HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-06/24/2025 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 June 24 , 2025
4 : 30 P . M.
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14 B E F O R E :
15
16 ALBERT KRUPSKI JR, SUPERVISOR
17 LOUISA P . EVANS, JUSTICE
18 GREG DOROSKI , COUNCILMAN
19 BRIAN O . MEALY, COUNCILMAN
20 ANNE H . SMITH, COUNCILWOMAN
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JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
2
3 Chapter 164 - Irrigation 3-52
4 Chapter 280 - Zoning, Signs 52-68
5 Public Comments 68-87
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JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 CHAPTER 164 - IRRIGATION
2 TOWN CLERK DENIS NONCARROW : Okay .
3 This public hearing considers an
4 introductory law to enact Chapter 164 ,
5 Irrigation, which regulates the use of
6 irrigation and irrigation systems by
7 requiring that all new automatic
8 irrigation systems be equipped with
9 smart controller and rain sensor, and
10 further requiring the insulation of
11 such devices by the contractor and
12 owner, on all existing systems within
13 three years of the effective date of
14 this Chapter . With certain exemptions
15 that proposed law establishes an
16 enforcement structure and penalties for
17 offenses . Legal notices for this
18 public hearing are published no less
19 than 10 days prior to the public
20 hearing in an eligible legal Town
21 newspaper . The Clerk ' s Office has
22 received the Affidavit of Service from
23 the newspaper, indicating that that
24 notice was published properly . The
25 Town Clerk file also includes an
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 Affidavit of Posting of the public
2 notice, on the Town Clerk ' s bulletin
3 board at Town Hall .
4 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
5 Mr . Supervisor, the notice documents
6 are in order . We have from the Town
7 Attorney ' s Office Ben Johnson to
8 explain the proposed law in a bit more
9 detail .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
11 you . Welcome , Mr . Johnson .
12 BEN JOHNSON : Thank you . Good
13 evening . All right . So the purpose of
14 this law is that the Southold Town
15 Board recognizes that the sole source
16 of aquifer system is the sole resource
17 to meet the needs of the Town . It ' s a
18 finite resource . Approximately 700 of
19 water during peak use is used for
20 outdoor activities , such as outdoor
21 irrigation . Up to 500 of that water is
22 wasted . So the Town Board of the Town
23 of Southold has decided to take some
24 action and preserve some water . And
25 this legislation establishes the
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 requirements for residential and
2 commercial uses of a garden irrigation
3 system, automatic garden irrigation
4 systems . Moving through to Section 2 ,
5 we have some definitions here . As
6 previously stated, this governs
7 automatic irrigation systems as
8 defined . The contractor and the
9 homeowner will have -- for a new build,
10 will have to comply with this Chapter .
11 And another -- two other important
12 definitions are a rain sensor . A rain
13 sensor is a low voltage electrical or
14 mechanical device that is able to
15 regulate with the flow of water for
16 automatic systems during periods of
17 precipitation . A smart controller is a
18 machine that is able to receive data
19 and calculate the moisture content of
20 the soil to prevent irrigation --
21 automatic irrigation systems from
22 irrigating when there ' s already
23 adequate soil moisture content . So the
24 general requirements here are that
25 sprinkler heads shall preclude the
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 spraying of water on the roadway . It
2 also allows for the Town Board in
3 periods of extreme heat or weather to
4 pass a resolution saying that all
5 irrigation shall be prohibited during
6 those periods . It also adds that smart
7 controllers should be attached to all
8 newly installed automatic systems sent
9 to prevent irrigation after half of an
10 inch of rainfall . And after that, the
11 automatic systems shall be precluded
12 from irrigating for a period of two
13 days . And I will just note that half
14 an inch of rainfall is about a 30
15 minute downpour or two to three hour
16 intermittent rain . So here are the
17 requirements for the automated systems .
18 Premises with automatic systems will be
19 required to water every other day . If
20 you have a house address with a number
21 that ends in an odd number, you ' ll
22 water on odd days and vice versa for
23 even numbered houses , and daily
24 irrigation will be prohibited . All
25 automatic irrigation systems installed
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 7
1 after the date of this Chapter shall be
2 equipped with a smart controller and a
3 rain sensor . That ' s all the new
4 automatic irrigation systems . And they
5 shall be set to prevent water from
6 being applied during periods of rain
7 and also during periods when the soil
8 content is adequate . Then we get to
9 the three year grace period, so to
10 speak . No more than three years after
11 the date of this Chapter, all
12 contractors or homeowners , who either
13 install or update or restart their
14 system for the year, will be required
15 to add at least a rain sensor or a
16 smart controller . Not both . That ' s an
17 end-or-preposition there . And it,
18 again, is going to be with the
19 intention of preventing water from
20 being applied to the lawn or garden in
21 periods of rain or periods where the
22 smart controller or rain sensor is
23 saying that the soil moisture content
24 is sufficient to sustain plant life on
25 the premises . Contractors who install
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 these devices will give a simple letter
2 of compliance saying that to the
3 homeowner, that the system is in
4 compliance with this Chapter . That
5 will then be forwarded to the Town, and
6 will be evidence of compliance with
7 this Chapter . Agricultural production
8 and agricultural operations for
9 nurseries and garden centers will be
10 exempt from this . It will be
11 enforceable by the Building Inspector,
12 Code Enforcement Officer, Ordinance
13 Inspector, or other official designated
14 by the Town Board to do so . Penalties
15 and offenses , I will note that upon
16 first violation of this Chapter, you
17 will have to be served with a Notice of
18 Violation giving you 30 days to cure .
19 After that, you are subjected to a fine
20 of up to $ 1 , 000 . And that is besides
21 the severability clause and the
22 effective date being nuts and bolts of
23 this proposed local law . Happy to
24 answer any questions .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 you, Ben . I think this did go through
2 Code Committee . And I don ' t think all
3 of what is submitted here tonight
4 survived Code Committee . So there ' s a
5 couple things that some of the Board
6 members have recognized . The odd/even
7 numbering days , I think was struck from
8 -- after that meeting . And also the
9 written documentation provided to the
10 Town, I believe was also eliminated .
11 The Code Committee felt it was
12 important for the contractors to get
13 documentation upon installation to the
14 owner, but not required to submit them
15 to the Town .
16 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : So
17 for the record Mr . Supervisor, what was
18 just presented to the Board was what
19 was noticed to the public . So these
20 are -- these are other issues that we
21 know came from Code Committee . We
22 expected them to be discussed during
23 the public hearing, and then we will
24 alter the ultimate Chapter, if adopted
25 by the Board .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : The
2 reason -- and I just wanted to bring it
3 up before we got into taking comments .
4 I noticed another irregularity within
5 the agenda, and I just wanted to make
6 sure that I didn ' t have an old agenda
7 or something .
8 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
9 Okay . Thank you .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Does
11 anyone here like to address the Board?
12 BRENT MEYER : My name is Brent
13 Meyer . I am a resident of Southold . I
14 would like to ask for an exemption for
15 anyone who ' s not using the water
16 system, public water system. In other
17 words , private wells , regulation of a
18 lot of people reclaim water as far as
19 at least usage with days and not much .
20 As far as having a smart sensor, that ' s
21 fine , I understand that . Having a
22 moisture -- a means of moisture or rain
23 gauge, I would question that . Because
24 quite honestly, if they don ' t last,
25 they don ' t work very well . The smarter
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 controllers now use a web site -- I ' m
2 sorry . Use live data off a website .
3 That ' s about as accurate as you can
4 get . And I ' ve got to be honest with
5 you, it ' s not that great . But neither
6 are the sensors that are being
7 discussed . That ' s really all I have to
8 say .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
10 you . Thank you for your comments .
11 Yes , sir?
12 JOHN STYPE : My name is John
13 Stype . I ' m the Deputy Supervisor, and
14 also a member of this committee . There
15 are other members of the committee here
16 also . Kate Daly, who ' s the Chairperson
17 and also Vinny Orlando . Councilwoman
18 Smith and also Councilman Mealy,
19 they ' re on the committee too . So there
20 are quite a few people here on the
21 committee . And Councilman --
22 Supervisor Krupski has attended the
23 meetings also . I just wanted to give a
24 basic background on the work that the
25 Water Committee did . The Water
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 Committee has been working on this for
2 over two years . We met with the Town
3 Board in February and June of 2024 , to
4 get the thoughts of the Town Board on
5 what they were thinking when we got to
6 this code . We were given a timeline
7 for completing this project by the end
8 of 2024 . We met with the Town Board on
9 December 17th of ' 24 , to give them our
10 final thoughts . To come up with our
11 conclusions , we just didn ' t sit amongst
12 the committee and try to come up with
13 ideas . We met with the representative
14 from the New York State Water
15 Irrigation Association several times
16 and also to local sprinkler businesses .
17 We didn ' t want to go and have a code
18 like this put into effect without
19 getting the industry to go ahead and to
20 give their thoughts and ideas . We did
21 speak to Suffolk County Water Authority
22 and had Michael Reichel from Riverhead
23 Water Company . A speech to our
24 committee to give us his ideas on ways
25 of cutting the water use . We also
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 attended a meeting to discuss saltwater
2 intrusion, which is an important issue
3 on the North Fork also . Ben Johnson
4 just mentioned a lot of the particulars
5 of the code, but we do feel that this
6 is a step in the right direction and
7 that we hope that the Town Board does
8 go and approve this code . Thank you .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
10 you, Jim. Thank you for your work on
11 this .
