Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. Would you mind leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Wow, where is that picture of? I want to go there. That's beautiful. I think it came out of the Forbes book. Very pretty picture. Okay, I have, before we get started, I have just a couple little things I want to address. We have an unusually short work session agenda this morning, but I want to take a moment to address publicly an article that was posted by a local reporter that implies a proposed code revision, currently under consideration, came about improperly. To be clear, the proposals to amend the code can and frequently are advanced by some combination of staff members, residents, developers, or the public. The proposals are not always approved by the public, but are often approved by the public. The proposals are often approved by the public, or business owners. Code amendment suggestions are also sometimes brought about through the Code Revision Committee. In all cases, it is the job of town staff and officials to consider these ideas and proposals and determine whether they have merit, and that analysis always includes evaluation for consistency with the comprehensive plan and needs of the community. Once we review them, if they are worthy of further consideration, the public will hear about them and have multiple opportunities to comment at public meetings and hearings. Zoning changes to accommodate possible development projects are not new or unusual. Case in point, Tangra outlets in 1992 and proposed update code in 2024. The town's Business F Zoning Use District was literally created to accommodate that project and to accommodate it. After the developer came to the town with a unique proposal. Given the fact that none of the town planners at the time knew how to zone what was needed for an outlet center, Tangra's staff made significant contributions to the zoning text. Turns out Tangra outlets is now our town's largest taxpayer, and those taxes are a tremendous help to our school district and our residents. In 2016, the town board met with the president and countless staff members of Peconic Bay Medical Center to draft a code with accessory uses deemed necessary to accommodate the hospital use and cardiac catheterization unit. The town board moved this zoning forward swiftly as Peconic Bay Medical Center was racing to get New York State approval and had a short window to do so for the cardiac catheterization unit. In 2012, the town was approached by the City of Tangra, which was approached by a developer owner of an assisted living facility seeking to locate a facility here in Riverhead. After months of evaluation by planning, legal, and town board, the resident's RC retirement community was amended to perform such uses, despite the changes to the zoning that the project did not move forward. Like Tangra, proponents of a proposal to allow agritourism resorts had a promising idea, and we did not ignore them. We listened and discussed a process that took over two years. The most notable consideration from the town's point of view was the significant potential for farmland preservation that would be generated by it. Land in the RA80 zoning district may be developed for residential use, and as it stands now, the property is under consideration for this new zoning, and the town's plan is to provide additional opportunities for farmers to market their products, highlight Riverhead's amazing farmland, and not add a single child to the school district. It is not only consistent with the existing comprehensive plan, it is exactly the type of zoning we are recommending in the updated comprehensive plan. For all of those reasons, town staff felt it was an important proposal to advance. One of the most important things we are doing in our comprehensive plan update is figuring out how to transfer more development rights from farmland to commercial projects so that we can better leverage private dollars to buy farmland and that taxpayers cannot afford this proposed zoning is a good example of just that. At the end of the day, we bring forward ideas we think would benefit the town. Where it goes from here, we will have to wait and see. I want to thank all the townspeople and staff who worked on this proposed amendment. The time and effort that goes into any possible code amendment is tremendous. We thank you for your commitment and willingness to continually pursue the betterment of the town of Riverhead. Lastly, the staff depicted in this article are some of the hardest working staff this town has. It is a disservice not only to them, but also to the residents of this town to portray them in any other way. Thank you. One other note I have. Today, February 1st, I still can't believe it is February, marks the beginning of Black History Month. We have a wonderfully diverse makeup within the town of Riverhead. We join the nation in celebrating the countless achievements and contributions of the African American community. I suggest that if you look through the local media and on social media, you will see that there are many events scheduled. If you are interested in attending some, I know the library has a few scheduled up. If you go on to the community events sections, you will be able to find where these are happening. I advise you to go ahead and check some out. We are going to get started on our work session. We have one item on for open session today. I apologize to the public about that in a sense that that is all we have. Honestly, that is all we have today. We tried to put a lot of other stuff on, but it just wasn't quite ready. Our work sessions in the near future will be pretty loaded up and very busy. Our open session, and we have no closed session today, our one open session item is matters surrounding the update on progress with the town square and the TOD. I would ask Dawn Thomas and crew to come on up and give us an update. This is always exciting for me to hear where we are and what is happening and what is going to happen. This is a huge, huge project. We are all waiting with bated breath for this to happen. Ready to go? Ready to go. As you can see, the work is now spreading from our department, our office, our department throughout planning, law, and it will be in building hopefully soon. That is great news because it is getting closer. Just an update on the, I guess we could do the town square first. We just finished through the law department negotiating and getting signed up the two agreements for the design. One is with LVF, which was the one selected from the RFP. They will be working on the actual design. One is with the actual playground project. The other is Skolnick. That project will be on the amphitheater. Both of those projects are going to have public engagement. We are going to have a kickoff meeting probably next week with both companies. Those kickoff meetings will lay out the scheduling for what is going to happen next. There will be public engagement in both projects. Stay tuned and we will see how that goes. Particularly with the playground, we are looking to get a lot of young people involved and mobility challenge people because it is a playground. We call it a children's playground, but it really is for anybody who is mobility challenged and it will really be for families. We are looking forward to seeing those projects evolve and also seeing how those people who have input in them can see that input come to fruition. That is great news. It might be something we want our liaison and it might be Denise for the inclusive task force. Yes. Yes, because we have that task force and they are very well aware of what is needed and what would be nice. That would be a good avenue to discuss that with. One of the key components of all of the