Full Transcript

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you. Does anybody have any announcements this morning that they'd like to make from the board? Sure. So, this Saturday morning at 8.30, bring your bicycles to Stotsky Park for the PALB. Bike Rodeo, I think, at 8.30 p.m. It's a.m. Somebody, my notes, they did this on purpose. It's 8.30 a.m. Okay. Sorry. It's always such a great event. It's so well attended. It's nice to see the kids out riding their bicycle. They're not on any handheld devices. They've got their hands on the steering wheel, and they're chugging along. It's great. There's some challenges there, too, for the little kids there. Some of the courses are figure eights and so forth. Yeah. They do a great job. And I think the 8 p.m. was my typo for the America 250, which is tomorrow night at the Suffolk Theater, the Great American Bash. It's almost sold out, so make sure if you would like to be there, be there, because it's going to be awesome. It's going to be a great time. There's going to be costume contests, dress in your period pieces, and that would be awesome. We also have the Fourth Before the Fourth coming up in Grangeville Park. There'll be more details soon. So, anybody? Yes, ma'am. I just wanted to thank everybody that came out from the community for the anti-semitism, anti-litter spring cleanup. It was a very well-attended event. The anti-litter committee has put together a short video that, once it's approved by the town, we're going to put out on social media to show the great efforts of the residents of the town. Thank you. I really appreciate it. And I'll thank the Rotary Club on behalf of the Veterans Advisory Committee. So, we got most of the banners up this weekend, and our Building and Grounds crew was even out yesterday repairing a few other ones that were broken, and we'll have some of the rest of the ones up this weekend. And so, we're getting prepped and ready for Memorial Day to honor those that gave their lives in the line of duty. But also, the veteran banners will hang up. They'll come down partially during the summer months for the 250 celebration, but then all the veterans' banners will be back up in place for Veterans Day. So, thank you very much for the Rotary's help. They were phenomenal, a large group. So many members came out, and it was a lot quicker to get them up this year. So, thanks. Outstanding. Anybody else? All right. Well, with that concluding, we'll . . . Did you have something, Bob? No. Okay. Thanks. Well, we have our open session starting with . . . we're going to begin with matters surrounding a presentation by the Business Improvement Management Association, the BIDMA, and Councilman Waskie. Thank you. Come on up, guys. Thank you. All three of you, come on. Thanks so much. Hi. Absolutely. So, I am very excited. I'm very excited to have you guys here this morning. BIDMA has hired a new Executive Director, Melissa Martin. If you guys want to state your names for everybody so that the public knows who you are. Great. Thank you. Yeah, Melissa Martin. So, I'm the new Executive Director here for BIDMA. My name is Wendy Weiss. I'm the Executive Director of the East End Arts Council, and the Vice President of the BIDMA. And I'm Gary Hagum, Director of the Shuffik, and President of the BIDMA. Thank you. So, at our last BIDMA meeting, Melissa Martin did a presentation of the ideas and the focus for the Business Improvement District. And I was moved to tears practically because finally the vision that I have seen for downtown came alive at that meeting. And I said please, please, please come to a work session and let the public see what you are working on. So, I thank you for coming in. in this morning and board I think that you are going to be so happy after you see this presentation so thank you for all that you've done. Thank you. No pressure though. I love it. Thank you. We'll go up to my presentation. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Get the tissues out now. We'll wait until afterwards. Really good. I'm telling you. It's like. No that was great that you were here. Thank you. So I'm casting to one of the screens. I don't think you'll be able to see this as well. Is that okay? Sure you don't have to ask her any questions through the presentation. She's going to cover everything so any questions keep them until the end. Exactly. Exactly and that's kind of how I'll start as well and just saying that you know this presentation. Shows the process and you know how we approached research, the data, comparisons to other business improvement districts, what's happening on Long Island and our audiences. It really takes into consideration heavily who we speak to. So that's what I'm sharing here in this presentation and then we get to the really good stuff at the end. So okay. Moving right along. