Full Transcript
Thank you. [transcription gap] Street streetscape plan and presentation and head but headed by Dawn Thomas and the CDA and the planning department yes I'll kick it off this is one of our major projects this is really exciting day for us we've been working through this design as part of the town square process as you will remember the town square has several different components there's the riverfront the playground the town square the amphitheater the streetscape and the parking garage so this is the streetscape piece of the presentation and this we've been working on literally since 2018 so I'll give you a little bit of a background on that piece of it just in terms of the public engagement piece and how far we've come since 2018 and 2018 Barry Long and UDA created a pattern book for downtown and if you've read the pattern book you'll see there's discussion about the sidewalk and the pedestrian realm and there was public engagement at that time and the public had weighed in on what they wanted to see on the sidewalks and so that was incorporated into the ultimate pattern book and then in 2020 we moved forward with the initial town square you know design concept process which was all done virtually via zoom I know Joanne participated in some of those meetings and some of the rest of the board members too that was run by UDA also and resulted in we had a website we had an idea wall we had posts and those discussions also included sidewalk discussions and how we make the downtown more walkable and pedestrian friendly place we moved forward from there into the downtown activation plan which also included discussions about pedestrianizing making more downtown more pedestrian friendly and how we get the more space for outdoor dining and the amenities area where merchants can put their outdoor wares and things like that we took it from there to the DRI grant which was a very deeply engaged public process that was multiple meetings public meetings that were recorded the public could participate we had a local planning committee comprised of local people and all weighed in and ultimately the one of the projects that was put forward was a streetscape improvement project project for Main Street that project was awarded seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the DRI grant which we've been using to get to this point now and so we took those concepts and the designs that were sort of put forward through the public process and now we've actually done a real design for the Main Street including stormwater management safety features shortened crosswalks narrowed drive lanes widened sidewalks with you know dining areas and new signage and new lighting all of those things that the public said were important to them are now included in these plans and so we've just about got to the point where it's time for you guys to take a look and see what you think of where we're at and so we have Barry along from UDA who's been overseeing our entire downtown town square process from day one and has been integrally involved with his team as is Alexia friend from LVF with my vocal her partner they were retained through the RFP that you all you know process through to retain a landscape architect firm to do the design for the streetscape so here we are today and I'll turn it over to Barry and he can kick off from there well thank you Dawn and good morning Supervisor Hubbard and council members we have a show and Alexia is going to drive so when that pops up can everybody hear me yes okay okay great
there we go okay so um as Don said we're here today to provide an update on the main Street Streetscape project I'm going to share some context and then Alexia managing principal with LVF landscape architects as Don said is going to present the more detailed design next
there's a there we go there's a little delay yeah so the project involves the public right-of-way in one block from Roanoke to East Avenue which is approximately 770 linear feet long as Don said ideas for improving Main Street are not new the downtown pattern book features recommendations based on input from residents and from stakeholders next
about 90 percent of respondents to the pattern book survey that we did while we were working on the pattern book indicated that improving Main Street's appearance and enhancing the pedestrian experience were important and over 80 percent of respondents also asked for increased lighting so as you know downtown is an historic district so the distance we have to work with is often fixed we did collaborate with Petroselli to slide the hotel the proposed Hotel next to the town square back a little to get that in the right place but that really is the exception in this pattern book illustration that you can see here shows that in all cases the idea is to create activity Zones in front of the storefronts rather than just having one kind of genuine concrete sidewalk. Next.
And this illustration of the new proposal, which is taken in front of the former Woolworths building, shows the envisioned beautification, enhanced pedestrian experience, and additional lighting. And I'd like to pass it to Alexia now for a more detailed presentation of the design. Thank you, Barry. What we've done is really built on the parameters that UDA set forth, which were based on feedback from the community. And we also looked locally at which other towns had successful examples of enhanced pedestrian experiences in their downtown cores, and one of those being Greenport, where parking along one side of the road was eliminated in order to create shorter crosswalks. That is also Route 25, so there are a lot of similarities there in being that Main Street is Route 25 as well, and has to be beholden to the New York State DOT guidelines. And then, of course, West Hampton Beach, which has done a really successful job at creating lush planting, shortened crosswalks, general amenity improvements. I'll go to the next slide. Amenity improvements from 2018, which is the photo on the bottom, up to 2024, which is the current condition. And then, as you can see, I'll hover over here, where there are landscape bump outs with beautiful planting, there are bench seating, outside storefronts, and amenity zones, and just a generally pleasant experience. I think we can all agree upon that. And so today we're here to focus on the East Main Street streetscape improvements. And while that is the case, this was all considered within the context of the larger downtown revitalization improvements being made in Riverhead. And so, in this example, you'll see headstones, headstones, headstones, headstones, headstones, headstones, headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones [transcription gap] headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones headstones where the Newtown Square is going to be, we're introducing a hawk signal there to increase pedestrian safety. As part of that, there'll also be new street tree plantings for shade. And as you will see in this image, fixed amenity zones, meaning benches and tables and chairs for folks to sit along the curb inside rock, but then also spaces as was described in the pattern book along storefronts for store owners to put out a movable tables and chairs, signage, and other amenities related to their particular storefronts.
As part of these improvements, we've been talking to PSE&G as well as the internet providers to bury infrastructure, overhead lines from East Avenue down to that unnamed driveway near the diner. And so that'll both make electrical service more reliable, and it'll also make the street trees and overhead wires more reliable, and it will reduce conflicts between street trees and overhead wires, as you can see in the top image. We've also increased the number of street lighting, street poles, so we're maintaining the historic street pole that is already in downtown Riverhead, and we're adding to it with more quantity, which again was a request from the community to increase lighting and perception of safety.
There is a lot of parking, but we're not going to be using it. We're going to be using it for the !
We're going to be using it for physical reasons, so physical reasons may need to be physically closer to the storefronts, but the whole purpose of this is to encourage folks to park, not on Main Street, and then come to the downtown core.
Here's a side by side of West Hampton Beach on the left-hand side, and their improvements, and you can see on the right-hand side, the proposed improvements in River head. I personally think that it'll be quite enjoyable. it'll really enliven the streetscape to make it a place where folks want to walk and stay. And this is our last slide, at which point we can, I'll turn it back over to Dawn. This is a view standing over at East Avenue, looking westbound back towards Peconic. And I do want to point out in case this question comes up, there is a shoulder that will allow cyclists on Main Street, but it is not a bike lane. The bike lane will remain on Heidi Bear Way, which has always been the plan to connect it into the larger Suffolk County Greenway. But we do allow for bike racks for bikes that will dismount and then walk along Main Street. Thank you. Thank you very much. So just adding that the current width of Main Street makes it a little bit of a raceway. And I don't know if you've tried to cross in front of the Suffolk Theater, you're popping out in between, you're not going to be able to see the cars. You have to be very careful. Cars are going very rapidly. And if you come out from the parked car, so the way the improvements will work is that there's a pedestrian bump out. So you're beyond the parked car so people can see you. The crosswalk is shortened. The roadway is narrowed, which will force people to drive slowly, which will be good for the merchants and good for pedestrians and safety.
And I think that's pretty much it. This will be put up online later today? Yes, and I have copies for everyone. That's good. Can I ask a question? Of course. Okay. So I have a couple of questions. One is, and I had brought this up, and I don't know if you were on the call when I brought this up, but in West Hampton, their speed bumps are plowable. They were engineered so that the plow can go right over those. So I would encourage that we look at those. Okay. That's one. My second question is, did you consider, you know, instead of, I don't know what your FAR is right now on the buildings. Is it 95% on either side, the build out for the buildings? I don't know. He got popped off. Oh, Barry's not there. I don't see him. We need Barry back. Sorry. Can you hear me, council member? Yes. It's council member Kern. Is that who's speaking? Because I can't see. As far as in this block of Main Street, most of the buildings now are either, I want to say are brand new or being built. The hotel is the only one that's proposed, and the rest are historic to stay. So the percentage build out outside the right-of-way, like the one that's proposed, I don't know if it's a building that's been built, but it's a building that's been built that's been built in the area. So I don't know. I don't know. [transcription gap] But there's a lot of things there. So the percentage build out outside the right-of-way, like for example when we were working with Petro Sully, we just looked at the sidewalk width and agreed that it would be better if he had a couple more feet in front of it for the streetscape and for his project. So they slid the hotel back a little bit. But this area is largely, especially this block, existing buildings to remain. There's not, in the foreseeable future, percentage of new development proposed. I would also add that that section of East Main Street is on National Register for the street wall. There are some buildings that are considered contributing to that piece of it, some are not, but the street wall itself which is what the architectural feature that the SHPO recommended become part of the National Register was in fact added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. So the ability to actually relocate buildings unless they are completely rebuilt but very difficult to it took us I think Barry you'll remember it probably almost a year and probably hundreds and hundreds of pages and affidavits to get SHPO to allow us to remove the buildings that we did. So it's a very difficult process it's not a simple thing and also you know you know they're there they are part of our historic fabric of our district and so you know we probably don't want to do that unless it's absolutely necessary as it was in the case of the ones that we did remove. But other than that you know not really practical to change that footprint. So back to the way the speed bumps are engineered in West Hampton which I would request that maybe LVF you know reach out to West Hampton and get the specs on that because they are plowable. I looked at that. How many spaces are we going to lose on Main Street? Can we just answer that one council? I don't want I just don't to lose that comment but one thing about the Main Street in West Hampton is that it's not it's not a state road but we can definitely get an answer to your question on that but it's not a state road so there is that difference and LVF has been working with New York State DOT on the design. Yeah and and I think it's a great way to get that information out. They have had opinions which have been incorporated so. So how many parking spaces will we lose with this plan approximately? Approximately 11 spaces. Okay. Because I did check with the police chief and I asked him how many speeding tickets have been given on Main Street. He looked at me and laughed. Did you ask him how many parking tickets have been given on Main Street? No. Well no I did not but there was a safety concern so I wonder if he's going to give us a safety concern. I guess that you know as primary. Okay. So I just have some basic questions. The project I will say in West Hampton is absolutely beautiful. I mean they did a phenomenal job so I just but I know that they covered like all grounds so like the stores and so forth were shut down for a period of time you know access was very limited but they they did a complete overhaul meeting they replaced you know sewer lines, septic lines. They had to do that I believe because they put sewer in. 