HomeMy WebLinkAboutLL-2003 #18Local Law Filing
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF STATE
41 STATE STREET~ ALBANY. NY 12231
(Use this form to file a local law with the Secretary of State.)
Text of law should be given as amended. Do not include matter being eliminated and do not use
italics or underlining to indicate new matter.
City
Town of
SOUTHOLD
LOCAL LAW NO. 18 OF 2003
A LOCAL LAW ENTITLED "A LOCAL LAW TO CHANGE THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION
OF CERTAIN PARCELS OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS SCTM # 1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1;
1000-96-1-6; 1000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-
96-1-14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; AND 1000-96-1-18.3 FROM TIZI~ (LO LIGHT
INDUSTRIAL ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION TO TItlE (R-40) RESIDENTIAL ZONING DISTRICT
DESIGNATION".
BE IT ENACTED, by the Town Board of the Town of Southold as follows:
Section 1. Legislative Intent.
The Town Board of the Town of Southold retained an independent plaurfing firm, Greenman-Pedersen Inc., to
conduct a planning, environmental, and cultural analysis of the portion of the To~vn bordered by North Road
(C.R. 48) on the south, Cox Lane on the east, Oregon Road on the north, and Depot Lane on the west. The
analysis was refined into a pr/mary study area consisting of fifteen parcels, hereinafter referred to as the
"Church Lane Neighborhood" on the south side of the landfill.
These fifteen parcels are Suffolk County Tax Map (SCTM) #1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-
96-1-6; 1000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-96-1-
14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; and 1000-96-1-18.3 and all are currently zoned Light
Industrial (LO.
The study/analysis prepared by Greenman-Petersen dated August 2003 indicated that the Church Lane
(If additional space is needed, attach pages the same size as this sheet, and number each.)
DOS-239(Kcv. 11/99) (1)
neighborhood is one of the few African-A~_ Acan communities in the Town of So~,J .~ld. It was established in
the early part of the last century, and the families who have maintained homes there since that time have
cultural roots to the establishment of agriculture on the North Fork. The continued existence of this unique
historic settlement is jeopardized by its current industrial zoning classification. Previous land use conflicts
between the Town landfill and the residential use of the Church Lane neighborhood no longer apply, as the
landfill has been capped, and this facility must be considered a long term open space and parkland asset to the
neighborhood. The sohd waste transfer and recycling center, and the yard waste composting facility still
provide land use conflicts, but these are being mitigated by provisions for a noise barrier and a vegetative
border. Additional mitigation is anticipated as best management practices are implemented, and as technology
for transfer, recycling, and composting improves. In preparing the report/recommendations, Robert Grover of
Greenman-Petersen met with residents of the community on August 11, 2003 and determined that the residents
support rezoning the Church Lane community to a residential zone in an effort to preserve their community.
The report concludes that it is clear fi.om the analysis that, on the basis of cultural resources, land use, and the
Town's estabhshed planning goals, the Church Lane neighborhood should be rezoned to Residential R-40.
A public hearing was held on the Town Board's own motion for rezoning the fifteen parcels to Residential (R-
40) and the pubhc was given an opportunity to be heard.
Section 2. Enactment.
Therefore, based upon the aforementioned goals and identified needs of the Town, the cultural and historical
resources, and existing land use patterns in the Town, and upon our consideration of the recommendations and
comments of the Southold Town Planning Board, the Suffolk County Planning Commission, independent
planning consultant Greenman-Pedersen, and the public comment taken at the public hearing and otherwise, we
hereby determine that it is necessary and desirable to revise and amend the zoning designations applicable to the
identified parcels, and we hereby change the zoning district designated for the parcels of property kaown as
Suffolk County Tax Map (SCTM) #1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6; t000-96-1-7;
1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-96-1-14; 1000-96-1-15;
1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; and 1000-96-1-18.3 from the (LI) Light Industrial Zoning District designation
to the (R-40) Residential Zoning District Designation."
Section 3. The zoning map as adopted by section 100-21 of the Town Code of the Town of Southold is hereby
amended to reflect the within change of zoning district desigxtation for said parcels.
Section 4.
This Local Law shall take effect inm~ediately upon filing with the Secretary of State.
2
(Complete the certification in t~ paragraph that applies to the filing oft-~ 4ocal law and
strike out that which is not applicable.)
1. (Final adoption by local legislative body only.)
I hereby certify that the local iaw annexed hereto, designated as local Iaw No. 18 of 20 03 . of the
(Ccunty)(City)(Town) ~.rillzg, z) of SOUTHOLD was duly passed by the
TOWN BOARD on October 7 ,20 03 , in accordance with the applicable provisions of law.
2. (Passage by local legislative body with approval, no disapproval or repassage after disapproval by the Elective
Chief Executive Officer*.)
I hereby certify that the local law annexed hereto, designated as local law No. of 20
of the (County)(City)(Town)(Village) of was duly passed by the
on 20 __, and was (approved)(not approved)(repassed after
disapproval) by the and was deemed duly adopted on 20 ,
in accordance with the applicable provisions of law.
3. (Final adoption by referendum.)
I hereby certify that the local law annexed hereto, designated as local law No. of 20
of the (County)(City)(Town)(Village) of was duly passed by the
on 20 , and was (approved)(not approved)(repassed after
disapproval) by the on 20 . Such local law was submitted
to the people by reason of a (mandatory)(permissive) referendum, and received the affirmative vote of a majority of
the qualified electors voting thereon at the (general)(special)(annual) election held on 20 , in
accordance with the applicable provisions of law.
4. (Subject to permissive referendum and final adoption because no valid petition was ~ed requesting
referendum.)
I hereby certify that the local law annexed hereto, designated as local law No. of 20 of the
(County)(City)(Town)(Village) of was dnly passed by the
on 20 , and was (approved)(not approved) (repassed after
disapproval) by the on 20__ Such Iocal law was subject to
permissive referendum and no valid petition requesting such referendum was filed as of 20__, in
accordance with the applicable provisions of law.
* Elective Chief Executive Officer means or Includes the ch/el executive officer of a county elected on a county- wide
basis or, If there be none, the chairperson of the county legislative body, the mayor of a city or village, or the supervisor of
a town where such officer is vested with the power to approve or veto local laws or ordinances.
5. (City local law concerning Charter revisit proposed by petition.)
I hereby certify that the local law annexed hereto, designated as local law No. of 20 __
of the City of having been submitted to referendum pursuant to the provisions of
section (36)(37) of the Municipal Home Rule Law, and having received the affirmative vote of a majority of the qualified
electors of such city voting thereon at the (special)(general) election held on 20 __
became operative.
6. (County local law concerning adoption of Charter.)
I hereby certify that the local law annexed hereto, designated as local law No of 20
of the County of State of New York, having been submi~ed to the electors
at the General Election of November 20 , pursuant to subdivisions 5 and 7 of section 33 of the
Municipal Home Rule Law, and having received the affirmative vote ofa ~mjority of the qualified electors of the cities of
said county as a unit and a majority of the qualified electors of the towns of said county considered as a unit voting at said
general election, became operative.
(If any other authorized form of final adoption has been followed, please provide an appropriate certification.)
I further certify that I have compared the preceding local law with the original on file in this office and that thc same is a
correct transcript therefrom and of the whole of such original local law, and was finally adopted in the manner indicated
in paragraph 1 , above.
Clerk of the C~a~fity legistat~ve ooay. Cit3%;ffown or Vill~g Clerk
or officer designated by local legislative body
Elizabeth A. Neville, Town Clerk
(SeaD Date: __October 15, 2003
(Certification to be executed by County Attorney, Corporation Counsel, Town Attorney, Village Attorney or
other authorized attorney of locality.)
STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK
I, the tmdersigned, hereby certify that the foregoing local law contains the co~..a~C~ext and that all proper proceedings
have been had or taken for the enactment of the local law armexed~
P.a/x2w~ A~E~q., Assistant Town At£o/~ney
Gregory F. Yakaboski, Esq., Town Attornev
Title
City
Town of
SOUTHOLD
Date:
October 15, 2003
ELIZABETH A. NEVILLE
TOWN CLERK:
REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS
MARRIAGE OFFICER
RECORDS MANAGEMENT OFFICER
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICER
Town Hall, 53095 Main Road
P.O. Box 1179
Southold, New York 11971
Fax (631) 765-6145
Telephone (631) 765-1800
southoldtown.nortkfork.net
OFFICE OF THE TOWN CLERK
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
TInS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION NO. 669 OF 2003
WAS ADOPTED AT THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE SOUTItOLD TOWN BOARD
ON OCTOBER 7, 2003:
RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby enacts the followinff Local
Law:
LOCAL LAW NO. 18 OF 2003
A LOCAL LAW ENTITLED "A LOCAL LAW TO CHANGE TYI~ ZONING DISTRICT
DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN PARCELS OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS SCTM # 1000-96-1-
3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6; 1000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-
96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-96-1-14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-
1-18.2; AND 1000-96-1-18.3 FROM THE (LO LIGHT INDUSTRIAL ZONING DISTRICT
DESIGNATION TO THE (R-40) RESIDENTIAL ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION".
BE IT ENACTED, by the Town Board of the Town of Southold as follows:
Section 1. Legislative Intent.
The Town Board of the Town of Southold retained an independent planning fh'm, Greenman-
Pedersen Inc., to conduct a planning, environmental, and cultural analysis of the portion of the
Town bordered by North Road (C.R. 48) on the south, Cox Lane on the east, Oregon Road on the
north, and Depot Lane on the west. The analysis was refined into a primary study area consisting
of fifteen parcels, hereinafter referred to as the "Church Lane Neighborhood" on the south side
of the landfill.
These fifteen parcels are Suffolk County Tax Map (SCTM) #1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-
96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6; 1000-96-i-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12;
1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-96-1-14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; and 1000-96-l-
18.3 and all are currently zoned Light Industrial (Lo.
The study/analysis prepared by Greenman-Petersen dated August 2003 indicated that the Church
Lane neighborhood is one of the few African-American communities in the Town of Southold.
It was established in the early part of the last century, and the families who have maintained
homes there since that time have cultural roots to the establishment of agriculture on the North
Fork. The continued existence of this unique historic settlement is jeopardized by its current
industrial zoning classification. Previous land use conflicts between the Town landfill and the
residential use of the Church Lane neighborhood no longer apply, as the landfill has been
capped, and this facility must be considered a long term open space and parkland asset to the
neighborhood. The solid waste transfer and recychng center, and the yard waste composfing
facility still provide land use conflicts, but these are being mitigated by provisions for a noise
barrier and a vegetative border. Additional mitigation is anticipated as best management
practices are implemented, and as technology for transfer, recycling, and composting improves.
In preparing the report/recommendations, Robert Grover of Greenman-Petersen met with
residents of the community on August 11, 2003 and determined that the residents support
rezoning the Church Lane community to a residential zone in an effort to preserve their
community. The report concludes that it is clear fi:om the analysis that, on the basis of cultural
resources, land use, and the Town's established planning goals, the Church Lane neighborhood
should be rezuned to Residential R-40.
A public hearing was held on the Town Board's own motion for rezmfing the fifteen parcels to
Residential (R-40) and the public was given an opportanity to be heard.
Section 2. Enactment.
Therefore, based upon the aforementioned goals and identified needs of the Town, the cultural
and historical resources, and existing land use patterns in the Town, and upon our consideration
of the recommendations and comments of the Southold Town Planning Board, the Suffolk
County Planning Commission, independent planning consultant Greenman-Pedersen, and the
public comment taken at the public hearing and otherwise, we hereby determine that it is
necessary and desirable to rev/se and amend the zoning designations applicable to the identified
parcels, and we hereby change the zoning district designated for the parcels of property known as
Suffolk Cotmty Tax Map (SCTM)#1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6;
1000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-t1.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-
96-i-14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; and 1000-96-1-18.3 from the (L1) Light
Industrial Zoning District designation to the (R-40) Residential Zoning District Designation."
Section 3. The zoning map as adopted by section 100-21 of the Town Code of the Town of
Southold is hereby amended to reflect the within change of zoning district designation for said
parcels.
Section 4.
This Local Law shall take effect immediately upon filing with the Secretary of State.
Elizabeth A. Neville
Southold Town Clerk
STATE OF' NEW YORK
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
4 I STATE STREET
ALBANY, NY 1223 I-OOO I
GEORGE F-. PATAK[
October 29, 2003
DANDY A. DANIELS
RECEIVED
Town of Southold
Town Hall, 53095 Main Road
PO Box 1179
Southold, NY 11971
I~0¥ 3
Southol~f Torn Clerk
RE: Town of Southold, Local Law 18, 2003, filed on 10/17/2003
To Whom It May Concern:
The above referenced material was received and filed by this office as indicated.
Additional local law filing forms will be forwarded upon request.
Sincerely,
Linda Lasch
Principal Clerk
State Records & Law Bureau
(518) 474-2755
LL:cb
~ I Ce~J~ed Fee / ~ % ~ ~
~ ,~do~e~entRequ[md)~ h ~' ~- ~ ~UUd He~
~q sen~NYS DepaFtment o~ State
~ '~f~-~}~7~[~¢'~ ...........................................................................
Albany._ny 12231~
ELIZABETH A. NEVILLE
TOWN CLERK
REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS
MARRIAGE OFFICER
RECORDS 1ViANAGEMENT OFFICER
FREEDOM OF II~'ORMATION OFFICER
Town Hall, 53095 Main Road
P.O. Box 1179
Southold, New York 11971
Fax (631) 765-6145
Telephone (631) 765-1800
southoldtown.nerthfork.net
OFFICE OF THE TOWN CLERK
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
October 15, 2003
Certified Mail
Registered Receipt Requested
New York State Department of State
State Records and Law Bureau
41 State Street
Albany, NY 12231
RE: Local Law Numbers 18 of 2003
Town of Southold, Suffolk County
Dear Sirs:
In accordance with provisions of Section 27 of the Municipal Home Rule Law, I am
enclosing herewith certified copies of Local Law Numbers 18 of 2003 oft he Town of Southold
suitable for filing in your office.