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So our downtown Riverhead messaging architecture. Our brand promise is that we are the authentic gateway to the East End. We're a year round walkable hub where historic maritime soul meets a bold new craft culture. It is the only destination that bridges the gap between New York City energy and the tranquility of the two forks. So this is where we are putting together all of the messaging. This is that core of where we want to go with how we promote downtown Riverhead. So this is also how we build from here. The three key points being considered are our core value and unfiltered authenticity. Unlike the curated perfection of the Hamptons. Riverhead offers real history. Diverse flavors. And an approachable luxury. The primary differentiator is that it's bimodal access. The physical and cultural midpoint between the North Fork and agritourism and the South Fork. It's also a crawlable or walkable downtown. Everything from soul food to award winning breweries. Everything's within a ten minute walk. And some really great food for sure. Really great. So here we start our strategic marketing plan. This was where we really did a deep dive into our research. So the multi-source research of this data, this was pulled from many different sources. And it puts us in a very important market position. So here we have downtown Riverhead is currently emerging from a transitional phase into a prime destination status. It serves as the geographic and cultural gateway to the East End. And while adjacent hubs, Huntington and Patchogue have matured, Riverhead retains a unique unfiltered maritime soul that appeals to modern authenticity seekers. And in marketing today, as you may all know, authenticity is key. And that's what we are. Another thing I'd just like to share off of this, if everyone can see. Right? Is that okay? Okay. So yeah, our opportunities here are infrastructure. The Town Square project creates a massive physical anchor. Our audience shift. You know, we've seen increasing escape from New York City demographics moving east from New York City and into Suffolk County. And then we have the unique asset, the Long Island downtown with integrated riverfront and historic theater district. Okay. Great. So this is key information that I will use as, you know, the marketing approach. I mean, that's really, that's my background, right? Is everything marketing and strategy. So this is really important in guiding where we're going to be amplifying our messages to our audiences. You know, now on the left, we are going to deep dive into the personas, but you'll see the personas that we have. So we have a lot of different things that we have to start with. There are six of them, the curated connoisseur, family visitors, cultural explorers. We'll get into those in a minute, but this is basically what is feeding where we post on social, you know, what groups should we be a part of, you know, where, where is it really valuable to put out press, you know, and, and really reach people. There's news 12 on this list. Physical signage, LinkedIn. Different things. You know, we're going to be talking about the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, [transcription gap]

we will get to those in a moment but these are the pillars for us to create from so our positioning statement downtown riverhead is the authentic soul of the east end a walkable riverfront junction where craft culture meets historic grit we offer an unfiltered experience for those who value discovery so this is the pillars the gateway junction of the forks the craft farm to pint density here and the stage we're an artsy historic culture here

okay so this is a high level look at our initial measure of measurables i know that's something that we talked about supervisor a little bit so this is just a regarding our initial marketing strategy these are the types of metrics that we can aim for so while we discuss these numbers as initial goals these are our reachable goals and these are our goals and these are our goals and benchmarks and a great place to start so with each initiative that we take on um you know we'll have different metrics for those but for this this is that overall high level we would like to see an increase of 20 percent by of foot traffic an increase in 20 year-round visitors measured by mobile location data check-ins and visible economic growth for businesses you know one of our our key things now that we need to do all the time and that i know i'm out there doing is making sure that we're constantly connecting with our businesses downtown and hearing from them their challenges pain points goals things like that so that's going to feed into also knowing that economic growth you know what are you guys seeing out here you know um so that's that one metric then we look at digital and our online a 3.5 times increased growth and that's going to be a huge impact on our business [transcription gap] improvement as we move along so okay channel strategy and tactics this is where we're now integrating themes and tactics to take in order to increase our engagement numbers and it all starts online our member relationships