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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-07/16/2002GENERAL MEETING JULY 16, 2002 4:30 P.M. A Regular Meeting of the Southold Town Board was held on March 26, 2002, at the Southold Town Hall, Southold, New York. Supervisor Horton opened the meeting at 4:30 P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Present: Supervisor Joshua Y. Horton Justice Louisa P. Evans Councilman William D. Moore Councilman John M. Romanelli Councilman Craig A. Richter Councilman Thomas H. Wickham Town Clerk Elizabeth A. Neville Town Attorney Gregory A. Yakaboski SUPERVISOR HORTON: Good Afternoon, ! would like to welcome you all to the July 16 public meeting of the Southold Town Board. As ! mentioned at the commencement, this is a public meeting with that being said, if the members of the public would like to address the Town Board on items that are specifically mentioned on the agenda, ! will offer the floor to you prior to the reading of the resolutions. If there is Town business that you would like to address the Town Board on that is not on the printed agenda, ! will allow time after the reading of the resolutions to accommodate that. We do welcome any and all input. ! would like to start before we get moving with the approvals and resolutions, ! would like to call to the front Jennifer and Kelly MacDonald. To give you a little bit of background on why Jennifer and Kelly are here, they have been employed with the Town of Southold as lifeguards and last summer they executed a rescue of a young man and his father off New Suffolk Beach. It was acknowledged last year that they executed this rescue and their father gave me a call and talked to me a little bit about it-their father is also a fire Coast Guardsman-he called to talk to me about that rescue a little bit and it really sparked my interest and my deep appreciation for the work our lifeguards do. ! think it is something that really needs to be noted is that the training that goes into lifesaving in the maritime situation, the maritime environment, there is training, there is practice, drilling and then when it comes time to put yourself in the water and take control of the panic fear- stricken and essentially dying person in the water, no amount of training and no amount of practice can prepare you for what these two ladies accomplished. It takes something way deep down inside that you have to reach into and grab hold of to actually affect such a feat. So ! would like to honor these two lifeguards that are still employed with the Town of Southold and ! would like to read this resolution. WHEREAS: the Town Board of the Town of Southold on behalf of all the residents of Southold Town, wishes to honor JENNIFER AND KELLY MACDONALD who together saved two men from drowning on August 5, 2001; and WHEREAS: during this particular Sunday afternoon these two sisters, lifeguards for Southold Town, were assigned to the New Suffolk Beach where they were alerted that the two men had been overcome by the heavy current at the far end of the beach; and 2 WHEREAS: giving no thought to their own personal safety and displaying exceptional courage and heroism, JENNIFER AND KELLY grabbed their rescue boards and raced to the aid of the men as they were being swept away from the shore: now, therefore, be it RESOLVED: that the Town Board of the Town of Southold wishes to join with those on the beach that day applauding and cheering JENNIFER AND KELLY MACDONALD, and we express our appreciation for their unselfish commitment to serving their community and Southold Town. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank-you. Again, to really drive home how amazing this feat, in the percentage of people that are pulled from the water alive when a rescue effort is launched is minimal. It takes something really special and really natural that you have to reach down and tap into, so again my hat is off with my sincere appreciation. Thank-you. We will move on with Town business. Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Richter, it was RESOLVED that the following bills be and hereby are ordered paid: General Fund Whole Town bills in the amount of $221,994.90; General Fund Part Town bills in the amount of $10,104.89; Highway Fund Whole Town bills in the amount of $5,035.98; Highway Fund Part Town bills in the amount of $26,396.75; Capital Projects Account bills in the amount of $3,057.60; Landfill Cap & Closure bills in the amount of $73,454.76; New London Terminal Project bills in the amount of $6,998.81; Employee Health Benefit Plan bills in the amount of $7,342.24; Fishers Island Ferry District bills in the amount of $31,929.44; Refuse & Garbage District bills in the amount of $26,575.60; Southold Wastewater District bills in the amount $963.17; Fishers Island Sewer District bills in the amount of $2,568.13; Southold Agency & Trust bills in the amount of $4,212.56 and Fishers Island Ferry District Agency & Trust bills in the amount of $249.00. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. RESOLVED that the next meeting of the Southold Town Board be held Tuesday, July 30, 2002 at 7:30 P.M. at the Southold Town Hall, Southold, New York. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. SUPERVISOR HORTON: We have several reports on file at the Town Clerks Office if any members of the public would care to review those reports you may do so at the Town Clerks Office between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. Monday through Friday. As well, we have several public notices that are posted at the Town Clerks Office and are available to you for your perusal. We have no communications on the agenda for this meeting, however, communications from the past and that come in are as well, in the Town Clerks Office. We do have a public hearing at 5:00 P.M. today. I. REPORTS 1. Southold Town Program for the Disabled - June events 2. Recreation Department - June 2002 3. Scavenger Waste Treatment Facility - June 2002 4. Juvenile Aid Bureau, Police Department - June 2002 5. Southold Town Justice Court, Evans - June 2002 6. Southold Town Justice Court, Price - June 2002 7. Southold Town Justice Court, Bruer - June 2002 II. PUBLIC NOTICES 1. US Army Corps of Engineers, NY District, Notice of application of Suffolk County Department of Public Works for maintenance dredging and beach nourishment at Cedar Beach Harbor, Little Peconic Bay, Southold. Written comments by August 9, 2002. III. COMMUNICATIONS None IV. PUBLIC HEAR1NGS 1. Continue hearing on appeal of Southold Town Trustees' denial of Padovan application. 2. Hearing on the acquisition by gift of a conservation easement of 8.9 acres from Peconic Land Trust, as contract vendee, with Elaine Axien, SCTM# 1000-68-3-7. 3 SUPERVISOR HORTON: At this point, in regard to the printed resolutions on the agenda, are there members of the public who would like to address the Town Board? JOAN EGAN: Good Afternoon, my name is Joan Egan. On resolution #477, Detective Dzenkowski, I have addressed this kind of an issue before and ! will repeat myself in regard that with our Police Force so far down in number that, ! think these courses are important don't misunderstand me, ! think maybe they could be done by mail and you have another policeman or policelady out of our sector and ! think is wrong. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank-you, Joan. Are there any other comments from the floor in regard to the printed agenda? (No response) If not, we will move on with #477. #477 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes Detective Beth Dzenkowski to attend the New York Police Juvenile Officers Association annual meeting in her capacity as Secretary where she will be moving into the 2nd Vice President positiom commencing on Sunday~ August 25 through Friday~ August 30~ 2002 in Binghamtom New York. Expenses would be approximately $880.00 for conference fee ($155.00); lodging ($604.00) and meals/transportation costs - gas and tolls ($120.00). These costs will be a legal charge to the Juvenile Aid Bureau budget line. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #478 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Richter, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby modifies the General Fund Whole Town 2002 budget as follows: To~ Appropriations: A. 8020.4.300.100 A. 8020.4.300.300 East End Transportation Council SEED Project Coordinator East End Transportation Council Travel Expenses $22,920.00 $4,580.00 Revenues: A.2210.90 Services Other Governments SEED Project $ 27,500.00 Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, #479 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby appoints Jeffrey Biggs~ effective immediately~ to fill the Traffic Control Officer vacancy for the remainder of the 2002 season at a salary of$11.97 per hour. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #48O Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby hires the following four individuals to operate the Fishers Island Community Theater for the 2002 exhibition season: 1) Katie R. Bloethe, Seasonal Recreation Aide at a salary of $85.00 per week effective July 2, 2002 through September 1, 2002; 2) Matthew Crupi, Seasonal Audi Visual Aide at a salary of $47.00 per show effective July 2, 2002 through September 1, 2002; 4 3) Michael Conroy, Seasonal Audio-visual Aide at a salary of $47.00 per show effective July 2, 2002 through September 1, 2002; and 4) Jonathan Connell, Seasonal Audio-visual Aide at a salary of $47.00 per show effective July 2, 2002 through September 1, 2002. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Is there a schedule for the Fishers Island movie theatre available to us on the mainland? JUSTICE EVANS: If you would like it, I will send you one. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #481 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby appoints Joseph Bonanno as a part-time Deckhand for the Fishers Island Ferry District effective July 16, 2002 at a rate of $8.00 per hour. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #482 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Moore, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby engages the professional services of Frank Isler~ Esquire for representation in Walz v. the Southold Town Zoning Board of Appeals. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #483 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Richter, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby grants permission to the Southold Village Merchants to use Town parking and sidewalks within the village of Southold from along the Main Road from Hortons Lane to Town Harbor Lane for its Summer Festival on Saturday~ August 24~ 2002 providing they file with the Town Clerk a One Million Dollar Certificate of Liability naming the Town of Southold as additional insured and contact Lt. Flatley at least ten (10) days prior to the event to coordinate traffic control. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #484 Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby grants permission to the North Fork Country Club to close Moore's Lane~ Cutchogue from the southerly line of the Subdivision of "Country Club Estates" to the northerly line of the land of William Tyree and limited closure to all but neighborhood residents from Main Road to the southerly line of the Subdivision of "Country Club Estates" and from land of Tyree to the intersection of Moores Land and New Suffolk Avenue~ on Friday~ Julyl9 and Saturday July 20~ 2002 providing they file with the Town Clerk a One Million Dollar Certificate of Liability naming the Town of Southold as additional insured and contact Lt. Flatley to coordinate traffic control. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #485 Moved by Justice Evans, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby grants accepts the bid of Peter J. Doherty in the amount of $2517.00 for the purchase of a 2000 Johnson Outboard motor. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #486 Moved by Councilman Wickham, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby appoints Terry E. Schneider as a part-time Senior Citizen Aide II for the Adult Day Care Program at the Southold Town Human Services Department, at a salary of $11.37 per hour, effective August 5, 2002. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #487 Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Justice Evans, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby modifies the 2002General Fund Whole Town budget as follows: TO: REVENUES: A.2705.40 APPROPRIATIONS: A.6772.4.100.100 Gifts & Donations Other Donations Vote of the Town Board: $100.00 Programs for the Aging $100.00 Supplies & Materials Office Supplies Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #488 Moved by Councilman Moore, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes a refund in the amount of $400. to Catherine Mesiano on behalf of Karl Riesterer for application fee for appeal paid to the Zoning Board of Appeals which was withdrawn due to resolution of non-compliant issue with the Building Department. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. #489 HELD SUPERVISOR HORTON: That concludes the reading of the printed agenda, at this point I will offer the floor to members of the public who would like to address the Town Board on Town related business. JOAN EGAN: Good Afternoon. Yes, I have something that I, I sent some correspondence (inaudible) has that been addressed at all? SUPERVISOR HORTON: The letter has been forwarded, Joan. JOAN EGAN: (Inaudible) SUPERVISOR HORTON: Yes, but I am not looking to have a question and answer period. JOAN EGAN: My suggestion is, that I have reviewed with the Justice Department and several units, police units, I think that not only children but adults, hopefully before the school year commences, come up here to court on Friday morning for one hour and let them see what is in the cards for them as far as DWI's, DWI's, grand larceny, larceny, prostitution. The whole...it might by the grace of god give them a wake-up lesson and maybe even their parents might want to accompany them, I don't know whether that would infringe on their vacation time and if it can't be done in the summer, Josh, maybe the first part of the school year. They should be exposed to this because there is nothing like a wake-up call in court. Normally, our court gets out usually at 11:00 on Fridays. Judge Price and Judge Bruer are lucky, very lucky if they get out of here by 2:00 or 2:30 and they do it in the most honest and 6 most expedient way possible. So I would like that to be addressed by the Town Board, schools and thank-you for now. VIOLA CROSS: I am Viola Cross from Cutchogue. I have been here before but I want to thank Josh for appointing Tom and Greg. We had a meeting last night and a lot things were brought out that the people didn't know that we can bring back to the Town Board and I am just so sorry that Mr. Martin isn't here today because of what came up. I am sure that he is going to bring it to the Board about the big whole in the back of his house and it is not safe. It is the biggest whole that I have ever seen, you can put a house in it. There are children in that place and I am sure that he is going to address that when it comes to it. But I am, at least we know how Tom and Greg feel about things and I am sure that by all of us being there yesterday, they know how we feel also. I am sure that something good is going to come out of this because .... I don't know. I am very angry, but I will get over that. We want a solution and I am sure that we can find one. Thank-you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Viola, thank-you. We had a discussion at the work session today regarding these issues you brought to us and you can rest assured that this Town Board is going to make sure that the right thing is done for that community and you will find resolve in the not so distant future. Thank-you. JIM HICKEY: Jim Hickey, Old Main Road, Mattituck. I believe I have a little input on this. About seven years ago I addressed the Town Board on a piece of property that the church was looking for and because of the past things that happened, I recommended that the Town (inaudible). 1918 through 1946 due to the Depression and the lack of jobs in the South a lot of workers came up to this area to work the farms. The labor camps were average and especially in the Mattituck area, the workers got out of line because most of them were uneducated and (inaudible) The KKK was very active and when somebody got out of line on Long Island they brought them up. Number two, the black community established a little area by the town landfill complete with a church. In 1938 we had a severe hurricane and there was a problem getting rid of the debris. With thousands of undeveloped acres in Southold at the time, the Town Board condemned two homes in that area for an entrance to the current landfill. I think that Town Board was a little on the racist side. Number three, in 1989 the farmland next to the dump was rezoned without notification to the property owners to Light Industry. Was the property owned by current or former Town Board member? I believe it was. Commercial composting, a few years ago, George's Sanitation in Southampton went against the Town and the Town won, they stopped the commercial composting. Newsday had a story on composting, the dangers to the environment, the impact, the quality of life. The article further stated that some states have laws prohibiting commercial composting within one mile of any residents. Southold has just put it in the backyard of the black community. I have a recommendation that the Town of Southold should