projects, which there are multiple projects now in the downtown area, is making it accessible. The parking garage, there is probably close to a 15-foot grade change between the parking garage and the riverfront. All of these projects are going to be designed to make a smooth transition for anybody with mobility issues to make it down to the riverfront. Those are exciting pieces of the project. It is great because the recreation department gets continuing requests throughout all of our parks throughout the town to have no handicap accessible swing sets and places. Yes. We are really looking forward to seeing LVF, the LVF project, when we start to engage with them. I think you will see a pretty amazing company really have done fantastic projects all over the country. They are related to the region. We are hoping that the playground relates to our region, our agricultural and maritime heritage. Those things are super exciting. We are really getting down to it now. That is good stuff. We have the grant money. You secure it to pay for it. Yes. Just in terms of the playground, in addition to the design money, we have about $1,050,000 to actually construct the project. That project, in addition to the grant funding that is coming to it, which is three different, there are two different grants and one private funding, but it really does lend itself to philanthropy and private funding. If a person wants to name a piece of playground equipment or a section of the playground after a loved one or an entity wants to have input, any kind of corporate entity could do that, sponsor those pieces and make them part of that project, which will really, I mean, I think that is ready to go once it is designed. If you remember when Barry worked on the activation plan, each of these projects is a separate phase and they are not dependent on one another. So while we are hoping they all go at once because we don't want to have downtown look like... Instruction zone for a decade. A mass for too long. So that is what we are really sort of aiming towards, getting everything in the chute at the same time. In terms of the amphitheater, that design is going, both the amphitheater and the playground are going to incorporate the flooding that happens on Main Street. Everything is getting lifted up, but it still will potentially flood occasionally, so those designs will be made so that the flood water can weave throughout them and receive, you know, quickly. So it is pretty neat stuff that we have been looking at in terms of, you know... It could be designed architecturally that it would be an interest on the public to come down. Exactly. Not a safety concern, but like to actually see the water flowing. Yeah, and it is educational too. There is, you know, why is the water here? How did it get here? How do we make it dissipate? What, you know, what are the things we can do to make it an asset rather than a detriment? So, and just to remind everyone, the town square, the upper town square, and their street improvements. And if you... If you have been to West Hampton recently, you will see they have done street... Traffic calming. They call it complete streets improvements to really narrow the streets and slow down traffic to make it safer. We have a grant for that for $750,000. We also have $3.42 million for the actual construction of the square. So we are working to sign LVF to design the square and those road improvements. It is part of their specialty. Sorry. Got a little bit close. Oh, sorry. It is part of their... Right in their design wheelhouse. So they are excited about that. Danielle and Amory are working on those agreements with them. And so we will have one company working on the playground, the upper square and the street, another company working on the amphitheater, and then all of those companies together are working with master developers, designers, and also we have Barry Long, who we are retaining, who has been our consultant on this town square project since day one, kind of like overseeing the whole thing. And all of that is paid for with grant money. It is not taxpayer money. So that is all moving along nicely. And then in addition, we have the parking garage project. So that is cooking along. We are working with accounting to make sure that those numbers... We know all the potential realities of that project, what it could cost, how it could be paid for, and how it works for us. And again, our office right now is grinding on a grant called RAISE. We have submitted multiple times. We are hoping this is our year. That is $25 million. If we are able to secure that funding, the garage will have very little left to be built, really, with that funding that we have already set aside. And in addition to that, we are working on finally putting in that pile up, the payment in lieu of parking, so that we can make sure we can fund the garage and just really kind of move forward into the next phases of our world here, what it is going to look like, not what it looks like now. So I don't know if I forgot anything. I don't think so. Okay. And then, is there any questions? I do. I don't have a question. Sure. I know in the last work session, I talked about the Army Corps of Engineers and they are going to take the bulkhead up two feet. Yes. Okay. So my question is, if the bulkhead goes up two feet, and we are also doing something where water is going to come into the Upper Town Square. Not the Upper Town Square. I am sorry, the Lower Town Square. Yeah. So we are still concerned about water coming into the Lower Town Square. That two feet design will lift up Heidi Bear Way and the boardwalk. It will make it a pedestrianized street, so there will be curbless street in that area. But we are still going to use Heidi Bear Way? Yeah. It is not going to be as attractive for through traffic, but it will still be definitely used and will remain open for access. So, but those designs, we will see when the designers get really familiar with all of the Army Corps studies and with what the work that Barry did with the Army Corps. And we will see what develops. We do not know yet. That is all part of the design. So we will see. But that area is still meant to be occasionally floodable like in a Sandy event. And so that water would be retained potentially for a small period of time and then drain off. So it is not. And also part of that stormwater, it is good to manage it so that it does not immediately then drain back into the river. So stormwater management is also part of the resiliency of all of these projects. You know, to protect flood attacks, but also manage water that is coming from the streets, you know, north down that 15 foot grade change into the, but also stormwater that comes up can get percolated through and be cleaned and not just dumped right now, pick up dirt from the river. So that is something that we are going to see. And I think that is a great point. Thank you. I just wanted to clear up so I can clear up dirt from public areas and put it into the river so. I am happy to see this going to be, you know, that's why I see the lower Town Square, you know, having a lot of grass for that reason and also the upper Town Square for the same reason because both places have been impervious surfaces forever and it's just been a drain system. One other question on the pile up. Can you go into that a little bit? Pile up payment in lieu of parking. So we drafted that I want to say three or four years ago maybe more. We're gonna amend that and we'll roll it out clean and fresh and new because we have to design it and include language that certain uses for instance a hotel would have to quote buy into the garage and it would be monthly fee per room equal to per if you have 80 rooms 80 spaces. So we have to update that and account for that.