are also a key factor here like I just talked about you know working together to come up with offers and promotions that connect our efforts to each of these businesses and that's where we're really going to grow so that's where we're going to reach those benchmarks by highlighting what downtown Riverhead really has to offer and amplifying events that achieve this enhanced traffic as well that was something we talked about even starting with the fourth before the fourth you know really driving check-ins and you know bringing the businesses into it even though the event takes place in Granville Park so that's what this talks about so digital enhancement I'll get into a little bit of what you see on the slide here social channels a day in Riverhead approach using spotlights beauty shots and video clips this is something we we plan on integrating our SEO enhancement is big identifying and improving relevant keywords on our site so as so we need to be searchable online as well experiential and local so this is where we talk about curating offers with our businesses visible promotions driving traffic and nurturing those businesses and then we're going to be looking at how we're going to [transcription gap] codes so the river had loop this is something that is kind of an idea that in our summer and our peak season we could really play on that with a digital kind of pass or map encouraging visitors to hit possibly one beverage spa one restaurant you know one cultural venue to unlock a local legend merch item or an offer now they get an offer they could go use somewhere and then in the quieter times the winter or the shoulder seasons that's where we really want to focus on that winter warm-up focusing on the indoor appeal of downtown Riverhead theater shows gallery promotions tasting opportunities aquarium tours that that combat those seasonal tips all right here's where we get into some of our key processes and what we're going to do is we're going to go through some of our personas who we speak to we need to speak to every day and this is based on the data collected and it's a deep dive of demographic information combined with pain points decision triggers and motivations so I don't expect everybody to you know be able to kind of look at all this on the screen right now and digest it but all I'll kind of go over a high level of some key points so the first persona is the cultural explorer so the kinds of demographics that we that we're looking at so we know how to market to them you know is age range um you know who are they demographically but then even more so their lifestyle and preferences so the cultural explorer they value authenticity over flashiness they're artisanal consumers they love history they love craft beverages wine they're civic-minded this is the kind of persona that would prefer an intimate jazz setting or a theater performance as opposed to a stadium concert type of thing so their motivation and decision triggers are really huge um you know the interest level which we just talked about and then their their barriers are pain points so what are they concerned about they might be concerned about parking availability during peak event times um their perception gaps um a lingering outdated reputation of riverhead versus its current review of the riverhead and the riverhead and the riverhead and the riverhead and the riverhead revitalization so they need to see they need to hear this is the new riverhead you know our next audience is the business and investor persona so this is where you know we we want to fill those vacant spaces right in downtown riverhead on main street and this helps us understand that key audience that we want to attract the business so this business type might be mid-market developers boutique hospitality groups craft beverage entrepreneurs they specialize in urban fringe revitalization so with that you know this gives us a little bit of a an investment range what they might be looking for where they come from you know primarily new york city based firms looking for yield outside of those five boroughs or uh locals expanding right um we saw that happen too from the north fork with i think a new yoga studio that we're getting in downtown so that's awesome um and their background is decades of experience in real estate finance culinary arts or urban planning they often have a track record in patch jog or in asbury park new jersey so their objectives is early entry into the next big thing so this is where we could put it out there you know it's kind of like that fomo right the next big thing um legacy building through historic preservation and capturing the gateway traffic that's going to be their goal their decision triggers are these market readiness signals infrastructure um social proof is huge um successive events and occupancy in the newly renovated anchors in town um you know their barriers and concerns some risk factors might be the perception of safety or vagrancy in certain pockets um you know they they don't want to have to deal with a ton of red tape they're going to have some concerns about this um but the mitigation of this is you know that there is that downtown revitalization initiative so that provides a little bit of a safety net for new investors

