HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-04/01/2025 PH 1
1 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK : STATE OF NEW YORK
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TOWN BOARD
4 REGULAR MEETING
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7 Southold, New York
8 April 1 , 2025
4 : 30 P . M.
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14 B E F O R E :
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16 ALBERT KRUPSKI JR, SUPERVISOR
17 LOUISA P . EVANS, JUSTICE
18 JILL DOHERTY, COUNCILWOMAN
19 GREG DOROSKI , COUNCILMAN
20 BRIAN O . MEALY, COUNCILMAN
21 ANNE H . SMITH, COUNCILWOMAN
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APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
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3 Public Comments 3-39
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APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 PUBLIC COMMENTS
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Is
3 there anyone who would like to address
4 the Board on any agenda item before we
5 start?
6 ANNE MURRAY : I would . Thank you .
7 I ' m Anne Murray, I live in East Marion,
8 and I ' m here to ask why you ' re having
9 this public hearing on the proposed
10 hotel in Mattituck at 9 o ' clock in the
11 morning on May 13th? I realize you ' re
12 giving a lot of notice ahead of time for
13 this , which is great . But considering
14 the huge amount of public interest in
15 this , I think it would be only fair to
16 have it in an evening or late afternoon
17 meeting, and not at 9 o ' clock in the
18 morning .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : My
20 answer would be that we normally, as an
21 Appeals Board for this , and for not only
22 moratoriums but also coastal erosion are
23 held at 9 : 00 in the morning . However,
24 maybe our attorney, Paul DeChance has a
25 better answer .
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
2 Thank you, Mr . Supervisor . Yes ,
3 those -- that is the time that they ' re
4 generally held . The Board can certainly
5 consider holding the matter open for
6 further comment later in the day or for
7 further written comment, depending upon
8 their decision at the time of the public
9 hearing .
10 ANNE MURRAY : Okay .
11 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : And
12 any comments can be provided by e-mail
13 or written form to the Town Clerk ' s
14 Office prior to the date of the hearing,
15 and we can have them read at the time of
16 the public hearing .
17 ANNE MURRAY : Okay . Great . Thank
18 you .
19 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Paul ,
20 can you just give a summary of what this
21 application is so people understand,
22 it ' s not an application to build a
23 hotel , but it ' s an application to appeal
24 from our moratorium?
25 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : Yes .
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 So in order for a moratorium to be
2 properly implemented, it requires that
3 there be an escape valve from it, an
4 appeals opportunity . So this is an
5 existing structure as I understand it,
6 and according to the moratorium that was
7 written, this applicant has the right to
8 bring a request to be excused from the
9 moratorium . Not for approval from this
10 Board, but rather to be excused from the
11 moratorium . So that they could proceed
12 with Planning and Zoning to achieve the
13 development that they want . This is
14 only an opportunity for the Board to
15 hear an appeal from this applicant . Not
16 for the development proposal itself, but
17 rather for relief from the moratorium
18 imposed .
19 ANNE MURRAY : Great . Thank you so
20 much .
21 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : It ' s
22 good to see you .
23 ANNE MURRAY : The other question I
24 had was about the last resolution about
25 litigation . And can you maybe, the Town
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 Attorney, can tell us what prompted this
2 litigation? I ' d be interested to know .
3 Can you disclose that? That wouldn ' t be
4 confidential , right?
5 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : That
6 is an ongoing matter which does or will
7 involve litigation imminently . So if
8 you ' d like further information, I may be
9 able to disclose some information to you
10 at my office, if you ' d like to set up an
11 appointment, but in this area I ' d prefer
12 not to not to specify the basis for the
13 Town ' s decision to move .
14 ANNE MURRAY : Okay . Thank you .
15 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : Thank
16 you .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Would
18 anyone else like to address the Board on
19 the agenda item?
20 (No Response) .
21 (Whereupon, the meeting continued
22 on to the Resolutions at this time . )
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That is
24 our agenda for the evening . Is there
25 anyone who would like to speak to the
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 7
1 board on any matter? Please .