I would appreciate if you would send me a receipt indicating the filing of the enclosures
your office. Thank you.
Enclosures
Very truly yours,
Elizabeth A. Neville
Southold Town Clerk
cc: Town Attorney
ELIZABETH A. NEVILLE
TOWN CLERK
REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS
MARRIAGE OFFICER
RECORDS M. AI~AGEMENT OFFICER
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICER
Town Hall, 53095 Main Road
P.O. Box 1179
Southold, New York 11971
Fax (631) 765-6145
Telephone (631) 765-1800
southold'cown.nor~hfork.net
OFFICE OF THE TOWN CLERK
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
October 15, 2003
Attention: Shirley Flint
Code Supplementation
General Code Publishers Corp.
72 Hinchey Road
Kochester, NY 14624
Re: Town of Southold Code
Local Law Numbers 18 of 2003
Dear Ms. Flint:
Transmitted herewith please find the Local Law Numbers 18 of 2003.
Please make the appropriate amendments to the Southold Town Code.
Thank you.
Very truly yours,
Elizabeth A. Neville
Southold Town Clerk
Enclosures
cc: Town Attorney
&nd w~i be prc~ssed for ~nc~us~o~ ~n your
Code as suppiemen~i p~es (where
Local L~w No. !8-2003
PO Bo× i i 79
Southoid. NY' i -~ 971
LEGAL NOTICE
NOTICE OF pUBLIC
HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY
GIVEN the Town Board of the
Southok
.The_ Chureh: Lane~ neighbor--
haod is one of thC few Africen;
American communl/ies ', in_:the
'Towfi of South61d. It wa~ ~stab-
lishedSia~-the early part,:of the
last ¢~ntury, and the families
wlm have maintathed,~homes
them since that time have cuI-
~ral'ro6ts ~ the 6Sfitblist/mant
of agricoulmre on" the. Nbrth
Fork,._ Th~ continued existenc~
of th[s ~nique historic settle-
ment i~ jeopa~di~6d bY it~ cur-
rent indusl~ial Z0a[ng cla~sifica-
t/on. Pr~vious land use: corn
fliers between.the Town landfill
and th~ rcsidemiaL use oI~ the
Church Lane Reigl~oihood no'
longer applyl as th6-1andfill has
been capped, ~,d ~is facility
must be c0~Sidered ~ long't0rm
open space end parklend asset
t6 the ~eighborti$od: The sblid
-waste 4~ansfer .ai~d recycling
center, and the:yard, x~asm'~m-
posting facility-stilL-provide
land hse coafli6ts, but these are
being mitigated by provisions
for a-noisebarrier anda vege~a-
t;. c bo?der. \dd|l:onnl
posthlg impi'oves.'
i lit is ~le~ from the analysis
ti/at; -6~ the hasN of culti/ral
-- resources, land ustc, and the
. Town~s, e~tablishad plann~g
goals~ the. ChurcNLane/aeigh-
boihood should be rezoned to
Resid6htial
Therefore, based upo~ the
a?orementioiacd goals dud iden-
tified uecds oF thc Town end
upon our consideration o£ the
recommendations and eom-
merits of oar Plananug Board,
the Suffblk £oanty ,Pierre[ag
Commission~ our plarming con7
q.l!::'fl
/or?l: i!~.:l icl
I.!}1!-,~¢* I-':; Io00-91,-I 4.1:
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK
STATE OF NEW YORK ss:
Lise Marinace, being duly sworn, says
that , she is the Legal Advertising
Coordinator of the 'Traveler Watchman,
a public newspaper printed at Southold,
in Suffolk County; and that the notice of
which the armexed is a printed copy, has
been published in said Traveler
Watchma~ on~c~ each week
for ...... f...week:(~)-- ,~*ccessively,
cerumen_ri_oleg ,o3 thq. ....... ~. ....... day of
....
wo to be ore ~;003t~.'s q~/ dayof
Notary Public
Emily Hamill
NOTARY PUBLIC, State of New York
No. 01HA5059984
Qualified in Suflblk Count)'
Commission expires May 06, 2006
Iht , RESDENTIAL zotl-
lng district designatiom '
The Local Law is entitled "A
LOC~ LAW TO;CHANGE:
;DESIGNATION;OF;CERTAIN,
PAKCE~ OF ~ROPERTY
K~OWN ~S SUI~FOLK
tAX (SC
LEGAL NOTICE
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN the Town Board of the Town of Southold has received a
petition to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning
District designation of SCTM #1000-96-1-3; 1000-96~1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-
6; 1000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-
13.1; 1000-96-1-14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; and 1000-96-1-18.3
from the (LI) Light Industrial Zoning District designation to the (R-40) Residential
Zoning District Designation.";
NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN, that pursuant to Section 265 of the Town Law and
requirements of the Code of the Town of Southold, Suffolk County, New York, the Town
Board of the Town of Southold will hold a public hearing on the aforesaid local law at
the Southold Town Hall, 53095 Main Road, Southold, New York at 8:00 l~.m., Tuesday,
October 7, 2003 at which time all interested persons will be given an opportunity to be
heard.
The Church Lane neighborhood is one of the few African-American communities
in the Town of Southold. It was established in the early part of the last century, and the
families who have maintained homes there since that time have cultural roots to the
estabhshment of agriculture on the North Fork. The continued existence of this unique
historic settlement is jeopardized by its current industrial zoning classification. Previous
land use conflicts between the Town landfill and the residential use of the Church Lane
neighborhood no longer apply, as the landfill has been capped, and this facility must be
considered a long term open space and parkland asset to the neighborhood. The solid
waste transfer and recycling center, and the yard waste composting facility still provide
land use conflicts, but these are being mitigated by provisions for a noise barrier and a
vegetative border. Additional mitigation is anticipated as best management practices are
implemented, and as technology for transfer, recycling, and composting improves.
It is clear from the analysis that, on the basis of cultural resources, land use, and
the Town's established planning goals, the Church Lane neighborhood should be rezoned
to Residential R-40.
Therefore, based upon the aforementioned goals and identified needs of the Town and
upon our consideration of the recommendations and comments of our Planning Board,
the Suffolk County Planning Commission, our planning consultant (Greenman-Pedersen)
and the public comment taken at the public hearing and otherwise, we hereby change the
zoning district designation for parcels known as Suffolk County Tax Map (SCTM)
#1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6; 1000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8;
1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-96-1-14; 1000-96-1-
15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; and 1000-96-1-18.3 from the (LI) LIGHT
INDUSTRIAL zoning district designation to the (R-40) RESIDENTIAL zoning district
designation.
The Local Law is entitled, "A LOCAL LAW TO CHANGE THE ZONING DISTRICT
DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN PARCELS OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS SUFFOLK
COUNTY TAX MAP (SCTM)#1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-
6; 1000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-
13.1; 1000-96-1-14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; AND 1000-96-1-18.3
FROM THE (LI) LIGHT INDUSTRIAL ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION TO
THE (R-40) RESIDENTIAL ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION."
BY ORDER OF THE SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF
SOUTHOLD, AUGUST 26, 2003
ELIZABETH A. NEVILLE
SOUTI~OLD TOWN CLERK
PLEASE PUBLISH ON SEPTEMBER 4, 2003, AND FORWARD ONE (1)
AFFIDAVIT OF PUBLICATION TO ELIZABETH NEVILLE, TOWN CLERK,
TOWN HALL, PO BOX 1179, SOUTHOLD, NY 11971.
Copies to the following:
The Traveler Watchman
Planning Board
Town Attorney
Town Board Members
Code Committee
Town Clerk's Bulletin Board
STATE OF NEW YORK)
SS:
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK)
ELIZABETH A. NEVILLE, Town Clerk of the Town of Southold, New York being
duly sworn, says that on the~ day of_s~qT~,~J~' ,2003, she affixed a notice
of which the annexed printed notice is a tree copy, in a proper and substantial manner, in
a most public place in the Town of Southold, Suffolk County, New York, to wit: Town
Clerk's Bulletin Board, 53095 Main Road, Southold, New York.
Notice of Public Hearing: Church Lane Change of Zone.
Sworn before me this
day of ,2003.
Notary Public
SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD
PUBLIC HEAR1NG
October 7, 2003
8:00 P.M.
HEARING ON "A LOCAL LAW TO CHANGE THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF
CERTAIN PARCELS OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS SCTM #1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-
96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1;
1000-96-1-14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-1-96-16; 1000-96-1-18.2 AND 1000-96-1-18.3 FROM THE (LB
LIGHT INDUSTRIAL ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION TO THE (R40) RESIDENTIAL
ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION."
Present:
Supervisor Joshua Y. Horton
Justice Louisa P. Evans
Councilman William D. Moore
Councilman Craig A. Richter
Councilman John M. Romanelli
Councilman Thomas H. Wickham
Town Clerk Elizabeth A. Neville
Town Attorney Gregory F. Yakaboski
COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN the Town Board of the Town of
Southold has received a petition to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the
Zoning District designation of SCTM #1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6;
t000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-96-1-
14; 1000-96-1-15; 1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; and 1000-96-1-18.3 from the (LI) Light Industrial
Zoning District designation to the (R-40) Residential Zoning District Designation.";
NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN, that pursuant to Section 265 of the Town Law and requirements of
the Code of the Town of Southold, Suftblk County, New York, the Town Board of the Town of
Sonthold will hold a public hearing on the aforesaid local law at the Southold Town Hall, 53095 Main
Road, Southold, New York at 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 7, 2003 at which time all interested
persons will be given an opporttmity to be heard.
The Church Lane neighborhood is one of the few African-American communities in the Town
of Southold. It was established in the early part of the last century, and the families who have
maintained homes there since that time have cultural roots to the establishment of agriculture on the
North Fork. The continued existence of this unique historic settlement is jeopardized by its current
industrial zoning classification. Previous land use conflict~ between the Town landfill and the
residential use of the Church Lane neighborhood no longer apply, as the landfill has been capped, and
tins facility must be considered a long term open space and parkland asset to the neighborhood. The
solid waste transfer and recycling center, and the yard waste composting facility still provide land use
conflicts, but these are being mitigated by provisions for a noise barrier and a vegetative border.
October 10, 2003 2
Southotd Town Board-Public Hearing
Additional mitigation is anticipated as best management practices are implemented, and as technology
for transfer, recycling, and composting improves.
It is clear fi:om the analysis that, on the basis of cultural resources, land use, and the Town's
established planning goals, the Church Lane neighborhood should be rezoned to Residential R-40.
Therefore, based upon the aforementioned goals and identified needs of the Town and upon our
consideration of the recommendations and comments of our Planning Board, the Suffolk County
Planning Commission, our planning consultant (Greenman-Pedersen) and the public comment taken at
the public hearing and otherwise, we hereby change the zoning district designation for parcels known
as Suffolk County Tax Map (SCTM) #1000-96-1-3; 1000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6;
1000-96-1-7; 1000-96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96-1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-96-1-
14; 1000-96-1-15; !000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; and 1000-96-1-18.3 from the (L1)LIGHT
iNDUSTRIAL zoning district designation to the (R-40) RESIDENTIAL zoning district designation.
The Local Law is entitled, "A LOCAL LAW TO CHANGE THE ZONING DISTRICT
DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN PARCELS OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS SUFFOLK COUNTY
TAX MAP (SCTM)#1000-96-1-3; t000-96-1-4.1; 1000-96-1-5.1; 1000-96-1-6; 1000-96-1-7; 1000-
96-1-8; 1000-96-1-9; 1000-96~1-11.1; 1000-96-1-12; 1000-96-1-13.1; 1000-96-1-14; 1000-96-1-15;
1000-96-1-16; 1000-96-1-18.2; AND 1000-96-1-18.3 FROM THE (LI) LIGHT INDUSTRIAL
ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION TO THE (R-40) RESIDENTIAL ZONING DISTRICT
DESIGNATION."
COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: Now, I have several publications here including is a certification that it
has appeared on the Town Clerk's bulletin board outside, I have a copy o£the legal in the newspaper
and we have several responses fi:om various people. I don't think that I am going to read these all in
detail but I will try to summarize the more, what I regard, what I think are the more important ones.
First is, we have the Church Lane Neighborhood report winch is the Greenman-Pedersen report, a
rather lengthy report. I am not going to read the whole thing, in fact, I am not going to read it at all but
it essentially lays the basis of, it gives a historic overview of the community since the 1930's and lays
the basis for a residential community in the Church Lane neighborhood. I have also a report from the
Planning Board winch met, I believe, last night and they have finalized there comments before us and I
have a copy of it here and I am just going to excerpt from it and try to get the gist of it because it is
quite lengthy. But it is germane and I tinnk the Board as well as the public should have some idea of
what the Planning Board's recommendation is. They begin with a review of the Greenman-Pedersen
report, the report winch lays the basis for this proposed zone change. 'The Greenman-Pedersen report
deals primarily with the Church Lane focus area, it means those particular residential, those 15 lots
between where the landfill is and Route 48. It found that the Church Lane community represented a
significant part of the African-American experience in the Town, it stated that changing the zoning
classification of these parcels would encourage the retention and expansion of existing residential
dwellings in an historic Afi:ican-American community as well as to create an opportunity to construct
some affordable housing units, consistent with the existing density on the vacant parcels. The report
essentially provides an argument and rationale for reversing a pubhc policy that dates back to the
1980's and possibly earlier calling, and it calls for the phasing out those earlier policy that called for
the phasing out of residential development around the sanitary landfill due to concerns about
environmental hazards related to the landfill. The report supports its recommendation by stating ~hat
an upzone "would greatly benefit the majority of landowners in the area" it also states the "although
much of the intent of the Master Plan is to concentrate residential development in the existing larger
hamlets, there is no call for the elimination of existing outlying residential neighborhoods." Reference
in the report is made to the now completed capping of the landfill and the fact that it can now be
October 10, 2003 , 3
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
transformed from an eyesore to an asset. The report suggests that a proposed addition of a 12 foot high
noise barrier behind two of those parcels at the east of the entrance to the landfill would mitigate the
detrimental environmental impacts of noise and litter to those two parcels. The report recommends
reinforcing and maintaining a vegetative screen between the bulk of the Church Lane neighborhood
and the compost facility. And evaluation of best management practices for the facility is suggested to
see if procedures or equipment upgrades could reduce or prevent odors. Reference is made to the
public water supply main that was extended to the neighborhood several years ago and concerns are
raised over the continuing operation of the composting and transfer station. The report does not
provide details about the degree in nature of environmental mitigation that the Town will undertake in
order to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of existing and future residents. Proposed action, the
Town Board is considering reversing a public policy as it pertains to the zoning of the property within
the moratorium area and the Church Lane focus area. The Greenman-Pedersen report and the public
hearing tonight pertain primarily to the 15 parcels. Planning and environmental issues. The Planning
Board reviewed the long environmental assessment form, that is this long form that we have here and
found that it does not address the known environmental problems at the site. The landfill may be
capped but the composting, transfer and recycling operations will continue and these operations have
impacts that should be mitigated. The following facts are included in the Planning Board's review.