our next persona is our craft beverage enthusiast and you know so there they also value authenticity lo-fi luxury and hyper localism um that's huge for them um you know they might be interested in culinary and food and you know they're going to be interested in food and food and culinary home brewing urban exploration indie music things like that um so they're they're day trippers they might be from western suffolk nasa county and their decision triggers they do a lot of research they select destinations based on the variety density and the ability to visit three different tasting rooms without moving their car so that walkability is huge for them g g great food here Saturday afternoon loops would be great for them and their barriers to entry would just be that parking perception they just need to know it's there is parking the walkability is there and you know the operating hours is they're all available to them okay our day tripping couples this audience primarily western Suffolk and eastern NASA county they're committed couples they value authenticity instagramable aesthetics supporting local artisans and also dog friendly accessibility so their motivations they have that interest in craft beverages beer cider spirit trail they will also value the scenic Peconic Riverwalk experience and their triggers are also seasonal festivals live theater announcements and also the perfect weather weekends

their barriers and pain points which we want to mitigate is that parking anxiety make sure that you know we could very we could mitigate this by providing like clear easy parking maps on our website or in you know what we're promoting driving them to that um you know we could also promote to them off-peak Sunday visits or late afternoon starts and the content we want to share is high energy for them um so there's no like empty perception there our family visitor persona is very important to us as well of course so families have a motivator of screen-free bonding time escaping those digital distractions for real experiences and educational entertainment combining fun with learning seasonal traditions um you know from festivals to pumpkin picking holiday lights um they seek walkability cleanliness and safety they're also very active on social media um they want that discovery um and they do their research so this is where we could you know really amplify instagram we could even um you know be sharing things on certain blogs or groups that we find and they're going to constantly be checking reviews make sure things are kid friendly and safe their decision-making factors are based definitely on you know parking availability checking the weather knowing that you know when they get there it's going to work

and our local residents this is a huge one for us as well i mean really our riverhead locals our route is large we're not going to be able to get to the river head locals we're going to have to be quite trigger new business openings and their passion point is the riverfront access that's huge for them as well okay so here is where we slow down and land on the next slide I will share the new downtown Riverhead bids mission statement and this has taken into consideration the six personas we spoke about as well as the pillars and the strategy for marketing and promotion our new mission statement to cultivate a thriving walkable downtown Riverhead as the nexus of the East End by embracing its unique historic character and arts culture while championing sustainable economic investment authentic community experiences and year-round vitality for local businesses residents and visitors alike our core taglines in our [transcription gap] to our authenticity, contrasting the grit and soul of Riverhead and its maritime soul, right? And finally, these are our supporting belief statements. We believe our maritime soul and architectural grit are our greatest assets. We don't need to be polished to be premiered, and we are a stage for all. We believe downtown Riverhead is a living theater where diverse culinary, artistic, and social experiences create a shared community legacy. Enjoyed everything.