12 KATE DALY : Hi . My name is Kate
13 Daly . I am the Chair of the Southold
14 Town Water Advisory Committee . I ' m
15 very honored to serve with the
16 expertise and talent of the other
17 volunteers who serve on the committee .
18 And I just wanted to share additional
19 background to what John had provided,
20 which is that committee over the past
21 year or more has felt a real sense of
22 urgency about the importance of
23 bringing forward water conservation
24 measures to preserve the water, both
25 quality and quantity on the North Fork .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 And we do, of course, have many
2 residents in our township who conserve
3 water . We have many residents who do
4 not water their driveways during
5 rainstorms . And yet, at the same time,
6 what the committee concluded is that
7 it ' s not enough to rely on individual
8 behavior change . And we ' re very
9 grateful for all the work the Civics
10 and other groups have done to advance
11 conservation and that even the Water
12 Authority has done in terms of giving
13 discounted controllers , etcetera . And
14 yet, all of these efforts really
15 haven ' t done enough to have a strong
16 enough impact on water conservation .
17 And that was where the committee
18 ultimately concluded after all of the
19 research that John just described, that
20 we needed to focus on a systems level
21 effort, and that if we were able to
22 focus on the installation of
23 professional irrigation systems , where
24 residents and businesses are already
25 spending money on that installation .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 That if we had a means to encourage or
2 require them to do it right and to have
3 conservation measures be a part of that
4 installation that they ' re already doing
5 anyway . That they ' re already spending
6 money on . That that would be a way to,
7 at a systems level , institute changes
8 that could have a serious impact in
9 addition to continuing our education
10 efforts and the conservation measures
11 that so many residents voluntarily do .
12 So I just wanted to share why we felt
13 that this legislation became the
14 cornerstone of all of our efforts over
15 the past year to make sure that it was
16 carefully researched . And also to make
17 sure that it reflected successes and
18 weaknesses of other types of
19 legislation that we ' ve seen in other
20 townships on Long Island . Thank you .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
22 you .
23 TOM STEVENSON : First, I ' d like to
24 applaud the Town for beginning to
25 address the need for water conservation
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 by tackling the issue of the irrigation
2 of lawns .
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Sorry,
4 Glynis from Orient . Could you identify
5 yourself, please ? We know you .
6 GLYNIS BERRY : Sorry . Glynis
7 Berry . I live in Orient .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
9 you .
10 GLYNIS BERRY : So first, I ' m going
11 to start up .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Okay,
13 sorry .
14 GLYNIS BERRY : I ' d like to applaud
15 you for addressing this issue for the
16 need for water conservation by tackling
17 the issue of the irrigation of lawns ,
18 which is the most wasteful use of
19 water . And it increases the cost for
20 everybody else who needs it for things
21 like drinking water and household use .
22 I strongly support this legislation,
23 although, of course , I always want
24 more . So if you pass it this way, it ' s
25 a great first step . If you are going
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 to look at amendments , just a couple of
2 thoughts to consider . 164-4A, which is
3 the alternative day use, this rule is
4 beneficial in its reduction of stress
5 on the infrastructure and the rate of
6 simultaneous pumping . So it helps
7 mitigate saltwater intrusion . It does
8 not necessarily reduce the amount of
9 water being used, because there ' s no
10 limit on either the rate or the time .
11 So if you want to reduce the total
12 water needed, and you have Cornell , and
13 they have recommendations on, you know,
14 you shouldn ' t water more than "x"
15 number of inches . You might want to
16 add that to this . And then you ' ll
17 actually reduce the water use, as well
18 as mitigate it on the extreme . I kept
19 on hearing all for going back, which I
20 totally supported, but when I was
21 reading it, it wasn ' t clear to me that
22 it meant that all existing ones would
23 need to be updated . So that maybe I
24 just read it wrong . So I ' m glad that
25 it ' s all . 164-4D, this statute only
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 requires notification regarding
2 compliant systems . Wouldn ' t it be more
3 effective to require a registry of all
4 automatic irrigation systems in the
5 Town? Data could include whether the
6 system is compliant, the size, and
7 estimated water usage . This way
8 conservation efforts could be targeted
9 more efficiently . So you know where
10 you have to make the improvements and
11 where they ' re located . And the
12 assumption that was requested that if
13 you ' re on a well , you shouldn ' t have to
14 abide by this , I disagree . Because
15 we ' re all pulling in from the same
16 aquifer . And if you ' re pulling too
17 much water, you could be causing
18 saltwater intrusion on somebody ' s
19 drinking well next door . So the only
20 exemption I could see is if you do
21 something like Shelter Island that, has
22 retaining tanks . Where they have water
23 trucks come and fill it up, or you
24 retain it from rainwater . Then you ' re
25 not drawing from the aquifer . But you
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 really want to protect the aquifer .
2 164-4D, will the Town maintain a list
3 of qualified irrigation installers and
4 maintenance companies , and require
5 certification education on proper
6 irrigation practices that avoid
7 inappropriate use? So I think there
8 needs to be some kind of educational
9 component to this . And under 164 . 4 ,
10 under exemptions , please consider
11 adding the production of food . Many
12 homeowners have vegetable gardens ,
13 which should be exempt . So it ' s lawns
14 that we should be attacking, not the
15 production of the food . I strongly
16 support this legislation and hope that
17 it is only the first step in a more
18 aggressive conservation program .
19 Teacher programs may consider pilots
20 for industries using high quantities of
21 waters and requirements for low flow
22 fixtures during building renovations .
23 Swimming pools can double a household ' s
24 water usage and cause saltwater
25 intrusion when it ' s being filled, so
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 20
1 measures do . Address those issues like
2 covers and how, you know -- and Shelter
3 Island does have some strong
4 regulations that are worth a good, but
5 a look at . And I ' m grateful that the
6 issue of water conservation is finally
7 being considered . Thank you .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
9 you .
10 JEN HARTNAGLE : Hi . Good evening,
11 Supervisor and Members of the Town
12 Board, my name is Jen Hartnagle and I ' m
13 speaking on behalf of the group for the
14 East End . We ' re also here tonight to
15 support this no-brainer piece of
16 legislation . Thank you . We believe it
17 provides meaningful measures to help
18 safeguard our water resources . It ' s
19 quite an eye opener when you hear that
20 Suffolk County Water Authority shared
21 that approximately 700 of the water is
22 used for irrigation purposes during
23 those time periods , that the Town
24 Attorney shared earlier . And given our
25 state of water resources in the Town,
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 21
1 we hope the Town Board supports this
2 and also works to enforce it . I just
3 also wanted to point out that the
4 Town ' s Comprehensive Plan update, did
5 expressly recommend some of these
6 measures . I just want to read this
7 quickly to get it on the record . It
8 was Goal Number One , conserve water
9 quantity, and Objective 1 . 1 , consider
10 mandatory water conservation measures
11 for residential irrigation . A,
12 designate odd even days for lawn
13 irrigation . And B, use rain meters to
14 prevent automatic sprinklers from
15 activating on rainy days . So again,
16 this was in our Comp Plan . It ' s been a
17 long time coming . A lot of other towns
18 on Long Island are moving in this
19 direction, and we need to conserve our
20 water resources here . We all know
21 that . So thank you, and we hope you ' ll
22 support this .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
24 you . Anyone else in the audience?
25 (No Response) .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 22
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
2 don ' t see anyone on Zoom.
3 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Tom
4 Stevenson .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Tom,
6 don ' t you have a graduation?
7 TOM STEVENSON : Tom Stevenson,
8 Orient . Thanks for taking my comments .
9 Water is something that I ' ve been
10 following for years in this Town . From
11 the prior Water Committee , from my time
12 on the Ag Committee . And just from my
13 science background . And college I took
14 Irrigation Engineering classes . And so
15 it ' s something that I have knowledge
16 and you know, want to share . But so,
17 we got -- usually I don ' t write it . I
18 just run from the hip . But we Southold
19 don ' t take lightly to regulations that
20 impinge on what has traditionally been
21 allowed on our private properties . The
22 Andross patent of which the Supervisor
23 is well aware , that ' s our colonial
24 patent that was adopted by New York
25 State . It would have us asking whose
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 23
1 water is it? Who gets to control it or
2 who gets to sell it? Is it mine,
3 yours ? Is it ours ? Who knows . These
4 questions haven ' t really been answered
5 as far as I ' m concerned . But let ' s
6 keep asking the question . So that
7 brings us to Southold ' s first ever
8 proposed Irrigation Code . 380 years
9 in . So there ' s no study that shows
10 that 700 of our water is used for
11 irrigation . It seems high to me . It ' s
12 anyone ' s best guess , perhaps . I don ' t
13 want to be a curmudgeon here . I mean,
14 I ' m an organic farmer . My well does 20
15 pounds a minute . So I ' m not pumping
16 thousands of gallons like the good old
17 days in Orient . Where it was like
18 1 , 000 gallons here, 750 , all running
19 all the time, all night . That ' s over
20 for farming . And just go slow . So
21 it ' s anyone ' s best guess . The 500
22 wasted figure . I mean, if you put that
23 in a preamble , I just want to see where
24 that ' s proven . If I over water my
25 farm, which I don ' t, I under water, dry
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 24
1 farm, a lot of stuff . I frankly can ' t
2 deliver water everywhere . And I grow
3 things that don ' t require water . And I
4 love things that don ' t need spraying
5 and don ' t need fertilizer . And maybe
6 the Town should work with some of the
7 people that are doing this kind of
8 thing . Anyway, there ' s no study on the
9 50o wasted . And that ' s the defies
10 common sense . If I over water -- so if
11 my neighbor is watering for three, four
12 hours with the potato pipe, that ' s over
13 watering . Where does it go? It goes
14 back down on the aquifer . Okay . I
15 know that water can flow uphill in Town
16 Hall . But what Southold has is a
17 summer pumping problem . And for those
18 on public water systems , it ' s really
19 Suffolk County Water Authority that has
20 stated that the infrastructure that
21 they have can ' t keep up in the summer .