The existing entrance to the landfill, composting site has been the focus of ongoing traffic safety
concerns. The Southold Transportation Commission, Southold Police Department, Suffolk County
~Department of Public Works have all been working to address these concerns. The installation of a
traffic light at Cox's Lane and Route 48 was partly predicated on the assumption that the Town
planned to relocate the landfills primary exit and entrance to Cox's Lane. In order to accomplish this
in the near term, careful consideration must be given to internal traffic flow patterns. While specific
required improvements could be addressed separately from a comprehensive site plan approach, they
would involve major compliance of the facility, that is the transfer station, as well as its operation.
From a planning perspective, such a piecemeal approach to improving the transfer station can
compromise achievement of desired long term results. The traffic issue, therefore, would most
effectively be addressed in the context of a comprehensive redesign of the facility, if possible. The
proposed noise barrier would afford protection primarily to the two residential properties east of the
current entrance. The purpose of the noise barrier is to block sounds. Methane is being vented from
the site; there are key testing locations that are monitored on a regular basis. The output of methane
fluctuates; presently there is higher amount of methane being vented from the easterly portion than the
westerly. The Town operates a composting operation in accordance with a permit from the DEC, the
permit for this transfer station and composting facility states that the operation is adjacent to an
industrially zoned area. While the permit itself should not be jeopardized simply by change of zone, it
is possible that operations would be reviewed by DEC and that impacts would include limits on
operating hours, such as Sunday closure or in the handling of certain materials. And finally, operations
at the Solid Waste Facility are expected to continue and intensify in response to future growth. The
Greenman-Pedersen report clearly laid out the sociological and historical reasons for rezoning the
property from industrial to residential and the Planning Board understands these reasons. The
Planning Board also understands the situation faced by people who have invested in this area based on
public policy. If the rezoning takes place, it is incumbent on the Town to take the next step and
address the long term implications of the rezoning. To clarify, a rezoning to residential use carries
with it the necessity of taking specific and material steps to protect the health, safety and welfare of
existing and future residents of the neighborhood. With regard to protecting public health, safety and
welfare: it is crucial to recognize that as time goes by, the R-40 designation will be interpreted by
October 10, 2003 4
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
current and future property owners as an implicit statement by the Town, the subject area is and will be
a healthy and safe place to live. However, we know there are potential environmental hazards or
nuisances associated with the ongoing operation of the Town's transfer, recycling and composting
stations and that these will require ongoing monitoring, mitigation and remediation. As a result, the
rezoning action should not stop with the rezoning itself, it should be accompanied and buttressed with
specific active steps to protect the community. To Mt, at least the following steps should be
considered and taken to in addition to and preferably simultaneously with, the rezoning action. 1.
Review the operating policies and procedures at the Town Satfitary landfill, which is now closed, and
the Solid Waste Management Facility, the Transfer Station and the Composting Station. And they
have several suggestions about how to do that. Spelling out the future operating procedures, the
locations, the landscaping plan, a noise abatement plan, odor abatement plan, rodent, mold, insect, and
written notification to the neighborhood in order to inform them of any proposed changes to the
operations. 2. Resolve traffic issues. Volume and speed of traffic on Route 48 is an ongoing concern.
The new traffic lights installed to the east at Route 48 and Cox's Lane may partially mitigate the
problem. The Route 48 entrance to the landfill should be closed entirely and all traffic in and out of
the transfer and recycling and composting site should be via Cox's Lane. In addition, landscaping
within the entrance should be increased so as to screen the view of the landfill from the road and the
residences. 3. Monitoring of water supply and contamination issues. Groundwater at the landfill and
within the landfill is contaminated. Although public water has been provided, existing and future
residents of the neighborhood should be informed in writing of the current groundwater situation and
the results and significance of any existing and future testing. 4. We should monitor the methane and
other potential pollution and nuisance issues related to the capped landfill, the solid waste transfer
station and the recycling and compost operations. The neighborhood should be informed in writing of
the findings of any future and existing testing that may be performed on Town property for the purpose
of tracking environmental pollutants. 5. Land swaps. If the Town elects to offer municipal lands to
current property owners within the Church Lane neighborhood who had intended to use their property
for industrial purposes, access to tiffs swapped land should not be granted over either the Tuthill Lane
or the CR 48 entrances, for reasons of traffic safety and protection. Concluding statement, rezoning
the Church Lane neighborhood from Light Industrial to R-40 in order to address social and other
concerns and needs raises other problems that would need to be addressed namely, that of the rights of
non-residential property owners. If the Church Lane neighborhood is rezoned from Light Industrial to
Residential, such action should be accompanied by Town actions and commitment to insure that the
area will be a healthy and safe place to live. The newly rezoned neighborhood will need additional
protection as the use of the transfer, recycling and composting site intensifies and as the surrounding
industrial land to the east and west continues to be developed. The rezoning to R-40 should be
accompanied by the adoption of a capital improvement strategy, in terms of fimds, with a short term
deadline with sufficient money to execute that strategy. And that is the comment of our Planning
Board. I have several other relatively imaocuous comments here, I have something from the Suffolk
County Planning Commission; "Please be advised that the above captioned application will not be
reviewed until the following information is submitted." And did we ever get anything from the
County?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Yes, they sent back a matter of local determination.
COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: It essentially said that the County Commission said that it was a matter
of local determination and they have no involvement in that decision. Mr. Supervisor, that is all.
October 10, 2003 5
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
SUPERVISOR HORTON: At this point, the floor to the public. Ms. Tole.
KATHY TOLE: Good evening, Kathy Tole, Greenport. I had prepared some remarks, not expecting
to hear some of the comments that I heard tonight. So what I am going to do is read my prepared
remarks and then comment more on what I have just absorbed from this Board. This should not be the
media event that it is. Instead of talk'rog to these families, we find ourselves and you speaking to the
media. It is a shame. What many people refer to as an issue here is these residents lives. It has been a
heartbreaking reality that their homes have been put at risk by this Town government and tonight, I am
asking that this government restore their faith and ours in this Town and in you. Josh, I thank you for
your continued support for rezoning, this community to residential. John, I thank you for being open
to understanding that what is best for this community is also best for the Town. Your support for
restoring residential zoning is appreciated. Justice Evans, I heard you speak at work sessions, many
months ago, and you indicated your support for rezoning this community back to residential only status
and I thank you. Tom, you were originally strongly opposed to this but I was present when you spoke
to the community, you came there personally and expressed your commitment to rezoning the
community to residential and I thank you for your change of vote. Bill, we spoke privately about this
issue right outside and I thanked you for coming to the position that the community should be restored
to residential rezoning only. And now I want to thank you publicly for that. Craig, while also
originally opposed to rezoning, you stated privately that there was overwhelming support for rezoning.
And I want to thank you for listening to the people about the issue. Restoring the communities zoning
status to residential only recognizes the preeminent position in the pecking order of property ownership
in this area. It will be the baseline for future action to further enhance this community, but just the
baseline. I expect a vote tonight for the rezoning to residential, I also expect future action by the Board
to address the other conditions that the Town has created and has plagued this community. Do the
right thing. Do the first right thing and do it tonight. Tomorrow do the next right thing for this
community. Those were the remarks I prepared. And I stand by them. And maybe tomorrow, the
next right thing is to contact Petersen with rightful indignation, Bill, and tell them that they must
submit an amended report and you pass this tonight pending the amended report. And you know what?
I worked where we were quite often subject to lawsuit, many frivolous, some founded but you know
what? That is the nature of goverament and it happens. And you are going to get hit with it one way or
another. And you know what? I go back to my prepared statement. Do the right tiring, the morally
right thing and do it tonight. The Planning Board issues that were raised are not new, you have been
talking about them for a year. They are all things that could have been done. They didn't get done.
Everything waits for a report. Well, god damn it, we have the report, we paid for, we had it dated the
nd , ~ th
2 , I don t know why people didn t have it in hand until the 7 but it could have been corrected
before, it wasn't corrected before, get it corrected tomorrow but don't make somebody else's poor
work product stall governments good work product. That would be stalling and that would not be the
Board stalling, that is somebody that you hired causing that to happen, don't allow it to happen, I ask
you please. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Mr. Simon.
MICHAEL SIMON: My name is Michael Simon, I live in New Suffolk. At this time, I am not going
to talk to the subsitive issue of the rezoning, perhaps you will hear from me later. I do want to speak to
what happened in the last 15 or 20 minutes. And I do not know ail the details of what has happened
with the question of long form versus short form of the SEQRA report. I am inclined to agree, it is also
October 10, 2003 6
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
not useful to accuse other people of speaking or voting in bad faith. Not that they never do, but it is
just not useful to bring those things up. So, I am quite prepared to take very seriously the objections
that Mr. Moore has raised and I take especially, that I take seriously the concurring comments from
members of the Board who voted against the motion to accept the report regarding the SEQRA. I
don't know the full circumstances about why this waited until today or last week or so on, it is SEQRA
long form versus short form is not exactly a brand new issue that this Town has never had to deal with.
This hearing probably should never have been scheduled for tonight until some people had an answer
to what kinds of things were going to be done and it probably would not have been left up to the
engineering consultants, Greenman and Pedersen to decide that this is the case, perhaps they might
help but I don't know that they were asked this or why that wasn't tamed in in the beginning; why
some people didn't lean on them if they thought that was an issue. But I think what discourages me
the most, only one member of the dissenting Board has saw fit not to change her vote on this vote of
tabling, because if it really is a matter of principle that said we are in favor of rezoning, as everyone on
this Board has said, but we say we are not going to allow this techrficality, however important it may
be, this technicality to cause it to destroy itself, to autodestmct. Then the worst thing that a Board
member could do would be to change his mind on whether to re-table. Justice Evans stood by her
reasons and the reasons that I do not understand at ail, I wish there were some way to turn the dock
back and re-hab the discussion or perhaps amend the motion to table as a way of getting over this.
Because if there really is an interest in not wasting this evenings hearings and getting past this obstacle
or finding out if it really is an open question as to whether the rezoning will succeed legal challenges if
the proper SEQRA forms are filed, then I would hope that the Board, if it is going to act in good faith
regardless of what they feel, should act according rather than first try to bury the process by saying we
are going to table the enabling motion and then to change their mind because apparently their was
some visible disappointment, that is an understatement. Visible disappointment among the people/
That is not a good reason for changing your mind on a matter of solid, responsible legal judgment.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Yes, Ms. Shelby.
VALERIE SHELBY: Valerie Shelby, Greenport. I have quite a few things to say but I am going to
keep them short. I just want to know, back in 1989, did they do a SEQRA report? It was done in and
they still rezoned it?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: I am sure it must have been done, yes.
MS. SHELBY: And why is it such a big issue now? You claim that you are a lawyer and you read it
over and yet you came up with, you didn't come up with another solution.
COUNCiLMAN MOORE: No, I didn't say that.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: His concern was with the technicalities of it.
COUNCILMAN MOORE: I read the report today and it troubled me greatly ....
MS. SHELBY: I can't really hear you. ! am not picking on you, I just want to understand.
October 10, 2003 7
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
COUNCILMAN MOORE: It is being pounded up on the table up here as being obstructionist and foot
dragging when you raise what you think is a legitimate concern. And you are right, to change your
vote is really weak.
MS. SHELBY: Well, I have something to say on .....
COUNCILMAN MOORE: I had a recommendation to this Board, which is to hold this hearing, take
everybody's comments and give them an opportunity to fix it. But that, the Board can take that up
itself.
MS. SHELBY: Well, you answered his question, you didn't answer mine. I wanted to know, I forgot
what I wanted to know because you started talking about something else.
COUNCILMAN MOORE: I am sorry, I thought that I was answering your question, I apologize.
MS. SHELBY: Yeah, that is what I was asking. You read the report and it seemed like, if you knew it
was wrong, you would have came up with a solution or some other kind of recommendation...
COUNCILMAN MOORE: My recommendation was to hold it for two weeks, not to foot drag, but to
fix it. Like I said, I read it this afternoon.
MS. SHELBY: But you would have, I can hold it, let's hold it because I have a better solution. You
didn't say that.
COUNCILMAN MOORE: I did ask us to hold it. My motion was to table that and I appreciate the
vote of confidence that I could have fixed it while I was sitting up here.
MS. SHELBY: You thought you could fix it while you was reading it.
COUNCILMAN MOORE: No, ma'am. No, no, I didn't say that. I appreciate the vote of confidence
that I could have fixed this thing.
