HomeMy WebLinkAboutAppendix A - FEIS Appendix A
1
2 STATE OF NEW YORK
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
3
4 PUBLIC HEARING AND
PUBLIC COMMENT
5 PURSUANT TO
STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
6 REVIEW ACT (SEQRA)
7 REGARDING
8 THE PROPOSED ANNEXATION BY THE
VILLAGE OF GREENPORT OF APPROXIMATELY 17 . 2 ACRES
9 OF LAND IN THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD AND THE
SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION
10 OF A RESIDENTIAL PROJECT KNOWN AS
NORTHWIND VILLAGE
11
12 53095 Route 25
Southold, New York
13
14
October 28 , 2009
15 7 : 00 p .m.
16
17
18 BEFORE :
19 RICHARD R. WISSLER,
Administrative Law Judge
20
21
22 REPORTED BY :
23 THERESA PAPE, Court Reporter/Notary Public
24
25
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 2
2 JUDGE WISSLER : Good evening .
3 The time is now 7 : 06, and my name
4 is Richard Wissler . I am an
5 administrative law judge with the
6 Department of Environmental
7 Conservation, and I will be presiding at
8 this evening ' s hearing, which, for the
9 record, is being held on Wednesday,
10 October the 28th, 2009, in the Southold
11 Town Hall , 53095 Main Road, Route 25,
12 Southold, New York 11971 .
13 The purpose of this hearing is to
- 14 solicit comment on a Draft Environmental
15 Impact Statement , which is sometimes
16 here referred to as a DEIS, prepared for
17 the proposed annexation by the Village
18 of Greenport of approximately 17 . 2 acres
19 of land in the Town of Southold, and, in
20 particular, we are talking about a
21 parcel Suffolk County Tax Map Number
22 1000-40-03-01 , and the subsequent
23 development and construction of a
24 residential project known as Northwind
25 Village .
1 Pudic Hearing 30/28/09 3
2 My assignment this evening is to
3 ensure that your comments are received
4 in an orderly fashion . It ' s not
5 necessary for you to have filed in
6 advance to speak at this hearing, but if
7 you do wish to speak, I need to have you
8 file out one of the speaker cards that
9 are located at the back table there,
10 which Ms . Aicher has, and she will have
11 you fill them out, will bring those up
12 to me, and I will call your names in the
13 order in which I receive those cards .
14 Your statements tonight are not
15 being made under oath and there is no
16 cross-examination . But I would ask that
17 you -- that when you come up to the
18 podium that you speak into the
19 microphone, and speak slowly and clearly
20 because everything that we say is being
21 taken down by a court .reporter, who has
22 also had a problem with me tonight
23 already because she says I write like a
24 doctor . So please speak clearly. It ' s
25 important that everyone ' s statement be
I Public Hearimg 10/28/09 4
2 recorded accurately.
3 I would note for the record that a
4 notice of complete application in this
5 matter was published in the
6 Environmental Notice Bulletin, which is
7 the Department ' s electronic notification
S instrument which is located at its
9 Web site at www . dec . ny . gov. In
10 addition, it was published -- the notice
11 of this hearing was published in the
12 Environmental Notice Bulletin. on
13 October the 7th, 2009, and it was also
-- 14 published in the Suffolk County Times on
15 October the 8th, 2009 as a legal notice .
16 And I would note for the record that
17 this fulfilled the legal notification
18 obligations under Part 617 of Title 6 of
19 the New York Compilation of Codes ,
20 Rules, and Regulations, which are the
21 environmental quality review
22 implementing regulations .
23 Now, if you don ' t wish to make a
24 written statement -- an oral statement ,
25 you don ' t have to . You can make a
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 5
2 written statement . If you want to make
3 a written statement , there are two ways
4 you can do it .
5 One is you can take the speaker
6 card -- because there ' s a little box on
7 the speaker card that asks you if you
8 wish to make a statement, and it says
9 yes or no -- and you can take that
10 little speaker card and check the no
11 box, and write your comment on the back
12 of that card, and then hand that in to
13 me , and that written comment will become
- 14 one -- will become a record of -- in
15 this hearing .
16 If you would prefer to provide a
17 comment to the Department after tonight,
18 you may do so until November the 30th,
19 2009 -- Monday, November the 30th, 2009,
20 and you can do that in zither of two
21 ways . But both of them will go to
22 Ms . Sherri Aicher who is standing in the
23 back of the room who has the cards , and
24 you can either send your statement to
25 her at the New York Statement Department
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 6
2 of Environmental Conservation, the
3 Division of Environmental Permits ,
4 SUNY/Stony Brook, 50 Circle Road,
5 Stony Brook, New York 11790-3409, or by
6 e-mail to slaicher@gw . dec . state . ny . us .