purchase the homes and church at the landfill area. Relocate the community, build new homes and a church, not St. Patrick's Cathedral something like the Morton Building on the church property west of the present area at the Town's expense. If not, Reverend Fulford and the community should contact the Department of Justice and start initiating civil rights violations. Because their rights have been violated since 1938 to the present. Force the Town to make restitution. Composting should end, private haulers should operate the transfer station and pay the Town. Eliminate the political patronage at the dump. Get out of the landfill and compost business all together. Thank-you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Are there any other members of the community that would like to address the Town Board on town related business? (Inaudible comments from audience member) SUPERVISOR HORTON: You are welcome to do so and forgive me for not mentioning this at the beginning of the meeting. As a matter of protocol and moving the meeting along and giving everyone an opportunity to speak, I will ask that members of the community do limit their comments to five minutes. You are more than welcome to do so. VITO BELL: What I would like to say is that many of you signed the petition that we circulated to save East Creek from development. We have been voted down within the Trustees meeting and we were confronted by high powers, the developers lawyer who brought in aerial photographs, all kinds of stuff that convinced the Board of Trustees to issue the variances. Now the variances .... SUPERVISOR HORTON: Can I also ask that you address the Town Board on town related business. 7 MR. PENNY: Okay, well what ! am asking the Town to do is to include the wetlands in the moratorium. Some form of saving the wetlands. ! don't know if that is particularly addressed. would like to call your attention to that issue. So in the furtherance of that issue, this is what an estuary looks like. This is from the US Government, which shows how important an estuary is. And our estuary, East Creek, is part the Peconic Bay Estuary Program. So it is very important, East Creek is very important. But there are many other estuaries within our area so what ! have done is ! have got posters for each one of you can examine it at your own leisure. SUPERVISOR HORTON: You can leave them and ! will distribute them. MR. PENNY: They are very educational, maybe you can give them to your son. The other thing that I would like to do, my final proposal is that we could perhaps make some of these available to the High School, as ! have done, so that the High School could take it up .... SUPERVISOR HORTON: Mr. Penny, if you could please focus your attention on the Town Board. MR. PENNY: Alright, well ! am asking the Town Boards permission for this kind of a program in the school so that the kids will learn what an estuary is. SUPERVISOR HORTON: I think that is a fantastic idea. I think that your interest and idea in support of youth and students having a good working knowledge of our community and how with a natural habitat and how we interact with it and how we conduct our daily lives has an impact on the natural habitat, ! think is something that over the years, at least through my education, has been taught but certainly could be strengthened. ! applaud you for thinking the same. Are there other members of the community that would like to address the Town Board? VIOLA CROSS: It came out last night that that none of us behind the landfill wants to be moved because that is home. At 77 years old, you can't just pick up and say that you are going to move. So that is one of the main things, we don't want to be relocated. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank-you, Mrs. Cross. Mrs. Cross, so you know, ! think that it is unconscionable that that property was rezoned beneath the pillows of residents in that community. And ! assure you that this Town Board is going to take the lead and address that issue head-on in the proper fashion. Are there any other comments from the floor? Are there other comments from the floor on Town related business? JODY ADAMS: Are you going to hold the 5:00 hearing or not? SUPERVISOR HORTON: Yes, Jody. ! am. JODY ADAMS: Well, it is 5:00. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thank-you. On Jody's cue, we are going to move into our public hearing. Moved by Councilman Richter, seconded by Councilman Romanelli, it was RESOLVED that this Town Board meeting be and hereby is recessed at 5:00 P.M. for the purpose of holding a public hearing on the matter of the acquisition by gift of a conservation easement of 8.9 acres from Peconic Land Trust, as contract vendee, with Elaine Axien, SCTM#1000-68-3-7. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was declared duly ADOPTED. The meeting reconvened at COUNCILMAN ROMANELLI: With that ! am going to read the last resolution #490. #49O Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Councilman Wickham, it was WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Southold held a public hearing on the question of acquisition by gift of a conservation easement of approximately 8.9 acres of property from the Peconic Land Trust as contract vendee with Elaine Axien, for open space preservation purposes in accordance with Chapter 6 (Community Preservation Fund) of the Town Code, on the 16th day of July 2002, at which time all interested parties were given the opportunity to be heard; and WHEREAS, the property is known as SCTM#1000-68-3-7 and is located at the end of Henry's Lane in Peconic, New York; and WHEREAS, the property is being purchased by the Peconic Land Trust, funded by private donors and the Peconic Land Trust is donating a conservation easement on the approximately 8.9 acre property to the Town; and WHEREAS, the property is wooded and contains some wetlands; and WHEREAS, there are two defined rights of way on the property that are subject to the rights of others and the rights of way are not part of the easement to be donated to the Town; and WHEREAS, the Town Board deems it in the public interest that the Town of Southold accept the offer of the gift of the conservation easement for open space preservation purposes, in accordance with Chapter 6 of the Town Code; now therefore be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby elects to accept the gift of a conservation easement from the Peconic Land Trust as contract vendee with Elaine Axien, for open space preservation purposes in accordance with Chapter 6 of the Town Code. The conservation easement is on approximately 8.9 acres and the property is located at the end of Henry's Lane in Peconic, SCTM# 1000-68-3-7. The exact area of the conservation easement to be gifted is subject to a survey. The total price will be acquisition costs associated with transfer of title of the easement to be gifted. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. SUPERVISOR HORTON: That officially concludes the resolutions on the printed agenda. Again, ! will open the floor back up to the community if you would care to address the Town Board on town related business, please do so. VINCENT LAROCCA: My name is Vincent LaRocca and I was a member of the Blue-Ribbon Commission for the Preservation of a Rural Southold. Fifteen months ago, almost exactly 15 months ago ! stood here and warned many people that (inaudible) and ! spoke out against that at the time and asked the Town Board to try to seek ways to solve the apparent conundrum of how do we continue to protect the interest of the vast majority of Southolders and yet also ask all of the community to participate in the preservation and not ask just a select group. In this case, just the (inaudible) to bear the full brunt of preservation and in fact would that accomplish our goal. ! want to thank Josh for having formed the Blue-Ribbon Commission and specifically Tom Wickham, who chaired that Commission. ! can assure you having spent every Monday night with Tom for six months, he did not have an easy assignment. ! think that he did an outstanding job of trying to keep the process moving forward, keeping all the ideas on the table and not letting us get over-bogged down in some conflict. In some groups, quite frankly, you are never going to be able to come together. ! think in retrospect, he did an outstanding job. ! do have to quickly, and ! don't want this to sound like the Academy Awards but ! do have to also thank John Romanelli and Bill Moore who were beyond gracious in how much time they spent with this volunteer, who sort of put this on as his personal quest to say that there has got to be a solution for this. They were enormously helpful in continuing to correct me and educate me and provide me with homework to go home and read and ! want to thank them as well. Only because we are here, ! want to thank all