MS. SHELBY: I am not arguing with you. I just want to say why, I don't know why Justice Evans
stuck with her vote. Maybe it is because she doesn't live here and she can cross the water, she won't
have to worry about whether something was rezoned.
COUNCILMAN MOORE: No, she was more principled than I was. I buckled under pressure up here.
JUSTICE EVANS: I can answer why. I don't want us to vote a zone change and have you lose that
zone change in court because SEQRA wasn't done correctly.
MS. SHELBY: I would rather us lose it in the court than to lose it right here. When it could have been
rezoned a long time ago. What I really ~vant to say is, this is your chance, your opportunity to make
right what was done in 1989. It is your chance to have justice for these people, to change, to make
right what was done wrong. It was done wrong in 1989, it wasn't no big argument back there. It just
was pushed through and now because they want it back, you got to have so many different reports. I
October 10, 2003 8
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
don't believe it was done back in 1989, and no matter what you tell me, I don't believe that it was. It is
your chance to do the right thing. It is your chance. You can't make me see that because you only had
one line of a report that it is going to be voted out. I will come back later because you guys made me
forget.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Yes, Mrs. Goldsmith.
LINDA GOLDSMITH: Good evening, I am Linda Goldsmith and I live in Orient. I am not going to
be as eloquent a speaker as most these people up here but I think that this issue has three parts. One is
where is Light industrial going to go in our Town? But perhaps I am naive but I have faith in the
Town Board that they will find the appropriate place for it, which is not Church Lane. The sex~ond
issue is that the people who live in Church Lane whether they are Black, White, Japanese, Chinese no
matter who they are, they worked hard, they raised their families and they have equity in their homes.
And if they should want to move on and sell them, it is not going to be an easy thing to do if it is not
zoned residential and they may lose everything that they have worked for. But the third issue and I
think the most important is the quality of life issue. We have had the Orient Association and many
others and I hesitate to use the word fighting but it is the only word that I can think of now, to stop
some of the ferry traffic because that impacts negatively on our quality of life. I live in East Marion
and I have a situation where there is a resort, residential zoning, that is terribly impacting negatively on
my quality, of life and we have, we are worrying about five acre zoning because we are worded about
everybody's quality of life. Well, what about Church Lane's quality of life? I have to urge you to
change this back to residential and I think I understand Mr. Moore's, I have been in court over land
issues before and I understand his hesitation but perhaps your vote could be predicated on the
amending of this report which seems to be faulty. But I do think that, not even as an issue of fairness
yes, but as an issue of just a quality of life issue, which we all deserve in Southold Town. I urge you to
change the zoning back to residential because people should be able to protect their investments, just
as farmers want to protect theirs and not go to five acre zoning. Everybody wants to protect their
investment and I certainly understand the point and I would urge you to do this. Thank you for your
time.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Linda. Mrs. Taylor.
BARBARA TAYLOR: Barbara Taylor, Cutchogue. I also had a prepared speech before all of this
commotion and I would like to read it. I would like our neighborhood Church Lane rezoned back to
residential. We can't change what has happened in the past, it is tree that our neighborhood was one of
the only places that people of color could buy property in the 1930's. It is true that the hurricane came
and at that time the Town knew that they could place the dump in our neighborhood. It was not a good
time in history for the people of color. If they tried to protest, it would fall on deaf ears and god knows
only what else might have happened to them. Now history has ~ven the Town and us the chance to do
what is right. It is our home, it is our neighborhood. So don't once again try to put unwanted business
in our neighborhood. We have been stating our petition well over a year, meeting with members of the
Board privately, inviting them to our meetings, telling them our opinions, listening to them, so I would
ask that you would do the fight thing and vote residential zoning tonight. Let us live in a Town that we
can be proud to call our home. That was my prepared speech for tonight. But after all of this that has
gone on, I am wondering whether I am living is Southold or California. California they have out there
all of this stuff going on, we saw a theatrical performance up here tonight but it is our lives that you are
October 10, 2003 9 ~
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
playing with. We don't appreciate it, we would like our zoning. We don't know what is going on
behind the scene, whether somebody is holding up the report, whether somebody is timely giving the
next person the report, whether people want to vote no but they are looking for an out and then they get
an out. We want residential zoning. We want to be heard, we pay our taxes and we are part of
Southold Town. So, please do the right thing for us. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Cichanowicz.
DAVE CICHANOWICZ: Dave Cichanowicz, Southold, President of the Business Alliance of
Southold. Southold Business Alliance has always supported private property tights. No matter who
they belong to. The bundles of rights that comes along with owning real estate are fundamentally
American and are guaranteed to us by our Constitution. Right or wrong for almost 50 years, the Town
of Southold has considered most of the real estate in and around Church Lane as a location suitable for
business. From a planning standpoint, is the Town now going to say that this area is no longer suitable
for business despite 46 years of planning and zoning or is Southold Town now considering a zone
change for this community in which interest of social justice? If the Town wants to make some past
wrongs right at Church Lane, then it has to take the responsibility. If there was a mistake and it can
not place its burden on other property owners. Since the five acre zoning debacle because of the Town
reliance of change of zoning as a primary solution a result of that vote is what defines winners and
losers. Where is the justice? How can Church Lane community feel like it has justice when justice
would come at another's expense? Our Town has to move away from such divisive arguments and
learn how to achieve the mutual goals of Southold Town, through communication and compromise. If
the Town would take the responsibility for its actions, it could provide a fair and equitable solution for
all Church Lane property owners. Otherwise, it is one group of the Church Lane property owners or
the other that will be left to carry the burden. In conclusion, the Southold Business Alliance hopes that
for the sake of individual property rights and justice, that the Southold Town Board will seek out the
most fair and equitable solution and have it in place before even considering upzon'mg, similar to the
five acre zun'mg debacle. The Town has to leave behind solutions and rely on zoning as the primary
solution that defines winners and losers. Property owners who are trying to develop their properly
zoned light industrial land need to have their businesses accommodated within the Town. The Town
needs to make room for these people, if you are going to leave them out in the cold, where are these
people going to go? Everybody is suffering. The people that live there need to have the right to live
there, the business people that owned and bought these properties need the right to have a business
somewhere in this Town. Please make the right decision, over all. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Mr. Cichanowicz. Mr. Lyburt.
FRANK LYBURT: My name is Frank Lyburt. I am the third generation that has been residing in the
Church Lane area. My desire is to continue living there. I don't want commercial development in my
neighborhood. Through it ail, I have lived there in peace, asking nothing of anyone. Would any of
you want your neighborhood to be converted from residential to industrial park? Please, vote on this
tonight so that I can go home tonight with the peace of mind in knowing that my government cares for
me.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Burns.
October 10, 2003 10
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
BEN BURNS: My name is Ben Bums, from Greenport. I am aware that you all want justice for these
people and that you want it returned to residential area. There are times in public life when you have
to stand up and say yes, even though you know the chips are going to fall and things aren't going to
work out just the way you want. That is and you may have to return to it and obviously we are going
to have to return to this community and take care of it as the Town has not for so many, many years.
This Board will, I am sure. And these people deserve your yes on the change of zoning and they
deserve your continued care. And I am sure, knowing all of you, that they will get it. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Reverend. Ms. Taylor.
TRACY TAYLOR: Good evening, my name is Tracy Taylor, I currently reside in Greenport. I want
to thank all of you for coming out and showing your support for the Church Lane, okay, I have
something prepared and I am going to read it. I may speak later. A history resides in the
neighborhood of Church Lane. A history of once impoverished and pre-judged people. I believe that
these people had hope. These people, my ancestors, my race, my fellow Southold Towners, had hope.
Their hope lies within me and all the people you see here today. I am sure that they prayed that a time
would come when things so wrong would be set straight. The time is now. It is time to rezone Church
Lane back to residential. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Ms. Norden.
MELANIE NORDEN: Melanie Norden, Greenport. This discussion is very troublesome to me
tonight because a lot of people have gotten up and talked about doing the right thing. And the right
thing, when we first started talking about this had to do with the health and safety and welfare of many
people in Church Lane. A deep and abiding issue that in this whole discussion of rezoning has really
not been addressed at all. One of the big issues that we face and I think everybody in Church Lane has
given away the store. You are going to get residential zoning but you are still going to have toxic
chemicals in your own backyard. And everybody here tonight is saying, 'oh, it is great if we rezone'
and I definitely agree with that but that is only one, that is not even an offer. I mean, that is a given.
And I think that we have not taken the responsibility anywhere near far enough. Somebody mentioned
and the Planning Board said that people who are zoned in the residential area have the expectation of
living in health and safety. You will not be doing that or living in that way at all and there is no offer
here for you except to change your zoning definition. This Town Board has not come forward and
given you an offer to say that, yes we are going to do this at the landfill, yes we are going to clean this
up. There is actually not even a budget appropriation that is going to address that. And here
everybody thinks that well if we just get the residential zoning, but that is not it at all. Everybody,
when they came to this meeting so many people, Val and other people, talked about their health. You
talked about your home and what has happened to the water, you have talked about the air pollution
and the garbage that is swirling ali around. We listened and a lot of us thought and paid attention to
that. But are any of those problems going to be solved this evening? Has there been one dime in the
Town budget that has been appropriated to that?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Ms. Norden. The .....
MS. NORDEN: All right, well, I can address, this is a public hearing...and I am saying that I don't see
any monies in the Town budget that has been appropriated for that.
October 10, 2003 11
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Three point five million dollars.
MS. NORDEN: Where is that? That is a landfill budget. It does not address a lot of the basic issues
that this community has raised. It is a budget that has been proposed by Mr. Bunchuk, that speaks to
the future of the landfill but it does not speak to the chemical or health or related issues that this
community has consistently raised. You may talk about parking all you want, you may talk about
ways in which people enter the property but the issues that people raised in terms of carcinogenic
implications are not addressed in Mr. Bunchuk's proposal, not has anybody else addressed this. All I
am simply saying is, that before you give away the store and you happen to see heroes or villains up
here, think about what you are asking. You have asked for just residential zoning but it hasn't
answered any of the concerns that you came up a year ago or two years ago to ask for. You have every
right to demand a safe, healthy environment and every right to demand of this Board and the people
that presumably serve you, that rezoning and changing your zone is not nearly enough. That that is not
justice, that is not any concept of environmental justice or safety. So before you see heroes and just
because somebody believes or doesn't believe in your zoning change, see your heroes when people
care about your future and the furore of your children and their health. And so I am simply saying that
this is only one step tonight, it is only the very beginning of a step and in order to make your health
and your safety primary concern to this Board, you are going to have to be at these meetings and
continue this fight. Remember it is not about zoning, it is about your health. It is about the safety of
your community and rezoning it or calling it what you will in no way guarantees that future.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Norden. Barbara.
THERESA TAYLOR: Theresa Taylor, from Cutchogue. I know that the board will consider fair and
equitable treatment for all the property owners there. I am responding to Mr. Cichanowicz' comment
as a spokesman for the Southold Business Alliance. I would like to know if they were this vociferous
and vocal in 1989 in dealing with other people's property rights?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Ms. Levine.
MERLE LEV1NE: Merle Levine, East Marion, New York. As you well know, my heart is certainly
with the Church Lane people. We began in August of 2002 to begin to raise the issue of what was
happening to them. And what we got in response were noes. There was a huge meeting, just like this,
exactly one year ago and what we got was no. There was a petition of about 450 people and what we
got was no. And so I think that what you are hearing here is a tremendous concern that no may really
prevail and I think that is the fear that you are heating. I would like to say that I respect what Bill
Moore said, I respect him as a very smart and capable attorney and if he says that there is a problem
and if Louisa Evans believe there is, I would accept that and respect it. What I would ask you to do is
to be creative to find a way to say you do support the rezoning and certainly Melanie is right, it is just
the beginning of what needs to be done, but you can tend to assuring with a vote that the Church Lane
people will have their rezoning and that you can find a way to do that and to d~) it in terms that would
be at least more acceptable legally. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Lev/ne. Mrs. Peabody.
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
12
CAROLINE PEABODY: I want to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Merle and I have some
prepared statement that I would like to read fi-om that. I am Caroline Peabody fi-om Orient Point. And
I am a member of the Southold Anti-Bias Task Force, I am a Commissioner on the Suffolk County
Human Rights Commission, a professor at Stony Brook and a member of the Church Lane Committee
for Social Justice. I am also here representing Paulette Bartunik who is the Executive Director of the
Human Rights Commission and also the entire Suffolk County Human Rights Commission. So I am a
person who is here wearing all these hats but I am especially here as a resident of Southold Town. This
has been a long and arduous year and a half. With much public sentiment, with the populace and the
press expressing lots of concern and sometimes outrage about the injustice that has been done to this
small, unsuspect'mg African-American community. We have raised issues about the injustice with
regard to severe ramifications that would affect the residents quality of life and diminish their rights as
property holders. Throughout this long year, we have documented and argued about the racism that
first engendered this community as well as about the racism that hurt them repeatedly throughout the
last 80 years. Ln response, there have been multiply expressions by members of the Board both publicly
and privately of the will to be good neighbors to these people. The question was 'how could we do it?'
It appeared that there was no way. Now, while you might not desire to live where they do, you might
not choose to live so close to where the Town has chosen to locate the landfill and expand the landfill,
you might not choose to live so close to the compost heap but nonetheless, the residents of this hamlet,
have and do wish to have residential homes there. They live there. And they have spoken loudly and
continuously with greater and greater support from the larger community, to express their wish to
continue, to have tiffs residential neighborhood stay thcfir residential neighborhood. Without
warehouses, without trucks roaming through, with chemicals. Now, you and I don't live there but you
and I would not stand still were the Town to come in and try to rezone our residential areas into
industrial, let alone light industrial. However well meaning, in a planning mindset, we would never
stand still for that. I am here tonight to urge you to take a stand, to depart fi-om the Town's history of
80 years of disregarding the express needs and interests of these African-American citizens and
residents of Southold Town. I urge you to vote tonight, to rezone back to residential. I would also like
to say, as Merle said, there is always a way to do something if yon really want to do it. We have
managed for a year and a half to have the Town avoid dealing with it, so apparently it was easy to do
that, so I would really encourage the Board to consider any possibilities to express the will to try to
find some creative way to deal with this problem and to see it as a limited situation that should not
stand in the way of the will of the Board to rezone back to residential. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Ross.
