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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/29/1969 "'. . . . . . , Southold Town Planning Board SDUTHDLD. L. I., N. Y. 11971 PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS John Wickham, Chairman Henry Molla Alfr-ed Gr-ebe William Unkelbach Fr-ank Coyle INFORW\TION MEETING ON MASTER PLAN "SOUTHOLD" August 29. 1969 A public information meeting on the Master Plan was held by the Southold Town Planning Board at 8:00 P.M., Friday. August 29. 1969, at the Southold High School. There were present: Messrs: John Wickham. Chairman: Henry Raynor. Frank Coyle. Supervisor Martocchia, and Building Inspector Howard Terry. The Chairman opened the meeting by stressing the fact that this meeting is purely informational. not a public hearing. He introduced himself and the members of the Planning Board. etc. CHAIRMAN: This is only an information meeting in the form of reports. Raymond, May, Parish. & Pine have been our planning consultants. We want you to ask all the questions you wish. We are here to get information from you. We want to know how you feel about the plan. In our last analysis we have to present it to you and you have to tell us just how far to go. I would like to present a basic out line of the development plan in master planning for the Town of Southold. This is only a possible plan for development, it will have to be adapted to meet our needs. The map shows agricultural density. low density. and surburban density. There will be no high density area. , , . -2- . Zoning in Southold Town is basically ~ acre plots. A large population growth is expected for the Town, both full-time residents and part-time residents. Most of the people, part- icularly the part-time residents said they were here because of the rural nature of the Town of South old. The economic basis of this town is summer residents and agriculture. If the residents are here because of the rural nature then we must look closely at this to see what can be done to preserve the rural nature. The final projection of this plan is water. We had the water survey made by Malcolm & Pirnie Engineers, they gave us a very good report at a low cost. The Town of Southold has a capacity of 10 million gallons of water per day, 5~ million gallons are being used for agricultural purposes, l~ million gallons are being used for domestic purposes. We have 3 million gallons for future development. We could triple our present population and still have enough water, if we CQuld cut down on agricultural use. I will now open the meeting to questions from the floor. If they pertain to government I will ask Supervisor Martocchia to answer them, to planning - the Planning Board. The Building Inspector is also present tonight. QUESTION: Will the water supply be adequate for the next 10 years? CHAIRMAN: Yes, the 3 million gallon surplus we new have and are not using for domestic purposes will be adequate for the next 10 years. QUESTION: Will the development plan be decided by a referendum of the tax payers? CHAIRMAN: NO, the Planning Board has the power to pass a resolution approving the plan for development, without hol ding a referendum. The present plans do not include a referendum, only its adoption by us. CHAIRMAN: This water situation is going to be a very serious problem. There is water enough, yes, but it is not at quite the right locations. We have over 200 miles of shore front which will eventually require water mains. OUr best source of water lies under the agricultural lands from Cutchogue to Mattituck. QUESTION: Will the taxpayers have an opportunity to vote yes or no whether or not we want to accept it? CHAIRMAN: No, you will not have a chance to vote on it. This meeting is to inform you on it. QUESTION: Then our opinion does not matter? " . . -3- . CHAIRMAN: Yes. it does matter. We want to know if you disagree. your opinion is important. QUESTXON: After these hearings the Planning Board is going to make a determination as to what to do? Let me suggest what X think is going to happen. We the people cannot vote. The Planning Board will recommend it to the Town Board who will decide whether it should be modified or adopted? CHA~~: NO. that is not correct. The Planning Board has the authority to pass a resolution putting this into effect. We are going to hold a series of information meetings. Then we will hold a fall session meeting at some central point. Xf there is a need to go deeper then we will hold more meetings. Only then will the resolution be made. The alternatives here are of serious consequences. To review. there is going to be a problem with water on the shore front. One solution would be water mains. which is a very costly project. Some communities have been ruined by the burden of paying for water mains. We have to know what the people want and we have to have the Town of Southold behind us. QUESTXON: NOW. X understand. the final decision lies with the Planning Board, right? CHAJ:RMAN: Yes. that is correct. MR. WM. WRIGHT: X am a new resident of the Town of Southold. X lived in the Town of Greenberg for ll\il1ly years. we went through the same thing in regard to planning. We called it our guide which is really an expression of the Master Plan. But our plan was acted upon by our Town Board. X don't know whether there are any associations of home owners here. May X suggest that a citizens committee be appointed for Southold so we may get to- gether and go over the matter with the Planning Board. We want to preserve the nature of our community we don't want any honky tonks or anything like that here. CHAIRMAN: The Southold-peconic Civic Association is here tonight. The League of Women Voters has been in our office to get information. and is also present tonight. There are other gentlemen here in the ljgom who have spent a life time of professional