of the people that helped but it is quite a number and as Tom knows, he was able to bring in a number of professionals that came, all without pay and it is their professional business, to testify before the Commission and the Town was very fortunate to have a number of those professionals come before us and sort of help guide us through this. But ! will throw in yet another praise for Melissa because she was enormously helpful in providing data as was Tim Caulfield with the Peconic Land Trust. In fact, without the data from Melissa and Tim, ! really don't think that our Committee's work would have been nearly as successful as ! believe it has been. It is my opinion that the body of the Commission's work confirmed that in 1977 when Southold began the purchase of development rights, we were on the right track. We have since preserved some 3,000 acres through that program. ! think it is also confirmed that Southold was right in 1983 when it recognized that we also need to use regulation to accomplish a community goal and did up-zone from one acre to two acres. ! believe that Southold was right on both those counts and ! think both of those two tools continue to be critically important if we are to accomplish this communities objectives. A number of important points of consensus were reached in the Commission which Tom articulated to some degree this morning. It was also the majority of the Commissioners acknowledged that up-zoning was the ultimate line of defense in meeting preservation. It was not agreed at the Commission that as to whether that up-zoning should happen immediately or whether there should be triggers in place and if 9 certain voluntary programs were not meeting our goals we would in fact trigger that up-zoning. But the majority of the Commissioners believed that up-zoning was the ultimate preservational, so long as it was combined with Southold's existing cluster regulations and possibly enhancing those cluster regulations, to ensure that we don't chew up the farmland or create a series of mini-estates and not preserve our open space and our farms. And lastly, to ensure that we add as necessary protection for our operating farms that if in a transition of zoning there should be a downward movement in appraisals at a temporary point, that would not risk the capital that our farmers need to run their businesses then the Town will have to step up to make sure that they have the capital to run the businesses. So, in other words, we punted the tough question to you all, which is where it really belongs. Which is, is the time to up-zone now or can we continue to monitor our progress? It is my opinion that we have the strength in both our voluntary preservation tools and our zoning regulation and it is my opinion that we need to do that immediately. I will be submitting in the next week, a detailed document that lays out a lot of the thought and reasoning behind that as well as a lot of the professional reports that were made to us. I think we need to join the RID with the purchasing development rights program and the agricultural district which are all very successful voluntary programs, continue the taxpayers support of the land preservation. I think we also need to look to up- zone our A-C and our A districts to five acres with Southold's clustering to ensure that we achieve the minimum goal of 80% land preservation, which was the unanimous goal as articulated in the Blue- Ribbon Commission and through a series of reports of a consistent philosophy throughout Southold's voluntary programs, including stewardship passport-which if anyone hasn't read it, it is an amazing document, I know that you all have seen it. So it is my recommendation that we pursue both continuing through a voluntary program and you will need to up-zone the A-C and R-80 to determine that. If we delay and don't up-zone immediately, the only beneficiary of that is going to be those who sell, while we continue to monitor, and hurt those land-owners who don't sell while we continue to monitor before we up-zone because when we get to up-zoning we will have to up-zone to even greater levels to achieve the same preservation goals. Also, the sooner we initiate the up-zoning we have more flexibility to craft it in such a way to achieve other goals, like protecting even additional housing units off of our farmland and into other areas of the community. Tom has touched on that this morning, I have some ideas in the report that will be tendered in a week on how we can in sense divide even less housing on our farmlands. But the longer that we wait to do that the more land loss that we have before we up-zone the less flexibility and creativity we can bring to the table to mitigate any negative impact and maximize our community goal. I guess maybe the (inaudible) this morning when Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board-and no, I am not digressing-before the Senate said something that I don't recall Alan Greenspan ever saying before, Alan Greenspan said this morning to the US Senate-he said, "I was wrong" and "I was wrong, I believe that market forces alone could guide our path tomorrow but in fact, strong regulation is necessary to protect the vast majority of the citizens and investors in corporations." I think that is somewhat telling to the issue that you all are going (inaudible) if Alan Greenspan is saying that, that takes us along way. So, as I said before, there are not going to be any second chances to get this right, please move aggressively on this, time is quickly slipping away from us on this and I look forward to submitting my report and meeting the Town Board members that I have not had the privilege of meeting with and discussing some of the details of that report when it is appropriate. Thank-you very much. Tom, again, thank-you very much for your job. RICHARD AMPER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE LONG ISLAND PINE BARRENS SOCIETY: My name is Richard Amper, I am the Executive Director of the Pine Barrens Society and I am also a member of the Care Coalition. The video that I gave you was shot right here on the North Fork, it is called "Too Good to Lose, Long Islands Vanishing Farms" so many of us who care about this landscape and especially those of the Society that have had occasion to come to you as I know you know, many times to commend you for what you are trying to do in terms of preservation. Whether it is through report cards, or support for the participation in the Long Island Sound Program and other kinds of activities, this town is second to none in terms of its preservation commitment. We are also here today to commend the town, especially for the tremendous effort of the Blue-Ribbon Commission and most especially the majority, the unanimous support for an 80% preservation goal. It would make Southold the premier town on the Island in terms of trying to keep some of the character that we have. I want to commend this Town Board for entertaining, I understand that you have not acted on this yet, but for entertaining comprehensive moratorium-take a time-out now, so that the future of this town can be ensured. I know that Supervisor Horton has a great sense history of this place. Let me tell you, that it is the people who are sitting on this Town Board today are going to define its history for all time. When you finally come to grips with this plan (inaudible). I want to commend the Town for entertaining the notion for possible up-zoning, with mandatory clusters in combination with purchasing development rights and other preservation activities. It requires bold leadership, it requires tough decision. We would like to suggest a couple of things which may help guide you as you approach this 10 challenge. We cannot preserve the farm landscape if we do not preserve farms, farmers and farming. We must be sure that whatever we need to do to protect the economy, the environment, the quality of life of Southold does not interfere with the farmers capacity to do what we want him to continue to do. Whether we use the Community Preservation Funds to provide loan guarantees so he is able to buy seed, repair farm equipment. Nothing that anybody proposes should erode our concern about the farmers who are protecting this place. At the same time we need to protect the tax base, the tourism industry, the second home industry. The stuff that makes Southold so special. So you have a social obligation on the one hand to take care of the many without taking advantage of the few. And I think that you are up to the task. You have a Southold favored son, in the person of Robert Yarrow, of the Regional Plan Association, one of the preeminent planners in this country who has said that if you zone for development, don't be surprised if you get development. If you want preservation, you have to zone for preservation. We would like to help you do it, we