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 so fiber go in coming over from East Avenue we work with Heather wood to make sure that all connected up with them so it's been a very collaborative process to make sure that everything is there whatever water there's the water infrastructure in the roadway the roadway itself won't be ripped up the way it was in West Hampton because we're not the sewer lines exist there we already have them that they didn't exist there we have them here so the water and sewer is already under the asphalt the sidewalks will just be built out so we have to do 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 once these you know revitalization projects are completed so just you know envision when this is concluded it looks magnificent I just want to make sure then that two years from now we're not like carbon out down under me 25 right through main streets replace water lines things like that so I just don't know if we're like looking at like how I guess my main concern would be the water lines and the aged in their replacement and so is it do we have any funding or any time to do that now while while we're basically under a folk instruction yeah everything's been discussed so if there's water lines of Frank needs to replace or several lines that need to replace that will be a part of it you know prior to asphalt thinking about that was our number one concern we don't want to rip it up five years from now to put more fiber and so chip really sized it for a very long time and you know to make sure that everything is there and getting up that power and the cable and the fire I'm talking stuff you know square away what role in the revitalization here will the DOT play so like are they they handing over all control and maintenance of route 25 to the town are they going to help like restore it pave it like after you know like our design is completed and the curbing is in essentially like what will be the state's role in this project so currently we do maintain all the sidewalks and through a New York State permit from the DOT 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 backstate roads but you know they they are they've been involved in this process they have issued us a letter just reviewing the plans they you know have a list of things that we've handled that is one of the things that we have you have to handle the state maintain like Greenport do we know where did they give that up to you have to whenever you do this you have to take it over so the people yeah good news is it's not a huge length of roadway so yeah but I want to just follow up on Ken's point so we're doing a portion of the state road so are they gonna plow to that portion and then it's up to us is that how that works oh do we have to plow the entire Main Street to you know from Roanoke to East as I understand it the section that we've improved is the section that we maintain the rest of it would be theirs so East Avenue East we're not taking over 25 to Greenport or anything like that you okay Roanoke to East Avenue yeah try to get proximity to the to the theater so right theaters in the area yeah no that's good because that brings me back to my my question about putting these speed bumps in that a plow even for us you know if the state is giving that if we're responsible for that would that give us the ability to put the speed bumps and that we want to put in I don't think so okay but I don't think that's the right thing to do I don't think so I don't think so I don't think so I don't think so I don't think so I don't need I don't know so we get an answer so I just look you're still bound by whatever states requirements so so there's still a State Highway they're still going to tell you what you can do we ask the question because so it helped us I think it's an allowing headlet's yeah I think it's been asked but we can certainly clear yeah the original discussion was to have a table top so crossing at the theater nice peter's and they were not allowing that right but I don't know if they're aware of the engineering that was done in Westhamton And that's all I'm saying. I would advise to... I think it was a similar design. I know the crosswalk you're talking about. That you could plow over it? Yeah, I think it was very similar, and they still send that. Okay. I think you might also have to do with the signs. We can check, though. Yeah, it's an easy thing to... Yeah, I'd be happy to check. And just also so you're aware, the signage that goes on Main Street, the signage that's there now, that's all dictated by DOT, and it will continue to be dictated by DOT. So they are... The crossing with the flashing lights that will be motion activated at the Suffolk Theater, they set the parameters for how that works and whether you can have it or not even. And so I think we're fortunate to have been given the ability to do that there. It's a very important crosswalk. Right now, in my opinion, it's a very dangerous crosswalk. Joe and I almost got mailed two days ago taking pictures for a grant application, and people... People don't stop when you're in the crosswalk. They're, you know, they just don't. And so this will force that to happen. They will know that there will be no question that, A, this is a pedestrian area, B, that when someone's in that crosswalk, there's going to be... If they miss it somehow, they're going to wind up getting a ticket. Does some of the parking... I'm sorry. I didn't want to talk all the way through. Go ahead. Does some of the parking anticipate, like, Uber pickups or any of that? I wanted to ask you about that. So when we're working with Kevin Wood, Denise and I and the parking district committee are working... We're working with Kevin Wood, our consultant in parking mobility, which has been going fantastically. The entirety of Main Street would be 15-minute free parking. So anybody who needs to drop someone off, pick up an Uber Eats, drop off a taxi passenger if you have someone who's mobility limited, those will be available for free at all times for at least 15 minutes. So that's the initial. And then there will be regulations in terms of timing. There will be probably one... Which is currently one hour on Main Street. And then the balance of those parking lots will be, you know, timed accordingly so that people that are going to be there longer park further away and we get better turnover for the merchants closer to those businesses. The other component of this that we didn't talk about is the alleyways. The alleyways that come down from the parking lot, the first street parking lot on the north side of Main Street, we're working on grants now to be artistically lit with motion sensor lighting. And, you know, made to be very clearly pedestrian access points so that people feel comfortable. When the parking garage is constructed, it'll be a street. It'll look like a street again. First street will be recreated. There'll be signage and lighting. Kevin Woods also brought up the idea of having parking ambassadors. So people standing in parking lots during certain times of the day to make sure people, A, know where to go. So similar to TCOs, but a little bit of a different function. Whether we're at uniform, know where to go. People feel safe, feel comfortable. And if they have any questions about how to use the parking system that we're going to implement, they can answer those questions and give people the information that they need to get. Until we get really, really established, I think, and maybe we continue it depending, but that's something that we've discussed versus other methods of enforcement. Just really getting people to partner with us on how to make it work. To teach them. So they're not standing at the station. Yeah, like, how do I do this? Right. All of that. Yeah. So those are all things that are under discussion and are moving in the funnel direction towards a start date. We got good information on our RAISE grant yesterday from the federal government. We expect a contract within about 60 days, which would give us the okay to move this forward. The blessing of this is that during the time that we've been working on this, all of us, we had the $750,000 from DRI to do the design with LVF and Barry. And so that piece of it is now in the hands of the federal government. And so that piece of it is ready to be constructed. Soon we could have the documents and go to bed on that job. We have a lot more work to do before we do that, but that's how close we are. And there's $10 million in the RAISE grant to do this work. And so it's happening. Great. How does the future development from... So this project looks great, so excellent work, but just the question is, so once we get... So, how does the project look like? How does it look like west of Roanoke? How do we address, or in what portion eventually do we get to Railroad Plaza? How does it all come together in the long term? The RAISE grant has pedestrian improvements for Griffion Avenue and Ostrander Avenue, similar to what we're doing on Main Street, which would be help people that if once the TOD gets redeveloped, to get them from there to Main Street so that it looks like a clear pathway and looks welcoming. It looks... It's very clear where you need to go to get to downtown, what is downtown. There'll be new landscaping, the sidewalks will be widened. Also that landscaping will double as stormwater mitigation so that some of the flooding is... The Army Corps, when they did their study in 2020, identified that a lot of the flooding in downtown is due to the way downtown drains. And so catching some of that water before it gets to those parking lots will be helpful in reducing that flooding. That gets exactly where we want it to be. It's not just a matter of, you know, it gets exacerbated by the stormwater or vice versa. So those streetscapes will be done also. And then it's just a matter of us continuing to look for what's next and apply. This is the core piece. So is it like a two-phase thing? Like right now, the phase one, we can... Just try to explain it. Like from Roanoke going east, and then a phase two would eventually be from the railroad plaza to come back to basically... Yeah. On Main Street. [transcription gap] On 25. Yeah. And so that would be another study. And that's how we would work on that. We would either get a study from... There's a study money available from the federal government through federal DOT. They've been kind of like asking us to apply. But right now we have our hands full with what we're doing. So eventually the goal would be to move both east and west because when you stand at East Avenue and you look east, you see there's giant utility poles and a ton of water. And it's just a visual blight. And to get those sidewalks and those businesses really kind of drawn into the downtown. Same on the west side. But right now we're going to kind of like stick with what we got funded for and move forward. And then once we prove a success in these things, which we've been doing all the while, that getting the funding is easier. And so we'll just continue to apply and see what we can do. Okay. I have a question. So I believe that was Mr. Long that mentioned activity zones. And in front of the storefronts, which I would think maybe in front of restaurants, that's about having dining outside. What will be available for the other storefronts that don't offer dining? Yeah. That's a great question. The idea of the activity zones. And you can reference it in the pattern book. There's a diagram. But great main streets have what we call a marketing zone right outside the shop fronts. Where they can put in planters. They can put sandwich signs. They can have cafe tables. But it should be a zone that's animated to help bring the main street to life. Then we have the clear pedestrian zone where we need to keep it open for people to move. And then next to the street we have what we call an amenity zone, which is what Alexia and those illustrations show a lot of where we want to green it up. We have some seating. We have some
bike racks. We have more lighting. And the idea there is to create a buffer. Especially since you're on a state road here. So we're enlivening and activating the main street. But what it does is it provides an opportunity for more of the storefronts to animate what's directly in front of them. And you do have some good, even when we're working on the pattern book, we observe some good examples on Main Street already. When you walk down in the summertime you can see some of the storefronts have things outside. But what we really want to encourage is anybody who would be willing to do that to animate that zone. That's great. For years we prohibited sandwich board signs. I'm not sure why. But the enlivenment and the life that you bring to Main Street with these zones is what you really want to see. You want people to be engaged with those businesses. You want the businesses to be able to entice people. You want people to come in to have that outdoor seating if it's needed. And all of this provides for that. Which is great. And the beauty of it all is we had a very wide Main Street. I think it's 111 or 117 feet wide. And it's way too wide. We can narrow it down, add this exact dimensions we need to these sidewalks and not really lose anything important on the roadway, the travel surface. So I'd just like to go back for a second. Matt, can you engage with us? I'll just head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head obviously well the state still don't have to bless it so I understand that that'll be the first question that we have I understand and appreciate that I saw the parking garage is there I don't know what the park the plan for the parking garage is is that just a placeholder or is it yeah so we don't know how high it's going to be yet or anything else I've sized it according to the parking study that we did with Jerry Giusa so that that came out to 504 based on what that study suggested and that was how we priced it and then since then we've added this town hall parking lot so that even made the public parking you know inventory larger so the goal is to get people to you know park once and walk and you know if you have something short-term to do downtown you'll have the ability to do that but if you're going to come downtown and pick something up you know you're going to park and you're or you're going to have dinner or even have lunch or park a little bit further away in those lots use those access ways and then you're going to you know hit Main Street and be walking and I stay agree with that but you know when I look at the amount of units we're putting in downtown right and the and only 504 spaces if there's something going on at the Suffolk Theatre if there's an event going on downtown and you and you have an apartment downtown and now you have to park up here you know I just that I would just point out that most of the existing apartments have their own parking there are a few that don't but one of the things that we talked about and it was recommended in the original parking study was payment in lieu of parking so people who are building residential units should be required to pay per space for their residential tenants not the commercial tenants because they're in the parking district but um those would that would go into the construction of additional parking may be proximate to those places you know most of the people that are building those units are going to be in the parking building apartments recognize the need for people to have proximate parking and are installing that themselves voluntarily but I think in the future we're going to be looking at a paid parking system and the need to maybe increase hopefully the need to increase the number of parking stalls we have in addition the garage has the potential for adding that was my next question light layers to it so depending on how we construct it we can uh it's it's basically like a Lego set or an erector set where you can add another layer to it so the footprint is a good spot because it's kind of tucked in I'm not you know a lot of people know a lot of people don't but that first Street uh where it connects the throne was actually a first Street and it was um populated with residences North and South and when