2 DAVID LEVY : Hi , David Levy . I
3 live in the Southold portion of Laurel .
4 And for the record, my wife and I are
5 thrilled to live in the Town of
6 Southold . Not COVID refugees , but
7 refugees from Nassau County . It ' s great
8 here . I wanted to mark the date with
9 you . Not --
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No, you
11 didn ' t mean April Fool ' s on that .
12 DAVID LEVY : Today marks two years
13 that the Town of -- I ' m still in Nassau,
14 that the Town of Southold has been
15 taxing real estate transfers . For the
16 purpose of bringing about an Affordable
17 Housing Fund . I ' m just wondering what
18 the status is of the plan? I know that
19 the Board adopted a document, which they
20 called a "plan" which I said wasn ' t the
21 plan and wasn ' t the plan . But I don ' t
22 want to go over that again . I will say
23 and acknowledge that Councilwoman
24 Doherty back on the night that plan was
25 adopted when the Board couldn ' t answer
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 any of my basic questions about the
2 plan, acknowledged that it was a work in
3 progress , which roughly translated to me
4 means isn ' t done . And I ' m just
5 wondering, in the 17 months since that
6 was adopted, I know there ' s been a
7 working group and I know, Supervisor,
8 that you are not here for any of this .
9 But you might be interested in some of
10 the questions that nobody could answer
11 and that don ' t appear from what has been
12 written on your website to have been
13 considered by the working group . And
14 these are basic questions . I asked on
15 the night the plan was adopted, who ' s
16 going to decide who the winners and
17 losers are , because I think we all have
18 to agree that there will be more
19 applications for help than there is help
20 available . And everybody at the Board
21 looked at each other and nobody had any
22 idea who was going to make it choices us
23 to who is going to benefit from this
24 program . And then somebody said, I
25 don ' t know who said it, but somebody
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 said, we are . I don ' t know if you want
2 to make that a Town Board decision . But
3 we have to know . The public has to know
4 who is going to be deciding these
5 things . I asked what the criteria would
6 be when the Board or whatever entity is
7 going to make these decisions , what
8 would the criteria be when you have
9 competing mutually exclusive
10 applications from people who qualify
11 under the State rules ? How are you
12 going to decide who gets and who doesn ' t
13 get? Nobody had any idea . And you must
14 have criteria like that or else , and I
15 think your Town Attorney will agree, you
16 open yourselves to all kinds of lawsuits
17 because when someone is denied, they
18 need to understand why they were denied .
19 And not just that somebody made an
20 appropriate contribution to somebody ' s
21 campaign . I mean that ' s how
22 investigations get started, and you
23 don ' t want that . And I don ' t make any
24 suggestion here that anybody is doing
25 anything wrong but the appearance,
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 you ' ve got to be careful about that . I
2 asked, was there going to be an asset
3 test? The State rules provide limits on
4 how much, if you ' re going to help
5 somebody buy a house, it provides a
6 limit as to how much you can spend on a
7 house . And still get -- It ' s a
8 ridiculous number, by the way . But it
9 does have a limit . And there ' s a limit
10 on how much you can earn and make an
11 application . But there ' s no asset test .
12 You can have eight zillion -- you could
13 be Musk . As long as your income was
14 within the limit . And the thing that
15 you are going to buy or rent was within
16 the limit, you could qualify . And
17 everybody on the Board agreed there
18 needs to be an asset test . How much
19 money can you have in the bank? How
20 many investments can you have, and still
21 make an application and be considered?
22 And it doesn ' t look like this working
23 group is looking at that at all . By the
24 way, I asked Fred Thiel , how did you
25 construct this thing and not have an
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 asset test? This was at a Mattituck
2 Civic Association meeting a couple of
3 years ago . And he thought about it for
4 a minute . He said, I think it was an
5 oversight . But I think that no one
6 would object, and I don ' t think you
7 never know when you ' re dealing with a
8 State Law that has limits , that you
9 could probably impose some limits -- You
10 can ' t exceed their limits , but I think
11 you could probably work from lower
12 limits so that people aren ' t applying
13 that you don ' t expect to give money to .
