Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. As we always start out with the Pledge of Allegiance, Tara, would you mind leading us in the pledge? Sure. The Pledge of Allegiance is 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. Thank you, Tara. Okay, we have a small group in the audience today. They all came by dog sled. A little icky out there today, but we have, because we had a delayed opening today, some of the things we originally had scheduled for work session could not change their schedule to accommodate us now starting at 12 instead of 10 noon, so there are a couple cross-outs. Open session, we're down to two items, and the first item we have will be matters surrounding possible code revisions regarding Chapter 301-256, governmental authorities' signed amendment, and Chapter 301-256, Sub 7, Site Plan Extension, and that will be with Greg Bergman, our planner. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. All right, so these are two very quick little minor code revisions we'll go over. I'll just touch base on the governmental signed authorities' proposed code amendment first. So I had received a call from the Riverhead Fire District on Roanoke Avenue. They had inquired about putting an LED informational type sign out in front of their firehouse on Roanoke Avenue, and I had received a call from the Riverhead Fire District on Roanoke Avenue, These are common features at firehouses. You know, they do information about hiring, fire safety, you know, events around town, stuff like that. Reminders to change your batteries and your smoke detectors. So I looked at the existing code regulations regarding our signs, and due to the location of that property, which is business PV, it prohibits any type of illuminated sign. So they did the right thing. They inquired about how to go about that. There's no real provision to allow it. And then we're also looking at an application. We're looking at an application. where the Riverhead Free Library is looking to do the same thing, putting an internally illuminated LED informational sign. So I looked at some other towns, and I found that Smithtown had basically a governmental authorities signage provision. This would apply to, you know, town government, libraries, fire districts. Schools, because the high school has one. So that had come up. Schools are not necessarily subject to zoning. Eric Howard did raise that question. How do they have it? I'm like, I think they just, they just installed it because they're not really subject to local zoning. But so, for example, fire districts, libraries, government buildings. Sure. If RVAC wanted to put a little, you know, LED informational sign outside a new building, this provision would allow the town board to waive the signage requirements because a lot of these buildings are located in different zoning districts, so it's not really a mechanism to apply a uniform to one specific zoning district. So this would just be a simple amendment to allow. They would still have to make an application to us, and upon recommendation by the planning department, you know, we'd confirm that it generally is an acceptable sign. The town board could waive the requirements of those signage provisions based on the zoning district. Right. Again, I, well, they did call and do the right thing. By all rights, they probably could have just installed it, nor really would have said anything, but did my diligence and tried to look at it. So this would be a simple code amendment to allow those signs to sort of be addressed. Good. Take it. Thank you. Because the library, they are in predicament. They built, they have it all set to go. They came into the architectural review board and found out the zoning doesn't allow it. So this would be a great fix for them. Yeah. That would be great. 100%. Thank you. Good. Thanks, Gabe. And then the next one is for our existing preliminary site plan extension. Right now, our preliminary site plan approval is good for 12 months with the possibility of one six-month extension granted by the reviewing board, whether it's the planning board or the town board. I'll be frank. We have a couple of applications that have expired their essentially 18 months on the preliminary approval. What I'm looking to do is add the possibility for an additional six-month extension, which would effectively bring that preliminary approval to be valid for two years for applications, rather than, you know, again, there's no mechanism to approve anything beyond that 18 months. A lot of times, there's many applicants who, whether they take a long time to submit their SWIV, they take a long time working through the headings. They're not in the health department. Some things are within their control. Some things are not within their control. So I think an additional six-month extension would allow that preliminary approval to be valid for two years. Beyond that, I think it is reasonable that an applicant, if they haven't gotten their stuff together in two years, we need to make a new application. I don't know if the board wants to, you know, we can potentially look at a re-approval process. But just to sort of get the initial applications that we've got that are sort of in the process. Okay. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you so much. I'll head over to you next, so you can head over to head over to head over to head over to head over to head over to head over to head over to that extension so there would be a $250 extension for you. So Greg, I have a question. So health department, how long is that process would you say? That's fully dependent. I mean if you talk to applicants they speak to the health department a lot of times it's like a black hole. That said I have seen applicants who are diligent in their work with the health department and get through relatively quickly. There are other applicants who frankly I don't know what they're doing at the health department. But we don't get involved. That's not an application to us so it could take anywhere from three months to possibly a year. It depends on how responsive they are. I think that's the biggest question though. For the most part you would see that it shouldn't be a problem for anybody to complete it within two years? I don't see any problem with that. I mean I've had applications where they'll wait eight months to submit a stormwater pollution prevention plan to the town engineer which again that eight month delay is fully in an applicant's court. There are typically some revisions that go forth with a SWPPP review between the reviewing engineers. But again we generally wrap that up relatively quickly. All things considered once it's submitted to us. But you know we can't compel an applicant to kind of get their stuff together and make the required submissions. But an applicant should be ready to submit to health department or all other agencies almost simultaneously when submitting to the town? Correct. And then that would be the thing? Correct. So the preliminary approval for a site plan application typically includes some conditions. You know if there's any major revisions to the plan. So a preliminary approval would be granted subject to showing the following revisions. So essentially an applicant sort of has their marching orders. You know they're aware of what needs to change. Plans show these following revisions. Get your stormwater pollution prevent, stormwater pollution prevention plan approved. Health department. You know if there's DOT approval, DPW that sort of thing. You know that preliminary approval basically spells out exactly what they need to do to satisfy conditions and then get that final approval. So they use for their SWPP plan they use an outside agency right? Correct. Okay so and that how long does that take usually? The outside DNBA architects and engineers they are very responsive. They generally when they when an applicant submits a stormwater pollution prevention plan. I don't want to step on Drew's toes but it's generally they will have a round of comments and responses back within two weeks. Okay that's important to note. Now in terms of like H2M how long does that take? I'm just trying to get general things because we could look at the dates they submit things also and base you know see what's happening. And I've had my own experiences with the health department. I've gone in there and they said we're not going to open after 30 days. So I understand that piece but. So dealing with H2M typically you know there are a lot of things that are going to happen. You know the the the ! so [transcription gap] and they're generally well within their control to keep the ball moving on their end. Okay. Greg, can I just ask? So there would be, for the first extension, you're going to pay a $250 extension fee, and the second extension you'll pay another $200. Do you see any detriment in allowing these two extensions? No. I mean, again, being cognizant of the fact that some things can take long with, you know, New York State DOT, Health Department, again, I think two years is a very reasonable time frame. I mean, again, beyond that, if an applicant's not really serious about moving a project forward, that's really in their court, and, you know, if they choose not to move forward and go past a preliminary approval, that's within their wheelhouse. But I think two years to satisfy conditions of preliminary approval is more than reasonable. Anything beyond that? And, again, when you start going out past two years, you know, we may adopt zoning district changes. You know, there may be changes in conditions that may require us to sort of reexamine things. You know, if there's been significant developments subsequent to that preliminary approval in an area that may require additional sort of review, you know, that's something to take into consideration. Yeah, with that, and that's a really good point, is $250 enough? In other words, if somebody lets, basically, they go beyond the expiration date, right? Yeah. Zoning has changed or whatever, and it completely changes their application. Shouldn't that be, how do you, you've got to view that. I mean, $250, is that enough to cover what you're reviewing? Well, so the $250, I mean, really, we basically just sort of re-review the file. In theory, nothing's really changed for that extension. Right, it's an extension. It's not changing whatever approval. We draft an approval. I understand that, but to your point about the zoning may have changed, and maybe what they applied for doesn't apply to the zoning anymore. Is that what you're intimating? That's what I got. That's the way I asked the question. So, I mean, again, it's something to consider. You know, I think if an applicant has a preliminary approval, and they're within that approval period, you know, we're not trying to pull the rug out from people and change zoning. You know, I think we would work in good faith to sort of consider an application and not change it midstream, you know, once they've sort of gotten a preliminary approval. But, again, that $250 is really just for administration. Preparation, it's not really a significant review of a new project. We're sort of just making sure everything's, you know, making sure the steps are being followed and preparing a resolution to either the planning board or the town board. Great. Thank you. I have no problem with it. I think it's fair and it'll work out better. Would I be okay to prepare resolutions for public hearings for the next board meeting for these two code amendments? I'm good with it. Yes. Yes. All right. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, Greg. Okay. The last item we have today for open session is our now famous Riverhead in Action featuring our tax receiver's office.