DAN ROSS: Dan Ross, Mattituck. This Board has heard my position with respect to Church Lane
before, so I will keep it short. I am president of my homeowners association and I serve in that
capacity because the protection of our neighborhoods is the most important thing that we can do. It is
the most important thing the Town Board can do. The protection of Southold neighborhoods. I
believe the Town Board can make an accommodation with those individuals that purchased property
based on the light industrial zoning. I believe with imagination and some work, accommodation could
be reached. With respect to the suggested anticipate SEQRA litigation, i' have handled SEQRA
litigation, I have advised elected bodies on SEQRA determinations and I am confident that if this
Board rezones the Church Lane residential that it will be successful and you will prevail if you stand
by your commihnent. So, that is what you should do tonight and move the process along. Thank you
very much.
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
13
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Carlin.
FRANK CARLIN: Frank Carlin, Laurel. I agree with what that lady said a while back about the
environment around the Church Lane area there and that alone when it gets rezoned it seems to me that
we are going to be jnmping from the pan into the fire again. It took us from 1990 until only a year ago
to cap the landfill and get rid of the landfill. Now, we have got a composfing plant and I have told this
Board more than once my opinion about this composting plant. Mr. Bunchuk has got that thing going
like an empire. First it is $100,000 he is going to put a concrete wall for a sound barrier. Then it is
$60,000 he wants trees. But you are forgetting one thing. What are you going to do about the rodents?
Because where there is compost'mg, there is rodents. Everytime you look, there is something else. This
budget is over $2.5 to $3 million a year and now he wants something else. I told this Board that in my
opinion, the composting plant should be closed down. We don't need it, for what it makes. Who
needs it? Somebody on the Board tell me how much we make on the composting plant a year?
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: It is not so much what we make, it is how much it is going to cost us
to truck it out.
MR. CARLIN: I want to ask you how much we bring home in cash a year, in profit.
COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: It is not really operating yet.
MR. CARLIN: Yet. So when is it going to start?
COUNCiLMAN WICKHAM: So, consequently, we can't answer your question.
MR. CARL1N: Well, what are you doing with the stuff that is going in there now? Where is that
going?
COUNCiLMAN ROMANELLI: Mr. Carlin...
MR. CARLIN: I have been here for five Supervisors already and five very different Boards and this
Board takes the cake, I tell you. You got the wrong guy up here tonight because I tell it the way it is.
COUNCiLMAN ROMANELLI: Well, then Mr. Cartin, let's just tell it the way it is. If we don't
compost our yard waste that is generated throughout this community, we would have to track it out of
town.
MR. CARLIN: Well, truck it out.
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: And that would cost you more.
MR. CARLIN: Oh, come on. It costs you more with...
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: I am telling you like it is, like you want to hear it and that is just the
way it is.
October 10, 2003 14
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
MR. CARL1N: ...the Town Board members with money, he is building a trailer there for $180,000
three years ago and every once in a while you look and there is a shredder involved, there is a dump
track involved. This guy, he figures he would lose his job as a Supervisor of the landfill, now he
switched over to the composting plant. Come on, I have been here long enough. I know how this man
works.
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: That is unfair, that is really unfair.
MR. CARLIN: What?
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: It is unfair that...
MR. CARLIN: Get rid of it, you don't need it.
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: Okay.
MR. CARL1N: Use that, plant land for other things, I am sure. But a composting plant, it is starting to
look like a mess, all fenced in like a prison.
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: Mr. Carlin, next time you want to bring something there, think about
it.
MR. CARLIN: What?
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: Next time you want to bring something down to the landfill, think
about it not being there and think about where you are going to go.
MR. CARLIN: Well, that is your responsibility. What is Riverhead doing, Riverhead is making out,
ain't thew They don't seem to have any problems, do they? They found a way how to do it. You
people, you know John, what you said in the Suffolk Times about a month ago, is right. And I am
going to finish with this. You say that there are a lot of issues that goes on in this Board, a lot of
discussion but no decisions and you are right. As far as I know, this Board, for two years you have
made no decisions.
COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: You are right. You are right.
MR. CARLIN: And I want to tell you one more thing before I leave, I know something about politics,
believe me, I have seen poli~tics how they work and you never, you never make waves and rock the
boat in an election year.
BENJA SCHWARTZ: Thanks, Josh. Benja Schwartz ficom Cutchogue. Just a couple of quick
comments, the statement read by Mr. Wickham from the Planning Board disturbed me because it
sounded like that the fact that you are going to do this zone change and zone it residential is going to
create the need to protect the residential neighborhood. A residential neighborhood is there anyway,
we haven't needed to protect it with or without the zone change. Zone change is step number one in
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
15
the right direction. Second of all, I was disturbed by Mr. Moore's comment that this zone change was
going to be conducted illegally tonight ....
COUNCILMAN MOORE: I didn't say that.
MR. SCHWARTZ: Well, it sounded hke it. You know, the thing about law, there is always more than
one opinion. There is always two sides to it. And I know a little bit about the SEQRA law, a decision
has to be based on a record, we have to a full and fair heating but that report was done for this Board
on behalf, this Board asked for that report to be done, correct me ifI am wrong, and it was done for the
Board and it was done to this Board. So, the words on the paper are just that, words and the meaning
isn't that for the Board to interpret? Can't this Board, I don't say, maybe you can't amend the report
but if you recognize now on the record that you have read the report and you understand it's limitations
and that, the record seems to be replete with everybody here knows the area, we know what is going on
there. You are going to tell me just because it is not in the paper, that you cannot pass a law, I don't
agree with that but if that is true, then I don't understand why we are not hearing fi.om the Town
Attorney tonight as to a legal opinion based on judicial opinions. You know, I mean, you are a
legislator hear but you are not a judge ....
COUNCILMAN MOORE: We raised a concern...
MR. SCHWARTZ: You raised a concern but did you research it, did you do any legal research on it?
COUNCILMAN MOORE: No, it is real simple ....
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Schwartz, Councilman Moore voiced his concern over it.
COUNCILMAN MOORE: I got a document this afternoon, I voiced my concern over it. The Board is
hell bent to move forward and I have an idea here down the road...finish tip the public comment, but
please...
MR. SCHWARTZ: But I think your attitude that the Board is hell bent to move forward, I think this
Board is heaven sent to move forward and that it is, and that moving forward is the right thing to do
and there has got to be a way to do it. If you can, in receiving that report, understand its limitations
and go forward on a full record, I hope that you can be successful in rezoning Church Lane. Thank
you very much.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you.
MIKE DOMiNO: Mike Domino, 3590 Old-North Road, Southold. I am speaking on behalf of the
Citizens for Southotd Justice, Church Lane, Inc. I could go into the reasons we had to incorporate and
the reasons it took us so long to get to where we are tonight but I will save that/hr another time and
place. Regardless of how we got here, the community would rather focus on where we are going. As
a group we hope this Board has the will to take a step in the right direction. You have repeatedly said
that you want to be a good neighbor, to them. Being a good neighbor means going beyond, restoring
the basic rights lost in 1989, it means no more unilateral decisions. I want to repeat that, no more
unilateral decisions, in regarding their homes, the compost facility, sewage disposal or the chemical
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
16
cocktail brewing beneath the landfill cap. If it involves their health and welfare, they want input. We
urge this Board to remain committed to the viability of Church Lane hamlet. We see this as a
beginning and we will see it through to a better day for all the residents Of Southold. Now is the time
for affirmative action for this community. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. Mr. McCarthy.
TOM MCCARTHY: Tom McCarthy, Southold. It is with great trepidation I am in front of you
tonight. My opinion is that regardless of whether you choose to vote tonight or not and it is your
choice, the people have not been heard. At the outset of this meeting, I begged you not to vote and the
reason why 1 say this are many. First, I feel this issue is not unlike five acre zoning and is inextricably
linked to the upcoming elections. You are making very grave and far reaching decisions that not only
transcend administrations, but current and future property owners and tax payers of this Town.
Second, if you do vote this evening, you stand to ga'm or lose the social capital that determines the
elections. Ask yourself a very deep and soul searching question, is this the place, given everything that
I know, everything that I know about the landfill, the neighborhood, that I would choose to put a
residential snbdivision. Because that is in essence, what you are doing. You are opening up the wallet
of every taxpayer in this Town to fund mitigation measures as long as the transfer station, recycling
operation and compost facility exist. Third, this proposed rezoning has become a race issue. Trying to
solve the ills of the past with a gesture of today. It is patently unfair to the people, such as myself and
the other people in this room that have bought their property for a tegitin~ate business use, to have it
stripped from us. It is inequitable: You are asking individual landowners to bear the burden of the
Town's alleged poor treatment of the people of Church Lane. Speaking of race, I have had numerous
conversations with people on the street, those on the dais this evening, and other property owners such
as myself that have been called a racist. I will tell you here and now, I am not a racist and neither are
the decision makers that stand in front of you, regardless of how they make their vote. I feel that those
oppose my position here this evening have tried, and please excuse the expression, to play the race
card. They are trying to create a weak link that says, if you don't vote for our position then you are a
racist. It is inexcusable, ridiculous and counterproductive to solving problems. We need less labeling
of each other and more homework for trying to come up with a solution that works for all parties, a
true consensus bnilding effort to come up with an answer. With the rush to vote without seeking a
compromise with the business community, is a disservice to the residents. Various other options were
discussed but all had been rejected by the community, other affected property owners, or the Town.
Some of the creative alternatives that were proposed and may still have the merit, may still have merit
are the following: peaceful, cooperative coexistence, number one. Relocating light industrial users to
other industrial land, owned by the Town or the private sector or relocating the residential uses to a
more appropriate area. The study of Greenman-Pedersen, that was purchased by the Town, which
many people, including myself, to have a predetermined outcome, did not come cheap. $10,000 for
the study. For what? A recital of the issues that were created in the Voorhees study, not much
interpretation and they didn't look at the entire area, they just focused on Church Lane. The
moratorium charge was to look at the entire area, from Route 48 to Oregon Road, from Cox Lane to
Depot. They considered that a secondary area and the primary focus was Church Lane. Yoh told us
that you were going to be equitable when you looked at this, I don't feel that the study has given this
an equitable look. We were told by this Board, that the Greenman-Pedersen group would be
contacting land owners to get otnc feedback. They contacted only those residents that were favorable to
the opinion to the change of zone. I was not contacted and neither were the other business owners that
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
17
own propeay within that community for any feedback on the Crreenman-Pedersen study. The long
form environmental assessment form is wholly inadequate and perhaps is an active misrepresentation
of the true facts here. It classifies the capped landfill as open space, it says that there are no adverse
environmental impacts, it does nothing to discuss the continued operation of the transfer station,
recycling facility and the compost facility. It is totally silent on those impacts to this community. I feel
that the Town needs to follow the same law in addressing anv/ronmental concerns that the private
sector has to. You would not accept that EAF from an applicant that stood in front of the Planning or
Zoning Board in the form in which you accepted it from Greenman-Pedersen. The Planning
Department, I don't believe is in favor of this change. They have given you a four or five page missive
that goes into different mitigations factors if you change the zone. Angelo Stepnoski and I sat with
them for two hours yesterday as they debated it in a rushed session to get you an opinion before this
meeting today. They were very conflicted. What we heard from the members of the Plmm/ng
Department was, this is not a good planning policy to endorse this use next to the dump. I don't believe
in their five page missive that you will see, 'yes, we agree with what you are doing here'. They are
saying, 'if you choose to do it, these are the things that you have to say' they are not endorsing what
you' are looking to do. Our own Planning Depamnent. Before you vote, if you do vote, you must
consider the possible outcomes. First outcome, every parcel gets changed. The second one, only some
of the parcels have enough votes that are needed and only some of them change or the third one is all
of them change. Each of these scenarios have different imphcations. I for one, as an owner of
property will seek relief from a court that is removed from this local, political sphere of influence. The
attorneys and professional planners that I have consulted with have advised me that I have very good
ground to stand on and would most likely be successful in a challenge to overturn your decision to take
away my rights. I may be joined by some of the others if their properties as welt. And 1 could possibly
overturn the changes of the neighbors because of the adverse impact that they will have on my
property with transitional buffer regulations and similar restrictions. But then what? You have a
greater hodgepodge of Checkerboard zonh~g than you do now and nobody wins. This is clearly not
what I want and I don't think you want it either. The four or five owner occupants of this area have
stated legitimate concerns. They want to be able to rebuild their house if it bums down. This doesn't
address it and if your vote gets overturned, it doesn't address it either. They have very legitimate
concerns that should be addressed by the Board. A victory in the courts to us opposed to the change
will not help the situation. It will be a vel3~ shallow victory, indeed if we win ~vithout a real solution
for the people who have brought legitimate concerns to the table that are not being addressed. In
addition to those prepared words, I just want to offer a few more comments and I have a map that
perhaps will dispel some of the rumors of what has been going on with the change of zoning, of what
happened in 1989, that I received from the Town Clerk's office this afternoon, in addition to the long
form EAF which poses so many questions, it is unbelievable and I don't believe that it is signed in the
appropriate locations. This is a copy of the map from 1989, prior to 1989 it was generated in 1970 and
it was updated until 1988. And this was prior to the Master Plan and the way that we are going to
explain it to be, the change of zone that affected to all of their properties. What 1 offer to you today, is
the fact that these properties on this side fight here were the pink line is, were never changed. This is
the map. The pink line comes right down here, these parcels were split zoned between industrial and
residential. This happens to be my parcel, this is Mr. Stepnosld's parcels. These are the Krudop
parcels, Mr. Genvinski's another Krudop, the Martin parcel and the Wolbert parcel. They were not
changed in 1989, contrary to popular belief, everything that has been placed into the newspapers and
this is a copy of the zoning map that was in Town Hall as of 4:00 this afternoon. The red and the green
are here and they are indicative and I have affidavits and protests for the change of zone for these
October 10, 2003 18
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
property owners. I, myself am protesting the zone change, as are the other ones in red, actively with a
petition. The ones I assume are not actively seeking to have your decision overturned, are in favor, are
noted in green and Mr. Wolbert has decided this evening that he would go either way with it. I wanted
the facts to come out as to exactly what are the numbers of people, what was the zoning then and what
is it now because there has been so much misrepresentation with people in the commtmity that have
not looked at the zoning map, they say that everything was changed, it is true; Viola Cross, the Church,
Helen Brown and the Wilson property were changed. The Taylor property was changed and the Harris
property was changed. The other properties on Tuthill Road was not changed and it is false. So
anyone that is making their decision based on the fact that all these properties were misrepresented
back in 1989 is misinformed. I would be happy to leave this up here for you. This is a copy of the
current tax map as the property exists, in pink is the area that was C-1 at the time, which was Light
Industrial and green was Agricultural A and the other pink was C-1. So clearly there was a pocket of
Agricultural A in here and that was changed but it was not the entire neighborhood, it is not every
single parcel that you are looking to change tonight and I believe that the people that have been
hanging their hat on the fact that everything that was changed back in '89 are misinformed.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Mr. McCarthy.
