Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Today is November 14, 2024. It's Thursday. And we're here for a work session. As we start all our meetings, could we please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? Ken, do you mind? Sure. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, invisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Ken. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, first matter on the open session we have is from the Planning Department. It's matters surrounding a special permit for clubhouse trade shops and managers' residence at Sandy Pond Golf Club, 1495 Roanoke Avenue, Riverhead. We have... We want to have everybody come up? Yeah, come on up, everybody.

I can slide down. Yeah, they might. Yeah, we have... We have seating for all. We have enough seating if we need it. Good? All right. Before we get started, I just want to say, Brian, how nice it looks up there, how well the mini course came out, and it's just such an improvement. A really good deal. Very happy to have this in the town. Actually, I was able to... I was able to play there, and we had such a good time. And it's actually... You actually had to figure out a couple of the holes. It's not... One of them was not very easy. It was kind of cool. Really enjoyed it. Was it the waterfall one? Yes. Yeah. A little difficulty here? Is this like a par 70? We were at a loss of a learning curve for one of them. You going to keep them terrible? It was great. Great addition to the town. That's great. Oh, okay. All right. So just... I'll try to go over this pretty quickly. So this is a special permit for the Sandy Pond Links. There's a proposed 3,100-square-foot clubhouse, construction of approximately 1,000-square-foot property managers' residence, and construction of three new 7,200-square-foot trade shops, along with related parking improvements. It is a type 1 action under our Riverhead Environmental Quality Review Code. This was always sort of planned from the initial application, as the board will recall, when Mr. Stark came in for the mini-golf. They had not yet taken title to the property, so they were not able to actually submit the application for this. Had they done that, it would have all been done in one shot, but this is just phase two. So as the board will recall, there was a one-story masonry building, which was previously used as Riverhead Cement Block. Various states of somewhat dilapidated, you know, you know, Mr. Stark demolished those, which they were surely blighted, surely could have been qualified under our town's blighted property code. So he's proposing to reconstruct, I said, three 7,200-square-foot trade shops. Tenants or uses are not really identified as of yet, but I'm assuming there would be, like, contractor trade storage, you know, just general small-scale industrial use. Opposed clubhouse, no objection to the clubhouse. I mean, a clubhouse, would be customarily accessory to a golf course. They did provide floor plans. The layout of the clubhouse is not really conducive to, like, a large-scale catering facility, so I don't know that necessarily we have, you know, there's much concern about, you know, it becoming really a catering facility. Twenty-five bar seats, food service being provided in that clubhouse. I did get some memos from the fire marshal and from the water district. Really have no objections to this. The manager's clubhouse, obviously, you know, if you want to make sure there's a groundskeeper on site, make sure safety, maintenance of the facility. Really no objections to this. It was always understood that this was going to be phase two of the project, so we're just moving it along. We do have to do a type one coordination, unfortunately, because it is a type one action under SECRA. I can prepare a resolution for the town board to collect, classify that, get the coordination out. I don't see any issue with scheduling a public hearing concurrently while that 30-day review period is taking place. We'll probably end up completing the 30-day review by the time the public hearing happens anyway, and we can wrap it up with determination and significance after that. Sounds good to me. I like it in place. Yeah, it's such an improvement. I've been past here at night, too, and the lighting is not an issue whatsoever. I know we spoke about that early on in the project. It's definitely not an issue the way it's been buffered and set up and everything. So it's another nice amenity for the town of Revident to have. I do recall when I was on the planning board seeing the renderings for what is proposed for phase two, and I remember that we were all kind of in agreement at that point that that was going to be good for the area, for the property. So. Do you guys have any questions of the team? No. Thank you. It's a great project. All right. So I'll prepare those resolutions to get us. It's a tough board, huh? Yeah. We'll make it look pretty, President. Yeah, absolutely. Put it up for the public hearing. Yes, sir. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. [transcription gap] If your day goes this smooth, I'll tell you. All right. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] surrounding Island Water Park site plan amendment with Bergman right so the board I'm sure everyone is aware there's been a lot of coverage on this topic we've got a complete application for the Island Water Park site plan amendments obviously there were improvements that were constructed on the site illegally without any types of permits or approvals including a construction of a approximately 113 thousand square foot go-kart track approximately 13,000 square foot pickleball court and they're also seeking to convert a 3,500 square foot second floor area which was initially identified as storage to a 250 seat catering space it is an unless it action pursuant to secret I do recommend coordinated review with the New York State BEC Suffolk County Department of Health Services obviously the Planning Commission needs a referral and I am remiss I do apologize i missed the riverhead industrial development agency as an involved agency so when we send out that coordination they will get a copy of the application uh page two of the report i has just aerials before and after um again i'm sure we're all aware of where the construction took place it was sort of on that peninsula on the southern end of the parking area um regarding the use of the lake i did receive a memo from the affluence design professional indicating that bumper boats that were initially mentioned and proposed will not be used on the lake i do consist consider the existing that ninja warrior inflatable obstacle course i do consider that to be non-motorized use of the lake no objection to that i've already rendered an opinion on that but i do i would be remiss if i didn't bring to the board's attention there have been things that have been brought to the attention of the town attorney's office apparently there are social media posts that identify what appears to be a power boat being operated on the lake riding around the ninja warrior course so i mean i don't think it's really a question of this took place at island water park so i'm sure the board would just like to be aware of it i did notice during my site visit there were some drainage inlets installed in proximity to the go-kart track which appeared to have outfalls into the lake i did just receive correspondence this morning from jr holtzmacher who is the design professional on the project they are in the process of going through dec approvals and health department approvals regarding the drainage design again my just initial concern was that we've clearly seen that they intend to use this for go-kart tracks there's videos where they're driving you know automobiles on this if there was ever any types of spills of fluids or liquids or you know some types of hazardous materials and obviously those inlets with those outfalls being directed into the lake potential source for contamination to the lake so they are addressing that