As a part of the development of the garage the overall downtown area in some fashion or another is going to have to have some paid parking because if you have free parking all over downtown no one will ever use the garage and the garage will need to be used in order for it to be effectuated. Is that parking people telling you that? Because once if the garage goes up it's gonna take out quite a few spaces number one which is gonna leave not too many spaces left. Yeah. Right? 138 on the ground floor. So you're gonna lose 138? 104. 104 on the ground floor. But those are still there. They're part of the garage. Yeah but you're gonna be paying to go into the garage. My concern is that the you know I expect when the lower and upper town square done and if the stage is put in the right place you're gonna attract so many people that you have to use the garage. Yeah. And the other concern that I have is have they done an account on how many employees? This is all going to be handled. This is gonna be done? Yes. Okay because we need you know we need to know that and figure that all out because right now I have a hard time even thinking about having employees pay for parking. Nowhere has it been suggested that employees would pay for parking. I'm just introducing it as a topic because it is going to come up. Okay. And we are gonna have to. I mean I'm just introducing it as a topic because it is going to come up. Okay. And we are gonna have to. [transcription gap] Okay. And we are gonna have to. So we're in process of looking at it. Yeah. I got it. Yeah. I had a question. I think that the paid parking might be a very good idea in the sense that it alleviates the traffic tickets in the court right? It's automated. It does your license. So wouldn't that help assist the collection of fines? There's a whole world of parking management and that is something that I know only a little bit about but the people that do it know everything about it. And so I think that that'll be our next discussion. I'll head over to you next. [transcription gap] And anything that's... It has to protect all of them. I said, once it's implemented, it'll start out, there'll be a lot of public engagement, a lot of stakeholder meetings, a lot of... You know, in order for us to do it right, to make it work for everyone, it's going to be a project. So it's just that, you know, as we get down from the 100,000 feet, you know, to getting closer to these projects happening, you know, we know we're going to start getting into things like this. Dawn, I have a quick question. The Complete Street, which I'm very excited about because West Hampton is beautiful, what they did over there, is that going to run from McDermott to Peconic Avenue or will it go further west, further east? We want to implement it all over downtown, including up Griffin and Roanoke and Railroad Street, Court Street, and Schrander there. But the current money that we have, is for right in front of the town square on Main Street, East Main. So if in the strategic investment plan that was created through the DRI, those streets were identified all as, you know, too wide, raceway, not safe for pedestrians or bicyclists. We have a tremendous amount of people in the downtown area that have zero to one car. And so, and making it safe for pedestrians and having a garage where you park once and walk around reduces vehicle traffic. So that's a big part of it. But there's also a lot of vehicles miles travels of BMT, right? So we're all into this DOT language now. So that we would love to implement throughout downtown. Down on Heidi Behr Way when it becomes a pedestrianized street, that would all be implemented there too. If we are successful in getting this RAISE grant, all of that will be done. Wow. Yeah. Great. Yeah. Fingers crossed. Yes. And the current layout of downtown Riverhead has given you an incredible opportunity to mean that the parking lot, parking garage is still going to be close to everything downtown. So many times we go, we travel to different places, and the parking garage is like the last thing that's sort out and put way out in the distance, because you don't want to give up that valuable space, but putting it right in the current parking lot that we're all currently using anyway, and I can tell that we're already going downtown, because it's getting harder and harder to find a parking lot around noon time and so forth, and you're going down to lunch and so forth. So it's great, but I think it's, you're developing everything right around it, and we're keeping everything in close, short distance. Yeah. And so that garage is a short walk to everything downtown. I think, too, the way the plan is set is that first street will actually be recreated, because there used to be a street with houses. If you, when you turn into that parking lot off Verona, when you make the left, you'll see, you know, those office houses. Those houses used to go right along. The town acquired them at some point to mileage them and expanded the parking lot, and it eliminated that street, you know, as a street. It doesn't look like a street, but it looks like a parking lot. We're going to recreate that street with sidewalks, lighting, landscaping, signage, so that when you come out of the garage, you're going to feel like you're on the street, and you're going to have a very clear picture of how to get down to the town square, because the two alleyways, the two exits for the garage are going to be lined up exactly with the alleyways that exist now, the Benjamin Place alleyway and the Suffolk Theater alleyway, both of which will be renovated. We already are working on the renovation of the alleyway at the Suffolk Theater. We have a grant for that. From Suffolk County, downtown revitalization that we're moving forward with, you know, automated lighting and making it look like not a frightening place to be. In those places, it'll be fully accessible, and you'll roll right down to Main Street, and you'll be at the town square, basically, is how it's set up. So it really will change that whole area completely. Drew Dillingham was here at our last work session, and they're going to experiment with different lighting options that they can come up with. And I think that's going to be a great opportunity to see what's going to work best for the town. Because the lighting right now is too dim. Yes. It's far too dim. So they're going to increase. They have two others they can go up to increase the brightness, and they're going to experiment and see which one's going to work best. So that's all part of it, too. Perfect. And then we can just quick shift to TOD. I'll let Amory kind of fill in that one. So related to the parking garage, the team has probably received three or four plus preliminary draft site plans. It's looking good. We need a follow-up meeting, probably final tweaks, recommendations that we're going to make. Danielle and I have basically tackled every foreseeable agreement that we'll need in the future. We've done the easements. The parking lot easement. Yeah, the parking lot easement. Third and Roanoke. They would have exclusive use at night, but during the day it would be municipal. They would improve the landscaping, the lighting, and be responsible for payment of that. Staging agreement. Which one? Staging agreement. Danielle is doing the staging agreement right now in anticipation, and we have an agreement for the map and plan. We're in there agreeing to all infrastructure improvements, key monies, and we're going to proceed with the hearing. We're going to move forward with the mapping plan. And related to the parking garage, the County of Suffolk agreed on the Griffin site we're going to move forward. And the good news is county staff that worked on that with Dawn and I are still in place, eager to move that forward. And the County of Suffolk agreed that we wouldn't have to build a garage on the Griffin Avenue site, and instead any overflow we would make a parking lot available in this parking lot. Because you know, you see the empty lots in our lot. So that was good news. This way, when we close on the TOD site, we can take the monies from the sale and put it right towards the garage downtown. And then I know you want to update on the legal progress on the Town Square side on the private partnership piece? Oh, yeah. So Danielle and I, I have met with