MR. MCCARTHY: In addition to that, in closing I would like to hand some protest petitions for those
properties that have been labeled up on the map. We hope that you can find an answer that works for
everyone and we are certainly willing to work together but we don't want to have our rights stolen
from us. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. Are there other comments from the floor? Mr.
Stepnoski.
ANGELO STEPNOSKI: Angelo Stepnoski, Kenneys Road, Southold. I paid a lot of money for one
of those pieces of property a couple of years ago, I don't know ifI own it or not. It doesn't seem like I
do. But I currently and for the past few years have been running my business off of that property. I
would have submitted applications three years ago but I chose to build a home for my family first, put
the business on the back burner. I run my business out of there. I no longer live in Greenport, I no
longer can park my backhoe in my driveway, I have to have that piece of property, I have no place to
go. I have been operating there for three years, there is no building there but I have a container, I keep
all my tools there, I keep all my trucks there and I store lumber there and no one is complained to me
in the three years that I have been there. And I appreciate that. Also, as Mr. McCarthy said, this isn't
being zoned back to residential; most of it was C-1 or Light Industrial. We bought this property
because we thought we could run our businesses there. I am sympathetic to the people of Church
Lane, I would love to do something that could help them but I also want to help myself and my family.
I have lived in Southold my entire life, I have worked hard my entire life and I have a lot of my future
invested in that piece of property. I encourage the Board to try to come up with some solution, which
makes everybody happy. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Angelo.
UNIDENTIFIED: I am so mad, I am going to get on my knees and just beg you ail, look at them up
there in the comer. See no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil. And justice. It don't make no sense
October 10, 2003 19 -,
Sonihold Town Board-Public Heating
for you to say you justice when you took ail them oaths and you say you a lawyer, you should have
stayed in your lane cause you came out of the wrong lane, the rest of you, I just want you to know that
it is wrong for all of this stuff to keep going on and on, all year long. He come up with this little
couple of words, Wickham came up with a whole lot of words and nobody seemed to know or read
what he read but them little words that you said and you backed away fi.om the table and gave up when
yon should have stood for justice like justice, it don't make no sense. And just like I said last year, I
own a house, you can shake your head ail you want to but it took a long time to get there. We have
been robbed, we have been had, we have been lied to many years. Many, many years. Now is your
tLme to think about justice. Evans, you said no, you didn't even think about it, you didn't even look at
us. You came in, ever since we have known you, your head has been down, ail around ail over the
place but not at us. You don't live here, you don't know what we went through and what they stand to
lose and that map up there, that killed me right there. Because when we were little, the map of Afl'ica
was so little but it is yet so large. Now, where is your justice. I beg you, give the people to stay there
were they are and be happy, masters. Now, the aimighty dollar...wait a minute, I am not finished.
Like he said, it is not about racial issues, we don't think so, but in god we trust the almighty dollar.
Stand fair, it ain't about racial but the aimighty dollar is still under there. Bless this mess, god because
1 am fed up.
REVEREND FULFORD: I am Reverend Cornelius Fulford, I am Pastor of the First Baptist Church in
Cutchogue, down there were Church Lane and all the seem to be talk tonight and trying to correct the
situation. And I have listened thoroughly at everybody that spoke, your comments and how you feel
about it and the situation that the Town Board is in. I implore you tonight to make the right decision.
Now, I listened at those who have bought land and when you changed the zone to light industrial and
when you changed the zone, those people that were living round there, you put it in the newspaper, so I
heard. But you did not send a letter, personal to those people that live in Church Lane. Whether they
read or don't read, you did not personally go to them and let them, inform them that this change was
made. They did not realize the change was made, not until they got ready to put a business in there,
then they realized that their homes and their lives were in jeopardy. Where they worked all their life,
raising their children in this little hamlet. And this hamlet is the only Afi.ican-American hamlet in the
history of Southold. That is enough itself for you to resume this. But I wanted to go a little further.
Those that bought this land in there, they bought it in good faith, that they could put a building and put
a business in there and then they talked about and they got a right to, they got a right to talk about their
business, they got a right to say they bought it in good faith and I bought it also. And they also said
that to rezone it, you would be unjustifmg them. But let's go a little further and let's look at the whole
situation. And deeply routed in ground that what really affect everybody. Those people bought this
land just a little while ago, amen, and I could understand how McCarthy and them, how they is
concerned because they thought they could put a building in there. But McCarthy and all of those that
have building in there and I feel for them also but it still don't justify those people built there homes
back there in 1924. They have been there, all of their life. Raising their cl:dldren, raising their families
and this is their home. Now, you all go somebody might come in and buy for good faith but it still
don't justify those people that live there all of their life. And this is their home. You talk about being
justice, justice is more important than those people that live there because this is their home, this is
rooted in ground, they worked hard raising their kids, this is their whole life. They are not even
concerned about if it light commercial it might cost them more, they are concerned about their
livelihood. Raising their children, their safety and the welfare of their kids. You put a business there,
trucks and stuff coming in. And I am not speaking from a racism standpoint, I am speaking fi.om a
October 10, 2003 20
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
justice standpoint. I don't live in the Town of Southold, I live in the Town of Bridgehampton. But I
am concerned about every soul that live in this Town. When I see, I don't even see no color. I respect
that person, everybody is god children, amen, I come in here with justice on my mind and the right
thing to do when it comes to those families and if you really look and examine your heart and examine
yourself, ail of whatever spoke here tonight, including different one from different area and different
opinions, when you reaily look at it and put it in ail one big bundle, it will come out on top that justice
is for those that have rooted and grounded and built there homes there all their life and raised their kids
and this is their home (inaudible). I don't care how you look at it, those people that aiready there, how
would you feel if somebody come up in a year or two buy something because somebody might have
made a mistake or either they did something and all of a sudden take your home that you sweat all of
your life, that you built, that you prayed to God, that God all of sudden gave you a place to live to raise
your children, how would you feel? Yes, I feel for McCarthy and ail of them because they are my
brother, everybody is, I love everybody. And I treat everybody the same, I don't look at the
pigmentation of your skin, don't have nothing to do with how I feel, what I am feeling is justice for
those, that is their life. And that is why I want you to do the right thing. Yes, your paper might read
tonight that if you do this you might to go in court but I know legai expectation of things to. You can
aiways justify, with a stipulation, just be by those people to do the right thing. And I am not speaking
on account of election tonight, who is getting in or who what. I don't have nothing to do with that, all
I want to do is justice. Because my bible tells me, that I am going to be honest with yon, that justice
anywhere is unjustice everywhere. And that is the truth. Maybe to the point that if you don't be
justified by them, and you a Board and you are supposed to be people's (inaudible) of your life. That
means that everybody in this neighborhood that pays taxes, your first priority is supposed to be those
people and their welfare. That's all they have. Let them live peacefully and let them live out the rest
of their life in the home that god gave them. Don't disturb them there. Let them stay there and
continue raising their family, that is all they have, so don't take what they have. Because if you take
that, then you are taking everything that they ever had. So I want you to make the right decision
tonight. You don't have to wait and go back and come back again, it has been too long. It has just
been too long. You make a decision tonight and let justice prevail. God bless you and I am praying
that yon will make the right decision.
BOB FEAGER: Bob Feager and I live in Cutchogue. You folks really have a tough job. I tried to
look at this without being angry and without being saddened but my feeling about this whole
experience tonight is one of sadness. Sadness and anger come from unfulfilled expectations. And I
don't know if this was the most poorly kept secret in the history of Southold but I think most of the
people here expected tonight that this was, that we were going to have this enclave rezoned back to
residentiai, I think that was everybody's expectation and I kind of feel like everybody was going to go
out of here with a happy heart and give this Board a round of applause. It is really sad that an
inadequately done report has put a damper on this whole activity. And it is 15 months that people that
care about these things have been here and spent a lot more hours on it than I have and I know that you
have spent many, many hours on it and I reaily do believe that you have searched your souls to come
up with the right decision about it. But it is sad that we are hanging on an inadequately done report.
And I am going to, I stood at this microphone a year ago and asked you to be creative, that you can't
just say no, you have to come up with a solution that satisfies all of the people who are involved in this
decision. And I am going to repeat that comment one more time tonight. You have scared everybody
tonight. Bill, I know that wasn't your intention to scare everybody but we don't want to create another
lawsuit and so, we are going to ask you to be creative and to do something that makes the people here
October 10, 2003 21
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
tonight go home feeling comfortable that your intent is to do the right thing by the~m. We need to hear
that from you. And I am sorry to have heard twice tonight about the mitigation factors. The Business
Alliance brought this up and Mr. Stepnoski brought tiffs up, the mitigating factors if you change what
you are going to have to do to make it safe for these people. I am going to echo what was said here
once before. If that is going to increase our taxes, then so be it. It is our responsibility whether that is
zoned residential or commercial, people live there and they are living on top of a chemical cocktail and
they are living next to the a smell and a capped dump and it doesn't make a difference whether it is
residential or palatial, we have a responsibility in this Town to make that place safe for them and their
children and their grandchildren. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anyone else care to address the Town Board? Yes, Mr. Krudop.
ROBERT KRUDOP: My name if Robert Krudop, Mattitack. I am a prop~ty owner, along with my
wife, we own three parcels down there. We want it industrial, we want it left industrial. It belongs
industrial. I hate to tell you this, in front of all these people, but if you do change the zoning back, you
are going to devalue their property. Because if they ever go to sell or finance or need something, you
will end up devalning their property. I don't know if it has been explained to thorn properly, but you
will devalue their property. You are taking money out of their pockets by changing back the zoning.
You can do ail the social ....
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Excuse me, Mr. Krudop, continue addressing the Board please.
MR. KRUDOP: Merle Levine herself had gotten up at the meeting over at the First Baptist Church
when we stood outside or we were sitting down around the tree as the traffic was going by and we had
to stop the meeting and she had spoken about a figure of around $50,000 to $100,000 devaluation in
the property itself. In each individual lot there ....
MERLE LEVINE (speaking from audience): That is not accurate.
MR. KRUDOP: That is what you had said.
MS. LEVINE: That is not accurate.
MR. KRUDOP: That is what you had said at that meeting. That is exactly what you said at that
meeting.
MS. LEVINE: That is exactly not what I said.
MR. KRUDOP: Then what exactly did you say?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Krudop ....
MS. LEV1NE: That the change was very small, whether industrial or industrial however, it is not
small for the people who are now zoned industrial because if something happened to their property
they can't rebuild and they lose everything, you are not saying that, are you? They know that now, in
spite of the fact..
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
22
MR. KRUDOP: She has a point, that is what the Zoning Board is here for, in other words, the Zoning
Board and anybody here in government, I can't believe that if a house bums down, that the Town
would not allow it to be rebuilt. You go through the Zoning Board process, you can rebuild a house, it
is just a non-conforming use. It is an, you just go through the steps that the Town has and they will
allow the rebuilding of the house in that zone. I am sure that this Town would allow that change.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Please allow Mr. Kmdop...
INAUDIBLE COMMENTS FROM AUDIENCE
MR. KRUDOP: Absolutely. But the Town will. I know, I have been through the process. I renovated
a house down in that area.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Krudop, direct your comments to the Board please.
MR. KRUDOP: I have been in that situation, I renovated a house, I have been through the Zoning
Board and they allowed me to renovate a house down in that area. It is not a problem. You just have
to go through the proper channels, the way that they...yes, the proper channels. You pay our fees and
you just go in front of the Boards and they do the right thing for that area. What I am trying to say, is
basically, in words that you will understand and I hope that you can take this to heart, you are creating
a residential island in a sea of non-conformity. What I am saying is, by changing the zoning back and
putting residential in there, you have to look for the future, what is going to happen. What is going to
happen to that cap after 30 years? It has a 30 year life expectancy. After 30 years, that cap more than
likely, the DEC is going to say, alright there is a problem now, at that point in time, more than likely
they are going to say you have to remediate. Yeah, but you are not looking to the future of this area.
You face it when you get there. Gene Martin had gotten tip and I asked him, because he is doing work
at the Riverhead landfill and they are remediating their landfill. It is going to take 10 years to do that.