applicant design professional did state that the go-karts are gas powered and they will be stored off-site during the season they did not intend any large-scale storage of gasoline or fuel they basically said they're going to get you know like 10 gallon gas cans and fill them up on a daily basis and that they'll be filled prior to arrival regarding the proposed parking they're not proposing any expanded parking they do have 390 stalls that are provided where 385 parking stalls are required based on the total number of uses i did note the original site plan approval sort of allocated 60 parking stalls for the outdoor uses that is consistent with this current plan so even though there's an intensification they're still stating that 60 parking stalls would be sufficient for their proposed uses which there's really no guidance or requirements for outdoor recreation in our code so it's sort of I think there was always sort of a little bit of an estimate as to what the anticipated demand would be for those outdoor recreation uses again I do recommend coordinator review so I would prepare a resolution during that secret coordination period we get it out to the Planning Commission the Health Department DEC I do note that during the initial review of their amended plan several years ago the pine barrens had issued a resolution stating that Island Water Park project is considered economic development and it's located within the epical fence line and it did not constitute development pursuant to the you know the comprehensive land-use plan so it took pine barrens out of jurisdiction of the application I do know I also I had been to the site I've seen some reports about I know they're consulting with the DEC there was some initial comments from the DEC that they were in violation I had met out on the site during their last site plan approval with mr. Myers as well as Bob Jaeger who was the worked in the division of mineral resources so the New York State DEC mr. Jaeger was well aware of what the proposed plan was I understand that mr. Myers's sort of working to square that up with the DEC so I guess when mr. Jaeger retired you had a couple of new people in there who have worked under DEC's so I guess when mr. Jaeger retired you had a couple of new people in there who sort of took over the case and weren't aware of the prior conversations and the prior discussions so Greg and I had an email from Bobby Edgar saying his only concern is the footprint of the lake he did not care about parking building anything else with the site DC's focuses on making sure the lake is stable and okay where are we with the water monitoring the the covenants have been fought they were filed last month they were signed by mr. Scott on October 3rd and subsequently filed by our water council we just we don't have the file copy back from the county center yet but I have the library page if anybody wants it now our first test is this Friday that's not so there's no level it says okay I'm doing it through what you stand environmental and Long Island analytics and I can tell you we've when you're a bathing beach the health department is doing a lot of work on the water and the water is clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear the summer and they said it's the cleanest water they've ever seen so these results are going to be fantastic good we won't go so walk through that what so what's the next steps so so we will send it all do a resolution for secret coordination obviously send the packets out to the involved agencies wait 30 days before we can make a assume lead agency and make the determination significant I'd like to see just get written confirmation from the DEC that they're reviewing it detail exactly what they need to close out their mine lands permit just confirmation that they're okay with the proposals I'm hearing done during that in terms or you gotta wait on the public hearing board one that that's the board's discretion if you'd like to hold the public hearing and again depending on your determination of significance if you go through any kind of scoping or environmental review there would be an additional hearing but if the board would like to hold the public hearing while we wait for that 30-day review period I would yeah absolutely I have a question though um when you say that which part of this is secret involved you have to do this on the the action on the other go-kart the applicable the entire act the whole action any any action by a municipal board a planning board town board etc is required to undergo an environmental quality review it's like putting on your pants before you leave the house sometimes they'll be in type 2 which requires no additional review but in this case it's I'm just looking at the 3,500 square feet on the second floor that was he's saying all the permits are there for that so I don't know there's no there's no CEO for that it was initially identified as storage I do remember I do remember when this came up I said I'm like you know it does seem a bit odd that you need a storage space that has access to the outdoor patio like honestly I kind of anticipated there would be some type of use other than storage there but if the intent is to have any type of catering use you know 250 seat event space will obviously increase sanitary flow I don't know if they need any health department like food control permits or anything like that I know they have a full kitchen full restaurant on the first floor I don't know if there's any intent to put additional kitchen space it would just be a warming kitchen which really doesn't even fall under the kitchen and we have approval of 275 seats from the health department before yeah I can provide that to you all to get it to you today planning department of that yes our sanitary I thought that this may come up at some point so the sanitary has been approved to I think it's 275 don't hold me to that but it's at least 250 for upstairs sanitary as a catering hall it's in our initial site plan that was approved and that's in addition to the first floor restaurant everything yes so but is that still the second floor is still a type on action the whole the whole action I mean it's all it's all one application we're not we're not separating we're not segmenting I mean it's it's all it's all part of one can I go forward with this what about the emergency road access what's the status of that we're in review it went clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear [transcription gap] the bulk of it has been paid and then it came in if i were managing it i promise you it wouldn't come in 18 over budget so it did come in that high so it's something that we're looking at as to what happened we weren't in charge of who did the um site plan who you know surveying so i don't know how it went this far off the rails so throwing around 35 000 is a lot of money to me you know so we're just reviewing that part of it but the town has had 187 000 for over a year now i spoke to vinnie gorielo just a few days ago and he said there were some items in which was done that was specifically done on the town side right like we did an initial cleanup over there and we did a little more i don't think there's any balance on anybody's part but it was a day ago definitely not he said that he was reviewing the the current bill with you and that that should be rectified in the next few days we have a dead stop for tomorrow you know we're going to have a discussion so