think it is essential. We think that all of the goals that you have for Southampton, its farmers and everybody who cares about this place can only be achieved because they only ever have elsewhere by the use of up-zoning with mandatory clustering, I never say one without the other-you don't want to puff up the landscape like a piece of swiss cheese-you want to concentrate. Use smart growth technique and keep this place special. The Pine Barrens Society is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and we have watched town by town from the Hempstead Plains to the Oakbrush Plains to the South Setauket woods and we have watched Town Boards process development applications instead of planning. You have some of the best planners here and you have got some of the best people here. They say that the first sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and getting different results. You do not need to win.. SUPERVISOR HORTON: We are expecting different results. RICHARD AMPER: The answer is that you need no triggers. You need not look ten years into the future, you need drive back only ten miles. There is nobody in this room that has not seen overwhelming evidence of how their lives are changing. The traffic, the congestion, the delays, the suburbanization of this place. We know that it is coming, we know the same thing will happen to Southold that has happened to other places and we can't afford to have it happen here. Southold is too important. We commend you for which you are undertaking and we would like to help in any way that we can. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anyone else care to address the Town Board? JOHN PENDLETON: My name is John Pendleton. Since Vinnie was handing out praise to the various members of the Blue-Ribbon Council, justly deserved, I didn't hear Valerie Scopaz' name and I would like to say that I thought she was a good driving force for the Blue-Ribbon Council. GWEN SCHROEDER, SOUTHOLD COORDINATOR, NORTH FORK ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: Hi, my name is Gwen Schroeder, I am the Southold Coordinator for the North Fork Environmental Council. I also would like to thank the rest of the members of the Blue-Ribbon Commission. I was at most of those Monday night meetings and you guys had a tough job and some good stuff came out of it. I think that we all agree, people have said eloquently before, the 80% preservation, farmland and open space, is a goal that I think that we can achieve. Some of your recommendations, especially as it pertains to the Planning Department and really devoting resources to the Planning Department, the staff, the money, so that the Town can meet the challenges that they will have in the upcoming decade. I can't repeat that enough. You can't under fund the Planning Department, it is so important. We also confer with your recommendations that the various Town Board and agencies need to work more closely together to make sure that the Town achieves its goals. Where we disagree with the findings of the majority of the Blue-Ribbon Commission in the issue of when up-zoning is going to occur, Vincent La Rocca and someone else said very eloquently, that the time is now. The report recommends taking a wait and see approach and I think that we have waited and seen and we know your principal Planner is telling you, your Planning Board Chairman is telling you that the pace of development is such that you need to act now. You can't ignore the trends, we have built out basically all of Long Island and we are it, folks. If we don't do something meaningful now, we are going to lose it. I encourage you to really consider strongly five acre zoning with clustering because we don't want mini-estates and we want big parcels of viable farmland to do that concurrently with the formation of the (inaudible). During this whole process, I did a lot of research, I talked to planners out in Napa Valley, I talked to people from the American Farmlands Trust and somebody from the American Farmland Trust told me that the reason that Napa Valley and Montgomery County were so successful was because they anticipated. They didn't wait until the 11 pressure was upon them to act, they planned. The pressure is coming and you need to do that. Thank- you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anyone else care to address the Town Board? RONNIE WACKER: Ronnie Wacker, I am a member of the Blue-Ribbon Commission. I want to tell you how I spent my Fourth of July weekend. It was a frightening weekend for me. I got up fairly early Wednesday morning thinking I will get up to King Kullen and I will do my shopping, I will get all the supplies for the weekend. I got up to the store and the parking lot was jammed packed with cars from end to end. I went into the store and it was jam packed with people, cart to cart. To get to the dairy section I had to wait for a break in the river of carts to carry me there, and the same with the meat and the vegetables. There was no gossiping with friends, we were being swept in different directions. I finally escaped, got in my car and headed for home. But I couldn't make a left-hand turn, you have all experienced the same thing, you get out on the road or you get up to the road and you have to go right. This is what I had to do, I waited and waited, I finally turned right and there was a good Samaritan who let me into the line. I went down as far as the Cutchogue library, got into the Commons, turned around there and came back to head for home. On the way, I saw bumper-to-bumper cars at the farm stands, the vineyards at every intersection. Southold could have been the Hamptons or Hicksville, as far as I was concerned. Then finally sitting home with my ice cream, all I could think was it was a holiday. But as Valerie has warned us, this is what we can expect every day to be like if the building boom doesn't let up. You know, more houses, more people, more cars less open space and inevitably fewer tourists because who would want to drive here all the way for Queens or New York City if for what awaits them in the last rural town on Long Island is the same congestion that they left. Last year, like many, I was among those who was opposed to up-zoning because it would hurt the farmers who have been holding on to the land, many of them for generations but now with the rural incentive district a prospect which was proposed in the Blue-Ribbon Commission, farmers can be protected against up-zoning as long as they want to keep their land in farming. I am convinced that to keep our open space, we will need to up-zone at some point. This to me is the answer, a simple formula to keep Southold the way that we want it. Up-zone to protect the land, RID to protect the farmers. Thank-you. HEATHER TETRAULT: Heather Tetrault, Southold. I don't really have anything new to say, I just want to address the Blue-Ribbon Commission report and it is very good, too. But I also would like to support the up-zoning, the five (5) acre zoning. I think that there are things that are going to protect the farmers and their land and their investment. When we went from one (1) to two (2) acres, there were previously approved subdivisions that you still saw over the last 20 years with one acre zoning and wait, I thought we went to two acre zoning. I hear that all the time, we are still going to see that, we will still see houses on two acres even if we go to five acres I guess. I just think that the density will be too huge if we stay at two acre, I think that the zoning is the only way to keep the zoning down. I don't know when you will vote on this and make that decision, I know that there is a lot of pressure on you, too, to not do that up-zoning from the people who own that land and we do have to address their concerns. Thank-you. TERRY ACKERMANN: Hi, I am Terry Ackermann, we own Manor Hill Vineyards in Cutchogue and we came here to be farmers and we looked very carefully at the schools before we moved out here, I have small children not yet in kindergarten, I grew up in a rural environment like this and really wanted this for my kids also. We bought our land in the 1990's and I will readily admit that it has appreciated beyond our wildest dreams. I feel that whatever, if there happens to be a blip in the equity because of up-zoning, I am willing to take that though I don't believe that it is truly going to happen. So that I may preserve this land for my children, that they may graduate from a high school where everybody knows each other, where I may be able to shop during the week. I have friends in Southampton, who have lived in Montauk for years-they are locals-they shop Wednesday night at 10:00 during the summer. To do their grocery shopping with their children. I also feel that we do need to fortify the system for purchasing development rights and I think we certainly need to make that a more