14 We have to prove you ' re a citizen in
15 order to get benefits ? I don ' t know . I
16 think some of the residents would be
17 interested in knowing that . And the
18 toughest one of all , I asked if people
19 who get benefits are going to be
20 required to, on some periodic basis ,
21 prove that they are still qualified .
22 This is a real mixed bag, and it ' s why I
23 never suggest that governments get
24 involved with this type of housing .
25 It ' s too late . I mean, we ' re beyond
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 that, but you ' ll understand the problem
2 when I explain why . What are you going
3 to do when somebody is no longer
4 qualified? Are you going to throw them
5 out? Are you going to evict them?
6 What ' s the plan? When you -- when local
7 municipalities and a lot of them do,
8 create senior citizen housing you don ' t
9 have this problem itself . Once you ' re a
10 senior, you ' re always a senior . And
11 seniors die . There ' s natural turnover .
12 But when you do workforce housing, which
13 is what some communities call it or the
14 type of housing provided for here, your
15 hope is that the person who needs
16 government ' s help doesn ' t need
17 government ' s help forever . You want
18 them to grow out of this . What are you
19 going to do? And by the way, the reason
20 that I ' ve always suggested that
21 governments not get involved in this is
22 because I don ' t have an answer for that .
23 What ' s yours ?
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So we
25 did pass it as a Town to have that half
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 percent on the transfer . We have been
2 --
3 DAVID LEVY : -- the voters approved
4 of it as well . Without knowing what the
5 plan was , don ' t get me started on that .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We have
7 been accumulating money since then . We
8 also have another pot of money from the
9 subdivision process buy out for
10 Affordable Housing . As far as the asset
11 test goes , it would be -- and I ' m going
12 to let my colleagues here , Jill and
13 Anne , who are on the Housing Advisory
14 liaisons to the Town Board, answer some
15 of those . But we are -- we ' re looking
16 at, for a non-homeowner for rental . You
17 know, there ' s going to be the Town Board
18 sets the rental rates . And so there ' s
19 going to be income limits for those
20 people who qualify . As far as the
21 citizenship, that ' s something I hadn ' t
22 heard before or hadn ' t considered . It ' s
23 going to be up to the owner of the
24 building to find the -- well , to find
25 the people to rent there . And as far as
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 how long they qualify for, they have to
2 at a rental permit for each apartment
3 every year proving that that person
4 qualifies within that income range .
5 It ' s going to be very clear when it ' s
6 rented .
7 DAVID LEVY : And what happens if
8 somebody no longer meets the
9 requirements and wants to stay?
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
11 sorry, thank you . So if it ' s a home
12 ownership, then it ' s going to be
13 transferred like the Cottages at
14 Mattituck into private hands , and it ' s
15 going to be affordable in perpetuity .
16 Because they can only charge so much
17 upon resale . So it ' s going to stay
18 regardless of -- there ' s strict limits
19 on improvements . So regardless of
20 income or regardless of improvements ,
21 that transfer price is going to be
22 restricted . And you have to qualify --
23 You can ' t have been a homeowner
24 previously . You have to qualify with
25 your income range .
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 DAVID LEVY : And did you also say
2 that there was a rental component?
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes ,
4 there will , yes .
5 DAVID LEVY : Are we going with the
6 state limits ?
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No, we
8 said around -- go ahead .
9 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : So
10 every year we get the State limits and
11 we can go lower or to the State limits .
12 This previous year, we did go a little
13 lower . And usually March, April , we get
14 the HUD stuff and we ' ll make a decision
15 with that . So we don ' t have 25-26
16 limits set yet . Hopefully in a couple
17 months we will . To answer some of your
18 questions that you brought up, we ' re
19 working on a lot of the issues . We are
20 hiring a housing person and hopefully
21 will start in June to help put all this
22 together . To put the wheels on the
23 plan . And in talking, we thought it
24 should be every two years a person needs
25 to submit their income . And we haven ' t
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 decided if we ' re going -- so once they
2 pass and once they go above what they
3 qualify for, we ' re talking -- we ' ll
4 either give them 6 months or 12 months
5 to find a new place to move out . And
6 then a new person that qualifies will
7 come in for that rental .