You are going to put people in this area, in a full excavation of that property for 10 years, we are
talking about equipment rtmning 7 days a week, just like it is there now, you are going to have blowing
sand, it is going to be an absolute nightmare. How are we ever going to protect them if you do change
that zoning? How are you going to protect them from that excavation and project in 30 years? It is
going to take 10 years to do. How are we going to protect them at that point in time? If we don't
change the zoning, say we came up with an alternative, and there are plenty of alternatives but they all
have been turned down. Say we take another alternative to it, say we take an alternative, we sit down
behind closed doors, individual property owners with people that can make the proper decision. And
what I mean, maybe we can go ahead and I know you are not going to like this but I am going to say it
anyway, because it needs to be addressed. We can buy their property from them, not condemn it. I am
not suggesting condemnation at all. What I am recommending is that you go ahead and you get three
appraisals from local appraisers, they know the value of land, you take the highest of the three
appraisals, you add 10% on top of that. Okay?. That is an extremely generous offer for a piece of
property. Hear me out, hear me out. Just hear me out. I understand you are not selling, but you don't
own a piece of property. This is the deal. You go ahead and give them life estate. You buy the
property from them, give them the cash value from that property, you give them life estate. They live
there for their entire life, okay, they can take that money that you have given them, that is fair market
value for that property, it is above fair market value. They can take that money and reinvest it in
another location. They still maintain ownership until their death, because that is what life estate is.
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
23 ~ i
They still maintain ownership on that piece of property. They can do whatever they want and you can
write it any way you want in the contract but they could rent that property out for low income housing,
okay?. And subsidize the purchase of even a better house or maybe even take that and pay their taxes
on a better house. And also with that life estate, they don't pay taxes on that piece of property, ever
again. They would not pay taxes on that property ever again. It is an awesome way of relocation, still
maintaining affordable housing and at that point in time, upon their demise what we could do, and I
would be up for it myself, what we could do and I would be up for it myself....
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Excuse me, hold on a second...
MR. KRUDOP: .... it would be further in the process, they could make up their decision. Like when
we go to re-cap or we go to rip up that cap and we have to replace the garbage, they could say maybe
this isn't the most ideal place for residential and at that point in t/me, they could leave it as industrial or
they could say it survived as a community, there are still houses in there and people living in there.
We still need affordable housing, they could work with North Fork Housing Alliance and mainta'm that
as a affordable housing area. I am hearing boos, but I am just trying to come up with alternatives
measures...
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Krudop has a right to address the Board. Like it or not, Mr. Krudop
has a right to address the Board just as every single person in this room does. I just ask that he be
afforded the opportunity to speak.
MR. KRUDOP: I am not pushing anyone out, I mn just trying to come up with a solution. Because
clearly, I don't want my property rights taken away as an industrial land owner. And I don't want to
see people to continue to have to put up with the garbage, with the blowing of the garbage down an
area, with the smells of the compost, with the recycling center going full-tilt, with equipment going
seven days a week, it is not a place and I can't imagine that a 12-foot concrete wall is something that is
going to be pleasurable to look at. I mean if you want concrete, you might as well go back to the city.
I just again, I want to reiterate, by changing back the property you are devaluing the property for the
people, if they ever hope to regain or get something further property, if they ever have to sell, you are
devalulng it for the people themselves. I don't know if everyone fully understands the situation. I
don't know if it has been fully explained to them, have they been sat down and actually explained what
is going to happen if it rezones. I wish we could have closed Board meetings and discuss it with the
individual property owners, more than just having an open forum because the people that are being
affected are the property owners not the majority of the people that are getting up here and speaking on
their behalf's, it is the property owners and they should be taken into closed doors and there should be
things worked out. For instance, I will give you a for instance, 1 sat down with Mrs. Cross and we sat
down and she said, the only thing I don't want, I didn't want that industrial building going up. She
said, 'I don't want to see it, when I come out in the morning, I don't want to see that industrial
building' and we talked about Angelo Stepnoski's piece, which is up the road on Route 48 more and I
asked her, I said 'you know, Mrs. Cross, Angelo would like to put up a building to work on his
equipment, he wants to run his business out of there' and she said that she wouldn't have a problem
with him running his business out of there at all, providing that he didn't use the right of way as his
main entrance. And he used his main entrance through his property on Route 48. People never sat
down and was personal with her. And it was your loss of contact, you have done this in an impersonal
way to change this, to go about it. If you sat down with the individual property owners you could work
October 10, 2003 24
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
this whole thing out. You could work it out with everybody. If the Taylor's want their property
changed back to R-40, by all means you can change it back. There is spot zoning all over this Town.
But for instance, you could nip this in the bud if you went to the individual property owners, you
wouldn't have to vote on it tonight if you just sat down with them and just talked it out and discussed
what actually could happen, everybody could work it out and you wouldn't have to vote on it tonight
and it wouldn't be such a problem. Is there any possible way that we can go ahead defer this and sit
down with the individual property owners? Is there any possible way, Josh?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: I am prepared to vote on this, this evening.
MR. KRUDOP: Excuse me?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: I am prepared to vote on this, this evening.
MR. KRUDOP: But is there any possible way to hold it off, it would give time for the SEQRA to be
re-done, if that is the way you want to do it, is there any possible way to hold this off and meet with the
individual property owners and make sure that they fully understand what is going to happen to their
property?. I mean, we are only talking about 15 pieces of property here.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: I understand that, Mr. Krndop.
MR. KRUDOP: Is there any possible way?. You want to vote on it tonight?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Yes, I do.
MR. KRUDOP: Yon understand that you are going to end up with a lawsuit?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: I am fully aware of that and a lawsuit does not scare me.
MR. KRUDOP: Okay. I know, because it isn't your pocketbook. Take care, have a good night.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. DiNizio. Excuse me, evm-dbody has a right to speak and voice their
opinion. Yes, sir.
JIM DINIZIO: Jim DiNizio, Greenport. 1 am a member of the Business Alliance, Sonthold. I was on
the Zoning Board 16 years, I can tell you, if your house burns down tomorrow, it doesn't get built. It
is against the law in Southold to rebuild a house if it is 50% destroyed, a non-confonuing house so, it is
not going to happen. And that was my concern when I spoke a year ago, is that these people are not
asking for the world, they are just asking for the rights to live in the house that they grew up in. And
as far as I can tell you or as far as I can see, this problem would all be solved if that dump wasn't there.
If you closed it tomorrow, if you closed that dump tomorrow, residential or industrial would be
probably perfectly satisfactory for everybody involved. That is my opinion. Now, at the beginnning
of this meeting, I work in electronics, I am a trouble shooter, I have been all my life, trouble shoot
circuits and you know, there is a saying in electronics that electricity follows the path of least
resistance and I will tell you, that is what happened here tonight. And the fi'ustration that the people
felt in this room both business community and the people, the residents is the frustration that every
October 10, 2003 25
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
businessman in this Town, that Izies to do something feels, not for a year and half. I have heard seven
years sometimes, l~ying to get something done that they are entitled to do. So understand that the
Business community feds what you fed and has felt what you fed. And the business community was
involved in 1989 because I was there and I can tell you that we wouldn't be here today if ail of us were
here then. And it goes to what I have complained about for two-three years now, you know, you got to
let the people know. It is their land. A post card, it costs you what, 70 cents? Come on. This is why
we are here today. You would hear these same comments; you would hear Mr. Krudop, you would
Angdo Stepnoski, you would hear Mrs. Cross, you know why? Because you told them and they
would come and give you your opinion and then you would make your decision. But being involved
in government, I can tell you this, what you witnessed here tonight, ladies and gentlemen, is what goes
on in government every day. Follow the path of least resistance. Thank you veW much.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Simon.
MR. SIMON: I have been listening for a theme in various people's remarks and if you want to look at
it in broad terms, even if you take ail of Mr. Krudop's remarks seriously, what he is saying, in effect is,
have I got a deal for you. Now, there are two kinds of things that governments and people are typically
concerned with. One is, freedom and the other is welfare. What is good for people and what they
want. And one of the problems with this plan that Mr. Krudop spells out is look, I have it ail figured
out, you are going to be fine. But what if we don't want to do it, it is okay, I know what is best for
you. That is a little scary. Now, I realize that that might not be his whole theme but the whole
business is a whole series of selective judgment. It is only 15 properties but by god, Mr. Krudop, you
just said, you just have two properties. So, only 15 properties. You know, this question about sacred
property fights. Poor builders. Sometimes the issue is that people ought to be able to get their money
out, now I don't have the numbers on this, my understanding is that some of the buildings that were
bought for industriai purposes were bought at a fairly low price. So the people that now own and sell,
whatever they decide to do and if they want to put housing on it and put their industriai uses
somewhere else, they are not going to lose their shirt. But when you listen to some of the things that
people are saying it is 'poor me, I am being deprived of my hard-earned wealth if we ailow people to
exercise their choice to continue to live where they want'. It would be pitiful if it were, if they really
believed that, what is even sadder is that they can't possibly believe that. There is just a whole lot of
inspiration, we hear Mr. Krudop and others tell a pretty good stoW and what we are asked of course, is
to believe them, is to believe that we are not interested in delaying, we are not interested in this and the
fact that I want to build on my property and want to appreciate the vaiue of my investment, that is
irrelevant, I am only interested in what is good for you. Now, that is very hard to believe unless you
are already there. And a few people, some of the people here are aiready there but the majority of the
people are not, so I don't know exactly how this is going to be worked out, it was somewhat suggested
by the Board that maybe when it comes to the resolution, we hope there is a vote tonight that a passage
of the subsequent resolution could be conditionai on dealing with the problems in #668, as raised by
Mr. Moore and others, so we would not have to go through this whole thing again. Because clearly we
do know from some of the speakers that they don't want to go through this again, they want to start
over and then go back to where we were with detailed arguments about whose property was what in
I989, that is really something that we dou't want to go over this. It has been 15 months, and let's not
loose whatever momentum they had. I was very optimistic that I was seeing democracy at its best,
working tonight. This is what I expected 24 hours ago, before I heard that there were other things that
were going on to try to subvert the process. Sometimes dealing with the threat of lawsuit by people
October t0, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
26
who are interested in pursuing their own self-interest is something that you have to worry about
because part of the democratic system is that people do have the right to sue for their rights. And to
prevent a lawsuit is not a 4~ery bad idea but to say all bets are offbecause we don't want to get sued,
that is, would be a real and terrible step backward. I hope there is a vote tonight.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Ms. Tole.
MS. TOLE: Again, I am still Kathy Tole and if I am lucky, I still live in Greenport. Some of the
comments tonight, Mr. McCarthy will sue you, Mr. Krudop no doubt will also. You know that.
Because they already have sued you, haven't they? Mr. McCarthy, and I respect him as a
businessman, but you know, he was turned down by the Building Department, turned down by the
ZBA, therefore, he went to court. And it gives the appearance that he wants what he wants and will do
anything to do it, ineiuding going to court. So let's assume that no matter what happens, Mr.
McCarthy and Mr. Krudop and Mr. Stepnoski will go to court and they can go in there and say, 'I can't
build my house, I am sorry, I can't build my business' or 'I can't park my backhoe where I want to do
it because the Town doesn't think that it is appropriate' you know what? When we defend this, Mr.
Yakaboski, maybe he will defend it, maybe somebody else, bring a transcript of tonight and bring a
transcript of a year ago and a year and three months ago and the six or however many times that we
have come here to discuss this and I trust the judicial system, I trust them to weigh what has gone on
and I believe that the report will be appropriately amended and if not, we are going to have to deal with
it somehow. He can't park his backhoe, he will park it someplace else, he will rent property as many
people do for their businesses. We will not move people for that convenience of a commercial owner.
We are not creating a residential area and I hope nobody misses that, it is there, it is viable, it has been
there all along. We are restoring it. And that told to the court is going to carry considerable weight
that an injustice was corrected. I am concerned that we have a report dated October 2, this company
submitted it knowing the heating was October 7, when was it received by Town Hall, please?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: I believe that it is dated in October 2.
MS. TOLE: May I ask who has reviewed it within Town Hall? We have Mr. Yakaboski full-time,
Josh I know you are full-time and I don't know who else is in either an administrative or legal position
to have reviewed this document for the last five days and not found an obvious flaw and if you have
done so, have you attempted to correct this?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: I did not find an obvious flaw, I was satisfied with the SEQRA to the best
of my, 1 am not a lawyer which is why I rely on legal counsel. I did, I reviewed it, I was satisfied with
it, the Planning Board had it, the entire Town Board was given a copy of it in their boxes. I, for the
record, am comfortable with moving ahead with our SEQRA.
MS. TOLE: I agree that this issue should be moved and it should be passed, I do believe it and I do
believe that there are such strong moral grounds. And I do believe, however, that Mr. Moore is very
knowledgeable in this area. And I do think that you carmot just drop this ball, that you need to move on
it tonight, do what I consider to be the right thing and that the Greeuman-Pedersen company can
submit the proper information, because I believe that the information is there. Somebody, I am not
sure which of the conm~ercial owners, mentioned that you are going to have to remediate in this area
for health and safety. Well, you know what? You are going to have to do it anyway and if you keep
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Hearh~g
27
this commercial, you are going to have to do it anyway. If you keep it commercial, you are going to be
sued. I told you in the past, the Town is important to me, I have adopted it, I haven't lived here 600
years, I don't have to. I love it, I choose it. I wasn't bom here, I selected it. And tonight is going to be
either part of a strengthening of why so many of us have selected this Town or perhaps casting doubt
on whether this Town is really what we thought it was.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Kathy. Mr. Tillman.
ART TILLMAN: Art Tillman, Matfituck. I don't own any property down there and I don't live there
but trying to be objective, it seems that the people from the Church Lane property are talking about
things such as history, culture, home, family, church, passing on their property to their children, a safe
place to live. That seems to be their motivation. I didn't detect in any of their arguments anything
about financial gain or commercial convenience. And I feel, morally, that home, family, church,
passing on ones property, your history, takes precedence over financial gain. Thank you.
