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Home My WebLink AboutTB-09/23/2003SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD REGULAR MEETING September 23, 2003 4:30 P.M. A regular meeting of the Southold Town Board was held Tuesday, September 23, 2003 at the Southold Town Hall, Southold, New York. Supervisor Horton opened the meeting at 4:30 P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 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 SUPERVISOR HORTON: Good afternoon and welcome to the September 23, 4:30 P.M. public meeting of the Southold Town board. Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. There are a number of periods during the course of the meeting where ! invite the public to share their views or address the Town Board on specific town matters. Prior to voting on any of the resolutions, we will offer the floor to the public to address the Town Board on specific resolutions. We ask that when addressing the Town Board, you do so from one of the two microphones at the front of the room, stating your name and your place of residence for the town record. At the conclusion of the resolutions, we will also offer the floor again for members of the public to address the Town Board on other town related business. We have several public hearings over the course of the evening, it will be made very clear when those public hearings are commenced and the public again will be afforded the opportunity to address the Board on those specific public hearings. We have a number of reports, public notices, communications available for the public to read and review. They are available at the Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 2 Town Clerk's office, Monday through Friday between 8:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. forward with the agenda at this point. We will move Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the following Town bills be and hereby are ordered paid: General Fund Whole Town bills in the amount of $207,478.82; General Fund Part Town bills in the amount of $7,020.09; Community Development Fund bills in the amount of $9,324.00; Highway Fund Whole Town bills in the amount of $12,000.78; Highway Fund Part Town bills in the amount of $26,785.64; Capital Projects Account bills in the amount of $76,726.30; AG Land Development Rights bills in the amount of $1.24; Landfill Cap & Closure bills in the amount of $5,010,076.79; Community Preservation Fund (2% Tax) bills in the amount of $12,762.02; New London Terminal Project bills in the amount of $8,992.47; Fishers Island Ferry District bills in the amount of $39,758.14; Refuse & Garbage District bills in the amount of $514,017.70; Southold Wastewater District bills in the amount of $11,400.96; Fishers Island Sewer District bills in the amount of $3,080.96; Southold Agency & Trust bills in the amount of $124.63; Fishers Island Ferry District Agency & Trust bills in the amount of $967.12 and Community Preservation Fund (2% tax) bills in the amount of $545.00. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the minutes of the August 26, 2003 Town Board meeting be and hereby are ordered approved. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the next regular Town Board meeting be held Tuesday, October 7, 2003 at 7:30 P.M. at the Southold Town Hall, Southold, New York. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. I. REPORTS 1. Board of Town Trustees - August 2003 2. Southold Town Program for the Disabled - August 2003 3. Southold Town Justice Court, Price - August 2003 4. Southold Town Justice Court, Evans - August 2003 5. Southold Town Justice Court, Bruer - August 2002 6. Island Group Administration, Inc. Claim Lag Report- through August 2003 7. Planning Board Monthly Report - August 2003 II. PUBLIC NOTICES 1. Suffolk County Office for the Aging Notice of Annual Public Hearing October 16, 2003, 10:00 A.M. - Noon, in the legislative auditorium, Suffolk County Center, Riverhead, for the purpose Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 3 of receiving public comment on the programs and services provided April 1, 2004-March 31, 2005. Information on providing testimony: 631-853-8230. III. COMMUNICATIONS None SUPERVISOR HORTON: I will offer the floor at this point to anybody who would like to address the Town Board on the resolutions that are on the printed agenda. Would anybody care to address the Board? MELANIE NORDEN: Melanie Norden, Greenport, New York. I am addressing the Board on a sticky issue that has come up many times in the past, vis-h-vis conflict of interest and ethical considerations. I know that this administration has been devoted to what might be known in the trade as cleaning house. In particular, my concerns address that and they address perception and also they address reality. Conflict of interest situations arise when a person in a situation of trust is involved in a private interest that conflicts with the responsibilities of that position of trust. And even in New York State, although we don't have completely clear conflict of interest laws, there are many bodies including those in New York State and those in the city that govern conflict of interest. I know that we have talked a lot in forum over the last couple of years regarding perception and we have also talked about conflict of interest as being not just simply the facts but also the appearance. I have been very concerned for some time, and I must say, Tom, I very much admire you and I admire most of what you stand for but I have been very concerned for some time that as a property owner in the Town of Southold for some properties that actually you have not sold the development rights to. That in point of fact, in this larger argument of whether property values will increase or decrease, will go down or go up; depending on the upzoning argument, I have been very concerned that your position as a property owner or a person who might have said interest in a farming business or whose spouse's or children or relatives may have said interest, that that might in fact compromise in some way your vote. Most of conflict of interest arguments do center in fact around financial arguments. In most cases, where there is an element that speaks to finances, and of course a lot this upzoning is spoken about finances... SUPERVISOR HORTON: Are you speaking about a specific resolution, Ms. Norden? MS. NORDEN: #625 and #643. I would like to ask you if you would recuse yourself from the process of voting and or making a decision and or influencing the decisions having to do with either the Final Generic Impact statement or with any decisions regarding zoning. And particularly those decisions regarding upzoning. It has been made time and time again as a point to this body that there may be real economic considerations that are at play that will happen to farmers and to other property owners, if in fact certain preservation tools are enacted. Since you are an owner of record or and or an owner of a business of record that owns tracts of property that might in fact be affected either adversely as you have been wont to stress and say or even in any positive way, I think that that conflict, which basically centers on real property and real property that is either an equity property or a lease hold property or real business that would be affected by such zoning preservation means in effect that you should not be voting on any of these resolutions, or frankly in any way influencing the Board. I will bring up my concerns with the Ethics Committee but I am not in any way implying that there has been any ethical violation in any way but I do believe that because of not just a perceived but a real conflict Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 4 of interest vis-h-vis financial and real property, which is how conflict of interest law is basically defined, you really should recuse yourself from the process. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Norden. Would anyone else care to address the Board on a specific resolution? Yes, Mr. Cooper. DOUG COOPER: Doug Cooper from Mattituck. The previous speaker made an interesting point and one could almost agree with her, that would call for the rest of the Board except for perhaps the Supervisor because to agree, because I believe that you all own property and should all abstain in that case on voting on such things. Except for Mr. Horton, who I believe rents property here. If you want to carry that to an extreme. I think that, I would also like to make a comment on #625, adopting the findings statement. It is hard to make a comment on an issue, on a defining statement, which the public has not had a chance to adequately look at yet, indeed I got a copy just about 20 minutes ago. And it was just off the press. I would like to see this Board take the time before you vote on this, on #625, in order for the public to have a chance to read it and study it and make comments. I would also like to mention #635, extending the moratorium for another 6 month period. I hope that you approve that. It would be good, it would be well-done, it would be well advised if this Board moves this whole issue out of the election cycle, which it is now in and become your political hot potato for many of you. There are many good ideas which could be put in effect and discussed between now and a six month extension of the moratorium. I think that it would be well advised to approve this extension. #643, you want to have a special meeting to discuss the Comprehensive Implementation Strategy and ideas and planning tools. Do you have any such specific ideas and planning tools? If you are going to have a special meeting, will you have any recommendations so that the public can make comments on this? Will this be a public meeting? SUPERVISOR HORTON: Any Town Board meeting that is set, is a public meeting and the public is not only welcome but also encouraged to attend. Anything that gets discussed or presented at a Town Board meeting, whether it is a special Town Board meeting or a regularly scheduled Town Board meeting is open to the public. It will be an opportunity, as any Town Board meeting is to discuss various views, to discuss any initiatives that any Town Board member, specific or general would want to address. MR. COOPER: So, this will be open to the public? SUPERVISOR HORTON: Absolutely. MR. COOPER: To make comments at? SUPERVISOR HORTON: Well, it will be a work session, so it will be a discussion amongst Board members. MR. COOPER: So, it will be a meeting among Board members where the public cannot make input? SUPERVISOR HORTON: As a work session. Just as we did today from about 9:00 to 2:30. That was a time for the Town Board to meet and discuss various issues and that is what that time will be utilized for. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 MR. COOPER: Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anyone else care to address the Town Board? Ms. Schroeder. GWYNN SCHROEDER: Gwynn Schroeder, North Fork Environmental Council. I am speaking on #625 and I encourage the Board to accept the findings for the Final Generic Impact Statement, for the Southold Comprehensive Implementation Strategy. I just want to say for those critics who say that this process is being rushed, I have been coming to these Town Board meetings for six years and it is painful for me to sit here and see hundreds of hours of volunteer time and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent of taxpayer money to come up with good plans and then have them fail because special interests pack Town Hall, they are loud and vocal and the Town Board folds and goes home and nothing happens. And the next Town Board comes along and they think that they have to start from ground zero and re-evaluating everything. We have had the Stewardship Task Force, which did recommend 5 acre upzoning in the special groundwater protection areas; for those folks who said it was never part of any plan, that is definitely one that it was included in. So, I would just, it is frustrating. There is a concerted effort just to stall things. It is frustrating for me, there has been lots of misinformation. The Generic Environmental Impact Statement has been characterized as a bias tool, when in fact it is an objective evaluation of many tools. And the stalling happens so that we couldn't get to the next step, which is evaluating what tools we are going to use. And I have seen this; we have had two years, almost. We are now in almost October. You had the Blue Ribbon Commission, six months of that, we enacted a moratorium because your Planning Board said our current tools are not going to work. They advised you, you unanimously voted for the moratorium. You all agreed to hire the planning consultants. They were hand-picked, you all agreed on that. And some of you went as far to say that you wanted a second opinion, when you didn't like what they came back with. It is frustrating because a lot of volunteers will go away, people get disengaged, the misinformation; how may people still believe that five acre zoning means mini-estates? And five acre lots? That is such a myth and it is still out there because people perpetuate myths. Part of your job, your charge as the Town Board is to honestly put things out there and not misrepresent them. And I sort of take offense personally that we can't have a difference of opinion and you characterize upzoning as stealing. We are not here to talk about upzoning tonight, we are here to talk about moving the process along, we deserve answers from this Town Board, you guys-the six of you up there. We have been patient, we are almost through, all the nonsense is going to start again. At least get out there and put something forward for us. You owe us that much. Act. You have had almost two years. Before that, we have had all of these studies. I am literally saying that the studies in my office would come up to my chest, that is how many studies have been done. They all say the same thing. You have to act to preserve Southold. If you are all honest about those preservation goals that we have, you have to be proactive. And you can't wait for someone else down the road to do it. This is your thing to do and I hope that you can act. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Schroeder. Are there other comments from the floor? GEORGE PENNY: Good afternoon, George Penny, Southold town, former Councilman who participated in the five or six year master plan, so don't feel that you are rushing anything. Town law manual page number 229, should an EIS be prepared for all comprehensive plans? No, if it can be established that an adoption of the plan will not have a significant impact on the environment and Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 6 negative declaration can be prepared. However, the comprehensive nature of such plans, and the need to inform and gain input from the public about the consequences of their adoption makes this process very compatible with a generic EIS. The comprehensive plan could be prepared either in conjunction with a generic EIS or in a format that would satisfy the requirements for a generic EIS. The documents should be drafted, made available for the public review at the same time or in one joint document. Having both the draft planning and the environmental review documents available at the same time provides for meaningful public review and assessment of the plan along with a consideration of the relevant environmental factors following public review and hearing, the final documents and SEQRA hearings would be produced and the lead plan agency can proceed with implementing the plan. This is what I asked for two or three months ago and some Town Board members have privately told me that they have been told that they can't do it this way. Well, everybody gets a blue book when they get elected and it is in the blue book, this was from 1993, this was a book that I had the last one that I had and you will see that in the update of the blue book that you got, the year that you were elected from the State of New York, it is exactly the same. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. Would anyone else care to address the Town Board? RICHARD AMPER: My name is Richard Amper, I am Executive Director of the Long Island Pine Barrens, we are based in Riverhead. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Your place of residence for the record? MR. AMPER: Northeastern Brookhaven, Ridge. The Pine Barrens Society has been looking at preservation challenges for 26 years. We started in Nassau County and western Suffolk County and we heard the same kind of testimony that we heard in the evaluation of what is not resolution #625, the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement. The concerns of people trying to preserve the place that matters to them and the unending onslaught of over-development. This is the 13th town on Long Island that we have come to, it is difficult to hear the same arguments, the same concerns that we can do nothing and still preserve. It hasn't happened anyplace else and is not likely to happen in Southold. What you are trying to do is make decisions about preservation versus development and we are talking about houses. We are making a decision about whether to build more houses. That is what the five acre zoning with mandatory clustering thing is all about in the end anyway, if a farmer wants to farm his land forever, he can do so, he is not being adversely impacted. This five acres with mandatory clustering only comes to bear when we are talking about somebody who does not want to farm or doesn't want to farm anymore, he wants to build houses. More houses. I don't know how the people of Southold feel about building more houses but the ones that I talked to don't feel real good about it. They don't feel good about more cars that come with more houses, they don't feel good about the more taxes that come with the more cars and the more houses. It is only about trying to make a decision and it is important to make a decision on what the future of this Town is going to be like. Because we know that if you do not consider five acre zoning and mandatory clustering as one of the many tools, you are not going to obtain your preservation objectives and there will be no difference between this place and any other place. To those who say that the solution is not to do anything, I suggest that that is not what leadership is about, that is not what government is about. Those who have not done anything have lost their special places to the scourge of over-development. You do need to take action. To those who say that this should be taken out of the political process, we agree. Vote your consciences on the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement. Move on to the issues of five acre Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 7 zoning and mandatory clustering and do what you think is best for Southold. This has been debated so long that really there is no utility in decision-making. The delay only benefits those who benefits from the status quo, maintaining two acres. Decisions need to be made; not delayed. Vote what you think is good for the Town of Southold and let the chips fall where they may, politically. If you are comfortable with doing the right thing for the people who live in this town and for all of Long Island who consider this a treasure, Southold is the last, best place left on Long Island. And it falls to you because you have chosen to serve in public office to make the decisions and you need to make them now. You don't service by equivocating, you don't service by delaying. You have discussed it; there are many myths. I think that most of those myths have been debunked. I think that you know what you ought to do, if you are putting the people of Southold first. But do it now, it is time. You have thought it through, no one can doubt that you care about the people here, make that call, let them know what you mean to do for this Town and for the future of its people. Please, don't delay, it is time to act. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. Mr. Huntington. RAY HUNTINGTON: Ray Huntington, Cutchogue. Some of our finest families have been stewards of the land for generations in this Town but they have become very emotional about this thing we call five acre zoning. It is a lot more than five acre zoning, it is our future. Some say that more study is what we should be doing next, well, I think that some of you know me and no one is more inclined to study a situation before acting than I. I have been working on the issue of land preservation in Southold for about 7 years now, and I am convinced that after the dust settles; upzoning will little real negative impact on farmers or farming. It may not, I think that it will have positive impact but I can't really say that for sure. But we must move on with the future. Farming will change, but it will change with or without upzoning. It will change as surely as the world changes all the time. We will see higher value crops, we will see facility aided growing, we will see more processing within the AC areas and we will see more agritainment. These are all changes that are going to occur. Those who manage change best will prosper most. The world will not stand still. We know consider theses resolutions that are on our agenda tonight that could begin the legislative change of the code. We have investigated these issues, written reports for 20 years. I am not a farmer, I am not a lobbyist, I am a resident. I see myself somewhat as a technician, getting things done. I know we must put this process in gear now, now is the time to stand tall and face the future. I would like to see unanimous support for resolution #643, which deals with the meeting called for tomorrow morning and I would like to see enthusiastic performance at that meeting, on the part of our entire Board. This is our town, we would like our Board to act accordingly. You know on this Board more about the over-development situation than any Board that has sat in those seats before you. You know more about the over-development situation than most people in this town. You have sat and listened through many hours of testimony and debate. And if not you, not now, then who and when? We need to move now. We have a sense of urgent need for action. We are doing this mainly for those who come after us. That is true. Perpetuity is a long time but I would like to enjoy some of the benefit on my watch, too. Or what is left of it, at least. It means less potential density in our town and it means less potential taxes in our town. I think that it means a good life for all of us. We should not suffer the penalty of procrastination. The problem is big enough for us all to pull together now. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Mr. Grathwohl. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 JIM GRATHWOHL: I am Jim Grathwohl, from Cutchogue. On several occasions in the last several months, in social meetings and business meetings, a number of us have become very concerned with the divisiveness, the acrimony, the hostility that has surrounded the two acre versus the five acre zoning. So several of us have gotten together, those that were environmentalists, farmers, business people and in fact, let me introduce the group that we are calling ourselves, just a committee of concerned citizens; Chris Bays, Charlotte Hansen, Alice Hussie, Eric Keil, Martin Sidor, Ronnie Wacker, Alex Wipf and Gerry Woodhouse. Our vision is basically the same as everyone else's, the goals' set by the Blue Ribbon Commission. However, despite what you have already heard; we feel that the job is still not done. And we recommend strongly that whether or not five acre zoning comes to pass, we urge the Town Board to extend the moratorium on subdivision development and new building construction in order to review all the tools available to preserve the Southold Town as we all wish it to be, especially its open space, farmland and to reduce density. Not only those tools offered in the final Generic Environmental Impact statement. The Town Board would be irresponsible, we feel, if you let the moratorium expire before appropriate tools are defined, explained to the public and implemented. Some people are already waiting at the gate for the moratorium to expire to file their subdivision applications. To accept any recommendation without agreement by interested parties and that is evident even here, the we and the us would only continue the acrimony and the hostility that is really spreading throughout the Town and dividing the Town. Take politics out of the discussion, we did. All those people that I introduced in our committee, we all have political interests, we should. That is part of being a good citizen, however we left our political interests at the door and put the interests of the Town first and we feel that you should not hurry the five acre zoning decision before the November election. Let's take time to do the job correctly by extending the moratorium. We fell strongly that reasonable people can reach reasonable conclusions. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Mr. VanBourgondien. BOB VANBOURGONDIEN: Bob VanBourgondien, farmer in Peconic, resident in Southold town. What Mr. Grathwohl said was very interesting, very diverse group. I have a letter here from the Agricultural Advisory Committee for the Town Board, which is a very diverse group also. Different political persuasions, some of us have R-40 land, some of us have R-80, some of us have AC. It seems that everyone that has spoken wants preservation and I think that the agricultural community wants preservation also. But I am going read the letter that I put together that addresses #625, #635 and #643. "Southold Town building moratorium is scheduled to end this November. It is the opinion of the Agricultural Advisory Committee, two months is not nearly enough time to complete the hard work necessary to develop a comprehensive preservation package. The proposal of a simplistic upzone to five acres is not a comprehensive preservation package. Southold Town Agricultural Advisory Committee recommends that the current building moratorium be extended. It is essential that our Town Board take a deep breath, step back and put in place plans for a proper preservation package. With foremost concerns to protect agriculture and Southold's heritage. Over the last year and a half, several ideas have been brought forward to promote farmland preservation and in addition, foster the Town's agricultural industry, especially noteworthy are new ideas and initiatives presented by (and they were presented a long time ago) Supervisor Horton, Scott Russell and John Nickles, Jr. Southold Town's Agricultural Advisory Committee feels that it is regrettable that the DGEIS and the Final Generic Impact Statement was poorly written and did not specifically address or devote energies to these initiatives. It is our role to advise the Town on the initiatives that will negatively impact the agricultural industry by extending the building moratorium, we will have time to institute these and Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 9 other preservation plans. For the good of all Southold, it is important the very best preservation package be implemented." Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Wipf. ALEX WIPF: Alex Wipf, I am President of Save Open Spaces Now and I am a member of the group that Jim was talking about. There is something very weird about what is going on here. There is obviously two factions in the room and then the applause comes up for the five acre .... SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Wipf, could you address the Board, please. MR. WIPF: I'm sorry. My tendency is to do that because those are the people that ! am really speaking to. You guys are going to do what you are going to do, no matter what. And that is probably, that is one of the points that ! was going to make. But let me get back to what was eerie about it. We have just been in a situation nationally where we were convinced that there was war that had to be created, had to be dealt with right now. That is all there was, there was danger, danger, danger. Now, ! am not sure that there is an eerie similar situation here. People were calling that there was an urgent need for action, ! sense that there is a tremendous residue of frustration because of the slowness of the process but ! don't see that there is an urgent need for action. ! have been working on this plan probably for the situation as long as Ray has, or maybe not as long as Ray has but ! have certainly been around and trying to understand what is going on and ! spent the morning learning about how farmers manage their property. ! spent a morning learning. Now, ! was also occasionally at the Blue Ribbon Commission and ! heard nothing about this kind of stuff. There was just not education there, there was no understanding of what it meant to do what we are planning on doing. And what ! am afraid is going to happen is we are going to commit ourselves to a path, because everyone is frustrated, and ! am talking about passing five acre upzoning before the election. And then we are going to be hung with it. You are not even necessarily, if the election goes a particular way, there is no reason that it couldn't be reversed. There is no reason that all kinds of things couldn't happen. ! think that the most moderate and sensible thing to do, would be extend the moratorium. There are truly people who are waiting in the wings to submit subdivision applications on two acres. And we, it is just not responsible to allow the town to be vulnerable to that kind of situation and the least you can do, if you don't agree on five acre zoning, or preserving two acres, if there is a big conflict back and forth, the least that you can do is to extend the moratorium to see how things turn out. ! am sorry, we are trying to bridge two sides here that are not easily fit into the same box and yet we are all really in the same box. Thank you very much. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Would anyone else care to address the Board? MARIE DOM1NICI: Marie Dominici, Mattituck. It appears we are stuck in analysis paralysis. We really need to move beyond that. ! think that what this really boils down to is money. And when at the end of the day, ! believe that everyone in this room is a steward of the land, but at the end of the day, if we don't do the right thing for the land and that is to protect it, protect it in a way environmentally because we have cancer hot spots here, we are not alone that we have these hot spots, they seem to be rampant throughout Nassau and Suffolk County, but if we don't treat this land environmentally the way that we need to, the value of our land will, we all have the same value, we will have net zero. Okay? We, in Suffolk County, use the highest rate of pesticides, greater than all of the upstate farming Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 10 areas, so for us to sit here and talk about should we upzone, should we not upzone? What we need to do is take care of our properties and our environment and we can't be stewards in name only, we have to action what we say and the important thing here is, if anyone has had their well-water tested, you can't even pronounce the stuff that is in your water no less do you want to drink it. So, at the end of the day, let's move beyond this analysis paralysis, let's all get on the same page of the play book, let's talk about environmental care because that is going to place value on our properties and nothing else. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Are there other comments from the floor on resolutions? JOHN KENDALL: My name is John Kendall, ! am a resident of Southold at 150 Goose Creek Lane. ! just wanted to say that it should be a foregone conclusion that the moratorium will be extended, this would give us a chance to do some thinking, I, one gentleman said that the Board will do whatever they feel they are going to do, they already know what they are going to do. ! don't necessarily agree with that, ! think that the Board will make decisions based upon the will of the people and what needs to be done and you people up there may have your minds set and you may not, you may want to change your minds and discuss things down the road. But the moratorium should go forward on the basis that it will give us all some decision making time and ! think that there are not only few people waiting in the wings to submit their applications for building construction, ! think that everybody is waiting in the wings for the moratorium to end. If the moratorium ends in November, and there is nothing there to extend it, we are going to feel a lot of pain in town, so ! think that it should be a foregone conclusion that the moratorium will be extended. ! don't think that we have been inactive in our thoughts and our desires to preserve the Town, everybody here loves Southold as do I, and activities should take, ! don't think that we have been inactive, ! don't think that we are waiting just treading water but ! know that the moratorium can be nothing but a benefit to all of us and ! wish that it would go forward. Thank you so much. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. Would anyone else care to address the Board? Mrs. Egan. JOAN EGAN: Thank you, dear. Good afternoon everyone, Mr. Horton, Mr. Romanelli, Mr. Moore, Mr. Richter, Mrs. Neville, Mrs. Evans and Mr. Yakiyaki. That is right, dear, that is what they call you up here. Now, ! told you before, ! am extremely disappointed. ! told you yesterday twice, ! told you today at least twice, that for these areas where you have to make decisions on resolutions that the big charts, you know what ! mean, Josh, should have been here. And what did you say to me? SUPERVISOR HORTON: ! told you that we don't have those at this meeting. MS. EGAN: Pardon? SUPERVISOR HORTON: ! told you that we do not have those for this meeting. MS. EGAN: Why not? SUPERVISOR HORTON: Because they weren't incorporated as part of the public meeting this evening. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 11 MS. EGAN: But I had asked you to do it. And you didn't do it and what did you say to me? SUPERVISOR HORTON: I told you, the answer that I was instructed when going through boot camp in 1990 from the US Coast Guard when there was not excuse and just to answer "No excuse, ma'am". MS. EGAN: Well, I don't excuse you, you were wrong, absolutely, positively wrong. Now, let's get on to other things. These other five acre things have been addressed. I do notice for discussion you had the run-off situation, right, Mr. Romanelli? Now, #595. Secretarial Assistant where? SUPERVISOR HORTON: She works in the office of the Southold Town Trustees. MS. EGAN: Good. Now we have #596 and #597, now, I think that it is very good that they go to these meetings but that means that we are down in October and November with a lot of our policemen out of Town. Now, I know that you did listen to me and you did get a few more but actually I think some of these things should be forestalled until at least January, when hopefully there will be less people here. I would also ask you, Mr. Richter, to talk to the Chief or Pat Garsik about our detectives, instead of sitting up there doing whatever, that they get out and patrol also. That is what they get paid for, to take care of us, not their computers. Now, again here we are with #604, #605, #606, #607, #608 and I don't particularly know where all those areas are and this is where you were wrong, Mr. Horton. Now, of course we have #609 and #610 and this is again, we are using lawyers from the south shore, aren't we? Instead of using lawyers from our Town, always .... SUPERVISOR HORTON: This is environmental... MS. EGAN: I didn't ask that but they are not taken from our Town with our lawyers, right? SUPERVISOR HORTON: That is correct. MS. EGAN: And this is always the complaint of people, that we want our children and their parents who lived here and their parents who spent thousands of dollars to send them to good schools to become lawyers, doctors or Indian chiefs. And you don't use them. SUPERVISOR HORTON: What school is that? MS. EGAN: Huh? Because I am part Indian and I will get after you with the warpath. Now, oh what is this now, #6147 Who is this and why? SUPERVISOR HORTON: #614 on the current agenda is to rescind the resolution #549 that was adopted the 26 of August. MS. EGAN: So what does it mean? SUPERVISOR HORTON: That means that that resolution that was passed will be null and void, should this resolution be adopted. MS. EGAN: Why? Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 12 SUPERVISOR HORTON: Because there was a change to that circumstance. MS. EGAN: Why? How? Who made the change? SUPERVISOR HORTON: She uh .... MS. EGAN: Came up with a good excuse? Her mother wrote her a note? SUPERVISOR HORTON: She tried to get a hold of you, but you weren't available. This was accepting the resignation of Ms. Crenshaw from her position as part-time mini bus driver with the Human Resource Center effective October 4, 2003 and it turns out that she is actually not resigning. She is going to stay on with us. MS. EGAN: Good. So then does that nullify #6187 SUPERVISOR HORTON: No, he will be filling a similar but different vacant position. MS. EGAN: Well, ! am glad that she stayed if she is qualified because ! believe that ! said at the last Town Hall meeting that these people that have reached a certain age, like to see the same people so that they can exchange their news of family and home and what have you. Now, #619, another resignation from the Human Resource Center. These resignations and changes up there again lead me to think that there is poor management up there and this is wrong. Oh, now, who is this #626, now Mary Wilson, where does she reside and who hired her? Mr. Yakaboski. SUPERVISOR HORTON: We have answered this question for you in the past. MS. EGAN: Well, do it again. SUPERVISOR HORTON: ! will. Mary Wilson used to work for the Town of Southold, she now works for the Town of Southampton and resides in Quogue or East Quogue .... MS. EGAN: Isn't that marvelous! Again, from the south shore. That is great. Now, ! believe you were going to hire somebody else, a lawyer, in some other regard and ! did believe that ! requested that big consideration be given to a Southold lawyer. ! don't remember exactly what it was for. You don't either? SUPERVISOR HORTON: No. MS. EGAN: No, that figures. ! think you have a little brain problem there. Now, all of these others...oh, okay. Now, this is one that ! would like to know about, #641. Accept a gift of conservation easement from John May and others. Who's others? Is that the name of a person or just a group? SUPERVISOR HORTON: I think that others refers to family members of Mr. Mays. Southold Town Board 13 September 23, 2003 MS. EGAN: Well then it should have said that instead of others. Who writes these out? They use terrible English, it is ridiculous. SUPERVISOR HORTON: We will do our best to correct that. We will do our best to correct our English. MS. EGAN: Well, you haven't been. Oh, now, #644, this is right up your alley, isn't it, Mr. Romanelli. Your nose falling off?. You have got your hand underneath it... SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mrs. Egan, please. MS. EGAN: Does this pertain also to the DOT or is this separate, maybe Mr. Yakaboski could... SUPERVISOR HORTON: We are accepting the roads in a neighborhood known as August Acres. The roads that it is actually... MS. EGAN: And where is that? Near September? SUPERVISOR HORTON: Greenport. MS. EGAN: Gotcha. SUPERVISOR HORTON: So we are accepting those roads, taking them over for the Town so that we can maintain them properly. MS. EGAN: Where are they exactly, Josh. SUPERVISOR HORTON: They are in Greenport. Do you remember in the neighborhood of what was Rempe's Fish Market? MS. EGAN: Uh huh. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Okay. If you continue on Kerwin into that neighborhood, August Acres. MS. EGAN: Yeah. ! think ! also saw something here, maybe ! am ahead of myself, in regard to, Mr. Romanelli could maybe have a little input in this in regard to Riverhead Building and Supply and the runoff of the soil there and the problem there and also maybe Mr. Romanelli would like to address and speak to Supervisor Harris, ! did, in regard to the runoff of soil and the mess in front of the entrance and exit of Peconic Landing. ! have given you a little homework, haven't I? Let's see that you do it. Bye. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Egan. Would anyone else care to address the Board on the printed resolutions? JOHN STRATA: John Strata, Cutchogue. ! really wasn't going to address the Board today but ! was just listening to a few things and ! thought that maybe they were worth mentioning. ! hear some Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 14 people say the first item was that they were worrying about the moratorium expiring. And that there would be a huge influx of applications for subdivisions. And the first thing that came to mind was who would be making these applications? The stewards of the land? I mean, I am trying to figure out who's, hopefully the same people who were trying to say that they were preserving the land wouldn't be putting applications in for subdivisions, I mean that would be my first inclination to worry who would be rushing up there to try to sell their land and the second thing is with the five acre zoning. I am not so much concerned about the farmers who farm right now, I really think most of them probably will do the right thing and will farm for the rest of their lives. But inevitably, they are going to die. Everybody is going to pass away at one time or another and if you have ever had a death in the family where a couple of siblings have left a house or something, they usually all don't live in that house, they usually sell it. That is what I am concerned about, eventually it is going to be between attrition and human nature that if we don't do something now, and I don't think that it is the perfect answer, I really don't. But I think it is still at least the only safety net we have, I don't see how there is any other way to do it. The farmer now may not have any intentions of doing anything but if he has got two or three kids and they all went to college, some went to business school, went to MIT, these kids aren't going to be out here plowing the land at 5:00 in the morning. And it is a shame, but it is probably inevitable. So that is the only reason that right now, you know they say: fish or cut bait. Now is the time start fishing. I think that it is time to do the right thing. All right? Thank you, guys. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Councilman Wickham wasn't laughing at you, he actually was chuckling but... COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: My son went to MIT. MR. STRATA: Oh, did he? COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: He is up at 5:00 in the morning. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Are there other comments from the floor on the resolutions? Yes, sir, Mr. Nickles. JOHN NICKLES, JR.: John Nickles, Jr., Southold. I have been involved in this since the start of the Blue Ribbon Committee. I wasn't on the panel but I went to just about every meeting and I read the newspapers and I have studied the issue. This is in regard to passing the final GELS, #625. I have spent a lot of time figuring out what is the way that we can actually achieve the goals that we are trying to achieve here and one of the things that I have learned is from studying upzoning from around the country, is that didn't slow anything down. Everyone is concerned about slowing things down, upzoning is not the way to do it. The first thing that I saw when everybody started talking about upzoning was people making applications to subdivide their lands because they wanted to do it before they lost their rights. That is when all this activity started, in my opinion. I am in the real estate business, so I am close to it, I watch it. So in regards to #625, to adopt this thing, seeing how the response to the public comment was by this work group and when I introduced on behalf of the Southold Business Alliance, new tools that this Town has not used or maybe has not heard of, tools that would actually slow down the growth. So we can do five acre zoning, we can do 20 acre zoning, we can do 40 acre zoning if that is what this Board wants to do or any Board in the future but that is not going to slow things down. Growth limits are used in other places in the country, Redlands, Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 15 California; Petaluma, California; I understand that they are in place in Hudson, Ohio; I understand that they also have them in Marathon, Florida. This is a viable tool that should be used and it should not be brushed aside because there is either they don't want to do the research to find out what the impacts are, does it work, will it work in our Town and its usefulness. It was very upsetting to me to realize that maybe there is some other motive, I didn't really think that there was. I thought that there was an objective job being done by people that were paid a lot of money for the Town of Southold. I would say to the residents of Southold, if they don't believe me, do the research that I did and find out that growth limit tools are used in other places in the country where zoning has failed. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. Yes, Ms. Wacker. RONNIE WACKER: Ronnie Wacker, Cutchogue. I wanted to say one thing that I have noticed among my friends, among a lot of other people. Now, the people in this room I think are fairly knowledgeable but when you go among the people outside, ask they what five acre zoning means to them, I think that you might find that they are pretty confused. At least that is what I found, when I just asked five or six of my friends, what does five acre zoning mean? And they are not sure and I don't think that it has been explained. I think that we need more education, I think that we need and this of course in the context of an extended moratorium, I think that we have to settle down and talk about exactly what five acre zoning would mean to the average person. How does this compare to two acres zoning, how does it compare with using the tools that we have been using so far which is buying development rights and things. I think that there needs to be a lot more explanation before we can expect the average person in the street to know what we are talking about. So, I hope that the extended moratorium will be approved so that we have this time. Thanks. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ronnie. Are there other comments from the floor on the printed resolutions? Yes, Mr. Edwards. BILL EDWARDS: My name is Bill Edwards, I live in Mattituck, I am not a farmer, I am not a developer. I have been a member of the Land Preservation Committee for the last three years and I am here to address the resolution #625, #635 and #643 relating to the matters that we have all been talking about for the last hour. I am particularly troubled that the response in the GElS to my concerns and I think many people's concerns about the five acre zoning relates specifically to the equity impact on farmers and their ability to use their land as collateral. I will beg your indulgence and just read the one paragraph here which frankly I consider a slap in the face to all those who asked this question. The Town Board could commission a separate analysis to attempt to predict the extent of any potential loss or gain in equity. Ultimately, however, it is not possible to predict the real estate market. The government has the power to make decision that may affect equity in land. The courts have ruled consistently that as long as a property owner retains the ability to use his land there is no taking of property value. And that is in fact, true. But it doesn't take a genius to know that if you take away 60% of the development potential, you are going to take away a significant portion of the equity value of the land as used for collateral. Generally, in terms of, in the bankers that I talked to and others who are knowledgeable and this makes sense to me, it is roughly a 40% haircut on the value of the land. Mr. Amper, who I believe has left, said that decisions need to be made and I agree, that is true. We don't need anymore studies. But that doesn't justify making the wrong decision in this situation. We all know what is happening here and we all know why there is a rush to judgment. The Republican majority on this Town Board has failed to prove to the voters of Southold Town that five acre zoning Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 16 with mandatory clustering is the right way to preserve the Town. And these four Board members want to use their increasingly endangered majority status to slam it through before the new Board takes office in January. A Board, which will almost certainly seek a different path to preservation than five acre zoning. Let me speak to the four Republicans here, all of whom I consider my friends and I appreciate the work you have all done for the Town, not to mention the often totally unfair criticism that you have all borne with very good grace. Although I am a candidate for the Board running against one of your number, you will not find me making personal attacks and I certainly do not suggest that any one of you is acting out of self-interest. I believe that you truly feel you are acting in the best interest in the Town. But that does not justify the course of action that you seem bent on following. Listen to what the voters are saying. In the September 2001 primary, the registered voters of Southold Town refused to confirm their own endorsed ticket. Knocking out the incumbent Councilman and a good friend of mine who had led the fight for the five acre upzoning plan. Two months later .... SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Edwards if this pertains to a specific resolution, I will entertain it, however I can't entertain any political speeches. MR. EDWARDS: I am sorry, perhaps I am going too far. What I am really trying to say is repeatedly, the voters of this Town have said in ways that they could, they don't want five acre zoning. You will have your chance to say so. I recognize that ours is a republican form of government where we elect officials to make decisions on our behalf but we also expect our elected officials to listen to us. As I go door to door, I find a strong consensus against the five acre proposal. It will overnight reduce farmland valuations by close to $100 million in Southold Town and will reduce farmers borrowing capacity by almost $40 million. If a combination of voluntary preservation and transfer of development rights has worked in so many communities around the nation, why are we going haring off after an unproven strategy which has so much potential for producing unintended consequences? It is now clear, I think to everybody, that the moratorium must be extended until the Town Board has had time to codify a full preservation policy and legislation, no matter what form that takes, even if it is five acre zoning. A zoning change, which fails to protect five acre zoning, I am sorry, protect land owner equity, should be a last resort. Yet I feel that you have chosen that as a main course in your dinner without considering the stomachache it could give all of us. Let's not jump into a preservation program, which even your own report writers can see they can't find any history to project the consequences of economically. Let's extend the moratorium and draft legislation, which uses proven tools of land preservation, especially TDR's which could also help solve the affordable housing crisis in the Town. If we want to preserve Southold, we have to preserve farming. I agree that we have to act but we must act wisely. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Are there other comments from the floor? Yes, ma'am. NANCY GILLIES: Nancy Gillies, Cutchogue. I swore that I wasn't going to get up and say anything but I have got to. I haven't been attending the meetings however, I am a faithful watcher of your meetings on TV. I listen to all of the Blue Ribbon panel, I also went to the library and read portions of it, admittedly I didn't read every single word of it but I certainly do feel that I am knowledgeable about it. The amazing phenomena that is occurring is that whenever you hear an argument that the farmers will not get the equity in their property if this five acre zoning takes place presupposes that all of the farmers who sold their development rights no longer get equity because they cannot sell the property for development. I haven't read that anyplace, I haven't seen it anyplace, it seems the most logical Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 17 thing in the world to me. The second thing is that when they say that they will not be able to get as much for their property, loans for their property, if they go to the bank, the bank presupposes that they are going to sell it for development. We don't want them to sell it for development, we don't want them to get more money for it, we want them to go to five acre zoning, we want them to accept the wonderful programs that have been presented here. They can still sell their development rights, they can still keep two acre zoning if they join RID program. So there are tools for the farmers, they are not bereft of tools. But we have to consider that there are a lot of people who are paying taxes here who want to have this town stay the way that it is. In fact, go back a little bit if we could, ideally. But when we had two acre zoning, I was a realtor, I was a broker. I sat through the exact same discussion, it will ruin us. I saw the prices go sky high. I admire Mr. Wickham, when he sells his waterfront lots, he makes them five acre lots. Am I right? Five or more. Aren't they larger than two acres. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: We sold development rights on a waterfront portion of our farm. MS. GILLIES: How about the houses that have been built on your property. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: That is really not my property. MS. GILLIES: Well, it is the family property. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: It is my distant cousins. I really had no role in that. MS. GILLIES: But your family did keep large parcels, they did preserve the land and that is what we want to do. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: Yes. 17 acres. MS. GILLIES: That is what I thought. And that is what we want to do, the same thing. Farmers who own waterfront lots, be it on the Sound or the Bay, have prime property and they could sell five acres and anybody that buys a house would be happy to buy it, they are not going to build a mcmansion, they will build a home. They can't afford to build homes the way that they talk about and they will leave the other part fallow. Or you will have it, as you say, the zoning like we have in my area we have 17 acres that isn't used. It is a parkland. So that is what I am saying. I just think that it is logical. I don't understand why all this nonsense is going on. Every time I hear it, I go out of my mind. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Yes? CATHY TOLL: Cathy Toll, Greenport. I hadn't originally planned on being here today until I found out that so many things that were so critical were on the agenda and I changed plans and here I am. So I prepared some notes this morning. I remember when this Board set a six month moratorium. We were assured at that point that that was sufficient time to study the land use issue and that the Board would thereafter act quickly. We received the same assurances when the moratorium was extended for another six months. We received the same assurances when it was extended for an additional six months. Many people at each of those junctures were concerned that the delays would push this entire process into the election and completely politicize the issue. And here we are. The only way that I can see that we can stop this horrible churning is to do something. Take some action now. I ask this Board Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 18 to stand up and be counted and be counted before the election. Set in action the procedure and stop the foot dragging. Upzoning with clustering is not the end all but it is the first step of many steps that ! believe that this Town has to take in order to preserve open space. But make no mistake that it is the first step. The impact is not going to be on just on farmers, all of us will be impacted by this process and as the process continues, we will all be impacted more and in different ways. If the supporters of upzoning turn out to be wrong, well, you know what? We are going to have chance to live with it for a while and if we are proven wrong, things can be changed. But if people who are opposed to upzoning prevail, and there is no upzoning, we can never reclaim the lost land. It is gone forever. ! heard Doug Cooper, who spoke tonight, who is a spokesperson for many of the farmers. He has been a longtime supporter of yours, Josh and fundraiser for you and he said, and this is just about a quote, he stood at that microphone some months ago and he said, "I will never sell my development rights and ! will tell every farmer that ! can that they are crazy to sell their development rights." In light of views like that and armed with the knowledge that the majority of the open space is not even owned by farmers but is owned by developers. How can we not see that strictly voluntary preservation is going to grind to a halt or is going to become unaffordable for this Town. Eighteen months ago, you made a promise of action, ! ask that it starts now. ! don't care if you extend the moratorium or not but as far as the other two agenda items, do something and do it now. Somebody said that the urgent need for action doesn't exist, well, that is one perception. But when does it exist? When the cow is out of the barn. Somebody else spoke about equity impact of $100 million, that is such round numbers it is just clutched from somewhere. We can all say no impact, we can say a little impact, we can say that there is positive impact in land values. ! know in other Towns where there is five acre zoning, ! certainly can't afford a five acre lot, so ! have got to believe that the farms are still going to be worth mega- bucks here. We all paid money, we paid 2%, we believe in the preservation, we are willing to put our money where our mouth is. We want to share this, we want to do it in any way. But we have to stop and we have to act now. ! ask the Board to act now. ! would like to address one other issue relevant to this. In a way, ! kind of feel bad about it. Josh, you and Tom have made some political hay about conflict of interest, Tom, according to your own supporters, your own supporters statements, you and your family and other farm owners stand ready to financially gain or lose through possible upzoning. In short, you and your family have a personal financial interest in this. ! believe that there is only one person in this room that thinks that other homeowners share that same level of interest, financial interest. It is time now, ! see, is a live by the sword, die by the sword situation. In farming terms, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Tom, ! am asking you to recuse you yourself from voting on upzoning. Josh, ! am asking you to join me and others in asking Tom to do so. ! have seen Bill get up and walk out of the room after recusing himself on issues that he feels there might be an appearance of conflict of interest. After recent events, ! don't know how you could not recuse yourself. Tom, ! believe that you understand that it is the honorable thing to do. And not only that, ! trust that you know that. Because ! trust you. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anyone else care to address the Board? Yes, Mr. Samuels. TOM SAMUELS: Tom Samuels, Cutchogue. ! have known Tom Wickham since 1959, ! have known a lot of the farmers equally as long. They have benefited from the increase in real estate prices over the years. But to say that Tom has a bias is ridiculous, ! know him too well. And ! have been opposed to him many times. But he is a man of integrity. He doesn't have a personal interest, his family has preserved a great deal of open space and they will continue to do so, in my opinion. ! would ask the majority on the Board, who ! believe are committed to five acre zoning to extend the moratorium. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 19 The polarization that exists within the Town is the worst that I have seen and as you know, I have been involved in politics. It is terrible, terrible stuff. The Town of Southampton went through the same problem. They came up with a viable solution, which gives the Town and the farmers time. And yet that solution, which makes a great deal of sense to me, has not really been considered. Everyone in this room who has lived here for any length of time, the best investment you could have made in Southold Town in 1959 or 1969 or 1979 or 1989 was real estate. The farmers have had that land all the time. Do we then say to the farmers, who are a minority of the owners of property in this town; we feel that you should either sell us your development rights, which of course takes them out of the increased land value market that will certainly occur as it is all over the nation. Should they be the only people that are paying for land preservation? Shouldn't we all? ! suggested in a letter to the editor not too long ago, that since we have 2% that the buyers pay, let's have a 2% tax on the capital gain of everyone who sells their house. Then maybe some of these lots on a half acre that sells for $685,000, 2% of that is not very much. And it is not much. Would you not all agree to do that? That would add up into a considerable sum, which we can then put back into the voluntary programs which have worked. But the only reason that ! am standing here, ! did not intend to speak, ! think ! am speaking and your minds are closed but in fairness and to give this polarization that exists today a chance to mitigate itself to some extent by the election, extend the moratorium. Don't push it through. The Republican party, after an election, pushed through a decision and it turned out to be a mistake and the Town Board reversed that decision on zoning. In any event, the public needs some time. If you have got people out on the street, then get some answers from those people. Get some answers from your Committee people, your Town Board members, etc., etc. Give it more time. Secondly, regardless of what we do, whether we pass five acre zoning or not, we must have a housing authority in the Town of Southold and it would be an entity unto itself. Just like East Hampton. They would have bonding potential, they would have members that are appointed by the Town Board, anybody that was allowed to buy an affordable house could only sell it back to the housing authority. The only increase in price would be whatever inflation is. The housing authority could then sell it to somebody else who is in a position to pay it at that time because if Ronald Reagan was right, a rising tide raises all boats. Or at least most of them. It has in this case. That is critical and every hamlet should be willing to accept one area for affordable housing and that includes Orient. It wasn't long ago that someone from Orient said 'affordable housing is great, put it in Mattituck'. And that is the attitude of most of us and it is cruel, it is absolutely cruel what we are doing. And yet the issues that really need addressing are low key. Because we are all locked up in five acre zoning. Believe me when ! say this, ! know a lot of people, as you would imagine in all my years here and there is no unanimity, there is no groundswell for it, believe me. So extend the moratorium, it is not bailing out, it is giving the public some more time but you have got to address the issue of our people living here and if there is five acre zoning, it stands to reason that any property that is under five acre will dramatically increase in value, any house on one acre or half acre or quarter acre will dramatically increase in value and that is what has happened. And that has happened in Martha's Vineyard, it has happened in Nantucket and it has happened in Vail and it has happened in Aspen. It has happened in every desirable place to live and Southold is desirable. Now the population of Southold in 1959 was 19,000. It presently is just a little over 20,000. This of course, excludes those in second homes, ! assume. So, there hasn't been as dramatic a growth as you might feel there is. There has been a lot of growth along heavily traveled roads and there has been a lot of new construction but that is because people want to live here. We can afford to wait six months, look at it again and make a decision. In the meantime, let's heal some fences temporarily, anyway. Thank you. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 20 SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Mr. LaRocca. VINCENT LAROCCA: First, let me get this out of the way, I have yet to call you and congratulate you. Congratulations, good luck. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. MR. LAROCCA: My name is Vincent LaRocca, I am a resident of Cutchogue. No disrespect to the environmentalists in the room, no disrespect to the landowners in the room, no disrespect to the Town Board intended but this debate is exhausted. There is no more to add to this. In just this Town Board's administration, you started with a Blue Ribbon Commission that met every week, myself included, for six months. And the decision was made by the Chairman, Tom Wickham, to open every single meeting at the end to public comment. We then had a moratorium that you all proposed and that was opened up to public comment. And then we started with the GElS and at several phases, that has been opened to public comment and people have come at various Town Hall meetings and they have made comment. There comes a point when the debate is exhausted. What happens at some point is the debate begins to digress and the acrimony only builds. There are going to be no magic answers that are going to come upon the Town, no magic tomorrows. It is just not going to happen and I mean no disrespect, myself included, the debate is exhausted. The last couple of points, I want to make on this is to sort of go back, here is a crazy idea, what have the professionals been telling us? Not Vin LaRocca from Cutchogue, or Charlie from wherever, at the end of the day what have we learned from our professionals? In June of 2002, Ben Orlowski Chairman of the Planning Board came to you all and said that I have never seen it this bad, the development, the applications, we have real trouble on our hands. He was supported by his Senior Town Planner and they said, you need a moratorium, we need some serious planning here. We have got big problems. That was June of 2002. Well, the fact of the matter is, what has happened too many times in this debate is our professional planner and our professional planners and our people with deep experience were derided. He doesn't know what he is talking about, who is he anyway? He is no good. We are tired of hearing from him. Well, there is something that I laughed when I read it in the Suffolk Times this week, quite an honor, Planning Board Chair Orlowski, that is our Chairman of our Planning Board, wins Cross Award. Mr. Orlowski is set to accept the New York Planning Federation John O. Cross Award given annually to an outstanding Planning Board Chairman. Mr. Orlowski farmed 150 acres before becoming the manager of the Cornell University Long Island Horticulture Research and Extension Center on Sound Avenue in Riverhead. He rose to the Planning Board's Chairman's post in 1984 and he has served as Chairman ever since with the exception of a three year period from 1994 to 1997. Lee Koppelman, with little argument, I hope, one of the respected planners in Suffolk County, is quoted as saying "Mr. Orlowski has produced valuable results to the community." So, let's not forget that this guy, who the State just recognized as Planner of the Year, came to us in June of '02 said get your act together, the overdevelopment is here and although he has not appropriately weighed himself in on this debate, is well known to be in favor of zoning regulation. Then we hear that this, I have the May document, well, they didn't know what they were doing, the people that put it together, blah, blah, blah, it has a mistake, it has a typographical error; on and on. Let's look at who these people that don't understand what they are doing. First of all, who was the lead agency? Who was accountable for this document? The Town Board of Southold is accountable for this document. That is who. You were involved every step of the way, so, not liking it and griping about it is inexcusable. This is a document that you accepted lead agency on. Who else is involved? Let's see, it was prepared by a moratorium planning Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 21 team, which I understand you unanimously approved. Who did that team include? Well, it only included the Town Attorney; Val Scopaz, the Town Planner; Melissa Spiro, the Land Preservation coordinator; Chic Voorhis of Nelson, Pope and Voorhis, a respected planning forum; Patrick Cleary of Cleary Consulting; Lisa Kombrink a consulting attorney and Melissa again, she was quite active. We also have here listed on here: Data Processing, the Environmental Planner, the Town's Planning secretary; the Town support team, the entire professionals in the Town along with two consulting firms that you all decided to pay $200,000 to help us get an answer. Now, what do ! hear? Typographical error, it is all garbage, not our fault. Nonsense. ! mean, come on, two years it is enough. ! still get excited over two years later arguing about it, ! am sorry. ! thought ! was exhausted. Here is a news flash, ! agree with something Tom Wickham said. Tom Wickham suggested that we put things on hold until after the election. He assured us that he and Josh, the new Town Board, they would deliver a real plan. They said, let's put this behind us and let's go. You know what ! said, that makes sense, ! agree. The problem was the Tom Wickham said that two plus years ago, leading into the next election. You know, Tom, fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: I don't know what you are talking about. MR. LAROCCA: You don't know what ! am talking about, Tom? COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: ! have run in only one election. MR. LAROCCA: Correct. When you ran, you said 'let's stop this, let's not rush it, let's get in, let's embrace this Blue Ribbon Commission idea, we will bring consensus, we will get a plan and get the whole Town together, it will solve our problems.' COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: And Vincent, with you on that Commission, we met every week for six months, we came up with a report that even you agreed with the great bulk of. It was an effort to get consensus in this community .... MR. LAROCCA: Absolutely, absolutely. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: The kind of consensus that a number of speakers have asked for this afternoon. ! don't think that it is fair to say that I, or to imply that ! basically asked for one thing before the election and then have stalled and obfuscated and put .... MR. LAROCCA: That would be a different charge that ! was making. This charge, Tom, was that before the last election you told us, trust you, don't push through this five acre zoning, ! can get to work, build consensus and get you a plan that will get by and it will get done. Tom, it did not. You failed at that task. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: And we put... SUPERVISOR HORTON: Listen, all of you, everybody. Excuse me, ! will let him know when he is out of order. And Councilman Wickham has been .... COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: I am not going to respond. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 22 SUPERVISOR HORTON: There you go, you will receive no more response from Councilman Wickham. MR. LAROCCA: I welcome a discussion. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Certainly. You are still addressing resolution 6something or other. MR. LAROCCA: Thank you. Yes, I am. The fact of the matter is, you have asked the community to come up and share its input, time and time and time again, through the Blue Ribbon Commission and all of the other public hearings that we have talked about. You have spent our money, you have engaged consultants, you have entered into the banter. Okay? Feelings between certain individuals in Town only grow harder, not softer because there comes a time when you have to make decisions. The six of you are the six who engaged and authorized the Blue Ribbon Commission, it is the six of you who made the decision to vote for the moratorium, it is the six of you that decided to do the GELS; all unanimously as I recall. It is the six of you who agreed who would prepare that report. It is the six of you, believe it or not, the sacrifice is not woe is me for people to make arrangements, whether it be farmers or environmentalists or residents who come up again and again and again and again and express their opinion. You owe us at the end of the day, the six of you have heard all, the six of you who are in charge of this, the six of you led this; deliver us and answer. One way or another. Whatever it is, deliver something. This was called an implementation plan at the end of the day. New York State Court of Appeals, I end with this to think about in terms of this issue in town about consensus and this wonderful consensus. At some point, you can only get so far with consensus. That is just the way that the world works. It sounds great to say that we are going to come up with a plan and everybody in town is going to say, 'why didn't we think of that, we all love it', everybody in town is in love with it, we are all going to start hugging. Me and Doug and the whole, everybody, it is going to be embarrassing, the tears, the love, it is going to be crazy. Ain't happening. New York State Court of Appeals has addressed this issue, it is giving you guidance; let me share it briefly with you. And I am close to quoting, 'no land use plan can possibly provide for the communities best interest and at the same time so accommodate every private interest, so that everyone is satisfied'. And this morning I add, albeit not my personal hero, the Secretary General of the United Nations addressing the UN along with President Bush, and I am driving and I am saying, my god, even he is trying to give you a clue. And here is what he said, pretty darn close and I couldn't believe it when I heard it, 'the failure to gain complete consensus does not absolve us of our obligation to act.' And I leave you with that. Thank you all for your time. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Are there other comments from the Board on specific resolutions. Yes, Miss Brown. MARGARET BROWN: My name is Margaret Brown and I live in Southold. To answer Vinny, I think that what the Board has discovered so far is none of the above. We really don't know yet. And I think that we have more energy and more excitement and more vitality on this issue right now in this room at this time then we have ever had in the 20 years that I have been concerned about open space out here. And I think that it would be a shame to cut it off because of the moratorium and because of the election. Already today, I have heard ideas coming from people that I never expected to hear such ideas come from that are very promising and exciting and should be explored. This town is very Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 23 precious to all of us, and we shouldn't say okay, we have waited long enough, we are going to pick this. When we may have some truly good answers just ready to be discovered. There are things that haven't been explored, it is true. There are things that have been explored to death, which is also true. But ! think that we owe it to ourselves and to the integrity of our town and our citizens, who all of you, ! am so impressed with how excited you are. ! have been to meetings where there is not that much excitement. At the very least, we need to extend the moratorium but make use of the time that we give ourselves to really come to an imperfect consensus; it certainly will be but something that is closer to what would be a consensus and what would be good for our town for the next 300 years, then what we have right now. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Margaret. Mr. Dinizio. JIM D1NIZIO: Jim Dinizio, Greenport. As I see it, there is one of many tools that are being considered that is just a bone of contention and that is five acre zoning. ! think that not too many people disagree with all the other actions that are within the FGEIS, or whatever we are calling it nowadays. And with that in mind, ! think that you ought to extend the moratorium. ! think that Mrs. Wacker said it very well, that you need, you can always use the time to do whatever you need to do. And certainly it is now being politicized. What ! read in the paper is that we are going to straight ahead, forward, fast, really no need for that. That is what you have the moratorium for. You have heard a lot of good suggestions, ! think that John Nickles suggestion about the permits and lawyers and things like that, it certainly can't hurt to investigate and even implement and let someone, you know, challenge it. That is what it is all about. At this point in time, at this late date, towards election, ! think that it is foolhardy to make a decision based on this one tool. This one hammer, if you will, which is five acre zoning. ! mean, ! have heard the experts, ! heard John Halsey from the Nature Conservancy say he wasn't for five acre zoning. ! heard that the banker that lends money to the farmer, certainly must be an expert, that five acre zoning wasn't the way to go. My understanding is that the Blue Ribbon Commission came to that result. And if that is the case, you all did appoint those people and you should listen to them. So, if you could see it in your heart, ! think tonight you ought to just put it off and you ought to vote to extend that moratorium till past the election. And if not, put it on the ballot and let us vote on it. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Mrs. Dully. DARL1NE DUFFY: Hi, I am Darline Duffy from Greenport. My family owns the Silver Sands Motel in Greenport, and ! know that everyone is here about five acre zoning. From a strictly selfish standpoint, ! just wanted to say once again, that we are opposed to that one paragraph that says the farmers can build a country inn. Because country inns turn into hotels and ! came to every meeting, as you all know, ! sat here, ! listened to these farmers beg you not to pass five acre zoning, night after night after night. They got up, they got up, they got up. ! did not hear one person in here begging you to let them build a hotel. No one stood here and said 'please let me build a hotel on my farmland' and ! want to know why this Board wants to leave that in that report? No one asked you for it, unless someone is asking you somewhere else. But they are not asking you in public, ! haven't seen one person ask you to let them build a hotel and you are insisting. We asked for a response and we got one and it is kind of too bad, it is in the report, that is how it is going to be. ! am asking you to strike it from the report. It is a big issue for, talk about a minority, the farmers are a minority in this town. The hotel owners, there are about five of them. ! mean, that is a real minority and some of your farmers, Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 24 probably not anybody in this room, I don't know, but some of them made lots of money somewhere else and you know, sometimes people go into the vineyard business or the farming business because it is financially advantageous to them. Maybe they don't have to make a living out of it. Michael Lind does not have to make a living growing grapes. He does it for other reasons, for financial reasons. I have never been in that position, unfortunately, that I had to lose money in order to make money. I don't really get that but it works for some people. The people that are running the hotels out here, do it to make a living. They raise their families here, their kids are in school h ere. They do it to make a living. And I know that you can't zone out competition but ruinous competition is a very bad thing. So I am asking this Board to strike that paragraph, maybe two sentences. Suggesting that we allow the farmers and the vineyards to build hotels. You call them country inns, which I think is limited to 20 rooms but the Planning Board just passed an application for somebody to build, I forget how many units up on the Sound, but of course, those hotel units have to be two rooms with two bedrooms and of course, they can be split off, so instead of having 40 units, they will have 80 units to rent. I mean, I have been over this with, excuse me, it was the Zoning Board of Appeals that passed that. So, they have done it with, that is how Eastwind got such a big hotel in Riverhead. You know, they were limited to their number of units, however their units somehow turned into two units each. I am asking the Board to strike that because I did not hear, in all those nights, in all those hours; here to midnight sometimes, I didn't hear one person ask you for it. Okay? Thank you very much. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Mrs. Duffy. Mr. Penny. GEORGE PENNY: George Penny again, regarding #625 and #635. The divisive nature that is noted here at this meeting was caused by the Town Board. You brought this upon yourself by the way that you did things. Had you taken and singled out a few of the 43 implementation plans and put them into the EIS, then people wouldn't be sitting here on one side thinking that it is the end of the world and the other, well, actually on both sides thinking it is the end of the world. You have got the people who own the land convinced that it is the end of the world, you have the people that don't own the land convinced that it is the end of the world. And this is the only way out and that is not true. There are 43 implementation tools in there and had they been put in the proper context with the zoning and with the maps and everything all laid out, like a master plan, then the public would understand what is going on. And what I read you before is what the State recommends. For greater public understanding. Right now there is a cloud over this whole issue. The cloud is five acre zoning. It seems to be the end all and that nothing else is going to come of this. Is this is not true, then stop. Stop at this point, hold off the findings statement. Incorporate within your finding statement the implementation tools that you intend to use. Present that to the public and then vote on it. Let's not hide behind the plan. A secret plan is no good. A secret plan is not a public plan and a secret plan sits in the minds of four members of the Town Board who have the power to pass it. That is not fair to the public by any means whatsoever. Regarding the number of farmers that really are farmers anymore. I brought this up before because if you go into the Town records and I have heard this over and over again that most of the farmers that are out here are speculators and investors, well sure, that is easy to find out. You go into the Town records and you find out, four people and if I am wrong on their ages; I think that they are all about 90, original land owners, retired farmers that don't farm their own land. John Tuthill from Orient; Mrs. Joseph Conway from Southold; Walter Krupski, Senior from Peconic; Ernest Dickerson from Mattituck are all listed as investors. Is that fair to the people in the community? I don't believe so but it goes to slant what you are doing and you have done it very well. We are dealing with, if you can believe the Town's figures and I believe that they are exaggerated when they say that Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 25 there is 9,000 acres that we have got to deal with. But you are dealing with $415 million worth of land. That is no small package to be dealing with in the way that you are doing it. Let's do it with some respect for the people who own the land and for the people who want to see this preserved. Somebody before said that the debate is over. Let's end the debate when some of the landowners say the debate is over. Because they are the ones that have had the land, they pay the taxes on it and that is the land that you all want a piece of and you don't want to pay them for it. Thank you. MR. HUNTINGTON: If you would permit me, I did omit something and I implied it and I didn't say it and ! would like to say it. About tomorrow morning's potential meeting. ! have expectations for that meeting. Perhaps these are the expectations of us all but we talk about five acre upzoning almost with parenthesis around it now and it means different things to different people. It is really part of a set of things that we would expect the Town Board to adopt. ! would hope that this would be a relatively small and manageable set that would be discussed when you start putting these things in motion to take advantage of deliberations and the dialogue that have occurred over the past long, long time. That set is what ! didn't talk about. ! don't know whether it is three items or four items or five items or whatever it is and ! don't know what you are going to put together but I, my expectation is that it won't be 43 items, it will be something that we can get done on our watch. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ray. Yes, sir. MR. STRATA: John Strata of Cutchogue again. ! just wanted to add something and ! really feel bad doing it but ! heard before when they were talking about Tom recusing himself from a vote and ! really feel that it is a right thing to do. For all that everybody has done over here, to break Bill Moore's shoes when his wife is in here for nickel and dime thing in front of the Board and to make him recuse himself, ! don't see how Tom can in all good conscience and ! think that he is honorable man but just the perception of something be it real or perceived, the perception of something, of something wrong...! don't think anything to do with five acre zoning, ! don't see how he could not excuse himself from the vote. Josh, ! would think that you would agree with this and encourage your partner, not your partner but your running mate to do the right thing. To do the right thing. Even though ! said ! don't think that he would do anything wrong, ! just think that the perception alone, if you are going to go ahead and what is good for one has got to be good for both. And ! think that we are talking about a lot of money and a lot of land and ! don't see how in good conscience, he can't step aside from this vote. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Are there other comments from the floor? Mr. Wipf. MR. WIPF: Alex Wipf from Cutchogue, President of Save Open Spaces Now. ! just wanted to make clear that Save Open Spaces Now definitely believes that upzoning is a viable tool. We certainly have supported from the beginning upzoning in open space land and we also have suggested that the most appropriate of zoning for farmland would not be five acres but 20 or 25 acres. But we have some reservations about implementing five acre zoning on AC farmland without taking into consideration the stuff that farmers have been talking about. And just because ! have been doing this for a long time, ! can only tell you that three years ago, Chris Baiz, who is a farmer and a member of SOS Now and also a banker, said flat-out that development rights shouldn't be considered in making a farm loan. And he has changed his position 100% at this point, ! have talked to farmers and said what is the story with this, apparently they have equity lines of credit and part of the consideration for equity lines of Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 26 credit and they borrow from these equity lines of credit to run their business, is development rights. We may not like that, we may think that it is counter to what is in the interests of the Town but unless ! am being lied to, that is the truth of it. Now, if that is the truth of it and we want, if the purpose of the whole exercise is and our purpose is to preserve open space and farmland, then we have got to listen to what it is the farmers say that they need to survive in their business. And ! said to this particular farmer, ! said, how come you are not selling your development rights? ! mean this is a big consideration, how come this is not going forward? And for the first reason is that a part of the equation that the banks use, just exactly what they have said all the way along. How much of a percentage of it is it? So, why do you sell at all then? How come you sell it then? What are you giving me this line of baloney for? But they will sell it if in fact they have one kid that wants to stay in farming, he can get the land and the other kids got to get something out of it, so they sell development rights and give the kids some money and at the same time preserve the farm for the kid that wants to stay in it. Now this is the reality of the farming business, ! know nothing about the reality of the farming business and ! wasn't at each Blue Ribbon Commission meeting but ! never heard anything about this, ! never heard anything about this. ! never heard anybody talking about it. We are all chomping at the bit to get this done now and it is really about politics. It is really about thinking that you can pass it now. Somebody said that if you pass something that doesn't sit with the next Board, that they could just as easily reject it and go back, although ! don't know why anyone would want to go back to this again. And that is part of the point, the point that it is so filled with animosity and so filled with just the worst of what happens in a small town. It is like abolition, it is just awful. So ! think that the best thing to do, fellows, please is to consider extending that moratorium, it will give us a little time. We do need the time. ! know everyone is sick and tired of waiting. But we need the time. It won't hurt anything if we extend the moratorium and have a more fleshed out discussion of how to deal with preserving the business of farming. We could always reduce density on farmland, you know, if it is developed that is for sure, with five acre zoning, but you are not necessarily going to preserve the business of farming and ! think, underneath it all that is very much a part of the rural quality of life, at least for me it is, in Southold and that is why ! am in this crazy position of supporting upzoning of 25 acres but not necessarily upzoning of five acres, so there is a lot of conflict out here. Please vote sensibly and in the best interests of the Town. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. We haven't heard from you. DONALD WILCENSKI: Donald Wilcenski, Cutchogue. ! am a Republican and a farmer. Born and raised here, third generation farmer. The only thing that ! have to say is that ! was always brought up was that being a Republican stood for protecting property rights. And ! am looking at four Republicans here who ! believe are not withstanding what the Republican party stands for. The only thing that ! ask is that you do put this off until after the election because ! believe that this has turned into a political issue and not an issue on the farmers or the people who want to preserve the land. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Are there other comments? Mr. Baiz, we haven't heard from you. We have heard about you but we haven't heard from you, yet. CHRIS BAIZ: ! am a man of few words. Chris Baiz, Southold. When ! look at two acre zoning or five acre zoning or ten or twenty five acre zoning, to me it is a development plan and only a development plan. Whether we discuss it at five acres so that instead of having six thousand new Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 27 house, we are only going to have four thousand potential new houses, I am disappointed in everyone that they want to shoot so low and they are willing to settle for so poor a result in preservation. I would be happy if there wasn't one new house without tearing down at least one old house and replacing it, one for one. Now, in here one of the people here earlier this evening referred to a particular resolution and so I don't want the Town Board to think that they didn't get their words right, it was #641 which says accepts the gift of conservation easement on property from John May and others. Back in 1949, there were seven families in this community of $outhold who chose to buy a couple of waterfront lots on the Sound as a family swimming hole, shall we say. Over the years, those shares in that situation got passed down to children and I think that I am the first third generation member to receive a partial share. These people are now sitting on a very valuable piece of property, two lots and we have decided that rather than take the money out for ourselves, that we want to keep it amongst ourselves and our families and future shareholders as what it was originally intended by the original land owners from 1949. And so these seven families and the shareholders therein want to pass the conservation easement rights to the Town on developing those properties. We don't want any money, this is the kind of thing that we want to do for the community. All we get is, if it is worth it to anybody, is some kind of a tax deduction. We might get a break on our real estate property taxes. These are the kind of people that I want to see in a community, okay? But when I see a group of people living between the Mattituck town line and Fishers Island, as we have today, gee jawing over is it going to be five acre zoning or what about in the GElS that call for taking all R-40 and upzoning it to R-60, which makes everyone on an R-40 lot nonconforming in the future and your house burns down, you are not going to get to rebuild that house because you are on a nonconforming lot. You are going to have to go through hulahoops to try to get a new house built on a property that might be your families property where you have lost a house. So, my concern for this community is, I thought that we were on the right track when we developed the purchase of development rights, I thought that we were on the right track when we got the CPF passed and working. For a landowner like a farmer, it is really a matter of value. Alex and I have this running argument over and over again between a farmer wants to develop versus a farmer wants to preserve. And it is simply a matter of value, when the value of preservation rises to and meets and equals the value of development, that farmer will want preservation because he is indifferent, the value is the same and he would prefer to have that preservation. If I can leave you with one thing, a community must earn preservation and that doesn't mean on one vote today. That is not earning it, the GElS is not earning preservation. What earns preservation is when you work at it, not for two or three years, like Mr. LaRocca has. It is when you have worked at it for 20 years or 25 years, for 40 years and the community has worked at it to earn over all of those years. We may not be here when preservation is done, I would like to see it in another 30 years, hoping that I am still here but if you want preservation, you must go out and earn it, you must pay for it, the Town can very easily afford to do this over time. It is there, the farmers want to help, the Blue Ribbon Commission results show that. They were willing to bend over backwards to do that and say, look we will put our properties in these RID's, these Rural Incentive Districts. We will be delighted to do that. And we will put off ever bringing to the Town the need to purchase our development rights for the next eight or ten years while you take care of the rest of the lands and get them under your belt, but nobody wants to work at it. And until you want to work at it, there is no community if it doesn't want to work at it. And I don't see the willingness to want to work at it for now or for the next ten years or for the next 20 years. When all of you guys and everyone in this room shows that you are willing to work for it and commit the rest of your time here to continue to work for it, then you have earned preservation. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 28 SUPERVISOR HORTON: Are there other comments from the floor? Mr. Kendall. JOHN KENDALL: John Kendall, from Goose Creek Lane. I just wanted to say after listening to quite a few people who advocate that some activity must take place in a very short time, ! just think that precipitous action is deadly. And if we want the public to participate in this and wanted to bring it up to public referendum, a vote, then the public should have a lot of knowledge at their disposal before they would make a decision of any nature and so the newspapers and the media could be utilized in this effect to do this if it came to public referendum. And ! don't, ! think that the fact that decisions have not been, well that is a shame but ! think that we should just go forward, continue the decision making process, have the moratorium and come to our conclusions without rushing headlong into something that we may well regret. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. MR. GRATHWOHL: I have been disappointed and disturbed actually, as I have been sitting here, not so much on the five acre zoning but the three people who asked Tom to recuse himself from this discussion. You don't know Tom. I have known Tom all my life, we grew up together, born and raised in Cutchogue. His father taught me in Sunday school and come to think of it, those of you who knew John Wickham probably don't realize that as first chairman and continuing chairman of the $outhold Town Planning Board for at least close to 25 years, it is thanks to John who obviously owned a lot of property that we are fighting today in this room. He, not quite single handedly but certainly led the effort to preserve $outhold as we know it today. That is when zoning was first initiated and Tom Wickham is one of the most honest, reliable, outstanding citizens in this Town and to think that he would make a vote or vote on any issue with his pocketbook in mind is absolutely ridiculous and you obviously haven't known him as long as I, you don't know the history as well as I have, and Tom, I hope that you will stay exactly as involved as you have been, continue to give us the benefit of your judgment, whatever that vote is; I know it will be in the interest of $outhold Town with no interest whatsoever in your or your families personal gain. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. UNIDENTIFIED: At the risk of repetition, I have to say that I agree completely. This was the reason that our little group came together because of the acrimony that we saw developing that we saw in Town and the division and the hostility, this is something different from Southold Town that ! have known over the years and for one person to accuse somebody else of hoping to gain personally from a decision, ! think is disgraceful. So ! certainly trust that we will be able to conduct ourselves henceforth with more grace. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Are there other comments from the floor? JULIE AMPER: My name is Julie Amper, I live in Mattituck. I am a newcomer out here relatively, five years, ! don't know Mr. Wickham and ! don't know Mr. Moore, ! just think that the same standards should be applied to both of them. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 29 MR. STRATA: I just want to say, obviously somebody thought that I was attacking Tom. That is the farthest thing from the truth, ! think that he is nothing but an honorable person. ! just think that the issue cuts a little too close to home. ! don't think that Mr. Wickham would ever do anything dishonorable, ! just think that perception wise for people to go ahead, they should have a clear conscience in knowing that he went ahead and recused himself because it just appeared that there may be a conflict of interest. The same reason that Mr. Moore excuses himself once in a while, because his wife is presenting a case here. ! don't think that it has anything to do with Mr. Moore being dishonest, the farthest thing from the truth, ! just think that if you are a little too involved in a situation and a little to close to it, ! think that somebody should just step back a second and say maybe everybody in the Town doesn't know me, maybe everybody in the Town has a question 'why don't ! do the same thing as the other Town Board members'. That was the only thing, ! never meant to say that Mr. Wickham was anything but honest. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Ms. Norden. MS. NORDEN: ! think that sometimes people misunderstand acrimony and don't understand that there are many people that are passionate about this issue. They are passionate about the environment and they are passionate about their future and if anything, this dialogue has been utterly disappointing in many ways. It has not been filled with thousands of people flocking into Town Hall that come to meetings. The public has always had access to a lot of information, the public is not here tonight. We have a handful of concerned citizens, period. These meetings have been going on for two years, the notion that we have not had some public that has not had information, that has not had access to information over the last 20 or 30 years is ludicrous. All they need to do is come to these meetings and they will find out a great deal of information and a very tiny percent of the public actually comes. ! think that there is no way that we can be more passionate about our future. And more passionate about the need to act now to preserve our future. ! don't know why people think that somehow a decision made right before the election is more political than any other decision that is going to be made right after the election. We have elected political animals and there are parts of the party that are running on a ticket they are going to run on the ticket and be part of a party whether it is before an election, after an election or during an election. So, in point of fact, it is not going to be any different before or after, the only thing that is going to be different is maybe we will have different players and unfortunately, that may bring us back to square one. But we are not going to have players that are somehow less political on December 1 than they were September 1. This is an elected Town Board of people that run in political parties, they may or may not have political agendas but one thing that is clear, they are probably going to have the same agenda now if not later. So let's not talk about the fact that we are really skewing the results or creating an extraordinary bias by saying that we need to postpone a vote. If there are reasons to postpone a vote, they are not based on the fact that we have political animals up here that somehow we won't have on December 1. Again, addressing the Tom Wickham case, ! said and ! made it very clear that ! am in no way was saying that Tom made any decision that was unethical or in any way biased. ! simply said that under law there are clear definitions of what conflict of interest constitutes. And when somebody could or could not benefit by a decision, that is the basis of why one would recuse themselves. It has nothing to do with the decision that they would make one way or the other. The point is, Tom owns land that will either increase in value, a great deal of land, or decrease in value and that land is not everybody's property because my property is not going to be upzoned. ! will own a little less an acre in Greenport, ! am not going to be affected by this dialogue. But Tom owns property that in fact, will. ! don't think that ! am standing to be upzoned. Let's not Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 30 quibble about people that live on single lots in developed communities. We are talking about somebody that owns property, a great deal of property, that might end up either increasing in value or decreasing in value. That is the reality. And this is a decision that addresses issues that have to do with whether you make a decision that will increase or decrease that property value. It is simply a given of the situation. I am not saying that Tom would vote one way or the other way but either way that he votes, it will have an impact on his property. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Dinizio. We are still addressing the resolutions on the printed agenda. MR. DINIZIO: I would just add my support to Tom and I would just ask anybody who thinks of asking Tom to recuse himself to realize that when the man ran for counsel, he said that he was a farmer and I believe that the people voted for him because he was a farmer. I believe that he brings an idea, certainly represents values of people in the Town and they should not be silenced and I would ask you this, I was going to save this for the end of the meeting but I am going to say it now, who would you rather vote for or how would you rather have someone campaign? Hi, I am Tom Wickham, farmer or Hi, I am Bill Moore and my wife's business is going to increase 50% over the next five years. Thank you very much. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Are there other comments from the floor on the printed agenda? Mr. Ross. DAN ROSS: Good afternoon, Dan Ross from Mattituck. And I want to comment on the resolutions. Basically you are at the tail end of a SEQRA process and that is going to be the basis, can be the basis of some rich legislation. It is a SEQRA process that should have been started six years ago, not two years ago and along those lines, I find it somewhat incredible that blame for the status of events is laid at the feet of the two members with the least seniority on this Board as opposed to the members with the most seniority. But that being said, nonetheless, the SEQRA work that has been done can be the basis of good legislation and I have been involved in drafting legislation. I have drafted simple legislation; I have drafted complex legislation. The legislation that comes out of this Environmental Impact Statement is going to be more complex than I have ever drafted and it can't be done in 45 days. What can be done in 45 days is a quick fix, simple paint over the rotten wood type of approach; that would cause more problems in the future than it will solve. So, I ask the Board to proceed deliberately and adopt a moratorium and spend as much time as needed on the legislation, which is going to affect the future. Two other issues, to suggest that land ownership should be the basis of recusal, I think is just absurd and on an issue that I have addressed the Board on before the burned out deli across from the Hess station on the Main Road in Mattituck is still giving me an ulcer on a daily basis and I wish someone from the Town would do something about it. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Ms. Wiessner. BECKY JANE: Actually, now I am Becky Jane. I work with Long Island Farm Bureau. I guess what I am up here to say this evening is it is just absurd and beyond my comprehension this evening that the people who are making the strongest case against the options to move forward and not just lambaste right on through a five acre upzone, are the people who don't know, have not walked in the footsteps and have not gotten up at 5:00 in the morning after going to bed at 1:00 in the morning to do their farm labors. It is just incomprehensible to me that those are the people who are telling us how to move ahead. I for one was not a farmer, I have never been a farmer and the first thing I learned when I Southold Town Board 31 September 23, 2003 started working with farmers is if I don't know what I am talking about, keep my mouth shut. And listen to the people who know what they are talking about and listen and learn before I make a comment or before I make a judgment. And the very fact that Tom Wickham is being asked to recuse himself when his family is one of the longest generations of families on the Island who have preserved their land, who have worked this land; is beyond me. I congratulate him, I congratulate the other men and women who are the farmers of this Town and I will stand behind them to the very end. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, Ms. Jane. Are there other comments from the floor on the printed agenda? Yes, ma'am. MARION SALERNO: My name is Marion Salerno. I am from Southold. I read about three weeks ago in the Suffolk Times that 1.9% of the East End population are employed in farming, forestry, fishing and I believe mining. That is a very startling figure to me. That we are talking about 1.9% of the population, granted they own a great portion of the land but there are 98% of the other people who also have to deal with the situation and understand where this is going for them. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. Other comments from the floor on the resolutions? MATT GILLIES: Matt Gillies, Peconic Bay Winery. I have listened to everything that I could without saying a word for the past year or so, there are arguments that are terrific on both sides and if I could skip ahead of anything else that I might think of to say, I would probably just say there is no better argument based on what you heard tonight, than waiting. Than really digging deeper into this thing, I feel like the people who are absolutely out to push this thing through right now have very vested interests, I feel like to suggest that Tom recuse himself is a little laughable, there are many people in this room with interests. As for the woman who mentioned that it doesn't affect her, it does affect, this issue does affect people whether you are on a grandfathered half acre or an acre or 200 acres. As a steward of 250 acres right now and a company that spends millions in this Town, employs 19 people as of today or maybe 20 as of today, provides countless other jobs, indirectly. From cork suppliers, bottle suppliers, waitresses, waiters, any number of people; the single best thing that happened to Southold Town directly related to farming of late and with all due respect to the demise of many potato farms, probably is the vineyard. It has put dollars in everybody's pockets but I am really not here as a pro vineyard person. I am trying to be as neutral as possible, which is why I haven't spoken yet but many of the arguments for five acre zoning are just laughable. There is no reason to rush into it. I probably brokered five or six wineries because in struggling to make a living 10 years ago, it was necessary to get a real estate license. Instead of giving away that part of the work that was necessary for me to procure more vineyards, to install vineyards for customers. That became for short flurry, very lucrative for me. It pulled me out of a lot of holes that a lot of farmers are in. No sooner would I get engaged with a vineyard owner, typically an investor type that many people have somewhat ignorantly referred to here, especially Darline, I don't mind saying. These are not mystery investors, these are people who have set roots in this community, raised their children and even a second batch of kids in some cases. The point is, these people have set stakes in the ground, made a huge investment in the community and many of those people that got into the vineyard business, I ushered them right into development program because as a not extremely well-educated young farmer, I thought it was the greatest thing since toast. I couldn't believe it. I would tell owners that just dropped half a million dollars on vineyard property, that they could go ahead and get half of that Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 32 money back within six months. They nearly fell off their chairs because none of them was out to develop any property and ! don't see any condominiums on top of former vineyard properties yet. ! don't know why there is this fear of mystery investors, ! work for a man that doesn't even ask me on a weekly or monthly basis about the value of our property or its development value or and ! never, ever have gotten a call from anyone on the Town Board to ask me if ! wanted to sell my development rights. And if that is not a good argument to stop this thing right now, ! don't know what else is. We are there, ! would probably sell my rights tomorrow if the offer was decent. To just categorically just chop the value of a farmers land in half is laughable. And you know, ! don't want to get personal about this, but there are people on the Town Board that will benefit very well from five acre zoning, larger houses, more economical jobs on larger houses. And what is going to become of these, ! don't hear anything on the size of the house, restrictions on the size of the house. Is someone going to be able to buy 20 acres, the Town is arbitrarily going to force them to cluster it anyway, so you are going to have clustered McMansions on large pieces of property and now the land is unfarmed. So is the idea just to save space and reduce density? Or is the idea to encourage farming? The RID is way too gray right now, to make a vote on this issue. It is just that simple and a lot of arguments were made for five acre zoning and ! think that the best thing about this meeting is that there is there has been a fairly respectful tone going both ways and there are arguments for both sides. Nothing illustrates more greatly my opinion is the fact that there are good arguments on both sides. So, ! don't see what the rush is. Good and bad came out of two acre zoning when it happened, it took a while to do that. The fact that this is tied to an election is just dirty and ugly and frankly everyone is thinking very local right now. WE are a community that should set an example, from the deli on the corner that John refers to; to allowing another drug store to come up across the street from an existing one. ! wish that people would just step forward, speak out, even in an election year, make some sense out of the issues before us, before they rush to make a final decision. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you, sir. Are there other comments from the floor on the printed resolutions? MR. COOPER: Doug Cooper, Mattituck again. ! would like to clarify a comment, a quote that ! had made at a previous meeting. ! believe the lady misheard or misunderstood what ! was trying to say as far as selling development rights. ! fully expect someday to sell development rights. But ! would not do it today or tomorrow. At some point, yes. It is just like many of you people, probably the vast majority of the people in this room own their house. How many of you are selling your house today? The market is at the top today. Houses are worth a lot of money? How many people in this room would sell a house today at appraised value? No one. Virtually no one. However, almost everyone in this building is going to sell their house or dispose of their house at some point. It has value while you own it and it has value and someday you will attack that. You will assess that equity. The same with the development rights that land owners have. Just as Alex Wipf said, he said it very well. Thank you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank you. On the resolutions, are there any other questions? (No response) We will move ahead with the resolutions, unless the Town Board would like a brief break. #595 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby provisionall~ appoints Lauren Standish to the full-time position of Secretarial Assistant to the Trustee's Office at a yearly salary Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 33 of $41,896.52, effective September 11, 2003, in accordance with the rules and regulations set forth by the Suffolk County Department of Civil Service. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #596 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes Sgt. James Ginas~ PSD Bryan Weingart and Chief Carlisle Cochran to attend the Northeast H.T.E. User's Group 2004 Annual Conference commencing Wednesday, November 12 through Friday, November 14, 2003, at the Hyatt Regency Newport, Newport, Rhode Island. Registration fee for this conference is $150.00 ($50 per person). Travel to be by Town vehicle. Hotel accommodations are $99 per night/per person for approximately $891.00. Additional costs will be for meals, gas, tolls and miscellaneous out of pocket expenses. All expenses to be a legal charge to the Police Department Training Budget line - A.3120.4.600.200 Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #597 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Councilman Richter, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes Detective Sergeant John Sinning[ and Detective Edward Grathwohl to attend the Mid-Atlantic Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement (MAGLOCLEN) East Coat Gan~ Investigators Association Training Conference, commencing on Monday, October 13 through Thursday, October 16, 2003, in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. Registration fee for this conference is $250.00 ($125 per person). Travel to be by Town vehicle. Hotel accommodations are $68 per night for approximately $204.00. Additional costs will be for meals, gas, tolls and miscellaneous out of pocket expenses. All expenses to be a legal charge to the Police Department Training Budget line - A.3120.4.600.200 Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #598 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs the Town Clerk to advertise for the position of Matron/Detention Attendant {on-call basis) for the Southold Town Police Department, at the current salary rate of $11.97 per hour. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #599 Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 34 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Supervisor Joshua Y. Horton to execute a contract with Phone-Review~ Inc., to report discrepancies to the telephone company and obtain credit for the town. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #6OO Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Moore, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes Change Order #3 for the Brushes Creek Bridge Construction Proiect - to allow for the installation of backer rod and sealant in the opening between the four wing walls and the pre-cast fascia beams. This change will constitute an increase to the Town in the amount of eight hundred dollars ($800.00) and has been approved by the office of H2M, the Town's Consulting Engineer for this project. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #601 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Richter, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby grants permission to the Mattituck High School Student Council to use the following town roads for their l0th annual Homecoming Parade on Saturday~ October 4~ 2003 at 9:00 a.m, providing they file with the Town Clerk a One Million Dollar Certificate of Liability naming the Town of Southold as additional insured and contact Lt. Flatley at least ten (10) days prior to the event to coordinate traffic control: Pike Street Love Lane Sound Avenue Westphalia Road Mary' s Road Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #6O2 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby sets 5:00 P.M. Tuesday~ October 21~ 2003~ Southold Town Hall~ 53095 Main Road~ Southold~ New York 11971~ as the time and place for a Public Hearing to hear citizen views on local housing and community development needs to be met with approximately $164,300 in Community Development Block Grant funds the Town of Southold expects to receive in April 2004 and authorizes Town Clerk Elizabeth Neville to publish an "Announcement of Public Hearing". Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 35 #6O3 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby modifies the Solid Waste Management District 2003 budget as follows: To: B.A.N. Principal $310,000.00 B.A.N. Interest 78,000.00 SR.9730.6.000.00 SR.9730.7.000.00 From: SR.9710.6.100.100 SR.9710.7.100.100 Serial Bond Principal $310,000.00 Serial Bond Interest 78,000.00 Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: The next several resolutions have to do with proposed zone changes that the Town proposes to put into a new format. It actually is not a zone change, it is one that was made some time ago but to rectify the way that we did it first time. #6O4 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, WHEREAS the Southold Town Board intends to ratify a previous zone change to conform to the Town Code and other legal requirements, and WHEREAS, the petitioner has requested to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning District designation of SCTM# 1000-122-4- 44.2 from Low Density Residential (R-80) District to Marine (M-l); and WHEREAS, the Local Law is entitled, "A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM # 1000-122-4- 44.2 from LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL (R-80) DISTRICT TO MARINE (M-l)"; now therefore be it RESOLVED 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 hearin~ on the aforesaid local law at the Southold Town Hall~ 53095 Main Road~ Southold~ New York at 5:05 p.m. Tuesda¥~ October 21~ 2003. The purpose of this Local Law is to ratify the change of Zoning District Designation of SCTM# 1000-122-4- 44.2 from Low Density Residential (R-80) District to Marine (M-l). The petitioner for this request is the Town Board of the Town of Southold. The petitioner for the original zone change was Strong's Marine. The property is approximately 8.46 acres and is located at the end of a right-of-way off Camp Mineola Road, adjacent to James Creek, Mattituck, New York. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #6O5 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Justice Evans, Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 36 WHEREAS the Southold Town Board intends to ratify a previous zone change to conform to the Town Code and other legal requirements, and WHEREAS, the petitioner has requested to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning District designation of SCTM# 1000-46-1-2.1 from Hamlet Density(HD) to Light Industrial Park/Planned Office Park (LIO); and WHEREAS, the Local Law is entitled, "A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM # 1000-46-1-2.1 FROM HAMLET DENSITY(HD) TO LIGHT iNDUSTRIAL PARK/PLANNED OFFICE PARK (LIO)"; now therefore be it RESOLVED 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 5:10 p.m, Tuesda¥~ October 21~ 2003. The purpose of this Local Law is to ratify the change of Zoning District Designation of SCTM# 1000-46-1-2. l from Hamlet Density(HD) to Light Industrial Park/Planned Office Park (LIO). The petitioner for this request is the Town Board of the Town of Southold. The petitioner for the original zone change was Riverhead Building Supply Corp. The property is approximately 3.5 acres and is located on the south side of NYS Route 25 (Main Road) approximately 170 feet west of Moore's Lane, Greenport, New York. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #6O6 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Richter, WHEREAS the Southold Town Board intends to ratify a previous zone change to conform to the Town Code and other legal requirements, and WHEREAS, the petitioner has requested to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning District designation of SCTM# 1000-115-9-5.1 from Light Industrial (LI) to Low Density Residential (R-40); and WHEREAS, the Local Law is entitled, "A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM # 1000-115-9-5.1 FROM LIGHT iNDUSTRIAL (LI) TO LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL (R- 40)"; now therefore be it RESOLVED 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 5:15 p.m, Tuesda¥~ October 21~ 2003. The purpose of this Local Law is to ratify the change of Zoning District Designation of SCTM# 1000-115-9-5.1 from Light Industrial(LI) to Low Density Residential (R-40). The petitioner for this request is the Town Board of the Town of Southold. The petitioners for the original zone change were Stacy A. and Michael J. Sheppard. The property is approximately 1.20 acres and is located on the south side of New Suffolk Avenue and west side of Airway Drive, Mattituck, New York. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 37 #6O7 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Justice Evans, WHEREAS the Southold Town Board intends to ratify a previous zone change to conform to the Town Code and other legal requirements, and WHEREAS, the petitioner has requested to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning District designation of SCTM# 1000-103-1- p/o 19.3 from Residential Office (RO) to Business (B); and WHEREAS, the Local Law is entitled, "A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM # 1000-103-1- p/o 19.3 FROM RESIDENTIAL OFFICE (RO) TO BUSINESS (B)"; now therefore be it RESOLVED 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 5:20 p.m, Tuesda¥~ October 21~ 2003. The purpose of this Local Law is to ratify the change of Zoning District Designation of SCTM# 1000-103-1- p/o 19.3 from Residential Office (RO) to Business (B). The petitioner for this request is the Town Board of the Town of Southold. The petitioner for the original zone change was Frank Cichanowicz. The property is approximately 3.3 acres and is located at the south side of Main Road, Cutchogue, New York. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #6O8 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Wickham, WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Southold wishes to accept the offer of the gift of a conservation easement on approximately 0.9 acres of property from John M. May and Others, located on the north side of North Sea Drive, identified as SCTM#1000-54-4-20, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 59 of the Code of the Town of Southold. The exact area of the development rights easement is subject to a survey. The total price will be costs associated with transfer of title of land to be gifted; now therefore be it RESOLVED by the Town Board of the Town of Southold that this action be classified as an Unlisted Action pursuant to the SEQRA Rules and Regulations, 6NYCRR 617.1 et. Seq.; be it further RESOLVED by the Town Board of the Town of Southold that the Town of Southold is the only involved agency pursuant to SEQRA Rules and Regulations; be it further RESOLVED by the Town Board of the Town of Southold that the Short Environmental Form prepared for this project is accepted and attached hereto; be it further RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby finds no significant impact on the environment and declares a negative declaration pursuant to SEQRA Rules and Regulations for this action. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #6O9 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 38 RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Supervisor Joshua Y. Hortou to hire the firm of Nelsom Pope & Voorhis to conduct an evaluation pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to address the environmental issues pertinent to the Change of Zone application of the Town Board on behalf of Frank Cichanowicz at a cost of Seven hundred ($700.00) dollars as per their proposal dated September 17, 2003. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: This is another one of those rectified zone changes that were done some time ago. SUPERVISOR HORTON: This is a SEQRA review, this isn't in... COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: Sorry, a SEQRA review for that. JUSTICE EVANS: This is different, it is for a change of zone. SUPERVISOR HORTON: This is for a current application, ! believe. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: Oh, for a current application. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #610 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Supervisor Joshua Y. Hortou to hire the firm of Nelsom Pope & Voorhis to conduct an evaluation pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to address the environmental issues pertinent to the Change of Zone application of the Town Board on behalf of Riverhead Building Supply at a cost of Seven hundred ($700.00) dollars as per their proposal dated September 17, 2003. COUNCILMAN MOORE: ! will recuse myself on this, ! am not sure if Pat is involved in this or not. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. Abstain: Councilman Moore. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. SUPERVISOR HORTON: These are, as ! was just notified, these SEQRA applications aren't actually for current applications, they are pertaining to the resolutions setting public hearings; resolutions 604- 607. #611 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Richter, it was RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Supervisor Joshua Y. Horton to hire the firm of Nelsom Pope & Voorhis to conduct an evaluation pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to address the environmental issues pertinent to the Change of Zone application of the Town Board on behalf of Stacy and Michael Sheppard at a cost of Seven hundred ($700.00) dollars as per their proposal dated September 17, 2003. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #612 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Justice Evans, it was Southold Town Board 39 September 23, 2003 RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Supervisor Joshua Y. Horton to hire the firm of Nelsom Pope & Voorhis to conduct an evaluation pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to address the environmental issues pertinent to the Change of Zone application of the Town Board on behalf of Strong's Marine at a cost of Seven hundred ($700.00) dollars as per their proposal dated September 17, 2003. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #613 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Supervisor Joshua Y. Horton to execute an agreement with the Suffolk County Office of the Aging for the Community Services for the Elderly-Residential Repair Program, IFMS. No. SCS. EXE 0000000.No.001-6777-4980-95285 from April 2003 through March 2004. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #614 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby rescinds Resolution 549 adopted at the August 26~ 2003 regular Town Board meeting: RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the resignation of Sabrina Crenshaw from her position as a part-time Mini Bus Driver with the Human Resource Center, effective October 4, 2003. SUPERVISOR HORTON: That second portion of what you read, Councilman Wickham, is what is being rescinded which is resolution 549. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #615 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Moore, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold, in accordance with Section 76-23 of Chapter 76 of the Code of the Town of Southold, hereby determines that the Fishers Island Sewer District rent owned by Thomas F. Doherty~ Jr. in the amount of $1614.38 for the year of 2003 which rent remains unpaid~ shall be levied against the real property of Thomas F. Doherty~ Jr, and shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as Town taxes. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #616 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 40 RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold, in accordance with Section 76-23 of Chapter 76 of the Code of the Town of Southold, hereby determines that the Fishers Island Sewer District rent owned by Susan & Kevin Connell¥~ in the amount of $645.75 for the year of 2003 which rent remains unpaid~ shall be levied against the real property of Susan & Kevin Connell¥, and shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as Town taxes. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #617 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby appoints Joel Riley to the position of Deckhand for the Fishers Island Ferry District effective September 17, 2003, at a rate of $8.00 per hour. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #618 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby appoints Carol A. Hydell to the position of part-time Minibus Driver for the Human Resource Center, at the rate of $10.25 per hour, effective September 24, 2003. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #619 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the resignation of Patricia McCarth¥~ Minibus Driver with the Human Resource Center, effective September 16, 2003. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #62O Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby declares the following equipment at the Human Resource Center to be surplus: Metal/wood pedestal tables and vinyl chairs. Be it further RESOLVED that the above equipment be disposed of as it is in disrepair and has no residual value. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 This resolution was duly ADOPTED. 41 #621 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Richter, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes Land Preservation Coordinator Melissa Spiro to submit a proposal to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to solicit State assistance for Agricultural and Farmland Protection Proiects. The cost-share ratio of the program is 75 percent State and 25 percent Town. SUPERVISOR HORTON: The last time that we applied for this, we came in with St .35 million from New York State for farmland preservation. Which is also on the heels of $850,000 thus far from the Federal Government. So the Land Preservation Coordinator does a fantastic job putting these applications together. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #622 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Councilman Moore, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the bid of Collegiate Pacific, 13950 Senlac #tOO, Dallas, TX 75234, in the amount of $5,678, for the Strawberry Field Fairgrounds - Soccer/Lacrosse Fields Project. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #623 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Moore, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Supervisor Joshua Y. Horton to execute and sign an Agreement with Offshore & Coastal Technologies~ Incorporated to assess Hydrodynamic and Sedimentation Impacts for Goldsmith Inlet and adiacent shorelines as part of the Southold Town Erosion Mitigation Project at a cost not to exceed $ 90,000 and subject to the Approval of the Town Attorney. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #624 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the resignation of Robert Ghosio Jr. from his position as a member of the Southold Town Conservation Advisory Council effective immediately, be it further RESOLVED that the Town Clerk be authorized and directed to advertise for the vacant position. SUPERVISOR HORTON: We will miss Bob Ghosio, he did a fantastic job for the CAC. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 42 #625 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Moore, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the Findings Statement on FGEIS as set forth below: · An Environmental Assessment Form (EAF) Part I based upon the proposed action was prepared for the Town Board (by the Town Planner and Nelson, Pope 8: Voorhis, LLC, as consultant to the Town). · The Town Board reviewed the EAF and, in conjunction with the provisions of SEQRA, determined that the proposed action meets the criteria for a Type I action, and, as the Town Board proposed to undertake the action itself, assumed Lead Agency status. · Based upon this document, the Town Board, as Lead Agency under SEQRA, determined that the proposed action may have a significant impact on the environment, and issued a Positive Declaration, requiring that a Generic EIS be prepared (January 7, 2003), and scheduled a public scoping meeting for January 29, 2003. · The draft scope for the GEIS was prepared by the project sponsor and submitted on January 7, 2003 consistent with SEQRA procedures. Subsequently, a public scoping meeting was held on January 29, 2003, and written comments were accepted by the lead agency until February 10, 2003. A revised draft scope which addresses the valid comments and issues raised during the entire public comment period (as determined by the lead agency) was prepared, and the lead agency issued its Final Scope on April 8 (22), 2003. The Draft GEIS was prepared based upon this Final Scope. · On June 3, 2003, the Town Board accepted the Draft GEIS; as complete and adequate for public review and issued a Notice of Completion of the Draft GEIS. The DGEIS was filed in accordance with SEQRA procedures identified in 617.12, and was broadly disseminated and made available at multiple locations including libraries, Town Hall offices and the Town of Southold web site. · A public hearing on the Draft GEIS was held on June 19, 2003, and as continued to June 23, June 24, July 8 and July 15, 2003; the Lead Agency accepted written comments until July 28, 2003. · A draft Final GEIS was submitted to the Town on August 29, 2003. The Town Board met to discuss this draft on September 4 and September 9, 2003. · A Notice of Completion of the Final GEIS was issued by the Town Board on September 9, 2003. · The public review period on the FGEIS was expanded beyond the minimum 10 days required to the close of business on September 22, 2003. · Two comment letters were received by the lead agency from the public during the extended comment period on the FGEIS. One letter addressed the issue of Country Inns, requesting that the subject of Country Inns be removed from the document. The GEIS record is complete and comments from the public are noted with respect to Country Inns. Reference to County Inns cannot be removed from the document as it has been a consideration of past studies and may resent certain options that the Town Board may wish to consider in the future. Any proposed legislation would require review consistent with Part 617.10 (d) to determine if it was addressed adequately in the FGEIS. Further SEQRA consideration should be based on the specifics of proposed legislation. The second letter comments on the adequacy of responses in the FGEIS with regard to projecting a build out analysis based on a continuation of land preservation effort, providing several examples, and suggesting that the authors of the FGEIS were seeking to support particular planning tool. The FGEIS sought to disclose facts and make projections related to land reservation, recognizing that land preservation would continue, and establishing the relative success of such continued efforts toward meeting the stated goals of the Town for land preservation and density reduction. The analysis indicated that land and development rights acquisition alone would not allow the Town to meet it's stated goals. The FGEIS indicated that water restrictions may not always exist, particularly in view of the Suffolk County Water Southold Town Board 43 September 23, 2003 Authority findings that various water supply options would not have a significant adverse effect on the environment; this supports the concept that proper land use planning measures should be in place so that the water supply needs of the Town can be met for protection of the health and welfare of the community. The GEIS did not support a particular tool or series of tools, but ought to examine the potential adverse environmental impacts of possible planning initiatives assembled for the purpose of analysis. The Draft and Final GEIS are the documents of the Town Board. The Board designated a team of independent consultants and Town planning, legal and land reservation staff to prepare documentation for Town Board consideration. Two liaisons of the Board met with the team throughout the process, and report text was made available to the overall Town Board for review, comment and input prior to finalization. The Town Board is ultimately responsible for the content of the GEIS documents, regardless of who prepares them. Town Board input and review occurred throughout the preparation of SEQRA documents, and the Board adopted the Draft and Final GEIS reports by resolution. In review of letters received during the comment period on the FGEIS, no new substantive comments were received which would alter the basic findings of the GEIS record. These letters are on file in the office of the Town Clerk of the Town of Southold. In consideration of the foregoing, it is clear that the Southold Town Board, as lead agency, has fully and properly complied with the procedural requirement of SEQRA. COUNCILMAN MOORE: I would just like to make a comment to the Board as a whole, as we all know, this document looked at 43 land use tools, took public input over a series of public hearings, and the question that was to be considered in this document was whether any one of the 43, if chosen to be used, had a significant adverse impact on the environment. That is the question before the Board. That is the only question before the Board. The challenge is for the Board to step forward after this vote and get to work on looking at those 43 tools. I challenge the Board members-how you all vote on this resolution will be reflective of how I believe we actually intend to get to work and get going on things and whether or not we are serious about taking on land preservation issues and if we are so serious, then we can talk about a moratorium extension, if we are not serious about it, then we are just dragging our feet. I would not want this Town Board somehow get an award for becoming the master of doing nothing slowly. We have to move forward. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: I vote no and if this FGEIS findings statement were simply what Councilman Moore said it was, simply a statement of environmental impact, if that is all it was, I would be voting yes on this. There is a great deal of additional material in here, which I believe is not in the Town's interests, I don't think it is properly written. I only got a mangled copy of it in my fax machine late last night, I still haven't seen the final draft and I am expected to vote yes for it now? My vote is no. COUNCILMAN RICHTER: I vote yes and I ditto Councilman Moore. SUPERVISOR HORTON: The FGEIS followed with the finding statement, failed to address the socio-economic impacts of several of these tools, not just five acre zoning alone. I think that when we look at the socio-economic impact of our community, that is walking hand in hand with the environment, I think that the FGEIS and its final comments made glib remarks to some of the public comment, I am embarrassed by some of the response of some of the FGEIS, I am very proud that we moved forward with the document, I think that there is a lot of work to be done that we can draw from this document; however, I feel very strongly as I said in the past, the socio-economic impacts on our community specific to five acre zoning and the economic impact specific to the industry of agriculture, which is the mainstay of preservation in this community has been brushed by in this document. So my vote is no. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans. No: Councilman Wickham, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Southold Town Board 44 September 23, 2003 RESCINDED-September 24, 2003 by #646 #626 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Wickham, WHEREAS the Town Board wishes to appoint a hearing officer to consider disciplinary charges against an employee, now therefore be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby retains Mary C. Wilsom Esquire~ as hearing officer in the disciplinary charges brought against a town employee, and be it further RESOLVED that the Town Clerk be directed to forward a copy of this resolution to Richard K. Zuckerman, Esq. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #627 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Town Clerk Elizabeth Neville to advertise for the position of School Crossing Guard for traffic post at Our Lady of Merc¥~ Route 25~ Cutchogue at the rate of $27.98 per day. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #628 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was A regular meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Southold, in the County of Suffolk, New York, held at the Town Hall, 53095 Main Road, Southold, New York, on the 23rd day of September, 2003. PRESENT: Joshua Y. Horton, Supervisor Louisa P. Evans, Justice William D. Moore, Councilperson Thomas H. Wickham, Councilperson Craig A. Richter, Councilperson John M. Romanelli, Councilperson In the Matter of the The proposed increase in the estimated maximum cost of the construction of a new and expanded ferry terminal for the Fishers Island Ferry District ORDER CALLING PUBLIC HEAR1NG TO BE HELD ON OCTOBER 7, 2003 Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 45 WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of the Fishers Island Ferry District (the "Board" and the "District", respectively), in the Town of Southold (the "Town"), Suffolk County, New York, pursuant to the resolution adopted and subscribed by each of the members of the Board present at the meeting of the Board held on September 16, 2003, together with the petition in due form, duly submitted to the Town Board (the "Town Board") of the Town (certified copies of such resolution and petition being attached hereto and made a part hereof), has requested the Town Board to call a public hearing to hear all persons interested in the subject thereof, being the proposed increase in the estimated maximum cost of the construction of a new and expanded ferry terminal on the land heretofore acquired and now owned by the District, being the site of the existing ferry terminal in the City of New London, Connecticut, including bulkheading, placement of fill, construction of a new ticketing and administration building, installation of utilities, concrete vaults for two underground storage tanks for fuel and waste oil, a perimeter drainage system, parking areas for vehicles, a wider easement for ingress and egress and the necessary facilities and appurtenances thereto, the resulting terminal area, including said building to be approximately double the size of the existing terminal all as more fully described in the "Preliminary Engineering Report", dated May 31, 2001, prepared by Docko, Inc., licensed engineers, and the addendum thereto dated September 19, 2003 prepared by the District, showing the revised costs, on file in the office of the District and the office of the Town Clerk of the Town, as well as original furnishings, equipment, machinery and apparatus required for the purposes for which such building and terminal are to be used (herein called the "Project"); and WHEREAS, the estimated maximum cost of the Project was originally determined by the Board of Commissioners to be $8,000,000, including the amount of $1,250,000 from the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century of the United States of America (the "TEA-21 Program"), $3,000,000 expected to be received from the United States Department of Transportation, $3,000,000 expected to be received from the Federal Highway Administration (the "FHWA") and the aggregate amount of $2,000,000 expected to be received from the State of New York; and WHEREAS, as a result of increased costs of labor and materials and other related costs, the Board of Commissioners has determined that the estimated maximum cost of the Project is now $10,500,000, and it is in the best interests of the District to increase the total amount authorized to be expended for the Project by $2,500,000, from the original estimated maximum cost of $8,000,000 to the revised estimated maximum cost of $10,500,000; and WHEREAS, the proposed increase in the estimated maximum cost of the Project is to be funded from additional grant proceeds received or to be received from the FHWA and the United States Department of Homeland Security; and WHEREAS, the principal amount of Town obligations originally authorized to be issued to finance a part of the Project is limited to an amount not to exceed $4,800,000 at any one time, and such amount is not to be changed as a result of the proposed increase in the estimated maximum cost of the Project; and WHEREAS, the Town Board has proceeded with all procedures requisite to ensuring that the Project will have no significant adverse impact upon the environment and permits for construction of the Project have been applied for and obtained from all known necessary agencies, including the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers and said City of New London and copies of such permits are available for inspection in the Southold Town Board 46 September 23, 2003 office of the Secretary of said Board of Commissioners, and in the office of the Town Clerk of Southold; and WHEREAS, the Town Board in the role of Lead Agency, has undertaken the requisite proceedings pursuant to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act ("SEQRA") and has determined that the Project is an Unlisted Action thereunder having no significant adverse impact upon the environment and, further, has determined to issue a Negative Declaration and filed same with the Town Clerk; NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, that a public hearing be held by the Town Board on the 7th day of October, 2003, at 8:05 o'clock P.M. (Prevailing Time), at the Town Hall, 53095 Main Road, Southold, New York, to consider the proposed increase in the estimated maximum cost of the Project; and it is FURTHER ORDERED that all persons desiring to be heard concerning the subject matter of the above referenced public hearing will be given an opportunity to be heard at the time and place aforesaid; and it is FURTHER ORDERED that the Town Clerk shall cause a copy of the Notice of Public Hearing in substantially the form prescribed in Exhibit "A" attached hereto and made a part hereof, (i) to be published once in "THE TRAVELER WATCHMAN", a newspaper published in Southold, having a general circulation within the Town of Southold, (ii) to be posted on the sign board of the Town and in five conspicuous public places within the District, and, (iii) to be mailed by first class mail to each owner of real property in the District subject to the assessment, levy and collection of amounts equal to the principal of and interest on such obligations when due and payable, such publication, such posting and such mailing to occur not less than ten (10) nor more than twenty (20) days prior to such public hearing. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #629 Moved by Councilman Wickham, PRESENT: seconded by Councilman Moore, it was At a regular meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Southold, in the County of Suffolk, New York, at the Southold Town Hall, Main Road, Southold, in said Town, on the 23rd day of September, 2003. Joshua Y. Horton, Supervisor Louisa Evans, Justice William Moore, Councilperson Tom Wickham, Councilperson Craig Richter, Councilperson John Romanelli, Councilperson IN THE MATTER Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 47 of The repair and maintenance of existing bulkheads located within the Southold Park District ORDER CALLING PUBLIC HEARING AND ELECTION WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of the Southold Park District (the "Board" and the "Park District", respectively) of the Town of Southold (the "Town"), Suffolk County, New York, pursuant to the resolution adopted and subscribed by said Board of Park Commissioners on September 15, 2003 and together with the petition in due form, duly submitted, to the Town Board (the "Town Board") of the Town (certified copies of such resolution and petition are attached hereto and made a part hereof), has requested the Town Board to appropriate $45,000 to pay the cost of the maintenance and repair of existing bulkheads, within the Park District, the estimated maximum cost thereof being $45,000 and to finance such appropriation by the issuance of obligations of the Town in the principal amount of $45,000, pursuant to the Local Finance Law, and that to pay the principal of and interest on such obligations as the same shall become due and payable, a sum sufficient therefor shall be levied and collected from the several lots and parcels of land within the Park District, in the same manner and at the same time as other Town charges; and further, that the Town Board call a special meeting of the Park District for the purposes of (i) holding a public hearing to hear all persons interested in such reconstruction, appropriation and financing and (ii)voting upon a proposition therefor; and WHEREAS, the Town Board has proceeded with all procedures necessary to ensuring that the work specified herein will have no significant adverse impact upon the environment and the Town Board has adopted a negative declaration for the work specified herein, a copy of which is available for inspection in the office of the Town Clerk of the Town of Southold; NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, that a public hearing be held by the Town Board on the 7th day of October, 2003, at 8:10 o'clock P.M. (Prevailing Time), at the Southold Town Hall, Main Road, Southold, in the Town, to consider the maintenance and repair of the existing bulkheads, within the Park District, the appropriation of $45,000 to pay the cost thereof to be financed by the issuance of Town obligations pursuant to the Local Finance Law and the levy and collection upon the several lots and parcels of land within the Park District, of a sum sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on such obligations as the same shall become due and payable, in the same manner and at the same time as other Town charges and, ALL PERSONS desiring to be heard concerning the subject matter of the above referenced public hearing will be given an opportunity to be heard at the time and place aforesaid, and IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that on October 8th, 2003, following the public hearing held thereat, there shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the Park District for their approval or disapproval by majority vote, the following Proposition: PROPOSITION SHALL the Commissioners of the Southold Park District (the "District") be authorized to perform maintenance and repair upon the existing bulkheads, Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 48 within the District, at the estimated maximum cost of $45,000, and to expend for payment of such cost thereof not to exceed $45,000, an appropriation in said amount having been requested of the Town of Southold (the "Town"), to be financed by obligations of the Town pursuant to the Local Finance Law, and an amount sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on such obligations shall be levied and collected from the several lots and parcels of land within the District, in the same manner and at the same time as other Town charges? Polls will be open at the Founders Landing Wharf House, Terry Lane, Southold between the hours of 6:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M, on October 8th, 2003. AND, IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Town Clerk shall cause a copy of this Order to be published once a week in the two weeks preceding the meeting in the "THE TRAVELER WATCHMAN" a newspaper having a general circulation within the Town of Southold, and, further, to cause to be posted a copy of this order on the sign board of the Town and in five conspicuous public places within the Southold Park District, and, to be mailed by first class mail to each owner of real property in the Park District a copy of the Notice of Public Hearing and Election in substantially the form prescribed in "Exhibit A", such posting and mailing to occur not less than ten (10) nor more than twenty (20) days prior to such meeting, public hearing and voting. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #630 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the report of Nelsom Pope & Voorhis dated September 18~ 2003 regarding the zone change on the property 1000-55-2- 24.4 (original petitioner Van Duzer Appliance Co.) and reaffirms the Negative Declaration adopted by the Town Board on November 20, 1989. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #631 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the report of Nelsom Pope & Voorhis dated September 22~ 2003 regarding the zone change on the property 1000-70-1- 6 (original petitioner Southold Villas) and reaffirms the Negative Declarations adopted by the Town Board on February 27, 1990 and the Planning Board on September 23, 1992. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #632 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 49 RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the report of Nelsom Pope & Voorhis dated September 22~ 2003 regarding the zone change on the property 1000-140- 2-16 {original petitioner Gasser and the American Armoured Foundatiom Inc.} and reaffirms the Negative Declaration adopted by the Town Board on October 6, 1992. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #633 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby accepts the report of Nelsom Pope & Voorhis dated September 22~ 2003 regarding the zone change on the property 1000-103- 2-19.2 and p/o 19.11 {original petitioner Blum} and reaffirms the Negative Declaration adopted by the Town Board on April 6, 1993. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #634 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold appoints Jan L. {Larry} Jungblut as a Member of the Landmark Preservation Commission through December 31, 2004, filling the unexpired term of Harry Haralambou. SUPERVISOR HORTON: ! have known Mr. Jungblut for some time, he is a resident of Southold proper and he is very involved with the SPAT program and very involved with Cornell and he has got a real reverence for the historic buildings in our community and ! think that he will be a real addition to this committee. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #635 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Wickham, WHEREAS it is not anticipated that the Town will draft legislation, hold public information meetings and hearings on it, and enact it by the time the current moratorium ends on November 15, 2003, and WHEREAS permitting the current moratorium to lapse in the absence of that legislation leaves the Town open to rapid developments of a permanent nature that are likely to be inconsistent with achieving the Town's goals, now therefore be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby sets 5:25 pm on October 21~ 2003~ at the Southold Town Hall~ as the time and place for a public hearing on a local law to extend the current moratorium for a six month period commencing with November 15, 2003 and ending May 15, 2004. COUNCILMAN RICHTER: ! would like to make a comment on that. This evening we heard a number of people talk both pro and con on the moratorium, the extension of the moratorium. ! take moratoria to be a very serious move on the part of the Town Board. ! think that my decision is going to be made that you are handcuffing people further on for not being able to make decisions that we Southold Town Board 50 September 23, 2003 should be making up here as a Board. When you have moratoria, you tell people you cannot touch your land, you cannot do anything without special exception and ! quite frankly think that is wrong. ! think that we are elected by the people to make decisions, to hear all the input that we need to hear and then make decisions. So, in that case, ! will vote no when this comes by. JUSTICE EVANS: ! would like to say something. Today in work session, ! asked if we could make it a three month period because ! felt we probably would need more time but ! still wanted to have the pressure over our heads to really work on things and that was rejected. ! am not even sure yet how ! am voting on this, but ! would have preferred it was a three month extension, not a six. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: ! support this resolution. COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: No. ! want to give some comment though. ! have spent the time over the last year, working and taking a lot of effort and meeting with the moratorium team. ! have engaged our principal planner many times, our Town Attorney many times. ! learned the data that was presented in the DGEIS from front to back, ! digested it. And ! don't know what other Board member has taken that time to digest it and learn it as deep as ! have. ! am afraid that the extension of the moratorium will just give a longer excuse to not take the effort and the time and the energy needed to take that document that was put together by a group of professionals and learn it and understand it and absorb the acreage that we are talking about. Understand what the 80% number really is and how we are going to get to the preservation goals, so ! think that it is just an excuse not to take the time and really make the hard decisions that need to be made. ! vote no on a six month moratorium. ! will second what Louisa said, that if three months is needed to take the time to and the Board shows me that there is a commitment to go into that room and meet with our Planners and understand that document and digest those numbers, well, ! will go that far. But six months, if you haven't taken the time to figure out what needs to be done by now, six months isn't going to do it. So no on six months. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Before the roll gets called any further, so Board members are aware that this is not a vote on whether the moratorium would be extended, this is a vote to set a public hearing. To give the public opportunity to have input on this issue. Just so we are all moving ahead on the same page. COUNCILMAN MOORE: ! will join my colleagues in that regard. Six months is too long. ! would be happy to consider three. No. JUSTICE EVANS: If people would agree to put on a new resolution for three months, do we have agreement on this Board to do that? SUPERVISOR HORTON: We have to finish this roll first. JUSTICE EVANS: ! am going to vote no on this. SUPERVISOR HORTON: ! would support this because ! believe that the amount of legislative work, policy work and inter-departmental coordination that is going to be necessitated as a result of any of our decisions, is going to take a substantial amount of time. Regardless of ones views on various legislative and policy issues. ! have seen how bureaucracy works in Town Hall, oftentimes much to my dismay. ! do know that the reality is, it is going to take time. With and without debate and ! think six months is an appropriate time frame to set to actually get our hands into this and move ahead with proper planning for preservation, affordable housing and maintaining the diversity of our community. So my vote for the six month moratorium is yes. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Supervisor Horton. No: Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans. This resolution was LOST. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: I would resolution for a three month period. 51 like to introduce a resolution, for a hearing, the same #635A Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, WHEREAS it is not anticipated that the Town will draft legislation, hold public information meetings and hearings on it, and enact it by the time the current moratorium ends on November 15, 2003, and WHEREAS permitting the current moratorium to lapse in the absence of that legislation leaves the Town open to rapid developments of a permanent nature that are likely to be inconsistent with achieving the Town's goals, now therefore be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby sets 5:25 pm on October 21~ 2003~ at the Southold Town Hall~ as the time and place for a public hearin~ on a local law to extend the current moratorium for a three month period commencing with November 15, 2003 and ending February 15, 2004. COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: Comments were just made that it is going to take time to understand and debate the legislation. There was no reason why over the last year, while we were in the moratorium and while the data was being presented, that no one, that the law did not say that we could stop thinking for that year. The law said that we could continue thinking, that we could absorb the data, come up with a plan. We knew why we entered a moratorium and there was an outcome to the moratorium, so that year was supposed to be spent not to wait for the result but to study, to read, to understand the data so when the moratorium did come to an end and we all do assume a moratorium is going to come to an end. I know I went into the moratorium knowing there would be an end to it and throughout that time period, I took the time, so when the moratorium ended, I didn't have to extend it longer to make legislation. I stayed in the moratorium so I was able to come up with legislation at the end. So for the sake of keeping this Board together and going forward for the benefit of the Town, I will vote yes on the three month moratorium, public hearing for the three month extension. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: Yes, I would like to put a different picture from the one that John Romanelli just presented. I am not going to contradict him, I would like to reflect to the public. I and others on the Board were stayed from working on legislation while this whole SEQRA, DGEIS process was underway, we were told explicitly not to develop particular legislation because it would bias the results of that GELS, which was supposed to take each state and each one of those 43 tools separately and individually. I was very anxious to start work on some of it and was told not to. And I think what I was told was correct legal procedure. So we do have a great deal of work to do right now. Work that we really have not been able to do up until this time. COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: One more comment. We were told not to publicly come out with legislation and discuss as a Board in public meetings about what the legislation would be. We were not told that when we went home at nighttime, not to think and not to read and not to study and not to research and not to plan. And that is what we should have been doing. COUNCILMAN MOORE: I am voting yes on the question of setting a public hearing that would be three months duration, if we were to pass it then, it would extend beyond the middle of November for a period of three months. Whether I support that, would be a question on the night of October 21, which is the hearing date; will depend a large measure on how hard our Board has worked between now and then. We owe it to all property owners who have been stayed for over a year to show that we are working diligently and if we jerk this around and don't have meetings and don't sit down and roll up our sleeves, we have no excuse and we have no reason on October 21 to extend the moratorium. So, I will say yes on the public hearing but we will be watching to see how this Board does. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 52 Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. No: Councilman Richter. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #636 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby sets 8:15 p.m, October 7~ 2003 at Southold Town Hall~ 53095 Main Road~ Southold~ New York~ for a public hearin;~ on the application requestin;~ a waiver from the provisions of the Local Law entitled "Temporary Moratorium on the Processin;~ Review of~ and makin;~ Decisions on the applications for Maior and Minor Subdivisions~ and Special Use Permits and Site Plans containin;~ dwellin;~ unit(s) in the Town of Southold" for the subdivision of John Hurtado and John Hurtado~ Jr. for the parcels identified as SCTM# 1000-79-2-7 and 1000-79-5-20.13 located at Bayview, Southold, New York.. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. SUPERVISOR HORTON: We will move forward with a number of public hearings that we have set for this evening. My apologies to those who are here for the public hearings, I know that we did end up running quite a bit past our anticipated schedule but we will proceed forward. We do have #643 and #644 before we adjourn to public hearings, recess into public hearings. #643 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby sets Wednesda¥~ September 24~ 2003 at 9:00 a.m. in the Meetin;~ Hall at the Southold Town Hall~ 53095 Main Road~ Southold~ N.Y. as the time and place for a special Town Board meetin;~ for the purposes of discussing the Comprehensive Implementation Strategy and ideas and planning tools aimed at achieving the Comprehensive Planning Goals of the Town and for any other Town business. COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: I asked to put this resolution on for the sole fact that I was assuming that we were going to pass the final finding statement today and again, I have been thinking and reading and researching over the last year and I am ready to get going into the work of using some tools. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: I oppose this special meeting. It is clear to me that the ruling majority of the Board is determined to pass five acre zoning before the elections and they need this compressed timetable to do so. COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: Unfortunately, Tom, you make that statement without seeing any proposed plans. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: You can expect a headlong rush over the next 42 days to comply with the minimum time periods for noticing hearings and voting in five acre zoning. Those Board members have suggested that it is not only about five acre zoning, they are also willing to take up other measures which could attract bipartisan support on the Board. But those other members cannot be crafted responsibly and receive stakeholder input and be enacted in the coming 42 days. Five acre zoning can be. You just change the number in the Town Code. You may wonder why I oppose five acre zoning in the first place, there are a number of reasons. One of them is, it will surely exacerbate the problem of affordable housing in this Town. It is also because in and of itself, it will sharply reduce participation Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 53 in the Town's Land Preservation program by which we are currently preserving 18 acres of land for every new house lot created by subdivision. 18 acres. Not five. If the five acre zoning proponents were serious about preserving farmland and open space and reducing potential density, they would be looking to strengthen the program, not weakening. Rushing to enact a major divisive and partisan planning change with long term impact in the run up to the election may help election prospects. It is not the right way to go about serious planning. COUNCILMAN RICHTER: ! think that the timing is correct, ! think that the timing is long enough. We have researched, read, discussed, argued and kept an open mind over this period of time for the last two years in particular, four years in general just about for me. ! have not heard one idea that will work other than what we have been discussing. ! have heard the same rhetoric coming out meeting after meeting. Unless someone can show me a better way, we need to move forward, the time is now. We were elected to make decisions, you can make this as political as you want but ! don't believe that it is. It is an issue that is before Southold Town, its residents, the way we live, our quality of life, and it is something that we need to address. It addresses the goals of our Town and we need to do that. ! vote yes. COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: ! vote yes and ! would just like to make the comment, ! find it unfortunate that Mr. Wickham makes the comments that he made without knowing what plan or what ideas ! would like to bring forward tomorrow, he makes a large assumption which is not 100% right. ! also would like to comment on his comments that we are doing 18 acres to one. With that kind of comment, you would think that we wouldn't need a moratorium and that development was okay and that we had no pressures if we were doing 18 to one. So ! am surprised to hear that comment and yet ! am surprised to hear that we need a moratorium. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: Do you deny that we are doing 187 COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: What ! would also like to say is, yes, our Land Preservation has been going well, the purchase of development rights has been the sole and only tool that the Town has used which is a great tool, ! don't mean that in a negative manner, it has been one of the best things that has happened to the Town but also in the DGEIS plan that ! know Mr. Wickham is against these numbers but numbers were put in that plan that say if we were to meet the goals of our community of 8,800 acres that we all set to accomplish and preserve and ! know that Mr. Wickham is going to say that we are not going to buy it all but yet he hasn't told me what else we are going to do but if we are going to buy it all, those numbers equate to at $25,000 an acre for development rights, equate to over $225 million of taxpayers money which equates to an 80% tax increase across the board above any other Town expenses. So, until ! hear from Mr. Wickham that there is another way that we are not going to buy it all and ! am not opposed to buying some, but if we are not going to buy it all, please tell me the other way, except saying no to everything else and yes to that. Tell me how we are going to keep an 80% tax increase off this community if we are not going to buy it all. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: ! would be happy to tell you... COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: Then come to the meeting. COUNCILMAN WICKHAM: ... and work with you on other ways provided we don't have five acre zoning rammed down our throats before the election. COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: Come to the meeting and maybe you will find out. COUNCILMAN MOORE: Just a comment, and John hit upon it. If we are doing 18 to one, that is great and we don't need a moratorium and if you think that we have all kinds of time here, one of the numbers that popped out in the impact statement was we are doing 250 acres a year and that is great and if you wanted to save 6,000 acres, you do the math. How many years is that going to take you to do that? That is 24 years in my book. Do you think that you have 24 years to go on a voluntary Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 54 measure alone and people sit here and think that it is all or nothing. That somehow if you want to use zoning as a tool, you are turning your back on the other programs, that is not the case at all and it is too bad that it has been characterized that way. But ! challenged the Board before to work together and to roll up their sleeves and it is too bad that one of the members doesn't want to have a special meeting to get up and get going. We owe it to all property owners who are in limbo and if we are in fact having the developers at the gate to fill in their applications, we have got to keep moving here. So ! say yes to a special Town Board meeting. SUPERVISOR HORTON: My comments as you may have expected that ! would make, are not quite of the same nature that you have heard thus far on this vote. The date is September 23 and among my responsibilities, aside from just holding one vote on this Town Board, and the other administrative personnel responsibilities that ! undertake on a daily basis, which ! mind you, ! employ myself to this job seven days a week. ! am required by law, New York State law, to deliver a budget to the Town Clerk's Office September 30 and ! will do that, and ! am working very hard right now, extremely hard in the face of a tanked equities market that has the New York State pension fund at an all time low, which means that it is an all time high for the contribution of municipalities, ! am working night and day, ! am putting together a balanced budget for this entire Town Board to move ahead with post September 30. My schedule between tomorrow and September 30 will be dedicated full-time to the completion of the budget process. ! have an obligation as Chief Fiscal Officer of this Town to fulfill that role. ! take it very seriously as ! take everything else very seriously and ! am very happy to attend a special meeting and to start discussing these issues and making these decisions that we need to make. ! am going to do my best to attend this meeting tomorrow. ! am going to do my best to carve out valuable time that ! need to put forth in preparing the initial budget, the tentative budget to place before the Town Board, of which mind you, will place an increased emphasis on environmental protection and will place an increased emphasis on the affordable housing crisis that we face. ! am trying to fit these needs in to a balanced budget that is going to have a minimal burden on the taxpayers of Southold Town. So as ! mentioned probably twice now, ! bear this burden very seriously and again, as Chief Fiscal Officer of Southold Town, ! have a responsibility to deliver the budget September 30. ! will devote my full-time to it, ! will devote much of my weekend to it and my nights, ! am not sleeping well with the increases that are placed on us right now. ! will say that ! am going to vote yes to allow this meeting to proceed and ! am going to do my best to attend but what ! did request of the Board was just to give me a bit of time, which is September 30 next Tuesday. Just give me that time to complete the budget and then we can start having our meetings, that is all ! asked. And the response to me was, rearrange your schedule. ! don't know anybody who would tell the CFO of a corporation, rearrange your schedule to deliver a mandated budget. ! think that response was the height of arrogance and ! was disappointed. ! am going to vote yes on this. ! am going to do my best to attend, if not all, at least a portion of it and deliver the budget, a balanced budget, September 30 to the Town Clerk's Office. So my vote is yes. COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: Let's all remember though, once we receive the budget from the Supervisor, once he does what he is fiscally responsible to do, that budget then has to be adopted by this Board and this Town Board then has to take that budget home and go through it, page by page and spend our time and ! will spend my nights too, going through the budget and we have to adopt it by a certain date also, so after September 30, the rest of the Board becomes busy because we need to do the same thing that the Supervisor is doing. So, ! will dedicate my nights and weekends to making sure that it is done on time also. SUPERVISOR HORTON: However, ! only have seven left and ! believe the Board doesn't have to adopt it to mid-November. Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 55 Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. No: Councilman Wickham. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #644 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, WHEREAS, Posillico Construction Inc. has made application to the Town Board of the Town of Southold to dedicate certain roads situated at Greenport, in the Town of Southold, County of Suffolk, New York, known as Kerwin Boulevard, August Lane, Pheasant Place, Wells Lane, Sage Spur, and "Drainage Areas", as shown and designated on a certain map entitled "Map of August Acres, Section One", situated at Arshamomaque/Greenport, in the Town of Southold, County of Suffolk, New York, subject to receipt of updated paperwork from applicant. WHEREAS, the Southold Town Superintendent of Highways Peter W. Harris, has inspected said highways and has advised the Town Board that he determines and orders that said highways shall be laid out in the Town, now, therefore, be it RESOLVED that in accordance with Section 271 of the Highway Law of the State of New York, consent be and the same is given to the Superintendent of Highways to make an order laying out the aforesaid highways, to consist of lands described in said application as shown on certain maps attached to said application; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town Clerk be and she hereby is authorized and directed to forthwith cause the dedication~ release~ and deed to be recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the County of Suffolk~ New York. COUNCILMAN RICHTER: Yes, ! would like to make just a short comment. It has been a topic of discussion for a period of time and we met just recently with the Superintendent of Highways and the Town Engineer and found that some of the questions that were raised some time ago, seem not to be evident anymore and this is one of the reasons to move forward. SUPERVISOR HORTON: The Superintendent of Highways, Pete Harris was adamant about taking these roads over to provide adequate service to the residents who reside in that community. So thank you to Pete Harris for leaving that with us. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board meeting be recessed to hold six (6) public hearings on the matters of {1.T HEARING ON "A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM #1000- 55-2-24.4 FROM AGRICULTURAL-CONSERVATION (A-CT TO BUSINESS (BT"; (2.T HEARING ON "A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM #1000- 70-1-6 FROM AGRICULTURAL-CONSERVATION (A-CT TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING DISTRICT (AHDT"; (3.T HEARING ON "A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM #1000-140-2-16 FROM LIGHT INDUSTRIAL (LIT AND RESIDENTIAL OFFICE (ROT TO HAMLET BUSINESS (HBT"; (4.T HEARING ON "A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 56 DESIGNATION OF SCTM #1000-103-1-19.2 AND P/O 19.11 FROM RESIDENTIAL OFFICE (RO) TO BUSINESS (B)"; (5.) HEARING ON THE QUESTION OF THE GIFT OF A CONSERVATION EASEMENT ON PROPERTY FROM JOHN MAY AND OTHERS~ SCTM #1000-54-4-20 AND (6.) HEARING ON THE REQUEST OF KALOSKI FOR WAIVER FROM THE PROVISIONS OF THE LOCAL LAW "TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON THE PROCESSING~ REVIEW OF AND MAKING DECISIONS ON THE APPLICATIONS FOR MAJOR AND MINOR SUBDIVISIONS~ AND SPECIAL USE PERMITS AND SITE PLANS CONTAINING DWELLING UNITS (S) IN THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD~ SCTM #1000-102-4- 6.2" Meeting was reconvened at #637 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Justice Evans, WHEREAS the Southold Town Board intends to ratify a previous zone change to conform to the Town Code and other legal requirements, and WHEREAS, the petitioner has requested to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning District designation of SCTM# 1000-55-2-24.4 from Agricultural-Conservation (A-C) to Business (B); and WHEREAS, a Public Hearing was held on this Local Law on the 23rd day of September, 2003 at which time all interested persons were given the opportunity to be heard thereon, now, therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby enacts the following Local Law: LOCAL LAW NO. 14 OF 2003 BE IT ENACTED, by the Town Board of the Town of Southold as follows: A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM # 1000-55-2-24.4 FROM AGRICULTURAL-CONSERVATION (A-C) TO BUS1NESS (B). Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #638 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was WHEREAS the Southold Town Board intends to ratify a previous zone change to conform to the Town Code and other legal requirements, and WHEREAS, the petitioner has requested to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning District designation of SCTM# 1000-70-1-6 from Agricultural-Conservation (A- C) to Affordable Housing District (AHD); and WHEREAS, a Public Hearing was held on this Local Law on the 23rd day of September, 2003 at which time all interested persons were given the opportunity to be heard thereon, now, therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby enacts the following Local Law: LOCAL LAW NO. 15 OF 2003 BE IT ENACTED, by the Town Board of the Town of Southold as follows: A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM # 1000-70-1-6 FROM AGRICULTURAL- CONSERVATION (A-C) TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING DISTRICT (AHD). Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 57 Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #639 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was WHEREAS the Southold Town Board intends to ratify a previous zone change to conform to the Town Code and other legal requirements, and WHEREAS, the petitioner has requested to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning District designation of SCTM# 1000-140-2-16 from Light Industrial (LI) and Residential Office (RO) to Hamlet Business (HB); and WHEREAS, a Public Hearing was held on this Local Law on the 23rd day of September, 2003 at which time all interested persons were given the opportunity to be heard thereon, now, therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby enacts the following Local Law: LOCAL LAW NO. 16 OF 2003 BE IT ENACTED, by the Town Board of the Town of Southold as follows: A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM # 1000-140-2-16 FROM LIGHT INDUSTRIAL (LI) AND RESIDENTIAL OFFICE (RO) TO HAMLET BUSINESS (HB). Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #64O Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Justice Evans, it was WHEREAS the Southold Town Board intends to ratify a previous zone change to conform to the Town Code and other legal requirements, and WHEREAS, the petitioner has requested to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Southold by changing the Zoning District designation of SCTM# 1000-103-1-19.2 and p/o 19.11 from Residential Office (RO) to Business (B); and WHEREAS, a Public Hearing was held on this Local Law on the 23rd day of September, 2003 at which time all interested persons were given the opportunity to be heard thereon, now, therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby enacts the following Local Law: LOCAL LAW NO. 17 OF 2003 BE IT ENACTED, by the Town Board of the Town of Southold as follows: A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD BY CHANGING THE ZONING DISTRICT DESIGNATION OF SCTM # 1000-103-1-19.2 AND p/o 19.11 FROM RESIDENTIAL OFFICE (RO) TO BUS1NESS (B) Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #641 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Richter, Southold Town Board September 23, 2003 58 WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Southold held a public hearing on the question of the gift of a conservation easement on approximately 0.9 acres of property from John M. May and Others, on the 23rd day of September 2003, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 59 (Open Space Preservation) of the Town Code, at which time all interested parties were given the opportunity to be heard; and WHEREAS, said property is located on the north side of North Sea Drive, and is identified as SCTM#1000-54-4-20 and 1925 North Sea Drive, Southold, New York; and WHEREAS, the Town Board deems it in the public interest that the Town of Southold accept the offer of the gift of the conservation easement; now therefore be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby elects to accept the offer of the gift of a conservation easement on approximately 0.9 acres of property from John M. May and Others, located on the north side of North Sea Drive, identified as SCTM#1000-54-4-20, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 59 of the Code of the Town of Southold. The exact area of the development rights easement is subject to a survey. The total price will be costs associated with transfer of title of land to be gifted. SUPERVISOR HORTON: ! cast my vote yes, with the deepest appreciation. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #642 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Councilman Wickham, WHEREAS an application has been made by Michael Kaloski for a waiver from the provisions of Local Law #3 of 2002 (and extended by Local Law #3 of 2003 and Local Law 13 of 2003) entitled "Temporary Moratorium on the Processing, Review of, and making Decisions on applications for Major Subdivisions, Minor Subdivisions and Special Exception Use Permits and Site Plans containing Dwelling Unit(s) in the Town of Southold" pursuant to Section 6 "Appeal Procedures" of Local Law #3-2002 to permit the Planning Board to consider an application for a minor subdivision for the parcel of property known as SCTM# 1000-102-4-6.2; and WHEREAS the application involves the minor subdivision of a 7.8 acre parcel into 2 lots; and WHEREAS the Town Board has reviewed the file, conducted a public hearing, and considered all pertinent documents; and WHEREAS the criteria that the applicant must meet is set forth in section 6. (Appeal Procedure) of Local Law #3-2002, Local Law #3-2003 and Local Law #13-2003 and the section states: Section 6. APPEAL PROCEDURES a. The Town Board shall have the authority to vary or waive the application of any provision of this Local Law, in its legislative discretion, upon its determination, that such variance or waiver is required to alleviate an extraordinary hardship affecting a parcel of property. To grant such request, the Town Board must find that a variance or waiver will not adversely affect the purpose of this local law, the health, safety or welfare of the Town of Southold or any comprehensive planning being undertaken in the Town. The Town Board shall take into account the existing land use in the immediate vicinity of the property and the impact of the variance or waiver on the water supply, agricultural lands, open and recreational space, rural character, natural resources, and transportation infrastructure of the Town. The application must comply with all other applicable provisions of the Southold Town Code. Southold Town Board September 23,2003 reduction in density and clear establishment ofthe Hamlet Centers and a possible Transfer of Development Rights component (a full description of the "action" is set forth in the SEQRA Resolution dated January 7,2003 for the Southold Comprehensive Implementation Strategy which is incorporated by reference into this decision); and WHEREAS the Town Board finds that the application is not in contrast with the extensive planning initiatives being undertaken by the "moratorium group", or the Comprehensive Plan of the Town of Southold; and WHEREAS the Town Board finds that this application will not adversely affect the purpose of the Local Law # 3 of2002, Local Law #3 of2003 and Local Law #13 of2003; and WHEREAS the Town Board of the Town of South old finds that the application will not adversely affect the health, safety, or welfare of the Town of Southold; and WHEREAS the Town Board of the Town of South old finds that the minor subdivision application is consistent with the existing land use in the surrounding area and has a minimal impact on water supply, rural character, natural resources and transportation infrastructure of the Town; and WHEREAS the Town Board of the Town of South old finds that the application has no effect on agricultural lands and open and recreational space; and WHEREAS based on the application, all relevant documentation, the comments set forth at the public hearing on this matter, the comprehensive planning currently being undertaken by the Town, the above referenced facts, and the criteria set forth in Local Law No.3 of2002 and extended by Local Law No. 3 of2003 and Local Law#13 of2003, Section 6. Appeals Procedures, the applicant has met its burden pursuant to the criteria; and Be it RESOLVED by the Town Board of the Town of Southold that the application for waiver is herebv approved, and the applicant may file an application for subdivision with the Planning Board and proceed through the nonnal subdivision review process. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. 59 SUPERVISOR HORTON: That concludes our resolutions. We have completed our printed agenda, would anyone care to address the Town Board on town related business? (No response) Thank you for attending, we definitely appreciate the participation. * * * * * *