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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-08/13/1997-FI,1 9 SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD FISHERS ISLAND August 13, 1997 1:30 P.M. A Regular Meeting of the Southold Town Board was held on Wednesday,-Au~lust 13, 1997, at Fishers, New York. Supervisor Cochran opened the meeting at 1:30 P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Present: Supervisor Jean W. Cochran Councilwoman Alice J. Hussie Councilman Joseph L. Townsend, Jr. Councilwoman Ruth D. Ollva Justice Louisa P. Evans Councilman William D. Moore Town Clerk Judith T. Terry Town Attorney Laury L. Dowd SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: I would like to call to order the Southold Town Board meeting of August 13, 1997 held here on Fishers Island. As you know the Town Board has a policy, if you would like to address the Town Board in relation to any of the resolutions, that are going to be acted upon we will give you the opportunity at the beginning of' the meeting. I would like to thank Judy. As :you know Judy is not running for re-election. She has decided that she is going to retire, and spend a little bit more time with her family, and so this will be her last Fishers Island meeting, and I would just like to say, on behalf of the people on Fishers Island, and the Town of Southold, Judy, that we wish you well, and you will be missed next year. TOWN CLERK TERRY: Thank you very much. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: I would like to introduce to you members of the Board. On my left is Councilman Bill Moore. Next to Bill is Councilwoman Ruth Oliva. All the way on my left is Councilman Joe Townsend, and our Town Attorney Laury Dowd. On my right we have Councilwoman Alice Hussle. We have someone you all know, Councilwoman Louisa Evans, and our Town Clerk Judith Terry. ! am not going to go through and introduce all of ~those agency, which traveled over with us today. It gives many of them the. opportunity to come over, and take care of of some of business that they .have to do on th~ island. I would like to share with you some of the ag~encles that are here, and if there are any that you would like to speak with after the meeting, please, feel free. Rather that introduce names, I am just going to give you Suffolk County Consumer Affairs, Suffolk County Health Service, that would Joe Baler, who is .right down there. Ray Cowan from the DEC, you are going to be hearing from him, and there are other members of the DEC here, also. We have people from the Planning Department in Suffolk County, including Steve Jones. We have Senior Detectives Investigator from the DA's Office. Director of Citizen Affairs for the County, Suffolk County Vector Control,~ USDA Plum Island, Department of Ag and Markets, gave that gentleman a ride over, so he could do a couple of inspections today. Social Services, Office :'1:80 AUGUST 13, 1997 of the Aging, Department of Health Services, some of your libraries, some of the people from some of the museums came over to tour your museum, and get information. We have the Deputy Secretary of State, Ken Ringer. We have representation from Senator LaValle's Office, from Mike Caracciolo's Office, Mary Ann, I see her here, and Fire Marshalls, Director of Coastal Resources. There are many, many people here, that serve not only the island, and I say, not only the island. I shouldn't say that because you are actually Southold Town. So, it's kind of nice to allow them the opportunity to come over and say, hello, and do the jobs they have to do. We h~ave someone very special with us. today, and I would like to introduce him. He is Secretary of State, State of New York, Sandy Treadwell. Sandy will you join me? Sandy has become a very good friend of Southold Town. He was just down the other day on a project that we did as far as road runoff down in Orient, Skippers Lane, but there is many, many projects, that come through, and grants that come through the D.e. partment, of State, a~n~ Sandy likes Long Island wine, ~so that'S a good thing. We try to keep h m supplied in that. I would like you to.;Say~ hello to the ~ people. Ladies and gentlemen, our Secretary of State. ALEXANDER TREADWELL: Madam Supervisor, I appreciate your telling everyone that I like to be kept in a' supply of wine. It is a treat to be here. I was here two years ago, and the Department of State was very concerned about the dumping from the New London site just a mile and a half off Fishers Island. Our department was concerned about what would happen with that dredged material, and our concern, as it turned out to be justified. In February~the Navy had agreed to monitor the site. The Navy in their report announced .that one third of the material had disappeared from the site, so this remains a concern of the residents of Fishers Island, and the people from the Town of Southold. It remains a concern of our department, and the State of New York. '1 am very pleased to be here again in this beautiful place. We have thanes to Governor Pataki, as Jean mentioned, we have two major sources of funds that are available. The first, of course, is the Clean Air ~Clean Water Bond Act money, and thanks to Governor Pataki's leadership there is $200,000,000 available for clean water projects for Long Island SOund. That is very, very significant, a pool of money~ · source, as many of you know, I'm sure you all know, is the rotection Fund, as Jean mentioned, and. I was very pleased last ~to be with Jean and Assemblywoman Accompora to look at actua~lly EPF in Southold, one in Orient at thp end of Skipper's Lane, and the other the Mitchell property in Greenport. Governor Pataki has fully funded the Environmental Protection Fund. This year statewide