i think that's a good point and then i'll just note that although we have you know we have the civil litigation against scott's point pending um the town board's review of this application is going to be sort of a separate analysis the two things aren't tied to each other once an application is filed with the planning department they're obliged to process it in the normal course and so in this instance because it's an urban renewal area that site plan review goes to the town board and so the planning department is moving it through the normal process uh separate and apart from how we proceed with the litigation

so tomorrow you're saying tomorrow that should be resolved we're going to sort it out yeah okay yeah because i agree with denise that should be resolved before we move forward with anything so as long as that's resolved a little bit different view on that i think the two separate projects so i would like to see both of them resolved but not controlled well the emergency road was a condition of the or their amended site plan approval from a couple of years ago yeah you know it's just that for me when i spoke to the fire marshal way back this could have been done a lot easier just by widening their entrance onto parkland they put the road on parkland i was told no they can't widen the entrance on the parkland but you could put the road on parkland and that that was well in our defense it did change the scope kept changing originally it was we just had to put rca and and they were like that will be fine and then the town will take over from here and then it was already we won first lift and then all of a sudden it was they wanted the road completed and that changed well after the site plan was approved but i'm not here to you know chop open the whole story yeah this pro this project i mean over approximately 25 years i mean going back to i think it was 2001 when the property was completed and then it was completed and then it was completed and then it was completed and then it was completed and then you know i mean my understanding initially it was just going to be essentially like a lake lake recreational use there were no structures or you know buildings of this size initially proposed so they subdivided this piece out with a 24 foot wide flag which by our code only serves for literally two-way traffic one lane in one lane out 25 years ago i don't think that there was any type of envisioning of a project of this scale obviously if you if you were going back this should have been done with a 55 foot wide flag that would serve as you know appropriate access um allow for like shoulders emergency access so i mean again it's just due to the evolution and the project changing over the course of 25 years we were sort of in a box where fire marshal wanted emergency access which you know if there was some type of accident or some type of car fire on that 24 foot flag serving as access to island waterpark that could create a very dangerous situation so i don't disagree with the fire marshal's assessment of that at all i don't either i mean that's not my point my point was when i spoke to the farm before i really knew anything about it we're over there and i said let them widen it if we're going to widen into the parkland widen it here on the entrance and exit that's all then it became this whole thing right now we're going to put we can't do it on parkland but we can later and make a new road would have been a lot less expensive and a lot less onerous on the park level but water on the bridge can we just address the drainage and the runoff real quick because there's going to be motorized go-karts on this pathway here and it does have a chance of if there's any runoff from oil or anything from the go-karts that would be contaminating the water is there something that's able to be put in place i don't know a lot about drainage but is there an extra step of like a capture i mean so that sort of kind of opens up the discussion a little bit to the the nature of the use of the go-kart tracks like i said go-karts themselves do not have significant capacities of you know fuels but like we've seen videos where racing automobiles if there was a crash or something happened where you know there's a lot more potentially hazardous materials in a automobile than there is in a go-kart i think that is something that the board really should consider on what's appropriate um we can speak i can have the applicant talk to their design professional i mean they do have oil separators there are things that will catch materials and filter them out before they are you know discharged to ground water or allowed to recharge um but that is a something that we need to consider i think we do need to consider especially when you're saying ken that you know this water is going to be tested as so clean and i want to keep it that way thank you so The use of the cars was really obviously unfortunate, but it was for a social media thing. It's going to be a go-kart track. It's really tiny for anything else. If you go and you see it, Greg was on site with me the other day. It's big for a go-kart track, but it certainly isn't a racetrack. You know what I'm saying? So the common use is absolutely going to just be like 10 go-karts at a time. And we have a parking lot already that facilitates 500 cars. So that's right next to the lake as well. So these things, they will work out and will comply to whatever we need to do to make sure the water is pristine. We need it pristine as much as you guys do for our gas safety. Yeah, absolutely. And perception 100%. Good. I would ask that you consider doing a public hearing so at least we can run. I absolutely would want to do a public hearing. I want to get from the residents. I'd like to dismiss some of the rumors and everything like that. And I would love for them to see. I would love to see how clean the water is. The test will be in by then. So I think it would be good for everybody. I agree. I agree. I think that you've had a lot of negative press. And I actually hear from residents that are kind of saying to me, come on. We want to be able to bring our kids here. The gas leave here is static. It's a nice place. Most of you have been there and seen what we do. It's good food. It's a good place. It's healthy. It's safe. It's a nice environment. And obviously week in and week out. These articles that regurgitate the same hate towards us. I just think they're not in the proper light. I think we deserve a hearing and to try to dispel some of this and let us speak up for once. 100% agree. I think you built something without approval. No, that I agree with. You caused some negative press. I agree. But I think it's now beyond. It's every week. And it's regurgitating the same things. Things from 10 years ago. So yes, we made a mistake. That I 100%. And I apologize for that. And I have apologized for that. But. You're here now. This project. If someone had built a garage on their house. Would you make them tear down the whole garage? Would you make them. You would make them get into compliance. This track in relation to our project is about the side of putting a shutter. You know what I'm saying? I'm just saying. I just disagree with your analogy. Okay. But all I'm saying too is you're still subject to DEC. 100%. Whether or not they're going to allow this as well. Yeah, I agree. I agree. [transcription gap] I agree. [transcription gap] I agree. [transcription gap] I agree. [transcription gap] Anything else? Good. So can we have the public hearing? Yeah. Yeah, I'll schedule. I'll get a date. I'll work out. I'll see what will work. Thank you so much, guys. I appreciate your time. You got it.

Okay. Next up, we have Matters Surrounding Update on the development of Town Square with this one. Good morning. I think I'm just going to ask. I have Frank in for us. Yeah. If Joe was in, he would make some money. I have it. Thank you so much. Yes, I do. Thank you. I have it. Okay. Thank you.

Frank and Joe. If Joe. I have. I have. Everybody, if they're here, they know I wanted them to come. I think so. Correct? Yeah.

