- the strictest EPA emission requirements for highway diesel engines. But as such, the usable Tier Four compliant equipment will further reduce the emission of a particulate matter or PM and nitrogen oxide of NOX, and ensures that the Federal Emissions Standards are being achieved. In addition, according to the New York State DEC Section 217-3 Heavy Duty Vehicles will not remain for more than four to five minutes at a time. The potential impacts of the off-road mobile emission were evaluated using established guideline -- guidance values on a pound per day basis. And the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 43 emission estimated were well within the significant threshold values. And therefore, it was determined that the impact with the mobile off-road emission would be less than significant. For on-road mobile emission, the air emission will be generated from operated of on-road mobile construction equipment, as well as, employee passenger vehicles during the construction of the proposed project. It was considered the engines for all those vehicles, on-road vehicles, meet the Federal Emissions Standards. And it is noted that the construction company engaged to complete the work, has committed to utilize multiple vehicles to transport, as many as, social workers to the site to minimize the number of vehicles being utilized. And thus minimizing associated air emissions. The Air Emission Rates calculated were then compared to the EPA General Conformity De Minimis Values. These anticipated emission rates for each 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 44 phase are well within the Annual Conformity De Minimis value. It was concluded that on-road vehicle emission generated from the project will not have a significant adverse impact on the air quality. Regarding the second factor, the Figurative Dust Emission, based on the total area of construction, which is approximately 6.51 acres and the total project duration, which is estimated to be in 13 months, the TSP or Total Suspended Particulate Emission Rate of 1.2 tons per acre, per month of activities. Will give a total emission rate for TSP for the entire project, approximately 101.5 tons of TSP without mitigation. However, with mitigation, with implementation of mitigation measures, there will be no significant adverse impact created by physical dust generation. And the result in air quality will be avoided. The mitigation measure will include, but it will not limit it to minimizing the exposed area of erodible or applying wet suppression 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 45 system to the material piles, and unpaved areas during dry periods or when dust is visible. In order to keep the the dust level down. Another measure will be use covered all trucks to move construction material from the project area. And the use of plastic sheet coverings to cover the material pile. And lastly, a material wind barrack consisting of a 6 feet fence with filter fabric installed around the northern and the western portion of the construction excavation area. Last of the factor was the carbon stock removal evaluation. So for this project, it was estimated that the proposed project will necessitate the cleaning of 5.51 acres of forest of land for this proposed action. This is not considered to be a significant in size area -- cleaning area. And therefore, at the best impact, due to tree clearing, carbon stock loss are considered (inaudible). It also noted that regulation for the removal of carbon sinks do not exist at the local 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 46 State Or Federal level. However, the proposed clearing is consistent with the prevailing and dimensional requirements of the MII Zoning District set for in the Town of Southold Town Code. Additionally, it should be noted that the carbon stock capability depends on the soil characteristic. The carbon sequestering removal ability in the soil is directly related to the carbon -- organic carbon content in the soil. So for this project, we complete analysis that indicated that the construction excavation area is made up of predominantly sand -- sandy material. Except for a less than six inch thick top soil layer in some areas, which has a low amount of organic material content. Therefore, will also have a low carbon storage capacity and a diminished ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So since the soil investigation indicated mostly sand -- sandy, low organic matter in the excavation areas, it can be assumed that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 47 the carbon sequestration capability of the soil is low. However, there are mitigation measure proposed. For example, planting of 135 trees offset the carbon stock loss in the project area. And also while it's not related to the project, the Strong Yacht Center hosts and partially found Shellfish Restoration Program operated by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program at this facility. Our plans benefit the ecosystem by acting as a carbon sink. It is estimated that on average, the shell of a marketable clam can contain up to 2.9 grams of carbon. And the farming program is expected to result in the harvesting of 1.5 million clams annually. Before they projected 1.5 million clams are best annually, have the potential to remove 9,680 of carbon. Based on all this analysis, on the result of this analysis, it was concluded by PWGC that the air quality is not anticipated to be significantly impacted by that. That concludes this 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 48 -- my summary. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: I have a question. Could you explain a little bit about the mitigation measures that you're using during the removal of the sand? They're going to be four trucks per hour moving out of there. That means that the trucks that will be dumping the sand into the -- the excavation trucks that will be dumping the sand into the movable trucks will be going continuously. So how are you gonna use the filter fabrics and the plastic to mitigate all that sand that's airborne? MASSIMILIANO LILI: While they constructed the removal -- MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: While the removal is going on eight hours, every day, four months? MASSIMILIANO LILI: Right. Normally there's a standard procedure when you -- when you move material from 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 49 a pile from -- from the ground to have those vehicle move in a certain way to generate as less as possible of this dust. So there -- it will be very slow on moving those material. Putting it in the trucks and holding out. And again, we will -- they will have a wet suppression system that if dust generated during the -- all those movement of material will be visible. They will use the suppression -- the wet suppression systems, wrinkle system, misting system to keep the dust level down. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Who's monitoring the dust level? MASSIMILIANO LILI: It's anticipated to -- it wasn't in this analysis, but it will -- it will be evaluated in the Final EIS. And I'm don't recall using any monitor on the -- MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Maybe it's a question you can provide an answer to before the end of this? MASSIMILIANO LILI: Yes. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 50 MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Thank you. MASSIMILIANO LILI: Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Thank you. KIM GENNARO: Good evening. Kim Gennaro. I'm a Certified Environmental Planner and Vice-President at PW Grosser Consulting. Just to go back to the one question on the dust. We can have -- we can implement a dust monitoring, if requested. Just wanted to clarify that. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Thank you. KIM GENNARO: Welcome. I am going to go over the project alternatives, and their impacts, as well as, the unavoidable adverse impacts for the project. I'll start with the alternatives. Six alternatives were included in the final scope and they were evaluated in the DEIS. Two additional alternatives were identified during preparation of the document, and included for consideration by the Town. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 51 Before describing the alternatives, I just want to note for those that may not be familiar with the SEQRA regulations, that the SEQRA regulations explicitly state that alternatives are to be considered in a DEIS that are reasonable and feasible. Considering the objectives and capabilities of the project. And alternatives that aren't feasible to the applicant can be imposed. And I say that because there were certain alternatives that we evaluated, but they just were not feasible. The first alternative is the no action alternative. That's the site remains as-is. And while none of the project related impacts would occur, the alternative would not achieve the objectives. As you know, the project under consideration is to meet a market demand for indoor climate controlled boat storage for larger vessels on property that is zoned for the intended use. And a project that fully complies with the bulk conventional requirements 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 52 of the zoning district. So the no action alternative is not feasible. Alternative Two, was an alternative material removing plan. So we looked at two things. We looked at barging to eliminate using the roads for the removal of the material. And we looked at on-site processing. In the barging alternative, with the assistance of H&L contracting, consultations were undertaken with four barging. All four companies advise that the width and depth of Mattituck Inlet is not adequate for the types of barges that would be needed. So barging is not possible. The on-site processing was installing a cement plant on site. And the purpose was maybe we can eliminate the need to transport the material off the site, and use the material in the concrete that's required for the project. We engaged a Long Island Precast and they said only 1% of the total material to be removed can be used in the concrete. So the trucking of material is still required. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 53 99% of the material still has to be removed from the site. So that this -- the on-site cement plant wasn't deemed feasible. It just didn't achieve the benefit of what we were trying to do with this. The third alternative was construct this on another site. But the operational support and the infrastructure for the storage of yachts including the docks, the travel lifts, the staffing, the maintenance and the service equipment are at the yacht center. The project is designed for large boats that can only enter and exit by water. And another site equipped with this required infrastructure is just not feasible for the applicant. Alternative Four, and we actually have a graphic for this one. Because this was -- Yes, thank you. This was constructed proposed buildings on the top elevation without excavation. Yes, that's it. So this would include the construction of two boat storage buildings. The footprint is quite 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 54 similar, but it's the -- the remove -- there is no removal of material. The buildings are of similar size. They're on the M II zone portion of the property with limited excavation. There's excavation associated with the grading of the site. But the use of the buildings would have to be limited to small boats. Because the travel lift cannot go uphill. So this alternative has the use of the buildings at the top elevation for small boats. We have the top elevation would accommodate approximately 300 small boats. But as the purpose of the project is for large vessel storage, this alternative includes modifying the three buildings at the lower elevation, by increasing the roof height. So that the buildings can be used for larger boats. The new LPG tanks would still need to be installed for the radiant heating. We would still be regrading the upland area to accommodate the building foundations, the driveway, the parking and the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 55 internal paved area for circulation. We'd also still require a retaining wall but we wouldn't not require the evergreen concrete retaining wall that's proposed for this project. The alternative requires still a removal of 612 trees. It would still be a loss of upland forest and habitat. Visually, this would have a significant visual change along the inlet because the buildings are placed at the top elevation. So buildings are -- are at 72 to 73 above mean sea level. So the buildings will be visible. Total area of land disturbance, as I said, I mean, it's -- we're not -- we don't have to require the removal of 135,000 cubic yards of sand. We only need 3,000 cubic yards of cut. There would be a significant increase in traffic trip generation because we would have the smaller boats going into the top elevation buildings. And they would be trailered in. About 150 boats would be trailed to and from those buildings. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 56 The proposed haul road that we do have in the plan, that would not be required in the alternative. The alternative is feasible, but it's not preferred by the applicant. There were two additional alternatives. Construct the smaller buildings with less excavation and given the cost of the project, in particularly the concrete retaining wall, it's not feasible for the applicant. And the last alternative was just reconstruct the lower buildings for the large boat storage. But that alternative would have a significant impact on the local boating community with smaller vessels that currently rely on the yacht center for storage. And it wouldn't be feasible for the applicant. Unless additional buildings could be constructed at that top elevation. We have two additional alternatives that we included in the DEIS to try to further mitigate either the material coming off the site or how it's being routed from the site. The alternative material 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 57 mitigation plan, we actually -- this was developed in coordination with the project Ecologist, Dr. Bowman here. That alternative would reduce the volume of material to be removed from the property by approximately 10%. We could reduce it by 13,500 cubic yards. By putting the material on the R-80 zoned parcel. The material would be placed in the successional shrub land area at a depth of approximately 12 inches and set back approximately 20 feet from the successional of southern hardwoods. So we wouldn't impact. The resulting impact on transportation is the elimination of 450 trucks or 900 trips. It would reduce the excavation phase by almost 11 days. A little over 11 days. That was one that we had offered for consideration by the Town. The last -- the second alternative that we offered was the alternative routing plan. And we have a graphic for this. So this alternative includes the use of Bergen Avenue. So this includes the use of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 58 Bergen Avenue for the outgoing full trucks and the use of Cox Neck for the incoming empty trucks during the excavation phase only. The advantage of the alternate truck route plan is that it have the number of truck trips on Cox Neck Road, where there are more residential homes fronting the road. The departing trucks will use Bergen, which has less than half the number of homes fronting the road. We evaluated traffic and noise for this alternative routing plan. So for traffic, we would just need to place flaggers in three locations to assist with truck movements in three locations. Right turns from Cox Neck to Bergen at the 90 degree curve in Bergen and right turns from Bergen onto Sound. Regarding noise -- I mean sound levels on Cox Neck would be decreased. And while we measured the sound levels to receivers along Bergen, it would increase. But the levels are still within DEC recommended levels. Again, we just -- we put this in as an 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 59 alternative. There's the -- the proposed routing plan, which includes the use of Cox Neck to and from the site. But we've offered an alternative. So those were the eight alternatives included in the DEIS. If there are any questions I can answer? I'll move onto unavoidable impacts. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: I have two questions. The first has to do with the documented demand for yacht storage. Where is it documented from? Where are most of these boats going to be coming from? KIM GENNARO: Jeff Strong is here tonight and I think he probably as the project sponsor and applicant is the best person to address that question. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Okay. We can get to that at the end. So the second question I have has to do with the transportation. And all of your modeling has -- have you exiting Sound Avenue onto Northville Turnpike. Have you extend -- have you considered 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 60 extending it through -- extending your route through Sound Avenue down Edwards, to connect to 495 directly and not having to go through Riverhead? KIM GENNARO: I would want Ron Hill to answer that question. He is on -- if we can ask him that question? MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Perfect. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Go ahead, Ron. RON HILL: Yeah. We had -- we had stayed with the Sound Avenue/Northville because Northville Turnpike and County Road 58 are much more substantial roads than Sound Avenue. Particularly -- Well, Northville Turnpike and County Road 58 are used by the oil tankers that go up to the oil terminal. These have roads that are very suitable for trucks. So we went with a higher quality roads whenever we could. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: I understand that reasoning. It just seems that the quantity of trucks that we're proposing that they -- you are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 61 proposing on a major thoroughfare through multiple lights, going through Riverhead Township, seems to be difficult to defend. RON HILL: Well, you have to remember, it is four trucks an hour. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Eight trucks an hour. Eight trucks an hour. Four in. Four out. RON HILL: Correct. Correct. It's still -- it's one every seven or eight minutes. So it's -- it's not a lot. When you consider that County Road 58 is doing thousands of vehicles an hour. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Thank you for your response. RON HILL: You're welcome. MEMBER SIDOR: So I have a question for you. You mentioned LGP. How much fossil fuel will be stored on this site? KIM GENNARO: There are (4) 2,000 gallon tanks. MEMBER SIDOR: What about diesel fuel? KIM GENNARO: I don't have that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 62 number in front of me, but I can -- MEMBER SIDOR: Does the New York State Department of Health or Suffolk County Department of Health limit the amount of fuel that you can store on a site without being labeled as a fuel depot? KIM GENNARO: Yes. But there currently is fuel on the site. And Strong'S maintains an Article 12 permit from Department of Health Services. MEMBER SIDOR: But if you're going TO add 80 more boats, that's -- it'll be a lot more fuel, no? KIM GENNARO: Well, the boats are coming in and going into storage. So it's a boat storage facility. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: But they have to be stored full. MEMBER SIDOR: You want to store them full or empty? MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: They have to be stored full. I believe he stored full. MEMBER SIDOR: So they don't 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 63 condensate; right? KIM GENNARO: I'm gonna let Jeff Strong answer this. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: We'll get to that question. You have any other questions? MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: No. Thank you. KIM GENNARO: I'm gonna go over unavoidable impacts. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Okay. KIM GENNARO: And then I think that will conclude the direct testimony from the team. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. KIM GENNARO: Okay. So the unavoidable impacts. The State Environmental Quality Review Act acknowledges that projects can have certain unavoidable adverse impacts that cannot be mitigated. That cannot be fully mitigated. In these instances, agencies are to balance the unavoidable adverse environmental impacts against 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 64 social, economic and other considerations in making their SEQRA findings. Excerpted directly from the Environmental Conservation Law, and I quote, "it is not the intention of SEQRA that environmental factors be the sole consideration in the decision making." So I'd like to summarize the unavoidable impacts. But because there is this balance, I'd also like to go over the social, economic and other considerations. The unavoidable impacts are both short term and long term. Short term impacts are the immediate and temporary results of an action. We know that this project will increase truck traffic associated with site preparation, excavation and construction. The traffic engineer went over the trip generation. We know this. Mitigations have been incorporate -- measures have been incorporated into the action to reduce the traffic related impacts of surrounding properties, and roadways, including alternative. And 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 65 include measures for safety. Post development, the project will have no adverse traffic impacts because the boats are arriving to it from the site via the Inlet. There would be construction related noise impacts. These are the temporary impacts that SoundSense went over in the first hearing. Mitigation measures have been incorporated into the proposed action to reduce the impact. Will comply with the Town Code, but there will be construction related noise. Post development, the project will have no adverse noise. And lastly, visually. For a period of 2 to 3 years, there will be a short term visual impact until the concrete retaining wall, the planting trees grow in. At that point, it'll be a green wall. But visually, the landscape setting will change for a period of 2 to 3 years. On the long term. These are the continuing impacts of an action. The project does require the removal of soil material, and it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 66 will alter sites. But the site that exists today is partly a result of dredge spoils that have been deposited by the Army Corps of Engineers for projects dating back to 1913, as well as, modifications that were made to the site for the original marina development. We do know and as Dr. Bowman went over, we have to -- there will be approximately 634 trees that will be removed from the site. The tree removal will have a resultant decrease in habitat availability for plants, birds and wildlife that use these habitats. As mitigation, approximately 135 trees are proposed to be replanted. The applicant will also contribute 50 native trees for installation at high priority sites identified by the Town Tree. The proposed clearing would result in a new forest edge, as we just discussed. This is an intensification of the existing edge effect. However, the magnitude of the impact would be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 67 minimized with the replanting of approximately 27,000 square feet of native plantings, and they would be layered plantings to minimize light penetration. And finally, with the increase in developed area, stormwater -- stormwater generation would increase. However, drainage infrastructure is going to be installed to capture and recharge, not just stormwater from the project area, but as well as, offsite contributing areas. Coming onto the site and those will be -- that will be captured as well on site. So the long term impacts are a result of clearing, grading and increasing the developed area. However, the projects post-development will have less lot coverage than that allowed under zoning. And the existing and planted vegetation will exceed the landscape requirement by 31%. The zoning requires 20% of the site to be landscaped. This site will have 51.4% vegetated. So as I had stated earlier 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 68 in making the SEQRA findings, there are unavoidable adverse impacts that cannot be fully mitigated that need to be balanced against the social, economic and other considerations. And I just want to briefly summarize those. So the project -- and again, I know what we've asked for Jeff Strong to -- do this later, to discuss this later, but it does respond to a market demand. According to the applicant, the project allows for boat owners to store locally. Rather than transport boats to warmer climates over the winter months. The project will have no effect on local boat owners that currently rely on the yacht center for their maritime needs. There have been claims that this project does not benefit Southold residents, but I am told that Southold residents do utilize the yacht club, and the water club and are expected to use the indoor storage service. It's a Marine II zone site, as I had already said. The project is fully compliant with zoning, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 69 and the proposed use is permitted use. The Marine II zoning boundary on the site has been in existence since the Town's adoption of an entirely new zoning map in 1989. And while it's understood that the project does require the removal of soil, and it does require the removal of trees, the project is in fact consistent with the LWRP. And is also consistent with the Land Use Economic and Heritage Goals of the 2020 Comp Plan. And just briefly, LWRP recognizes the Inlet and Creek as having regional significance as the only major harbor on the Long Island Sound to the east of the Mount Sinai, Port Jeff Harbors. The regional importance was recognized in the Long Island Sound Coastal Management Program. It was identified as one of 10 Maritime Centers on the Sound. Maritime Centers are noted as providing and I quote, "the most suitable and appropriate locations for new or expansion of existing water dependent commercial industrial uses." 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 70 The 2020 Comp Plan also includes economic prosperity goals for the continued support of the maritime industry. And the natural heritage goal to protect the unique character of the individual hamlets, which included the revitalization of Mattituck Inlet into a recreational and commercial maritime hub. In the LWRP, Mattituck is recognized as both a recreational and commercial port. And the site of one of the Town's largest concentration of marine facilities. Second only to Greenport Village. As I stated earlier, the infrastructure is already in place to accommodate this proposed use. And the site is appropriate for the use that is proposed. As part of the DEIS, 20 years of surface water quality data from the County Health Department Bureau of Marine Resources was reviewed. We've reviewed 20 years, but notably, we focused on before, under a prior owner, and since Strong's Yacht Center came in. None of the recorded data for monitoring 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 71 stations in the Inlet suggests there has been any degradation in water quality from the Strong's Yacht Center. Rather according to the Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Mattituck Inlet has proven to be the best location for shellfish regrowth in the Town of Southold. And the floating systems in the dockside areas of the yacht center have been integral to shellfish restoration on Long Island. Given the number of boats expected to be stored and the timeframe in which they're going to come, in average about 88 boats. They're gonna come in and out, 12 week period for both Spring and -- Spring and Fall or Spring and Winter. The increase in boat traffic is approximately 7 to 8 boats a week or 1 to 2 per day. Based on our -- we prepared a boat study, which is attached to the DEIS. It's estimated approximately 547 boats are active in the Mattituck Creek on a peak season day. So while this action is going to increase the number of votes, 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 72 to 8 per week or 1 to 2 per day, the increase is nominal. Also Strong's Yacht Center maintains a schedule. So that there won't be queuing of boats. It'll be 1 to 2 per day. As Dr. Bowman had already pointed out, as part of the project, the existing sanitary system is being upgraded to IA. And the new sanitary system will also be an IA system. So the improvement will -- is going to reduce nitrogen loading, which is a noted goal of the Suffolk County Subwatershed Plan and the Mattituck Watershed Management Plan. New stormwater infrastructure to treat not only captured from project areas, but also from offsite properties. Also the extension of the public water main now allows for homeowners along the route to connect to public water supply. Of course, at the application to Suffolk County Water Authority. And as my colleague pointed out, the applicant is committed to the use of only Tier Four trucks and equipment. Economically, the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 73 project has the direct impact of 11 new full-time jobs. Salaries range from $65,000 to $150,000. The DEIS had a lower number but that was from 2021. Things have changed quite a bit. The project also has an economic benefit to the maritime suppliers in Southold, as well as, the increased taxes. Tax revenue from property taxes, sales tax and income tax. The agencies -- just to close, agencies have reviewed the plan, the site design. The LPG tanks and the fire safety plan have been reviewed by both the Mattituck Fire Department and the Southold Fire Marshal. We do have correspondence from the fire chief confirming that the department is capable of servicing the site. We do have correspondence from the Southold Fire Marshal that he is -- that he is in agreement with the fire chief and the fire plan -- the fire safety plan that we prepared was in direct response to his request. We recently received a letter on May 26th from the State 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 74 Historic Preservation Office. Advised that the construction protection plan prepared for this project would protect historic structures from vibrations and issued a no impact determination with this plan. That letter came in last week. The DEC has also issued a title wetlands permit for the project. So in conclusion, while the project does have unavoidable adverse short term and long term impacts, the project is consistent with zoning, the LWRP and many of the goals in the 2020 Comp Plan. The project does include the infrastructure upgrades mentioned. That would be beneficial to groundwater and surface water quality, as well as, the beneficial impacts to the maritime industry in Southold. I thank you very much, and I'm happy to answer any questions. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Thank you for your information. I will open this meeting up to the public. Please, when you step forward, state 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 75 your name, write your name down. Also all comments will be will be recorded. And it's also -- wanna point out to everyone -- that's a lot of people want to leave, but point out to everyone, if this is a hearing on a project, it is not a referendum or a valuation of a Strong Family or the business model. REED SUPER: Good evening Board members. My name is Reed Super. I'm an environmental lawyer representing Save Mattituck Inlet. I submitted a letter today, and I intend to comment further on the DEIS for July 10th. In today's letter, we address the role of the Planning Board under SEQRA, at this stage of the process. Although an applicant can prepare its own DEIS, it is this Planning Board that is responsible for the accuracy, adequacy of the final EIS. You can of course hire a consultant and we understand that an RFP has been issued for that purpose. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: That is correct. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 76 REED SUPER: Thank you. The DEIS unfortunately contains many errors, inconsistencies and gaps in its analysis. And thus the FEIS to be prepared and approved by this Board must provide all necessary corrections, revisions and supplemental analysis. Although the applicants self-serving DEIS claims that the only significant impacts will be construction noise and very little else, in fact, the project, if approved and implemented would cause significant adverse environmental impacts in all nine areas that the Planning Board identified in the final scope, and others. After completing an FEIS, Board's next task will be a finding statement, in which the significant adverse impacts -- really, all the impacts are weighed against the public need, if any, for the project and the public benefits. Again, if any, of the project, which are both very minimal here. A vulnerable Coastal Oak Beach Forest, 50 feet above sea level is not a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 77 place for a marine facility. And certainly not for buildings to store yachts so big and heavy, that they cannot be transported up the steep terrain. Leading the applicant to propose not only clear cutting more than 600 mature trees from a forest that provides habitat for endangered species and other species of special concern, but also excavating and hauling away the forested hillside. In more than 4,000 truckloads. 4,000 trucks back. Dropping the grade by 40 feet over nearly four acres and erecting a 900 feet long retaining wall. More than 30 feet high to hold back that slope cut. This radical transformation of the upland topography and ecology to serve a purported waterfront use is sheer folly. It is plainly inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan, zoning, LWRP, as well as, environmental preservation and common sense. Because the proposals very minimal public need and public benefit most certainly do not outweigh 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 78 its enormous environmental impacts. And the proposed action obviously does not avoid or minimize environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable. These are the two findings the Board would have to make a positive finding statement. The Board should issue a negative finding statement. Implementing SEQRA's substantive mandate. It's not just a procedural law, it has a substantive mandate. And the Board should deny the application on that basis. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Be sure to write your name down, sir. And again, I would ask if you've spoken to us at the last meeting, unless you have something very substantively different to say, please give everybody a chance to speak. Sir? PETER SWAN: Thank you. My name is Peter Swan. I'm an 80 year resident of Mattituck. This project will keep this property a commercial shipyard as it has been since 1961. This is important to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 79 the historic maritime character of the town. Much of the yacht center property has always been zoned Marine II Industrial, which cites among its permitted uses. Boatyards for building, storing, repairing, renting, selling or servicing boats. In the late 80's, the Town changed the zoning boundaries designed for a larger portion of the property maritime to industrial. The wooded hill proposed to be developed was deliberately included within the New Marina II zoning boundary. The building proposal is consistent with MII zoning and requires no variances or approval. This project is in line with the goals of Southold's LWRP, which is Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan, which identifies Mattituck Inlet as the most suitable location for new or expanding water dependent commercial and industrial use in Southold Town. I strongly urge you to approve the project that is consistent with the property zoning, aligns with the aims of the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 80 Town and supports our Town's historic maritime character. Thank you very much. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you, Mr. Swan. Yes, ma'am. HAZEL KAHAN: My name is Hazel Kahan. I live in Mattituck, and I'm a member of the Steering Committee of Save the Mattituck Inlet or SMI. I'm going to read the letter that we will be submitting to the Board -- to the Planning Board, to accompany our comments to the applicants revised DEIS. SMI is an organization of citizens who came together over shared concerns about the potentially disastrous environmental impacts of the project on the delicate ecosystem of the inlet, and the surrounding uplands. Inlet is the geographical heart and emotional center of our community. Our comments show that the applicants DEIS fails to demonstrate that the project will not have a significant adverse impact. Not only on the Hamlet, but on the Town of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 81 Southold and Riverhead. Instead, the DEIS demonstrates that the negative consequences associated with the project far outweigh the benefits of heated indoor storage space for a handful of wealthy yacht owners from outside our area. The 11 perhaps seasonal jobs which may or may not go to Southold residents, and the relatively small increase the Town will receive in property tax revenue. You've heard from other speakers that the project will excavate an entire hillside, destroying more than 600 mature trees. Creating a vast eyesore visible to boaters and to residents on both sides of the inlet and imperiling the Town's treasure. One of the Town's treasures, a publicly owned Mill Road Preserve. The physical and moral and -- the physical and mental well-being of new -- of near nearby residents will be subjected for the best part of a year to intolerable levels of traffic noise, air pollution and vibrations from all the things that have 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 82 already been discussed. And along roads, small roads that have been shared with bicyclists, joggers, schools, school buses and visitors to break water and a route that will continue along Sound Avenue, Northville Turnpike and Oak Country Road, past popular farms stands, wineries and historical sites and attractions. Our comments will show that not only does the DEIS fail to adequately address major environmental concerns or address them at all, but that it is misleading. Internally inconsistent and rife with inaccuracies and omissions. The project fails to demonstrate any overriding public benefit or show compliance with Souhtold's LWRP or Comprehensive Plan. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you very much. Be sure to sign your name there. Sir? KEVIN MCALLISTER: Good evening. My name is Kevin McAllister. I'm founder and president of Defend H2O. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 83 We're a Sag Harbor based coastal conservation organization. I had shared with the Board my deep and diverse credentials in sciences. Held degrees in natural resources, conservation, biological sciences and a Master's in coastal zone management. Early in my career, in South Florida, relative to this project, I was extensively involved in dredge and field permitting. One of the principal concerns I have upon returning to Long Island, I should say the my role as Peconic Baykeeper, I was instrumental in establishing no discharge zones for the Peconic and South Shore estuaries. These were expanded endeavors. I assisted DEC more recently in guidance on Long Island Sound, which Mattituck Creek is part of a no discharge zone. So my comments relate to the boating population that's increased. 88 boats. We talk about they appear to be stealth in as far as a Spring launch. They're out the inlet and they returned to the roost in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 84 December. The question is, who's handling the holding tank waste upon return? I trust the Marine Center has pump-out facilities. And a larger question, are these no discharge zones relative to Mattituck Creek or based on a ratio of boating populace to pump-out facilities? So how does 88 boats affect that boating population that rate -- ratio? That needs to be flushed out. That's a water quality concern. My work in Defend H2O is really geared and focused toward protection of coastal features. And obviously, we have a prominent glacial feature that abuts the western side of the shoreline. Obviously, the point of the project area. You know, I can't help but think -- my first impression that this project was more about sand mining than marina expansion. And we heard, you know, the team talk about a monetary review or, you know, what the market bears, and I submit to you the lucrative business of transporting this material off site from 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 85 again, a glacial feature, which is prominent and defined in Mattituck Creek is really problematic. Is it ending up in a conglomerate for cement or elsewhere? You know, lastly, I just urge the Board, a sand mining operation should be a nonstarter. Really in some instances, this is clearly a square peg in a round hole. And I just urge the Board give it no more consideration. It's just inappropriate for the level of deforestation of the mother load of glacial material that will be transported offsite. Lost to the system. And then obviously the impacts to the ecology. So, you know, do the community of justice and please decline this. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Be sure to sign that sheet. Thank you for your comment. Yes, ma'am. LUMI ROLLEY: Hi. My name is Lumi Rolley. I am a resident of Mattituck. I live on Westview Drive in the (inaudible) Wood section. And my 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 86 expertise is on noise impacts of marine properties, where the use has been expanded. And my concern for this project and is that -- Jeff -- that Strong's will pretty much follow what they've done at their water club. Where, you know, where noise impacts will be within zoning. And with that, you know, and slightly above. You know, of the allowable zoning. And what happens eventually is that there's no monitoring, no compliance, no enforcement. So the last 10 years since Jeff Strong has taken over the water club, we've been subjected to, you know, every weekend. It's like -- it's like somebody has a house party going on right next to you every weekend. And that affects us psychologically. It affects us. It affects the whole environment. It affects the whole standard of living. In fact, my whole -- that one stretch, every single rent -- every single rental property has been -- has turned over during those 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 87 years. You know, at least once. And this was not the case, the 10 years prior when I first moved in my house. What I noticed in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is that there are some minor mitigations for noise impacts, but there's no -- nothing said about monitoring. I think there's no -- you know, mitigations are also -- you can also identify if there are issues of non-compliance, what is -- you know, what measures will be taken. None of that has been identified. So given his track record or Strong's track record in my section of the neighborhood, I really don't see that -- that -- anything that's identified in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. You know, that there's -- it doesn't really -- it's meaningless. You know, it doesn't hold water. Anyway. Thank you very much. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Be sure to sign your name. CHRIS TALBOT: My name is Chris 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 88 Talbot. Formerly raised in Mattituck. I am in Cutchogue now. Don't have any degrees in science. I have a Master's in Plumbing. But my background now is as a building official. I'm in the South Fork. I come here in support of the project. Where you're not supposed to hear that, but part of the DEIS moving it forward. Some of the things that I've seen in the plan and when I was here and attended the last meeting, it's definitely a shock when you hear 600 trees coming down. I've seen a lot of construction over the last 35 years. And 600 trees is a lot on one particular site. This is a large site. The excavation out of the site is gonna be -- have to follow all the State guidelines, State DEC guidelines, the stormwater prevention and pollution plan, which will be monitored by the Town. Silt fencing and such will be have to be implemented against the water's edge. Prevent any runoff. It'll definitely be an impact with the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 89 trucking out of this site. Hopefully, the better it gets done. Everybody in that area will be better off. One of the things that should be implemented on the site would be a stone rip-wrap base at the exit and entrance to the site, which essentially just shakes the wheels of the vehicle and gets all the sand from entering the roadway before it leaves the site. I have seen it in the construction industry. Just about any large job where they do dewatering. Dewatering on the site, not underground, but watering and keeping the dust down. These guys should be required to have a water truck on site. If they are not able to handle it with their own water and irrigation, it should be required as a condition of any approvals. Going forward with the IA system, I think that's a huge benefit to the environment down there. Getting all any groundwater or sewage that's going into a septic system, might even be as accessible down there now, into an IA system, which 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 90 everybody across the East End, most Suffolk County is requiring them. And Suffolk County Department of Waste Water Management is now fully on board. So that'll be a huge benefit to the Mattituck Creek. I know, Save the Sound, Save Mattituck Inlet, but this is actually a creek, which we're more talking about. Not the inlet. But I think that this project in the long run and on a community end of things. You know, about a dozen years ago, the Town Board implemented a Economic Development Committee. And what it looked at was the environment of our businesses around town. And we looked at the entire town. And you know, large providers of jobs is Peconic Landing, East End Long Island Hospital. And then you got the taxpayer funded schools, but Strong's Marine, I think would probably be in the 200 range. And I think that that's a huge thing. You don't have people transmitting or transporting to Mattituck and other locations from great 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 91 distances. And so those are points I think that you should seriously consider supporting this DEIS and the plan moving forward. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thanks, Chris. Yes, ma'am. SUSAN REEVE: Hi. My name is Susan Reeve. And I live on Sound Avenue in Riverhead. My ancestors came in and landed in Orient Point. And I'm related to about probably about 80% of the people that were here before 1950 or '40. I have seen Long Island Sound go from a thriving, filled with life body of water to crap. It's nothing now like it used to be. Mattituck Creek is one of a kind. And if you kill it, you can't get it back. And this building is gonna do real bad stuff to that waterway. The life that's in there, you should go down there in a kayak and float around for weeks at a time and fish. I've done that. The Striped Bass go up there and they spawn. And not to mention Bluefish and all the birds. The 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 92 ospreys, everything. Everybody's talking about money and about the -- over the road and all that stuff. But what you're gonna do to the creek, once you do it, you can't undo it. And you're gonna lose something that only you guys have. Don't you get that? You're gonna lose it. So I'm begging you, please consider it very seriously. I also sent an e-mail to the Board about a month, month and a half ago voicing my concerns. Thank you. I'm gonna let somebody else take over because I'm too upset. I'm just starting to start here. So I'm -- I just -- I'm into ecology. To Save the Sound from Connecticut. Save Long Island Sound. Come on Long Island. Let's save Long Island Sound. It's the only place on Long Island Sound that has the life that it has now. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you for your comments. Sir? RON JOHNSON: I'm Ron Johnson. I'm a marine (inaudible) since 1971. I'm 78-years-old. And I don't think this is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 93 gonna benefit me because I might not be here by the time it's done. Okay. I would have never come here if Nicole didn't call me, because I'm not the type of guy that comes to a thing like this. I let people do what they want. Okay. I lived in the Seaford from 1960 to '97. There was fishermen, hunters, boatyards, dock builders, boat builders. Okay. And nobody complained in the 1960. Okay. About a quarter of the land was undeveloped. In the 60's, they started to develop it, and people started to complain. Okay. Now there's duplexes there. Davidson's boatyard in Oceanside was a big boatyard for the five town boats. All inside storage. Condos, Freeport, Woodcliff Avenue. And there's a few guys here that know this very well. Woodcliff Avenue, disco boats and discos and restaurants. The boatyards are gone. Freeport Main Street, same thing. Except Freeport Main Street is condos. I see this as your choice, condos or traffic? You know, traffic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 94 year round, condos are. And you know, if just not making money. Who knows what happens next. Everybody might vote for condos. And I think that -- first of all, I was in Cancun and there was 60 foot boats there and 90 foot boats. And anyway's, one guy said it costs about 10% of the price of the boat to maintain it every year. So if you have a $10 million boat, you're gonna spend, you know, a million dollars a year maintaining that boat. Captain, blah, blah, all of this stuff. Fuel. Jeff doesn't get all of it, but he pays the taxes for what he gets. So I think you're benefiting in taxes if nothing else. Thanks. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you for your comments. Yes, ma'am. JAN NICHOLSON: Hello. I'm Jan Nicholson. I live in Peconic. I was a banker for 25 years, and I was trained to think about risk. For thinking about risk, it is helpful to view things as webs of connections. Financial markets, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 95 the economy, our bodies, society, living cooperative, flora and fauna and a rainforest, and a coastline drank -- graced by an embankment of forest, tides and winds. In essence, all of these are interdependencies that evolved with time. We don't necessarily see the interconnections within them. Until one element dies or we destroy it. You know, war in the Ukraine caused starvation in Africa. The failure of the Silicon Valley Bank could have damaged our country's venture capital seed corn that we must have for competing with the Chinese and chip development. My point is you just sometimes don't imagine what the connections are. The proposal at hand, gouging out a bluff is a brutal thing to do. We cannot know what all the effects might be. The DEIS is an attempt to assess them, but we can't be sure that its judgments are all going to be correct. We can't be sure that it's going to intuit every connection. So 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 96 for what would we be taking the risk of a misjudgment or some connection would be overlooked. We are taking that risk to accommodate one already thriving local business to serve some hyper wealthy people who don't necessarily live here. I think when you just look at the big picture from 30,000 feet up, we know two things for sure. That the proposal is brutal, and that the benefits, the social and economic benefits, if you listen to them, are trivial. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you very much for your comments. Sir. JOEL CORSO: Yes. My name is Joe Corso. I'm a retired small business owner. I have a house in Cutchogue and a small beach house, which we've had for over 30 something years in Greenport. I'm here to support this project. I've watched a lot of the changes that have occurred on the North Fork in the last, you know, 30-35 years. Been coming out here since I was a kid. So I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 97 really, you know, have seen the changes. This particular project is, you know, I went down there to look at the -- at the area just to see exactly what it is. Because there's been so much demonization in the paper and some of the comments that are out there about this that, you think, you know, we're gonna be -- we're gonna be taking half of Mattituck. You know, digging it out. It's a small little section we're looking at. What 6.5 acres? As far as trees being taken down, it's a small number again. It's only what, something 600 trees out of 2400 that are still there. And when you look at what -- how nature regenerates itself very quickly. I've always said that, you know, when men don't exist on this planet anymore, nature is gonna take over within a few years. You start to see growth. I've seen pieces of property that have been worn down and nothing is done. And within a year there are now, you know, this scrub 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 98 growth. There are trees growing up again. And I'm gonna use the example. Like out at Greenport. I look over at the marina -- marinas, Sag Harbor Marinas. And, you know, there are boats coming in there that dock overnight. And they're coming from the South Fork because it's a lot cheaper to do business on the North Fork. Now we should be getting some of that economic benefit. You know, the town is going to get a tax, you know, a tax increase there. And, you know, one of the thing, you know, it's zoned. You know, we've heard this over and over. That this is property that is zoned and it's still again, a very relatively small piece. As far as, traffic with the trucks coming in and out, somebody should do a study on the number of trucks on a daily basis that are currently coming in and out. That are going to -- that do this every year, year in and year out. This is a project where there's -- it'll be upsetting for maybe six months. You 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 99 know, we approved on Peconic Landing a number of years ago. We approved Harvest Pointe a number of years ago. And I'm not knocking those facilities, they do a great job, but it was minimal. You really didn't, you know, feel the effect of all of these trucks coming in and out. It's -- I don't know. I just -- I just think the project has been demonized. I give Strong's a pat on the back for the amount of work they put into this project. To try and address all of these issues. You know, they're -- - they're not here to, you know, destroy the North Fork. They've only enhanced it. In all of their projects. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you for your input. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Please refrain from applause if you don't mind. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Yes, ma'am. State your name, please? CATHERINE CANADE': My name is Catherine Canade', and I live on West 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 100 Mill Road in Mattituck. I know that so many of my neighbors have written and spoken about how disruptive the Strong's Project is going to be. And that's because we all use and value our outdoor space so much. We love the North Fork because of its natural beauty, and the ability for us to enjoy the outdoors is essential to our well-being. The excavation of the hillside and transport of sand and construction material over 13 months is not an insignificant issue. And it's not simply a temporary challenge as some have said. It is a fundamental change to this neighborhood's way of life, and to the safety of those who live here. We have no sidewalks on West Mill Road. So walking in our neighborhood is already challenging. We walk our dogs. We ride our bikes. We push our strollers. We jog, walk. All along the edge of the road. There are spots that feel dangerous already because of bends in the road or inclines that make it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 101 impossible for drivers to see us on the side of the road and for us to see them. The blind curve where Breakwater meets West Mill is especially dangerous. And so many drivers are already speeding well above the speed limit causing us to have to jump into the grass and underbrush just to often get out of the way. Add to this truck, after truck. Undoubtedly speeding and you have a fatal accident just waiting to happen. This is not an exaggeration. It's spelled out in the DEIS. Tractor trailer traffic on Cox Neck and West Mill Roads will be 20 to 80 times greater than it is currently. It is inconceivable to many of us that the Board would approve this plan, because we know that the preservation of the North Forks residential community has always been a priority. Sections of Cox Neck Road and West Mill Road comprising the truck route are as narrow as 22 feet in places. And at points, the unpaved shoulder is blocked by utility poles, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 102 vegetation or landscapers trucks. (2) 8 feet wide trucks passing in opposite directions with a narrow 1 foot space between them leaves a total of 5 feet for pedestrians and bicyclists. 2.5 feet on each side. Far too little for safety. On behalf of all the adults, teenagers and children who walk, run and ride their bikes in the neighborhood all year long, we ask you, deny this application. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Sir? TOM SCALIA: My name is Tom Scalia. I am with the Southold Business Alliance. I'm also a director on the North Fork Chamber of Commerce, and past president. I own and operate a business in Southold Town for the last 27 years. That's half -- half as long as the Strong's have been operating their business on the North Fork. They've been operating since 1968. They operate a great business. They've grown their business over the years. I'm asking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 103 that the Board, please seek a balance between economic development and conservation of the environment. The economic development portion of the DS that I read, it states that -- it shows the payroll for the Strong's. It shows how much money they pay in taxes, commercial tax base. The Southold economy is extremely important. The economy of the Southold Town is extremely important. When I look at the Community Preservation Fund, that's -- that's the balance between purchase of a new, real property and that's loads money over to community preservation of the environment. I did a little investigation. I looked at all the Strong's properties that they've purchased over the years to expand their business. I come to -- if my calculations are correct, they've commuted over $300,000 into the Community Preservation Fund for years in Southold Town, including Southampton Town and East Hampton. If the Mill Pond 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 104 Preserve was purchased for $461,000, according to my calculations, the Strong's have single handedly paid for 65% of it in their purchases and expansion of the business. I ask that -- as Joe said a few minutes ago, this project has been demonized. The impacts of the environment is gonna be there, but I don't think it's as significant as what they're being made out to be. The jobs that are gonna be created by this project, they're talking about 11 to 12 jobs that are gonna be created. That's not insignificant for all the kids who are graduating from the local high schools and looking to stay in the area. Work in their hometown and live here. I can tell you that first hand, because my son works for Strong's. He's worked for six summers for Strong's. He was headed out of town after he graduated college. He was headed out to Colorado to find a job in a different field. And Jeff Strong offered him a job, a well paying job, salaried position with benefits, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 105 and he can stay in his hometown. His mother is thrilled. His girlfriend is thrilled and his father is thrilled that he's staying here. Don't underestimate the economic advantage to growing businesses in Southold Town. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you for your comments. LORI PANARELLO: Hi. My name is Lori Panarello. I also live on West Mill Road. I moved to Mattituck about 10 years ago. And loved the North Fork so much, that I opened up a business. Over the last few years, a thriving business in Greenport. You know, I haven't lived here as long as the woman who has been here for 80 years and I certainly don't know as many people as she does, but I'm as angry as she is. I just wanna say, I have to have some things written down, but I just wanna say, listening to people speak, with all due respect, it really angers me even more how flippantly they speak to things like it's only 650 trees. It's only, you 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 106 know, a truck load of sand every seven minutes for six months. What I couldn't get a porch built in a month. I don't know how he's gonna get this built in six months or it's not -- it's gonna be at least a two year project. It's really -- it angers me. You people live in Cutchogue. You people live in Southold. You live in Greenport. I live on West Mill Road. Every seven minutes there'll be a truck load of sand going down my block and another one going back the other way to pick up more sand. If that isn't an inconvenience to my lifestyle, to the lifestyle of the people in my neighborhood, I don't really know what is. Somebody said before that there won't -- won't be such a big impact to the environment. Birds will stay as long as the noise isn't that loud. It's ridiculous. They're building a construction site. They won't in silence? Makes no sense at all. We talk about the fact that there really isn't a threat to the fire. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 107 8,000 gallons of propane and at least 100 gallons of gasoline and 88 boats, they can put that fire out? I don't want to live there to see that happen. If they can put it out, I hope I'm not there to see it. I'm angry about the disruption to the people that want to walk on that road. Jog on that road. Bicycle on that road. Catherine made a point before about landscape trucks and different trucks on that road. How are trucks gonna go down that road with all the activity that's already in those 22 feet? It just can't happen. The fact that the roads are gonna be torn up and I have to drive my car down those roads every day, they're gonna be a mess. That Strong says, "I'll fix them." But I have to live like that for two years. To be honest, I'm angry that we're even here discussing this project. It just makes no sense and I think it's horrific. You know, I had the opportunity to meet Jeff Strong at the library meeting that he had. And is he a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 108 nice guy? Yeah. He's a really nice guy. But he's not a nice neighbor. For him to have lived in his community for so long and because his project is okay -- MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Excuse me, ma'am. We're over three minutes and I also want to keep this on the project. Not on the Strong Family. LORI PANARELLO: No, it's -- I'm not over three minutes. And I'm saying that Jeff is a great guy. I just don't think -- MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: I'm sorry. LORI PANARELLO: Yeah. I'm not saying -- I'm not -- I think he's a great guy. I'm a business person. We talked about business. But you know what. I'll end by saying this. In business, how much is enough? When is enough enough? I'll tell you when it's enough, when it's at the detriment to an entire community. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 109 you. BRANDON SILL: Hello. My name is Brandon Sill. I'm currently an employee as Strong's Marine. I moved here 16 years ago. I'm a resident of Mattituck. I just want to speak on the opportunity that Strong has given to me with them. The job that they gave to me. I was able to bring my daughter here. Raised -- I raised her from four years old. Graduated high school. She works at the Animal Shelter right down the road. And I support the project. 11 jobs that it's gonna create. If they can help 11 people like they helped me, then I support it. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Sir? JAMES HINSCH: My name is James Hinsch. I live in Laurel. One of the issues that's worth taking into consideration is that of property rights. Town has created zoning that permits appropriate uses in each zone. This way it regulates the specific 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 110 location of development. When an individual or entity purchases a property, it comes with a specific zoning. That person or organization has the right to develop that property within the limitations of that zoning. This property is zoned for this usage. Secondly, I think we need to be reminded of the financial benefits. Several commercial fishermen spoke at the last meeting about the value of access to services on the inlet. Specifically mentioned the services that are provided at the Yacht Center. This project will result in the addition of year round well paying jobs. Considering that most of the jobs that are added to our Town are generally in the hospitality industry. Frequently seasonal, part-time and usually don't pay well. We should not discount the economic value. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Sir? DAVID BOFILL: My name is Dave 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 111 Bofill, and I address this Board as a 50-year Eastern Long Island resident, local marine business owner and vice-president of the New York Marine Trade Association. In addition, I'm a 15-year North Fork resident, the majority in Nassau Point, and a proud parent for one of our Southold Town Police officers. Clearly, I have a vested interest in our North Fork, our neighborhood, our environment and our future. And for the record, Strong's, Marine and Dave Bofill Marine are often direct competitors. My appearance tonight is one of concern based on what appears to be the apparent prejudice against our local small business. More specifically the marine industry. Conforming with present and clearly approved zoning, and the full support of agencies and the LWRP, why are we here? Why are the present rights of this small business owner being challenged? Yes, the removal of 600 trees is a large number; however, less 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 112 removal than what's presently allowed, right? Won't 75% of the existing trees remain? And Strong's offering replant trees, right? North of this project, there are several 100 homes with more presently being built. Why is it okay for their trucks to be running all day? And now there's a problem with Strong's requesting the same thing? Comparing the environmental impact of the proposed buildings, four toilets, two employee showers. If we take that square footage and we put it in comparison to residential, that's 29 homes, 90 toilets, hundreds of daily showers, laundry soap water. Not to mention a minimum of 60 additional cars using our roads. What a bonus to our environment. And talk about bonus, has anybody realized the huge opportunity to collect millions of out-of-state sales tax dollars? The sales tax dollars that our state would not typically see to collect. Bonus revenue that will find its way to our local municipality for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 113 police, for our roads, our schools, our teachers. Again tax free revenue that would not have ordinarily been received. In closing, should this application be denied? I see the declination as prejudice against the marine industry and the local small business. It is the right of a Strong Family to develop the property that they own, that they pay the taxes on, in the manner that conforms with the framework of our present, in-place zoning codes and with the present support of the LWRP and the agencies. And you know, as a side note -- JESSICA MICHAELIS: Thank you, Mr. Bofill. Your time is up. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you for your comments. Sir? JAMES AIOLI: James Aioli, Mattituck, New York. Resident for almost 50 years. And first I have to say to the Board, I commend you all being up here. What seems like at times almost a lynching. And I have to tell 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 114 you, I've known Jeff, in three generations of Jeff. Strong from Dave. Strong to Jeff, to his sons, that have done actually a wonderful job in every development that I've ever seen them do. I've been one of their customers. Actually, my parents have been -- actually were the second longest running customer from the Marina. And I've seen everything that they've done and it's admirable. Let's look at the number of pools that were installed. Swimming pools in Southold Town during just the two years of COVID. It was an insane amount. You should report this to local residents. Now take a 20 by 40 pools, 800 square feet. Approximately 10 trees are taken down to put in a swimming pool. That's 500 trees per acre. It's nothing compared. Yes. The 600 trees are a lot. I get it. But when you think about the number of pools that are installed, swimming pools, the amount of trees that are taken down and thought nothing about it, because 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 115 everybody has the right to put a swimming pool in their backyard if it's zoned for it, which this project is zoned for this. Furthermore, the Tier Four trucks, which is an incredible feat that Jeff is actually gonna pull off. I tell you, most people don't even know what a Tier Four engine -- diesel engine is. You go to the pumpkin picking that happens in September and October, and you see all those trucks, that all those cars that are waiting to get online. So for a Tier Four truck -- diesel truck, you can't even hear it run. It's clean idle. It can idle all day long and they're not gonna do that. It's really incredible. I don't know how he's gonna pull it off. Furthermore, these are all air ride tractor trailers. Therefore with loaded, you won't even feel this truck going over the road with air ride. Most people don't know this. They have to look into this information. Furthermore, going back to Ms. Mia, I'm sorry. I can't read your last name. I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 116 don't have my glasses. But in regards to AC and D facility, yes, they use water, but in the sand and gravel, we don't spray water. Happen to be in the recycling business. I know this, the DEC permits (inaudible) are actually several in Suffolk County. So the trucking is not gonna be anywhere near what you think. I am one of the people that is looking forward to this project. I do. I take my boats south every year. I spend 4,000 gallons of fuel just to get it to Florida. Because I don't have a place here to store it in the wintertime. We talked about the amount of fuel that you need to put in a boat, but we don't need that. It's a heated indoor storage. I don't have to fill my boat. I don't have the condensation problem because it's heated indoor storage. And the 88 boats that are gonna come in here, it's gonna be two a day in Florida. We have travel lifts that you have appointments. The impact is not gonna be what it is. It is a big 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 117 project. I commend the Strong's. I commend you guys. Move forward with it. I approve it. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you for your comments. Yes, ma'am. JENN HARTNAGEL: Hi. Good evening, Members of the Planning Board. My name is Jenn Hartnagel, and I'm here on behalf of a group for the East End. I would like to address several deficiencies within the DEIS by beginning with the analysis of the project's consistency with the Town's Comprehensive Plan. Although the DEIS concludes that the proposal is entirely consistent, I would like to offer several instances where we believe it's not. The project is inconsistent with the natural resources and Environment Chapter, Goal One, protects soils and geologic features. Specifically Objective 1.4, preserve the unique geological features of the town. This project wholly removes a natural feature. It's gone. Therefore, how can 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 118 it be consistent? It is inconsistent. To support arguments for the excavation, there's been assertions that the entire area set for removal is composed of dredge spoils and therefore somewhat not natural. On this note, please, review the soil boring data contained in the Appendices and the DEIS and look at the historical aerial photos, which prove that this just isn't the case. The proposal is also inconsistent with Goal Two, to protect the upland habitat and trees. Specifically Objective 2.1. Unfortunately, once it's removed, it's virtually impossible to mitigate the effects of the loss of this much habitat in a single area. And therefore offering to donate 50 very small trees to the Town and re-vegetate a small area is a nice gesture, but is in no way considered true mitigation according to SEQRA standards. The proposal is inconsistent with Goal Two and Three of the Water Resources Section to protect 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 119 groundwater quality and surface water quality. Eventually, as the DEIS makes note on Page 113 and page X or 10 of the Introductory, the Climate Change Section, components of the sanitary system will eventually be sitting in groundwater due to sea level rise. And that's documented in the DEIS. So although this might not happen, you know, X number of years from now, these are unavoidable impacts. And the DEIS makes no mention of who will be monitoring this situation or enforcing upgrades and modifications or what the direct impacts of discharge of wastewater into the groundwater are. The Comp Plan also directs the Town under Objective 2.1 D, to evaluate "the uses and the bulk schedule of the Marine Zoning Districts, to ensure that they continue to support the goals of the Town." Are the goals of the Town to allow the complete removal of natural features? The removal of woodlands to create severe traffic and community 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 120 character related impacts? And the list goes on. We can engineer our way in and out of anything. But should we given what's at stake? The other major issue I wanted to address was the analysis of the alternatives. I am out of time. JESSICA MICHAELIS: You have 30 seconds. JENN HARTNAGEL: SEQRA directs that the DEIS provide for a comparison of reasonable project alternatives at a level of detail that is suitable for comparative assessment. The alternative section is lacking, and it provides little analysis but rather describes why they aren't viable in order to bolster the support for the proposed action. So we would ask that the alternatives be given an honest assessment. So that you can fairly judge this project. We implore this Board to require a deeper examination of the issues that were addressed here tonight, and require a more thorough analysis of the impacts of this project, which we believe 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 121 illustrate that the impacts cannot be appropriately mitigated and that this project should be denied. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. We'll be providing additional comments in writing. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. PHOEBE PUNDYK: Hi. My name is Phoebe Pundyk, and I live down the road from where the project will be. And I want to talk about our neighborhood. Our neighborhood lives outdoors year round. Personally, I run the loop from West Mill to Breakwater Beach 12 months a year. When I'm out, I see my neighbors. They're walking their dogs, riding their bikes, going on jogs. Picking up their kids from the school bus stop. The neighborhood is home to young entrepreneurs having lemonade stands and selling girl scout cookies. Friends walk to one another's houses. One neighbor walks that same loop every morning and photographs the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 122 changes he sees every day. My neighbors are spending time in West Mill Preserve. We live outside. This project would be a major disruption to our lifestyle and it is the antithesis as to why we choose to live here, and it is a threat to our safety. West Mill Road is tight. There is no shoulder. There are no sidewalks. We cannot safely use the road if there are 18-wheelers driving in each direction all day long. No matter how slow they go. As the consultant's helpful suggest -- And the consultant's helpful suggestion is that we stay inside with our windows closed. So that we aren't bothered by the noise and the traffic, which is quite absurd. I understand that the construction phase is considered to be temporary. I also know that no project big or small stays on schedule. This one will be at least a year long. At least. For a neighborhood that lives outside, it's not a brief or short term inconvenience. It's a major change to our lifestyle. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 123 It a year or more of not being able to safely walk is not just an -- it makes it impossible for this neighborhood to live the way in the way that we have chosen. It will be detrimental to our physical and mental health. Will isolate many of our neighbors. It will destroy the character of the neighborhood. We are your neighbors. We are your community. Please consider the short term and long term physical and mental toll that this will have on us all. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. KATHERINE KENT: Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Katherine Kent. I am a lifelong resident of the North Fork. I grew up on my family property, just off of Sound Avenue. Nestled between two farms and I still live there today. Our community has numerous concerns in regards to Strong's Yacht Center project. Since the project 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 124 involves tractor trailers taking 40 trips per day, I would like to speak on traffic safety. As a resident of Sound Avenue, the number of tractor trailers already moving along Sound Avenue at high speeds is alarming. Sound Avenue is an historic corridor. Not particularly a wide road with turns and hills. It is lined with residential homes, wineries, small businesses and farms stands. As an agricultural area, our farms are a huge draw for locals and many visitors. We regularly see families excited to pick their own fruit and vegetables. Loading them in their trunk. Even picnicking by the back of their vehicles with children close to the road. In the warmer months, we see groups of bicyclists riding along Sound Avenue as well. Now throw in the mix of fast moving tractor trailers with heavy loads. Today I was running errands. Thinking about the meeting and I thought, let me just -- let me just count how many tractor trailers I see. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 125 And within a few minutes and a few miles, I counted 15 tractor trailers carrying loads, such as sod, fill and oil. This combination of people not paying close attention to traffic and massive vehicles moving at fast speeds is a dangerous combination. When does it stop? As a former Riverhead Councilwoman, I was part of a task force where we discussed traffic and possible solutions to alleviate it. We made positive changes. Turning lanes adjusted the timing of lights. Added traffic officers. But we must take into consideration the number of massive vehicles that are -- we are allowing onto Sound Avenue, and the main road. The question at hand is whether the benefits of this project outweigh the negative impacts to our quality of life for the greater good. I think not. We must work together to protect the future of the North Fork for our children. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 126 you. Yes, sir. JOHN MARA: I'm John Mara. I live about a quarter mile from the marina. And I've lived here for 19 years. I wrote an article that was published in a Suffolk Times, an editorial. It was entitled a "Public Nuisance". That was about a year and a half ago. And I wanted to briefly go over two points. The first is scale and the second is stewardship. First scale. North Fork is a small quaint, unique. The inlet is also very small. Saturday at high tide, I went to the inlet and I -- for people that haven't been there, I was able to throw a small stone halfway across the water. And I'm no pitcher. Just to show you how small the inlet really is. And to think this is -- this is a massive, massive project. Two propane large buildings that are 100 times the size of the first floor of my house. 100 times. 600 trees will be removed. The landscape will be leveled. That has been there for generations. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 127 Using about 800-900 trucks. Depositing a lot of sediment. I'm told by some experts that sediment will endanger water more than boats. Sediment run off. So this is going to result in a tremendous environmental. Second, stewardship. My question was, will the owners represent the Mattituck community or will they cater to the needs of the yacht owners? Well, I have a little bit of experience. For the past 2 to 3 years, I've been writing e-mails perhaps 10, to the president of the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Organization. Noise from rock bands as late as 10:00 P.M., emanating from the marina, I can hear the words and lyrics to the songs in my house with all the doors and windows closed. I can hear the words from Jeremiah was a Bullfrog. Everything over and over and over again, at 10:00 P.M., and the next day is a workday. To these e-mails, I've received zero. Zero response. And I can only conclude from that, that the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 128 entertainment needs of out-of-state visitors is put ahead of the comfort of local residents. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you, sir. Yes? JEFF PUNDYK: Hi. My name is Jeff Pundyk, and I live in Mattituck. I'd like to focus on what's really actually at issue. The character of the developer is not in dispute. It's the character of the community, that's what fake. Throughout these sessions, we've heard nice stories about the developer. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Make sure you speak into the microphone, please. JEFF PUNDYK: Throughout these sessions, we've heard nice stories about the developer. None of which we doubt. I assume that the point of these stories is that we can take it on faith that the developer will do the right thing, but we don't have to take it on faith. It's all written down by the developer, and the DEIS. That's what's so great about this process. It takes the guesswork out 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 129 of the thing. There's absolutely no ambiguity about the scope of this project. The size of the buildings, the amount of sand to be removed. The number of trucks, the number of trees coming down. The proximity to public space. The disruption during construction to the neighborhood and to surrounding towns, and the lasting impact on the project -- on once the project is done, is all spelled out in the DEIS. The question isn't what's going to happen? The question is, do we care? And the question isn't whether the developers are good people. The question is, what would we think of this exact same project if it came from somebody else? What we -- what would we think if it came from somebody from outside of our community? This could be a precedent setting development. One that paves the way for even more misguided land use and further erosion, the character of our community. I ask that you consider the DEIS and not the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 130 developer. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. DONNA BOSCOLA: Hello, I'm Donna Boscola, and I'm from Mattituck. And I live at 5106 West Mill Road. Specifically, 120 feet from the project. Now my comment is -- now that the Suffolk County Water Authority has completed the water main extension from Nagle's Drive to the entrance of the Strong's Yacht Center, there should no longer be a mention of the fact that this is a project benefit. Since it was done independent of the project. References to this benefit should be removed from the FEIS. The DEIS scientifically underestimates the amount of cement trucks required for this project. It states that 89 cement trucks will be traveling to and from the site. When the actual number is closer to 400 full trucks for a total of 800 trips. The DEIS does not state the route for these trucks either. More 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 131 importantly, the DEIS does not discuss the timing of these trucks as they are typically staged together. Since concrete needs to be delivered and poured in succession without significant delays. The staging of these trucks, which will be high idling to power the onboard mixers, will create a hotspot of exhaust fumes, as well as, amplified noise from the combination of trucks running. The DEIS needs to discuss the cement trucking process in detail, as that will impact all roadways and neighboring homes, and is now downplayed. I would also like to point out that in a February 18, 2020 staff report, from Suffolk County Planning Commission, the staff noted "no soils should be removed. It is questionable. If the excavation and removal of approximately 130,000 cubic yards of soil off site is necessary. The intended excavation will create a bowl on site where storm floodwaters from, Mattituck Creek will surge into." This staff 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 132 report was not referenced in the DEIS. And lastly, I will leave you with this. Over the past three years, we currently as SMI have 3,716 people who have signed a petition to stop the environmental destruction of this project. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Yes, ma'am. THERESA DILWORTH: Hi. I'm Theresa Dilworth from Mattituck. I'm a corporate income tax attorney and I've spent my entire career analyzing corporations profitability. As a finance professional, my first question was, how much is this project going to cost and how much profit is Strong going to make? I focused on Pages 278 and 282 of the DEIS, Tables 48 and 51 and the sales tax projections. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think the Strong's are going to make money, but rather will lose about a half a million dollars a year for 20 years. Some of my observations are, Number One, Strong's main business is buying and selling new 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 133 and preowned boats. About 85% of the business. In 2020, the Strong's made $16 million from boat sales out of a total of $17.3 million. In 2024, they project $18.7 million in boat sales out of a total of $21.4 million. Their other lines of business are small service merchandise sales, fuel sales and boat storage. Boat storage is only 3% of their business. Even assuming they get to the full 88 super yachts, which could take years, this new line of business will only result in a 1.9% increase in revenues. It can't be said that the Strong Yacht Center needs this new market to survive. Even if they were to eliminate their storage business altogether, both for small boats and for super yachts, their revenue will still increase by $2.2 million in 2024. Currently, the Strong's make $600,000 a year from storing small boats. 88 new super yachts would bring in an additional $496,000. $496,000 divided by 88 yachts, means they are charging 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 134 $5700. $5,700 dollars per super yacht per year in storage fees. This is consistent with their sales tax projections. My calculations assume a project cost of $6.3 million for the whole project. Public statements by Mr. Strong confirm that my estimate is pretty accurate. When you capitalize between $6 and $7 million a year over 20 years, you end up with losses of over $300,000 per year. When you add interest expense, it adds up to over $500,000 a year in losses every year for 20 years. The Strong's need to bring down the cost of their project tremendously in order to be financially feasible. I suggest Alternative Six, where they raise the roof height of their two existing steel sheds and perhaps also slightly increase their length and their width. They appear to have some room to expand on all four sides of their existing two buildings. And they also have quite a bit of dead space between their two buildings, which could be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 135 better utilized. Such an alternative would reduce their costs tremendously and alleviate most of the community's concerns. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Sir? JIM GROENEVELD: Good evening. I'm actually reading on behalf of someone that could not be here today. But -- MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: For the record, we need your name. JIM GROENEVELD: Jim Groeneveld. I'm also the CFO of Strong's Marine. And I would first like to say before I start with this, while I appreciate the numbers and the analytics there, the majority of that was incorrect. That being said, to the Southold Town Planning Board from Alfred W. Cook, that it was written on June 3, 2023. The Cook Family has been a waterfront neighbor and customer of Mattituck Inlet Marina, now Strong Yacht Center since 1964. Strong's Marine has revitalized two marinas in the inlet. The improvements have been accomplished with 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 136 a positive effect on the community, and the environment. Repainted sheds are attractive from the water and shows that the marina is well maintained. By purchasing a new boat lift and replacing the bulkhead, Strong's is keeping the inlet safe. They provide quality service and dockage. There is very limited MII waterfront property for accommodating the boating industry on the North Shore. Mattituck Inlet is the only harbor for 50 miles on the North Shore between Port Jefferson and Orient. The trend seems to be that people are purchasing larger vessels that need special accommodations. Strong's storage project is a necessity for the North Shore boaters, as well as, the East End boaters. Strong's improvements have been responsible and their workmanship, dependable. Strong's Marine Storage building project would be another asset to Mattituck Inlet. I fully support the project encourage Southold Town Planning Board to approve the project. Sincerely. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 137 Alfred W. Cook. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Sir? GREG WILLIAMS: Good evening. My name is Greg Williams. I'm a business owner in Mattituck, and just wanted to go through a few things. I was reviewing the Town's Comprehensive Plan and Chapter One, the Vision Statement ends with, "our citizens cherish Southold's small town quality of life and wish to preserve what we currently value. While planning for a productive and viable future." In small business, you're either dying or growing. So to be viable, this business needs to grow as all businesses do. In the second paragraph, it talks of future planning "shall be compatible with existing community character, while supporting and addressing the challenges of continued land preservation, maintaining a vibrant local economy, creating efficient transportation, promoting a diverse housing stock, expanding 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 138 recreational opportunities and protecting natural reef resources." So we want to maintain and grow a local -- vibrant local economy and also expand recreational opportunities. In Southold Town, which is roughly 33,350 acres, Marine MII, we have 111 acres of that in town. It's not even a percent. That needs to be built out to create jobs and strengthen our economy. So people can stay here and work and make a living. In Southold Town, if you combine the commercial and industrial properties, it's 2.4% of the acreage. Of that 33,000 acres, Southold Town has done a great job. We preserved over 11,000 acres to stop, you know, preserve open space. Keep farms working. With every project and every growth, there's growing pains. And this is going to be a strain on the community. I acknowledge that. Moved into a house seven years ago. The next door neighbor, he knocked down his house, built a new one. Across the creek. They built one 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 139 the next summer. Following summer, the next door neighbor, he renovated his house. It was a pain, but the projects are done. And I'm able to enjoy my backyard. The other thing I'm gonna bring in there is best practices. You know, when we take on a project, you -- your Board and the Building Department is going to encourage and make sure best practices are used. So as these projects move forth, I'm sure the applicant will maintain best practices. Do the best to preserve the neighbor's quality of life and mitigate any harm to our Town. This will create jobs. This will also bring more business to our business community. The applicant bought the property with MII zoning and property rights, and those rights should be honored. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you for your comments. Sir? JERRY ADLER: My name is Jerry Adler. I've a resident of Mattituck. I -- one of my predecessors here, referred 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 140 to the importance of Strong's providing 11 full-time year round jobs. I would urge every members of the Board to look carefully at the DEIS, which refers to 11 full-time jobs, but does not anywhere specify that they will be year round jobs. And ask yourselves whether a facility that will be empty for half the year is going to provide full-time jobs for -- full-time career jobs for 11 residents. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. JOHN COSTELLO: This is my turn. Okay. My name is John Alexander Costello. I've been a marine contractor and involved in the marine waterfront for over 6 -- well over 60 years. I've done every dock in Montauk. I've done every dock in Sag Harbor over a period of time. I worked at the Old Mill. Worked at Peterson's. I worked for Consolidated. I've done the Old Mill high beams. I put them on there. And I've been doing it, the marine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 141 contracting business. One of the things I've never worked for is Strong's. Haven't worked for them and nor do I need to work for them. I have a list of clientele and I will, and I do handle all my paper. All my clients, including the ferry companies. We handle them. We handle them and we try to handle them in good condition. The Strong oil has the reputation of being total professionals. Quality people and professionals. I'm surprised our paths have not crossed. Nor do I look for any additional work. But I can tell you that I have done much and more of it over the period of time. Robbins Island, customer. Everything in North Haven, all customers. I've done it. I don't wanna brag about it, but they're customers and know why they're still customers, given professional service. We need in Southold Town, waterfront jobs. We need those jobs. They're being taken by condominiums and multi-cars and people. And that -- that's -- that is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 142 contrary to the plans that were here originally in Southold. I would ask the Indians if they would want it back, and I can tell you the answer would probably be, no. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. BRIDGET ELKIN: Hi. My name is Bridget Elkin. I share a property line with the North Forks largest working waterfront MII zoned area in Greenport Village. I am an advocate and active supporter in preserving and continuing our region's working waterfront. While I respect the applicant's right to develop the subject property, I don't feel the project is in line with our Town's vision as outlined in our LWRP. First, I would like to comment that the LWRP itself is meant to be read and understood as a whole document. I encourage the Board to ask the applicant to expand the benefits section on Page 16 of the DEIS to include the paragraph text that surrounds the LWRP excerpts, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 143 eight quotes. New York's stated goal in preserving our working waterfront is to advocate an equitable, resilient and healthy waterfront for all New Yorkers. This includes expanding public access, enlivening the waterfront, supporting the existing working waterfront, improving water quality, improving government oversight and increasing climate resilience. It is hard to imagine a yacht storage operation will enliven our waterfront and improve our water quality. It is certainly not going to increase climate resilience. And it does not support our existing and localized working waterfront community. Where is the merit in improving a project that involves significant environmental hardship and community disturbance to the benefit of out of area yacht owners? The business model the applicant is proposing needs access to the water, but it does not need access to the North Forks water. The claim that yacht storage qualifies and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 144 exists as an existing and enhanced use, feels like a stretch. This is a new business for the applicant and it requires significant environmental disturbance to realize it. Had this project been proposed by an out of town developer, it would have been deemed inappropriate for our working waterfront from the start. Let's be sure not to conflate the benefits of the community with the benefits of one local family. This project is not a good fit for Southold Town's vision and creates a North Fork problem for a non-North Fork issue. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Sir? CHIP CHEEK: Good evening. My name is Chip Cheek. Resident of Cutchogue, Nassau Point. My wife and I have been working here on the North Fork since 2005. Previously to moving over to the North Fork, we lived in Hampton Bays for over 25 years. I've been in this industry as a working captain. I've 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 145 been fortunate enough to work for Strong's over the last two seasons as an instructor with their water club at Mattituck Bay and also Southampton. I also keep my boat in Broadwater Cove, which has been purchased by Strong's end of last season. And I have seen nothing but improvements. I think his family does a very good job in the industry. They support local businesses. Local business is very important. Family run business, I find that -- I have worked my whole career also here on the North Fork and around the country for family run businesses. And that is a big part of our community, and our country. I am very much in support of this project. Thank you for your time. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you, sir. HENRY MARTIN RANDALL: My name is Henry Martin Randall. I'm Marty. I live in Peconic. The applicant has made statements in the DEIS and in the press about the need for his -- his project to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 146 protect our "maritime heritage". And my remarks address this. Know a little bit about Long Island's maritime heritage. My grandfather, Captain Henry Randall, born in 1844, the Sea-Faro sailed wooden square rigors all over the world out of Port Jefferson. In the 1800's and early 19th -- in the early 20th century. (Inaudible) was a very important regional shipbuilding center. He served in the Union Navy during the Civil War. Captain Randall had my father late in life. My father, Henry, Jr., was a merchant mariner for four years during World War II and continued sailing for recreation after the war. Maritime heritage are personal to my family. I grew up in Port Jefferson. Spent my early days on the water. As a teenager and young adult, I worked on lobster boats and fishing trawlers. Sailed all around the island. Sailed and had a job in the marine construction industry. These activities are just some examples of Long Island's maritime 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 147 heritage. Storing yachts for billionaires has nothing to do with Long Island or Southold maritime heritage. It's called warehousing. Warehousing yachts is a service that is not water dependent. Even though it is water related. Dominating yacht warehouses on this site that have devastating environmental consequences. Ruining a coastal forest. A coastal buffer zone is counterproductive to fish breeding grounds, which support water quality, affecting marine industries and our maritime heritage. Please don't allow huge warehouses for large yachts at Mattituck Inlet, which is an historic maritime center. Warehouses belong elsewhere. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Yes, sir. LAWRENZO HEIT: Lawrenzo Heit from Greenport, New York. So I'm a PE, and I'm really into the data of things. And many years ago I worked for the Environmental Protection Agency to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 148 develop some of the permitting structures. But what struck me was a few things that seemed to be not even discussed or brought up in the environmental assessment. That is specifically they're bringing -- I believe it was 4,000 gallons of propane. Why do they need propane? I'm gonna burn the propane. But where is the environmental impact of producing all of that carbon footprint? The State of New York is now in the process of saying you're not even allowed to put a stove in new construction, but we're going to put in a, you know, a heated facility for boats that's going to burn a tremendous amount of propane? And then the boats don't exist now here on Long Island. So whatever emissions they generate were not included in that DEIS either. So I think that they're missing pieces and the full impact because the project doesn't end when they finish the construction. We're still -- they're still gonna be contributing to the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 149 environment in a negative way for many, many years. So I think that part needs to be included, and I think it's missing from their current offering. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Valuable information. Thank you. LOUISE HARRISON: Good evening, Louise Harrison. Save the Sound. I'm a Conservation Biologist with decades of professional experience in environmental review and land protection on Long Island. Through my work for Federal State and local government agencies and not-for-profits. Potential adverse environmental impacts of this proposal on Mill Road Preserve should be a concern for every Southold taxpayer. Found records show that when the preserve was purchased, it was to remain in its natural state and be reserved for nature trails. A preserve paid for with the public's money is supposed to provide benefits in perpetuity for the price. Adverse impacts of a development 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 150 project on an adjoining property that would harm the preserve should be completely avoided. There is no acceptable level of destruction of this public resource by a private party. Even if a hired consultant purports the long term impacts can be calculated to a highly specific numerical value. Is the public expected to accept this asserted percentage of impact in perpetuity? Hikers will need to avert their eyes from artificial installations. Wildlife will lose habitat. This diminishes the public benefits intended by Southold in creating the preserve. The DEIS downplays destroying the New York State listed vulnerable Coastal Oak Beach Forest, with which the preserve's forest is contiguous. The properties are connected ecologically. With destruction of over five acres of forest, including more than 630 trees, the overall forest is reduced in size. What had been a forest interior now would be at the remaining forests open 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 151 edge. This will expose what was once shady, dark and moist habitat for many forest species to increased solar radiation. Wind throw of more trees. Drying of soils. Loss of habitat for scores of species, including some that are endangered. And a rapid insurgence -- rapid insurgence of invasive plant and animal species, which favor disturbance. This will change the preserves microclimate plants and wildlife and will harm crucial forest soils. Please take seriously the potential adverse impacts on the Eastern Box Turtle. In a Federal Register Notice on February 21st of this year, the U.S. Geological Survey, which called for Citizen Science on this topic, noted the order to (inaudible) which encompasses tortoises and freshwater and marine turtles, is among the most threatened group of vertebrates in the world. Consider Two noise effects on the Mill Road Preserve. The hammering -- I'm done. Hammering, loud drumming 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 152 of heavy rain on over two acres of metal rooftops adjoining the preserve will disturb wildlife and people alike. A walk in the rain in this highly valued nature preserve will produce an urban warehouse district experience -- MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you -- LOUISE HARRISON: Opposite the benefit residents and other hikers deserve. We'll provide our written comments by July 10th. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you very much. Yes? STEPHANIE VILLANI: Hi. I'm Stephanie Villani. My husband and I have operated a commercial fishing business from Mattituck Inlet for over 30 years and counting. There's an awful lot of misinformation going on here. A lot of speculation. This is not about exploding propane tanks or sand mining. This is about allowing a business owner to improve his property to better service customers. And Strong 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 153 Marine provides services that we need. They do not only serve yacht owners. They serve the commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, boaters who live here and boaters from out of state. They support the clam boats that are -- work with Cornell's Receding Project as well. Marine businesses are an important part of the North Fork and the Town needs to support a working waterfront. And you have the chance to do that here today by approving this project. Frankly, it's insulting to see how little regard were held by our neighbors. But I bet those same neighbors like to eat fresh fish, scallops, clams, oysters and you can't have those things without having businesses like Strong for us, as we do our work. I don't think it's greedy to ask for a working waterfront. I don't think it's greedy for the owner of a property to improve it. As long as they follow the code. Strong's is not asking to build a hotel or a restaurant or 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 154 condos. Their plan fits the zoning and the character of the area. I live in the neighborhood. I live on Breakwater Road. And I walk and bike it regularly and I can live with the truck traffic because it's temporary. And once this project is done, I think it'll be a net positive for Mattituck. I think the Planning Board is sensible enough to realize the difference in a necessary project put forth by a reputable local business. And one that does not fit in with the culture of the North Fork, like maybe the resort hotel project proposed for the main road in Mattituck, with the water park. When it comes time to make your decision, I trust you will tune out the noise. Base it on the facts submitted to you. And the experts that spoke today I thought were quite impressive. I'd like to see this project go forward. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 155 GEORGE MAUL: My name is George Mall. I'm a resident of the Town of Southold. I live in New Suffolk. Every time I make -- try to make a left hand turn, I feel like an endangered species. This is a large project. The environment that we live in has a lot of tourism. The Town of Southold has trouble managing the tourism that we have now. Stretch of road from here to Mattituck this year, I've -- several times found myself in a line of cars that isn't moving. That's a new development for me. I've been here 30 years. This project is a marine project, but it also represents a huge impact on the tourism of our area. It doesn't seem to my mind to be serving residents of the Town of Southold. And I think that government of the Town of Southold is supposed to serve the residents of the Town of Southold. Of Jeff Strong seems like a really nice guy. He has a lot of friends, but this project is a lot of money. And the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 156 character of the North Fork is more important than the money of one business. I think that the problems that we have on the North Fork now are not that we don't have enough money or we don't have enough jobs, it's because we don't have enough housing for people who want to live here. The problem is not that businesses that are here need to be bigger. We need to be more sensitive of the life, the way the people live on the North Fork. When my parents grew up in Baldwin, there were farms there. And when I grew up in Patchogue, there were farms there. And Long Island is an island and the North Fork is the last of it. (60) 88 foot boats or (88) 60 foot boats. I don't really know what it is, but I don't know how many 70 foot boats there are on the North Fork now, but this represents a lot more. And I don't understand why the project has to be this big. I think the Comprehensive Plan is supposed to be about the balance of the rural nature of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 157 the North Fork, and the economy of the North Fork. And I don't see any balance here in this project. It's just a lot of money. That's all I have to say. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. JEFF STRONG: I can go last if you like? MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Yes. I just appreciate your patience. Thank you. DOUG COOPER: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Doug Cooper. I live on Mattituck. I have met Jeff Strong once or twice. I don't know him. I don't know that I've spent more than one or two minutes talking to him. I have nothing to gain or lose from this application, but I strongly support it. If we don't support other people's rights, how can we expect them to support our rights? And this project, it's zoned for. It's a legal use of the property and that should be respected. It's gonna provide 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 158 jobs and some good paying jobs. It's going to increase our tax base. And jobs and tax base is what we need in this Town. We don't have enough commercial businesses to help pay the taxes. And they pay most of the taxes. That's it. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Jeff? JEFF STRONG: My name is Jeff Strong, applicant but also a Mattituck resident with my wife Ree for over 50 years. Before I get into what I wanted to say, I think there were a couple of questions from earlier that the Planning Board had that I'll try and answer. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: So you talk about the documented demand for storage of yachts. Where does it come from? JESSICA MICHAELIS: I'm sorry. I'm not gonna start the timer because Board members have questions for the owner of the project. Thank you. JEFF STRONG: Thank you. Several 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 159 areas over the last 10 years, we've seen a big trend. We had one client speak earlier, Mr. (Inaudible) That is just one example of many, where oftentimes boats of this size will want to go down south to Florida. And that has been a fairly common thing to do. They boat up in this area. Whether they keep him in Mattituck, somewhere on the North Fork, Port Jeff, Westchester, Sag Harbor, Montauk, somewhere in the fairly regional area, and take them down south. So with the hurricanes that have been increasing pretty significantly in Florida, insurance during the wintertime there is like just -- in some cases, become not even available in other cases available, but like just through the roof and a lot of restrictions on what people can do. So we're seeing a big shift of people that have typically been comfortable being up here in the Summer, traversing down south in the Winter and not desiring to do that any longer for those reasons. So that's one big group. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 160 And then the secondary group would be other people that -- I think in our application, we've put that, you know, technology has changed a lot since, you know, these buildings that are on our property now. Were mostly built in the 70's. And boats and yachts obviously existed then. But the technology was dramatically different. Technology now doesn't like to be old. You know, basically just no different than your home. Not good things happen. So there's an increased pressure and demand on our business to be able to provide indoor heated storage for the larger vessels that have this fairly sophisticated technology. That's another big shift. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: So of the 11 new employees that you have during the six months or seven months that you'll be moving boats in and out, that seems fairly reasonable that they'll have full-time employment. What happens the rest of the year? What will 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 161 they be doing? JEFF STRONG: So I'll answer that, but I'll give you a little context first. Currently, we have 135 full-time employees since we've owned the place in 1992. Even during the recessions, we never had one layoff. Not one. We kept them and paid them out of our pocket because we believe it's a way to attract people and it gives us a competitive advantage by getting extremely talented people. Also why we pay matching 401k, profit sharing and health benefits. So that's the context of it. We would see these 11 jobs as being no different than what we've done since 1992 for what is now currently 135 full-time jobs. What do they actually do? We own a good amount of properties. This being one of them. Things on the waterfront need a lot of maintenance. So when we have down time, when they're not working on customers, they're able to help whether it be dock work or fixing. Just again, just my son Ryan is here. He's heads up 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 162 improvements and repairs for us. There's a never-ever ending list. So they get shifted to do what we call internal maintenance work instead of customer pay work. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Thank you. Final question. You are proposing to construct both buildings at the same time? Not a phased construction? JEFF STRONG: That is correct. In fairness, some people have asked that question to me and the way we're absolutely proposing it that way. But we're also business people and we're realist. So if the world were to crash, right, which we're all hopeful that -- we would for sure do the excavation. We would for sure do the 100% retaining wall. We would for sure do all the cement work for two buildings, and would for sure do one building. So all of that, I can say with 100% assurity, it's not about being able to afford it, it's a matter of severity of what goes on in the world. So would we be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 163 prepared to build the second building? Absolutely be financially prepared. I'm not gonna tell you that if the world were to, beyond its knees, that we would commit to building, erecting the second building at the same time. That just wouldn't be prudent, but we would absolutely do all the other work that I said. The infrastructure work, the evergreen retaining wall, the pads. All versions of infrastructure work. Our desire would be to do the entire project at one time. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Thank you. JEFF STRONG: Any other questions before I -- I did have a couple of comments, I wanted to -- no? Okay. Thanks. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Thanks for your patience. JOEL KLEIN: Yes. My name is Joel Klein. I live in Mattituck. I'm sorry -- I thought you were done. JEFF STRONG: No. Well, I was done 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 164 with answering the questions, but I just had a statement that I wanted to read. JOEL KLEIN: Please go ahead. I'm sorry. JEFF STRONG: That's all right. My name is Jeff Strong. I'm President of our family's business, Strong's Marine. After sitting through these two hearings, as well as, Civic meetings, I feel it's necessary that I'd like to speak to a few things. First, I would like to thank the Planning Board for organizing these meetings and for the diligence and attending to the details and trying to have them be fair and reasonable. I'd like to also thank everyone who's taken the time to learn about our project, and engage in this process. We appreciate all viewpoints. No matter which way you wanna look at it for or against whatever, we appreciate all the viewpoints and concerns that have been expressed in these forums. I do wanna tell you a little bit about 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 165 myself, our family and our business. I'd also like to explain why this project is a necessary step for the continued vitality of our business. And how it will benefit the Town. My dad was a bayman who made his living, clamming and scalloping before my mom and dad started On Marina in James Creek in Mattituck in 1965. My wife, Ree and I have raised our sons on Mattituck Inlet, where we still live today for over 35 years. We live right on the same inlet as the project is. We've grown our business by listening closely to our clients and evolving with their needs. Over the years, boats have definitely gotten larger and taller. Often equipped with advanced electronics as I was alluding to earlier. These boats need larger buildings to accommodate them, and newer electronics do best in a temperature controlled environment. In addition, Florida's rising hurricane risks and related insurance challenges mean that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 166 many yacht owners who would typically go south for the Winter, are desiring to keep the boats up north. There has historically been limited indoor storage in our region, but now the shortage has become critical. The storage buildings currently on site were built in the 70's to meet the needs of boaters and business at that time, but they don't allow us to meet the needs of today's boaters. We just simply want to keep our place as a shipyard. We wanna be able to hand it onto our next generation as a shipyard. This is a massive investment for us. We wouldn't be doing this massive investment if we didn't wanna turn it on to our next generation, and keep it as a shipyard. As to the benefits to the Southold Town, as addressed in the DEIS, many Southold residents use our Yacht Center facility and our Strong's Water Club facilities currently. And we would expect that they will use the new indoor expanded heated service. After 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 167 all, they are the ones who have told us they need it. In addition, we directly tend to create at least 11 new full-time and they are year-round positions, with increased businesses in addition to local maritime suppliers. Lastly, I wanna address the claims that are real amos to sell the excavated sand from this project. I can tell you owning eight locations, and 135 employees, we have a lot better things to do than just go through this exercise to sell sand. That's the last thing in the world we need to do, and the value of it, is less than 10% of the project. For five years, we've invested time, effort and funds to do extensive studies on all aspects of this proposal, as required by the Town. Just about done. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: We're gonna let you go. We're gonna let you continue. JEFF STRONG: I can assure you that we would not be going through this if we did not intend to complete this project 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 168 and bring it to its fruition. As we've built our business in Mattituck over the years, we have worked hard to do so with sensitivity, care and respect for our environment, our neighbors and community. If we see an approval for this project, we will continue to do the same. Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thanks, Jeff. JOEL KLEIN: My name is Joel Klein. I live in Mattituck. A lot of things said tonight that I could respond to, but I'm just gonna pick on a few of them. Several people have referred to the fact that the sand that's being removed is dredged spoil. That's absolutely untrue. I've provided the Board with extensive comments, documenting that fact. Apparently that originated with misinterpretation of an Army Corps of Engineers report by the project consulting archeologists. The boring logs, included in the DEIS refer to potential dredged spoil, and several 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 169 coring's at depths of 4 to 10 feet below the surface. Well, that raises the question, if it's 4 to 10 feet below the surface, what's the soil on top of it and where did it come from since 1940? and how did you get 80 foot high trees on top? The idea that that is dredged spoil is just non-viable. Secondly, Dr. Bowman, I read his report. Heard what he said tonight. Dr. Bowman has not presented an analysis of projects, the impact on ecology within the project area. He has presented a report documenting impacts what he would term project site, but is in fact the project ax parcel, including both the R-80 and MII zones. The result of this is on a percentage basis to diminish the impression -- a significant by comparing number of trees destroyed over the entire project site, as opposed -- the ax parcel as opposed to just within 6 acre project area. Not the 34 acre parcel. In regard to Mr. Strong's claims that he intends to build both 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 170 buildings. Qualified that again tonight. This came up. I asked him the same question at a meeting of the Southold Peconic Civic Association six weeks ago. And he's recorded, and I have that in comments that have been submitted to the Board, his statement that, well, it would really depend on the price of steel and construction materials coming down. And as he said tonight, his intention is to put in -- excavate the sand, put in the retaining wall, build the slab. However, last week, he was quoted in the New York Times as saying he intended to build both buildings on the get (sic). So I don't know which project he's talking about. The Planning Board actually reviewing project intends to build. It sounds like it's going to be one structure, which would involve virtually all of the same environmental impacts, but a few benefits that do accrue, including property tax advantages, employment would be half. Someone else 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 171 tonight mentioned the fact that the proposed water line, which is identified in the DEIS as one of the major benefits of the project, which in fact would benefit only two properties. One of which is owned by Mr. Strong. The other being the Old Mill Inn was in fact completed several weeks ago. Thank you. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you very much. Anyone else wish to -- JESSICA MICHAELIS: We have Jessica Roberts on Zoom with her hand raised. . MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Okay. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Is there someone else? Go ahead. BILL WITZKE: Good evening. I'll be brief. I want to thank you for your time tonight. I just am here in -- JESSICA MICHAELIS: I'm sorry, state your name. BILL WITZKE: I'm sorry, Bill Witzke, here in Southold. I'm here in favor of this project. One of the main 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 172 reasons, I've known a Strong Family a long time. They're my competitors in some aspects, but also people I do business with. And my main concern of why I want to approve this, is property rights. Plain and simple, right? It is zoned from Marine II. It is zone -- everything they're proposing is within the parameters of what's allowed under the law. For environmental stuff, we can talk till cows come home and none of us will agree on everything. We all know that. We've done a tremendous amount of time, money and effort in trying to make sure they're doing it as good a neighbor as possible. And I just want to thank you for your time. I wish everybody the luck with this project, including the Strong Family. Yeah. Thank you so much, Jim. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thanks, Bill. Thank you. Jess, you have -- JESSICA MICHAELIS: I have a few. Jessica Roberts. I'm gonna let her go first. Sorry, Annie. Go ahead, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 173 Jessica. Just state your name. JESSICA ROBERTS: Thank you. I'm Jessica Roberts, staff attorney at Save the Sound. Save the Sound has tracked this proposal since 2020, when we submitted extensive DEIS scoping comments. We are pleased to see our comments in the final amended scope, but this DEIS is a poor tool for decision-making. It contains misleading and inaccurate information, and graphics. Does not describe adequate mitigation and dismisses, ignores or denies a significant adverse environmental impacts. The document has not changed our position. That the project is grossly inappropriate for the site. First of all, excavating 134,000 cubic yards of an inherently unstable natural feature poses the danger of a catastrophic collapse or slumping during excavation. This could harm a Federal navigational channel. New York State designated significant coastal fishing wildlife habitat, tidal wetlands and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 174 water quality. Not to mention property and people. The depth of soil borings was insufficient to prove the absence of a clay layer in the hill that might cause slippage and sudden mass soil movement. Secondly, removing over 630 mature trees and all understory vegetation from a state-listed vulnerable forest ecosystem that protects Mattituck Creek is contiguous with the publicly owned Mill Road Preserve, and provides habitat for endangered species would be irreversible. Planting individual trees is not mitigation, and it cannot recreate a forest ecosystem. Also, installing sewage, stormwater and fuel station infrastructure only 10 feet above mean sea level could endanger water quality. Given storm intensification and climate change, the project's placement of this infrastructure too close to fluctuating groundwater levels and saltwater inundation is a recipe for water 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 175 pollution. Additionally, the project offers little to no meaningful mitigation for significant adverse environmental impacts. And finally, it is inconsistent with the LWRP's policies. As lead agency, you are responsible for preparing the final EIS. And we are pleased to see that the Town has requested a proposal to do this. Your subsequent SEQRA finding statement must rely on facts. Your findings must demonstrate that you took a hard look at adverse impacts, evaluated mitigation, fully described and compared your feasible alternatives and tested conformance with Southold's Comprehensive Plan. Your decision must be consistent with the Town's LWRP. And to reach project approval, you must prove that the public benefit of this proposal outweighs its many adverse environmental impacts. Save the Sound will submit detailed comments before the comment period closes. Thank you. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 176 JESSICA MICHAELIS: Thank you. Annie, go ahead. ANNIE CORREAL: Hello, can you hear me? JESSICA MICHAELIS: Yes. ANNIE CORREAL: Great. Good evening -- JESSICA MICHAELIS: State your name? ANNIE CORREAL: My name is Annie Correal. I'm a resident of Mattituck. I live off a tributary of Mattituck Creek. I'm not affiliated with any group. I wanna thank you -- everyone here for your comments and your perspectives. I'd like to voice my objections to this proposal and call attention to some gaps, omissions and unsubstantiated claims in the revised DEIS. The following claims made by Strong's Marine in the DEIS lack concrete documentation and any detail. First, the economic benefits are overstated and not aligned with local needs. The market demand for the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 177 proposed heated indoor yacht storage facilities is not documented or substantiated anywhere in the DEIS. According to Mr. Strong's media interviews, it comprises wealthy boat owners from outside the community who seek storage options for their luxury yachts. Mr. Strong stated this clearly when he purchased the site. "Upon purchasing this site from the Pape Family in 2016, Mr. Strong told the Suffolk Times, Strong's other locations in Southampton and Port Washington will feed customers to the Mattituck site." He more recently was quoted in the New York Times. "The yacht storage facility" he said, "will offer heated indoor Winter storage that fills a gap in the market for wealthy boaters from Hampton's communities, like Sag Harbor and Amagansett, as well as, Westchester County and Connecticut." Mr. Strong spoke today of only one or two local yacht owners. Quote, "they told us they need it." In the DEIS, there is no 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 178 actual market analysis that shows the need for large yacht storage or records why Strong's existing indoor storage on the premises is insufficient to meet that demand. Further, there is no documentation that the developer's customers will have any stake in the short and long-term health of Mattituck Creek, and the community and will maintain their boats within the standards required for safety and emissions. According to the DEIS, building the storage facilities is a business venture that appears to be a gamble and a way to connect Mattituck to Mr. Strong's other investments around Long Island. One moment. Next, I'd like to draw attention to the issue of jobs. Strong's Marine states in the DEIS that the yacht storage facilities will improve the local economy by creating jobs, but the DEIS provides no specific information about the character of and qualifications for these jobs. The revised DEIS indicates that 11 new 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 179 jobs will be generated. Some of them connected to expanding a parking lot. There's no explanation of what sorts of jobs will be connected to the expansion of a parking lot to 57 stalls. There's no documentation in the DEIS of whether these jobs require special skills and training. Whether these jobs will be offered to local residents first, and whether such training will be offered to local residents. Likewise, there's no written documentation. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Thank you. I'm sorry, your time's up. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Anyone else wish to -- JESSICA MICHAELIS: Yes. We have someone else on Zoom. There's also a Zoom user, you'd have to change your name if you'd like to speak. I can't allow you in as a Zoom user. Michael Levitt? MICHAEL LEVITT: Hi. How is everyone tonight? So thank you for the time. So my name is Michael Levitt. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 180 I'm one of the lead partners of Entertainment Made Easy. We are a marine electronics, home and commercial, audio/visual and computer networking business serving Long Island for over the last 20 years. We've been both a vendor and customer working with Strong's in that time. Probably a different type of item I'd like to bring up and address, which Jeffrey certainly touched on. Is we do see a fairly substantial demand for heated storage here on Long Island. We wind up having traveled to New Jersey and Connecticut many times. Because that does not exist here on the North Fork. Jeff alluded to it when he spoke, but we see tremendous damage to the residential electronics used in a lot of these larger vessels today. Television, satellite boxes, etcetera, do not enjoy 20 degree or below weather, which does require either a relocation of these vessels to warmer water or sometimes the removal and storage of this equipment, which 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 181 causes breakage on its own. You know, we do look at the heated storage is a driver of business, which allows us to operate effectively in Mattituck through the Winter, which is something we don't do in the colder sheds, worker safety, shorter days, temperature-wise. Also damage to the boats. We can't really drill and work in fiberglass in those temperatures without creating spider cracks, and gel coat and other damage to the vessels. So we have to wait for warmer weather, which causes a bit of a springtime rush, where it allows us not to take work we would take on when the vessels are moved to Florida. Driving those dollars off of Long Island. Really the additional heated working areas in Mattituck brings us the ability to work throughout the Winter, service those clients and service our existing clients in a better way. So we look at adding this kind of facility to Long Island, especially in the North Fork, as a major addition to the economy. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 182 Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Thank you. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Anybody else, Jess? JESSICA MICHAELIS: No. Oh, yes. STEPHEN BOSCOLA: Hi, Stephen Boscola. Just want to address what Michael just said. Because it's inaccurate. And you'll see my submission too, is that cruisers yachts are made in Wisconsin. And as you can know, their climate is much colder than ours. And the manufacturers that Strong's represents clearly have stated that heated storage is not essential for these boats. In fact, it's actually not even necessary. And just wanted to note that, and we'll be including that in our submission, as well as, you know, Jimmy Orioli, he brings his boat to Florida to go fishing. And, you know, some of these other folks, they have no intention of the heated storage. So 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 183 it's not essential. We'll address that in our comments, but from the manufacturers, that's not my opinion, that's the manufacturers. Sunseeker, Regal, Cruisers Yachts, built in Wisconsin, heated indoor storage is not essential, nor required for boats. And I just want to get that on the record, please. Thank you very much. And I know it's late. Thanks to everyone for your time. JESSICA MICHAELIS: Thank you. MEMBER MARTIN SIDOR: Anyone else? (No Response). MEMBER MARTIN SIDOR: I guess I want to thank everybody. JESSICA MICHAELIS: I'm sorry. MEMBER MARTIN SIDOR: Got somebody else? JESSICA MICHAELIS: Yes, a phone number. I'm sorry, Annie, you already spoke. You can submit written comments to the Planning Board if you'd like. . MEMBER MARTIN SIDOR: Once again, I want to thank everybody for their 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 184 patience and also their courtesy. JESSICA MICHAELIS: We have someone. I think it's *9 to un-mute yourself. maybe it's *6 to un-mute yourself. 804-5945. Would you like to speak? (No Response). JESSICA MICHAELIS: Okay. All right. Go ahead, Jim. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Again, I want to thank everybody for your patience, the input and also your civility. It was really, on both sides, I think we had respect, and I appreciate it. MEMBER SIDOR: Make a motion to close tonight's hearing and set July 10th, as a deadline for any written comments. MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Second. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Motion made by Martin. Seconded by Mia. Any discussion? (No Response). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 185 MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: All in favor? MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Aye. MEMBER PIERCE RAFFERTY: Aye. MEMBER SIDOR: Aye. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Aye. We got a motion for adjournment? MEMBER AMELIA JEALOUS-DANK: Motion to adjourn. MEMBER JAMES H. RICH III: Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Have a nice evening. (Whereupon, the meeting concluded at 9:40 P.M.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JUNE 5, 2023 186 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, Jessica DiLallo, a Notary Public for and within the State of New York, do hereby certify: THAT, the within transcript is a true record of said Board Meeting. I further certify that I am not related either by blood or marriage to any of the parties to this action; and that I am in no way interested in the outcome of this matter. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this day, June 27, 2023. _________________ (Jessica DiLallo) * * * *