there is $110,000,000 availabl&, and we are very pleased to work in partnership with the Town of $outhold on EPF Projects, and under Jean's leadership your town is working towards the completion of a local waterfront redevelopment plan, and Fishers Island, your effort in produc, ing a Harbor Management Plan has gone a long way towards that work, and I am sure that will be a .part of a completed Southold LWR. I, also, want to thank John Thatcher, and ~he Fisher Island Conservancy for being very helpful to our department In raising your concerns about the dredged material site. They have dOne a .wonderful job at educating us in government, and the residents of our St~e, about this. situation, and it's a good p. iece of work. We have been a part, and are very pleased to be worki'ng In partnership with all. of you, Supervisor, and it has been a real treat, and I thank you for the chance to be here for the second time in three years. Thank you. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Thank you, Sandy. PUBLIC NOTICE. 1. Army Corp of Engineer, New York District, application of Fishers Island Country Club to dredge with ten years maintenance and subsequent upland disposal at East Harbor Inlet, Fishers Island, New York. AUGUST 13, 1997 RESOLUTIONS SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: We only have one resolution today, which Loulsa will read. Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilwoman Oliva, it was RESOLVED that. the' Town Board of the Town of $outhold h. ereb.¥ authorizes and directS Supervisor Jean W. Cochran to execute a Quitclaim Deed' between .the Town of Southold and Walsh Park Benevolent ,Corporation, transf~erring a dwelling acquired, by the County or. Suffolk b.y .Tax Deed and transferred to the Town 'by the County by Tax Deed~ said iprope.rty I~)cated at Montauk Avenue, Fishers Island, Will become a part Of ~he Walsh Park Berievolent Corporation Affordab e Housing Program. JUSTICE' EVANS: Most people on the Island know that thls is the Middl~t0n property, that is close to where the Pequot Inn is. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Is there any discussion? Are there any questions? (No response.) We thought there might be. This action wilL. be deeding the property to Walsh Park Benevolent group, and I am sure it will be treated as the' rest of the houslng under their jurisdiction. If there |s no discuss|on I will call for the vote. Vote: of the Town Board: Ayes: Councilwoman Oliva, Councilman SuperviSor Cochran. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Townsend, Councilwoman Hussle, SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: My next order of business, i have asked Ray New York State DEC to update the group on the wetland is taking place here on Fishers Island. Those of us who are awa?e of the project are excited about it, and i know that Ducks Unlimited ~s working =along with the DEC. iS. Unlimitec staff, It's sil some appli goln(. cou Id We Haza have YOU can You can probably all hear me without the mike. I just ~u,st a q[31f:k update on the wetland project, which over here behind us. It's a combination between Ducks and some. Fishers Island folks, while we' still have some ,there. We had .our staff out here, our freshwater wetlands lonth ago to look at the project.- It's really quite simple. to try to retain some water in that wetland to provide for duck breeding, and so forth, and we have a preliminary with us, need a few modifications to that, but we are very closely with Duck Unlimited, and I would expect that we the permit issued within literally a few weeks, or a month .for out here in the wetlands. So, that is a very brief ion. Let me just briefly say, that we have a whole ~er staff with us here today, that if you have questions, free to walk over to our table, and' talk to us. We have and Lisa Brown from our Division of Marine Resources. Para, and Tony Kandala from our Sol|d Waste and We haye Rob Scheck from our Division of Water. We from our Regional Attorney's Office. So, feel free if questions about the DEC go right over there and ask us. We he~p you. SUPEffVISO. R COCHRAN: Thank you. Something that we felt we would like to share with you. We developed a new small brochure for your information in relation to hurricanes, and we are not wishing one upon us. We just feel that have information about hurricanes, and our Emergency Prepar Plan in the Town of Southold. As you know after I took office ii wa.s l~ot entirely happy with the plan. I felt that there should be some updating, particularly in relation to Fishers Island, so this has been, and is be worked on by not only Southold people, but also County people little Resour we for most c care. State people. What we will be offering is a better plan. One ke, it's not a little thing, but a generator for the Human We have finally have been able to purchase that, because there are people in an emergency, that school is open for then there are people that have to have more intense medical most intens'e certainly would evacuate to hospitals, but there AUGUST 13, 1997 is between the school and the hospital type of people, now with the generator at the Human Resource Center we can provide a service for these people, if we do have an emergency. This is put in place not only in relation to hurricanes. It's also put into place in relation to Millstone. We had two spills back to back at the Landfill in Southold. If it had been a worse scenario we may have had to evacuate people, so there are many ways that you us~ an emergency preparedness plan. So, today, I have asked John Raynor, who is my Deputy, and Don Thompson, he' is with WLNC. John and I went over and did a radio program on hurricanes with him, and 'we have. invited him, and he wanted me, because I remember