So, and I'll just intro by, this is a similar presentation to the one that we did not too long ago, just to give the board the update. So, I think, so much work has been going on for the last six months, and I know it doesn't look like it outwardly, and so we wanted to really just update and make this sort of a regular occurrence so that everyone can see where we're at and what's happening. So, I'll give them a couple of seconds to get here. Okay. We discussed it briefly. We discussed it briefly this morning at the vineyards. The news review had a breakfast meeting for the public on the future of Riverhead, and this is certainly one of the items we discussed. Yeah. And I explained to them, you know, that everybody's like, well, all you got there is grass. All this money and all you got there is grass. Well, there's a process. Yes. And the process is lengthy, and the process is, quite honestly, complicated. Very complicated. And it's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle because you get granted. You get granted grant A, but before you can do grant A, you need to have grant B, but you can't move on past that because grant C now has to fit in when A and B are done, and there's like a whole, you need a whole whiteboard just to keep track of how it is. It is literally exactly that way, and I call it like a steeplechase. Right. You know, run down the track, hit the wall, run over the wall, land in the fire, figure out how to put the fire rack or the next thing. And so, you know, just for an overall perspective point of view, the... The grant applications that we make are conceptual. And so once we get the funding, then we go into actual design. And actual design, as you said, is complicated. It involves surveys, subdivisions, location of utilities, engineering, flood mitigation structures. It involves grant management. It involves coordination between our department and the law department and the building department. And the planning department. We have weekly and biweekly meetings with all the designers that we picked. We have to do an RFP to have those people selected pursuant to the grant. That process was a little bit of a time-consuming process. Then we have to get those people into contracts. Those contracts take a little bit of time. And then, you know, and then we move into the actual design, which involves, you know, analysis of what's there, understanding the site conditions, soils, where utilities are. And then we go from there into, you know, actual design, which is public engagement. So we've had multiple public meetings relating to the design. And so, you know, that, it seems like it's just a pile of grass. The one thing I do say about the, you know, the grass access point is that it's been very encouraging to us, just in the fact that it's organically being used by the public. And it really has done the first goal of this project, which was to open up. The main street to the riverfront. So I'll just get to this presentation quick. You know, we talk about town square. There's really six major components to that, which is the upper town square, which is where the green grass is now. The lower town square, which is the parking lot that exists just to the south of that, which will then include a playground, a public gathering space, and a splash pad. Then the amphitheater, which is on the lower section of the East End Arts Council. We were awarded multiple grants for Main Street Complete Streets, which is, if you're familiar with West Hampton's improvements to their Main Street, the curb bump outs, the traffic mitigation, the walkability improvements, lighting, landscaping, stormwater runoff components. And then we have the hotel public-private partnership piece. And then the first street parking garage. So just to give you a quick update. We have surveys all completed. All the new lot lines have been drawn. Utility easements, which were, and then cross-access easements, even between the town square and the private development that will occur on the east side of the town square. So who's going to be able to get their utilities and their sewer and their water and their electric and their fiber optic cable. We've had extensive conversations with the electrical people and with the police department coordinating, making sure that the electrical serves their needs in terms of camera locations. We've been coordinating with them and a specific lighting designer to make sure that the camera locations are good, that they're not, they can't be wifi in those locations because the way the buildings are. So we're really, it's really every single department in the town that's been involved here and stakeholder meetings with the BIDMA and the chamber. And, you know, multiple others. That just, so the funding is we're, we have, we're overfunded on that project based on the estimates we have right now. We are anticipating asking the state of New York to slide some of that funding to the next project, which is the lower town square, which is a little short. But you can see the list of funding that we have available, which is New York state parks, DRI, Brownfield opportunity. And then we have a lot of other projects that we're looking at. So we have the area private matches and then Suffolk County downtown revitalization. The total cost of the playground right now is estimated at 2.96. We're about a million eight short, which seems like a lot. But if you take the million six that we're over from the upper town square and slide that down, it makes that difference very, very minimal. And you need the state to approve that. Yes, we have to have the state to approve that. We want to just make sure all our numbers. Our numbers are good. We just got our this Monday or Tuesday, the estimate from the consultant on these numbers. So we can now go to the state and ask them to slide that money over for us. We've had conversations with National Grid about playground equipment. We're going to be looking for private donations of different things, naming rights. Suffolk County has been very helpful to us. They are funding the splash pad. And so we and that playground will always be available. We're going to be able to add and change, you know, just like the aquarium. They add and change attractions and exhibits. Those can be modified over time. Then we'll just cut down to the amphitheater, which is. I just want to back up for a second. Suffolk County is going to supply the splash pad for us? Yes. A significant amount of the funding. We think the whole thing. We're not 100% sure yet. But right now it's half funded. And that's just Suffolk County downtown revitalization grants. And we just continue to apply, you know. So we're and we'll get to the time, the schedule here shortly. But what we think is going to happen so people can understand how close we are after grinding through all this work for the last six months. The amphitheater is the least where we have the least funding. We have a grant application pending for $3 million. The design right now is preliminary. It will be finalized. So we need to complete the final design. We do have to relocate the buildings at the East End Arts Council. Lift them up. Change the grade to protect it from flooding. And then once we receive hopefully the funding this fall, we should hear on the most recent funding which came through the pro housing community grant opportunity that we worked on in the spring. We can, I think, look for additional funding from multiple different locations. So we think that's getting closer. But again, the way these projects are designed, they stand alone. They do not need to be built. They do not need to be all done at once. So that could wait a little bit until we actually have all the funding for it. Could you separate out, just out of curiosity, the new construction of the apartment building that's going to be next to Town Square or I should say just further down the road? Yes. Do we have an idea like towards how much revenue we can generate by allowing them to stage on the property for a period of time versus the cost of moving these buildings? Yes. So like can we separate out of here the buildings with the amphitheater so we kind of get a little... Better idea, do you know what I