planning. What?are talking about is a plan for the Town of South old. We have had some unique problems in this Town. After living with them and studying them for 6 years we now understand the problems but we still do not have the answers. QUESTXON: What has been done to stay in touch with the planning in neighboring towns. the county. and bi-county? . -4- . CHAIRMAN: WI; have had connections with them. Meetings have been held with neighboring townships of Riverhead, Shelter Xsland, Southampton, Eaathampton, etc. But X am not sure that we work as closely as we might. QUESTXON, WM. SCHRmVER: Agricultural residence, shown in light blue on the map. How are we going to achieve that density? CHAIRMAN: There are ways of handling it. WM. SCHRIEVER: When X first came to this area there were quite a few farms. X question whether we can maintain agriculture at this tax rate. X am from Orient. Look at all the land that has been subdivided and developed there. MRS. STANLEY POLYWODA: X own a farm here in Southold on Mill creek. X have two sons, one of which has left the area, and the other one is planning to leave. They don't want to run the farm, there is no profit in it. All of the young people are leaving the area. Xf we have this 2 acre zoning, how can you expect them to buy land and build a home, it will be too expensive. CHAIRMAN: We are not interested in those people who leave the area. We are interested in the people who expect to stay here. We are working for the best interest of the people of the Town of Seuthold. This is a pertinent matter, one of the basic problems. Xf Cornell is correct, then part-time residents and agriculture are our basic resources. ~lat can we do to preserve agriculture? Negative easements are one answer. A negative easement is a contract between a farmer and the Town Board. Xt means that the operator will agree not to develop or sell his land for a number of years. The land will be taxed for agriculture only. Xf you are interested in maintaining the land for the next generation, this is the best plan. We have some of the best land in America. X think we, the Town of Southold, have a real responsibility to make sure that agriculture is maintained. Negative easements are only a possibility. QUESTXON: Would taxes on land be sufficient to help them? CHAIRMAN: Land taxes would not be the only highlight of these contracts. More important would be the limitation that this contract could place on the appraisal of the land for inheritance tax purposes. This is a very important point to consider since the median age of farmers in this Town is from 50 to 60 years of age. QUESTXON, JAS. OLSEN: local people is small, 65% speculators. Xn September The percentage of farms owned by of all the land here is owned by of 1958 you amended a rule to put . -5- . trailers on 40' x 50' plots. Why can't this still be done? What happened to that rule? As far as planning. quit throwing our money away and let the local people do the planning. QUESTION: What is the difference between low density and surburban density? CHAIRMAN: That is almost self explanitory. The surburban density would be more populated than the low density. For instance the low density might be 1 acre zoning and the surburnan density ~ acre zoning. Public water will someday have to be provided. Farmers feel that 2 acre zoning is an imposition. so we must make it ip to them in some other way. But many corrununities have been ruined by the cost of water mains. Do you want 2 acre zoning or water mains? The decision has to be made by the people. QUESTION: Is it true that by 1985 the Town expects to have a population of 100.0002 CHAIRMAN: According to Cornell. we will have about 40.000 full time residents. It is important to maintain the 10.000 acres of agricultural land now being used. These are the facts we have to face. Government costs money. School taxes are the biggest part of our tax bill. The summer people send no children to school. the farmers send practically no children to school. the home owner send the largest number of children to school. GRACE LEWIS: What about the neighboring towns. do they have the same problem? What is their solution? Brookhaven has green belt zoning. don't they? CHAIRMAN: We are ahead in thinking about agriculture. We have investigated and compared other state and county plans. QUESTION: What does the Planning Board think about trailer parks and mobile homes? CHAIRMAN: The Town Board has the ordinance for trailers. We have no jusisdiction on this matter. QUESTION: (cont.) Yes. but what does the Planning Beard think about this? CHAIRMAN: My own opinion is that until such time as they pay an adequate tax we would be inclined to eliminate them. Going back to the water situation in the Town of Southold. we consume a total of 7.000.000 gallons of water per day. 5~ million for agricultural purposes. and l~ million for domestic purposes. QUESTION: Will this not cause water probnems? ,- . -6- . CHAIRMAN: No. it will not. 36" of this goes into the ground had any trouble yet. We get 46" of rainfall per year. and can be redrawn. We have not QUESTION: Yes. but if we pump 30 to 40 gallons a day. there will be salt water intrusion in my area. We have had this trouble caused by the farmers. CHAIRMAN: Certain areas in the Town have this problem. Most of the people on Mattituck Creek import their water. QUESTION: I read in this leaflet that new public buildings proposed by the plan include a new Town Hall and Police Headquarters. If the Planning Board decided to accept this plan. would it include authorization for these new buildings? CHAIRMAN: NO. it would not. The only thing the Planning Board has sole power over is subdivisions. QUESTION: North of Oregon Road is a gray area. what is this? It says airport. is that right? CHAIRMAN: Commission has funds available Yes. that is right. If the State