the '38 hurricane, so it tells you a little bit about my age. So, John, '1 am going to turn the program over to you, and share' some information with you. It is important. We have just finished off a room downstairs at Police Headquarters, which is going to be used as a trainlng room, but that from here on shall also be used as the command center for any emergencies we might have in the future. HoPefully, we never have to use it for that reason. John, it's all yours. JOHN RAYNOR: Hello. It's good see a lot of friends. I have had the pleasure of spending time over here on Fishers Island with the 911 System, and public safety. Since the E911 system went on line for Fishers in May of '95, as of last night we answered 371 911 calls on the island. It certainly is not one of our busier sectors, but 371 calls for health that we feel have been answered much better, and much more professionally, than was with the prior system. It has been a great relationship with th Fishers Island phone company, and it is a service that we continue to build on. Another aspect of the emergency management, that the Supervisor touched on is the Millstone nuclear Facility situation. There are three reactors at Millstone. Fishers Island is within the ten mile zone. Right now all three reactors are closed, because .they are on the NRC Watch list. We are working on the assumption, that those reactors won't stay shut' down. They will be coming back on~ llne. The Supervisor~ has .noted several problems with existing plans. One is the minimal options available. Basically the only option in the plan is to evacuate Fishers island to probably New London, and we are planning on revising that. A number of options include staying on the island, going to ,Long isl.,and, ~r. g to Stonington, Connecticut,' and we-take these options seri!ousl' the event if there ever Was a release at Millstone the Super and Jiudge Evans have a number of steps to take. Hopefully, that will never' happen, but as we~, learned through emergency management sometimes an ency does happen. Our last point o.f 'emergenc~ m. anagE vital to FiShers Island is tiurrlcane I~reparedness. We liave s this afternoon Don Thompson, Vice-President of WLNC in Sag first ....:=m~et= , :!~-°-Uth. v. : , i: !! ! i' ' ' blic holding public aw.a. reness seminars, and in the of~ "95 come over by begat to: Fishers !sland, and Put on a semina~, also picked a 'day of the Civic Association yard '~ sale, so we inst some prett~ hefty competition, but it' went I authority ~that Don is going to tell us the ex~ of hurricanes this iyear. Don also t01d us be 'a [or today, so you m~y Want to take 'it With a grain of salt He ,n, and we know they are r~ght most 'of the time, but Don is us a little bacl~ground on what kind of cycles we are going Alan Thibodeau, who is your Deputy Emergency Manager, is going some comments very pertinent to Fishers island. DON THOMPSON: Thank you for inviting me to come over. I heard on the way over on the boat, every time we go over to Fishers Island, it's always great weather, and then what happened this year? A certain person sitting in the front row said, you got a weatherman here. You invited him over. So I am to blame. That is just what happens with weatherman. I~ i['s bad outside, I get the blame. If it's nice outside, you try to take credit, it ~s like you had something to do With it. So, folks, it cou d be 'ninety deDrees outside right now, and we would be swelte, ring, or y.oui could, be looking at a hurricane. Fortunate y; we are not looking at hurricanes r~ght now. Let's see where we have been so far. We have seen Anna, Bill, Claudette, and Danny. Now keep this in the back of yo.ur mind],, '~nna, Bill and- Claudette were off the southeast coast. Something ~nteres~ihgi'that has not happened' in quite a few years. :Danny developed in t:l~d Giulf of Mexico, became a hurr cane, came back on shore, and then when ~t got off AUGUST 13, 199'7 t8:3 Virginia it redeveloped after diminishing, redeveloped into a tropical storm, so actually you could say we have seen four storms develop off the mid-Atlantic and southeast coast. Just keep that in the back of your mind. Right now, the way the patterns ,are set up, it's been a very inactive for weather people, boring Atlantic season. Haven't seen anything, and the reason why is we have a couple of things going on. We got a very strong upper level wind pattern, and that is not good for developing hurricanes. We see Upper leve lows sitting out there, arid they are not .moving, a. nd ,again, th~lt~ is not conducive hurriCane formation, b~t we are just entering h~Jrri~:ane hot spot. part of the season, and that last until the end of September for us up here. Actually hurricane season last all the way until the end of November. What do we see in the future? Well:, that is hard to say, but let's took at what we have seen in the past. The last one to hit, dim ., was Hurricane Bob. Bob was back in '91. We saw Hurricane Gloria In the late 70's it wes Hurricane Bill,. and [hen is you go , directly effecting us, but tropical stol[ I nla dump huge amounts of ,, New Yor flooding. UP, '72, late L .the '91 have eye say [OW Bob. 