HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-03/04/2025 PH 1
1 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK : STATE OF NEW YORK
2 ------------------------------------------- X
3
TOWN BOARD
4 REGULAR MEETING
5 ------------------------------------------- X
6
7 Southold, New York
8 March 4 , 2025
4 : 30 P . M.
9
10
11
12
13
14 B E F O R E :
15
16 JOHN STYPE , DEPUTY TOWN SUPERVISOR
17 LOUISA P . EVANS, JUSTICE
18 JILL DOHERTY, COUNCILWOMAN
19 BRIAN O . MEALY, COUNCILMAN
20 GREG DOROSKI , COUNCILMAN
21 ANNE H . SMITH, COUNCILWOMAN
22
23
24
25
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
2
3 Chapter 280 Lot Recognition 3-5
4 Chapter 280 Zoning 5-15
5 Public Comments
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 CHAPTER 280 - LOT RECOGNITION
2 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : So the
3 purpose of tonight ' s first public
4 hearing is to consider an amendment to
5 Chapter 280 Zoning Article II ,
6 Districts . Amending Section 280-9 lot
7 recognition . By providing for lot
8 recognition in the instance of a merger
9 in accordance with section 280-10 . And
10 By further clarifying that such
11 recognition is unaffected by the failure
12 of the merged lots to meet bulk
13 requirements of the applicable zone . As
14 written, the present code is not
15 interpreted as requiring a merger of
16 adjoining lots be held in the same name,
17 where the resultant lot would still be
18 deficient in lot area or lot frontage
19 requirements . The proposed code change
20 would recognize and require merger in
21 such an instance . The full text of the
22 proposed local law is available for
23 review on the Town ' s website and posted
24 on the Town Clerk ' s bulletin board . So,
25 in the folder here, I have a copy of a
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 memo from the Planning Board signed by
2 Chairman James Rich III , saying that the
3 Planning Board supports the proposed
4 code amendment . I have a memo from
5 Assistant Director of Planning, Mark
6 Terry, stating that this is a Type 2
7 Action under SEQRA; and therefore not
8 subject to review . I have another memo
9 from Mark Terry in his capacity as LWRP
10 coordinator, stating that it is exempt
11 from LWRP review . I have scanned
12 affidavit, or I have an affidavit and
13 the return postage of the mailings to
14 adjacent jurisdictions . I have an
15 Affidavit of Publication in, The Day,
16 for Fishers Island . I have a letter
17 that was sent to -- no, this is a SEQRA
18 letter . This is just all the letters
19 that were sent in relation to that,
20 excuse me . I have a letter here from
21 the Suffolk County Planning Commission .
22 Stating that their decision that this is
23 a matter of local determination . I have
24 an Affidavit of Publication in the
25 Suffolk Times , along with a copy of the
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 ad, and an invoice for payment of the
2 ad . A copy of the legal notice setting
3 this public hearing . I have an
4 affidavit signed by our Town Clerk,
5 Denis Noncarrow, that the legal notice
6 was posted on the back bulletin board .
7 And I have a copy of the resolution
8 adopted by this on Board, setting the
9 public hearing . That ' s what I got in
10 the folder . I guess before we go
11 forward with the public hearing, just to
12 clarify what this is , because it ' s a
13 little bit complex . It ' s dealing with
14 some issues that we ' ve seen on some
15 parcels throughout Town, where let ' s
16 say, for instance, there is a two acre
17 minimum in the Zoning District to have a
18 conforming lot . If you have one lot
19 that ' s a quarter acre and another lot
20 that ' s one acre, merging them together
21 does not create that two acre minimum
22 lot that you ' re required to have in that
23 district . But if lots are held by the
24 same individual , under the same name, it
25 will merge those lots . We ' ve seen a
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 number of instances where individuals
2 will let ' s say, for instance , purchase a
3 small section of property from a
4 neighbor, or purchase a paper road we
5 had talked about in instance , and to try
6 to merge it to their lot, typically to
7 do some sort of work on their house or
8 just to make their lot bigger . This was
9 a request that came from the community
10 and something that, in consultation with
11 the Town Board and all the various
12 Planning and Zoning, seemed like a good
13 idea, which was primarily just to
14 clarify a code interpretation that was
15 happening . Does that cover it?
16 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : Yes ,
17 I would agree . There ' s no change to the
18 Town ' s Merger Law . This will only
19 extend it to situations where the
20 combined lots still do not meet the lot
21 area or frontage requirements .
22 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : Are
23 there any comments from the public?
24 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Motion to
25 close the hearing .
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 7
1 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I ' ll
2 second that .
3 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE :
4 Okay . All in favor?
5 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
6 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
7 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
8 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
9 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye .
10 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : Aye .
12 CHAPTER 280 - ZONING
13 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : The
14 purpose of tonight ' s second public
15 hearing is to consider an amendment to
16 Chapter 280 Zoning by amending Section
17 280-13 . C . 9 . D, to remove the fee for yard
18 sales and similar types of activities
19 and to provide for the establishment of
20 the same by Town Board Resolution . The
21 full text of the proposed local law is
22 available for review on the Town ' s
23 website and posted on the Town Clerk ' s
24 bulletin board . I have a copy here of
25 an affidavit signed by our Town Clerk,
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 Denis Noncarrow, that the legal notice
2 was posted on the back bulletin board .