7 I 'm sure you all got that .
8 Okay . I just wanted to briefly --
9 the procedure we ' re going to follow.
10 Before we go to the public
11 comments, if there are -- we ' re going to
12 have two brief statements, one by the
13 Department , and one by the project
14 applicant in this case -- no pun
15 intended, KACE -- and, thereafter, I
16 will begin taking comments from members
17 of the public .
18 If there are any elected officials
19 in -- any of your elected officials
20 present here tonight, I will take their
21 comments first . So please indicate your
22 presence .
23 If not , Mr . Hammarth .
24 MR. HAMMARTH : Hello . My name is
25 George Hammarth, H-A-M-M-A-R-T-H, with
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 7
2 the New York State Department of
3 Environmental Conservation ' s Region 1
4 office in Stony Brook, in the Division
5 of Environmental Permits . I 'm one of
6 the people that are heading up the
7 review of the Draft Environmental Impact
8 Statement for this action .
9 The purpose of today ' s hearing is
10 for the Department to accept comments on
11 the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
12 which has been prepared for this action,
13 and also to accept comments on the
-- 14 pending application for a state
15 Freshwater Wetlands permit which is
16 required for the development as well .
17 The DEIS is available
18 electronically at the following
19 Web address, and I apologize in advance
20 because this is going to be a long
21 address , but it ' s
22 www . vhb . com/northwindvillage/deis .
23 Northwindvillage is all one word.
24 Please note that this Web address
25 and the name of the contact person, the
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 8
2 contact information for the contact
3 person, are all available on the Notice
4 of Hearing that we have on the back
5 table . Anybody is welcome to take one
6 of those notices , and all the
7 information that you need to contact us
8 and provide commentary is available on
9 that notice .
10 Paper copies of the DEIS document
11 are available for public review at the
12 Floyd Memorial Library at 539 First
13 Street in Greenport, and at the Southold
14 Free Library at 53705 Main Road in
15 Southold.
16 A hard copy of the DEIS is also
17 available for review, along with the
18 state Freshwater Wetlands permit
19 application, at the DEC Region 1 office
20 in Stony Brook. The Judge gave that
21 address previously, and it is on the
22 hearing notice at the back of the room.
23 One of things that I think is very
24 important is that we provide some
25 context for the hearing and the action
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 9
2 that is the subject of today ' s hearing .
3 As the Judge said, the action is
4 actually the annexation by the Village
5 of Greenport , pursuant to Article 17 of
6 the New York State General Municipal
7 Law, of a 17 . 2-acre parcel of land
8 currently located in the Town of
9 Southold, adjacent to the northwest
10 border of the Village of Greenport .
11 Once annexed, the site is proposed to
12 be developed with a 128-unit,
13 mixed-income housing development
14 consisting of one, two, and three
15 bedroom units in 20 buildings with
16 associated access roadway, driveways ,
17 drainage, common areas, and landscaping .
18 One-half or 64 of the proposed units
19 will be developed as affordable housing
20 units as defined by Suffolk County, and
21 will be subject to price, sale, resale,
22 and ownership controls, which are
23 collectively known as affordability
24 restrictions .
25 The General Municipal Law sets
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 10
2 forth a procedure by which proposals to
3 annex land from one local government to
4 another are to be made and decided.
5 Annexation is the alteration or changing
6 of the boundaries of a county, city,
7 town, or village that has the effect of
8 adding territory to one municipality by
9 removing territory from another
10 municipality. The basic requirement of
11 the law for the annexation of land from
12 one municipality to another is the
13 consent of the governing boards of each
14 involved municipality; in this case, the
15 Town Board of the Town of Southold and
16 the Village Board of the Village of
17 Greenport .
18 In order to consent to an
19 annexation proposal , a municipal
20 governing board must conclude that the
21 annexation is in the overall public
22 interest, taking into account such
23 considerations as :
24 The effects on the territory to be
25 annexed;
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 11
2 The effects on the local government
3 to which the territory will be annexed;
4 The effects on the remaining area
5 of the local government in which the
6 territory is now located; and,
7 The effects on any school district,
8 fire district , or other district
9 corporation, public benefit corporation,
10 fire protection district, fire alarm
11 district, or town or county improvement
12 district situated wholly or partially in
13 a territory to be annexed .
14 The DEIS includes more details on
15 the requirements of the Municipal
16 Annexation Law and the steps taken to
17 date by the Town, the Village, and the
18 project sponsor to fulfill its
19 requirements .