'in amd 3es. Isla~ so; laska> He trees the ame wa s 50 that. hurricar don't, but re, but Nicholas years ago, · could be let's, ge b~ through the 1938 ;i~are SUPERVlSI~.R COCHRAN: I was very young. DON you h Are we ready for that kind of hurricane? Ma'am, were ~gh it? Sir? VOICE FROM THE AUDIENCE: You didn't even know it was a hurricane in those days. DON THOMPSON: That was one thing that we should never get caught with again, is by surprise. This shows you, this is one thing we have to worry about hurricanes up here, they always accelerate when they come up seven o'clock in the morning the 1938 hurricane was due Hatteras, North Carolina, several hundred miles to our south. ':00 O'clock in the morning it was cloudy here in this region, cloudy, had two or three inches of raln the night: before, but there was no wind> no hints that there would be a hurricane, except for a lady that ired !in Easthampton. She worked for an estate. She was' from the west Indies. She looked outside, said to the person she worked for, I think we are going to see a hurricane, and nobody believed her. Guess .:11_.84 AUGUST 13, 1997 what? By 2:30 in the afternoon they had a full fledged hurricane, category three, strong category three. Winds were 110 miles an hour and more with wind gust over l/J,0. That hurricane traveled, went 60 miles an hour forward speed, 110 miles, an hour winds sustained. You add those two on the right side of the hurricane, and you have wind factor that could reach 170 miles an hour. · It's happened. It could happen again: I can tell you that on the east end of Long Island, Dune Road, Westhampton, 179 houses before the hurricanei After the hurricane 26 were standing, twelve were left usable. To ~show you how high the water got from the storm surge, a lady that.went to a birthday party was in a two story house that was still standing,, she had to get up to the attic, and the floorboards were lappi~ng up against=the floorboards of the attic. Also, the telephone 'lines, the poles that were left standing, they found seaweed on the highest wire of the telephone poles': You are talking twenty, thirty feet. Striped Bass and Bluefish in Easthampton were swept into a kitchen, convenient, but with~ six: feet of sand.. Sea Bass was swept.a mile inland; They were:found trying to ,,swim back into the ocean. I will never forget Mr., HendriCkson from .~ridgehampton~ who is' the weather Serv told, us about how all the sos were flattened, the bah were swept up agail lwater effects:. Now, me Mar afl which always ~use person, not ti Town Officials 3~a~hes~ before' leaves ', h the .w~eat~ No come have the year 1991 coastline was a I ~100 1992, storms 1993.~ W~II, ithin is, t ese · we can't Three means we or l~u trying !to: What I'm tr' storms can happen at any time, which means we have to be wea or hurricane aware. Don't think I'm trying scare the pt 92.1' F.M.~ I'm on 6:It0 every morning, on'Tuesday will always let you know What is happening with the trot Weather Channel as far as checking the tropics. Find ou beneath us, because these things are going tO come up,the coas~~. ais a 100 'm Of la :se ~m which ~k I~m kind of aware~ into in the ~ening That is .something you can do. The next thing you can do is, make sure you know how to prepare for a hurricane. Have batteries. Have ~water~ in your house. Make sure you have water in your bathtubs· your sinks. We can go through more of that later, but the most important thing is, when they tell you to. get out, get out. Don t hang around. A perfect example i~ the people down in the Cull Coast with Camille. They had a hurricane party in one of ~the hotels. I think there~ was one or two survivors Out of that. EverybOdy else were killed by storm surges So, basically what ! m trying to get you :to do is become weather aware, hurrmane aware, and hsten to your local officials. Thank you. Alan Thlbodeau has just a feWl remarks to tell you exactly where your shelter are over here on Fishers ls~land. Alan was hurrlcane~, so this is really going to be personal. It ~V~s on his application for.,thls job., so it's got to be true. AUGUST 13, 1997 1:85 ALAN THIBODEAU:. Thank you for coming this afternoon. I took over this job about three years ago. At the time from my past predecessor, I wasnJt really aware of what went into Deputy Emergency Manager. Shortly after that I had' the pleasure of meeting John Raynor, and I finally realized that I had taken on a little bit more than I expected. When I first started on the island there was really no shelters, there was no emergency operation center. There was basically nothing for me to start with. First order of business that we did,' we started working on what we call the EOC, OF E.mergency Operating Center, which is located in the meeting hall of the Fire HOuse, T0ge'th[r With ~lohn Raynor, and some funds from Northeast Utilities we redesigned the space, that we had available, purchased material, and put together what we have had comments on it ~s a very nice worl , , The EOC is there fully staffed twenty~four hours a day in t event of a major emergency, A major emergency would be and in case of Millstone, a n~:lear incident. ne ~ess was, now, what am I going to do with the general public? I had y inc~uiry from the Red Cross. You haven't been n invited them, said, what .can you do ,for us over icy The ~rst thing we did was, we came down to ~onnell the Superintendent of the Scho01~ ~and established as an official Red Cross Shelter. FolloW;jOg up with let the personnel in here to train, them. .we had s:') from the year-round population. cou shelter management, shelter assement. They then got together, had several meetings~ elected shelter the overall operations, would be. Nell Hall. They gathered SUl that came basic game plan as to ~ed to facility.. In terms of sqme mentioned, plus being in constant J~hn Raynor. He stuff through the Internet. When a hurri~ ne is com~pg up, [ thistly-six to forty-eight before time, we .are al:ready starting to thi what's the chances of it coming our way, and what should we do? At ;t. he storm draws closer to us, and we begain to ~eallze more of the' p0s~i~|llty that it would hit us, we start to do a paFtlal activation of our EOC. We will bring in some of our staff that be there, and we Will also notify th~ Red Cross that there may be a of Iter. Depending on the time of going to a lot on when the shelter l,f everybody Labor Day, I'm not exa¢ huri;i~ane ~ was a storm coming up t} The wasn't scheduled to be here until Monday, however ~by Saturday ni we alr~ at the OEC, where all organizatio got ~sure ~everybody was in shape. We Red .Cross of New London~ we to .ito the Southeast Chapter of already been ir~ contact with John Raynor. 