the master developer, Joe Petrucelli and his lawyer, numerous times. Yesterday, I think we finalized the footprint. And I believe, Supervisor, he dropped off a rent vision for you. I got the MIR office. That is correct. And now that we have the parameters, Danielle and I are going to sink our teeth in and fully negotiate the master developer agreement. So that will result in a closing where we transfer the property to his company. Correct. And then they develop the hotel, that'll line the square, which is, you know, all part of the project. Hopefully it all goes at once. And also, we have been working with the granting agencies from the state. Because of the practicality of him having that development ongoing next to the square, he's going to be allowed to contract on our behalf for the building of the square and the street improvements. He has to competitively bid, obviously. For all of the sub-components of that. But I think it will make it smoother and more seamless and less disruptive. Similar to this building, we retained Joe Petrucelli as the contract manager. And we would do the same thing because we need the development of the town square and the development of his site to move seamlessly forward. There's a lot of infrastructure that's going to be on the square for all the projects. Yeah. So underneath the square, you're going to have infrastructure for development projects adjacent to the upper deck of the square. Plus, we're dealing with elevation and grade changes for his project site at 127 and the town square. And it has to be seamless. Yeah. It's essential. One of the things I'd like to, and I think it's important, is that we have a lot of infrastructure. And I think it's important to incorporate that into the development discussions. I don't know if this is the answer, but I'll say is to incorporate maybe perhaps a sanitation district or something for downtown Riverhead to enclose it so that we can find more locations. And maybe it needs to be compact as opposed to dumpsters and that everybody in the downtown's got to chip in or something. But the ongoing problem is, as we speak right now, the litter behind in the parking lots throughout behind Dagers is just phenomenal. Yeah. It's just, building of grounds goes and cleans up. They're all blown out of the dumpsters. They're all over. And it's just a never ending battle. But if we can create some type of infrastructure underneath the upper portion of the town square that's made accessible by our adjacent building or something like that, let's think of the Disney effect and let's have a lot of those disposal sites and so forth that go into a collection area underneath that can be driven out and pulled out. But let's put compactors maybe behind Dagers. Everybody has got to do that. And I think that's a problem that everybody has got to just going to have to chip into because the dumpsters are just not working. And it's just, it's ongoing. It's just. And other residents are just feeling that they can add to the local business garbage and we've got to find a way to combat it. And I think that we should, when we're designing all this, the town square, the upper level, the TOD, the whole area, where is sanitation fitting into all this? Because it's an important component that after this incredible project was built, we want to make sure that it's full of flowers and green and beautiful things and not sanitized. And I think that's a problem that we've got to find a way to combat it. And I think that's a problem that we've got to find a way to combat it. And I think that we should, when we're designing all this, the town square, the upper level, the TOD, the whole area, where is sanitation fitting into all this? Because it's an important component that after this incredible project was built, we want to make sure that it's full of flowers and green and beautiful things and not sanitation. That's just, you know, hodgepodge garbage bales put around in the end is not going to work. And this is exactly what, when we're drilling down on everything, all these issues, you know, are developing and we're working on solving those problems. So for sure, absolutely. And I think that's a problem that we've got to find a way to combat it. [transcription gap] This has been a long standing problem with the dumpsters. And the problem we have, and what's nice about all the new projects, is we would be able to go with compactors. We tried doing that in a system where you have full head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head We tried doing that in the situation we have now, but every business downtown is under a different contract with a different company, and they weren't able to break out of those contracts to go to one, say one compact location in their area. So we tried doing that for years, but it just could never work out. But with a new project, obviously it's gonna be all new businesses, we can start out fresh and start that. And maybe it's the sanitation district, instead of paying to get one person, we shop around, we get the best deal. And we keep it clean. It's a possibility. We always were just fearful of creating more taxing districts because it would just keep crushing everybody. It was already just barely getting by. And if the town wants to embark on that, you have a short window to do it, because we're gonna be rolling out bid specifications for residential garbage pickup, probably in May. So it's significant. In those bid specifications, the breakout of the different districts, the number of homes. So if the town's gonna embark on that, it should be now, now, now, not later. I think it warrants a discussion, because it's gonna be difficult when you have these new hotels, and everybody's gonna be compliant, or the new projects, the new restaurants, and things that are coming in, but we still gotta address the current ones. We still gotta be fair to our current, you know, is enough, but if we can keep course within their same range, but we can control that it's all brought to universal sites, it'll be cleaner. At the end of the day, I think it would make everyone happier, the public and the business owners, because it would simplify it, but it's just been one of those chicken and the egg problems that we've had over the years that, you know, it didn't really, we couldn't figure out how to make it work, so. Well, with all the downtown improvements, it's just gonna add to the population even more, the people coming, visiting. It's that much more garbage. Yeah, exactly, yeah. So I will tell you, Danielle, Dawn, and I, just negotiated this facet yesterday. When Joe Petruccelli reconstructs his building, we negotiated with him. He's gonna build in to that a storage shed for us, for the equipment to maintain the town square, or any storage the town needs, but he's gonna construct it literally. It'll look like part of his building. But we'll have access. Right. Because there'll be benches and tables and. Right, seasonal items that have to be stored. They call the furnishings, you know, the little pop-up tents or whatever it is that we need down there will be able to be stored right on site, which is important. Yeah, so that's all I think we have. I just wanna say that this town board is very lucky to have the people at this table that we have. Yes, absolutely. The work that's been going on behind the scenes with this, the general public probably doesn't see it. They ride past, they see a patch of green grass, and they're like, well, I don't think anything's going on. There is so much going on, and on a daily basis, but there's so much to putting this project together, and we've got the best people in the world to do it for us here. So thank you for all your work. We appreciate that. And we couldn't do it without a supportive board, so we're grateful for that, and I think, and this gives us an opportunity, this update gives us an opportunity to share with you those things that we are doing. It's quick and easy. We're all together, and you know, because we don't really have an opportunity to tell everyone where we're at, and there is, as you say, a lot going on. We can't keep you much longer. You gotta go work on the race grant. Yeah, exactly.

Thank you, folks, so much. Thank you. Thanks.

Okay, that is the end of our open session on matters.

We are gonna move on to resolutions at this point in time.