8 DAVID LEVY : If they don ' t want to
9 leave, are you going to evict them?
10 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Well , I
11 can ' t speak to the law of how that will
12 work . But that ' s the stuff that we ' re
13 working out now and our Town Attorneys
14 are involved in all this , but --
15 DAVID LEVY : By the way, I ' m not
16 taking any issue with you, I ' m curious .
17 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : No,
18 that ' s going to be -- is what ' s going to
19 be, the people that come into this are
20 going to know what the rules and
21 regulations are before they sign any
22 kind of lease or contract . And so
23 they ' ll know that once they raise to the
24 level of not being able to --
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 Qualify .
2 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Not
3 qualifying, thank you . Not qualifying .
4 They ' ll have to find another place to
5 live , but we will give them at least six
6 months , if not a year, to find a new
7 place . Because it ' s so hard to find
8 some place .
9 DAVID LEVY : Why is it taking so
10 long to find a housing coordinator? I
11 think the Board adopted a resolution
12 directing Supervisor Russell to have the
13 Planning Department come up with
14 specifications or qualifications for
15 that job?
16 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : So we
17 had we -- we did come up with that . We
18 waited -- I don ' t know it was three or
19 four months for Civil Service approval
20 to, you know, tell us what title it
21 should be . And then we were developing
22 how it ' s gonna work . What department is
23 gonna be, how it ' s gonna be and we ' ve
24 developed where we are changing a title
25 of one existing planner that ' s going to
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 have housing component in her job . And
2 she will oversee the new housing person .
3 So we ' re getting there . And we ' ve done
4 subsidies . We have a subsidy thing that
5 we ' re going to hopefully be -- Hopefully
6 we ' re going to have a public hearing in
7 the next couple of months on how the
8 subsidy policies and program will work
9 Contractors to produce Affordable
10 Housing . Then the next step is to work
11 on the subsidies and process and
12 policies for individual homeowners , and
13 renters . So we ' ve been talking . We ' ve
14 been working these out . We have a lot
15 of stuff written out . We just have to
16 put it in policy form and adopt it into
17 the plan .
18 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : So the
19 goal behind -- just want to add on to
20 that . The goal behind working through
21 the subsidy process was to be sure that
22 we were providing subsidies that would
23 work for developers , for contractors .
24 And so we did take our time making sure
25 we met with people who are in that
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 industry . To be sure that what we were
2 coming up with for criteria . And this
3 has been presented at several work
4 sessions and then at one Town Board
5 meeting . So we can get all of those
6 documents . So the application exists .
7 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : It ' s on
8 our website .
9 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : And is on
10 our website . And part of what we ' re
11 shifting now, once we get this housing
12 manager -- housing person on board, is
13 to kind of redefine the role of the
14 Housing Advisory Commission . So that
15 they are kind of helping us get the word
16 out and educating the community . So
17 that they can get their questions to us
18 and make sure we ' re giving good access
19 to everyone to this fund .
20 DAVID LEVY : I confess that I had
21 not taken into account the Civil Service
22 component . You don ' t have to say any
23 more about it, because there ' s a delay .
24 No, I appreciate your answers . I just
25 get concerned because I think some of
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 20
1 the questions that I ' m asking are not
2 easy, but they are basic . And it did
3 not look from any of the accounts that I
4 had read of what was going on within
5 that working group . It didn ' t sound
6 like they were considering those things .
7 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : So just
8 to be clear, the working group hasn ' t
9 met because . They did their job and
10 they ' re just kind of hanging out there
11 if we ever need them again, we ' ll
12 contact them. But now it ' s the staff
13 and the Town Board and the Town
14 Attorney ' s Office that are going to put
15 the wheels on this plan . And it ' s going
16 to take a while . And we ' ve had -- I
17 think, and it ' s just to be clear, we
18 only started collecting the tax for one
19 year . Not two years . It started April
20 2024 is when we started . It was voted
21 on the year before but the County didn ' t
22 have the process . They didn ' t have a
23 process in place . And we didn ' t start
24 collecting the point 0 . 5% until April
25 2024 .