'The plan was to afternoon. One thing ~he there are no pets Shelter,~. the shelter, the shelte Fhere won't be any food ser more than ten hours, so you sho~ yc~u a~e school_ for a shelter, bringing s Jul es, if you anything that is necessary, if you com book on page two, in tt~e front of. the ~o book there is a complete llist of what to expect with a hurricane, and t} bring to the shelter. Also, during las1 that when the shelter opened they~ we~ nted to get out of their refrigerators: ~at ~is Cross does not accept any food donatiOns. The island have a plan all worked out, where they and so forth. Other than that, John ha~! Northeast Utilities, and as w°rk with the on redeveloping a new plan. In ~ocess, hances are you are just going .to stay ~n will be to Long Island, or. to ~sday on the 21st, have )n. These are a drill ~se for~.aboUt tally man the EOC to Emergency Management Org~ bliP. AUGUST 13, 1997 SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Thank you, John, Alan and Don. Thank you very much for your presentations. My brother-ln-law's father was lost in that '38 hurricane. He was a bayman in Moriches Bay. He volunteered to go out 'in the dunes to bring families off that were stranded, and when the tidal wave came, boat and he disappeared, and were never found. So, these things are serious. I think it's important that we just be prepared. We did develop a brochure with some pertinent facts, if you would llke to pick these up later. ~ At this time ! would like to open up the meeting to anyone that might have .a statement, or a request for information, and we will do our best to give you an answer. Is there anyone that would llke tO speak tO the Town Board? NANCY HUNT: Nancy Hunt, and I would like to thank the people of the Highway, Dep.a. rtment, and that is Ray Jacobs, and Jamie, Who is here today, In addition to our people for doing the great work they have done on the-roads for .us, and sidewalks, and 'thank you. SUPERVISOR' COCHRAN: We will carry that message back to Jake. He will be h~ppy' to hear that you are happy. Is there any other topic that you would like to discuss? ..... ELLEN PARKER: Ellen Parker. I understand it's a possibility that the Planning Commission is going to discuss a planning decision, that effects Fishers Island on the island. KENNETH' EDWARDS: All I can say is, we made an inspection, I believe we are talking about.' 'the 'same building. We have not discussed it among the Board.: We will probably do that at the next meeting. The-Zoning Board of Appeals has to'make a determination for a variance. ! looked at it. I think it' is 'a little preliminary,to make any statement other than that. ELEEN PARKER: I just wondered whether you normally have an open deed? KENNETH EDWARDS: If so, there will be a public hearing. ELLEN PARKER: Would that public hearing be here? KENNETH EDWARDS: If people feel that it should be (ineligi.ble) JOHN THATCHER: microphone. I couldn't hear a work anyone was saying. Use the SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Benny, I am going to ask you to repeat some of what was said, because not everyone heard, and they are interested. So, we are going to do it on the mike. Let's explain exactly what the issue is, because lam not familiar with it either. BENNETT ORLOWSKI, JR.: The issue is the Hay Harbor Golf Club plan for a new building, and the question was any idea on time frame, or would there: be a public hearing here on Fishers Island, where people can make comments. There may not be a public hearing. It depends. The 'Zoning Board of Appeals estimate a determination as a variance. The Planning Board, which I am a member of, Ben OrlowSki, Chairman, (Tape change) We have to wait to hear what the ZBA has to say. Any questions? (No response.) That was easy. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Is there anything else you would like to ask of the Board? As you may be aware we just recently acquired Fort Corchaug property on the mainland, which I think is important to all of us, whether you live~in Southold Town, or you live in the State of New York, or the entire 'country, because it is one of the few sites of that kind. I do have an~ aerial photo with me. Mr. Baxter, who owned the property, ga.ve it to me, and it does show this farmland here, and this wooded area is all the area of the Fort, that has been saved, it was done through a partnership with the State, and the County, and local government, and private individual, who gave $900,000, and the Cutchogue HistOrical Society and the Village Green people, so it was a partnership that people brought together to accomplish this. There is another piece of land on the mainland of Southold, that is very important, not just to us, but to this generation, and future generations. It's a piece of property between Albertson Lane and Chapel Lane, which is a green belt. It's quite AUGUST 13, 1997 1187 pri.stine, it's never been used, and it's upland, and wetland, and I would drive past every day, .and lid say there has got to be something there, so I asked the Nature Conservancy to look at it, and it's a flood plan forest, which has c~ttonwood, and pin oak trees, and growth that you don~t find just anywhere. ItJs one of the few on the East Coast. There are very few pieces of these type of flood plan forests in the State of New York. There are bits and pieces along some of the rivers, but this one is just absolutely magnificent. The. day some of us walked