Devin, would you mind reading resolutions along? Okay, I'm ready. I'll get ready, you have 30 seconds. Everybody have what they need? Yes. Councilman, do you have what you need? Yeah. You just have the top sheet. Okay. All right. The saving paper. Oh, thank you. Oh, just a second. I don't have my glasses. Okay, we'll get started. Resolution number one, appoints a water treatment plant operator trainee. This is, the board is probably aware, we're moving somebody, we had moved somebody from operations to the distribution crew, so now we are appointing this person now as the water treatment plant operator trainee to replace the person we moved. Right.

Okay. Resolution number two, water district budget transfer for vehicles and equipment. This is money that's, they're gonna use along with key money to purchase some vehicles and a trailer that are desperately needed for our water department. So we have, I believe, a couple of the trucks we can get access to fairly quickly, so we wanted to move on this, as is, a timing,

so we wanted to move on this, as is, a timing, as is, a timing, [transcription gap] as is, a timing, delay in ordering vehicles. Right, from the time they order to the time they actually take delivery of the vehicle. Nationwide, right, to the time they actually get here. So this is money we're moving around to, or they're gonna use to make these purchases badly needed equipment. I've seen the water equipment and it's not good. So, can't kick that can down the road anymore. We have to bite the bullet here. That's right. Okay, resolution number three, authorize the supervisor to execute an agreement for court reporter services, with, Colleen Track. This is for jury trials only. She'll be on call as needed, and it's something we've always had with justice court. Resolution number four, authorize the supervisor to execute an agreement for court reporter services, with, Donna Spratt. Ditto, basically the same thing. She'll be on call and as needed for whatever we need her to come in for, she would be available to come in. Resolution number five, appoints a public safety dispatcher to the police department. We are adding to our staff, we're still short-handed in that area, and we have interviewed other people, and they are in the process of going through the background checks and everything now. Because with our contract with the ambulance company, with the ambulance corps, we are required on certain shifts to have a dedicated dispatcher just for emergency EMS calls, because the volume is so high right now. Right. It's important that we have that. Okay. Resolution number six, awards bid electrical system maintenance and emergency service contract for the Riverhead Water District. This is a bid that we do every year, just to have a service contract for our water district. Resolution number seven, authorizes notice to bidders construction of pre-stressed ground storage tank at East Wind Drive Riverhead Water District. This is, I believe, a concrete tank that they're gonna have. And it's, again, it's needed for the infrastructure of the water district, so. We have the water district superintendent here, and he can field any further questions on that. Frank, is there anything you feel you need to add to this, or? No, no, I'm just gonna ask a question. Okay, okay. Resolution number eight, authorizes the attendance at the 2024 Annual Meeting and Training School held by the Association of Towns, February 18 through 21, 2024. We have Deputy Town Attorney Danielle Hurley and Victoria Saru, and also Councilwoman Denise Merrifield all going to attend class upstate. And I actually have here an attachment that we inadvertently omitted from the resolution, so I'll pass these out to everybody. It's just the required travel voucher. It's nothing except. Right. This is a school that's done every year in February, put on by the Association of Towns. For attorneys, they can get their CREs. It's training that they have to, you have to maintain your lawyer status. You have to get training every two years, I believe, a certain number of credits. So they can accomplish some credits at this school. Denise is gonna go, and I think it's a great idea. I've gone a couple times myself, and it's just, there's a whole host of information. There's so many different classes and topics you can take. And you pick and choose whatever you want, so they don't assign them to you. Because some of the topics, they're not gonna quite honestly deal maybe with hydro power, which is something upstate New York would use. And we wouldn't be interested in that, but there's so many other things that are, would be related to what we do here. So it's great that you're going, Denise. And I recommend anybody, if you get a chance in the next couple of years to attend and go, go and give it a shot. Thank you. We came in, we had to do, it was in the middle of a pandemic, but so we did it online, but those are incredible speakers, knowledgeable from all over that participated. I agree, I agree. And when you actually go to it, there's so much networking that goes on where you can meet people and it's really a good thing to do, so. But the quiz, when you come back, it really is. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yeah, it's tough. Okay, resolution number nine, authorizes renewal of musical works license agreement with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, ASCAP. That's something we do every year. We have to pay to play their music at our senior center and other events, so. Right. Resolution number 10, appoints official print newspaper for the town of Riverhead 2024. Woo hoo, Riverhead News Review, look at that, Tim. Good stuff. Resolution number 11, authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice to consider a local law to mend chapter 301, zoning and land development part three, supplementary regulations article. I didn't Google it, so I don't know. Cannabis of the Riverhead Town Code. And this is, so this is under américans law, [transcription gap] continues through Route 58 and then rejoining back into County into Route 25 as it goes through Ackermack and Janesport. We basically simplified it, we divided up into five corridors. Corridors 1, 2 and 4 and 5 are only having one cannabis through the saturation rate so there'd be one permitted in each corridor and then Route 58 potentially maybe four or five or so within that area but it basically is removing the residential restrictions that's really what's what's held up the ability of