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 21
1 DAVID LEVY : I was under the
2 impression that the rush to get this
3 done because -- and again I don ' t want
4 to reopen that disagreement that I had
5 with the Board, but I remember that back
6 right after the governor signed the
7 bill , the Town people didn ' t do anything
8 quite frankly for five months . And then
9 they went and arranged to have a on RFP
10 put out and Nelson Pope, or nowadays
11 Nelson Pope & Voorhees , I think it is ,
12 made a proposal . But there was a lot of
13 talk on the Board about the importance
14 of letting the public know what the plan
15 was . And you could collect once they
16 approved it . But you couldn ' t
17 collect -- you couldn ' t spend until you
18 had the plan, that ' s my recollection .
19 And so, When it looked like you weren ' t
20 going to have the plan, there was a lot
21 of talk on the Board, and it was
22 publicized, that you were thinking about
23 waiting the year to -- so that the
24 public would have a better -- a clearer
25 picture of what the Town Board had in
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 22
1 mind before they went to vote . And then
2 all of a sudden, it was , no, no, no,
3 we ' re not going to do that . We ' re going
4 to have the vote this year . And it was
5 my understanding that the Town Board
6 made that decision because you wanted
7 the extra 12 months of collecting the
8 fee .
9 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : So it
10 was on -- So the vote was November --
11 DAVID LEVY : 8th .
12 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Of
13 2023 . And to -- and it passed . And we
14 were working -- And we were working and
15 we had been working on that plan . And
16 then April 2024 is when the County had
17 the mechanism to start collecting that
18 0 . 5% and distributing it to the Towns .
19 And we had -- and we had our plan done
20 by then . So it ' s been a year that -- a
21 year ago, April .
22 DAVID LEVY : The vote was ' 22 --
23 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : 123 .
24 DAVID LEVY : I ' m sorry, was ' 23 .
25 Okay I would have said ' 22 . The
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 23
1 important thing is today ' s the
2 anniversary .
3 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Yes .
4 And we ' ve only been collecting for a
5 year though that ' s -- even though it was
6 approved . We you know, because the
7 County had to come up with that
8 mechanism on how to collect this 0 . 5 and
9 separated from the regular taxes and all
10 this other stuff . And they had to go
11 back to Thiele and say how do we do
12 this ? And once that Comptroller got it
13 done , we were able to -- the Towns were
14 able to start collecting in April --
15 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : But you ' re
16 right . It was past an expectation that
17 we would begin getting the money, pretty
18 much immediately .
19 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And I
20 think your right to point out, there was
21 definitely some disagreement on the
22 Board . The former Supervisor, at least
23 from the beginning, was pretty opposed
24 to it . Opposed to putting it out to
25 referendum .
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 24
1 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Before
2 we had a plan .
3 DAVID LEVY : He had something -- I
4 never understood his position, except
5 that he was against it . It seemed to
6 have something to do with the timing of
7 the hiring of the person to direct the
8 department .
9 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : There was
10 also disagreement about that, but with
11 the efficacy of moving forward with the
12 referendum and putting together the plan
13 to get us to that point, there was some
14 significant disagreement . And
15 ultimately a majority of the Board
16 decided to move forward with the idea
17 that let the public decide . We achieved
18 and the statutory requirements of the
19 legislation to put it up for referendum
20 and it passed by what? 700 . I think
21 you raised the issues , their legitimate
22 issues . We are working to sort them
23 out . Part of the difficulty in hiring
24 the housing person was we had an
25 expectation of a person that really
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 25
1 didn ' t exist in reality . But we were
2 forced to put together a Civil Service
3 duty statement for that . Get approval
4 for that . Form consensus on the Board
5 of what the role was going to be, what
6 the title was going to be , what
7 department they were going to be in .