it, the first thing to greet us Was a big' clump of wild iris, which are on the New York State species list, and we found many more things in. there. This is the next piece that we .are working very hard to save. Again, we would like to see a the State, with .the County. I ,do have a private, foundation so ,w~ think we can do the same thing~ 'preserve thins as g~een belt on There are other exciting things that are~.hap~enmng. Joe i and Zoning. ' Ruth- is working w~th the Bill heads the Code Committeef and they are looking at pi, towers, and Alice is with the ;Landfill. LoUisa, of cou ings all your concerns, and information from the island, so and know what your needs .are, and what you are !no. JOHIN .THAI -.'R~: knlE stu~k, if reque~st for a Thank' you very much. As the Town Board knows the has kind of a middle person role in the Fishers ~ntrol. Program, which is the only one that I know of in )rimarily uses non-toxic material~ and the Town has that program get off the ground, in particulaKty es, which are by no means new, but which serve I wanted to a.dvise the Town Board, that by this time need a new vehicle, a four-wheel drive ~preferable. We but we love those old vehicles, and the girls don't get work hours are saved thereby. I ha~e been told that now is the time to ask the ToWn Board, so you can for next year. So, this can be taken as an official -wheel truck. SUPEI tt that JOHN~ the ri( Jake keeps telling he needs a new vehicle, and you never know, John. a serviceable vehicle, I think that would be yOU. SUPERVISOR ~COCttRAN: Thank yOU. We will give it our consideration. Yes, ~ma'am. NANCY HUNT: Nancy Hunt. Second question, again, Fishers Island Civil Association, do you think that Southold is going institute the 2% transfer tax? I understand that Easthampton has already instituted it. Is Southoid going to do it, and if so, if Southold does it will Fishers Island benefit? SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: A 2% transfer tax is a tax that would allow the Town to charge a 2% fee to the buyer, which would go into Town coffers. We looked upon it as funds that could be used to buy open space in sensitive :areas. It would be $200,000 for a piece of property with a house on it. Anything under that would not included. For empty, lots under $100,000. Thi~ is 'how Easthampton's bill was written. Easthampton, when they presented this, I think, all of the East End towns, the majority of the' Boards supported. This is about the fourth time it's been sent up to the state Legislature. It has failed in the past. Southold has supported it in the past; I~ know ten years ago, when I was on the Board, it came through, and I supported it at that time, and I supported it again this time, What the legislation does to allow the public to vote on a referendum to put this in place. It was felt in talking with Senator I,aValle, and with Cathy Lester, Supervisor of Easthampton, we sent information immediately the minute we heard that Easthampton had submitted their bill. It was felt pretty much that it had never passed before, and it has not passed before~ because of the strength of the real estate lobby. This time, in talking with Cathy and people, it was felt that if we could get one through, per. haps we had a better chance in the future, to allow the public to vote, .do :you v~ant-this, don=t you want this? It was felt that the more people that jumpe}ci on board the stronger the lobbying would become in Albany. So, we [~umped Easthampton, and we feet that it now gives us a foot in the door, and perhaps some of the other towns will have the opportunity the next time around. That's the status, Easthampton will be able to put this in place, if the vote is won in November, and we will have to wait another year. JUSTICE EVANS: I was the only Town Board member in Southold, that voted agalnst it, because basically for Fishers Island reasons.. I had other reasons, but I think Fishers Island should be aware that if this tax had been in place last'year Fishers Island would have paid in over 31% of the money, that would have been gained by this tax. So, I'm hoping that if the Town does go ahead with trying to get this referendum, which once again gives Fishers Island very little chance to vote .it down, that they will seriously look at ways to, either, buy some prope,r:ty out here, since no property has .ever been~bought out here through'. Open Space Funds, or they will look for a way,to exempt Fishers Island from it, because I did not feel that it was fair that we shoulder such a big burden of ~this tax, and really see nothing from it. SUPER'VISOR COCHRAN: Louisa, I am hopeful that the Town Board,. if this one, or the next one will be fair to Fishers Island, either purchase,of properties, or exemption. I supported it, because I feel very strongly that for many years thi~. people of Southold Town have supported the bond issue, which have allowed us to bondl farmland development rights¥ and open space. I don!t~'think it's a hardship for people wantin, g to buy in ithe a;'ea, and come out tOi'pay a 12% fee for ~u.y. lng into: thee envlropment. I niean we have committed ourselves as a community, that this is the direction we want to go, so that we can maintain some of what we have. Someone moving, they are moving in because of what we have to offer, so pay a i;ttle bit, and buy your way in. I don't think that anyone ,that wants to move to the. east ~nci'. can really complalnl about that~ but as Ior~g I am there every consideration Will certai~nly be given to fairness of. Fishers Island. COUNCILWOMAN HUSSIE: We can't let this go without a little bit of controversy~ and I have to reply to Louisa's statement, that she was the only who voted against it. She was, in voice. I was also against it in theory, however, I