22 And that ' s a problem. Totally a
23 problem . But it ' s not really a lack of
24 water . It ' s not that the water ' s not
25 there . It ' s just their system can ' t do
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 25
1 it . So we all know USGS is currently
2 conducting a study for aquifer on
3 Eastern Long Island . The well -- they
4 cleaned up the well site . The grass is
5 already growing . Everyone up was
6 there . But they drilled down to 605
7 feet . And they hit a spongy bedrock .
8 It wasn ' t really like -- it ' s weird . I
9 -- didn ' t really make sense . But you
10 go through -- and I brought my daughter
11 up there . You could see it . It was
12 like , frenetic, but it mushed a little
13 bit . Anyway, we ' re learning . So
14 that ' s the first time that anyone ' s
15 actually drilled down to see what ' s
16 there . Whether or not that fits what
17 people were guessing what it was , I
18 don ' t know . I know that the shallow
19 water aquifer at the school was 105
20 feet deep, which was deeper than what
21 Fred thought it was going to be . I
22 don ' t know . And then 105 feet of clay,
23 and then was it solving underneath? I
24 mean, we ' ll find out . So they ' re doing
25 the measurements of deep well
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 26
1 monitoring . They ' re dropping MRI
2 machines down . They ' re going to
3 create -- You ' re going to have data
4 points . You ' re going to be able to see
5 how the aquifers reacting seasonal year
6 to year . Is there deep water here ? I
7 thought there was . Maybe there isn ' t .
8 I don ' t know . You ' ve got to go to
9 Baiting Hollow . Then you ' ve got the
10 glacial water . You hit the glacial
11 water in Riverhead . Once you get
12 there, you ' ve got Christine . When the
13 glaciers melted, they didn ' t disappear .
14 They went and created that aquifer . So
15 irrigation professionals recommended to
16 the Water Committee , proceed slowly
17 with any new codes . Even though if I
18 had owned an irrigation company, which
19 I wasn ' t smart enough to start here, I
20 probably would say, yeah, go for it .
21 Because I ' m going to get a lot of
22 business . Because if I ' m a little
23 elderly person who just has a simple
24 irrigation-style thing, that ' s worked
25 since the 60 ' s , I ' m going to have to
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 27
1 get rid of that . Maybe . Or I ' m just
2 not going to worry about it . So this
3 code has no incentives for
4 conservation . I think it ' s heavy
5 handed . It ' s a heavy handed way to go
6 about it . I would love to see
7 voluntary compliance . I really think
8 the educational -- I mean, nobody wants
9 to see . That brand new house come in,
10 clear cut the lot, build a huge
11 McMansion, vote a full win . Have a
12 deep green lawn . Have it running ' all
13 the time . I don ' t wanna see that, but
14 should you be able to do that? I don ' t
15 know . That ' s one of the questions .
16 I ' m not up there , you guys are . I
17 would say enforcing this code will be
18 difficult, if not impossible . But it ' s
19 gonna be complaint-based . I mean, this
20 Town has a problem with Code
21 Enforcement, with all due respect, but
22 there ' s a lot of things that aren ' t .
23 You got it on the books , and then we
24 got it on the books , let ' s pat
25 ourselves on the back . And what are we
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 28
1 gonna do? We ' re not gonna enforce it .
2 Farm stand code, my number one,
3 enforce . So, this type of law is
4 against how we have gotten by for
5 hundreds of years without the long arm
6 of government adding restrictions on
7 dubious scientific grounds . Wells
8 versus public supplies , I know someone
9 brought that up . I really think if you
10 were going to do something like this ,
11 it should be on only Suffolk County
12 Water Authority wells . If the pipeline
13 connects to Laurel , they ' re not going
14 to want you to restrict how much water
15 that you buy, whether that ever goes
16 through or not . I mean that ' s --
17 there ' s a lot up in the internet . So
18 you know, I was trying to figure that
19 out maybe first . In Orient, I mean the
20 Orient Water Resources Study just came
21 out and working on it for -- not me,
22 but other people for years . So in that
23 study, I mean it just came out a couple
24 days ago . It says it shows no decline
25 in the height of the water table over
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 29
1 the past 60 years and that there is
2 sufficient water quantity . That ' s what
3 it says . Now are people getting
4 saltwater intrusion on, you know, that
5 well that ' s right on the coast? Sure .
6 How are you going to solve that?
7 That ' s the problem, but restricting
8 everyone? Maybe it ' s going to happen .
9 Jill ' s not here . I think she was going
10 to vote no . There ' s 6 . 8 billion
11 gallons estimated of water in the
12 Orient aquifer, so I mean I didn ' t -- I
13 didn ' t touch that today watering
14 whatever rinky-dink amount of water in
15 farming ' s gone away . So I mean that ' s
16 going to be even more water that you
17 can, but the three quarters of the
18 water went up to sea . You know, so I
19 mean it ' s a Summer pumping problem . I
20 would look at other things like the
21 cistern storage, how can you store ? I
22 mean, you ' re talking vast quantities ,
23 but you can pump all you want in the
24 Winter and have no effect on the price
25 of eggs or the water gone to the ocean .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 30
1 You ' re contributing to sea level rise .
2 So I don ' t know . I mean, I would
3 say -- so any substantial changes to
4 this code that are done now, I think,
5 should be re-noticed . And another
6 public hearing, that ' s only right . I
7 obviously don ' t know what the rules
8 exactly are, but I thought that that
9 would be for more of a slight wording
10 change or something like that, but not
11 adding sections , taking sections out .
12 And then I would say this is a warning,
13 I mean, for those of us that are left
14 here . I mean, there ' s a regulatory
15 agenda wish list that ' s being pushed by
16 people in this Town . Some of them are,
17 frankly, radical changes that, I mean .
18 Listen, I ' m -- you know, I like the
19 Grateful Dead . Okay . Like, I am not
20 here personally, okay . But I just want
21 to speak up, because I -- there ' s a
22 lot, you know, in the Water Committee
23 and people were saying, you know, why
24 is it fair that farms get to pump
25 whatever they want? We should be
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 31
1 regulating them too . I know we got the
2 cut out for Ag, you know, that wording
3 at the beginning where it said for
4 commercial gardening, that sounded like
5 agriculture to me . But I know that the
6 section ' s in there . And then I walk --
7 but we, you guys table the aquifer
8 protection zones . Well , the aquifer
9 protection zones were like, really a
10 big, huge change for this Town . This
11 little rinky-dinky town . You know,
12 you ' re going to tell me I can only
13 plant native plants on my property . I
14 can only water a certain percentage of
15 those and not fertilize areas . You ' re
16 going to tell me that every meter in
17 the Town has , you have to have a meter
18 on every well . And that has to be
19 mandatory reported to somebody that
20 then can tell me what to do with it?
21 Well , I feel like telling them what to
22 do with it . We ' re in the Zoning Code
23 update . I mean, we ' re all in this
24 together . Okay . Kumbaya . But go
25 slow . Get a break . So I got -- I
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 32
1 mean, I ' m hot . Sorry . If I got a
2 little too hot .
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Okay .
4 Thank you .
5 TOM STEVENSON : Thank you .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So
7 would anyone else like to address the
8 Board?
9 (No Response) .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
11 would just like to say first you
12 mentioned the ( inaudible) package that
13 wasn ' t 1647 , it 1667 . And they
14 mentioned waters because they knew how
15 important the waters are in town for
16 the residents back then . The purpose
17 of the bill , people spoke about a lot
18 of things here . The purpose of the
19 bill is really -- in the very beginning
20 to limit watering your lawn when it ' s
21 raining . That ' s really the purpose .
22 And sitting through a lot CAP meetings
23 the Long Island Commission on acting
24 for protection, that was Nassau and
25 represented by people from Nassau and
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 33
1 Suffolk . The lawn irrigation
2 professionals that they could be a
3 savings in the summertime of 15 to 250
4 of the water . Just by not irrigating
5 the lawn when it ' s raining . And that ' s
6 really the first step towards this
7 because the aquifer is your bank of
8 water . We were drawing it on rainy
9 days and it ' s not necessary, then
10 you ' re just wasting that water for you
11 because you might need it later on in
12 the season, if it gets dry . Because
13 the Town Board has set the Code
14 Committee meeting, recognized that
15 there were a lot of changes that had
16 been made to this . I would like to
17 entertain a motion to recess , and make
18 sure we can clean this up to what was
19 considered by the Code Committee . And
20 also consider the comments that were
21 made today . And then come back in two
22 weeks . We can -- can we re-notice
23 those changes ? And then come back in
24 two weeks ? Is there time enough to do
25 that?
