HomeMy WebLinkAboutKlein- Comment Transmittal letterJOEL I. KLEIN, Ph.D., RPA
635 Lloyds Lane, Mattituck, New York 11952
May 15, 2023
Southold Town Planning Board
54375 Main Road
PO Box 1179
Southold, NY 11971
RE: DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
PROPOSED STRONG' S YACHT STORAGE BUILDINGS
5780 WEST MILL ROAD
MATTITUCK, NY 11952
TAX MAP NUMBER: 106.- 6- 10 & 13. 4
Members of the Southold Town Planning Board:
I have been a full-time Mattituck resident since retiring nine years ago from my prior community
in Westchester County where I served for ten years as a member of the local planning board.
Before I retired, I devoted more than 40 years to work as an environmental consultant involved
in the preparation and review of hundreds of Environmental Impact Statements for, and by,
private developers, and federal, state and local government entities. Although my specialized
area of expertise is cultural resources impact assessment, as a discipline lead for one of the
largest engineering firms in the world, I worked side-by side with scientists and engineers (in
some cases supervising them) expert in a variety of disciplines. I understand the importance of
collaboration among the disciplines when preparing fact-based documents upon which
decisions must be made. As the attached detailed comments make clear, there appears to
have been an almost complete lack of cross-discipline communication during the preparation of
the DEIS for the Strong’s Yacht Storage Building Project.
Much of the information in the DEIS has been taken almost verbatim from the DEIS’ technical
appendices with no attempt to reconcile contradictory information and conclusions between the
various appendices. In some instances, the language in technical appendices has been
softened to minimize the perception of impact severity. This is most readily apparent in regards
to traffic impacts, but it extends to areas such as noise and vibration impacts, impacts to
pedestrians and bicyclists, pavement damage, air quality impacts, impacts to the natural
environment, and impacts to historic properties. The result is a document rife with incomplete,
inaccurate, outdated, inconsistent and misleading information. More importantly, the result is a
document which cannot be used as the basis for any kind of decision making regarding the
actual environmental impacts that will result from construction of this project.
Sincerely,
Joel I. Klein, Ph.D., RPA