did vote for it, because it was going to go~ to a referendum. One of things, that~ I am interested in is that either we have that pact, a dual way would be everlasting bonds for saving open space, or we would not. The thing that worries me, though, is that~ looking ~t 1996 figures of sale of improved property over $250,000, and uniml~roved property over $100,000 would have brought in only $1~39,000 in that one year: We have been doing bonds for m lions, i don t think it would be a wash, and that's the thing that I am worried about. Not too controversial, right? SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Scott, I think that figure is wrong, though, isn't it? Isn't there something else that enters into it? SCOTT RUSSELL: The way the law is currently structured with the exemptions in place, which means the house sold for $300,000 the first $250,000 is exempt. You are only taxed 2% of the residual, 2% of the $50~000/ ~The way the law is structured, last year in Suffolk County the actual sales that took place in 1996, the record total would have been about $~59,000. COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND: I'll assume my neutral role in responding to Alice. I think that $450,000 is a lot of money to set aside for one year. When we do a bond issue for a million, we take twenty years paying for that, and as you know, the bond issue you pay twice what you get out of it. With respect to it's importance for Fishers Island, I think it's important to note, that the place where this has been most successful is at Nantucket, and there you have demographics similar to Fishers Island, and I think that each town may have it's own version, and I think it would appropriate if a correspondent amount of money went to Fishers Island. Right now, that doesn't with a bond issue, because you pay, as you are probably well aware, more than what you might consider your per capita share. I do i feel that it is very important for all of us, and it's time for Fishers Island to start thinking about, you know, public preservation. You have done a very good job over the last..this has been twenty-third year, I think, that I came to Fishers Island on one these official junkets. I was AUGUST 13, 1997 't-89 Mayor of. Greenport back then, and I don't notice a tremendous amount of change. Those of you that live here, I'm sure, realize there has been a tremendous amount of change, and there will be a lot presspre pertaining to the future, a time when you might want to depend on public money for some of the preservation that FIDCO has been doing. I believe they have done a fair amount, and so it might be time to formulate a plan by which you get a fair share of the preservation money. I think the 2% tax, our land bank tax, they call it, is the most effective, most immediate way to preserve property, that is why I am in' favor of it. We might change the ~orma:t somewhat, and we might allow Fishers Island to recoup their ~ share. I would certainly like to see it go forward, and: that is why I voted for it all four times, when it came u_p, when I was in office. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: something ? Thank you, Joe. Ruth would you like to add COUNCILWOMAN OLIVA: Speaking with the Harbor Management Committee over here, and other people over here, I know there are some parcels that you are interested in preserving, not only on the west end, but on the east end. I think it would be very appropriate to use this land transfer tax money to buy those properties, because certainly you are just as entitled: to have your open space as we are. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Thank you. Bill? COUNCILMAN MOORE: I think Ruth did a great job of raising the concerns and prospective from Fishers, and I would think that people at this table can Yery reasonably accommodate every reasonable concerns of other people. I think there is a way to do it. She is a very good spokesperson for the interest, and we listen very carefully to when she does speak. She asked me to speak briefly about something that I. have been working on. with the Code Committee. Cellular communications, and wireless services are the big topic in planning and zoning circles right now, and I attended a two and a half day seminar in Newark, New Jersey, at the airport Marriott. A great place for a seminar. You are trapped. You don~t want to leave. On this . topic, what we are doing is working on a Local Law that affects our zoning throughout th~ Town of Southold, including obviously, here on the island, as far as where these wireless service providers can locate these facilities, and we have the difficult job of 'drafting aL. law, that has to recognize the unique nature of these carriers of public utilities.. If a public utility says, I want to come into your part of-town, I want to be here, because I have- to be here, and .we sit--there from our Zoning book, and say, well, geez, we really don~t want you there. We would rather you were over here. So, we have been working very hard since March in drafting a Local Law. The Code Committee worked very hard on drafting a Local Law that attempts to..I don't want to say coerced, but encourage the location of these facilities in the parts of town where we would rather have them, less sensitive properties, industrial properties, commercial proper~ties, and do everything we can to encourage them not to locate 'in rural areas, in residential areas, and things like that, so we set up the. law in such a way that, hopefully, we can kind of guide them where they want to go, and if and when they absolutely have to be in a residential area the mitigated effects of these, typically 'these towers on the visible impact of the community, so it's been a lot of work, and we are just about ready now to pass it on to the Town Planning Board, and the Suffolk County Planning Commission for their comment, but that's what we are working on right now. JUSTICE ~EVANS: I have a copy of what is going to be passed onto the Planning Board, and obviously Ken will have a copy, since it's going to his Board, so if anyone would like to see copies of this, and make comments, please, feel free to ask us for copies. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Do we have any other questions; any input? (No response,) If not, I will do what I normally do at the end of a Board meeting, and call on the Town Board if they have anything else to report, and we will start with Louisa. AUGUST 13, 1997 JUSTICE EVANS: I just want to do the thank you to Dr. Connell for letting us use the school once again, the Highway Department for helping me set up chairs and tables, and to Ruthanne Woodhull. i don't know where she has gone to now. Ruthanne, if you would stand up, because you did a lot of work preparing for this day. She is in charge of lunch and everything else, that comes over on the boat, that all of you get to feast on. I would also like to: thank the Civic Association for being there to meet people~ and taklng them around the island. They willingly did so. I -thank 'everyone-that came all the Way over here, so we had a chance to ask questions, and Show our island to you, so you know a' little bit more about what we have here. Thank you. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Thank you, Louisa. Alice? COUNCILWOMAN HUSSIE: I don't want you to feel sorry for me, and think that I am always down in the dumps. They do let me out occasionally. I am also on Bill's Code Committee, and Joe's Planning and Zoning, and Ruth's Animal Shelter Committee, so I do have some input into those things.. It's nice to be here again .... SUPERVISOR COCHRAN': Thank you. On my left, Joe? COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND: Bill mentioned the Code Committee. Prior to the meeting I was talking to Kenny about some of the changes, that we are proposing for business use zones, and how they may effect Fishers Island, and I think there will probably be a special opportunity for those people that own business property here to discuss some of the changes that we are .planning to make to uses allowed in our zones. Other than that ! would like to thank you for allowing us to be here. It's nice to see all my old friends again, and I, also, thank Evan for not having to bring up the Metal Dump for the first time in recent memory. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Thanks, Joe. Ruth? COUNCILWOMAN OLIVA: Thanks, Jean. It's always a pleasure to be here. ! have made so many friends her~. It's just delightful to always come over. ! do want to thank ali the Harbor Management Committee here on Fishers Island. They worked so hard to get it through, and I wo~ld also llke to thank Steve Riddler, and Bill Sharp for all their assistance to that Harbor Management Plan. I am just delighted that it finally has passed, and it is one more concern that Fishers Island has been able to put to rest, so it is good to see you all here. Thanks so much. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Bill? COUNCILMAN MOORE:~ I want to thank you all for your hospitality. Michael Collyer was very good to take us around. I have been here several times, but I was glad to hear a little bit about the school, and their great pride in participation the community has with the school. I was thrilled to hear about the relationship between the movie theatre, and how they fund their senior trip. I think that was absolutely terrific. Those.of you who don't know the upcoming senior class runs the movie theatre, and they run a concession in there, and the money that is generated from the concession is used to pay for the senior trip. I thank you for sharing that, and taking us around, and llke always it's good to be here again. SUPERVISOR COCHRAN: Thank you. I would like to add my thanks to Louisa. There is a lot of planning that goes into coming over here today, and I have to, also, specifically thank Ruthanne. Ruthanne runs my office, and she is just a jack of all trades, and if there is any leftover bagels we won't have buy any tomorrow. But, she does a beautiful job, as we have John, one of our custodians, helping out, and Ed Forrester is here helping us .today, so thank you all. My sincere thanks to Fishers Island for once again hosting us. I talked to Serge earlier, and I said, when did this really start, because he goes back about fifty years, I guess, and remembers, and he said, he remembers the time when they would get a little boat, and maybe three people would come over. Today we had close t.o a hundred people, some from Town committees, some from Town departments, County, State, as we said earlier. I know the entire Transportation Committee, I guess is here, but these people, many of these AUGUST 13, 1997 people, work year round for the town in serving on committees without any pay. We thank them once in awhile but it is kind of nice to let them come over, so that when they do have something that relates to Fishers Island, they can picture not only the island, but the kindness of the people that live here. So, once again, thank you for letting us join you, and we look forward to seeing you again next year. May I have motion to adjourn? Moved by Councilman Townsend, seconded by Councilwoman Oliva, it was RESOLVED that this Town Board meeting be and hereby is adjourned at 3:u,0 P.M. Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, CounCilwoman Oliva, Councilman Townsend, Councilwoman Hussie, Supervisor Cochran. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Judith T. Terry Southold Town Clerk