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 34
1 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : In
2 viewing what the proposed change is ,
3 Mr . Supervisor, and as I understand it,
4 you can correct me, we are removing
5 something that was already noticed .
6 It ' s not adding anything in, I think I
7 just heard someone say . So the request
8 is to remove the odd and even watering
9 days only, which would be 164-4A.
10 There ' s no requirement, if you will , to
11 re-notice . It ' s not a new application .
12 It ' s not a new Code Chapter . There
13 would be no reason to send it back to
14 Suffolk County Planning because they ' ve
15 already considered, and didn ' t make
16 comment on that specific section . So
17 we can hold over for -- your choices , I
18 believe , would be to hold over for
19 further written comment or hold over to
20 another meeting, where we can, in the
21 interim, put out the amended proposed
22 Chapter for view, either on the Town ' s
23 website or any other location for the
24 public view . And take further
25 additional comments on that evening,
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 35
1 such as July 24th .
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
3 you, I appreciate that .
4 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
5 Thank you .
6 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Correct
7 me if I ' m wrong, though . I think we
8 had also a Code Committee discussed
9 removing 164-4D, the written
10 documentation requirement . Again just
11 with the idea that this is a starting
12 point, and having that mechanism in
13 there was maybe a little bit clunky to
14 begin with .
15 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : So I
16 didn ' t attend the Code Committee . I
17 know that my office was present . The
18 amended version of this would then show
19 164-4 as without A or D in it .
20 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And then
21 at least, I for one , would be
22 interested in potentially adding an
23 exemption for the growing of food on
24 residential properties too . Because
25 this did seem directed at irrigation .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 36
1 I know for me , I water my garden with
2 manual sprinklers , but I know folks
3 that do water their gardens with
4 automatic . Just with the idea that
5 more and more folks are growing their
6 own food . And this is something we do
7 want to support . Maybe we look at that
8 exemption, as well .
9 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Yeah, I
10 think we thought that was understood,
11 but it is not clear .
12 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And it
13 may make sense just as we look at the
14 potential for complaints to be filed in
15 the future . I think the clearer we can
16 be that this is specifically targeted
17 residential lawn irrigation automatic
18 sprinklers , the better off we ' ll be .
19 But that ' s just my preference .
20 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : And
21 the proposed or the amended version
22 will clarify that exemption .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So
24 I ' ll entertain a motion to recess ?
25 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Can I
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 37
1 also just make a comment first?
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yeah .
3 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : First of
4 all , I want to -- as one of the
5 liaisons to the Water Committee , I want
6 to say thank you to everyone who ' s
7 here . I do commend the Committee for
8 their efforts to really work with the
9 professionals and experts in the field .
10 As you can see, it took us a while to
11 get this to Code Committee because we
12 spent a lot of time on it . And one of
13 our goals , which I think we ' re
14 achieving right now is through the
15 process of even bringing this
16 legislation to the table or starting
17 important conversations and also
18 getting people to reflect on their own
19 behavior and maybe making those
20 changes . Not for fear of violating a
21 code , but just learning about what is
22 important about this legislation and
23 why it ' s important that we consider it .
24 And I ' m also in favor of keeping this
25 open . And I do want to be sure when we
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 38
1 vote on it, that we have a full Board
2 here .
3 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I think
4 that ' s important . Just thinking
5 through though, and I don ' t know if
6 this is the time for discussion, but
7 wondering just in the interest of being
8 clear to the public what we ' re voting
9 on, I think that we ' re discussing code
10 now, the code was noticed that we ' re
11 actually changing somewhat
12 significantly . Wondering if we want to
13 close it . Withdraw it and re-notice it
14 or --
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
16 don ' t think so . I agree with Paul .
17 It ' s been out . We were we ' re gonna
18 make it reflect what the Code Committee
19 discussed . And it is certainly within
20 the confines of the same spirit of
21 that . So it ' s improving .
22 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : I
23 would ask that the motion be to hold
24 over until the July 24th .
25 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Mr .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 39
1 Supervisor, can I also just interject?
2 One of the reasons why I attended the
3 meetings for the past nine months was
4 to get a synergy and effort because I ' m
5 also the liaison to Conservation
6 Advisory Council . And the work that
7 this Committee has done is critical .
8 We have to put our money where our
9 mouth is . If we believe water is the
10 most precious resource , how are we
11 protecting it? And that ' s exactly how
12 this Committee has done . And I just
13 want to commend, it has been such a
14 journey of community education to work
15 with the Deputy Supervisor John Stype .
16 To sit next to Vinny Orlando, one of
17 the most historic persons that has
18 served the Town, and Kate Daly, our
19 Chair . So I have said this before .
20 This is one of the most well-run
21 committees we have in the Town . And if
22 you have not had the opportunity to sit
23 in or to watch the meetings , watch the
24 meeting for a well-run Town meeting
25 that ' s talking about serious issues
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 40
1 that affect the Town . It really is
2 something that is a community
3 education . And I know enough to know I
4 don ' t know everything and to know that
5 you have to keep learning . It just has
6 been an honor to work with Anne and
7 just to be quiet and to be a sponge .
8 Just grateful for the opportunity and
9 keep doing good work . And as Glynis
10 said, if we get this on the books , I ' m
11 just so glad that Glynis was here to
12 say, okay, if you believe this and it ' s
13 the right direction, this is how you
14 can go further . So I just appreciate
15 Glynis Berry saying what she said .
16 That this is good, but if you ' re really
17 serious about this , this is the next
18 step . So I just appreciate the people
19 in the community that have an
20 understanding about what the potential
21 next steps are . And they share their
22 knowledge . So thank you to everybody
23 that commented about this .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : When
25 we do have -- the hearing is not yet
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 41
1 closed . We have one more comment .
2
3 GLYNIS BERRY : Thank you . I just,
4 one, I would like to get a better
5 understanding of why the only proposed
6 changes -- so the ones that weaken the
7 bill , rather than strengthen it . And I
8 think the alternate day -- although I
9 don ' t think it conserves as much, it
10 has a huge impact on saltwater
11 intrusion, and it ' s a good mitigation .
12 So to drop that alternate day, has an
13 impact? So I would be curious to know
14 why you think the Code Committee ' s
15 recommendation to drop that is stronger
16 than the work that has been done on
17 trying to identify how to protect the
18 aquifer?
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
20 you .
21 BRENT MEYER : Is this an issue
22 with the public water system or the
23 overall aquifer? I think the way I ' m
24 reading it now sounds like it ' s the
25 overall aquifer, but if it ' s like a
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 42
1 computer system with the public water
2 system, has a bunch of huge wells
3 drawing in a lot of fluid . They
4 contribute a lot more negative pressure
5 drawing into the filtration system .
6 Taking the computer system and
7 diversifying it out to a bunch of small
8 little pumps , causes less problems than
9 that . And they also relieve the
10 pressure on that, which is why I
11 thought if people had wells or have
12 reclamation, they ' re actually relieving
13 the pressure on the public utility
14 system, and perhaps the water
15 intrusion . That ' s something that
16 geologists will have to answer . But
17 that ' s what I ' m concerned about .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
19 I think your observations , sir, are
20 absolutely correct . If you go back 50
21 years when every farm had potatoes on
22 it, and they were all irrigated all
23 Summer long, you didn ' t have these
24 problems . But the pressure on the
25 aquifer was spread out throughout the
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 43
1 whole aquifer . Everyone had a well .
2 Now you ' re trying to water one whole
3 community from one central location .
4 So of course, you ' re putting tremendous
5 stress on that aquifer by trying to
6 pump everything from one location .
7 Absolutely right .
8 BRENT MEYER : Which is why I
9 didn ' t feel bad saying people had wells
10 that might actually be helping us in
11 reducing the load on the utility, and
12 diversifying the load on the system.
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : But
14 the purpose of the whole bill , really,
15 is to prevent people from watering
16 anything with an automatic system.
17 Because it ' s the automatic systems that
18 water on the rainy day .
19 BRENT MEYER : And that ' s the
20 odd/even day . That was -- if I heard
21 correctly, the code is no longer going
22 to have that . It ' s going to say
23 whatever days . You ' re not going to say
24 which day they can do it on, just
25 because you ' re the number of the
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 44
1 street, right?
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
3 that was the suggestion that came out
4 of the Code Committee .
5 BRENT MEYER : So they ' re going to
6 tie it to your number?
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No,
8 no, the suggestion was not to include
9 that .
10 BRENT MEYER : And I understand
11 that . Certainly don ' t want to waste
12 water . Wouldn ' t it make more sense to
13 somehow work with the Building
14 Committee? And if the lawns are a
15 problem, find a way of reducing the
16 lawns ? Or improve on how they ' re
17 irrigated?
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
19 as far as reducing the lawn, certainly
20 if you ' re reducing your total
21 irrigation . How they irrigate it, the
22 irrigation installers are good
23 professionals . And they are -- they
24 are as concerned about water
25 conservation as anyone . They ' ve been
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 45
1 very good participants in this process
2 because -- they ' re the professionals
3 and they take that seriously .