20 In July, 2005 , KACE LI , LLC --
21 that ' s spelled K-A-C-E, L-I , L-L-C --
22 filed a petition with both the Town of
23 Southold and the Village of Greenport to
24 annex the subject property into the
25 Village .
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 12
2 In August of 2005, the Town Board
3 determined that the proposed annexation
4 was an Unlisted Action pursuant to the
5 State Environmental Quality Review
6 Regulations and initiated the lead
7 agency coordination process provided for
8 under the SEQR -- that ' s the acronym for
9 the State Environmental Quality Review
10 Regulations .
11 The lead agency is the involved
12 agency responsible for determining
13 whether an environmental impact
14 statement will be required for a
15 proposed action and for the preparation
16 and filing of the EIS if one is
17 required. Both the Town and the Village
18 expressed desire to serve as the SEQR
19 lead agency. When it became clear that
20 the Town and the Village could not agree
21 on which agency would be the lead
22 agency, the municipalities initiated the
23 lead agency dispute resolution process
24 provided for in the SEQR regulations .
25 In this process , each disputing
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 13
2 agency makes a submission to the
3 Commissioner of Environmental
4 Conservation which supports its
5 contention that it is the best suited,
6 based on the standards contained in the
7 SEQR regulations , to serve as the lead
8 agency . The DEC commissioner makes the
9 final lead agency decision after
10 reviewing all submissions .
11 In the case of the subject action,
12 the review of the lead agency petitions
13 filed by the Town and the Village by the
14 DEC Commissioner ' s staff in Albany
15 identified that the site contains state
16 regulated freshwater wetlands, and that
17 the development of the site as proposed
is would require a Freshwater Wetlands
19 permit from DEC .
20 After discussions involving the
21 Town, the Village, the DEC Central
22 Office and Regional staff, all parties
23 agreed to the designation of the DEC
24 Region 1 as the SEQR lead agency, which
25 resolved the dispute .
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 14
2 1n late 2005, the Town also made
3 two determinations on the proposed
4 annexation petition pursuant to the
5 Municipal Annexation Law.
6 The first was that the annexation
7 petition filed by the project sponsor
8 complied with the procedural filing
9 requirements of the law .
10 The second was that the proposed
11 annexation was not in the overall public
12 interest and should not go forward.
13 On learning of the Town ' s denial of
-- 14 the proposed annexation petition, the
15 Village filed a lawsuit seeking a
16 judgment pursuant to the Municipal
17 Annexation Law and the New York Civil
18 Practice Law and Rules against the Town
19 as is provided for in the Municipal
20 Annexation Law when one of the involved
21 municipalities in a proposed annexation
22 denies the petition .
23 This case is currently pending in
24 the Supreme Court of the State of
25 New York Appellate Division, Second
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 15
2 Department . One of the elements
3 required for the Court to render a
4 decision in that matter is a completed
5 SEQR record .
6 In October of 2006, DEC determined
7 that the proposed action had the
8 potential to result in significant
9 impacts to the environment and issued
10 the required SEQR Positive Declaration .
11 In June of 2007 , DEC approved the
12 final scope for the Draft Environmental
13 Impact Statement .
- 14 The combined Notice of Completion
15 of Draft EIS, Notice of Complete
16 Application, and Notice of this State
17 Environmental Quality Review Hearing was
18 published on September 28th -- was
19 issued on September 28th, 2009 .
20 And that brings us to where we are
21 tonight .
22 Thank you .
23 JUDGE WISSLER: Okay. Thank you .
24 We ' ll now hear from Theresa
25 Elkowitz .
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 16
2 MS . ELKOWITZ : Good evening,
3 Judge Wissler . My name is Terri
4 Elkowitz and I 'm a principal of
5 VHB Engineering, and we ' re serving as
6 the environmental consultant to the
7 applicant , KACE LI , LLC .
8 Mr . Hammarth did a very good job at
9 explaining what the application is , so
10 I 'm not going to repeat what he ' s
11 presented to you . Clearly, yes , the
12 application involves an annexation and
13 the development of 128 multifamily
14 units, 64 of which are proposed to be
15 workforce units with no taxpayer or
16 other government subsidy .
17 Our firm was the primary preparer
18 of the Environmental Impact Statement,
19 which is in the back of the room as
20 Mr . Hammarth has said. And we have
21 prepared that in accordance with the
22 final scope that was issued by the DEC
23 on June 29th, 2007 . And the DEC did
24 review that and ultimately deemed it
25 adequate for public review on
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 17
2 September 28th of this year .
3 So S don ' t believe that we really
4 need to go into further detail because
5 Mr . Hammarth was very comprehensive . So
6 we and the applicants who are here with
7 me tonight will remain here for the
8 remainder of the hearing, and we will
9 listen to the comments so that they can
10 be responded to in a final Environmental
11 Impact Statement .
12 Thank you, your Honor .
13 JUDGE WISSLER : Thank you .
14 Again, if you wish to speak
15 tonight, I need to have you fill out a
16 speaker card for me, and those will be
17 brought up here .
18 MS . AICHER: (Handing)
19 JUDGE WISSLER: We ' ll first hear
20 from David Nyce -- is that -- did I get
21 it right?