8 And then we put the ad out, we got the
9 resumes in and it ' s like, none of these
10 people are qualified to do what we ' re
11 going to do . So we went through that
12 process , I believe three different
13 times . And then ultimately we decided
14 to break the role into two parts and
15 have an individual in our Planning
16 Department take on certain
17 responsibilities , and have a designated
18 individual take on responsibilities .
19 And I think the community should really
20 be grateful for the work that Jill and
21 Anne have done with Mara and Mark in the
22 Planning Department to move this forward
23 without the working group and put
24 together what I see as a really good
25 subsidy program. And a subsidy program
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 26
1 that appealed to two different
2 developers . One who takes state grant
3 money and state tax credit money . Found
4 it very appealing and helpful . And one
5 who ' s a private developer, who we
6 actually are signing a Letter of Intent
7 with that ' s been authorized in the
8 agenda by resolution tonight to move
9 this forward . And I think this is a
10 work in progress . It is very, very
11 important, and I think the Board --
12 there ' s universal consensus on this .
13 It ' s very important that we have a plan
14 that mirrors the priorities of our
15 community and doesn ' t accept mandates
16 from either the State Or Federal
17 Government and what they ' re requiring us
18 to do . And we have a plan that meets
19 the needs of our community and protects
20 our community, and serves our community .
21 And I guess the in closing, I would say,
22 is I feel like this slow and measured
23 approach that we ' ve taken really shows
24 our commitment to achieving those goals .
25 And even though you may be frustrated
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 27
1 that there are not a lot of answers to
2 these -- and you point out, they ' re
3 difficult questions . Now, if we ' re
4 going to evict someone , that ' s going to
5 be difficult . But as a benefit, and I
6 believe that the community also saw this
7 benefit, even though we did not collect
8 the funding immediately, now we almost
9 have $3 million in the bank to spend on
10 community housing . I think that ' s
11 something that we should celebrate . And
12 Yeah, no, and I think -- you know, I
13 thank you for raising these concerns and
14 bringing them to the floor because it
15 highlights the difficulty in solving
16 these problems . Like any difficult
17 problem, if there was a simple solution,
18 we wouldn ' t be here talking about it .
19 DAVID LEVY : But the only area
20 where I take issue with you, and it
21 doesn ' t matter anymore , so I know you
22 don ' t want to spend time on it . You
23 keep going back to the public approving .
24 They had no idea what they were
25 approving . We still don ' t know what the
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 28
1 program is . And the Board promised that
2 there would be a detailed plan
3 circulated far enough in advance that
4 the public had familiarized themselves
5 before they voted . So much so that
6 there was talk about delaying the vote
7 to the following year . And your goal --
8 your stated goal was to have the plan
9 out by June lst .
10 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI :
11 Absolutely . And what the Board --
12 DAVID LEVY : And the plan came out
13 in October for a November election . And
14 the plan lacked all of these answers
15 that the Board acknowledges are two
16 important questions .
17 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI :
18 Absolutely .
19 DAVID LEVY : That ' s the only area
20 where I take --
21 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And I
22 agree with you . I think the fact
23 remains though, we met the statutory
24 requirements for a plan to put it to
25 referendum . Your concerns were raised
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 29
1 in public numerous times . They were
2 publicized in the press . The Board had
3 a discussion about them. There were
4 some on the Board who felt maybe we
5 should delay, but a majority felt we
6 should move forward . And knowing what
7 we know now, I can tell you that I would
8 still support the decision to move
9 forward . Even with the difficulty of
10 defining what the plan is and I would
11 take issue with your assertion that
12 there have not been any details
13 provided . I do -- I do welcome you to
14 look at the subsidy program that Anne
15 and Jill and Mara and Mark put together .
16 I really think that is an exceptional
17 subsidy program that is part of this
18 plan . And I think one of the benefits
19 of this incremental approach to solving
20 these problems is that it gives us a
21 unique amount of local control here, to
22 address the concern in an appropriate
23 manner for our community, right? And we
24 heard from developers the difficulty in
25 filling gaps with private funding and
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 30
1 state funding, so we put together a
2 subsidy program. A program that the
3 rough outline for, or at least the need
4 for, was outlined in the original plan .