pleasant experience for the farmers, we are trying to do that ourselves. I think that people will see that that tool is absolutely essential, Peconic Land Trust is a really important tool. But I also have really come to believe that (and I sat on as many of the Blue-Ribbon Commission meetings as I was able to) that we do need to do up-zoning to simply cut the density and preserve our way of life here as townspeople. I also feel as a land-owner that I am grateful to the rest of the town for the appreciation that my property has realized because of their desires to be here and I am willing to do whatever sacrifice that has to happen because of my land because they chose to be here and drove the prices up once again, beyond our wildest dreams. There is also one other really important point that I would like to make, we have a particular (inaudible) that makes this place the best place in the United States to 12 grow certain varieties of grapes. We are very excited about that. I think it is very important for us in our industry as the word gets out that the land be preserved in any manner possible because believe it or not, we can make better in certain categories than even Napa and we are all very proud of that and I think that is a very important part of the agri-tourism here and to Ronnie's point, people don't want to come out here and wine taste them into condos. My final point, as Abraham Lincoln said, "I like a man who is proud of where he lives." I think every person in this room, sitting right here today for taking the time to be here and to be proud enough of where we live to be part of this process to make really difficult decisions because we have the ability to be a very unique community in the entire United States who were proud enough to look at our land, make some tough decisions, everybody can make a sacrifice, the tax payers make sacrifices to pay for development rights, land owners (of I am one) can make a sacrifice for up-zoning and we can look and our children can see in centuries to come that we were proud of where we lived. Thank-you very much. MARIELLE DOEBLER: Marielle Doebler, Greenport. I had to write this down, I am not a good speaker. It is now or never and it is up to you guys. JOHN ROONEY: I just wanted to say that the level of sophistication on this that has developed over the past year is amazing. I also had issues with the five acre up-zoning and I am beginning to see now the importance of it. My concern, I am not a farmer but I am concerned with the farmers because those are the folks who created this town and the thing (inaudible) centuries and I am glad that more and more people have begun to talk and it is a very sophisticated, very difficult issue. I think that the Blue- Ribbon Commission has brought that forward. People like Valerie Scopaz, I've seen her in action at the SEEDS hearings that have been going on. She is fabulous. Listen to these people and continue to work together and do it. Suffolk County has been progressive in many ways and Southold is progressive in Suffolk County. Continue to do it, preserve it, work together, be fair to everybody and see that nobody gets hurt in the process. It is going to take giving on all sides but I am really happy and proud to see the rise in the level of sophistication of this process. So please act gentlemen and ladies. You are doing a great job so far. Thank-you. MELANIE NORDEN: (TAPE CHANGE) between and among any number of different people in the Town of Southold. As the progress continues regarding the moratorium and development, I think it would be wonderful if the Town Board would consider putting some real strength in the concept of public participation. Perhaps we could consider the establishment of several public panels to operate as panels or commissions of the Town Board to really encourage a wide cross-section of voters to participate in the process. Regardless of who comes to these meetings, it seems that the Town Board really needs to be informed about the concerns of all of the citizens of the Towns. Informed in such a way that is beyond merely a few people standing up at a public meeting. So I would really like to encourage Josh, all of the members of the Board to think about perhaps the establishment of some short-term or longer-term public panels in which maybe small commissions would kind of cross various lines, they could look at such issues that also pertain to the impact of development or growth on the Town itself. We can look at issues that have to do with Police, Fire, Safety, Health, the establishment of utilities, the impact of water, the impact on all of our natural resources. And perhaps this would be one way to at least begin the process of public participation. The public is a voting public, we can obviously vote people in and out of office, we can have a say in other ways but it would be quite wonderful if we could think about a way to really involve the public in the process and do it in a more formalized way and a more significant way with more responsibility and more insight than simply having the only tools available to the public to be coming to a Town meeting. So I would like to encourage the establishment of public panels, also to encourage the Town Board in whatever way possible to seek out public opinion and to remember that it is really the public, that all of us who live here should all have a say and in some cases, an equal say in our future. Thanks. CRAIG ARM: Craig Arm, Cutchogue. In relation to the last statement, one of the things that hasn't been proposed which maybe would be a good idea, almost regardless of if there is an up-zone, is the idea if we even have a bond issue so that all the members from the town can participate and also share in the burden, that might at least reduce some of the burden off of some of the farmers. To float a bond issue to help pay for the land to really see where everyone stands instead of just people who actually own land. Maybe we should throw that out there that maybe the Town Board should consider a Town vote for a bond issue. GERALD WALZ: Gerald Walz from Mattituck. I just wanted to make a short observation. Last week, the New York Times featured Cutchogue. Tom, your farm was featured in that area. This month Traveler Holiday magazine has an area that they do every month called 'Under-rated, over-rated 13 favorite places'. Over-rated, South Fork, under-rated, the North Fork with a picture of the Greenport fireworks. ! think it is clear that it is disingenuous for us to think that we are not in an emergency crisis now and we really can't wait, we shouldn't wait. ! think we all know one thing, if Southold turns out badly and it could, history is going to judge us all very, very harshly. Thank-you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anybody else care to address the Town Board? LOUISA HARGRAVE: ! am Louisa Hargrave. Recently, ! was sitting in traffic like Ronnie, with my daughter Anne and she turned to me and said, "Mom, it is your fault". But ! am a member of the Blue- Ribbon and ! wanted to make a couple of comments because ! think that this is a very complex issue, ! think that it is easy to really desire a quick and the simplest solution but the simplest solution may not necessarily be the one that works. Since ! took notes at these meetings, ! thought that ! would use a few quotations from some people, some comments that were made during the course of the meetings because ! know most people here were not at the meetings as sort of a pivot point just to address or bring up just a few more things that we haven't been talking about right now (some we have and some we haven't.) ! wanted to quote Tom Wickham, "There has been a change in the past few years. People in town want to control farmers choices." Peconic Land Trust John Halsey said. "there is a clash of uses, people who love to look at farmland but not be part of it. We must recognize why our ancestors came here, for a respect of individual rights and checks and balances of Government. We need an element of fairness, equity and respect for all of us. Listen to the landowners, don't demonize people, understand the land." My thoughts on these two topics very briefly, ! do believe that it is a salient issue that we have already been suburbanized here, to the point that most residents who say that they want to protect farming, have never been connected to real farming and what they really want is pretty green fields to look at. There is an un-stated backlash against some farming practices. Farming is much tougher than it looks and it evolves from generation to generation. Maybe there is something that you don't like about sod, potatoes or grapes or rutabagas but if you make it impossible for these kinds of farms to continue you will kill the chance for these farms and other kinds of farming to remain and evolve as they otherwise