making any land accessible under our current legislation so they removed the residential restrictions only on the commercial corridor. So this has was put together comprised of the cannabis committee which consists of Police Department cap school representatives local residents all of the community civic associations as well. Like everybody has joined in and it's really become a universal and then everyone from both sides have agreed upon it and like it and proposed it together. So now we'll put it out to hear comment from the general public and per the supervisors request sort of Hot hotter topic public hearings are going to take place in the evening meetings To afford the most number of folks an opportunity to get there. So this can take place on February 21st at 615 Thank you for the work you've done on that and to the committee I know that they met numerous times and It was a challenge. It was a challenge getting things whittled down a little bit So there's still a lot of overlying restrictions. It's not like we're opening up the whole car Do you still have saturation rates that they're involved and you have limitations by landowners? Because what whether that's even permitted they have current mortgages through the federal government that I've permitted to participate in the program Okay Resolution number 12 special event chapter 255 application for race awesome Jamesport triathlon. We have a change to this one as well supervisor had requested that the Applicant be required to post sewn it signage at various locations along the route to alert neighbors That the roads would be closed at certain You know along the route during the the race. So town attorneys have embedded that language in the resolution

Yeah, the applicants gonna have to notify the residents of road closures because a Lot of this race goes through residential area So it's a it's a help for them to know that they go to pull out of their driveway and their road is closed on a Saturday Morning or whenever the race is they just they need forewarning of that right and staff reached out to the applicant Corey Roberts And he apparently was more than amenable to accommodate happy to do it had indicated that he had attempted some signage in the past But this is gonna sort of formalize that good and he's happy to accommodate so no issue there perfect and the the locations of the proposed signs are indicated as I understand it on the map and also articulated in the body of the resolution now So Bob when you and I are running it just know that right you changed the course. Yeah, just follow the signs. You'd be fine I appreciate that

My participation will be standing and directing traffic at a closed Somebody's got to be at the finish line cheer everybody in so that's equally important My head's would go on strike if I decided to do that Resolution 13 reappoints a zoning officer non protante. This is reappointing Greg Bergman

Resolution number 17 adopts a local law amending Chapter 3 of one of the river head Town Code entitled zoning and land development article I Think I know that one. I think that's 17 business F Zoning Use district manufacturers outlets center overlay zone This is we had the américans américans américans [transcription gap] américans [transcription gap] américans américans américans zoning use district manufacturers outlets center overlay zone. This is, we had the public hearing on this regarding some changes up at Tanger. We had comments both for and against it, and it's coming up for vote on our next board meeting. Anybody have anything they want to discuss about the Tanger overlay? I'm glad we're doing it. Okay. I am too. Okay. Okay. Resolution number 15 adopts a local law amending chapter 301 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled zoning land development article related to condominium maps. 58. 58. Thank you for that. I welcome any help with that. In fact, we do have a very friendly constituent, I'll just add, who has noticed my shortcomings with Roman numerals, and he dropped off a little sheet, like a cheat sheet, and I haven't mastered that yet. At the old town hall, we had him up on the day. So, I'm glad we're doing this. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe someday we'll stop using those. Somebody took them all. Yeah. Denise, we need more. Yeah. This resolution and the next one are both regarding the recreation fees. Right. They're going to be attached to apartments and such and condominiums. So, we're going back up to the $5,000 rate per unit. Yeah. During hard economic times. It was dropped down to $3,000 per unit. And we're going back up to the $5,000. So, this way we can also help build up. Yeah. [transcription gap] Yeah. [transcription gap] thousand dollars per unit and we're going back up to the five thousand so this way we can also help build up our recreation fund and get some capital projects going that are badly needed it's all good stuff resolution 16 as supervisor mentioned adopts a local law amending chapter 301 of the riverhead town code entitled zoning and land development part four subdivision and land development article uh what is that 56 site plan review resolution 17 budget transfer emergency repairs at reeves beach i think we all know what that's for yes this is for the cleanup down here that has to take place from the rainstorms we had and right to get that back and going again i had a request yesterday from a resident down here wanting to know what uh when at least the boat ramp could be opened up because people get antsy this time of year being cooped up in the winter time and they want to get out and they've bought their permits already and want to ride the beach and a lot of the people who go down early actually clean up and pick up a lot of from the winter storms it is washed in so they're looking to see and i told them i would get back to them i'll check with uh engineering and see if there's a timeline for the ramp because i have a feeling the ramp might be open prior to the gazebo being ready but i want to find out for sure okay we can circle back around with engineering yeah and i'll announce that publicly too once the ramp is open resolution number 18 authorization to accept grant funds and enter into a contract with new york state parks recreation and historic preservation for construction of the proposed town square adaptive playground so next up next up next up next up next up next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next EXPLAMATORY. NEW SPEAKER NUMBER 21 RATIFIES