the town took it over which was great that we did because we have control over that land now those residences were demolished when we put that garage back there we recreate that streetscape again and make it look like a place where you can be and where you can walk and that's feel safe and comfortable so and that uh garage will also have a police substation built into it so those things are all designed to to you know to assist with those those that perceive it as not safe or even people who are just being around late at night people are leaving work you know when a restaurant closes 11 or 12. you don't have to walk to their car I just want to answer just good just on the same time any I know with eventually I know might be getting off track with the parking garage but just like it would be like coffee shops duck and dogs or something in their parking garage so I think right now we have to you know really focus on getting the Main Street businesses hyped up and filled up because that's the the you know we we don't want to over retail stuff but there is potential for the town there is additional property Barry's kind of worked on it when we did the original downtown activation plan to leverage more parking area for additional either retail or residential or food and beverage so those things are potentially you know able to be just right now we want to just make sure that that downtown core is successful I was just going to say the benefit of the modular multi-deck system is it goes up quickly yes and you can add yes and it's much less intrusive in terms of building from the ground up yeah I think they told us one year yeah you know so the construction mess degree and staging and all of that yeah just like our guy they're doing modules right so that's a great system once that raised Grant gets contracted we'll be able to start that design the real design process we did preliminary so we did ground penetrating radar we did core moorings we did studies on sizing right sizing and things like that but once we get that funding we'll be able to engage in the real final design so whatever goes in it what it looks like whether we do modular or we do cast in place those are decisions the board will have to make dependent upon the benefits and you know you know positives and negatives of each one there are positive and negatives to each one but you know that's coming shortly so uh and you know the good news is that it could be done super quick yeah we have it I know you said coming soon but do we have like a time frame so we're all anxious you're doing great work so when when's the show we'll go technically when we created the space for the um soil that we're taking from the heatherwood project that parking lot's been removed and fenced off the parking garage piece will really depend on when we get that contract and then we think it'll take a little bit to design that garage um it's going to take some more public engagement some more stakeholder engagement to you know make sure that it's right for us and uh once it's designed and we have construction drawings which will have do then you guys can bid it and build it and so I would say if they are right because there's things at the federal level that they're that are a little unsure they're unsure about right now time wise it's not exactly the old the way it was before they said you know 30 to 60 today's turnaround until we get Chris Orton yesterday I mean Chris and Frank have been turning the stuff back over like instantaneously so that we keep that process going I think she said 30 to 60 30 to 60 and then it's 48 hours from that where they can execute it so it's quick yeah it's really nice because sometimes the time to sign the contract takes a very long time but this in this case it's super quick so we got that email yesterday morning we're pretty excited about it and I think we're if we haven't already turned it back over we're gonna do that today and so hopefully within the next six days we get the contract and then we'll start on you know formally designing getting a designer or getting and that's when the fun begins yeah your hard work is going to start to pay off yes it's gonna be a little hairy I think for a while but if we're working together and we're continuing to talk you know the bid men the chamber the downtown businesses working together with the parking district advisory committee and everybody else we can make the very best of it let me just I can tell you firsthand we walk West Hampton all the time we have a business down there and it's just it it works it's really nice and it works very well yeah so I don't know if it's premature to mention it but there's something that the chamber was looking for us to do that I think would be very helpful while all this construction is going on on Main Street a shuttle system they mentioned a couple of different options that we're looking into where people will park a little further back and the shuttle will take you down to Main Street so you don't have to worry about where am I going to park for the business but people you know clients or patrons to go through businesses schedule or demand all those things the nice part about the town hall parking on is people the spaces are nice and wide they're lit there's cameras it's a very safe feeling place people can park here grab a shuttle go wherever they want and get dropped back off at their vehicle so those are the kinds of discussions we've been having to help during the construction actually have some information on that to me so that I'll share with you thank you thank you thank you Southampton Village did the free rides and it's like so they go around to the different parking lots of the railroad station that make people up but it's kind of neat when you get in the vehicle it's all free but there's a TV monitor right in front of you so restaurants can advertise what their specials are today and this and that everything out there and so if you're like oh we got over there now works out well yeah and it's no cost that it's like visit to independent company that's basically selling advertising space but they're providing a service that yes it's great that would be the goal for you so I think unless there's any other questions I think we're done I'm excited yeah very great job the rent all is really are you know help understand what the way it can look you know you can look at plans and two-dimensional things but when you actually see the drawings that Jeffrey Schweiger's done through Barry's firm it gives life you know okay this is exciting we get copies of that yes all right I didn't want to distract you with the presentation while we were making beautiful beautiful yeah that's great yeah thank you thank you guys very much thank you you have a wonderful day thank you thank you I wave we'll get to work excellent
Oh they have to cross the frame on thanks guys thank you going ok all right at this point in time we are going to go up and go into executive session to I'm head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head and a couple ladies from the golf team that went to the states and they're coming back we have some certificates for them so we're going to go up and go to executive session now and then we'll be back uh by 11 o'clock right if not before we'll continue with the other open items correct right okay all in favor aye all opposed okay we'll go up to executive session and we'll be back
welcome everybody we're back from executive session we are now back uh we're going to open up the open session and we have two uh really special things going on that we're going to take care of first um councilwoman waski and myself are both graduates of rivette high school and we were blue waves high school and we're going to be back in a few minutes so we're going to go up and go to executive session so head head head head golf team that actually went to the States. 2025 was the single most winning season in Rivet High School history. The two girls that went, Madison Marshok and Angelina Gust, finished in the top nine in Suffolk County, finishing seventh and third respectively. Top nine golfers from every county in New York State qualify for the New York State Championship. First time ever, Riverhead sent athletes to the New York State Championship, and they sent two in the same year. Even more incredible is Madison is a freshman, and from what I understand, she's been playing on varsity golf since middle school. And Angelina is a senior. She finished 65th in the state, and Madison tied for 59th in the state. Head coach, Steve Faia, there you are. He put the Riverhead girls golf team on the map, and that's quite an accomplishment. And we are so proud as the town board to recognize the student athletes that Riverhead High School puts forward, and the hard work and determination that these girls endure to get to the level that they're at. It's anybody who plays golf know that it's an honor. It's an honor. It's an extremely frustrating game. You have that one great shot, you're in love with the sport, and then you go up and hit the ball the next time into the woods, and you throw in your clubs. Did I say that? No. Oh, okay. Very frustrating, and a lot of time goes into the game of golf to get better. And it's time consuming. I mean, to go out and play 18 holes of golf today, you know, it's five hours. So kudos to these two young ladies, and I'm so proud of them. And all that they did for the town of Riverhead, putting us on the map, and for Riverhead High School, for the Blue Wave sports community. I would like to call both of you up here now. Madison, Angelina, if you could come on up. Call the coach up too. Yeah, coach too. Coach Fayette, come on up.
I'm gonna read. On behalf of the Riverhead Town Board, congratulations, and the residents of the town of Riverhead, I present this certificate of accomplishment to Madison Marshawk and Angelina Gust, correct? Yes. In recognition of their outstanding performance through the 2025 golf season, under the leadership of head coach, Steve Fayette, Madison and teammate Angelina, made history for the first ever girls from Riverhead High School to finish in the top nine in Suffolk County, and qualify for the state championship. Really appreciate what you did. Congratulations. I hope you continue to play, and practice, and get better. Not that you need to get a lot better, because from what it appears, you're doing pretty good yourself. So, all right, coach, we're gonna give you this. Thank you. Madison. Thank you. Give you that. Angelina, we'll touch it, present you with that. Everybody would turn this way.
I would like to also add that Madison's mom is one of our favorite employees here, Dion. Just one more, guys, if you could give her a hug. Thank you. We know she's very proud of her, too. So, congratulations, ladies. Keep up the good work. And keep the members on the field.
Okay.
I'd just like to add that they just got back from Pulaski Street, where they were working with the students there on the golf, and talking about the program, the sport in general. Excellent. Thank you. Very good. You did. Okay. Next up, we have members of the Riverhead Blue Waves Girls
varsity softball team here. And the reason they're here is they had their single most winning season ever in the history of Riverhead High School. 20 wins and four losses. They won the Suffolk County Championship. They won the bid. They won the bid to the Long Island Championship. 16 athletes with unmatched athleticism, work ethic, and passion. The coaching staff, head coach, Richie Vellacci. We have assistant coach, Caitlin Deviney. And assistant coach, Forrest Vail. Under their leadership, these girls put out the best season ever in the history of Riverhead High School. Outstanding performance by all. Class AAA Long Island Championship. They went on to play Massapequa, who's a huge powerhouse in girls softball. And they lost in the final. They lost the game by a score of 2 to 1. Heartbreaking, I'm sure. But with all the accomplishments that they made this season. And these girls, the names I'm going to read in a minute, they're names you'll remember. They're the best. You'll recognize from our Riverhead Little League program. They came up. They played together. And I'm sure most of them, if not all of them, played travel ball across the Northeast, not just like in Suffolk County. They go all over the place to play. And it certainly paid off. So at this point in time, I'm going to read your names. And then we'll have you come up. We have certificates for you also. On the softball roster, we have Shaylee Bealey, Isabelle D'Andrea, and Maddie Dupre, Amber Ferugia, Emma Freeborn, Morgan Gajowski, Eden Greenwood, Jordan Kwasner, Braden McCloud, Maya Morelli, Adriana Martinez, Ashley Rogers, Madison Saladino, Elena Schreiber, and ! Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] Caitlin Deviney and assistant coach Forrest Vail if you would all please come on up now. Supervisor maybe coach Veloci would like to say something about his team. Oh absolutely absolutely coach you want to come up and say something about the girls and the team we'll put you on the spot. That's great I always love to talk about this group. Yeah so first off thank you guys for having us here this is incredible and to really give back to this community has always been something that I've wanted to do as you just alluded you know I grew up here I played through Riverhead Little League actually coach Faiella was my baseball coach here when I was in high school so I love seeing things come full circle. This group of girls has been incredible to teach and to coach and to be around it's one of those where when the season ended it kind of just I don't know things just felt like oh we're not going back to keep this going because wins and losses aside it was a great group to be around one thing I really have honed in on with this year is this group has given back to the youth of this community I I've had so many parents come to me that have little leaguers that say they look up to your girls like they're superheroes. And I was fortunate to see that this year as my daughter is seven years old. And she comes to every game and we're in the backyard. She pretends to be each and every one of them, whether it's mocking the way that they play the game or to say, Daddy, did you see that? I did that just like so-and-so. And, you know, I couldn't thank this group enough, not just for the success, but just for the impact they have. And when you give back, especially to the youth, that's something that's going to be, you know, carrying with those girls forever. You know, when they're my age and they hopefully are up here talking about what they've accomplished, it's because of them that this community is now starting to bring back the amazingness of the, especially the quoting of Bleeding Blue. I love that. You know, I'm trying to bring that back with this group. And, yeah, I couldn't thank these girls enough. And I know not all of them are here today because they all, you know, as you said, they're doing so many different things. But, girls, it's been an amazing ride. It's been an amazing ride to be on this year. And I couldn't thank them enough. And thank you guys for having us here. Thank you. No, you're very welcome. Thank you for all you've done for Wichita.