mean? Yeah. And we... How much will the amphitheater be versus how much will move those buildings? And if we do... It's about 50-50. The moving of the buildings we think is going to be about 2 million and then we think the construction of the amphitheater will be between 2 and 2.8 is the number we have. The final design is not complete. But we have been discussing the staging agreement as we've talked privately about this. That staging agreement... It looks to us... Preliminarily and it's not settled yet but that the fill that could come from that would be about $600,000 worth of value to us and so it could be put right into this project to reduce the cost. So we're working on that. Again, not finalized. We have... This is awesome the way you're doing this like breaking everything down to components and then just to separate the housing from the actual amphitheater construction. Because one might go quicker than the other. The buildings might be moved. The amphitheater might be moved. Yes. Yes. And that's TBD. I think the buildings have to be moved first. That's the probably... And then that grade, that actual grade, the tiering of the seating for the amphitheater would be created from the slope from up to lower. So we're... Again, this is the least funded right now but I don't think we're going to have any problem funding it. And again, we've been working on these projects and the funding started coming in. So we're working on that. And the funding started coming in in 2019 and every year we've been able to secure additional funding. So I think we're going to continue to be able to do that. We have great partners at New York State and the federal government now, the DOT and in the County of Suffolk. So I really, you know, I think everybody's behind all of this and we continue to move forward. And as it gets closer, people get more excited. And so I think we'll get more buy-in at that point too. Are there time frames when certain things must be done more to keep those grants active? So like deadlines like shovels got to be in the ground or projects must be completed by... I can let Frank talk to that but I think there's contractual deadlines but those are flexible because they understand that these projects can flex and change depending on what's happening in the world. I don't have the exact date. I think it was 2028 that construction needs to be completed by. So we have some time. Which project? The 2020... The DRI project. The DRI project, yes. The DRI projects, yeah. We don't have that for the RAISE grant yet. But we think it will be around the same time frame. And so, yeah, and those are good things for us to have, those deadlines to keep things moving. We've been like literally cranking along on this for, you know, for years now. So and then the next component is the streetscapes which we have 750,000 from DRI and 10 million from RAISE. We don't have a shortage there. We are... This is a little dated but I'm going to say it. This is a little dated but our design has been completed now, 100% design development is completed. So that's just a matter... And we're in permitting now with New York State DOT and we have a letter from them now on their comments. And so that's moving forward because State Route 25 is their road. And so we're going to be improving their road and they, you know, they have... They always have something to say about that. Are we still talking about narrowing that road? Yes, the design development includes narrowing that road, yeah. I'm just going to say I'm not in favor of that for the record. Anybody else that's in favor can be in favor but I don't mind being the lone wolf all the time. It's needed for the calming of traffic, number one, because you're going to be expecting a lot of pedestrian traffic. And we also want to have these sidewalks a bit wider to accommodate some outdoor seating and sandwich boards. And bike racks like we saw in the demonstration. And what they did in West Hampton is incredible because you can cross the street there without fear of taking your life in your hands. Main Street gets a little zippy sometimes down here. And that's because it's wide. It's very wide. I don't know the exact number but it's like 111 feet wide. And so what we want to do is make it more pedestrianized. And so as you said, widen the sidewalks, narrow the road like in West Hampton. It keeps the traffic from going. And this is, I'm sure Ed Frost can tell you this, that when you have, or you even from PD experience, when you have a long straightaway road, you just adjust your speed just without even thinking about it. But if there are things that are keeping you moving slowly, and we want the traffic to move slowly because we want people to walk. We want people to park in the garage, park once. That's the idea of complete streets. Park once and walk everywhere. So we're improving the pedestrian realm, which is wider sidewalks. Better landscaping. More lighting, which we're adding more lighting to Main Street per the plan. Seating and amenity space, which is for the sandwich boards or any display you want to do of your products. And then walking space. And the other important piece is making sure that everything downtown is accessible. So the sidewalks that we have now are narrow. They're lifted in certain areas. We're replacing them. We're replacing all the street trees because the pin oaks that are there now lift the sidewalk. The choice of trees will be much more friendly to a pedestrian area. And also provide color. And then one of the other things that we want to do, which is in the plan, is unify all the colors and the bases of all the signage and the lighting. So the black that we have throughout downtown. And then improve the crosswalks, as you said. The crosswalk at the Suffolk Theater is a good, important crosswalk. But that's going to become much, much wider and lit and pedestrian triggered. So when you walk through it, it lights up the side. It lights up the street. It's the entrance to the town square. So we want that to be prominent. That sounds great. Yeah. And so those, and that's going to be fully funded. And the utilities also have to go underground. Underground. That's a big chunk of that funding because it's so expensive to bury the utilities. It's $7,000 a foot. That's crazy. Wow. $7,000 a foot. But there's a good amount that's already done. And it's, so we've been over time smartly doing that. The individual developments that have gone through there have been required. And so they'll come down in front of the Heatherwood project as soon as that starts. And then they'll, then it's a section between there and I think like West Marine maybe. It's not that long, thankfully. Because we really, that's going to be a big deal. But just the viscous, the It's going to be a big deal. But just the viscous when you don't have the wires in your way just changes dramatically. It does. If you stop at the light at Maple and Main and you're looking westbound, you just, to see those, all the transformers and the power lines and all the objects that are attached to them, it's so unsightly. Yes. You know, and when you walk into a town or a city that has their stuff underground, it's just a cleaner, crisp look. Yeah. It looks so nice. Yeah. But the downside is it is so expensive to bury that stuff. Yes. You know, it's You know, it takes, it gives us more sidewalk space. So, and then the whole storm water management will be managed through this whole project. So we have the way downtown was designed, it all flows down to the river without, you know, being impeded by anything. This was all designed to catch that, process it through some dirt and filter it out before it reaches the river. And that will help our flooding problem because the flooding problem, as we've learned through Army Corps, is compounded. So it comes up from the river and comes down from the hill and it's all pooled up in that one area. So this will solve all of that as well. Yeah. That's my concern about having a lot of concrete either on the top of the town, upper town square or lower. I just want to bring up something. So if the DOT doesn't approve this, right, narrowing of the street. They have already. Okay. They have. I'm sorry to hear that. Sorry. I