3 I have an Affidavit of Publication in
4 the Suffolk Times along with a copy of
5 the ad and a copy of the invoice . I
6 have a copy of the legal notice itself,
7 and a copy of the resolution passed by
8 this Town Board to set the public
9 hearing . I guess the only thing I would
10 add to this is , this is just following a
11 similar trend on the Town Board to pull
12 fees out of the code and set them by
13 resolution of the Town Board, so we
14 don ' t need to hold public hearings to
15 change the code to change the fees .
16 Just some administrative streamlining of
17 the code to make it more efficient .
18 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : Are
19 there any comments from the public?
20 (No Response) .
21 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Motion to
22 close the hearing .
23 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I ' ll
24 second that .
25 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : All
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 in favor?
2 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
3 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
4 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
5 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
6 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye .
7 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : Aye .
g * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
9 PUBLIC COMMENTS
10 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE :
11 Okay . Does anybody else in public have
12 any comments on any item they want to
13 speak in front of the Board? Not on the
14 agenda .
15 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Now ' s
16 your time to speak .
17 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : You
18 can come up . State your name?
19 VINCENT GUASTAMACCHIA: My name is
20 Vincent Guastamacchia . I ' ve been a
21 resident of Southold since 2019 . I
22 wanted to introduce myself to everyone .
23 I haven ' t met everyone yet officially .
24 I know some of you for a while now . The
25 reason why I ' m here tonight is to say
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 why I started a podcast that has
2 Southold and its site is because I came
3 out as a farmer . And, you know,
4 business has its woes . But I would have
5 done this show in 2020 because I had one
6 season of farming and I saw the writing
7 on the wall . I have a little bit more
8 insight . I was an investigator with the
9 NYPD . I grew up in the streets of
10 Brooklyn . I kind of like get things
11 quickly, and I didn ' t really need to
12 beat my head up against the wall like
13 most farmers today are . So COVID
14 happened . So I would have done this
15 show -- I promise you, 2020 . I didn ' t
16 come up with the show arbitrarily, like
17 I wanted to do it last Memorial Day .
18 And the show ' s called "Small Town Values
19 Podcast . " But after one season of
20 farming, I came up with this to kind of
21 bring a voice to the farmer who ' s having
22 a hard go of it . And that ' s just after
23 me farming for one season . So 2020
24 happened, COVID happened . And I ' m like,
25 I ' m not going to get the results . I ' m
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 not going to get the attention that I
2 need because businesses aren ' t going to
3 be hurting now because the economy is
4 stimulated . And COVID definitely
5 stimulated the economy . But, so you got
6 -- 2019 , here are the levels , right?
7 2019 , this was the profit margins on the
8 volume . 2020 was like just a little --
9 no, 2020 was a little bit better . 2021 ,
10 Everybody ' s profits increased
11 dramatically . Business , you could look
12 at sales tax revenue . I mean, you don ' t
13 have to be an economist to realize .
14 2022 , boom, you ready for this ? 2023 ,
15 below 2019 . 2024 , where are we today?
16 2025 ? Go ask any business owner . The
17 reason why I did my show Labor Day,
18 Memorial Day, is because -- and here I
19 am trying to do a show for business
20 owners . How many business owners watch
21 my show? Not many because they don ' t
22 have the time , and they don ' t have the
23 time to attend these meetings either .
24 Sadly . The farmers too . ' Cause when
25 you ' re not a farmer, you ' re a mechanic .
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 And when you ' re not a mechanic, you ' re a
2 bookkeeper . So, I did the show 2024 ,
3 because as the businesses start closing,
4 which you ' re starting to see , I ' ve
5 already spoke to five business owners ,
6 they don ' t plan to reopen . You don ' t
7 know that yet, but when you see
8 springtime and they don ' t have their
9 staff, so that ' s tax base . I think
10 that ' s a very important topic for this
11 Board . Not everybody goes into politics
12 as an economist, and not everybody runs
13 a business to understand where the
14 pitfalls are . So I did the show to
15 point that out, not to say, I know
16 better . And I ' m not really saying what
17 I want to say . I invite guests on the
18 show, so they say it . So you ' re not
19 hearing my words , you ' re hearing their
20 words , and I ' m just amplifying them.
21 And I get it . I didn ' t -- and then so
22 you got -- The reason -- that ' s the
23 reason why I did the show . The reason
24 why I ' m so pro-hotel , and I ' m not
25 pro-hotel for tourism, I don ' t wanna
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 wait 90 seconds to make a left hand turn
2 either, but I don ' t wanna drive to
3 Riverhead for a toothbrush, when I can ' t
4 find one in Town because every business
5 closed . And is that gonna happen?
6 Well , you have at least five that I know
7 of . Let ' s see how many businesses -- I
8 don ' t want to cry wolf, but let ' s see
9 how many businesses don ' t open this
10 year, and how many farms go out of
11 business this year . The people aren ' t
12 coming here . The stimulant to these off
13 months were the weekend home owners that
14 were coming from a 90 minute drive .