All the players come on up and coaches. Also two eighth graders on this team. Really? Oh, wow. That's incredible. Yeah. You got to go first. Come on. Don't be shy. Don't be bad. Don't be shy. You're rolling. Don't be, but don't worry. And just stand here. And I'm going to give the coach the certificate. Yeah, of course. I'll hand him out to them. Okay. On behalf of the town board and the residents of the town of Riverhead, we present this certificate of accomplishment to the Riverhead High School varsity softball team in recognition of them achieving the most winning season in Riverhead softball history. Their combined athleticism, worth ethic, and passion for the game of softball contributed to the success of the Wichita Riverhead high school basketball team. The team has been a part of the overall success of the season, which under the leadership of coaches, Valachi, Devaney, and Vale, made history as the first team in Riverhead softball to clinch the Suffolk County Championship and advance to the Long Island Championship. All of the athletes comprising of the 2025 Riverhead High School varsity softball team are to be commended for their achievements and for the immeasurable impact of the 2025 season that we'll have on the future of the Riverhead varsity softball team. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. So you set the standards now. So coach we don't expect anything less than winning the Long Island Championship next year. Hey, hopefully we're there. How many seniors are you graduating now? Five seniors out of the 16. So we have 11. So you got a good core coming back. Yes. And you got some young eighth graders. That's awesome. Well congratulations. Our JV team also finished first in the league. So that's excellent. And the middle school team went undefeated. Very good. So Riverhead Lula League is doing something right. They're doing a great job. Yeah. Awesome. Good stuff. Congratulations to those of you who are graduating. Best of luck to you in your college career, your work career, whatever you choose to do. And hopefully we'll see you back here again next year after you come back with a championship. Thank you for having us.
Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yes, I see. Do you want the girls that are here? Yeah, girls, you want to come up? I'm sorry, we'll grab a picture with you. We dismissed you a little prematurely. Did you want to line up in front? Do you want us behind you or something? Yeah, you want to line up in front, ladies? Right across here. At least that way.
Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Coach, do you want to come up and say something about your team? I'm sorry, I missed that. Excellent. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you. So, yeah, golf is a unique sport for a bunch of reasons you already pointed out, you know, and a few others. You know, you can progress as a team and individually. While the team really did have a great year, you know, the team season will end, and then individuals will have a great year. And then, of course, if they qualify, they continue. And there's no classes. It's not like the five different classes in big schools and small schools. It's all the field. Everyone's in the field. You compete against everybody. So, essentially, there's one champion for the whole state. You know, and, yeah, I've been, I think I have like 40 seasons coaching total. And it's never easy when, not golf, I mean various sports. All right. It's never easy when there's a coaching change. So, you know, I coached the girls' golf program a while back. And, you know, it's been six years. And coming back, it's never easy on the girls or any team when there's a coaching change. And it can be, it really can provide challenges for the new coach. So, these girls, they worked so hard to make sure that there was a fluid transition. They had goals. They asked me first meeting, I don't know if you girls even remember this, Coach, why do the boys win all the time? And I said, well, because, you know what, we do the little things. There are lots of little things. They don't seem that important. But you add up all those little things. If you do all those little things, then they add up and they add up to something big. And that's certainly what the team did, especially Madison and Angelina. They did all the little things. You know, and they learned a great lesson for life, and that, golf is life. All right. And they're a true pleasure to spend those long rounds with. But five days a week, you know, you're not going to get a chance. Five days in Rochester for states, it was grueling just to get there, just to qualify in league play as long. You know, then to go to counties is tough, and then qualify after 36 holes in counties is tough. So, it's not for the weak, all right, of mind or physically. So, these girls really, you know, you talk about setting a standard. As far as work habits, they set the standard for our program. And I'm just so proud of them, as I know the community is, you are, and their families, as we all should be. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much, Coach. Thank you. And just quickly to mention also, I believe the boys' golf team sent somebody to the states this year also. Yes. Yes. Colby Barron went for the second year. Okay. In a row. But they've done that before. So, this was history making. That's right. Yes. This was groundbreaking. Absolutely. Very good. Okay. So, we're going to move on to our open work session. And next. I think we should tell the athletes they don't have to stay for this. Oh, yeah. Athletes, you don't want to stay for this. We've got much better things to do than to sit here and listen to our nonsense. Thank you. Thank you. They didn't even have girls' golf when I graduated. No, huh? No. And that was only like five years ago. What year was that? Yeah. Five years ago. [transcription gap] Oh, goodness. Is the supervisor five hours for a run of golf for you? Yeah. Oh. Oh. Well, because I'm in the woods three hours. Looking for balls. Okay. We are up for matters surrounding the Zenith Building, addition site plan 301 East Main Street and 12 McDermott Avenue, Riverhead. That will be with Greg Bergen. And we have Marty and Ray. Come on up. All right. [transcription gap] I don't think I need the large scale set, but these are pretty easy to read. I'll just put that away. And I also have...
You just load the elevations up in the center here so you can...
There's three, there's two down that way. There's two here. And then these didn't copy that well on the copier because it's a photo from my phone on the copy. But this is a street group, a main street. The copies, like I said, aren't that great. Oh, I have my items. I put my stuff out of the bag. Thank you, Marty. There you go. Thank you. There you go. And I can put all of this pile away. And I can scrape you a little bit on that. Yep. All right. So we've got a site plan application which is proposing to construct an addition, a four-story mixed-use addition, which will connect to the previously approved Zenith building, which was approved by the town board back in July of 2023. That project approved a four-story mixed-use building at 12 McDermott Avenue. It included approximately 2,100 square feet of ground floor commercial space as well as nine residential apartments on the upper floors. The mix was three two-bedroom units and six one-bedroom units on that original approval. The applicant has since purchased the neighboring property, which is located on the southeast corner of East Main Street and McDermott Avenue. The address on that property is 301 East Main Street. It's at .06. It's a .06-acre site. This is an application which is seeking to construct an addition to that building. It will be another four-story mixed-use building. It proposes six additional two-bedroom units on the upper floors as well as approximately 1,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space. The new building will connect on the second through the fourth floors to the originally approved building. It will leave free approximately a 30-foot clear space on the ground floor. That is required for utility easements and access easements, which benefit the property owners to the east for trash removal and access to their site. So the total with the new proposed addition would bring the total development to 15 bedrooms, sorry, 15 residential apartments, nine two-bedroom units, and six one-bedroom units with approximately 3,100 square feet of ground floor commercial space. The project is a type one action as it involves multifamily development within the Riverhead Historic District. I do identify the involved agencies. I do just want to mention I did note that on the new site plan, some of the original apartments that were approved under the 12 McDermott, the plan that was approved in 2023, they were not identified as affordable apartments on that original plan. They are now shown as affordable. So I think they're just a little bit more affordable. Thank you. So I think this needs to be clarification. If they're going to be seeking any type of funding, whether it's local, state, or federal, those agencies need to be identified on the full EAF before we can commit some secret coordination. So the plan does. I believe it is. Six of those original units are now identified as affordable. In terms of pattern book compliance. So the board back in January of 2021 adopted the Urban Design Associates Downtown Riverhead Pattern Book to serve as guidelines. For future development. That pattern book made a number of objective design standard recommendations for private development. Among them being step backs for floors above a third story. So fully understand that the original Zenith building was contemplated and submitted long before that pattern book was adopted. We're now at a point where the pattern book's been adopted for nearly four and a half years. I think it would be appropriate to incorporate some step backs on those upper floors. The original Zenith building, I do note that it did have from the property line, there was about an eight foot setback. So there was some, you know, designing and planning on that to sort of break up the massing and reduce the massing along with Dermot Avenue. This proposed addition does have a much smaller setback to the property lines. So I think it could be a good opportunity to incorporate some of those step backs on the upper floors. And help with that. Thank you. And I think it would help to reduce the massing. You know, you've got the 221 East Main Street right on the opposite corner. So we just don't want to create a canyon effect along East Main Street and McDermott. I mean, I do acknowledge the frontage on East Main Street. I think it's only about 30 feet and change. But again, any opportunity to sort of incorporate a step back and, you know, incorporate the recommendations of the pattern book would surely be welcomed. So just need some details on the lighting plan. We just want to make sure that the site is lit. We don't want any kind of dark alleyways or dark, you know, dark corners where people can sort of hang out and do whatever they're going to do. So I just would like to see some updates on the lighting plan. In terms of the landscaping and streetscapes, this does present an opportunity. So on page 5 of my staff report, I did take a picture. There's a really nice brick walkway with some really nice plantings and landscaping on the west side of McDermott Avenue. This presents an opportunity to sort of mirror that landscaping and that brickwork. There is some existing brickwork that starts at East Main Street and probably goes down to the property line close to the 12th McDermott Avenue. But I think we'll probably continue that and pick up some attractive landscaping along McDermott. Utilities along East Main Street, we've had every project that's come in bury utilities along the frontage of their property, both from an aesthetic point of view as well as a fire service point of view. So that's something that we're looking at. And then from a fire service point of view, so utilities along East Main Street, there's one utility pole. We'd like to see those put underground. And then parking. So the parking, the property is located within the downtown Riverhead parking district. Per Town Code Section 301.231 . They are not required to provide onsite parking as they're located within the parking district. But I do note that the total amount of uses for the project, acknowledging that the existing building was previously approved, the amount of uses on the total project would require 39 parking stalls per our Town Code parking requirements. And they're providing no parking. So I did, you know, I went over this with Dawn as I was preparing my report. We did get a memo from Mr. Senlewski just citing the concerns over the loss of parking. We did get a memo from Mr. Senlewski. We just spoke about it at work session today about, you know, people parking in their apartments if it's raining. There's no onsite parking here. And with the redevelopment of the downtown area, there's really no immediate parking in the proximate area. You know, you've got the parking lot down on the south side by the Riverhead Brewhouse. There's the small parking area down by Turquoise Grill over by the Salvation Army. But again, those are things that we're looking at. Those are regulated in terms of time of parking during certain hours. So, I mean, we've got a project that would require 39 parking stalls. It's not providing any parking. So how do we solve this? So this is something, I mean, I've talked to Dawn. We did, Dawn did mention this morning. This might be a time for the Board to consider the PILOP. I know the PILOP's been floating around. I mean, there's revisions of that going back to, I think, 2018, 2019. So that's something that's been long considered by the Board. But with the redevelopment of the downtown area as a whole, you know, we're sort of at that critical point now where, you know, approving more projects where they're not providing parking. You know, we want to see these projects be successful. You know, I did note that with the affordable apartments, you know, any parking in a potential garage, you know, the future structured parking garage, you know, north of East Main Street, will not be free parking. So we want to ensure that, you know, these projects are successful. The Board needs to just consider that. Mr. Saluski, do you want to talk about parking? You're in the parking space. Well, I can run through the, actually I'll run through the whole application in the same format real quick. Basically, the footage has changed a little bit, Greg. So what I brought in today, I'll just back up the history. After we submitted this, we went to the Architectural Review Board, and they passed on the project without any restrictions. I said it matches what you had already. Okay. So originally, they were good. After that, we got Greg's report. We looked at things like pattern book and other stuff. And then Monday, we had the meeting with the Historic Advisory Group. Landmark preservation. Landmark preservation. So it was a very, very good meeting. Prior to that, after I got Greg's report, and we had talked about the pattern book and sort of that this project is sort of caught in between. So what we did is I conferred with my client. We went back and we revised the plan. So we now do have this pattern book and the setbacks. Not on McDermott, setting back on the upper stories, because the site is so narrow side to side. But on the Main Street side in the corner, we did all of the setbacks. We brought that to the Historic Commission. It was all a red line. And they had some additional comments. Very good. So the meeting went very well. They gave us the green light to then follow through with meeting here and then go to public hearing and come back to them at the end. To button things up. So we have applied the pattern book requirements to the project through revision. After we're done, we'll be giving Greg a full resubmission. Okay. Can I just, because we did discuss this at the meeting where I had asked about the frontage on East Main Street. And you were talking about how there was going to be the kind of steps for, you know, each floor of the building. And that is going to be, I believe, eight feet in. Correct. That is correct. Why would you have it this way and not flip-flopped to soften up the corner? Well, it actually, yeah, if you look at the side elevation, you know, that's a really tough rendering with the pictures there. But if you look at the side, you see here the step backs on the upper. So you have the step back, that area on the front. No, I'm speaking about how you have these areas as kind of open. Correct. Why would you not put them on this side and flip-flop it so that? And the balcony is on the other side. Yeah. It's like this is just a straight. Yeah. It's really the way that the building lays out with the access to the floor. So if you looked at the plans, you would see the logic where you have the living side on one side and then the bedrooms on the other side, on the McDermott side. That also falls into play code-wise very critically in that if we were to flip the plan, then the windows on the McDermott side for the bedrooms are required. Okay. So if the neighbor were to build up to the property line, the windows that are in the living area on the east side of the building are sacrificial, so they could be closed off. So code-wise, we would not be able to do that. So when you look at the plan, it really works this way. And I think with the historic committee and us stepping back that upper level, and we even did some things, if you