THE APPOINTMENT OF A TECHNICAL SUPPORT AIDE. JUSTIN FISHER WHO WE'RE PROUD TO SAY IS IN THE BOOTH TODAY. IT'S A ONE-MAN BAND TODAY. HE'S DOING A GREAT JOB AND WE'RE HAPPY TO HAVE HIM. WE'RE LUCKY TO HAVE HIM. NEW SPEAKER WE'LL BE RUNNING OUR BOOTH FOR US NOW. FULL-TIME EMPLOYEE OF THE TOWN OF RIBBON. WELCOME. GLAD TO HAVE YOU, JUSTIN. YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB. THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER DURING THE TOWN BOARD MEETING IF IT CUTS OUT RIGHT HERE IT MEANS WE VOTED NO. I ENCOURAGE THE YES VOTE. NEW SPEAKER RESOLUTION 22 RATIFIES THE APPOINTMENT OF AN ACCOUNT CLERK. THIS IS IN THE FIRE MARSHAL'S OFFICE. THIS EMPLOYEE IS GOING FROM PART-TIME TO FULL-TIME. MUCH NEEDED. SHE'S DOING A GREAT JOB OVER THERE AND WE APPRECIATE IT AND THE FIRE MARSHALS ARE GOING TO BE IN A LITTLE BETTER POSITION NOW THAT SHE'LL BE THERE FULL-TIME. NEW SPEAKER ABSOLUTELY. SHE'S GREAT. NEW SPEAKER SHE IS. SHE'S DOING A GREAT JOB. NEW SPEAKER ABSOLUTELY. NEW SPEAKER SHE REALLY DOES. NEW SPEAKER IT'S PHENOMENAL. NEW SPEAKER RESOLUTION 23 RESOLUTION CALLING PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING A CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT FOR THE PROPOSED EXTENSION NUMBER 99 OF THE RIVERHEAD WATER DISTRICT FOR THE MARIS FARM SUBDIVISION AND OTHER PROPERTIES COLLECTIVELY KNOWN AS SEVIC COUNTY TAX MAP NUMBER 600 DISTRICT 600 SECTION 117 BLOCK 1 LOT 6.1.2 7.2 AND 3 AND 4 IN RIVERHEAD NEW YORK. NEW SPEAKER THIS WILL ALSO BE PUT ON FOR A RECOMMENDATION. NEW SPEAKER THIS WILL ALSO BE PUT ON FOR A PUBLIC HEARING ON FEBRUARY 21ST AT 6 P.M. NEW SPEAKER OKAY RESOLUTION 24 CALLING PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING A CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT FOR THE PROPOSED LATERAL WATER MAIN EXTENSION AT 203-213 EAST MAIN STREET SUFFOLK COUNTY TAX MAP DISTRICT 66 SECTION 129 BLOCK 1 LOT 17 THROUGH 20 RIVERHEAD NEW YORK. I THINK WE JUST NEED TO CHECK THE DISTRICT ON THAT NUMBER. MAYBE WE'LL JUST DOUBLE CHECK THAT. NEW SPEAKER THE DISTRICT IS 0600. NEW SPEAKER RIGHT SO NOT 66 RIGHT OKAY. NEW SPEAKER THIS IS FOR THE PROPERTY WHERE THE OLD SEARS BUILDING WAS THIS IS THE HEATHERWOOD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT THAT'S GOING TO BE AN APARTMENT HOUSE THERE SO THIS IS NEEDED FOR THE THEY WANT TO HAVE WATER IN THEIR APARTMENTS WE GOT TO DO THIS. NEW SPEAKER OKAY RESOLUTION 25 203-213 EAST MAIN STREET RIVERHEAD SEWER DISTRICT CAPITAL PROJECT. NEW SPEAKER SIMILAR AGAIN FOR THE SAME PROPERTY BUT WITH A NEW PROPERTY. NEW SPEAKER OKAY RESOLUTION 26 APPROVE SPECIAL EVENT CHAPTER 255 APPLICATION FOR THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY MAKING STRIDES AGAINST CANCER OF EASTERN LONG ISLAND. NEW SPEAKER THEY DO THIS EVERY OCTOBER AND IT'S SORT OF ALONG THE LINES OF PAINTING THE TOWN PINK AND THEY DO THEIR RUN AND PROGRAM EVERY OCTOBER DOWNTOWN. NEW SPEAKER THAT'S RIGHT. NEW SPEAKER RESOLUTION 27 AUTHORIZES THE FILING OF AN APPLICATION FOR NEW YORK STATE ASSISTANCE FROM THE HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE AND DAMAGE RESOURCES. NEW SPEAKER THE ASSOCIATED STATE CONTRACT UNDER THE APPROPRIATE LAWS OF NEW YORK STATE. NEW SPEAKER SELF EXPLANATORY. NEW SPEAKER 28 AUTHORIZES APPLICATION FOR FUNDING THROUGH THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RAISED 2024 GRANT FUNDING. NEW SPEAKER 25 MILLION. NEW SPEAKER THIS IS OUR FINGERS CROSS 25 MILLION DOLLAR GRANT THAT WE'RE APPLYING FOR AND WE'RE EXCITED TO GET THIS. NEW SPEAKER PEOPLE IF YOU HAVE A LITTLE VOODOO DOLL THAT YOU CAN DO SOMETHING WITH AT HOME TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN WE APPRECIATE IT. NEW SPEAKER OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS WORK JUST AS WELL BUT WE'RE EXCITED AND WE'RE HOPING VERY MUCH HOPING THAT WE GET THIS. NEW SPEAKER FINGERS CROSSED. NEW SPEAKER NUMBER 29 AWARDS BID PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM MAINTENANCE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES CONTRACT RIVERHEAD WATER DISTRICT. NEW SPEAKER THIS IS FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES A CONTRACT WITH THE WATER DEPARTMENT THAT UNFORTUNATELY TOO OFTEN ARE NEEDED BUT WE HAVE TO HAVE IT. NEW SPEAKER NUMBER 30 SIMILARLY IT'S AN AWARDS BID BUT IT'S FOR MECHANICAL MAINTENANCE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES FOR THE RIVERHEAD WATER DISTRICT. NEW SPEAKER YEP. NEW SPEAKER RESOLUTION 31 APPROVE SPECIAL EVENT CHAPTER 255 APPLICATION FOR POLISH TOWN CIVIC ASSOCIATION POLISH TOWN STREET FAIR AND FESTIVAL. NEW SPEAKER FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND THE POLISH CIVIC ASSOCIATION IS A CIVIC ASSOCIATION. NEW SPEAKER AND POLISH POLUTS POLUTS POLUTS POLUTS POLUTS POLUTS POLUTS POLUTS POLUTS POLUTS in August of this year. Just to clarify, the Civic Association puts on the Polish Fair, and the Polish Hole in Riverhead puts on the Polish Festival. We're talking about two separate entities and potentially two separate events. The Polish Fair is usually a two-day event throughout Polish Town, and the Polish Festival is more inclusive to the Polish Hole, the parking lot area, and Pulaski Street. Okay. So then why does the resolution state that it's a fair at a festival? I don't know why it says and festival. I don't know. That needs to be corrected. Okay, so should we amend it and just have it read Polish Town Street Fair? I think so. Yeah, I think that's the way we can kind of keep the two separated. Yep. And we don't know if they're going to – I'm assuming they're not going to be on the same dates, but that would be something that will be determined at a later time, I guess. Well, they always were. They always used to be. Yes.

All right. No problem. We'll make that quick amendment upstairs. Okay. Resolution 32, appointment and approval of the fee schedule for the Rainer Group P.E. and L.S. PLLC as consulting engineers and land surveyors. This is just an update for the people that we use for land surveying and engineers. Resolution 33 authorizes the supervisor to enter into an agreement with specified employees. This had to do with a bereavement situation where we allowed the individuals or allowing them to take bereavement time a little bit different than what the contract says because it was a time lag for the services to be done for the family member that they lost. So. Resolution 34. Awards bid. Installation of water mains and appurtenances, SEA Seacrest Estates Subdivision, a.k.a. the villas at Roanoke, Riverhead Water District.