know that only because traffic is going to get, you know, we can, population's going to grow. But I, three, three, four years ago, the business advisory committee acknowledged the width of the sidewalks after UDA said 100% build out and they said it has to be 85%. And Tim, I know you saw it, how it worked on the north side. Agreed. Yeah. I didn't have a clear 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 Where they're with their retail is they have north and south roads That if you if you're not visiting downtown West Hampton you can go straight through on the west side straight through on the east side and But at any rate I get it now We're going to be building these sidewalks as opposed to the developers giving me 85% But I agree with you 100% on the grass the least concrete upper and lower the better is And I think the new trees will be more manageable Better tap roots instead of spreader won't tear up What about you that rothwell's cherry trees, but they were I think Have selected trees that they think are appropriate and those trees will carry right into the town square so that the colors You know so you're led into that area and you know and As we move along there, you know things flex and change and so we're getting close here very close But if there are things that come up that need to be tweaked or adjusted there's no problem in doing that I know there were issues concerns about putting too many benches in okay, so well maybe we don't put the benches in right away because We don't want to do that or you know there's them too. Yeah exactly and there's so much more funding this is project is going to get built and then we just continue to work on things to make it better and so there's Always it's it's not a static thing. It's not a one and done It's it's a it's an evolving thing and whatever we want to do with it. It's our space Benches could be handled very easily by doing either individual seats or benches with a divider in the middle It can't be removed so just anybody got an idea that that's a nice cot to use and sleep overnight. It's not so and the same thing with the Exactly the safety that will be increased by the brighter lighting and the cameras PDs being close by the parking garage is slated to have a police substation included in it You know all of that plus more people downtown so we have a new building coming in that's another 165 units that'll be 300 people probably now boots on the ground living downtown You know more eyes on the street more people and when when more people are there. It's always better for everyone so The evidence is sales rates and less trees Sale shades come down a lot of maintenance with trees Can you against trees no I'm not I'm not against trees He said that Not a busted. I'm not against trees. I'm more open programmable space is what I'm We're gonna cut to the chase and we're gonna get back to the so far so far so far so far Bob it's lots of cars no trees. Lots of cars. No not lots you're not going to have any less cars if you narrow the street. You know we'll see what happens. So the parking garage just cut to that we can go to the next project I think. And that as we know was funded substantially by the federal DOT and we have 2 million jump starts so there's a little shortage but we think that that parking can be covered with the revenue generated from the garage. We're working on our parking plan now. That parking plan needs to be informed by the study that Kevin Wood is doing. Unfortunately we're not going to be able to do that now until the spring. It's been delayed too long to make it the information as valuable as we want it to be so that'll be. It'll be happening in the spring now. But that's okay because we're not ready to pull the trigger on it yet we don't have a contract and we should have a contract by then. But making sure that we're working on all of these pieces of the puzzle so that we understand how it's all going to work and that when it comes together it dovetails nicely has been critical. And so having Kevin devise a parking management plan for us is really an essential function. What's next? We're going to be done with the master developer agreement. I think next we can go to the next slide. By the end of this month we hope we want to hold the qualified and eligible sponsor hearing. If that is a successful endeavor then a master developer agreement would be signed. We would then work to process the site plan for the hotel, town square, and playground. We're working on the seeker review for all of that now. We think that will be May of the next year. Obtain all the necessary permits May of next year. Close on the sale to the master developer in June of 25. Make sure we're working with all of our stakeholders and doing public outreach to help everybody understand A what's happening, how they're going to access businesses, making sure the signage and public information is available so that we don't have any surprises. Surprises are never good. Then we would demolish the crafted building and the construction. The construction of the hotel would begin in August of 25 and we break ground on the town square in September of 25. I think that's a very realistic timeframe given where we are right now. I know people are anxious to see the rendering. Right here is an interesting view from the river. It's kind of like higher up from the river, maybe from a bird. You can see the adaptive playground on the left side. In the middle the The [transcription gap] ! The The The The [transcription gap] The The The The The sides. See the curve? Yes. Yeah. That's the ramp. On the left side. I know we talked about putting the splash pad closer to the playground so if somebody had their kids and two of them were on the slide and one was on the splash pad, how are they going to watch both at the same time? Well, we want the splash pad to be a feature that not only serves children but also serves as an entertainment feature at night. So it would be lit. It will have different features. It looks wide here from the view. It's much closer to the playground and you can see the entrance to the playground is right where that circle is right there. That's the entrance to the playground. So it really is very close and the playground is going to be fenced. So if your children are in the playground, they cannot leave the playground except for that entrance on the east side which is right adjacent to the splash pad. So that splash pad will be fenced in? No, the splash pad will not be fenced. The playground will be fenced. The splash pad is not fenced. If you're having an event, are you able to shut the splash pad off and be able to utilize that as space? Yes. That whole space to the right side is all event spaceable. Is that a lot of grass around here or concrete? It's where you see the people, the figures there, that's all pavers. It's all hardscape. We've talked to them sometimes during the development of it, like to push it forward so that's clear so you can 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 race crosswalk which will slow down the traffic on Heidi Bear Way to get you to the riverfront park the riverfront park is going to need to be lifted up about two to three feet that bulkhead has to come up that's a whole nother project that's a good view thank you I'm not gonna say your next one tools yeah playground a lot closer than Heidi yes it is it's very close but it has to be lifted up about four feet to be flood protected so it can't be a smooth transition from Heidi Bear Way to the playground otherwise we're gonna lose the flood mitigation opportunity there and so you can but it's not gonna be any gathering or anything on the water other than just like so we the dock is on the other side of the road we haven't been able to work on designing that we don't have funding for that and you don't funding to the project that will be the next thing that we have to do but the way we've set it up it's a phase so that if you look at the downtown activation plan that was done by EDA a couple of years ago you can see that each one of these things is an independent phase and we have ideas for it right now but we don't have funding and we don't have the ability to even work on that time allow