22 MAYOR NYCE : (Head gesture)
23 JUDGE WISSLER : The Mayor of the
24 Village of Greenport .
25 MAYOR NYCE : Good evening, Judge .
I Pudic Hearing 10/28/09 18
2 Thank you . And I congratulate you,
3 that ' s -- about one in ten that get it
4 right the first time .
5 The Village of Greenport -- T ' d
6 like to read a statement on behalf of
7 the Village Board,
8 The Village of Greenport has
9 received the Draft Environmental Impact
10 Statement with respect to the proposed
11 Northwind Village project , and the
12 Village Board is presently reviewing
13 that document and the information it
14 contains with its professionals .
15 The Village of Greenport realizes
16 the significance of SEQRA and -- as an
17 underpinning of the government process
18 and the importance of conducting a
19 thorough SEQRA review prior to any
20 governmental action .
21 The Village of Greenport is also
22 dedicated to public review and input in
23 the SEQRA process and for that reason
24 has decided that it is in the interest
25 of the residents of the Village that
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 19
2 there be an additional public meeting
3 on -- with the DEIS as its subject to be
4 conducted by the Village of Greenport at
5 a public session in the Village of
6 Greenport for the residents of the
7 Village to consider and provide comments
8 . an this DEIS .
9 The Village for that reason will
10 conduct a public hearing on the DEIS --
11 I 'm sorry, a public meeting on the DEIS
12 to be held on November 12th, 2009 at
13 6 : 00 p .m. at the Third Street Firehouse ,
14 and all public is encouraged to attend .
15 Any and all written comments may be
16 directed to Sylvia Pirillo, the Village
17 Clerk, via mail at Village Hall ,
18 236 Third Street, Greenport, New York
19 11944 , or via e-mail to the
20 villageofgreenport . org to Sylvia
21 Pirillo, the clerk, and in the subject
22 matter please put Northwind DEIS .
23 This is in an effort for the
24 Village to compile comments of its
25 residents that it may incorporate them,
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 20
2 if necessary, into its comments .
3 It is the Village Board ' s intent to
4 comment on the Northwind DEIS . Those
5 comments will reflect the board ' s
6 concerns for not only the Village but
7 the entire community. And that ' s my
8 statement .
9 Thank you very much .
10 JUDGE WISSLER: And, Mayor,
11 although this isn ' t a question and
12 answer, I just have a question for
13 you --
14 MAYOR NYCE : Okay .
15 JUDGE WISSLER: -- just so that I
16 understand and so the Department is
17 clear of --
18 MAYOR NYCE : Yes .
19 THE COURT : -- of what to expect .
20 The proceeding that you ' ll conduct
21 in the Village of Greenport, it ' s your
22 intent to take a transcript of that
23 hearing and any written comments that
24 you receive --
25 MAYOR NYCE : No .
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 21
2 JUDGE WISSLER: -- and give them to
3 the Department?
4 MAYOR NYCE : It is our -- we are
5 eliciting information from our residents
6 to try and kind of incorporate those
7 into our comments in the SEQR process .
8 I understand that --
9 JUDGE WISSLER: I understand that ,
10 but one -- our function here tonight is
11 to receive comments on the Draft
12 Environmental Impact Statement that has
13 been presented.
14 MAYOR NYCE : Yes .
15 JUDGE WISSLER: Okay. So I 'm
16 correct in assuming that basically what
17 you ' re doing is , in a more formal way,
18 developing a set of comments that are
19 unique to the folks of the Village of
20 Greenport, and that they ' re going to be
21 given to -- so that the Department by
22 November the 30th can expect that they
23 will receive from the Village of
24 Greenport comments --
25 MAYOR NYCE : Yes .
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 22
2 JUDGE WISSLER : -- in the form of a
3 transcript from a public hearing that
4 you may hold, and in the form of written
5 comments that folks may submit to you .
6 MAYOR NYCE : That is correct .
7 JUDGE WISSLER : And they will
8 become written comments and part of the
9 record -- essentially part of the record
10 of this hearing that we ' re starting
11 tonight -- the process we ' re starting
12 here tonight .
13 MAYOR NYCE : That is correct , that
14 that is my understanding . Again, I ' m
15 not our village attorney . Our village
16 attorney had suggested that we do this .
17 JUDGE WISSLER: Okay.
18 MAYOR NYCE : I don ' t want -- I
19 don ' t understand the SEAR process
20 enough, I ' m sorry to say --
21 JUDGE WISSLER: That ' s okay.
22 MAYOR NYCE : -- but I don ' t -- I
23 want to make sure that what we ' re doing
24 doesn ' t step on the process .