4 BRENT MEYER : I applaud the fact
5 that it ' s going to be retroactive after
6 three years . I ' m not sure how you ' re
7 going to do that, but I applaud the
8 intent .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
10 you .
11 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I think
12 looking at part of the discussion that
13 was had at Code Committee , the focus
14 was really on conservation and
15 education . And some issues were raised
16 with potential difficulty in enforcing
17 this . But if there ' s a pretty wide
18 agreement, and I accept Tom ' s
19 contention that maybe there ' s not a
20 hard and fast number here . But these
21 are numbers that have been provided by
22 a number of different sources , that up
23 to 700 of peak demand is on residential
24 lawn irrigation . And of that, 50o is
25 wasted . It seemed like it was a good
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 46
1 place for the Town to start with trying
2 to reduce that waste . And even if we
3 don ' t get 100o compliance , some
4 conservation starting out is better
5 than nothing . And just us having this
6 discussion is part of this education
7 effort . And difficulties with
8 enforcement, whether it ' s ensuring odd
9 and even house number compliance, it
10 seemed like at this stage made it
11 potentially a little bit too complex .
12 And it made sense to get something on
13 the books to start the incremental
14 approach of a shared commitment to
15 reducing water waste and conserving the
16 water that we have . There ' s still a
17 lot to figure out . As Tom points out,
18 the USGS just sunk a really deep well
19 at Orient . And the Town is actually
20 going to work with them to commission a
21 pretty complex water model . So we can
22 better understand our aquifer . But we
23 felt like it was really important to
24 start someplace . And this seemed like
25 a good place to start . I think we can
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 47
1 always do more . But it seemed to make
2 sense to start someplace . And these
3 are just very, very basic tools that
4 are working in existence that we felt
5 would help conserve water .
6 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : I think
7 there ' s another comment .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Oh,
9 yes . Please come up, George . And
10 while you ' re coming up, I just have to
11 thank Oyster Pond School . There ' s a
12 couple of people here from Oyster Pond
13 School Board Members . That when USGS
14 reached out to me and said could you
15 find us a location in Orient for a
16 well , because we ' d like to do a better
17 survey of the water conditions at
18 Orient and the aquifer . I reached out
19 to the school and they were more than
20 willing to host a well there . So they
21 could test and they know where the clay
22 layers are , where the saltwater was .
23 And it ' s going to be very helpful to
24 know how to manage our water resource
25 going forward . So thank you . George ?
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 48
1 GEORGE MAUL : George Maul from New
2 Suffolk . I don ' t really understand why
3 no one from the Code Committee has
4 really made it clear to me why the
5 odd/even day has been removed, and like
6 at the last minute like this . I really
7 like to understand why it ' s been
8 removed . And just my side comment is ,
9 that my understanding from Suffolk
10 County Water Authority scoping sessions
11 so far, is that one of the reasons why
12 they want to do this $ 35 million
13 distribution project into the Town of
14 Southold is because a good number of
15 the wells that they have here in
16 Southold are already having trouble
17 with saltwater intrusion . So it ' s a
18 bigger problem than we realize . And
19 it ' s great to keep studying like we are
20 doing now . And I just want to add one
21 other thing that I thought hasn ' t come
22 out yet . And that ' s that everyone in
23 Suffolk County has a $20 . 00 charge on
24 their bill right now for treatment of
25 the water . And you know, a good deal
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 49
1 of that treated water, if anyone is
2 doing irrigation on their huge lawn,
3 we ' re using treated water to irrigate
4 the lawns if they ' re on the Suffolk
5 County water system, which seems really
6 ridiculous that we ' re all paying $20 . 00
7 and a good deal of that water is being
8 used to irrigate lawns . So I ' d really
9 like to understand how the Code
10 Committee or where the Code Committee
11 decided clearly why we don ' t have the
12 odd and even thing .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Just a
14 quick explanation, is that you will not
15 necessarily reduce the amount of water
16 used and enforcement would be
17 difficult . So we ' re really looking at
18 trying to reduce the amount of water .
19 Thank you . John?
20 JOHN STYPE : I just want to also
21 mention a couple of the things that the
22 committee did look at . We did talk
23 about rain barrels . I personally have
24 three rain barrels that I go ahead and
25 use to water our garden or I have a
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 50
1 small pond, fish pond, and I use that
2 to replenish the water into the fish
3 pond . We did talk about the building
4 code . I understand in regard to
5 polling out, as Supervisor Krupski
6 mentioned, in regard to having
7 different well points . You know, we
8 spoke about that also . We ' ve even
9 talked about gray water systems on
10 trying to replenish the water and the
11 holding tanks . What we have to look at
12 is -- and I think Glynis mentioned,
13 that this is the beginning . This is
14 not the end . If we were going to
15 address all of these items , it would
16 just take forever . And it ' s not a
17 basic, easy answer . But this is a good
18 start, because we do have to stop that .
19 Especially because one of the things
20 that has irked us on the committee the
21 most, and we all have seen it, is after
22 an inch of rain, the next day there ' s
23 irrigation systems going on, or they ' re
24 going on while --
25 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : While
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 51
1 it ' s raining .
2 JOHN STYPE : And that is such a
3 waste, and that ' s not good for your
4 lawn . So we did look at a lot of these
5 things , but we had to narrow it down to
6 just to start the process . And then
7 over time, we can make adjustments .
8 But I just wanted to add that we did
9 look into all these things .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
11 you .
12 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Just to
13 add also, Deputy Supervisor Stype was
14 essential in bringing people in the
15 industry along with the process .
16 Didn ' t exclude them, opened door,
17 having them in the meetings . That was
18 crucial to me to witness that . That
19 the people who are doing these things
20 are doing them already, but they ' re
21 carried along with this great effort to
22 try to reduce things . So I just
23 appreciate that he had that mindset and
24 brought people in who are actually
25 installing these systems and want to do
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 52
1 it right . And whatever system you
2 have , whether it ' s an old system or a
3 new system, that it ' s done properly in
4 the effort to conserve water .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Do we
6 have -- there ' s no other hands --
7 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I will
8 make a motion to keep it open until the
9 24th .
10 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Second .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
12 favor?
13 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
14 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
15 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
16 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
18 Thank you .
19 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
20 CHAPTER 280 - ZONING, SIGNS
21 TOWN CLERK DENIS NONCARROW : This
22 public hearing considers the
23 Introductory Local Law to amend Chapter
24 280 zoning, Section 285-85 , entitled
25 Specific Signs . One by regulating the
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 53
1 size and type of political signs that
2 may be utilized . Two, prohibiting the
3 placement of such signs on land owned
4 by the Town, including municipal use
5 parcels , Town right-of-way, Town parks ,
6 utility poles , beaches , schools , and on
7 Town structures . Three, establishing
8 the time that such signs may be
9 displayed, which shall include the
10 period 60 days prior to the election or
11 primary . Four, requiring that such
12 signage be removed within 10 days after
13 the election or vote for which the sign
14 was placed . And five, providing for
15 required security deposits to be paid
16 by the individual candidate or
17 affiliated organization or party to
18 ensure compliance with these
19 regulations and forfeiture in the case
20 of non-compliance . Legal notices for
21 public hearings are published no less
22 than 10 days prior to the public
23 hearing in an eligible legal town
24 newspaper . The Town Clerk ' s Office has
25 received the Affidavit of Service from
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 54
1 that newspaper indicating that the
2 notice was properly published . The
3 proposed action requires notice of the
4 Suffolk County Planning Commission .
5 The Town Clerk ' s file includes the
6 response of the Planning Commission
7 dated June 13 , 2025 , determining the
8 action to be a matter of local
9 determination . The proposed action was
10 referred to the Planning Department for
11 a SEQRA determination and the action
12 was considered a Type 2 action under
13 SEQRA, not requiring further review and
14 exempt from LWRP review pursuant to
15 Chapter 268 . The Town Clerk ' s file
16 also includes an Affidavit of Posting
17 of the public notice on the Town
18 Clerk ' s bulletin board at Town Hall .
19 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : Just
20 for the record, the Board currently
21 does not have a quorum . I ' d like to
22 wait for Mr . Mealy to come back .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : In the
24 meantime, has it been properly noticed?
25 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 55
1 Yes . The public hearing has been
2 properly noticed and the records
3 indicating such were just identified by
4 the Town Clerk . The Board should also
5 be aware recognizing that Mr . Mealy has
6 returned to Town Hall . The Board
7 should also be aware that the agenda
8 packet -- today ' s agenda packet does
9 not include the proposed law . And as a
10 result the Board was provided with a
11 copy of it for the purposes of this
12 hearing . And similar to the last
13 public hearing, Ben Johnson from the
14 Town Attorney ' s Office is here to
15 present . Thank you .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
17 Welcome Ben .
18 BEN JOHNSON : Hello again . All
19 right . We ' ll start with the purpose of
20 this law, although Denis did a great
21 job of laying it out for us . The Town
22 Board acknowledges that political signs
23 are an inexpensive way for candidates
24 to express their views and get votes .
25 However, they can be unsightly and
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 56
1 distracting to passing motorists and in
2 understanding that they have chosen to
3 choose reasonable time , place, and
4 amount of restrictions on those signs .
5 Further, political signs are defined as
6 any sign that includes the name , symbol
7 or insignia of a political party or
8 candidate . And this section aims to
9 allow political signs in residential ,
10 industrial , and commercial zones .