other people to develop along I just think you know they sing me like I love going to Port Jefferson a little walking along the water I like sitting on the water yeah I've been having lunch like literally being right there and I just think we're missing that it's this it's river is the most beautiful part of the whole thing and we're kind of like I don't want to like ignore it like okay so how do we I want how do we physically gather right on that it's still going to be the green space that's there now we can put temporary kiosks but doing any kind of construction there when we have to raise is that all up even Heidi bear way has to come up two feet and once that comes up it will be more seamless but right now it's going to be a little bit you know of a step putting all the infrastructure in the electric power all the other stuff to work we can we bring it to water's edge and then even if a private developer wants to lease portion of the property and build a burger stand a drink yeah those are you know lunch lunch you know sandwich place that you can have something you know I'm saying I'm just no I'm right I completely agree and I think there there's a lot of opportunity there I'm not disagreeing with you at all it's just right now the focus has been on the upper square and the lower square the riverfront corridor is a very great opportunity we just it's just a tremendously expensive project that raised up or cut in the boardwalk and then redesign it but Heidi bear away is it needs to remain as a fire access road or the apartment building and then the other side of the road and then the apartment buildings too so all that has to be taken into consideration but there's no doubt that that's the next jumping point for us one that just why we're building a task where do we need to run electric power well there's electric down there already there's all there's electric down there if you wanted to put something you'd have to connect sewer but sewer is very close to this to this location there's definitely potential but we haven't explored and there's like some of these budgets are super tight wouldn't have actually if we just did it preliminary design without actually putting any money in the infrastructure but can we say that there's a there's a space that could be rented as a retail shop that's 20 by 40 there's another food shop there could be another 20 by 40 we put a few different things down there and then a private company could come in like yeah you know what that's a perfect place to have you know drinks on the water perfect place to have a sandwich shop or yeah reference up so the other let them build it so that we don't have yeah and that would have to be strategically done because the riverfront is actually a park and so we can't alienate the park from the public so again great opportunity to do things but we're that's a little bit down the road right now um we've been really focused on on the project we're doing now that west parking lot is a tremendous potential in our view uh to do public private partnership with a big waterfront development you know really water facing privatized restaurants whatever it is that that's certainly uh you know next on the list but for now we got a lot going on and also just to give you an idea the the design the preliminary design for the east end arts amphitheater project was 200 000 so it's a lot of money to just even get the preliminary design so with that with that a thousand are we is there a sound engineer involved in that design that's the next phase that would be final design we don't have the funding for that right now so that would be a component of the final design where the engineering is done the stage the construction doorings are completed for the for that and those components what the lighting looks like all those finer details will be knocked out so the way that this is oriented here right now wait i just want to just want to slide to the next this one's kind of good to show like what yeah so if you look at the this is a view that's up on the screen from uh north south if you slide back uh or if you slide back one that's the view looking from south to north the septic theater uh and to right to the right of this where the person is sitting over on the right side of the screen that's right where the splash pedal be and the entrance to the playground is just on the left where that bench is very very close but you can see the connectivity and the public uh opportunities there and you can go to the next one and that's a look from main street to the south i'm sorry the quality of the rendering doesn't come through in the pdf as good as it looks on the presentation but you could see how it might look from from the north and then this the next slide is a is a bit a broader view of what the square will look like it's very basic so you'll have a clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear that's the entry that's it right there entry to the square so that's what you'll see and we are accommodating the slope there too because we have to create where the people are standing here now is a fire access point and so that has to be sloped down and get a little higher in the middle has to be a valuable curve on Main Street and so that's why you have that box on the right which you know sets up another little private dining space for a business they'll be if you go to the next slide there'll be a water feature down a little bit further which will this will be a little more of a peaceful area the whole town square upper square the lower square will be a little more fun and engaging and then go to the next side you can see the amount of space we could fit about 800 people in this area we could do you could set up a little band shell just to the left side of where that checkerboard is that's not anything that's not a lot of space but it's a lot of space and it's a lot of space so you'll have a full head room so you'll have full head room so you'll have full head room so you'll have full head room so you'll have full head room so you there it's just ideas conceptual for people to see and also to understand the scale it's a very big space it accommodated quite a lot of people right now right now we're when it's green we've had a bunch of townscape concerts there that have been very busy and fun and then you can get to the next slide you can see how close the splash pad actually is to the playground it's right there and this pathway is what will take you down to the waterfront and then at night you can see the next slide what the splash pad will be able to do for us at night it would be another fun thing to look at and appreciate and then this is the next one is the playground that that Kingfisher is directly related to the riverfront we have Kingfisher's in the area and that will be able to be the wings or slides you'll be able to climb up inside get all the wind and that will be also lit at night it's about 18 feet tall so when you're standing in the square you'll be able to see that feature and enjoy what it looks like and you can see this is accessible the entire playground is accessible so children can walk and we're using the fact that we have to lift the height of the area for flood mitigation up to create those slides that you see in the background and you know this is some of the simple things that we're doing there'll be a lot more things to do in here the next slide I know you've been the inclusion task force has been speaking with their design ideas for children with special needs that's all being incorporated into this too exactly and so there'll be a lot of things for young kids to do some for younger younger kids some for you know older kids and anybody whose mobility challenge will be able to access everything in here and when you get to the top of the slide where you see you're looking it's right in the foreground you'll be able to turn around you get a wide open river view so we want to put like some spy glasses in there so things for people to see and and really appreciate the riverfront and then I can't wait to see you in there Bob Me either This is so on this slide here I know you spent $200,000 on this just curious Not this it's a much deeper design than this Yes but the angle