recall, on the sides where we started doing some breaks and setbacks, that they were very amenable to that. And we're now going to soften it up with some warnings also on the ground level. The big thing from McDermott is that what we did was there, as Greg had said, we're off of McDermott Avenue. We've left a setback. How much of a setback? If we were to step the building, we would take the first floor, we'd push it right up to the property line just like the one on the other side, and then step it back up higher. I'd rather have that open space on street level so it's a wider street level. So it is a compromise, and it's something that we've worked very hard on, and it's really important. At the point now, we know code-wise, without being able to flip the floor, it's really the way it works for us. And I think historic and ARB are both good with it. Marty, is your main entrance, would it be on Main Street or on McDermott? The main entrance is still McDermott. It is? Yeah. These units will be added onto. So on each level, when you get off the stair of the elevators, you will either go straight to the existing units or make a left and go into these units. There's two units per floor. I have a question. Sorry to interrupt your presentation, but on ARB, this was all... Now we're getting into this multicolored building, which is all over Long Island. It's different. So I'm just curious how that came, because at one point it was just all one color. It is, actually. This is the original rendering that we had. Yeah, that. This is the same as this, but this was a nice night shot we did on the computer. Oh, okay. I did this in 15 minutes yesterday. Never mind. I was on a vehicle. I just want to guarantee that it's going to look like that, but not like this. I know you better. That's right. This is the guys in the office with the computer. This is me with my coloring. All right. That's it. I want to see class. All right. So we had addressed that with regard to the pattern book. And that's worked out well. And we will go back to them for a final. Lighting, we will obviously update the lighting plan. And the landscaping, the street trees, you'll see when the revision, we're adding those. So those are things that we will add. As it comes to the utilities question, we're – two things. One is we're not – we don't gain any benefit at all. We're not utilizing the utilities on Main Street. We're not touching utilities on Main Street. We have nothing to do with Main Street utilities. Our utilities are coming off of McDermott, which are already underground. And if you look at the utilities that are there, it's not possible to remove that pole. What happens is that pole has two risers already coming from the west. As it rises up and goes eastward, the next pole already has two risers. And it has more than two risers. It's got tons of communication that comes off of McDermott and power off of McDermott. If you look at the poles here, you can see how much they have on them. And then there's a third pole that has pots on it, you know, to increase the voltage. And that's the next pole on Main Street. So there's no way you could remove this one pole. And without – I mean, there's – that's a major public improvement project. And we are not – we don't have any – if we were using them, if we were tapping into the electric, or we were putting more of a load on the utilities on Main Street, then we would have to deal with it because we're touching them. But we are not utilizing these utilities at all. They're offsite. And cost-wise, since the fact that it wouldn't be just removing one pole, it would be really a whole East Main Street improvement because it would have to probably go all the way down until the next driveway where the parking is further east. It's just not something that really could be or would be done as part of this project. It's really not feasible to do it, I think, from a cost standpoint also. Yeah, so I – you know, I own a construction company in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, up and down. There are times that I have to relocate poles. And the reason is it because it has an impact on the project. For example, there are poles in the middle of a curb cut, and you can't have an end. You're required to relocate it across the street or up and down. That's extremely expensive. That could be a deal-breaker for me to have to do all that kind of stuff. That's painful. You're probably looking at $100,000 to $200,000 just to accomplish that when it's not – the building's not having an effect on that pole. Unlike the map and plan that you would normally do, like, let's say, with the Water District, which we did do here because we're tapping into the Water District and we're adding a hydrant down at the end of McDermott as part of that previous review, there is no map and plan for public utility. We're not touching that utility. It has nothing to do with us on Main Street. We understand how desirable it is, but it's not something that falls under the purview of Mr. Castronova's development.
And I think that covered everything? Oh, you wanted to touch parking. Okay. Parking. Okay. So as far as the discussion on parking, on looking at page six, which is the – about five or six paragraphs relative to parking, there are only two sentences in that whole page that apply to this project. Only two. One sentence that applies to this project, Town Code does not require applicant to provide on-site parking. That applies. The other thing that applies is that the chairman of the Parking Advisory Committee is a design professional. That is true. And I'm sure those two things apply to the project. Nothing else on this page applies to this project at all. The thing that we were talking – and also it wasn't me personally. It was our committee that provided a recommendation to yourselves as the board of the parking district. The reduction in parking that we sent you was only a concern we had for the owners between Roanoke Avenue and East Avenue, because we – Because we don't think that anybody in Riverhead – I've talked to people. None of them knew it, that you were going to eliminate all of the parking between Roanoke and East Avenue and Main Street. That's not true. And we're not even remotely close to the truth. Well, it's in your secret document. There's a plan for – yes, there is. There's a plan for 11 cars and zero cars that – they were attached to that document I sent you. Those are the two plans that are in your secret document. There's only two. There's three actually. One was diagonal. You have three plans in your secret document. One is seven diagonal, one is zero, and one is 11. That's what's in your secret document. So you knew your secret document's wrong. Okay, and you're going to redo it and then reopen it to public opinion because in the secret document you said that the Main Street improvements aren't even subject for further review. That's right in your negative deck. So that does – that's what's out there. So that's what we as a parking committee talked about. It has nothing to do with this project at all. We were concerned about those business owners. Either way, I found some spots. So anyway, as it comes to parking, you'll see in the revision we do with the cross-access easement we have on the plan, we do gain a couple of spots, which Ray would like to have. So we do have two spots. And I will say this also, that the 39 parking spaces that – that Greg referred to does not apply to this project. This project requires 13.37 spaces. And we're providing two, so it requires 11.37. The other spaces that we referred to are already approved. That's in the rearview mirror. That was part of the previous project, so it does not apply here. What applies here is 13 spaces minus 2 is 11. So that's what the impact is. It's not, oh, 39. It's 11. The other ones are already approved. So with that being the case, I think there is no parking issue unless there is any additional questions with regard to parking. I'm sorry. Maybe I'm a little slow today. Can you define that again for me of how some of the parking is already pre-approved. We're only talking about an additional – how many parking spots? 13.37. So in other words, the previous project, the project of the building. The Zenith building that's currently approved. That is currently approved. And the parking, part of that 39 spaces is for that building. Actually, a majority of it is for that building. Okay. So that's already approved. That's done. This application – That has no spaces? Correct. That goes – that is previously approved. This is for – I understand. But it has no spaces. Correct. Correct. So now you're adding on to – you're making this – they're attaching a second building to it. So it's expanding it. Yeah. I'm – Now you're asking for another project right next to it that should need 13 spaces and you have two. Is that right? Correct. Well, it doesn't need any spaces. It has an impact with 13 spaces. Where are they parking? You tell your tenants. You tell us where they're parking. They're parking spaces. Good luck with that. Let me – and we just heard this morning, you know, Councilman Kern's concern was – you know, there was a concern during the work session of if it's raining and somebody wants to, you know, park it. If somebody wants to, you know, park in front of their apartment, like, that's not an option here. There's no parking on McDermott. Yeah. There's limited, you know, time-sensitive parking stalls down along the river. Is there a loading, unloading space? Well, we have – actually, that easement counts as a loading and unloading space because it's for both this property and the property next door. And also with the parking that we have underneath now, which you'll see, Greg, what I – they're right off of the driveway here under the building. If you go to the floor plan sheet, the next thing you'll see it. Right. So we do have some parking for drop-offs and stuff like that under the building on the first floor. So as you come through here, you'd be able to turn in here, turn and come back out. So we did take that into account, and the loading is already accounted for. So with that, I mean, there's a very little impact other than, you know, on the new part. So we don't really foresee anything that is any further concern. But there's parking in the north lot, and when the parking garage goes there, there'd be parking in the parking garage. But are you willing to purchase parking spots for the new garage? No. Why would I? Why would I pay for parking if I don't have to? Because then you could buy spots there, and then you'd have – tenants would have reserves parking over there. That would help overall with the project. But they have parking already. Where? There isn't any. Yeah. The – Yeah. Yeah. 2024 982 was the feaf for downtown development that you passed okay on december 17th march 18th you passed resolution 2025 263 that was your neck deck both of them in their appendix have the final town river parking plan update riverhead parking plan 2020 the parking garage sizing model that's your documents you're the lead agency okay in the feaf it said the revitalization the plans include the strategic plan of 2020 by schwartz that's the material you as the lead agency relied on to do the neck deck it included the parking garage which is to replace lost parking spaces and address future parking right you guys did that already thank you um the garage capacity took that into account which is going to be for pay the garage is for pay it's not free so what's that matter you're there's this might be a concern of your tenants especially if they're considered affordable units i mean so then when you go well so then when you go to the neck deck which was done in the resolution 2025 263 okay where you lead agency gave this a hard look you looked at all this information and you were very careful about it before you made a decision to give a neck deck and in your part 2 feaf your that you used to make your determination it says 500 space parking garage to replace existing parking lost by development and meet new parking demands so the parking is already done by you as a neck deck or you have a problem with your neck deck that you didn't because you as a parking boy's head problem with your neck deck that you did because you as the parking board and the town board have already allocated this as far as the parking garage being paid that's a surprise because the parking committee has been meeting with mr wood yes and he is coming to you with some type of a plan that hasn't been written up yet so now you're saying the decision's already made when you have a consultant that hasn't given you a plan yet well mr simuliski i'm going to stop you right there i've been liaison to the parking committee for a year and a half now and you know fully well this is always going to be a paid garage a paid multi-deck correct from that so there is no surprise here that this is going to be paid no but you also know that the discussions included what will be the requirements for residents and employees and that has not been determined yet no what was happening was there were spaces that you know are lost already because of the playground because of the lower deck so you're fully aware that there is multiple spaces that aren't going to be available to any patrons that you or um individuals that you have tenants you have in this and you also know that the parking garage multi-deck is going to be something people have to pay for i understand so i don't know where you've been for a year i know i and what i've been getting to is you know this is always going to be a paid parking system and now you're acting as though you're surprised it's not no no i'm not surprised at that at all i thought i heard that okay i thought i just heard that i'm going to use the bar we have had this discussion we're going in different directions guys how much is the parking what's the part i just i just want to go back to the seeker issues because the 2020 parking study that was included in the seeker review and the potential plan for main street the parking study included the pile up which would require payment in lieu of parking for residential structures so that's something that the board's considering number one number two if we uh if the plan that was submitted which was what was completed at the time talked about eliminating additional parking stalls on main street what we're doing now is less than that so we were looking at a worst case scenario so there's no change it's actually less impactful so there would be no need to change any of this okay just making sure that we're clear about that okay uh we're not here to talk parking well no but you brought it up and i think what denise is talking about is you know as much as as what the parking district committee uh is talking about is not included in this project the project that proposes zero parking in an area of town which everyone acknowledges is an area that needs parking and is short of parking in fact one of the other parking district committee members connie los andrew has talked repeatedly and been very concerned through her role in the chamber of commerce and as a parking district committee member about this exact area and her the person that she works for that has the brewery and so you know while other people didn't weren't required under the parking district rules to provide parking the people that um have built buildings have provided parking for their tenants and so you know the the town board's working hard to make sure that parking isn't an issue it's been an ongoing thing we've done multiple studies and i think you know we're making very good progress but clearly um the addition of something that needs quite a few stalls and the and the need for it to be successful i mean i think that's the reason other developers provided parking in their own buildings because to rent an apartment you know right you don't want to be walking a long distance so it's just it's just uh really i think that the board is expressing absolutely was it a requirement for the apartment dave galla's apartment across the the street on mcdermott were they required to have a parking garage no no but they're working they just did it they just did it and the the new heatherwood building also has 150 plus i mean the geometry of this site being very small it's only 30 feet in one direction doesn't really allow us the luxury of having parking um mr castronova is well aware of that um again when it comes to parking we're relying on the document that was prepared by the town with an egg deck that says that you you have addressed the parking you gave it a hard look and that other impacts 13f uh under the negative declaration uh part two of your environmental review that you did says there will be a 500 space parking garage to replace existing parking lots lost by development and meet new parking demands thank you that 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 they parked their car. We had a parking meeting scheduled today which a number of members can't make it so that was postponed. I think it's now going to be on the 11th? July 11th. You couldn't make it. Myself and Connie. Which is half the committee. So we'll certainly take that up then because that's not for discussion here. But we do have the requirement not the requirement. We do fall under the requirements of the code with regard to the not requiring on-site parking. There is going to be sufficient parking downtown as per your secret review and approval. Mr. Cascianova is well aware of the proximity to his property of that and has no concern and is moving forward. And we're good with that. The other matters are matters for another day.