Wow, you really expanded since your original production. What's that? You really put a lot more into it. I was trying to explain a little bit more today and deep dive into it, and yeah, we did land on our polished music. I hope you liked it. Very good. Thank you. It's very nice to see that somebody else finds the potential for our downtown and what is going to be, and I really appreciate that because I take it personally when I hear people or read people bashing Riverhead recently. Somebody just put a video out, something kind of, he thinks he's a comedian or something, and he totally bashed it. Yeah. He bashed our town, and that hurt because that is not the Riverhead that I know, and not the Riverhead that I know that is coming. And to see your vision, I love it because this is what we need. We need positivity. We need to stop the negativity. Move forward, embrace downtown, help the businesses that are open downtown right now. They need everybody's help. Go down there. Shop down there. Eat down there. Whenever, walk the riverfront. Just be Riverhead right now. Yes. Because we are headed in the greatest direction possible for downtown. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, listen, we haven't unwrapped the package yet because, you know, we're developing, right? Yes. So I can understand why people might go, oh, look at Riverhead. It's this or it's that. Sure. Exactly. You know, big deal. Who cares, right? Exactly. But you had me at advance. I love the fact that you are considering all of this. I'm sure you're going to be doing a lot of things. Yeah. You know, we're all different age groups and events, which we all know are extremely important. One of the things that I just, you know, that's always been a little bit of an issue for me, nothing to do with the bid, but I've asked for wayfinding signs on 25 and on Sound Avenue because, you know, we have so many people driving on Sound Avenue, not even knowing that, you know, whatever, 2.5 miles to the riverfront. Yeah. You know, restaurants, whatever it may be. And we're not taking advantage of alerting those people that we have this downtown. So just something I'm just going to throw out there and maybe you want to just, you know, put a pencil in on your list. Yeah. Yeah. I'll do it. I know East End Arts has done, I mean, it's really world class now. And I can't, I say it all the time, but it's, and I see the people that are attending the shows and you're attracting a lot of people that are, you know, Yeah. a lot of people that are not from here, you know, I mean, and I think that the way you get people not only that are from here, but out of here is by creating the right environments and the right events will vacuum those people in, all those people, our local people and people from outside. So, and I love your little taglines. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. But. And, you know, just even to respond to something that Joanne mentioned too, we also want to share with our businesses and beyond Downtown Riverhead too, you know, give them the messaging that they would know and be able to repeat to customers about Downtown Riverhead. So one of the things is North Fork Chocolate Company, right? They have the two locations and the North Fork location, what she hears, you know, she hears some negativity when she's like, oh, if you'd like to, you know, you'd like to get lunch, you could go to our Main Street location. And she hears some negative feedback from some people that are local. So we hope to sort of arm them with messages that they could respond when that happens. So it's, it makes it easy. They don't have to sound defensive or anything like that. Just kind of prepare them with some things that would mitigate that kind of negativity. So that's what we're hoping to do as well and spread that through the businesses and beyond. So, you know, everyone is kind of guided. Tourism and locals around the East End and around Riverhead. So that's coming, you know, as we continue to develop or attract more people, you know, and I'm just, I know people may not understand this, but bail reform plays a big part of that, you know, in general, not only for our community, but across communities in New York State. But the more people, the more things we have to attract people, you know, they're going to outnumber any of that negativity. And positivity will, you know, outnumber that. So. With that proof too, right? Yeah, just seeing it happen. I think the hope that you're bringing through this, and I love the direction, this is exciting. And Joanne, thank you for bringing them in. This is just incredible because between the arts, the theater, there's so much that's already happening in downtown. And there's always going to be that voice that tells people that there isn't, but we're going to drown that out with this good. And what a great direction. It's going to be infectious. That'll go into Polish Town, Second Street. There's businesses everywhere that are going to benefit from this. Thank you. Thank you for bringing this in, this new direction and your purpose behind all of the things that you're doing. So thank you for putting this time in and doing this and making the effort. And I think all the businesses are going to reap the rewards of your efforts. So thank you. So I think for many years we all know the potential Riverhead has always been holding and waiting for that day. And I think this is great because I think you're actually a great burst of energy, like to kind of move things forward and create the level of excitement that actually will then motivate people, you know, to get up off the couch, get in the