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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPB-07/10/1972-S (2) PLANNING r~OARD John Wickhann~ Ch--trn3:,n Henry ~ o.isa Alfred Grebe Henry Rayno~ Frank Coy~e Southold Torch Planning SD[JTHDLD, L. I., N. Y. '13973 MINUTES SOUTHOLD TOWN PLANNING BOARD July I0, 1972 A special meeting of the Southold Town Planning Board was held at 9:00 A.M.~ Monday, July 10, 1972, at the Town Office~ Main Road, Southold, New York. There were present: Messrs: John Wickham, Chairman; Henry Moisa, Vice Chairman; Henry R&ynor. Absent: Frank Coyle; Alfred Grebe. Also present: Howard Terry, Building Inspector. This special meeting was called to discuss Mattituck Shopping Center. Mr. Thomas J. Casse!la, owner of Mattituck Shopping Center, ~4r. Joseph Cefaletti, Superintendent of Construction and Mr. Cassella's secretary attended the meeting. Mr. Wickham said according to the approved site plan the finished floor is about 2 1/2 feet below the specified finished floor level. Had you come back about six months ago and said the architect made a mistake, we could have worked something out. At this late date you have no alternative but to meet the specifications. Mr. Cassella said that Mr. Yezzi went and lowered the elevation and pun up the steel without my knowledge and when he could not pay me at the closing I had no alternative but to take it back. He lied to me and told me he had gotten permission from the Zoning Board to do it. Mr. Wickham said you went to the County and got approval from them for a different sanitary system. At a later da'te you went to a plumbing contractor and made up a third plan, again in contradiction to the approved plan and again you did not tell us. Under the circumstances all we can say Is meet the requirements. We can't say anything different, i am sure you under- stand this. Legally we can't compromise. For the record, I have been a member of the Board of Directors of a supermarket chain for 27 years. Mrs. Wickham and I own and lease a supermarket up state, i know in general what the cost is. I have had experience with it. I know you are in trouble and we don't know how to get out of it. This thing is seriously complicated because the finished floor is so iow you can't get pitch enough for the disposal structures and you don't have net drainage area. Regardless of what you do you are faced with some very real expensive problems. Mr. Cassella said the sanitary system was designed by Bob Jeweli. Mr. Wickham said you never presented it to us. It has absolutely no standing with us. You do not have the net drainage or distance to water as shown on the approved map. Mr. Wickham asked if Mr. Cassella was aware there is water in the disposal str~ctures right now. The site plan calls for a 1/4 inch pitch. Mr. Casselia said Mr. Jeweli said he could accept 1/16 inch. Mr. Raynor said that would not pass State standards. Mr. Wickham said you are not in trouble with the County. You aMe in trouble with the Town of Southold. There are changes in the site plan. You had a gift of 25 feet through a variance through the Appeals Board. You brought it back to the County and had it changed without our permission. You are in trouble with your architect Yezzi. You don't have drainage. You have got to meet the specifications of the approved site plan. Mr. Cefaietti said that they were under the understanding that a later plan had been submitted to the Town of Southold. Mr. Yezzi said he had the later site plan approved. Mr. Wickham said there will be no discussion with separate members of the Planning Board. This is going to be settled before the full Board or at least three members, and we are going to meet in a week. I think what you better do is get in touch with somebody you can trust to draw up some good plans and raise the finished floor elevations. This is what you have got to do. Mr. Casseila said in order to raise the floor it would cost one quarter million dollars. Mr. Wickham said the only thing ws can say is meet the requirements. You tried to cover it up with the County Health Depart- ment. You can come in with a plan to meet the specifi- cations and raise the finished floor. If you don't do that you have got to put in $100,000 to $200,000 worth of sewage and drainage systems. It isn't going to work. We will not pass your new plan which we had never seen before last week. This is the third time the thing has been changed. You are going to have to put legs on the uprights and we will have to approve it. It is going to cost a lot of money, but it can be done. As far as i can see it we have no way of compromising. This is not within our right. We can only say in a case like this, meet the specifications. Mr. Cassetla said what you are telling me is almost impossible. Mr. Wickham said we are in a position where we can only say meet the requirements. If you start compromising then you are in a position where ybu can sue the Town and say that you had to spend $100,000 to $200,000 under duress. We are going to say meet the specifications, nothing less. Mr. Casseila said he would lose Grants, the theatre and Adam's Drugs. There is no sense in the Town of Southold having empty buildings. All material has been ordered. Mr. Cefaletti said Mr. Cassella went to the Board of Health,to correct a situation someone else caused. He assumed he was going through channels. Mr. Casse!la said he was not aware that Mr. Yezzi had not brought