25 JUDGE WISSLER: I just want to make
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 23
2 sure that the Department is on notice --
3 MAYOR NYCE : Yes .
4 JUDGE WISSLER: -- and clear that
5 they should expect --
6 MAYOR NYCE : Yes .
7 JUDGE WISSLER : -- a packet of some
8 things -- you know, some -- some
9 clan- -- more comprehensive comments
10 from the folks of the Village of
11 Greenport .
12 MAYOR NYCE : Absolutely.
13 JUDGE WISSLER: Okay.
14 MAYOR NYCE : That is our intent .
15 JUDGE WISSLER: Do you have a copy
16 of the written statement that you just
17 gave us that you would like to submit
18 for the record? You can give it to the
19 court reporter, if you ' d like .
20 MAYOR NYCE : Okay. Please pardon
21 the handwritten line at the bottom.
22 JUDGE WISSLER: If she can read
23 mine, she can read yours .
24 (WHEREUPON, the above-referred-to
25 document, written statement, was marked
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 24
2 as Public Hearing Exhibit 1 , for
3 identification, as of this date . )
4 JUDGE WISSLER: Thank you .
5 Okay. Are there any other elected
6 officials in the audience?
7 (WHEREUPON, there was no response . )
8 JUDGE WISSLER : We will then hear
9 from Ray Huntington .
10 After Mr . Huntington, we will hear
11 from Anne Murray.
12 MR. HUNTINGTON : , Good evening. I ' m
13 Ray Huntington from Cutchogue .
14 First, I ' d like to say that I ' m
15 some -- disappointed in the objectivity
16 of the Environmental Impact Statement
17 which is the subject of this hearing,
18 although I should not be surprised since
19 it was purchased by the developer .
20 I am a member of the Southold Land
21 Preservation Committee, which is an
22 advisory board to -- advisory committee
23 to the Town Board, and we discussed this
24 last night .
25 The Town of Southold has made
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 25
2. significant investment in the Moore ' s
3 drain area which flows south from this
4 area -- from where -- where the
5 property -- the Northwind property is .
6 To protect that drain with those
7 investments and preservation that were
8 made, were made to protect the creeks
9 and the bay and the -- the water that
10 flows through that area .
11 The Environmental Impact Statement
12 makes no mention of that .
13 The local knowledge suggests that
14 the solutions -- that -- the local
15 knowledge really is that this is an area
16 of spectacularly complex drainage . It
17 runs for quite a distance down to the
18 bay, and locally I think people
19 understand that you don ' t want to build
20 a house in a lot of this area because of
21 the perched water, the poor drainage in
22 general, the clay. It ' s not a place
23 that ' s very receptive to development .
24 The Environmental Impact Statement
25 seems to suggest that if enough money
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 26
2 and engineering is brought to bare on
3 any problem, it can be mitigated. But
4 there really is a distance between the
5 cup and the lip in the complex area
6 of -- the complex freshwater estuary as
7 we ' re talking about right now.
8 High density development has the
9 potential to undo the preservation in
10 which we have already invested very
11 considerably.
12 Thank you .
13 JUDGE WISSLER: Thank you .
14 We ' ll now hear from Anne Murray.
15 Atter Anne Murray, we ' ll hear from Frank
16 Wills .
17 MS . MURRAY : Hi, I 'm -Anne Murray.
18 1 live in East Marion, not too far from
19 this proposed project .
20 1 want to address something that
21 the final scope requested, which was
22 to -- that the applicant indicate the
23 indication of sanitary flow impact if
24 the connection to the Greenport sewer
25 district does not go through .
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 27
2 This is not addressed at all
3 anywhere in, this DIS that I could find,
4 and I believe that ' s required as
5 requested in the final scope, so I would
6 think that ' s something that needs to be
7 addressed .
8 It also says that the project will
9 result in a loss of 4 . 6 acres of
10 woodland, and the consultant says that
11 the magnitude of that is not expected to
12 be significant . Well , that ' s a very
13 subjective answer in my book. I think
1.4 what -- what is significant to the
15 developer is very different from what ' s
16 significant to Southold residents and
17 the preservation of wetlands and the
18 woods that we have left .
19 Thank you .
20 JUDGE WISSLER; Thank you ,
21 Frank, is it Wills?
22 And, folks, I apologize in advance
23 if I --
24 MR. WILLS : Excuse me?
25 JUDGE WISSLER: -- mispronounce
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 28
2 names .
3 Atter Mr . Wills, we ' ll hear from
4 Kristopher Pilks .
5 MR. WILLS : Good evening . My name
6 is Frank Wills . I represent the North
7 Fork Environment Council . I 'm the
8 president .
9 The DIS lists 17 . 2 acres as the
10 total property, but nowhere is -- what I
11 found, is there any statement as to how
12 much of that property is wetlands,
13 whatever you want to call them, which
14 under our rules and regulations are not
15 allowed for development .