would forever. In other words, if these particular farms can't survive even in a short period of time if we lose some of these farms, we are going to lose also the chance of new kinds of farming to evolve that might be more appropriate. Point number two, to quote the Suffolk County Water Authority Steve Jones (this is a big issue that nobody is talking about, water), "Suffolk County Water Authority is not for profit and is losing money on the North Fork due to a need for intense filtration of the water. They can't say no to anybody but it can charge for water. It is ill-advised for the Town to rely on water to limit development (and ! want to underscore that) or the Board of Health. The Suffolk County Water Authority's interests are not always in the Town's interest, like the Hogs Neck development. Desalinization could replace filtration, there is plenty of water up west the Suffolk County Water Authority could buy from the Town of Riverhead, there is already a valve on Peconic Bay Avenue." My comment on this, it has already been an unstated issue that the Suffolk County Water Authority needs to find easier ways to provide water to Southold Town. If the zoning is changed to five acres, especially with clustering picture how easy it will be for them to run water to those five houses clustered at the front of a 25 acre farm. Most of the farms remaining here in the Town of Southold are long, narrow strips of land. Think how ugly this will be and think how un-likely it is that the land behind these houses will be farmed. Point number three, to quote Vinnie LaRocca, "Remember 2,700 potential developable is built lots" and to quote planner Valerie Scopaz, "the average lot in Southold is one quarter acre" to quote Suffolk County Water Authority Steve Jones," you need to make lots of building rights disappear. Use TDR's. The ZBA shouldn't create additional units but may allow them if the developer preserves farm land in exchange" and ! think that this is an extremely valid issue to consider when we talk about these farmland preservation zones. The use of preservation credits or TDR's here. We shouldn't ignore this issue. And again, Steve Jones said, "Don't allow variances for extra units. Money could be banked from TDR's". My comment again, the focus of the Blue-Ribbon Commission was not these (inaudible) lots but they are at the core of the density problem. Part of the Blue-Ribbon Commission plan involves the use of preservation credits. These TDR's provide a way to control the build-out of small lots. ! have one more point, again to quote Vinnie LaRocca, "Don't interfere with the business of farming. The lesson of last year and a chance to keep the solution simple was alarming to many, five acre zoning put the burden on one group and didn't solve problems." And ! know, Vinnie, that you have addressed your thinking on this but ! just did want to quote you on that because this is a very salient thing. To quote Ronnie Wacker, "I have seen five acre zoning in Connecticut and there is not a farm left" ! got the issue of the Sierra Club magazine from July 2002 and we have talked a lot about Napa, Montgomery County and other counties that have changed their zoning and done okay with their farming. There was an article in this magazine about Marin County, CA which is a largely farmed area not that far outside of San Francisco and in this article it said that they passed new zoning laws but the threat of sprawl did not pass. Marin was still urbanizing, suburbanizing incredibly fast. There were hobby farms-60 acre-by the way their 14 zoning was 60 acres and the average farm up there was 300 acres, they went to 60 acres, there was hobby farms of 60 acres that would really have killed agriculture. Farms need permanent protection. Those were hard times for farmers. "We needed to create long-term certainty so that farmers and their children could stay on the farm," this was a dairy farmer who said this. They found the Marin County Agricultural Land Trust which provides PDR's and my point is looking at this issue is that I am concerned that if we do rush into a zone change without having a preservation district that farmers actually want to join, we will just be left with the larger lots and we will not preserve farming. That is my main concern. To quote Pioneer Farm Credits Steve Weir, "Prior zoning here can coincide with disasters in the 80's" that prior zoning coincided with many farmers not making it and John Halsey said that zoning regulations are blunt instruments, good and bad, they may spur on what they are trying to prevent. I just want to say that the founding fathers considered in the Constitution putting "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Property" as our highest goal. They changed it to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" and I think that we need to keep that in mind. Thank-you. DOUG COOPER: Doug Cooper, Mattituck. I was also on the Blue-Ribbon Commission. I strongly agree with what Louisa said. My concern, like hers, the five acre zoning is what it may, the damage it may do if it is rushed in too quickly and without proper thought. I don't know whether it is good or bad but let's look at it first. Rather than just act out of fear, which I think many people are doing. Let's look at the need and whether we need it. The statistics for the Town right now is that for every building lot that is being created, there are about 10 acres being preserved. So our now results are twice as good as what five acre zoning would do. We should be monitoring this, we should have some kind of a trigger and then consider about up-zoning. We also, Chris Baize has put together some numbers and research with Peconic Land Trust and our farmers organization and we have found our from talking to land owners that of 7,000 acres of farmland, 84% is not at risk. 15 or 16% is at risk. These numbers will be coming out in the near future. With all the talk around about the rush, let's not through the baby out with the bathwater, and let's do it but think about what we are trying to achieve. Thank-you. CAROL BIRCH: Hi, my name is Carol Birch, Southold. In the year before I moved to Deer Park, Deer Park Avenue was a one-lane road in each direction. When I went into contract with my house, when I bought my house it was a two lane road going north and south. Now it is a speedway (inaudible) Deer Park Avenue, I moved 45 miles east to Southold. I don't want Southold to look like that and I think that we have to be very careful. Thank-you. SYDNEY ABBOTT: Sydney Abbott, Southold. I guess I am one of the new people but I just want to say that a lot of us new people moved here because of the set of values that we hold that have a lot to do with the land and the water and I guess I am getting emotional about this. But some of really aren't so new here, I go back 25 years and my fathers family quite a long time on Long Island. Not necessarily Southold but in Smithtown and that area. I see a way to kind of combine, I hear Louisa's- by the way I am trained as a Land Use Planner, graduate school at Columbia University-I see some way to combine some of Louisa's concerns and other concerns. But I notice that I have been doing hours of driving around Southold looking at buildings, types of houses and lot sizes both older lot sizes and present lot sizes. Most lot sizes are very small, under half an acre and even today I don't see two acre zoning myself, unless it is a very affluent type of house. Maybe there is some clustering, maybe you are deducting for the road they put in or if they put a turn-around at the end of the road. Whatever it is, it still looks like up island or New Jersey or whatever. I think that if you do have the clustering, I believe that there are creative ways to cluster. You don't have to have a little grid and line up houses in a row to cluster. I believe that you can create a cluster that is more appealing to the eye and more useful perhaps to farmers and vineyards. I really join everyone else in saying that I believe that this Town Board can get this done in some way that works for everyone. Heaven only knows that I am rooting for you. JODY ADAMS: Jody Adams, Peconic. Most of what I would like to say and I probably won't because it does not have to do with the basic subject. I will briefly on clustering in that a clustered subdivision is going in on the corner of Indian Neck Lane and the Main Road in Peconic. Those are huge houses, they are not little someone might look at it and.., there are some nice things about it but you are not getting little houses. I am wondering if there is a member of the Town Board who is accessible to the public and who coordinates with the Courts to discuss with people how the courts run and how they interact with other courts and do any you know what Susan Tasker is talking about and have you done anything about it and where is the Town Attorney today. 