Hollywood has been calling us about these Riverhead in Action. The amount of autographs that you give. We keep warding them off and tell them, no, we're not interested. And they can't buy commercial airtime now, I understand. Yes. Yes. 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 I hope you find this informative and enjoyable. And thank you for watching Riverhead in Action. Okay. We're here today with another series of Riverhead in Action. And today we have the pleasure of talking with Lori Zaneski, who happens to be our receiver of taxes. And we're outside her office in a beautiful lobby of Town Hall right now. But the purpose of Riverhead in Action basically is to let people know in the town what our town workers do. And if you're new to the town, you may not know where to go and pay your taxes. If you've lived here forever, maybe you've mailed your taxes in or your mortgage company pays your taxes, and you've never actually had to come into the receiver of taxes office. But today we're trying to show you exactly what it is they do. So Lori, if you wouldn't mind, we'll take a walk into your office now. Perfect. Yeah, come on in. And we'll talk some things about what the receiver of taxes does and just inform the public on what your job is. Perfect. Okay. Yep. So we do tax payments, the water bills, and we also do some duties for the sanitation department as well as selling the yard waste facility stickers. We have the recycling stickers and we have recycling stickers for your cans. Welcome. Here's our office. Okay. This is the office of the receiver of taxes. So when you have that happy day in your life that you have to come and pay your taxes, this is the office you come to. But I will say one thing. We get a lot of comments about you. We get a lot of comments about you and your staff. And quite honestly, you're very pleasant dealing with the public because it is not a happy time when you have to pay taxes. No. People are happy. And everybody gets that and everybody has to do that. One thing I never really thought about is all the entities that you collect taxes for. You collect taxes for the school district, for the library, for the fire departments, for the parking district. There's like 13 different entities that you actually collect all the taxes for. Yep. And on top of that, people come here for other reasons. And you mentioned the sanitation waste. You can get your yard waste permit or sticker here. Yep. So you come in to purchase that so you can take your own individual yard waste up to our facility on Young's Avenue. Private individuals only, no landscapers or anything like that. Correct. But this office is so busy at times during December, January and April, May, June when the taxes are in place. May, June. [transcription gap] on the town board with our budgets and everything. So people shouldn't come in and say to you, why am I paying so much? It's not up to you. It's not you. You're just collecting and you're being a good person. You make a bad situation good if you will. We try to. And you do a very good job with that. So I know you're going to go on and explain more of what goes on in here, because it is a very busy office. And we'll move on to that next. Okay. So it was really good talking to you. Also, it's important to note that you are an elected official. The rest of your staff is not. Right. Lisa, my deputy, is appointed. She's appointed. And every four years you run for attorney. Every four years I run. Okay. Yes. Very good. Well, let's hear what else the tax receiver has going on. Okay. Thank you very much, Lori. Thank you. It's good to see you. You too. All right. Hi, I'm Lori Zaneski. I'm the receiver of taxes for the town of Riverhead. Welcome. I'm going to give you a tour of our office and tell you everything that we do. But first, before you enter the building, I'd like you to see we have a drop box out front for during off hours or if you don't want to wait on the line. You can drop your tax and water payments right in here. We do check the box every morning and every afternoon. So come on inside. I'll show you our office. We actually do handle some responsibilities for our sanitation department as well. We sell our yard waste stickers for them. This is this year's color. It's purple. You need to come into the office with your registration and proof of residency. The fee is $60. It is for only your personal yard waste. No landscapers are permitted in the facility. It's on Young's Avenue. We also hand out the recycling schedules if you need them. And we also have these stickers that can go on your recycling can that you can put out on your recycling day. This is how we get in. You enter through the front door. You come all the way to the beginning of the building. You make a right and you're going to come inside to our office. We're in a little alcove over here. So this is the inside of the office. When you come in over here, you're going to enter right over there. We have two windows. During tax season, we do have both windows open because there is a lot of payments being made. You can come inside and I'll introduce you to the staff. This is Rachel Elwood. She is one of my assistants. This is Lisa Richards. She is the deputy tax receiver. Right now, Rachel's opening the mail. We do have a machine that puts the mail through and slices it for us. Lisa's in the process of printing out over a thousand first half late notices that will be going out in the mail tomorrow. So our tax bills are mailed out in mid-December. If you don't have it by Christmas, that would be a red flag to give our office a call so we can get that out to you. We have a lot of mail that we're going to send out. We're going to send out a receipt. We're going to send out a receipt for the first half of the year. The first half is due January 10th. The second half is due May 31st. This year, the 31st falls on a Saturday, so you actually have until Monday to pay that. We are in the process. They just went to the mailing company yesterday. If you escrow your taxes, the mortgage company will pay it and then we send you out a receipted copy. This is what it'll look like and it says, receipt across the front and void on the bottom. So if you get this in the mail within the next week or so, actually every year in January, this is your informational purposes because you're ever going to be able to get it. The reminder notices for the second half go out in April, so that way it's a courtesy to remind you to pay your taxes. We also collect for the water bills. They can also be paid in the drop box and the taxes and water and the yard waste. We collect, you can pay cash, check, debit or credit card, e-check or online with your bank account as well. So I think that covers everything. We have a lot going on. And I know you guys don't like to come in and pay your taxes, but we try to make it as friendly and nice as possible. And we wish you a happy, healthy new year. Thank you.

We will obviously continue doing these with all the departments again to just alert the public on, you know, what it is the different departments do. And again, new people move into town. You know, it gives them a little idea of what we do here. So we appreciate that. Okay. That's all we have for open session today. We're going to go into executive session to discuss under legal matters surrounding litigation between the Town of Riverhead and Suffolk County. That will be with Howard, Prudente, Reichel and DiPola. Contractual matters surrounding contractual agreement with the Town of Riverhead and CVE. That will be with Kern and Prudente. We have matters surrounding contractual agreement between the Town of Riverhead and Suffolk County. That will be with Howard. And under personnel, we have matters surrounding the possible hiring of a part-time employee with DiPola. And we have matters surrounding change in status of an employee with Prudente and Strickland Teo. So if I could have a motion to close open session and we will retire to executive session. So moved. Seconded. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [transcription gap] Okay. We are now closed from open session and we will go to executive session. Thank you, everybody. Stay warm and have a great weekend. We'll see you all next week.

Bye-bye.