The water department is very busy. They are. They are a busy bunch over there. Resolution 35. Awards bid. Hydraulic control valve maintenance services contract, Riverhead Water District. Number 36. Another one. Awards bid. Distribution system maintenance. An emergency services contract, Riverhead Water District. These all just come due roughly at the same time. So it's just a matter of it's nothing new. It's just the contract is up and it's renewing. Resolution 37 ratifies the acceptance of resignation from a public safety dispatcher. That's the positions we're looking to fill. Just a quick note to the people out there. If you're looking for job opportunities, take a civil service test. They're easy to find out how, when, and where. Go online to the Suffolk County Department of Civil Service. They list descriptions of all the jobs, of all the tests for the jobs that they're giving, especially for our younger people. I mean, it's a civil service job. Actually, you can afford to live on Long Island with many of these jobs. And just take the test. You never know where it's going to bring you and where it's going to land you. But there's so many opportunities. There's such a wide variety of fields that you could go into. I just, I highly recommend people take civil service tests. We can't emphasize that enough. We're looking, as a town, when we hire, we run out of people on the list. You know, the list, there's nobody on it anymore. It's like, you know, people looking for jobs. These are some good jobs. Benefits, you know, take those tests. I can't emphasize that enough. Frank, part time? Yeah. Okay, resolution 38, accepts the retirement of a custodial worker one. George Modern. George has been with us a number of years. Most of his years were spent down at the senior center. So, wish George the best on his retirement. We're going to miss him. Number 39, appoints bond counsel. Again, something that we do every year. Number 40, appoints financial advisor. Did I? Yes. Did I? Yes. Did I? No. No. Number 41, authorizes town clerk to publish and post bid for water service materials. Is that water department again? They are needy. It's the headliner today. Number 42, authorizes town clerk to publish and post bid for charter buses. These are buses that are used for recreation and senior center trips throughout the year that they go out to bid for. Resolution 43, authorizes supervisor to execute agreement with the adventure group so they head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head to offer and it's up at veterans park yep and it's just to be clear the 60 000 isn't to buy the seven acres they're leasing it from us to uh to do this to run paintball up there so yeah how long are they going to be doing that for they have you know they're going to be doing it they have the option to renew so again it's it's in the woods it's not on any open fields or anything that's unused property and they're going to actually build a facility there no they don't they just they just put a natural wooded area they just take two containers and they're uh they're the other thing they're doing is they're we've asked them to provide rca you want to yeah so there are no permanent improvements it's a license agreement pursuant to the terms of a license agreement the municipality us town of riverhead we reserve the right to terminate at any time i think uh you know i don't have the document in front of me i think he might have uh one year with automatic renewals for five years unless either party puts the other side on notice but not withstanding that because it's a license at any time we can always take it back for municipal use but i will say and bob it's it's more than seven acres it's about 14. oh 14. yeah that's 14 in the woods once again but he is doing some permanent for him because he is he is building on the standard roadway off of the fire access road and he's building a parking area right until the 2000 14 map well he's not building a roadway he is improving a portion of the property uh for parking but whether or not you would consider that permanent it's not asphalt uh he's got curbing and drainage and stuff are you saying everything right i don't i i'm not certain it would require that an engineer that's going to work with him i was asked in the exec session that they put rca down for and they they purchased that from a dec approved site i think maybe in the road he did offer to redo the bike path but that was nobody thought where the parking is according to the map you have to be able to get from the fire access road to the parking lot so he has to build like a travel road yeah i wouldn't consider that a road overall it could be beneficial it's it's not about the groundwork we'll call it a phase one to the parking lot right exactly correct and we've already consulted consulted with ken testa and he's gonna review all the plans and oversee all the work i have one other question i know that the dog park is right in that area correct that they're going to be some kind of buffer i i don't know that much about people and i can just see yeah there's two containers and also so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so In addition, we required him to stage the containers for the storage of equipment in between the dog park and his playing field, plus the first playing field closest to the dog park is going to be like a child zone, and it's going to be laid out in such a way that the paintballs are fired across and not towards. The President There's also going to be netting that a paintball can't escape from the paintball area out to the dog park or the pickleball court. Ms. So we tried to put in three or four additional safeguards that we didn't have in the original agreement. The President All right. I didn't know some of the backlog on it. And what about bathrooms? Mr. They put in . The President Okay.

Ms. Okay. Resolution 44 adopts a local law amending. Ms. Chapter. Ms. Chapter 301 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled Zoning and Land Development Part Four, Subdivision and Land Development Article 53. Subdivision regulations. This is, I think, part three of the rec fees that the supervisor is speaking of. The President Yes, for the rec fees for dwelling units. Ms. Resolution 45 authorizes attendance at Judicial Continuing Education Program. This is for Justice Sean Walter. The President Mm-hmm. Ms. Number 46, budget transfer for 2023 legal fees. The President Number 47 appoints official online publication. Mr. This is naming Riverhead Local, correct? Ms. Yes. The President Yes. Naming Riverhead Local to be the official online publication. News Review will be the official newspaper. Ms. Print newspaper, right. 48 ratifies the reclassification of a maintenance mechanic three. And 49 ratifies the reclassification of an automotive mechanic two. And that's it. The President Okay. Before we end the meeting, I just, I wanted to mention that Riverhead lost a member of its community this week. And many people, you know, the board all knows him, but he's known, well known throughout the town. His name is Ron Schmidt. He's a retired lieutenant from the Sheriff's Department. But he was so active in the town on so many different things. He's been on committees with the town, the Rec Advisory Committee for years. He ran Riverhead Little League for a number of years and made such great improvements up there and did such a good job while he was President of the League. They actually named one of the fields after him up there. So we just want to say, you know, we're gonna miss you Ron. And our thoughts and prayers to your family. His son Ron followed him. And he's also working over for the Sheriff's Department. And thoughts and prayers to you. And we're gonna miss Ron. Okay. That ends our work session for today. And I would like to have a motion to close the work session. Mr. Doellman. [transcription gap] okay all opposed no we are officially closed people have a great weekend

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