15 When New York lost a lot of its tax base
16 to tax-friendly states , those weekend
17 homes , a lot of them became vacation
18 homes . And people weren ' t flying here
19 to come for the weekend . So that ' s how
20 the business fell off between 2023 and
21 2024 . That ' s where your dip came from.
22 So those people aren ' t out here anymore,
23 and they ' re not coming back for a while,
24 because there ' s no reason to, because
25 they need to be in their state for 180
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 days . They can ' t afford to pay the
2 taxes , because that house in Florida is
3 paid for by the money they would have
4 given this state . So they ' re living for
5 free , right? That ' s economy . That ' s
6 reality . That ' s what ' s happening . So I
7 don ' t want you guys to look at me as an
8 enemy . I ' d like you guys to look at me
9 as an asset, because I could bring a lot
10 of resources to what we need to fix
11 these issues . Like I said, I saw it
12 quick . I ' m a quick study . It wasn ' t my
13 money I was even risking . And I ' m this
14 upset, right? I don ' t want to see my
15 friends and colleagues and peers close
16 their businesses . And I don ' t want to
17 see this Town suffer anymore . And I
18 don ' t think all the people out here that
19 say they don ' t want hotels understand
20 what that really means . So back to how
21 I got involved with three families that
22 are trying to do hotels . One, was I
23 came up with a hotel for the Solovievs
24 because that would have helped us sell
25 our agricultural products . It ' s a
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 captive audience . It ' s commercial land
2 on a vineyard that every vineyard has
3 such been out of business because you
4 can ' t afford those commercial taxes in
5 the agricultural application . That ' s
6 also part of being an economist . It
7 doesn ' t add up, right? So I say hotel
8 because I know it will help the farmer .
9 I wrote an article about it . I ' m in the
10 Suffolk Times five or six times already
11 saying this . But then there ' s a
12 moratorium . I came up with Tibet and
13 speak on his behalf for The Enclaves
14 because once again, that ' s a hotel
15 that ' ll help the farmer . And then fast
16 forward, now you have the Cardinale ' s
17 and then you have the moratorium and
18 that is a nail in the coffin to
19 everything I explained with revenue and
20 tax base, right? Where are these
21 Directives coming from? Who ' s pushing
22 for this moratorium? We don ' t have to
23 speculate, but just please understand
24 the reason I ' m doing the show . I
25 offered the use of a virtual theater
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 that could accommodate 10 , 000 guests and
2 up to 10 speakers . The business owner
3 doesn ' t have the time to come to these
4 meetings . And our seniors also . I want
5 to offer our seniors the ability to
6 attend these meetings without having to
7 slip out into the cold . So I ' ve offered
8 it to Councilman Doroski . I spoke with
9 Councilwoman Doherty . I ' ve also spoke
10 with the Town Supervisor, Mr . Krupski .
11 We ' ve been in e-mail . This invitation
12 is ready to go . No cost to the Town .
13 In addition to your meetings and/or if
14 you have the ability yourselves to do
15 it, I ' ll be waiting in the background
16 and happy to assist should I need it --
17 should I be needed . I wanted to say
18 thank you very much and understand where
19 I ' m coming from.
20 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : It ' s
21 great to see you .
22 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Thank
23 you .
24 VINCENT GUASTAMACCHIA: Thank you .
25 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : Are
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 there any other comments from the
2 public?
3 (No Response) .
4 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Could I
5 just make one announcement?
6 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE :
7 Sure .
8 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Since our
9 dear friend Leroy Heiliger is here in
10 the audience, I just want to make an
11 announcement that the Mattituck Laurel
12 Civic Association has designated Leroy
13 as the 2024 Citizen of the Year . There
14 will be a ceremony at the Vets Park in
15 Mattituck with the Civic on March 27th
16 from 6 : 00 to 8 : 30 p . m. , and everyone ' s
17 welcome to join us in congratulating .
18 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI :
19 Congratulations .
20 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE :
21 It ' s after a couple of years of all your
22 efforts . Right . It had only a couple,
23 though .
24 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : As we
25 told them, it ' s payback for all the
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 awards he gives everybody else .
2 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Well
3 deserved .
4 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : All
5 right . So if there ' s nothing else , want
6 to make a motion to close ?
7 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I ' ll make
8 a motion to adjourn .
9 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Second .
10 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : All
11 in favor?
12 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
13 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
14 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
15 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
16 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye .
17 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR JOHN STYPE : Aye .
18
19 (Whereupon, the meeting was
20 adjourned . )
21
22
23
24
25
MARCH 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 C E R T I F I C A T I O N
2
3 I , Jessica DiLallo, a Notary Public
4 for and within the State of New York, do
5 hereby certify :
6 THAT, the within transcript is a
7 true record of said Board Meeting .
8 I further certify that I am not
9 related either by blood or marriage to
10 any of the parties to this action; and
11 that I am in no way interested in the
12 outcome of this matter .
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
14 set my hand this day, March 4 , 2025 .
15
16
17 (Je sica DiLallo)
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25