MS. NORDEN: I certainly believe that both of these resolutions should be passed this evening but I
also believe that the role of government is to seek consensus and I am disturbed by the fact that
knowing for 15 months that a process existed with the Church Lane residents and also commercial
property owners, that presumably and I would like to see if we can verify this, that there was no
attempt made by the consultants to discuss any part of this with the industrial property owners. It
would seem to me that that might also sandbag the issue and if the role of government is to actually to
bring upon an actual workable solution to a very serious problem, that seems to be one of the things
that might have needed to he done within this process. I for one, am more than happy for somebody to
take us to court but that is also a an expensive proposition and I really do believe that there might have
been some solutions, so I would like to know what was done to involve, if anything, the industrial
property owners or to get some sense of consensus or some sense of information about what they
thought and was there any attempt to reach consensus?
COUNCILMAN RICHTER: Yes.
MS. NORDEN: And what did that constitute?
COUNCILMAN RICHTER: It was done quite some time ago, I can't tell you how long ago but we
did meet to try to come to consensus and come to a reasonable outcome and that did not work.
MS. NORDEN: Okay, so there was a process that involved the property owners...
COUNCILMAN RICHTER: Not with the consultants.
MS. NORDEN: Not with the consultants. And why was that?
COUNCILMAN RICHTER: That was Town.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: I believe that consultants reached out to various members of the
community, including our Town Historian for ....
October 10, 2003 ' 28
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
MS. NORDEN: That is pcn:fectly acceptable but why didn't they reach out to ....
SUPERVISOR HORTON: May I finish? I don't know why they did not reach out to, or they did or
did not reach out to various individuals. To the best of my knowledge, they reached out to property
owners that they felt would have information as it pertains to cultural ties and the longevity, the
historical significance and longevity of the community.
MS. NORDEN: I would not in anyway dispute that historic significance but I would like to know how
and by whom they were charged to do this study and what the time frame was, I mean, I would for one
say that it is really not professional to have a report rendered five days before a public hearing, over a
weekend. I find that utterly unacceptable, fi'om a procedural and administrative point of view. It
wouldn't give a media oppommity ifI were sitting on the Board to review a document adequately, so
why were they not told that if you want to get your money, we need the report two, three or four weeks
so that we can both review it and also comment on it prior to the public heating. Now, who accepted
the report five days, and only five days before the hearing? What is their deadline? What charge were
they given?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: The Town received, Ms. Norden, the Town received the report some time
ago. The Greenman-Pedersen report, the printed document. The SEQRA, which is a technical process
was first received in short form and forwarded to the Planning Board, probably about two weeks ago,
the Planning Board raised some concerns that perhaps it should be long form and I learned that again,
through the grapevine, so I called the consultants and said perhaps you should prepare a long form and
that came in last week and was given to the Planning Board and the Planning Board had ample
opportunity to review it...
MS. NORDEN: I understand that but I am not asking that question about the Planning Board's
relationship? Who actually hired the consultants and what was the charge given to them?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: The Town Board hired the consultants as has been stated, I don't have the
exact resolution but to do a review of the area, Cox to Depot, Route 48 to Oregon ....
MS. NORDEN: I understand that and wouldn't that have included the industrial property owners? I
am just asking the question because I am not defending the position of the industrial property owners
and let me be very clear when I say that I am absolutely for the rezoning of this area, however I am
very concerned that there has been some mismanagement here, both in terms of the information that
the Town Board has gotten from the consultm~ts, the way in which the consultants have rendered that
information and the schedule with which they have done that. So I would really like to know who
asked the consultants to do what, was it defined in writing and was the schedule given to the
consultants about when the reports were due? Because if it were the/r English teacher, I would have
failed them. I would have said, you didn't get it in on time so you are getting an F. So, I want to know
what they were originally charged with so that we can understand how it is that they could have failed
us at the last minute.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: First off, Ms. Norden, they did not fail us at the last minute.
October 10, 2003 ' 29
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
MS. NORDEN: Well, I ttfink a report received that didn't have adequate time, I don't think four or five
days for both a professional Planning Board and professional Town Board is enough time to review a
SEQRA report. I mean, I can say that across the board, that it is not enough time, we are not even
talking business days, we are talking over a weekend. So, is that the way that the usual business of the
Town of Southold is to ask for reports, just a couple of days before public hearings? So that there is
really no time for review and there is no time for dialogue? What was their original schedule?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: You know what, Ms. Norden? You have made your point ......
MS. NORDEN: I would like to know when they were asked to turn their report in?
SUPERVISOR HORTON: You have made your point very clear.
MS. NORDEN: I know but you have not answered me. What was their, when was their schedule?
When were they asked to complete the report and in what manner? This is public information, I think I
have a right to ask it.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Yes, you do, it is a very legitimate question. But there was not a deadline
and the resolution that authorized the lilting of Greeranan-Pedersen to conduct the report, you are
saying two different ttfings for report...
MS. NORDEN: The SEQRA and the (inaudible) report.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: That resolution had specific language in it, of which I do not have before
me.
MS. NORDEN: So, there were no deadlines essentially, they could hand the report in anytime they
chose? Is that what you are saying? And if that is actually the case, which may or may not be the case,
I would like to suggest that in future and going forward, that when we spend our hard-earned tax
dollars to hire consultants at quite hefty sums of money, that we ask them to provide their reports
within a certain time frame so that they can be appropriately reviewed and in a leisurely and adequate
way by Town representation, number one. Number two, I also think that there should be much more
public input into this process because I for one, would not have approved of this manner in which these
reports were given. This seems sloppy to me and it seems problematic, it also seems to me, very
disrespectful to this community of people that we are gathering information at the v~ last minute.
The other issue that I really want to address is what people have been bringing up here before, I would
like to see within just a few weeks, the fact that if we are going to rezone this as residential, which I
really in fact, approve of wholeheartedly, that we do have any plan to address many of these health
concerns and the other concerns that we have been discussing vis-a-vis the relationship of this
community to the Town landfill. It may not be 30 years that we will need a methane report in, we may
need it in a year or so and there needs to be a plan and there also needs to be a budget before the people
of this Town regarding how and what way this Town will respond to the health and safety concerns of
this community. And it is not included, I can assure you, in the dump plan of Mr. Bunchuk. So, I
think there needs to be a separate budget, we need to have a thorough going analysis of the health and
safety concerns of this community, and a plan and financing to address this.
October 10, 2003 30
Southold Town Board-Public Hearing
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Norden. Those were points ail very well made. Would
anyone else care to address the Town Board on this public hearing? Yes, Ms. Cross.
VIOLA CROSS: I am Viola Cross, I don't have anything prepared, I don't need to. We have been on
this subject for aimost two years, I understand how Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Krudop feel but they have
only been here in the neighborhood, they are not there, their prop~ is there, less than two years.
Look how long the residents have bee~ there. We are grounded, we are not trouble-makers and we
have not been coming to the Town Hail with problems. What little problems we have had, we have
been promised so much and have received nothing. So now is the time. You can right this wrong. We
are tired and I am angry, very angry, to have to keep coming down here to Town Hail and the same
thing aiways. And then we are here tonight for a public hearing and then a nice pamphlet comes up
that was received, did he say the second? Have ail of you read this pamphlet? And have any of you
any solutions? Well, this should have been focused on before this meeting. Because we are tired. We
want some answers for Cutchogne Church Lane hamlet. We are tired and we are not second-class
citizens. We want some answers and we want some safety things set in place, which it is tree, if the
rezoning is done tonight, that is just the first step because we won't turn back.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Cross. Are there other comments from the floor? Ms.
Levine.
MS. LEVINE: Merle Levine. You have had a hard evening and I know everyone is tired and you
have had an English lesson and I would like to have, a Social Studies lesson, because what we have
learned in recent years, is there such a thing as white privilege? And we have seen that in action
tonight. Because people who are white, who have the funding, know exactly how to get their way.
And for ail the years that the people have lived in Church Lane, they have not had those. As Barbara
Taylor said, even if they had spoken out, they wouldn't have been heard and perhaps worse things
would have been done to them. It is very difficult for us to know what it is really like, how it reaily
looks and 1 can appreciate that the commerciai purchasers do want to have a fa/r chance and they
certainly deserve it but I would hope and I know it is a pie in the sky dream, I would hope that they
would also come to see that when they want to move their actions and they can't understand that what
they are doing is just so individuaiistic for them and so hurtful for a whole community, that there is
another way of looking at this and those of us that are white, after ail these years of oppression have to
really learn how to do that kind of looking. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Levine. Would anyone else care to address the Board on
this public hearing? Mr. McCarthy. Again, please, Mr. McCarthy has just as much right to speak to
the Board as anybody else in this room does.
MR. MCCARTHY: Ms. Norden asked some questions, of a copy of which I happen to have,
regarding the Greenman-Pedersen contract with the Town dated June 6, received in Town Hall June
10, signed offon the 11~ and their scope was 6 weeks. That would have put them sometime at the end
of July. Not to where we are now, four months later. The copy from the Town Clerk today. I respect
Mrs. Cross and what her opinion is but she is saying that the time in the community, only a couple of
years, so apparently no one here in this room has any rights except for the oldest person and I don't
think that is right. We ail have fights, we ail have property rights, should we draw a line in the sand
that those folks who weren't living here 10 or 15 years ago shouldn't vote tn this election because you
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
31
weren't a stakeholder then? If that is what you are intimating to us, you have to draw a line in the sand
somewhere and the line in the sand comes with the ownership of property and when you become an
owner of that property, you begin to get your rights. And it doesn't matter if you bought yours in
1985, which the records show and perhaps that you weren't there for the 30, 40 or 50 years prior to
that, Mrs. Cross. You have fights there. You weren't there your entire life, neither was I and I don't
expect you to try to take my rights away and I am not trying to take yours away. There is a
misconception that if this property stays light industrial, that there may be a bulldozer that just comes
and knocks down all the houses. It is a misconception. If it stays light industrial, these people can still
continue to live in their houses and improve on them the way that they wish to improve on them and
live in their own homes. Keeping it light industrial will not take their houses away from them. It is up
to their own individual decisions and however they do their estate plann'mg and whatever changes in
their lives, to how they choose to buy and sell properties on their own, w/thin their own community,
put it out to the highest bidder or what have you. Case in point, my property was not purchased by
someone from within the community. Angelo Stepnoski's property, with a sign on it on Route 48 for a
couple of years, was not purchased by someone within the community. Mr. Krudop's properties were
not purchased from someone within the community. Mr. Genvinski's property, with a sign on it, was
not purchased from someone within the community. And the same thing from Mr. Wolbert. These
things were all out there, it is fair market transactions, and no one said, 'hey, we've got a con:anunity,
let's just grab this one and let's get together as the Church, let's borrow money', no one was out there
to stop what has happened, no one was out there to purchase these properties then and it was fair
market transaction and I believe that your rights begin when you start to own property and it doesn't
matter if you have been there for six months or 20 years, or 40 years or whatever the t/me might be. If
you own a piece of property, you have rights and expect the Town Board to stand up for them. Thank
you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anyone else care to address the Board? Miss Ross.
DENISE ROSS: My name is Denise Ross, I am from Mattituck. I was raised on those properties. I
have been holding back and holding back but I think that now is my time to stand. Those properties
that were bought from Mr. Krudop, were from my grandfathers properties. I used to live on those
properties myself. As a matter of fact, one of the houses that was on that property burned down. That
was my house that I was living in. They did not build the house back on that property but the Town
did give them the choice, if they wanted to, they could. At that particular time, my grandfather did not.
The house where the Martins stay, that was my aunt's house. All of those properties that Mr. Krudop
bought, he bought it from my aunt, who he purchased it for little or nothing. I was raised there, all of
my life, yes, it was Afro-American neighborhood, the people behind us was the Bates family, they
used to stay there. There was also Mr. Morritt. When the Church was first built, it was built in 1924.
All of those families came from there. Also, behind, before the landfill came, I remember, I was a
little child, there was a dog pound and there were other families who lived way in the back. Those
families are some of the members of our Church. It was the Ford family. I don't remember who the
other families were. But I would like for the Town Board to please reach out to their hearts. I was
raised there and it is sad to see for these people not to be able to have their community back. I am r~ot
saying that Mr. McCarthy and them should not have their rightful light industrial but these people yqho
have their property there, it was hard. They didn't have an extra business, they didn't extra real estate,
they had to work hard to get these households and I really do believe that the Town Board will search
their hearts and try to do the right thing for that community. Thank you.
October 10, 2003
Southold Town Board-Public Heating
32
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Denise. Would anyone else care to address the Town Board at
this public hearing? Mr. Edwards.
BILL EDWARDS: Bill Edwards, Matfituck. I think there, this can be simple if the Town Board
remembers a couple of simple facts. One, it is clear from the discussion tonight that it is impossible
for an area to be both residential and light industrial. It has got to be one or the other. Number two
and most importantly, the houses were here first. The homes were here before the light industrial and
if proper notice had been given and people had understood what was under discussion, it is probable
that this never would have happened. That is all history and you have to decide the issue now. And
you are going to have to address the issues that Tom Samuels and other people brought up here, which
is that the Town does need light industrial zoning and these owners of this property are going to have,
in some way be made somewhat whole. But the houses were here first and I think that you should not
forget that. The day will come when each of you has left the Town Board and you will look back at
your experience here with justified pride, all of you have worked hard and if Bill Moore says that there
is a problem with this paperwork and that has to do with the SEQRA rqoort and that has to be
addressed, I trust him and I believe that is true. But I also believe that you have to make a decision and
when the day comes that you are finally off the Town Board, I hope that you will be able to look at
yourself in the mirror and say of the decision that you made of this and that you have made a decision,
that that day I did not what was easy, I did what was right. And I think it is very clem' what is right in
this case. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anyone else care to address the Board on this public hearing? (No
response) We will close the hearing.
Southold Town Clerk