I just don't want you to build the building and not have tenants because there's no parking. That's my concern. You know what? When I'm done with this you'll see. It's going to be a class act. I'm not going to just have people I'm going to make arrangements for them some way, somehow. If the lot has, like many other towns, monthly they'll understand that in their lease. Or if they want to walk, they'll understand that as well. I remember the first round when I was ready to do the first one I had a lot of people in line. Actually, I put out a little lottery on my own and out of those spaces I must have had about 500 applicants. But then when I put a hold on that you know, I just finished an apartment in Baldwin, apartment building in Baldwin, and they do have parking with different places that people buy and out of 33 apartments they had 6,000 applicants. That's a shortage of this. That's why I want to try to help the community and see how I can get for these, you know, people to come in. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. So the question then comes is would you contribute to purchase parking in the garage? Like by space. So it's going to allocate 11 spaces in the garage. Or it'll be like a monthly thing. Your spots. But it contributes to the overall cost of the garage. So you pay for 11 parking spaces that's needed for this project and you contribute to the cost of the parking garage. Does anyone know what that value might be? I want to help this town. It's a beautiful corner there. I want to help things look better. That little eyesore on the corner has to go away. What's the, anyone know a value so I could see if they could support the business plan? The payment in lieu of parking that was recommended in the 2020 study and again in the 2022 update to that study was going to require, and this is now four or five years ago, 12,000 space per the town code. Whatever your residential units would generate. Not the commercial. Just residential. That's five years ago. Another thing to keep in mind here is I had done a sketch a while ago. It has nothing to do with this application. I had done a sketch where we could get 64 units on the Science Center site and I know that was slated for mixed use development under this secret review. That's no longer happening. So that's up to 64 units that are not going to be built downtown because that was going to be a mixed use project to go out to somebody and of course if they wouldn't do that, they put residential in there and they can easily get 64 apartments on four floors. So you know. That would have been development that's now not going to happen because that changed after the secret review was done. So you have that and I don't know where things stand with the hotel development. I don't know if that application, I would have thought it would be shovel ready already. I don't know where it is. But that would require 80 spaces and are they going to have to buy spaces in the garage also? So there's a lot of things that have to be answered yet. And right now we have the lion's share of nine units of this application already approved and we're looking to add six more. So that's a lot of things that have to be answered yet. That's what we're here for and that's what we want to keep focused on and we meet all of the criteria as of right now and we would like to proceed forward. So where are the 11 parking spaces? That's what I'm wondering. You keep wanting to steer in a different direction but you're still not solving the overall problem. I think if you have somebody that requires a handicap sticker for their car. Yeah. Where are they going to park? There's going to be spots somewhere. There are handicapped spots now. There are handicapped spots in the parking lot in front of, down by the brewery. There are spots on, there will be spots in the public garage also. They don't have to be on site. They just have to be accessible. But the brewery itself struggles with parking so now you're going to put in there, now you're putting residences here, you're going to have the brewery's ability to function in their retail space. I mean I think Ray you're well aware of that issue with regard to the parking that's provided and the parking that will be there available to your project. That's really a decision, I can't, that's really a decision. What's the decision? Well in terms of the proximity of the parking. Oh yeah. Your comfort level in having 15 apartments with the proximity of the parking. So when you put in, so you need 11 parking spaces. Here's my thought. You know, 11 people go and park in front of the brewery and they're parked there all day long and now when other people are trying to access the brewery to go in there to go for lunch or for dinner and there's no parking they drive on past the brewery and they go someplace else. So these are the things that we have to consider how it affects all of the retail spaces around you. That would be a concern. I can tell you right now, like everybody parks in Insatiable Leeds parking lot. So you want to, you know, whether you go into Insatiable Leeds that's what it's for but then people park there and they go to Cliffs across the street, the Rendezvous, they go to Mexicandy, they start and then they start wandering Main Street and Insatiable Leeds is like their personal, their private parking lot is becoming a commercial parking lot. So those are the things. So are you going to try to park your 11, you know, cars over in Insatiable Leeds and then that's another business that's going to struggle with that? Like these are the things that we have to look at from our perspective. That's not allowed. That's a private lot. But it doesn't stop them from going in. No, town use. Good. That's what it says. That's what it says from them, from their parking lot years ago. And I don't think people find that as a spot. Also, I would say to that, Councilman, is that Dewan Community Development, they're doing a tremendous job. Downtown's, you know, everybody's looking for this to be successful. There have been ongoing discussions. We're really in, you know, we aren't canceling our meeting. That's why this month parking because we're still going to have next month's meeting. There's a lot happening and a lot of discussion going on with Kevin Wood and all of these plans for parking downtown, including the side streets and residents and everything else. So there's still a lot of ground that has to be covered parking wise. But the first part of your statement is really not accurate in terms of you need parking, making it sound as if you need it on site. Okay. He doesn't need any parking on site. The parking is provided as part of the parking district. I know where you're coming from. There's proximity in Ozeral. There's proximity in Ozeral. The things that we're reviewing as the parking committee and Dewan and everybody, and Mr. Wood, those are all a work in progress. We've been working on very hard, I think. Correct. So how would you do- Not on new buildings without parking. We've been working on the garage. We've been working on that. We've been working on where do you put the other spaces, how big the garage is going to be. But it hasn't been considering, in fact, you've been complaining about the loss of parking back behind your building. Okay. And I'm just concerned that you've been mentioning that all along, and honestly, this is the first time I'm hearing about your apartment complex without parking. It just seems contradictory to what you've been talking about. You can't put parking in. So what do you do? How do you sell it? You can't do anything. You buy spaces. Did you consider along the street, like bumping the curb in and making a few spaces along the garment? You know what it is? It's all a matter of cost. If it works in here and it works with the apartment complex, it's all a matter of cost. I think it's a good idea. I think it's a good idea. And it works with the income to debt, and it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I'm good at math. I can't, I tell everyone I'm never going to win a spelling bee, but I can definitely put shapes together in math. So if there's something that I could do to help some way and it works, I could, but that's, you know, it's a cost to do all this stuff. And then the return on this over the years is an expense on that as well. And I'm willing to bear it to make it, you know, make a nice place. It also becomes a cost to the other businesses. Right. A cost to the other businesses when there's a lack of parking or their parking being used to offset lack of parking for, you know, an apartment complex. We have to consider, you know, the whole picture here. If I could, I would. If I can't, so now I'll fall back down onto the town. What are you guys doing to make sure that this doesn't affect others moving forward? So you have to be more comfortable with this. If we're building a town garage, and if you said, I would like to purchase and reuse, you know, I would like to buy a new garage. I would like to purchase and reserve 12 spaces that will be by permitted. That's going to take those 12 cars that need to park in your property, and you're going to turn around and compensate the town to help build that garage. And whatever, if it ends up being 15,000 a space or so now, and you're putting up 150, 65,000, $165,000 towards parking garage, now you have dedicated 11 parking spaces. So it's 15,000 a space. If I was renting a place from your building, I would know that's my spot. I'm going there. I don't have to pay. I got it. It's there all the time. And I don't have to do circles around the village, but I'm also not impeding the other businesses. Yeah. So 15,000-dollar spots, that's a hundred and... I'm just doing a rough estimate. It was 13,000 a couple years ago. I think it was 12,000, 12,500. That was a couple years ago. That was five years ago. I'll say 10. I'll just say 10,000. We'll figure out what the real number is. So that'll be 110,000 dollars for 11 spots. Right. So this is just for math that I want to see, because I sell a lot of cars. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Is this going to be an upfront cost, or will you be willing to take this money over a period of time? That's a big number for me to put into my proforma. Yeah. That should help. That should help. So it's something in which you would have to work into an agreement. And then the pile-up was recommended, and everybody agreed that that was a good way to sort of handle the people who wouldn't be able to handle the people who wouldn't Yeah. [transcription gap] Yeah. [transcription gap] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. you're doing a garage and it's going to accommodate parking whether it's paid or whatever it is that's what the parking will be there okay so right now as far as this application is concerned there's no requirement to do that and it could be something that's negotiated obviously but it's not something that could be negotiated as a condition of us gaining approval we haven't as of right approval all right so yeah and remember one thing that $15,000 a spot that's 1.2 million dollars for the hotel if they're going to space $15,000 a spot there they have that near budget the same way he has in his budget that math works the same for both projects they're going to pay 1.2 million he has there's there going to be parking underneath the hotel as well he has a parking number you know in 150 years designing it so that he has parking underneath the hotel but those decisions have to be made because you've got a hotel you've got apartment you've got all these things happen but the hotel has its own parking the question is is that over time which is a good question that's a big difference right you know it makes it really is and you're gonna have no matter what happens I mean personally I think the parking garage is undersized but when you start getting people in the science center and Suffolk Theatre etc etc it's gonna blow out no matter what happens when you pull up about a where you live right you may have to a couple of times on a Friday night you don't have to park over here we talked about this you know it's not about people are you know you go to Home Depot you park half a mile away you walk into the Home Depot you want you know you don't worry about walking people are too adjusted to walking you know 15 steps from where they want to go the objective of the entire walkability piece of the downtown revitalization is that park once and it's convenient safe and comfortable to walk because of lighting and sidewalks and signage and all those things so that's the goal at the end of the day so for your your tenants to park far away should be should be all okay the the question is is the pile up because the the original parking district was not ever never envisioned large residences large numbers of residences right when it was created and so it talked it was really for just business so the businesses didn't need a park in the town would handle the parking and that's how it went but when the town changed the zoning in 2004 and allowed the five-story buildings the mixed-use buildings in the downtown area which was part of the comp plan and it's been you know a successful endeavor since then and we just we just we just we just we just we just we just we just we just we do need the housing as you say the need for parking changed and so that's when the pile up was introduced to cover the cost of the residential tenants which you know and there should be a nice dovetail there because the business tenants would work during the day and the residential tenants would be