a copy of the Health Department approved plan to the Town. Mr. Wickham said this Ks not going to be settled now. We cannot tell you what you should do or what you can do and the only thing we can say is meet the specifi- cations. Now I would suggest that in the week before our next meeting on the 18th~ and we will set aside an hour for you, that you get your engineer to make an estimate and make at least some sketches on putting legs on the steel. This is what I would suggest first. Now, if yQu wants you can also go to the Department of Health and tell them you would like to know about how much sanitary area (rings) would be required if the distance is 20 feet to water instead of 22 feet, which our figures show it to be. Then you have the problem of water disposal. We are not discussing a compromise, but if we ever do get to that point~ it is going to be on the basis of a 4 inch rain instead of a i inch. We are not going to stand for another shopping center like Riverhead where they have 6 to 8 inches of water after every rain. Mr. Wickham said we are not compromising at all without the advise and suggestion of the Town Attorney because as far as ! am concerned we have no authority to compromise at all. Mr. Moisa stated that there is a 6% grade instead of 3%. Mr. Wickham said the reserve area has to be landscaped. How you are going to service the sewage disposal systems with 10 feet of dirt on them I don't know. i a~ talking about the 40 foot reserve area with plantings and landscaping. The present structures are about 20 feet inside the reserve area. You have not even come close to staying within the site plan and this is not Mr. Yezzi's fault. Mr. Cassella said Bob Jewe!l designed that system. Mr. Wickham said the approved site plan is your business. With this kind of money involved this thing can always go to court and the Planning Board is just being extremely cautious because as far as I am concerned there will be no compromising unless our town attorney advises and there would be no conditions. Mr. Raynor said we have talked this over with the Town Board. We are not happy with this whole thing and their opinion seems to jive with ours. Meet the specifications. Mr. Cassella asked if the Town feels the sanitary system as it is now will not work. Mr. Wickham said that Ks correct. You have two.feet of water in the pools and the elevations are not correct. ~r. Raynor said our engineer figures it would work ~t about 40% capacity. Mr. Wickham said the calculations for distance to water is two feet lesso The minute you talk about any change, we are going to say meet today's specifi- cations. That is three or four times the number of pools you have now. Double it for two feet less to water and a four inch rain instead of two inch. I still think the simplest thing to do is to raise the finished floor. I suggest you have your engineer make up some sketches and present them at the next meeting on July 18th. Mr. Raynor asked if Mr. Davis was his present engineer. Mr. Cassella said it was Alden Young. Mr. Wickham asked what would be involved in 3acking up the whole thing and putting legs on it. Mr. Cefaletti said financially nothing is impossible. Putting legs on it you have to cart fill back; you would have to change all the elevations. The cost is fantastic. He said he did not believe there was any intention to down grade the town. Mr. Casselia took the job back and based on Mr. Yezzi's work~ with the Town of Southoid he believed him. All he wanted to do was mmprove the septic tank setup and drainage so he could eliminate the problems caused when the building was dropped. He was willing to spend the money. Mr. Wickham said the thing was redesigned which shows that you knew it would not work and didn't get our approval. We will do nothing without talking to our attorney and I suggest yau look into the alternatives. We would like you to cDme back and bring your Superintendent. Don't expect us to be easy, because we are not going to be. Mr. Casselia samd he wants to try to correct it. Mr. Wickham said there was no point in continuing the discussion any more. Mr. Moisa said he thought all pertinent points have been brought forth and the decision of the last meeting. Mr. Casseiia said Grants is losing money mn Riverhead and they would be very happy to get out right now and if we lose Grants I don't know what we would do with a building of that size. It is going to be bene- ficial to the Town as they are going to close up the one in Greenport. I have over $60t000 worth of equipment ordered for Grants. Mr. Raynor said Mr. Cassella should get Mr. Yezzi for Tuesday's meeting. Mr. Cassella asked if it made any difference which engineer he used. Mr. Raynor said it made a decided ~ifference to him. Young has contracted with this Board. Mr. Casseila said Young has been working for~him. Mr. Wickham said if Mr. Cassella felt it would be a hard~hip to get along without Alden Young then we can make o~h~r~arrangements. We can get July somebody else. We will still use his maps and figures. We have to be careful not to have a conflict of interest. You can expect us to move very carefully and very slowly. Regardless one way or the other, it is going ~o cost you a lot more money. Mr. Casselia said he would be at the Planning Board meeting on July 18, 1972. The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 A.M. Respectfully submitted, Terri Lee Elak, Secretary Southold Town Planning Board