11 While implementing conditions to
12 minimize the aesthetic and visual
13 impacts of such signs . Specifically,
14 political signs shall not exceed 32
15 square feet and may be placed on
16 privately owned residential ,
17 commercial , and/or industrial
18 properties . They must be securely
19 fastened so that the wind or weather
20 shall not blow them away or into
21 traffic . They must not obstruct or
22 impair visibility of traffic in any
23 way, nor create a hazard to public
24 health . These signs shall not be
25 displayed before Labor Day and must be
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 57
1 removed no later than 10 days after the
2 election for which they were placed .
3 Individual candidates for public office
4 may place a deposit to be set by a Town
5 Board resolution for permission to
6 erect such signs under this section .
7 Alternatively, the political party may
8 place a security deposit to be set by a
9 Town Board resolution, which covers all
10 candidate signs associated with that
11 party . All payments should be made to
12 the Town Clerk and will be refundable
13 as long as all other regulations herein
14 are abide by . This goes on to further
15 state that no person or organization
16 may place or authorize to be placed
17 signs on any Town owned land, including
18 the assembly use parcels , rights of
19 way, town parks , utility poles , signs ,
20 beaches , schools , or any Town
21 structures . And that the Town reserves
22 the right to remove any signs that are
23 placed . Thank you very much .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
25 you, Ben .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 58
1 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : For
2 the record, Mr . Supervisor, I think
3 it ' s important to note that subsequent
4 changes to this proposed law include a
5 provision instead of referencing Labor
6 Day, specifically that political signs
7 may not be displayed more than 60 days
8 before a scheduled primary election and
9 must be removed no later than 10 days .
10 So we are measuring 60 days from the
11 date of the vote . There ' s no
12 preference to a holiday . And I think
13 more importantly, the Board should
14 note , and everyone here should note,
15 that while a Town may not
16 constitutionally regulate speech, the
17 purpose of this action, or proposed
18 action, is to regulate signage based
19 upon aesthetic and visual impacts .
20 There ' s a distinction there . And I
21 think it ' s important to note it at the
22 top of the hearing . Thank you .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
24 you . I think there ' s also another
25 discrepancy here , but I ' d like to get a
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 59
1 public comment before we get into that .
2 Would anyone like to comment on
3 the political side proposal ? Yes ?
4 TOM STEVENSON : I like to stick
5 around . Tom Stevenson, Orient . I know
6 you ' re not going to make it . The
7 Oyster Ponds Gym is probably 90 degrees
8 right now .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
10 I hope they have a -- I ' m sure they ' ve
11 got a nice cool sea breeze out there,
12 though .
13 TOM STEVENSON : Let ' s hope so .
14 Okay . So political side ' s really
15 quick . You should not need permission
16 from the government to buy the right to
17 exercise our First Amendment rights .
18 Political science can be a nuisance in
19 public right-of-ways , absolutely . And
20 I think that has been the case, and
21 they are not allowed in the public
22 right-of-way already . So take down any
23 ones that are left in the public
24 right-of-way or hung up on signs , and
25 allow us to hang our political signs on
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 60
1 our own private property as we choose .
2 And I don ' t -- even though I do
3 appreciate the First Amendment
4 constitutional issues , I don ' t think
5 this would hold up, honestly . And I
6 don ' t think it ' s -- Well , the
7 enforcement, you know, is an issue all
8 around . But I thought the major issue
9 with political science was getting
10 signs stolen . That was the number one
11 thing, is people going on your lawn and
12 stealing the sign that you have . That
13 seemed like, you know, a big complaint
14 happened all the time, like
15 shenanigans .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
17 think stealing ' s illegal . We don ' t
18 have to address it here .
19 TOM STEVENSON : Sure . Yeah, but
20 anyway, I just don ' t think I should
21 have to put up a deposit to exercise my
22 constitutional rights . Thanks for
23 letting me exercise my constitutional
24 right .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 61
1 you . One of the issues that we ' re
2 trying to address isn ' t that people are
3 taking other -- allegedly taking other
4 people ' s signs there . Is that when
5 signs get put up in, especially in
6 different areas and found that they ' re
7 not removed or they blow away and the
8 wire frames are left, they can cause
9 quite a bit of damage to different
10 DPW ' s as they go and mow the edge of
11 the road . And they become flying
12 projectiles for cars . As it indicates ,
13 because people don ' t remove the wires .
14 So that ' s one of the things that we ' re
15 trying to address as a public safety
16 concern . Look back to your taxes
17 because the more flat tires people get
18 from municipal lawnmowers , the more
19 your taxes go . Mr . Tutle ?
20 MR . TUTLE : Thank you . I ' m also
21 opposed to this proposal . I don ' t
22 believe that we should be regulating
23 political speech . I believe you have
24 corrected the law with regard to
25 putting in, with regard to primaries .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 62
1 As you know, we have school board
2 elections . That ' s our current district
3 of elections . There ' s all sorts of
4 elections . And the difficulty, of
5 course, is being enforcing this ,
6 because school board elections , all
7 those people, do you find the party to
8 which they belong . And we then get
9 into the issue of these presidential
10 primaries , congressional primaries , all
11 this stuff . Presidential candidates
12 are not going to come knocking at the
13 Town Clerk ' s Office to give a deposit .
14 And how is this enforced? Do you go
15 after the party? Because we ' re going
16 to have gubernatorial elections pretty
17 soon . And there ' s more than one
18 candidate that ' s going to be running
19 for governor . We have Senate . We have
20 counties that give all sorts of races .
21 And as you also know, it looks like in
22 a general election, everybody ' s going
23 to be running together, be it the
24 president, County Legislator,
25 everybody ' s going to be running
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 63
1 together . And we are going to have
2 signs all over the place . And I get
3 what you ' re trying to do, right? You
4 want to make Southold as pristine as
5 possible in the Fall , pumpkin season .
6 We have tourists coming out and such .
7 And that is not a terrible note , better
8 than I . But the party leaders at one
9 point put a restriction on time . I
10 think it was even October lst . And it
11 was just for a couple of weeks . But
12 now we have early voting, and we may
13 not be able to do that . But I ' m not
14 sure how you enforce this when a lot of
15 candidates are not going to do this .
16 And then do you penalize the Town
17 parties of which you ' re asking for a
18 deposit . Now, we ' ve already discussed
19 the political mischief of stealing
20 signs . And you ' ve all been reading the
21 police bogs , that goes on . The new
22 political mischief, you get the signs .
23 You put up your opponents 10 days after
24 the election . There ' s no penalty to
25 the landowner, right? You just put up
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 64
1 the other party signs , and they get the
2 money deducted from them. It ' s strict
3 liability with regard to the party, not
4 the landowner . That ' s the political
5 mischief that ' s going to be occurring .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That ' s
7 brilliant .
8 MR . TUTLE : And I also get what
9 you want to do, because I love a good
10 nor ' easter in October . It is too many .
11 But democracy is not pretty . We have
12 to put up a speech we don ' t agree with .
13 We have to put up a lot of things that
14 we don ' t agree with in a democracy .
15 And I agree with you . There ' s too many
16 signs in the Fall . But you, the
17 government, should not be regulating
18 political speech . And I don ' t mean to
19 analogize you to regard to the federal
20 government . Our federal government is
21 arresting or handcuffing the United
22 States Senator for merely wanting to
23 ask a question . And so in my opinion,
24 we have to stand up when the government
25 says we want to regulate speech or
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 65
1 political speech . And as I suggested,
2 there is a solution with regard to the
3 parties . Mr . Supervisor, Members of
4 the Town Board . You won ' t run for
5 election . You don ' t have to put signs
6 up . You, the candidates , can decide
7 not to do it . And I just think it ' s a
8 slippery slope when the government
9 wants to regulate political speech .
10 And I ' m asking you to vote no on this
11 recommendation .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I ' d
13 like to ask you a question then,
14 because this is not the intent here,
15 it ' s not to regulate speech, but rather
16 not to have people leave their material
17 on the side of the road . And if
18 somebody went by with a pamphlet, no
19 matter what it said or someone ' s name
20 on it, and just threw them all on the
21 side of the shoulder on the road, I
22 think people would object to seeing all
23 that on the side of the road . Because
24 that ' s the intent here , is to prevent
25 that from happening in public areas .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 66
1 And then if they blow away, my point
2 about the wires is an actual serious
3 problem when the wires get left without
4 the signs .
5 MR . TUTLE : Oh, sure . And I think
6 even in the general election, you see
7 the candidates from up island running
8 for Supreme Court judges . They have to
9 go to Nassau County . They just run
10 through here, put them up to
11 cemeteries , put them up to schools .
12 They just signs all over the place .
13 Some of the residents put up signs .
14 They ' ve only taken down . I mean, I
15 recognize the problem.
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
17 But there ' s gotta be a solution to
18 that, though . I mean, they do
19 generally feature the candidate ' s name,
20 so you can ' t find a responsible party,
21 right?
22 MR . TUTLE : Sure , but you know,
23 but if they don ' t give you a deposit,
24 right, they just go to the signs out
25 without doing that . I mean, how do you
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 67
1 enforce that? You go back to the
2 political party?
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
4 I mean, there ' s gotta be some recourse
5 to leaving, leaving stuff along the
6 road .