in the evening and the way the parking our parking consultant is discussing and generally accepted parking principles is the closer parking to the right to the businesses is the short-term parking and so the the the the the the the the the residential residents are going to be parking there during the day they're going to have to park far away and if they want to park overnight maybe from you know 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. they would be able to get closer to the building there would be less regulation but you know I guess it's still the practical reality of this particular location in the context of parking because this has been a little bit of a bottleneck in that area and there's been some concern so those are the things I think the board's gotta make sure of. to think about and for sure you know replacing the parking that's being removed with new public spaces with the 504 unit garage which will be expandable in the future is adequate in the town uh board just purchased this building and added another 260 plus spaces to the parking inventory and so uh you know the public parking inventory and so that's those are all positives in the direction they're just not proximate to where your building is that's all i mean yeah my job for my client he pays me to design him a project and play by the rules so we designed a building that meets the zoning meets all the codes meets all the requirements we're playing by the rules we would like to get this approved because he has to wait for the second part of the approval to close his funding that he has in order to build the building so the longer this delays the longer it hurts him these are all the things that we're going to be having in the future with the parking committee and everybody else that's not it's not going to change so we're playing by the rules we'd like to get continue with this for public hearing get a resolution to get approval as all those things will again play on the future so this is as of right right now as of right all right but okay out of the circle of as a right i said i work with everybody i try to make things and i solve problems with solutions if there are things that develop in the future that are going to be a problem for the future i'm not going to change that but i'm going to continue to work with the future i'm open to listening to make sure but i just want to move forward with this as a bright and i could figure certain things out as you move forward i think it's a great project i thought it was when i saw it pre-planning so i'm good with it i mean we can speculate on parking to where you know blue in the face and or what dropped dead from it you know i mean there's going to be parking we know it's coming so we want to create yeah so i don't see the problem when i grew up if i was able to park my car four blocks away happy but that's not river exactly same thing in the city if you're a half mile from where you want to be you're happy but yeah this isn't the city no i understand but you can have people that you know live in people come to uh theater or a restaurant or whatever i mean you know they're gonna have to park where they park yeah and as someone said if there was a place that i could use and make a few more spots somewhere i want a construction company i'm doing work around river clog here there i know excavators terry excavating or they work with me if there's a little area that you want to see a couple of spots and some grass go away but you know me i figured things out why don't you cut this whole thing in half and go up like 12 stories and then you can put all the parking right on mcdermott just make it look like a big tower oh we're not allowed to do that for that sorry
thank you gentlemen okay thank you all right thank you
all right next up we have matters surrounding battery battery energy storage system 221 scott avenue calverton with matt charters and a very patient group of people that have been here all day everybody file in um Allison, if you want to introduce everybody for the record and then I'll get started on my staff report. Sure. Good morning slash afternoon. I'm the supervisor and work. Allison Scalfani with Weber Law Group. Graham Weber with Weber Law Group. Austin Schwer with Sundial. Yeah, I was going to say. And from Capital. I was going to say, I just need the last name again. Joe Fusillo with LaBella. Joe's our civil engineer. Nick is our safety. Right, yes. He's our safety. He's our safety consultant. Austin is the CEO of the company. We're lawyers. Okay. Everybody knows me. Matt Tarrasini planning for the town of Weber. Thanks for meeting me. This is a site plan and special permit application for a tier two battery energy storage system. Second application of this type that the town board has seen. If you guys recall, we've already reviewed a much larger application on Edwards Avenue. This is significantly smaller at five megawatts located in EpCal. I did distribute a staff report. I got to you guys all a couple weeks ago. This did get updated earlier this week, which I think you all got a copy of. Understanding where this is in EpCal. I will take advantage of the camera. So this is the what I call the large building in EpCal. Smaller building here next to it at this is at 221 Scott Avenue. So right in this general vicinity here where my finger is, you can barely see it. That's where this facility is going to be. It's in a 1300 square foot area. So in the context of the entire piece of. Property, it is pretty small.
So as I said, this is for bus. It's within the 7.445 acre parcel, which is a lot 19 within the Calverton Camelot to subdivision at EpCal. PIP zoning use district at 221 Scott Avenue. The property already has an existing industrial warehouse on it. It's a map or storage. This really has no impact with it. Uh, situated all the way in the. This is the south west. Uh, portion of the property. There is a paved. I'll call it a roadway. It's not a town road. It's on private property. And then if the border calls to the Calverton satellite earth station project, just for context, just right about here on the next property, which wraps around. After red correct. This is in the Manorville fire district, Manorville fire district. It's been referred. We haven't gotten comments back from Manorville yet. Um, you'll have a full application that complies largely with our battery. Uh, energy storage code, which, uh, it provides a very nice punch list for reading this application. So in the most regard, this does comply, uh, in regard to secret. I apologize. So it says there's actually two secret sections on your report. This is an unlisted action. We did not coordinate on this, uh, application just because of the size and scale. There's not anticipated to be a huge environmental impact from this, uh, this project, just the nature of the use. Um, so we're choosing. My recommendation is not coordinated. Rubio. Um, in terms of the battery code, as I said, largely complies. Uh, if you flip through to page five, they're not providing any landscape, which is a code requirement. Um, similarly to the satellite earth station, this is in the middle of an improved industrial park where there's every industrial uses and on a portion of the property where you can't really see this application. The nearest road is Scott Avenue, which is all the way to the north. It wraps around. So it's going to look very small from that publicly viewable area. Yeah. So the applicant will have to request a waiver from the town board for that landscaping requirement. And it's the board's purview whether or not you want to grant that waiver. Uh, moving on some other issues that we have, uh, we just need more information, I believe, on the elevations for the batteries, uh, storage containers themselves, uh, indicates that there's going to be a 10 foot fence around the, around the facility, which exceeds the height limit by code. We're at seven feet. So that'll have to be revised down. Yeah. Yeah. We'll stick with seven feet. Seven. Yep. So we had seven and compliance. Okay. Uh, we're also asking for a, a noise study, just something we're asking for on all these applications, which I believe the applicant, uh, is already in process on, uh, moving towards the referral portion of this. Uh, we did get a correspondence back from Shippo just because this isn't an archeological sensitive area. They're not anticipating any impacts to, uh, any historic or archeological resources in the area. We've got no comments back from the town engineer. He didn't have any based on the size and scope of the project. This did go before the planning commission on June 4th, which approved with comments, typical comments that we're receiving on all these applications, uh, just to ensure it's compliant with our standards, that it's meeting the standards of the draft fire, uh, code changes, which as we all know, they haven't been made yet, but this does comply with what the changes will be. Um, consulting engineer. I'm still waiting on comments from Vinnie. The fire marshal did note, uh, the hazmat nature of this, uh, installation. And that we currently are looking to start a hazmat team and the, that the local fire district, uh, district will need training. As I mentioned before, nothing from Manorville yet. This has also been to review, uh, referred to New York state DC, because this is in tiger salamander jurisdictions within potentially within a thousand feet of the breeding pond. Just so the board understands where that is generally is well to the West on the Western side of Eastern wholesale fence. So for the tiger salamander made it to this property. From there, I'd be very impressed. It'd be probably the world's strongest and largest tiger salamander, but those are the jurisdiction limits put in by the DC. So we're before taking an action on this in terms of secret, we're scheduling a public hearing. Just like to get an all clear as to procedure on what they want to do. Well, like the plug there, electric cars. And when they get there, it's way over here. They'd have to go through Eastern wholesale fence across the railroad, the mile and a half across the railroad tracks through a fence across the road. To you. So I just want to say a couple of quick things. We brought our whole team here. Austin actually flew in from Minneapolis. He took an overnight flight to, uh, to get here just to, uh, to be here, um, to answer any questions that you have. And again, a civil engineer and our, and our safety coordinator, um, magic, a hundred percent, right? This is a great checklist. I mean, the code is, is very clear as to what we need to do to comply. Um, and, uh, in the areas that we don't comply, such as plantings, we've talked about that in, you know, um, if that's something the town board wants, we could certainly work on a way to try to get some plantings around the site. Um, or, or the waiver. Um, but we will do the noise study. We're going to change the fence, the, to the conforming height. So, um, just trying to make sure that we leave nothing, um, uh, open as a, uh, regarding that as the special permit criteria. And I did reach out to Manitoba fire department, talk to Chris Steele and we're going to have a conversation and make sure they're comfortable with everything. Probably don't meet with that generic question about, you know, um, the best systems they're acquiring on the platform. You mentioned the platform. What's the height requirement on place? Is. Is there a standard or not or not? Like for the concrete pad. Yeah. Typically like under a foot. Certainly. Uh, you know, cause I, I always wondered about water, you know, if there was a flood and, but I would guess the container itself also has some depth before any water would get into the container. Yeah. As far as water intrusion there, they're, um, designed for their environment. So they're, they're pretty resilient against water getting into the enclosure, but yet if you're installing within. The flood zone, you'd want to make sure that it's still elevated above a flood zone because you don't want standing water. Yeah. I mean, cause now, and you're not, you feel your own investment into this. Right. It's hard. So, yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So I have some questions. So what I understand PSEG and LAPR, um, not opt into the VDR. So, which makes a lot of these projects not financially viable. And so I'm just curious on. Okay. [transcription gap]