Aviation plans for it. we must provide for it. There are to pay 5/6 the cost of it. if the people want it. QUESTION. You say this is only if the people want it? CHAIRMAN: Yes. I think so. QUESTION: Can the Town now enter into negative easements? CHAIRMAN: Yes. they can. Mrs. Katz asked a planning question pertaining to the Village of Greenport. Mr. Coyle informed her that we have no jurisdiction in the village. the village has their own Planning Board. MRS. POL~ODA: Two acre zoning is too much for the average person to buy. Our young people can"t afford it and it is too much land for the homeowner to keep up. CHAXRMAN: You are saying that two acre zoning will keep residential growth down. The County says that it will not. They want two acre zoning to avoid any health problems. QUESTION: Will our sewerage disposal be adequate in the yeass to come? CHAIRMAN: Yes. I think so. . -7- . QUESTION: Sewerage disposal is a health problem, what does the Master Plan provide for it? CHAIRMAN: The County is going to expend a lot of money to study this for the eastern towns. The Planning Board believes that if we have low density population there will not be a necessity for municipal water. It would be very expensive, sewerage even more so. Man in the audience: You put a lot of time into this Master Plan Study. We, the public, cannot absorb this in so short a time. Give us at least a month to look into these reports. CHAIRMAN: We have made arrangements to have this material available to the public. It will be available to read in the Supervisor's Office, the Building Dept., and the various Town libraries. The minutes will remain in our Southold Office. QUESTION: Why is there so little area set aside for resorts? CHAIRMAN: We did at first set aside a lot of area for parks, but the people did not like '1t.. We need the space for our living area. We have set aside quite a few "M" Districts. We never have set aside too much business. Our business is part-time residents and agriculture. QUESTION: In reference to the airport. It seems a crime to put an airport in there, with all those beautiful homes around there. QUESTION: This plan was completed in 1966. Our present waste disposal system was said to last us from 3 to 4 years. If this is true, we have l!::; years left, then what will we do with our garbage? SUPERVISOR MARTOCCH:tA: The Town has purchased mere land in the surrounding area of the present Town Dump. QUESTION: How long will that be good for? SUPERVISOR: 10 years. QUESTION: Why isn't there more recreation area set aside? CHAIRMAN: We are very close to water. There isn't any place in the Town s.fuere you have to go more than a few miles to reach water. 45% of the total land is in agriculture. We are very fortunate. QUESTION: HOW many parks have we added? CHAIRMAN: 5 . . OPINION: We should look ahead in paarks. -8- . QUESTION: Did you say that you want to limit bhe importation of families with children? CHAIRMAN: NO, we just want everyone to pay their fair share. QUESTION: How about industrial zoning? CHAIRMAN: We have set aside 600 acres for industrial growth. We want more but we want it controlled. We want to broaden the tax base. MRS. KATZ: Why did the Town oppose Riverhead's industrial zoning at Levon Properties? CHAIRMAN: We do not want it because this is one of our best areas of adequate water. If we ever put in municipal water the pumping stations would have to be here. We want industry but not at the expense of water. QUESTION: Why does this plan say not to use Route 25 & 27? CHAIRMAN: It does not say that. QUESTION: What about the Suffolk County Master Plan being made by Lee Koppelman, will we have to conform with their ideas? CHAIRMAN: He supports our ideas. QUESTION: do you plan to wrong hands? What is the Town suggesting for wetlands? What do about this so they don't get turned into the Chairman read a section out of Book II on wetlands. QUESTION: What about the bridge? I heard the Expressway is running all the way to Orient? CHAIRMAN: We have looked into this. The authorities say that at this time there are no plans for a bridge. QUESTION: I would like to commend the Planning Board for doing this study. I think that someday we will have to have municipal water. What about the League of Women Voters, are they doing anything? CHAIRMAN: Yes, they have been in our office to study the material, and the Chariman is present tonight. MR. JAS. OLSEN: What are we doing to do with the retired people and the young people who can't afford to buy a home? We are going to have to make a provision for "M" dwellings. ! . . -9- . Question in reference to putting the plan into effect. CHAIRMAN: The Planning Beard can by resolution adopt this plan. QUESTION: Then you. the Planning Board have final say. Question raised in reference to rumor of Expressway going all the way east to Orient. Why would they do this and not build the bridge? CHAIRMAN: This is only a rumor not a fact. QUESTION: Why isn't there more park area on the map? CHAIRMAN: We have added 5 new parks. We are going to strive to make any future parks - Town parks instead of State or County. this takes a lot of money and must be done gradually. We are trying to serve the best interest of the people of Southold Town. QUESTION: What was the cost of this planning project? CHAIRMAN: The total cost Federal Govt. It cost the Town $14.500. over a six year period. was $80.000. most of which was provided by the In Closing. the Chairman read an article from the New York Times about New York City's Master Plan. which was started over 30 years ago. It was finally decided by the experts that the best possible solution would be to give the whole idea up. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, ~~ecretary Southold Town Planning Board _L~ (1)1. ~. k-c. ~~,i;;'kham. ChaJ.rman . . . " ,. c :) ~ - /~ /y,?y A~ 7??,-d?m,..7~ / ~~~,~ /