7 MR . TUTLE : Sure , I mean .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : In the
9 public right-of-way, because then it
10 takes DPW, the Highway Department time,
11 and manpower to go and clean everything
12 up, so then it just adds to the tax
13 burden because someone wanted to do
14 something .
15 MR . TUTLE : Right . But the sign
16 should be on public . They should not .
17 They should be there regardless .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Right .
19 MR . TUTLE : I think there ' s
20 another way to handle it . Thank you .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
22 you .
23 Would anyone else like to address
24 the Board?
25 (No Response .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 68
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
2 don ' t see anyone on Zoom.
3 Would anyone like to make a motion
4 to based on some comments that we
5 got --
6 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
7 Again, I would request that the Board
8 move to hold over until July 24th .
9 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I ' ll
10 make a motion we hold over to July 24th
11 to consider any comments .
12 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Second .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
14 favor?
15 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
16 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
17 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
18 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
20 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
21 PUBLIC COMMENTS
22 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Is
23 there anyone here that would like to
24 speak on any matter relating to any
25 topic?
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 69
1 JAMES SPANOS : Hello . My name is
2 James Spanos . I ' m a resident of
3 Southold Town . I ' m here to address the
4 board about concerns I have about the
5 Planning Board . I mean the new Zoning
6 updates . And one is that there are
7 many people in their homes that are
8 elderly and do not have access to the
9 internet and can ' t come to the meetings
10 to hear what ' s going on . So that ' s a
11 big concern and I will suggest that
12 there ' s letters go out to every
13 resident about this certified return
14 receipt informing them about what ' s
15 happening with this Zoning update .
16 Because a lot of residents just have a
17 home and they don ' t think that it ' s
18 going to affect them. But there ' s one
19 acre -- I think 12 units per one acre
20 for Affordable Housing in HALO zones
21 that everybody should know about . It ' s
22 a big concern to every resident . They
23 should know that this is being
24 proposed . Not only that, but we also
25 got to be very careful about, and
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 70
1 besides that, I also want to make a
2 suggestion that this goes to public
3 referendum, where the public can vote
4 on this . Because the setbacks in this
5 Zoning update will set -- will stop
6 construction on a lot of people ' s
7 house, if they want to expand their
8 homes . If they ' re on the smaller -- if
9 they ' re on the smaller lot . So there ' s
10 a lot of concerns here that I think
11 everybody should be notified . Not only
12 that, but . . . There seems to be some
13 spot zoning going on, which is -- I ' m
14 not sure if the Town Board knows , but
15 spot zoning is illegal . And it ' s kind
16 of being mingled into the updated
17 zoning . Like when they cut the
18 Business Zone in Mattituck and exclude
19 the Commercial Zone , that was supposed
20 to build a hotel at the Old North Fork
21 Bank on the outskirts of Mattituck . So
22 that ' s , you know, it ' s kind of shady .
23 It doesn ' t seem like, or at the end of
24 Shipyard Lane where there ' s an M -- I
25 think it ' s M2 , M2 Zoning . And you want
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 71
1 to make it R-80 . Somebody paid $ 6
2 million for a property, and now you ' re
3 trying to make it R-80 on them? It ' s
4 kind of weird, you know? So this , you
5 know, I can talk about my property .
6 That ' s why I ' m here . I want to
7 preserve what we have . I have an R&R
8 Zoning property that Heather Lanza in
9 the meeting in East Marion claimed that
10 the only reason why my property is
11 being down zoned is because it ' s too
12 small . So I did my research, and
13 that ' s not the case . The case is that
14 my property ' s larger than the blue .
15 And they ' re not being down zoned . So I
16 want everybody on the Board to know
17 this . And maybe the Town Attorney can
18 address what spot zoning is and how
19 it ' s illegal . And maybe we should
20 figure out how to identify how the
21 Planning Board is kind of putting it
22 into this Zoning update, and maybe
23 exclude the spot zoning on some of
24 these properties . Will you like to
25 address what spot zoning is ?
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 72
1 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : Mr .
2 Spanos , it ' s very nice to meet you . I
3 recognize the term you ' re using, I ' m
4 not sure that you ' re fully familiar
5 with it ' s , what ' s it -- with its import
6 or definition . I don ' t see that that
7 the Town is taking or taking a practice
8 that is illegal . I ' d be happy to speak
9 to you one-on-one with about that on my
10 office, if you ' d like, but I don ' t see
11 a reason to take time to discuss it
12 here without the specifics .
13 JAMES SPANOS : Okay . No problem.
14 I appreciate it . And yeah, I hope it ' s
15 time for a meeting .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : And
17 you know, as far as the outreach to the
18 residents , I will bring that up with
19 the Planning Director because we want
20 to make sure that people do know what ' s
21 going on . Not only because it affects
22 your property . Affects your, you know,
23 your neighborhood . And you ' re also
24 thanks for a better product . And the
25 specific, you know, we spoke out in the
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 73
1 hall very briefly this afternoon after
2 the Work Session . That ' s what we need,
3 our specific comments . This is exactly
4 the kind of comments we need . Specific
5 comments on specific parcels , very
6 helpful . And also you mentioned the
7 setback issue in general . That ' s the
8 kind of input we ' re looking for . So it
9 can be evaluated, you know, properly .
10 And not something that nobody said
11 anything . So it must be okay . And
12 then it could be approved . So
13 that ' s -- so I appreciate you coming
14 here . You and your brother come in
15 here to inform us of that . These
16 comments will be passed on . There ' s a,
17 you know -- there ' s not only is there a
18 Special Committee set up to review this
19 whole process , the Zoning Update
20 Committee, but the Planning Director
21 has cast all the volunteer committees
22 in Town to work on different parts of
23 this . So that there ' s another layer of
24 review going on at the same time . But
25 without specific comments like this ,
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 74
1 you know, we ' re not gonna have a good
2 product at the end . So thank you .
3 JAMES SPANOS : Thank you, sir .
4 And thank you everybody for listening .
5 And hopefully we can take our time and
6 move real slow with this . I appreciate
7 it .
8 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
9 Thank you, sir . I have my name and
10 number here .
11 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And
12 thank you for attending so many of the
13 public meetings . It ' s been great to
14 talk to you a bit and a few of your
15 concerns . Thank you .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Anyone
17 else like to address the Board?
18 NICK SPANOS : How ' s it going,
19 everybody? Thank you very much for
20 what you guys do . I ' m Nick Spanos ,
21 James ' brother . Grew up here, resident
22 of Mattituck . I ' ve managed hundreds of
23 political campaigns , and I hear the
24 problem with the signs . I ' ve made
25 problems with signs probably all over
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 75
1 the country . And incredible problems ,
2 I guess , with the lawn mowers and the
3 snowplows in Alaska, from Hawaii to
4 Alaska . All over, you know what, even
5 in Kenya overseas . I ' ve been senior
6 advisor of five presidential races .
7 And I can see that you have a problem
8 with the signs . But what I ' ve seen
9 with boards with signs were that the
10 incumbent party pretty much sticks it
11 to the guy who loses later . So I ' m not
12 sure if you should do something like
13 that . But you can use setbacks .
14 You ' ve got to set it back because the
15 lawnmower comes over . That ' s probably
16 the easiest bet . The street players , I
17 don ' t know, you ' re going to have a
18 hotline . For Wednesday people, is that
19 what you plan on doing? If they ' re
20 sprinkling on Wednesday and they got an
21 odd number, I ' m not sure you can do
22 that . But let ' s talk about the
23 property and my family . My mother
24 bought this property back in 1980 . We
25 didn ' t have much money . My father ran
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 76
1 the gas station . She yelled at them
2 all the day because he didn ' t have to
3 charge anybody . And we grew up in
4 this , and my mother wore the same dress
5 for 20 years . And she wanted to get a
6 real estate license . Well , she wanted
7 to get a driver ' s license . It took
8 like nine times in twenty accidents .
9 She finally got the driver ' s license .
10 And then she wanted to get a real
11 estate license, but she couldn ' t pass
12 that one . Maybe a dozen times . So
13 then she said, oh, I want to make -- I
14 want to have cottages . I want to have
15 cottages . I want to rent the people .
16 She was a very active person, a very
17 powerful person . And to explain who my
18 mother is , when we first came out here,
19 we were pretty much the darkest ones
20 out here . And my nickname in Fifth
21 Grade in Manhattan was Nick the Spick
22 the Puerto Rican . And I ' d get beat up
23 every day . That ' s the truth . Come
24 home with a busted nose, scars on my
25 face . Don ' t worry, I took care of
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 77
1 them . Because I used to beat him up
2 when I got home . So he got a little
3 stronger . But so one day, my father --
4 I said to my father, they ' re oppressing
5 me . The kids are oppressing me .
6 Mercatabiez was a pretty easy Greek
7 word . In English, you learn it later
8 in life , but you always learn Greek .
9 And I said, they ' re oppressing me . He
10 goes , well , you must be pretty
11 oppressible, my father said . I was
12 like , wow, that makes sense . So I beat
13 up the bully . And then the principal
14 calls me to the office , calls my mother
15 down . They want to send me to BOCES .