16 Mr . Huntington also mentioned the
17 fact that the company that performed
18 this DIS is headed by a gentleman who
19 previously was working for
20 Mr . Kontokosta . So the possibility
21 of -- I ' ll say it -- conflict of
22 interest is an obvious one .
23 The DIS mentions, after some
24 calculations , that possibly
25 approximately '40 students would be added
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 29
2 to the Greenport School System, whose
3 budget per pupil these days is $22 , 222 .
4 So obviously, this would add
5 approximately $ 900 , 000 to the Greenport
6 tax base . I don ' t know that Greenport ' s
7 aware of this or what their thoughts are
8 on this , but it ' s something to consider
9 even these days .
10 Those are the only comments S have
11 at the present .
12 Thank you .
13 JUDGE WISSLER: Thank you .
14 MR. PILKS : How you doing? Kris
15 Pilks . I just wanted to speak as a
16 resident of the North Fork in favor of
17 this project .
18 I 'm a real estate broker . I ' m also
19 a young person. I understand the
20 importance of homeownership out here . I
21 think this is a very good way for our
22 community to see some benefit from a
23 private developer doing the job that ' s
24 typically reserved for, you know, the --
25 the taxpayers ' dollars . You know, we ' re
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 30
2 looking at, you know, 64 units that
3 should be preserved perpetually as
4 affordable and workforce housing. I
5 don ' t know the last time we ' ve had this
6 opportunity, just as a town, for our
7 residents to see this .
8 Looking at the -- the wetlands on
9 this property, my understanding is the
10 DEC has flagged the freshwater wetlands,
11 and the proposed project is within the
12 hundred feet boundary that ' s required
13 for any project .
14 You know, so, again, I just urge,
15 you know, the stakeholders of this
15 project to look at the -- not only the
17 tax revenue created for the Town and the
18 Village who are both struggling
19 financially, but the benefit to the
20 locals .
21 And that ' s all I have to say.
22 Thank you .
23 JUDGE WISSLER: We will now hear
24 from Diana Weir .
25 And after Ms . Weir, from Jenn
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 31
2 Hartnagel .
3 MS . WEIR: Judge Wissler, thank you
4 for the opportunity to speak before you
5 today. I am with the Long Island
6 Housing Partnership. We are a
7 not-for-profit developer of affordable
8 housing on Long Island, the largest, and
9 I am here to comment on the affordable
10 units as the young man before me has
11 done .
12 It ' s a tremendous need on Long
13 Island . We ' re using -- losing our
14 youth . I am a resident of the East End,
15 the South -- the South Fork, East
16 Hampton, and I know that it ' s very
17 difficult for young people in this
18 community to be able to purchase a home .
19 And I think the type of development,
20 with the different types of housing,
21 which are attached housing, is going to
22 make it inherently more affordable, and
23 the mix of single one bedroom, two
24 bedroom, and three bedroom will -- will
25 address a lot of the needs for the young
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 32
2 people in this community.
3 And that is what I would like to
4 say .
5 Thank you .
6 JUDGE WISSLER: Thank you .
7 We ' ll now hear from Jenn Hartnagel .
8 After Ms . Hartnagel , we ' ll hear
9 from Patrick Heaney.
10 MS . HARTNAGEL : Good evening . My
11 name is Jenn Hartnagel . I ' m here on
12 behalf of the Group for the East End.
13 The Group for the East End is an
14 environmental education and advocacy
15 organization .
16 The subject parcel is ecologically
17 valuable and it ' s intrical ( sic) in
18 providing healthy habitat to a variety
19 of plant and animal species . The parcel
20 also contains important freshwater
21 wetlands which are part of the Moore ' s
22 drain system.
23 The Town of Southold has recognized
24 the ecological value of the parcel as
25 well by including it on its community
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 33
2 preservation list . Considering this,
3 the proposed number of units is
4 significantly higher than what is
5 permitted under the as-of-right zone,
6 and this is concerning -
7 Although it has been repeatedly
8 stated that the proposed project hookup
9 to the Greenport Sewage Treatment Plant
10 would essentially eliminate groundwater
11 impacts and service water impacts , the
12 intense density continues to provide
13 overarching potential impacts such as
14 traffic, community character, number of
15 school-age children, and the list goes
16 on .
17 The point I "m trying to make here
18 is that the hookup to the sewage
19 treatment plant is not a cure all .
20 Having said this, one of the most
21 important parts of the DEIS is the
22 alternatives section, and the
23 alternatives should provide thorough
24 details regarding mitigation .
25 Last year, the Town of Southold
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 34
2 codified new zoning standards in
3 specific relation to the hamlet density
4 zone . Essentially, size limits as well
5 as maximum building area were created in
6 addition to the requirement of open
7 space set asides . Under these new
8 regulations, the permitted as-of-right
9 density would be reduced . And,
10 theoretically, this decrease in density
11 would also significantly eliminate many
12 of the potential environmental impacts .