15 SUPERVISOR HORTON: Jody, if you would like to address the Town Board to answer your question but this is not a question and answer format. But to answer your one question, the Town Attorney has fallen ill and we sent him home. JODY ADAMS: I am sorry that I missed the very quick beginning of your meeting because there were several things in your resolutions that I would like to have commented on. You approved Frank Isler for the ZBA? SUPERVISOR HORTON: That is correct. JODY ADAMS: You discussed the matter that he is a partner in Yakaboski, et al? And whether there is any kind of conflict? SUPERVISOR HORTON: Yes. JODY ADAMS: And there was a discussion here in this room... SUPERVISOR HORTON: Jody, again this is not a question answer format. If there is an issue that you would like to present to the Town Board this is the time to do so. JODY ADAMS: Okay. I have written you briefly two letters that I managed to keep track of. Four or five days ago, a sign appeared at a boat landing which said no parking from 10:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. and there was no authorization for it. This was checked out and I talked to the new Town Highway Department head and he said that someone had told him that it had always been there and he just put it up without authorization. Well, all the people in this room, I think you are doing wonderful things about trees, you are not doing wonderful things about law, morals, character. Putting up a sign without authorization, he said that he would take it down but he hasn't done that. People can be ticketed under it, they can be harassed under it and it is not legal. I am also asking you formally to survey Spring Lane for the Town so that all involved parties know where the lines are because there is a lot of unpleasantness going on there and it would be nice to have it based on fact. And I am seriously asking about it, it would be no major deal. And it would take care of a lot disturbances, persons, reports and it would clarify things including upcoming things in the courts. Now, is this something that you all will discuss at some point or do I just throw it out? Because what the woman said about meetings where you can speak and be part of the Town as opposed to many speeches unanswered being told to be quiet. It is not a very democratic feeling here for many of us. And I agree completely, I think it would be marvelous if it were a more open society and a more honorable society and a more legal society. And let's see if there is anything else. In the past year I have written two letters to the newspaper. One was printed in the Long Island Traveler about a month and a half ago and one was printed recently in the Suffolk Times. She is complaining that she is unable to of the court and the three judges (inaudible) and either she She is blaming the missing Town Attorney and the missing ticket because he is not here and I can't find out why not. time limit for transfers in other words can you hang on to the transfer a small-claims case apparently out can't find out how to do it or something. Town Attorney has also not transferred a Do any of you have any idea if there is a ticket? SUPERVISOR HORTON: I don't know the answer to that. JODY ADAMS: I bet Louisa does. Anyway, it becomes very wearing. You hire almost no people who are not related to other people. (inaudible) SUPERVISOR HORTON: If I could regain a bit of order. Thanks, Jody. Would anyone else care to address the Town Board? VINCENT LAROCCA: I spared the Commission much of the detail, in fact that I am going to ask you to tolerate when you review the more extensive report that will be filed within the next week. There are a number of facts in that report and proposals and ideas and certain conclusions and summaries of how we believe that affects different constituencies. Briefly to the point of fact, I hope that Tom will confirm this that I have tried throughout to be extremely careful. The fact finders specifically if they relate to Southold were correct. During the Commission process, when different reports where made to us, I summarized those facts as I understood them in memos and circulated them to Commissions, and said please communicate to me if those facts are wrong, I did that in the middle of February. I did summarize the findings of fact in the middle of March and then in my report, draft dated June 10, there were some concerns that after that date the facts that I was using were incorrect. It was never my 16 intention to use incorrect facts so I called up Tim Caulfield of the Land Trust and said let's get together, take me through this. If I am using the wrong number, let's fix this right now. Approximately two weeks ago I met with Tim Caulfield and went through the reports and he had no point of fact that be would be taken in my report as they relate to Southold. I told Tom we would verify those documents and the care I have taken (inaudible). Thank-you. JOAN EGAN: (inaudible) But I think the most important things that I would like to address and I am sure that Mr. Romanelli will act upon it. First off, the land is so dry. (inaudible) We are in a danger zone out here. Incidentally, (inaudible) but more importantly, I think I gave you Josh, a copy of my water.. SUPERVISOR HORTON: If I could get people to be respectful and not carry on cross-talk while members of the community are addressing the Town Board. JOAN EGAN: A copy of the report from the Board of Health of the chemicals that are in my water which are horrible. You can't believe, I gave it to a dentist Dr. Kondak, he was absolutely shocked. But I think what is also more important, never mind the five acre zoning and the clustering and the this and the that. You have got to get more police. Do any of you listen to WL1NG and I am not advertising, I don't own stock, I am not Greenspan or anyone...(inaudible) WLL9G, they give the morning report at 6, 7, and 8 and all of you would be shocked, I think, if you listened to it on a consistent basis what is going on in our Town. I have been out here since 1948.. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Joan, if you would address the Town Board and also you have made it very clear the issue of the police. JOAN EGAN: Mr. Richter, may I ask you if you got the police report done? COUNCILMAN RICHTER: No, I haven't. JOAN EGAN: Now, I have offered in writing and verbally, Mr. Richter to be more than helpful to help you do that so that we can get more policemen and more money allocated to getting more policemen. As I said before, it takes one solid year to get one more policeman on our force. So when can we get together, Mr. Richter? COUNCILMAN RICHTER: If I need your assistance, I will be more than happy to ask for it. JOAN EGAN: Well, obviously you need somebody's assistance. Is anybody here willing to volunteer other than myself?. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Joan, please keep the focus. JOAN EGAN: Let's get something done to protect what we have. Let's get rid of collusion, apathy and all the other crap. Thank-you. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Thanks, Joan. ERIC KYLE: Hello, my name is Eric Kyle. I am a Blue-Ribbon Commission member. I would also like to thank the Town Board and Josh for forming the Blue-Ribbon Commission, allowing me to serve and listening to farmers, land owners, the community, the Town Board members in creating this form of communication that has resulted in some really interesting facts and figures and has produced some terrific results. One of the things that I haven't heard mentioned today in great detail is conservation subdivision. Doug Cooper mentioned the statistics about having about one house resulting for every 10 acres of land being preserved. This is largely due to the fact that the Town has been aggressive in pursuing conservation subdivisions, even though they don't have them on the books at this time. I would like to say that in my view that is one of the most important things to come out of the Blue-Ribbon Commissions work, that we really do need to have conservation opportunity subdivision legislation (tape change) Thank-you very much. SUPERVISOR HORTON: Would anybody else care to address the Town Board? JODY ADAMS: I just want to say we need more control on our police. We need more standards for our police, we don't need no more police until you have those. Thank-you. 17 SUPERVISOR HORTON: If no one else would care to address the Town Board, I am looking for a motion. Moved by Councilman Romanelli, seconded by Councilman Moore, it was RESOLVED that this Town Board meeting be and hereby is adjourned at 6:08 P.M. Vote of the Town Board: Aye: Councilman Wickham, Councilman Richter, Councilman Romanelli, Councilman Moore, Justice Evans, Supervisor Horton. This resolution was duly ADOPTED. Elizabeth A. Neville Southold Town Clerk