of the stage right Yes Is my concern And yeah Has anybody do we have anybody that's actually done events that could look at this and maybe that stage should be facing west so that you know the noise would then turn into a ! head [transcription gap] head [transcription gap] head [transcription gap] head move those buildings for us? So that's not going to happen. We're going to work with them on another plan for their staging area. They thought about it, but they felt like the liability of relocating the buildings was just too much for them. And then you can just see how everything connects through. Now the town square becomes one. And I know everybody hates the band shell here. That's just that. Ignore the band shell. But this will give you just a sense of what it would look like from standing sort of just south of the buildings at East End Arts. And it's just another very large public space that can be used not only for performance space, but also for just the public, just for relaxing space. We can do other events down here. We can do, you know, East End Arts can program it. The rec department, we can do movie night down here. We can do a million things. And it's just, you know, intended to be available for whatever we might want to use it for, just and really recreate that public space. And so I just included the biweekly design meeting in this, so you could see the kind of things that we talk about every week and the real detail on some of this design. I'll show you how detailed this is. I'll show you how detailed this is. I'll show you how detailed this is. [transcription gap] I'll show you how detailed this is. [transcription gap] Roll all the way down to the one that has on the bottom, updated playground slope design. It's a few slides down. It's probably like the fourth from the last slide. There you go. That just gives you a little bit of an idea of the amount of detail work that has had to go into these designs. Every single tree, the type of planting, the type of dirt has been called out. The spaces are all designed to be available for Mobility Challenge people, whether they might be in a wheelchair or need a walker. There's stroller parking. There is, you know, all really designed just to be a very family-friendly place. And then if you get to the next slide, you'll see some of the, you know, we're selecting colors for the pavers on the square. The trees have been selected. The water feature is in. In view there. So you can see where that is. And then we've been working on the water feature. If you skip down a couple of slides, that's a possible rendering of a hotel, what the hotel might look like, which, you know, has to be passed through state historic preservation. But just how that water feature might look. And they were looking at on Main Street, some of the old photographs had a horse trough. And so kind of using that. But that would also be lit at the bottom and inside. And so at night that would be a nice water feature. I can bring my horses there. Yeah. Yes, you can. Just checking. I'm sure you can. So that's really the update for now. There's been a lot of things happening. So I wanted to make sure that we were able to bring that information to the public. We are really getting close. You know, you start in the big part of the funnel and we're narrowing it down to where we get to the end. Our staff has been working on that. We're working on that. [transcription gap] We're working super hard on the contracts. They have weekly meetings on every one of these grants. They have to complete forms, update them. You know, so it's just a very big effort. Accounting has been deeply involved with everything that we're doing, creating the projects, making sure that all the funding lines up, the budgets work. Law department has been working on this, working with us on everything, all professional services agreements, easements, all the legal pieces of this puzzle. We've been working with the... ...U.U. developer on all of their pieces of it and dovetailing all of the utilities how those work together where we're going to put the controls for the splash pad there's a comfort station located on right below where it says development parcel there we don't know what's going to happen there that's the long science centers building that there'll be a bathroom there that'll be available to the playground and also to the town square that will have some mechanicals in it as well and there'll be some mechanicals located in the basement hotel so all of these things the entrance to the hotel how the town square plans dovetail with the entrance and the plans for that project are all sort of now falling into place we're super close will it be a police booth by those bathrooms like just a small we don't have one planned at this point we have a lot of police presence down in that area and everything's been designed to be able to be locked off locked up secure there'll be cameras everywhere in this area so anybody who decides they want to do something that's not no the cameras pick it up it might be too I'm just curious well the cameras are dressing wire to the police department so you know they'll be able to see what's happening there particularly at night and you mentioned with the parking garage there's going to be a substation or any such notion there yeah so there will be a presence in downtown yeah so I think we're getting very close and we'll do this every few weeks I think now that we're getting a little closer when we have a little more to update us we forward and yeah we're pretty excited I'm excited yes we're excited you guys have certainly done a lot of work that is not a lot and it's grant funding well that is the beauty of all of this the vision was communicated through the grant application that we wrote and the grant applications generated the funding and I think they'll continue to do so as we build this the more we make reality out of the dream the more people are likely to fund it because you can see that we can convert an idea to reality and the good thing is this is you know the people that are paying state taxes in this town are getting some money back from the state yes and the federal government and the thing yeah so we're like a 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 head head I can't even believe that could happen. And now I think of the ribbon cutting. What is that going to be like? I can't even, you know, and it's coming. It's going to be a big ribbon. These are the things that drive us forward. So we're pretty excited. You guys are doing a great job. Great job. And thank you for the updates. Absolutely. Appreciate the updates. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Have a good day, everybody. Work on that clamshell, Frank. Thank you. You know, it's something we've talked a dawn amount. Otherwise, it should be a town hall facility. Yeah. All right. All concessions days. Okay. Next up, we have matters surrounding Riverhead in Action, the September and October update. I think we have a video to run.

Hi. This is Tim Hubbard, Supervisor of the great town of Riverhead. And you're watching Riverhead in Action. A media campaign designed to highlight the incredible work of the 350 plus employees that comprise Riverhead's 26 departments and sub-departments, town events, projects, job openings, local businesses, and other town happenings. I hope you find this informative and enjoyable. And I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. [transcription gap]

Thank you. [transcription gap] so it prohibits the starting of outdoor fires for purposes of brush and debris disposal uncontained campfires and open fires used for cooking so keep that in mind until we get out of this red flag danger zone doesn't look like it's going to be anytime soon if you look at the weather map so we need rain everything's so dry and also we have a coastal flood advisory and a coastal flood statement minor nuisance coastal flooding is occurring or imminent and brief minor flooding of the more vulnerable locations the other run of waterfront and shoreline and that has to do with winds and storms that are out to sea so thank you all and everybody have a great weekend

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