5 We had, you know -- we discussed it over
6 numerous work sessions . We had a public
7 information session about it . And there
8 was widespread support . So I see that
9 as a success . I don ' t think we should
10 -- we should have -- I don ' t think the
11 difficulty in solving the entire
12 equation should take away from the
13 success of solving this one element of
14 the equation, which I think is
15 necessary . This is a multivariable
16 equation that we need to look at and
17 solve . And, you know, I ' ll stop
18 talking .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : And
20 we ' re not operating a vacuum . We
21 communicate regularly with the other
22 towns who have passed this . And they ' re
23 trying to figure out the correct way to
24 do it to answer the housing need out
25 here .
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 31
1 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : And we
2 were reminded today by one of our Town
3 Attorneys that there was the statutory
4 requirements of what needed to go from
5 the legislation, including a plan and
6 then an implementation plan . And we ' ve
7 been meticulously going through all of
8 the sections of the plan where the Board
9 needs to make decisions . And then
10 making sure our Town Attorneys are
11 walking us through what ' s required in
12 the law, so that we ' re not just kind of
13 coming up with ideas . But making sure
14 we continuously go back to what was the
15 intent, what ' s in the big plan, and then
16 what ' s in the process . So that ' s the
17 part we ' re at now . And we are trying
18 very hard to get this money out there so
19 that we can start to see some housing
20 for our community on the ground .
21 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : And I ' d
22 like to say that, you know, in a perfect
23 world, we would have the plan all
24 figured out before we adopted it . But
25 looking back, I think we made the right
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 32
1 decision . We had a great community
2 committee that put together -- I met
3 twice a week . Once a week with the
4 internal staff, and once a week with
5 this committee for nine months . And
6 they put this plan together in nine
7 months . And it was adopted . And
8 looking back, if we waited, we would
9 have lost five months of income , which
10 equated to over a million dollars . If
11 we waited until we had a full plan . And
12 I will tell you, I have gotten three
13 calls since we have adopted this plan .
14 Two from Upstate communities and one
15 from Nassau County that said our plan is
16 wonderful , and asked me questions . I
17 said please, take it, copy it, whatever
18 you want to do with it . And they
19 thought it was great and it was a great
20 start . And it ' s helped out other
21 communities in their planning . So as
22 much as it ' s not the perfect way to do
23 things , I think it ' s progress and we ' ll
24 get there . And it ' s -- we ' re now able
25 to -- we have two housing -- one is
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 33
1 gonna be a rental and one is gonna be an
2 ownership in the works that have the
3 reality of actually happening .
4 DAVID LEVY : I sincerely hope that
5 you are able to, with the resources that
6 come in, to help as many people as are
7 necessary for you to think that it was
8 worth the trouble . My concern has
9 always been that these limits are so
10 high and the revenue is going to be so
11 limited . And I ' ve spoken to the
12 Planning people, and they share some of
13 this concern .
14 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : We do
15 tell , yes .
16 DAVID LEVY : That the number of
17 people you ' re going to be able to help
18 is not even going to make the smallest
19 dent in the realm. I hope that ' s not
20 correct by the way .
21 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : We help
22 one family at the end of the process --
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No, I
24 think it ' ll help the community as a
25 whole, have this range of housing, where
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 34
1 right now there isn ' t a range of housing
2 at all .
3 DAVID LEVY : My only reason for
4 coming up tonight, and I chose the date
5 because it was an anniversary, was to
6 make sure that the questions that you
7 folks had earlier agreed were important
8 questions .
9 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Still
10 very much important .
11 DAVID LEVY : Thank you .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
13 you for coming .
14 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : We agree
15 with you . These are important
16 questions . They ' re difficult questions ,
17 and that ' s what we ' re trying to solve .
18 So thank you for raising them and
19 marking the anniversary .
20 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : And
21 we ' ve talked about all those things that
22 you mentioned tonight . We ' ve been
23 talking about in our subgroup with Mark
24 and Mara . And including what person has
25 an assets and an asset test . So we ' re
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 35
1 going to get there .