car, and come on out. Enjoy the events and do the things because we keep talking about potential to potential to potential. And now I think when you sit here today we're like it's starting now. And so here it is. It's arrived. And we're working on it. And come visit downtown Riverhead. So it's a thank you for the big burst of energy today. Thanks. And I did mention the theater. Denise. I'm sorry. Mr. Martin. I just wanted to mention something quick. You talk about the railroad increasing service from the contaminate Riverhead. Is there anything under way about that? away about that that you were thinking yeah I would like to actually follow up on that because this was actually some sources that I use in terms of like data and pulling research and I saw that nice I wonder who I could contact to find out more about that because I do believe that that's happening and I think it will continue to to grow so yeah I'm happy to actually follow up on that for you on the screen yeah and it was right yeah it was a data point and that's something that there's everything that I actually pulled through this program that I use it has links to follow up on that so I will I just had my office reach out to MTA and we're scheduling a meeting with them so you know let you guys know when that is and we would love to have them in because we want to increase the service there that we see that's a vital parts agree also sign letters to legislative drosky who's sitting here as well you know in support to increase that service you know recorded and requested to your point about the I'm sorry so I was just going to say to Matt uh thinking about that too to put give a little bit of history into that in 1975 Easton Arts Council teamed up with the MTA to do this initiative called art train where they actually turned railroad cars into art galleries and they took them to I think it was three or to five different stations starting in Riverhead so like whenever whoever talks to the MTA and maybe he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead of the city he gets ahead Town Square and all along the strip there. And a lot of great things are coming, especially your art gallery. That looks amazing. That looks fantastic down there. So unique. And obviously the theater. I've got to tell you, the train is what, or the sliding grill on the South Fork, because I was in the Hamptons for many years, and Montauk exploded due almost 100% to train and took over almost every other Hampton at that point in popularity. So because they could train in, walk into town, spend their time. Now, not that Riverhead is a great comparison to Montauk, but if we could get the train in more. I mean, you follow your demographic and where your audience comes from closely, as do I, which really helps craft who is coming to Riverhead and where they're coming from. And we draw all the time from western Suffolk and Nassau County heavily. So train would be. It would be a huge step in the right direction. That's a big hurdle, though. Yeah. And out of our control. But we'll try. We can try. This is a great, and the thing that I'm so happy about, that we finally got this done after a year of work on this. Thank you, Melissa. But this gives us a path forward and I think gives you guys a clearer picture of where we want to go as a bid and the shift in direction, that it is more focused on driving business and helping businesses here and thinking of Riverhead not as an individual come to my shop, come to my restaurant, but come to downtown. And kind of a we're all in this together and this town should be thriving more than it is. So hopefully with a real added focus on bringing in the right businesses too, walking. We did a walk from one end of Main Street to the other with our board. And it was, if you haven't done it recently, I recommend it. It's enlightening to really get a look at what the town is, what the businesses that are available and looking into some of these available properties on Main Street. They are spectacular. They are beautiful, adorable storefronts that are crying for the right businesses. So hopefully we can focus on that much like now apparently Greenport is doing. And focus on driving. Yes.

the Suffolk Theatre to see To Kill a Mockingbird which was fantastic Gary ran into Councilman Curran there as well it appeared to me to be a sold-out show and we went to the rendezvous prior to for dinner we had to make a reservation the rendezvous was packed there wasn't a seat available for anybody it was great to see things going on downtown and we walked from the rendezvous to the Suffolk Theatre and we passed by the Riverhead flower shop and it was adorable in there I you know to see like the little trinkets that you could buy that jewelry and scarves and not just flowers it's like those are the little businesses that are down there that need the foot traffic need people to to go down there now because there are great spaces down there yeah I do I talked about East End Arts and I talked about the !