13 Therefore, we are strongly
14 suggesting that the DEC require the
15 addition of an alternative that
16 illustrates a plan that complies with
17 the new Town standards .
18 And, lastly, I ' d like to mention
19 that the Suffolk County Department of
20 Health Services last year also updated
21 its standards , and these updates
22 directly effect the -- the proposal in
23 the way of how much proposed sanitary
24 waste is projected to generate from
25 various size the dwelling units
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 35
2 proposed.
3 The standards have been amended
4 to assigned dwelling units above
5 1 , 200 square feet, a value of
6 300 gallons per day, which is equal to
7 what a single family resident produces ,
8 and I believe the proposal includes
9 70 units which range above that size .
10 So these new amendments would change the
11 details provided within the DEIS, and in
12 the very least we ' re asking that the
13 DEIS should be updated to reflect these
14 changes , and the calculations should
15 also reflect these changes within the
16 document as well .
17 Thank you for the opportunity to
18 speak tonight . We will no doubt be
19 providing additional, more specific
20 written comments .
21 Thank you .
22 JUDGE WISSLER: Thank you .
23 MR. HEANEY : Good evening . My name
24 is Patrick Heaney. Z ' m commissioner of
25 Economic Development and Workforce
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 36
2 Housing for the County of Suffolk . Our
3 mission in the department is rather
4 straightforward . We are charged with
5 encouraging a broad mix of business
6 opportunities across Suffolk County,
7 promotion of arts in the culture, and to
8 pursue and advocate for affordable
9 housing for the County ' s workforce .
10 As I understand this hearing
11 tonight, it is directly related to the
12 proposed annexation . My comments are in
13 a narrow band, limited only to the
14 affordability aspect of the proposal .
15 There are proposed to date 128 units , of
16 which 64 are intended to be affordable .
17 Of that 64 , 32 of the units are intended
18 for those families earning incomes less
19 than 80 percent of the Nassau/Suffolk
20 regional nMI , and the second 32 units
21 are intended for those families earning
22 between 80 percent and no more than
23 120 percent . The long term covenant on
24 affordability is one that certainly
25 meets the requirements of the Suffolk
1 Public Hearing 14/28/09 37
2 County ' s Workforce Housing program, as
3 do the percentages and the income levels
4 for the targeted families .
5 With that said, we would strongly
6 support a project like this should it
7 actually come to fruition .
8 Thank you .
9 JUDGE WISSLER: Thank you .
10 Next, we ' ll hear from Howard
11 Meinke, and then from James Dinizio .
12 And I would just note that I have
13 no other cards . So if you ' d like to
14 speak, you need to fill out a card .
15 MR. MEINKE : Hello . Thank you for
16 the opportunity . My name is Howard
17 Meinke, I live in Mattituck.
18 If I 'm too far off base, you can
19 stop me, because I wasn ' t aware that
20 this was going to be purely a
21 nuts-and-bolts technical contribution or
22 complaints about your report . I want to
23 say that as a Southold resident, we are
24 very concerned about how Southold is
25 devel- -- Southold Town, which goes all
1 Pylic Bearing 10/28/09 38
2 the way from Mattituck to the end of
3 Orient , and the development and how it
4 happens , and we are starting work on an
5 update of a master plan . Now, this land
6 currently belongs to Southold, and it ' s
7 a stupendously high density piece of
8 development . There is no way that
9 Southold, before their master plan
10 written -- was written, would ever
11 consider approving a development such as
12 this .
13 Now, I would also say that I ' ve
14 always understood that affordable
15 housing wanted to be near the hamlets,
16 near the hallow zone, walking distance
17 to shops, things of that sort . This is
18 planted in a place that is just going to
19 create traffic, everybody will have to
20 have an automobile to go anywhere . It
21 may do something about the -- effecting
22 the price of the house , I ' ve heard that
23 and I can ' t argue with it , but it is not
24 affordable housing in the place that
25 affordable housing is intended to be, as
1 Public Hewing 10/28/09 39
2 far as I know.
3 So I am not sure that it ' s the best
4 use of the land for that purpose . I
5 think that ' s a misstatement , I don ' t
6 think it works . And it is
7 excruciatingly too dense for Southold .
8 And it is a part of Southold Town, in
9 that Southold goes from Mattituck all
10 the way to Orient, so I know that the
11 North Fork Environmental Council -- I ' m
12 a member of their Land Use Committee --
13 is strongly against this whole
14 annexation proposal .