2 DAVID LEVY : Thank you .
3 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Thank
4 you .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So
6 there ' s one person on Zoom, is there
7 anyone else who would like to address
8 the Board on any matter? Go ahead,
9 Anne . They don ' t have their hand up .
10 ANNE MURRAY : First, thank you for
11 that incredibly fast action on changing
12 the time of that public hearing . I ' ve
13 never seen this Town move so fast on
14 anything .
15 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And tell
16 your friends .
17 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : And tell
18 everybody that you know that we did
19 that, yeah .
20 ANNE MURRAY : I think it ' s great
21 because you ' re taking into consideration
22 the needs of the community and people
23 who can ' t be here at 9 : 00 o ' clock or
24 even on Zoom, if they ' re working . So
25 thank you .
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 36
1 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Thank you
2 for bringing that up and advocating for
3 that .
4 ANNE MURRAY : You ' re welcome . I
5 saw that on the agenda and I was like ,
6 what, really? So anyway, thanks again .
7 And the other thing I want to thank you
8 for is it looks like you ' re doing some
9 movement on the short-term rental
10 problem with getting some technology in
11 place . And I noticed that you ' ve hired
12 I think a part-time code enforcement .
13 Have they started yet?
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes , he
15 has .
16 ANNE MURRAY : He has . That ' s
17 great . So is he working weekends ? Is
18 he working nights ?
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes , he
20 is .
21 ANNE MURRAY : Is he going to
22 enforce it?
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Be
24 careful . He ' s out there .
25 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : He ' s
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 37
1 under the direction of the Town
2 Attorney .
3 ANNE MURRAY : So you probably know
4 Paul , in and East Marion, we have a hell
5 of a lot of short-term rentals . So I
6 hope since people were out this past
7 weekend, I think there ' s fertile ground
8 there for some enforcement .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : This is
10 the first start, but we want to make
11 sure we have a proper code in place
12 before we embark down that enforcement
13 road .
14 ANNE MURRAY : So you ' re working
15 on --
16 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Code
17 update, too .
18 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : We ' re
19 working on the technology of it all and
20 getting that in place .
21 ANNE MURRAY : The short-term rental
22 code is going to be separate from the
23 Zoning Code, right?
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes .
25 Yes , absolutely .
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 38
1 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : We ' re on
2 a lot of tracks at the same time, but
3 we ' re getting there .
4 ANNE MURRAY : Yeah, because when I
5 look back, it was what, eight or nine
6 years ago, that the short-term rental
7 code was finally adopted . And it was
8 never enforced . So that ' s a lot of
9 Affordable Housing that has gone away .
10 And meanwhile , we have investors here
11 that are making tons with money off the
12 backs of people who need housing . And I
13 just think it ' s terrible .
14 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : I ' ll
15 correct you, we don ' t have a short-term
16 rental code . What we did was we banned
17 short-term rentals nine years ago .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : They
19 were never allowed .
20 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : So
21 they ' re still not allowed until .
22 ANNE MURRAY : But they ' re
23 everywhere . Over 1 , 000 just in the Town
24 alone, or maybe more, who knows .
25 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : There ' s
APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 39
1 over 1 , 000 with an estimated revenue of
2 $ 7 million a year .
3 ANNE MURRAY : Yeah, it ' s pretty
4 horrible . Yeah, so thank you . Please
5 get that going .
6 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Thank
7 you .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Do I
9 have a motion?
10 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : I ' ll
11 make a motion to adjourn .
12 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Second .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
14 favor?
15 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
16 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
17 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
18 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
20
21 (Whereupon, the meeting was
22 adjourned . )
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APRIL 1, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 40
1
2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N
3
4 I , Jessica DiLallo, a Notary Public
5 for and within the State of New York, do
6 hereby certify :
7 THAT, the within transcript is a
8 true record of said Board Meeting .
9 I further certify that I am not
10 related either by blood or marriage to
11 any of the parties to this action; and
12 that I am in no way interested in the
13 outcome of this matter .
14 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
15 set my hand this day, April 1 , 2025 .
16
17
18 (Je sic DiLallo)
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