Okay. Okay. You know, are we bonding full coverage to dismantle this project? And if it has to be, you know, dismantled? It's required by code in the decommissioning plan that they have full restoration to however it was preceding the development. Most of the projects, you know, have been backing out on these projects. So what makes yours different? I think a few things. So this project will participate in the VETER program, but it will not, PSIG has not opted into the retail storage program, which is allocating state funds to essentially buy down construction costs. So we feel like this is a very financeable project. Should, I mean, obviously our goal is to operate it for the 25 years that we have site control for. And we are not reliant on the retail storage program incentive from NYSERDA. So we are just participating in the VETER program. And we are not going to be doing it through PSIG. You have a signed agreement with them already? We do, correct. Yeah, we've already gone through the process with PSIG and have a signed interconnection agreement with them. Okay. And then so it becomes fully bonded. And then what if NYSERDA comes out with any other additional between creative issuing a building permit to date of essentially a COO completion of the project? If they make any changes, you know, during that duration of time. Towards upgrades to fire protection, suppression and so forth. How do we address them? Does it apply in the ongoing basis like so? Until it's built, it's going to have to comply with whatever code is out there. And as of now, it's complying with what I believe will be the future fire code. With the draft that's already made it through. Yeah, because they have to prove the outline. And you're looking at that outline. The publicly available draft this complies with. It's already compiled. Okay. And then the fire safety works with the governor's workforce, the safety task force. So what has been publicly released is in the very, you know, foreseeable future what is going to be required for fire safety. They've done a significant amount of work and legwork into that just to make sure that these systems are safe. So I don't really see anything that's going to be major that's going to be anything different from what's being proposed for this site plan. I always ask every best developer. Suffolk County Fire Academy does offer classes and so forth. And they do have certain programs. But I'd like to know whether or not you would financially be invested to like Manorville Fire Department towards doing on, you know, hiring trainers and doing on-site training at this particular facility and site. You know, that. So are you willing to invest in the local fire department to, you know, to outside of the fire academy's training to provide training for them and provide services so that they have a better understanding and perhaps training on site? Yes. So as Allison mentioned. Yeah. So we do have Nick here who is willing to coordinate a training discussion, do an on-site meeting with the fire department. We can walk through all of that. I believe also as part of the new fire codes. There's going to be required. There's going to be a recurring training through that. So, yeah, we will be in regular communication. It's a requirement of the emergency response plan. So not only developing the emergency response plan with input from the local fire department but the initial training that what we call the familiarization drill. And like Austin mentioned, regular recurring training. Just to make sure we can cover turn around as well in the department. So now our solar project on the landfill made certain requests. You know, the Red Hat fire department made certain requests to them what was necessary, you know, to give their blessing on the project. Which I just want to make sure. Manitoba, as we all know, has not responded. But I think before, you know, getting a, you know, dropping a gavel and giving a silver fool a phone, we really need to have insight from Manitoba fire department. Absolutely. And we have to make sure that they have the proper equipment and necessary. We have been asking at the town level, too. We just haven't gotten back up. And we've committed to doing some sort of discussion meeting with them before we come to the public hearing in order to get on the same page with them. So we'll have that information for you at the public hearing. Yeah, I spoke with Chris Steele. I'm going to be sending him over some documentation and then we're going to have a meeting after that. Okay. Ken, like you were talking about, like the blankets, the certain type of blankets that they need and the cost of those. Yeah. Would you be paying for those blankets? Fire blankets. Those particular type that you need on these systems. There's a lot of work that's being done right now with fire blankets. They've been tested and tried for electric vehicles. There's also been some information released from the UL Fire Safety Research Institute about the complexities of using fire blankets and some of the downsides of using fire blankets. For this sort of technology for stationary energy. For stationary energy storage systems. As an emergency responder during training, we do not recommend using any sort of fire blanket which would require the fire department to get there closely and sort of implement this blanket on top of the equipment. It's got a tremendous amount of fire protection features already built into the box that we don't want to interfere with, especially with something that we call explosion protection. Really important fire safety system that we rely on and it's been tested and validated for these systems. The emergency response procedures are very defensive for the fire department. Stage, manage the incident, use monitoring if needed to just get a sense of what's going on. Severely limit and restrict the amount of water to be used not aggressively, only defensively if only necessary. A lot of these go into the procedures with our emergency response. We don't foresee any need for any special equipment. If the medical fire department needs access to some of the typical things that we talk about like four or five gas meters, it's typically an outfit that they've put on. It's not something that they're already familiar with or something that they're already utilizing. So special equipment, I don't really foresee anything, but we are definitely willing to work with the fire department to support them with anything that they think that they would need to be able to be well outfitted to respond to an incident. Just where I'm coming from with our ERPs, it's usually the most important tool for them to have at their disposal is the emergency response plan and familiarity with it. Because there are some very unique things that they need to know for stationary energy storage systems. I think what Nick's saying is you don't want the fire department close enough to have to actually touch and put it in. Oh, I understand what you're saying. I just know with the other system, they were looking for those. Yeah, I think the talent code is now what we're looking for is that when those items are utilized, that there'll be an expected reimbursement towards them. So that's what our talent code is saying. So that if it's necessary to deploy them, that you're going to be responsible to cover the cost of that. Okay. And then you're going to have to pay them to replace them. Yeah, they're stepping up to such a high cost to them. Right. Yeah. That's going to be talent code. Heading out? So no immediate action until we hear from the DEC. I don't know if the Board has more questions, but that should be an easy open and close question once we get it answered. The DEC? DEC, yeah. No, I'll reach out to you. Yeah, I just want to make sure that if you're going ahead that you're planning on developing and fully completing the project. And this is not something in which you're monitoring what the state change is going to be. And there are some coming down the pipe right now from the federal level as well. That this is not something that's going to be HEF into and then decided that it's a no-go. No, not at all. And we're sitting here looking at a HEF developed project. Financially things are changing. Yeah, no, absolutely. No risk, yeah. So they bond everything up front before they begin, right? As a condition of approval, there's a decommissioning process. There's a decommissioning plan with a decommissioning bond for full restoration. And they also, you know, Sunisle is also committed because they've already put their contracts in place with PSAG before we even get to this stage. So. Yeah. A lot happens in the foreground, I guess, with the utility provider before they even make it to the town hall. Yeah. Everybody's whispering. Nobody's going to pick up these phones. They don't want to be in the house. That's a recurring problem. Sounds good. All right. Thank you. Anybody have a clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head clear head to a notice of adoption because I think it's important that we have it in the code so everybody understands. I'm fine with it. I'm sorry I didn't read it. No, that's okay. I did read it. No, I didn't send it. I'm going to send it out to you today. I was actually working on it for you guys who are in exec. I'm sorry to keep you anxious. Yes. But if the board's okay, I'll add it. I'll circulate it. If anyone has questions, is it still the same number, Devin, Resolution 13, Calvin and Saturday Air Station? I don't know. Everything got re-numbered. Reprinted, yeah. Yes, it's 12. I'm sorry, it's 12 now. That's fine. If the board has any questions about that, once we get to it, I'll get it. Okay. Thanks, Matt. You're welcome. Okay, so the board's getting an updated copy of the resolution packet. This is reflective of what was intended to be circulated last night. And there was a glitch with the clerk's running minute track. And that is what you have now is the version that's on the website for the public to view. And that's what we're going to read from today. Okay, so if everybody's ready, we'll get ready. To it, it's a short list of resolutions today. Resolution number one, Water District Capital Project number 82508, budget adoption for Laika Cauliflower Square. Number two, appoints public safety dispatchers to the police department. All right. We are finally moving forward, and the chief feels that we are going to be at full tilt soon. We have good candidates coming on, so this is great. Okay, good. Number three, appoints seasonal park attendant to the recreation department. Number four, appoints seasonal recreation aide to the recreation department. Number five, ratifies the appointment of a seasonal recreation aide to the recreation department. Number six, ratifies the appointment of a call-in chaperone to the recreation department. Number seven, accepts the retirement of a water treatment plant operator 2B. Number eight, authorizes the chief of police to execute an agreement with Riverhead Community Awareness Program, Inc. Number nine, authorizes the supervisor to execute an agreement authorizing the town to accept funds from the Suffolk County Office for the Aging to supplement the town's shopping assistance program for the elderly 2025. Number 10, authorizes the supervisor to sign a license agreement with Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company for an automated teller machine, ATM, in the lobby of Riverhead Justice Court. This is to replace the one that's there that doesn't work anymore. Number 11, acceptance of 1,400,000 New York State ESD CFA grant for Town Square Riverfront Amphitheater. Number 12, grants special permit preliminary and final site plan approval for the Suffolk County Office for the site plan and special permit applications entitled Calverton Satellite Earth Station 317391 Berman Boulevard, Calverton, New York, Suffolk County Tax Map number 600-135.2-1-16. Number 13, authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for Ford auto parts. Number 14, authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for auto parts. Number 15, authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for truck parts. Number 16, authorizes the town clerk to publish and post for request for proposals number two for the sale of 214 Griffin Avenue. They're going to try to cast a wider net this time around and publish it in a couple of additional newspapers. Number 17, awards bid for corrosion control chemical PO4. Number 18, approves fireworks application for Riverhead Bid Mugs. Number 19, approves head head head head head head head head I'm told we have to make a couple of adjustments to this resolution. So the first is in the heading. It should read, approves fireworks application for a live on 25-7-18-25. The first whereas, rather than fireworks display at Garanchville Park, it should read along the river in Riverhead because the fireworks are going to be shut off from a barge this year. The start time for the fireworks, it reads 9-30. It should be 9 p.m. And the rain date, rather than July 19, it should read August 22. And again, the same time for the proposed rain date if needed, 9 p.m., not 9-30. So all those changes will be adjusted and reflected in the resolution packet that will be distributed and put on the website for the public tomorrow at the end of the day. And then in the now therefore be it resolved. The year is now. There is a reference to the Riverhead Raceway. That of course has to come out. So a couple of adjustments will be made there. That will get cleaned up. Okay. Number 19, approves fireworks application for Jamesport Fire Department 7-19-25. Number 20, pays the bills. Number 21, approves Riverhead Beach Advisory Committee recommendation and request for live music at South Jamesport Beach. Number 22, ratifies authorization for the Community Development Department. Number 23, approves the !
And number 24, approves the !
And number 25, approves the! And number 26, approves the! And number 27, approves the! And 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, opportunity for residents to come down veterans are not to support our veterans of foreign war and they're all they do not just their former sacrifices in which they made but just they have a lot of great community events you know they run the fourth Memorial Day parade and other events in town and do a lot for the community so they really made an effort to beautify their back lawns and created a memorial garden which looks really nice so please come down and support them what time is that 12 noon on Saturday okay and I have a motion to close open session and go into executive session seconded all in favor aye all opposed okay we are closed we're going to go into executive session thank you everybody
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