15 Thank you .
16 JUDGE WISSLER: Thank you .
17 Mr . James Dinizio .
18 And after Mr . Dinizio comes Heather
19 Lanza .
20 MR. DINIZIO: Hi . James Dinizio
21 from Greenport . I ' ve lived in the
22 school district all my life, was born in
23 the hospital in Greenport , and certainly
24 played in the woods -- in Moore ' s woods
25 more than my probably fair share . And
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 40
2 as I understand it, this is really a
3 battle between two different entities ,
4 Southold Town of which I served on the
5 zoning board for 20 years, and the
6 Village of Greenport which I used to
7 call the wild west .
8 They have very high density there .
9 They have sewage . For over a hundred
10 years, they ' ve managed to take care of
11 themselves . They have their own
12 electric, fire department . And this
13 land is probably the last time that we
14 will ever be able to see a truly large
15 development for affordable housing .
16 There ' s just not any. There ' s no
17 feeling on the Town ' s part to provide
18 any kind of affordable housing . it
19 seems like every time it comes up, they
20 either rezone the land or, you know,
21 they just drag it out too long .
22 So if the comments you want to hear
23 today is , you know, the DIS going to be
24 good for a guy who lives next -- in that
25 area, I 'm going to tell you yes .
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 41
2 The DIS says that that school
3 district, my school district, is only to
4 about 60 percent capacity. You know,
5 that -- that may -- that number may be
6 low . I -- I don ' t know, my wife works
7 in the school . But I can tell you this,
8 it depends on -- that school district
9 depends on importing students from
10 another district that as currently is
11 considering leaving . So if it leaves ,
12 that -- our school district probably
13 doesn ' t survive .
14 Certainly, there are -- I 'm a
15 member of the fire department, and
16 certainly, just to look around at a
17 monthly meeting, we ' re not getting any
18 younger . You know, we ' re not getting --
19 we have a few young members . No doubt,
20 they work constantly. They work. quote
21 a bit now because we have a -- a
22 development called Peconic landing,
23 which is a senior development . A lot of
24 alarms , a lot of rescues . We could use
25 more people .
I Public Hearing 10/28/09 42
2 So if you ' re comments are for that ,
3 then I 'm all for this project .
4 So, thank you .
5 JUDGE WISSLER: Thank you .
6 MS . LANZA: Heather Lanza with the
7 planning department with the Town of
8 Southold .
9 I just wanted to let you know that
10 we ' re reviewing the DEIS in detail, and
11 we ' ll be submitting written comments on
12 behalf of the Town Board .
13 JUDGE WISSLER: Okay .
14 I have no other speaker cards .
15 However, is there anybody who hasn ' t
16 filled out a card who would like to
17 speak?
18 (WHEREUPON, there was no response . )
19 JUDGE WISSLER: Well, I ' ll tell you
20 what ; folks , this hearing is noticed
21 from 7 o ' clock tonight until 9 : 30 . So
22 I 'm not going anywhere, which I 'm sure
23 the court reporter loves to hear. So we
24 will take care -- take a recess right
25 now, and my intention will be if there
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 43
2 are folks who want to come in tonight
3 between now and 9 : 30 and provide
4 comments, will be here to receive those
5 comments .
6 So thank you -- you ' re welcome to
7 keep me company, but don ' t feel that you
8 have to .
9 (Laughter)
10 JUDGE WISSLER: But I do appreciate
11 the input of everyone this evening, and
12 I 'm sure the Department does as well .
13 (WHEREUPON, a brief recess was
14 taken, after which the following
15 transpired : )
16 (Time noted: 7 : 48 p . m. )
17 JUDGE WISSLER: Okay. We ' re back
18 on the record.
19 We broke at 7 : 48 , and the hearing
20 was noticed for the period of 7 : 00 p .m.
21 until 9 : 30 . It is now, according to my
22 watch, 9 : 30 p .m. , so this hearing is
23 concluded .
24 (WHEREUPON, the above-referred-to
25 document, Public Hearing Registration
1 Public Hearing 10/28/09 44
2 Cards, consisting of 11 cards, was
3 marked as Public Hearing Exhibits 2A
4 through 2K, for identification, as of
5 this date . )
6 (WHEREUPON, this public hearing was
7 adjourned at 9 : 30 p .m. )
8
9
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12
13 EXHIBITS
14
15 PUBLIC HEARING
EXHIBITS DESCRIPTION PAGE
16
1 Written Statement of
17 Mayor David Nyce 23
18 2A-K Public Hearing Registration
Cards 43
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I Public Hearing 10/28/09 45
2
3
4 C E R T I F I C A T E
5
6 1 , THERESA PAPE, a Shorthand Reporter and
7 Notary Public of the State of New York, do hereby
8 certify:
9 That the witness whose examination is
10 hereinbefore set forth, was duly sworn, and that
11 such examination is a true record of the testimony
12 given by such witness .
13 I further certify that I am not related to
14 any of the parties to this action by blood or
15 marriage; and that 1 am in no way interested in the
16 outcome of this matter .
17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my
18 hand this 28th day of October 2009 .
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THERESAP
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