16 You know, on the short bus with the
17 helmet on to learn how to reach red
18 tires . I already knew how to reach red
19 tires . So my mother threatened the
20 principal ' s life . I ' m sorry . I don ' t
21 know if she said the life , but she
22 threatened the principal . And the
23 principal believed her, and he let me
24 stay in the school . Mattituck Fifth
25 Grade . And there ' s a special word in
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 78
1 Greek, it ' s called Thaios , we don ' t
2 have it in English, but it ' s like grit,
3 the power to overcome . Your ability to
4 take chaos and manifest something with
5 the chaos around you, and that ' s called
6 Thaios , and will . And as we were
7 walking out of the principal ' s office ,
8 she said, don ' t let anyone take your
9 Thaios , she said to me . Don ' t let
10 anyone take your Thaios . So I lived by
11 that, and she took five mortgages out
12 to get that property . She borrowed
13 from everyone she knew . And she bought
14 that property, and it was Hamlet
15 District . And I remember, because I
16 stood in front of you guys , but back in
17 1985 or something, there was a meeting,
18 and I stood in front of you guys . And
19 I said, you know, we got this property,
20 you guys want to, you know, we got this
21 master plan . I don ' t know what your
22 master plan is with us , or what kind of
23 master plan you have for us . But you
24 probably look, you know, there ' s master
25 plans for yourself, too . So, I wasn ' t
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 79
1 sure if by accident, it ' s my only clean
2 shirt . I wasn ' t even supposed to be
3 out here . I think it was the
4 Declaration of Independence . By
5 accident, purely, believe it or not . I
6 don ' t really have shirts like this , I
7 don ' t know where I got it . But it ' s
8 self-evident that the residents of this
9 Town own their property, and now an old
10 lady is not even able to change the
11 shutters or something . You ' ve got to
12 go through some process , because
13 somehow everyone that gets elected
14 thinks they ' ve got to write their name
15 on a law, a bill , because that ' s their
16 job . But that ' s not really your job .
17 Your job is to keep people happy . So
18 they can bring you back in . That ' s how
19 I see your job, put dozens of people
20 into Congress . I put -- I installed
21 the president of Protolan, Somalia, for
22 rolling . So I know a lot about
23 politics , you know . I haven ' t -- I ' m
24 not here that much . I ' m here -- I ' m
25 resident here . I come here at night .
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 80
1 I leave in the morning . I ' m in the
2 City . I live in Dubai sometimes . I
3 don ' t know where I live . I ' m always on
4 the road . Got my brother over here .
5 Got some lady made fun of him that he ' s
6 fighting because my mother spent 20
7 years in the same dress . And got five
8 mortgages for this property and somehow
9 you ' re going to draw a line like the
10 British did in the Middle East, right,
11 look what we got now . Because some
12 people oh I can draw lines . Well , you
13 can take that some Kindergarten they
14 can draw lines too . But look what
15 happens , split plans . You ' re giving
16 some people some stuff . You ' re taking
17 away from others . And look at the
18 Middle East today, we ' re all sitting
19 here shaking in our boots , there ' s
20 something ' s gonna happen . So you got
21 people drawing lines in your life . You
22 gotta be very weary what made them go
23 up there . I put a lot of people in
24 office . There were nice people to
25 start . Unless I ' m not gonna say the
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 81
1 rest of it . You can imagine . So I
2 just think you guys have a big job on
3 your shoulders and I think you have to
4 listen to the people, and allow them to
5 keep their rights as Americans at
6 Southold Town residents . One of the
7 oldest towns in the whole country . We
8 should be able to stand proud and tall
9 that we ' re from Southold and not think
10 that, oh, the boogeymen from the Town
11 Board is coming after us . So --
12 uh-huh . Planning Board . Planning
13 Board . And I ' m a nice guy, too .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
15 you . Would anyone else like to address
16 the Board?
17 (No Response) .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
19 seeing none -- I don ' t see any on the
20 Zoom . Brian, go ahead .
21 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Okay .
22 There ' s a few nice announcements . I
23 just want to say what a joy it was , a
24 literal joy to be in the North Fork
25 Pride Parade . When many of us were
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 82
1 there . That was just pure, unmitigated
2 fun . It was like, you know, playing,
3 at school on the schoolyard and seeing
4 all your friends . And just nice thanks
5 to the LGBT Network and North Fork
6 Women for Women, and the Anti-Bias Task
7 Force March of the Parade . It just was
8 fun, fun, fun, fun, fun . So I -- it
9 was nice to do that on Sunday . And
10 then we had talked about it earlier,
11 about the joint meeting with Green port
12 Village , which will be Thursday, June
13 26th at 5 : 00 p . m . at the Third Street
14 Fire Station . Check the Village
15 website for -- if you cannot be in
16 person, there ' s a way for you to watch
17 the meeting . But check the Greenport
18 Village website for that . And then
19 lastly, thanks to our Town historian,
20 Amy Folk, we will be dedicating a
21 historical placard on July 8th at 8 : 00
22 a . m. And I just want to read the, um,
23 the press , part of the press release .
24 Just so folks know that this is an
25 important thing . I think -- think this
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 83
1 is the first time a person of color has
2 been honored with a historic plaque in
3 our town . So I just want to read part
4 of the press release . With a grant
5 from the William G . Pomeroy Foundation,
6 the Town of Southold has installed a
7 historic roadside marker commemorating
8 Elymus Reeve . This special ceremony to
9 dedicate the marker is planned on
10 Tuesday, July 8 , 2025 , at 8 : 00 a . m . at
11 the marker site at the intersection of
12 Main Road and Mill Lane at Mattituck .
13 And essentially it ' s across from the
14 old Ruland Farm. Reeve, who began his
15 life as a wrongfully enslaved man in
16 Southold Town, eventually secured his
17 freedom in 1813 . After gaining his
18 freedom, he owned and farmed the land
19 along the south side of the Main Road
20 in Mattituck . Hence that ' s why the
21 marker is there . And he raised his
22 family with his wife, Hagar . So it ' s
23 just a special moment for the Town .
24 It ' s just been an honor to be part of
25 the Town Government, and to see this
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 84
1 historic moment . As the first person
2 of color elected to Town Office , this
3 is an essential Town event . And just
4 all the events that we take part of .
5 It ' s just been a blessing and that our
6 community is coming together . Even
7 though we ' re dealing with tough issues ,
8 we ' re dealing with it together . We ' re
9 not one party set against another .
10 We ' re dealing with all the issues ,
11 whether it ' s the Zoning update or
12 whether it ' s the water issues . We ' re
13 dealing with this with a close-knit
14 neighborly community . And I ' m so proud
15 to be a Southolder and so proud to be
16 one of the decision makers . We make a
17 joke there , we ' re the deciders , but we
18 don ' t decide these things alone . We
19 must listen to people like Mr . Spanos
20 and his brother . We have to listen to
21 the commentary of people at IGA or King
22 Kullen . So it ' s just been a blessing
23 to be on this journey . And I really do
24 feel , particularly this past year, the
25 Town has been busy with the work of the
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 85
1 Town that is affecting the people . So
2 that ' s been an honor to be involved
3 with this group and it ' s been an honor
4 to hear the public response to what
5 we ' re doing . Thank you .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
7 you, Brian . And I just have to say in
8 response to Mr . Spanos , you know, we ' re
9 having these Zoning update meetings for
10 quite a while now . And I think the
11 Board has been going to most of them
12 and listening to people . But to your
13 point, and I ' m glad you came tonight to
14 bring this up because you have to keep
15 people engaged . And you can ' t let
16 people think, oh, I went once and
17 that ' s enough and I ' m not gonna go back
18 and whatever they decide is fine . So
19 there ' s another one coming up, the
20 Hamlet of Greenport tomorrow night at
21 Brockneck Wall , not Brockneck Wall , I ' m
22 sorry, Peconic Landing . They ' ve been
23 gracious enough to host us . And
24 there ' s a couple next week too . So
25 there have been a whole series of them
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 86
1 in every Hamlet . There ' s one on
2 Saturday, if you ' re interested on
3 Fisher ' s Island, that the Planning
4 Director has to go over to . We ' re
5 trying to address every need in every
6 Hamlet and include everybody . So your
7 coming tonight I think was very
8 fortunate because it reminds us to
9 remind people , if you went to one,
10 that ' s good . If it gives you something
11 to think about, make sure you comment .
12 Don ' t go home and say, oh, I like that,
13 or I don ' t like that . If you like it,
14 comment and say, hey, I like that . If
15 you don ' t like something about it,
16 comment specifically on what you don ' t
17 like . Because otherwise, your comments
18 about different zones and everything,
19 that ' s critical because they change
20 some of the names and some of the
21 zones . But then the uses change . So
22 that ' s very confusing if the name
23 change . And you ' re not sure what that
24 means as far as the uses that are
25 allowed in that zone . Because it ' s
JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 87
1 really the uses that are as important
2 as the actual title of that zone . So
3 thank you for that . Kind of like that
4 reminder to get the word out .
5 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I will
6 make a motion we adjourn .
7 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Second .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
9 favor?
10 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
11 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
12 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
13 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
15
16 (Whereupon, the meeting was
17 adjourned . )
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JUNE 24, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 88
1 C E R T I F I C A T I O N
2
3 I , Jessica DiLallo, a Notary
4 Public for and within the State of New
5 York, do 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
14 hereunto set my hand this day,
15 June 24 , 2025 .
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18 (Je sica iLallo)
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