[transcription gap] with you guys just so you kind of know who's coming from where you know not personal data obviously but but percentages from what areas of the island and as businesses share information like i know you have the way theater has always worked best promotion is you have what's coming up next right when you walk through the lobby right so if an art show is promoted there if you're promoting something for the theater and as as things grow and everybody's co-promoting it makes a huge difference one of the things we were really trying to focus on was creating branding for this area and you know it felt like it took forever for us to find the executive director but i think that was really just the universe working in our favor because miss is the perfect background and personality to take all of our wild thoughts and put it into something that's an actually like actionable plan that can make sense and um you know brand is so important you know and i think that's a really important thing to do and i think that's a really important thing to do and i think that's a really important thing to do and i think that's a really important these days you can't just be a place you can't just be a shop you can't just be a thing you can't just be a theater you have to like be have this personality and we have this area has such a personality and we just wanted to like sort of outfit it and you know this downtown like there's nowhere out here that's downtown and that's where like that focus is like we want somebody you know to be in south hold and be like oh what do you want to do saturday i don't know why don't we go downtown and everybody knows they're talking about here right like down port yeah you know um and so that's kind of where this and it's got that whole vibe this little micro urbanism to it um that really helps that and that's where the new logo comes from that's where all these personas are like pulling these people it's not like any other village out here uh and that's what you know what we're trying to embrace we're trying to embrace all of the things that are about it and not just make it something it's not what i love about riverhead is what your concept about we we have it all we really do i mean the beautiful scenery on the water culture with the arts you have family friend friendly friendly activities and places here and then you have the bar and restaurant vibe as well some places i'll just name it patchhog gets the vibe of just the bars and the restaurants and no family friendly activities or greenport more of a cultured area and bars and restaurant but again no real family activity we have it all we have all these different things in this town which draws that many more people i i thank you i think this is phenomenal thank you so that's great thank you great job thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you good job and gary remember bob said he said you do a good job our next matter is uh greg jurowski suffolk county legislator uh matters surrounding possible land preservation opportunity with the town of riverhead and uh councilman waski has has been a great and uh councilman waski has has been a great and uh councilman waski has has been a great been working on this and actually emory preventee's coming up so we're excited about this it's a tough act to follow it is oh come on you can you can do it that was really impressive really great work thank you seeing with your office right around the corner you can walk down absolutely we do walk down that i've walked uh over uh here uh yesterday actually okay for the meconic estuary partnership needed and uh that's right there i would have walked today but it was drizzled you know oh come on grab an umbrella big guy exactly um so just wanted to talk about uh our ability to boost uh partnership opportunities with suffolk county and land preservation and i'd like us to be careful uh just talking about too many specifics about this project just because it is an open acquisition but this is an acquisition that as the supervisor mentioned Councilwoman Waski and my predecessor, Legislator Stark, have been working on for a while. It's kind of at the point where it's made its way through the staff at Suffolk County and at the EPA committee. And one of the issues that was raised at the past EPA committee is the fact that Riverhead Town does not want to partner with the county to do management of these open space acquisitions. And I just kind of wanted to use this as an opportunity both to talk about putting us in a better position to actually close this acquisition, but also to talk about how we can do that. And also boost our abilities to do more acquisitions in the future. So I think this is kind of a good test case to look at. But there is, to be frank, a real risk that this property won't close unless Riverhead Town agrees to some extent to partner. I guess just starting off, I did bring the rating sheet that Suffolk County uses. Let me just take one and pass it down. I'll wait until everyone has it. I have one for you. I thought I brought six. Let me just connect there. No, for him. So if you open up this second page down at the bottom, you know, this is a 100-point scale that the county uses to rate potential parcels for acquisition. And there's a standard of 30 points to make its way to be really considered for acquisition. And there's a lot of things on here like proximity to other open space, large parcels, et cetera. But one of the points on there that's particularly relevant to this discussion is the intermunicipal partnership for management. That adds six points to the rating, which is 20 points to the acquisition. So that's a lot of points. And then there's 20% of that total to get to 30%, right? So that's kind of a big deal to get you to that point. I think there's kind of a more vague thing that we need to talk about, too, in that there is a large competition for these funds in the county. And I don't want to necessarily frame it as kind of an east end versus west end. I think there's a lot of competition. But there is the perception, right or wrong, that the county spends a lot of money out east to acquire land, and it's not fair to the folks up on the west end. And you add to that that many of the towns on the east end have community preservation funds with funds, and they see it as the towns kind of not doing their part, not contributing their fair share of the money. So that's quite a right and i think as i've looked at management of these parcels and i i guess i'd like to look at my experience in south old and i want to be careful in suggesting or careful in discussing this because i don't want to suggest that riverhead town and south old town are the same place or what south old does is what riverhead does but just based on my experience in south old town where south old does agree to manage these parcels in my experience on the south old town board from 2020 up until this previous year south old town spent between eighteen thousand and twenty eight thousand dollars to manage 640 acres of land so if we look at this right let's figure thirty thousand dollars on the high end six hundred and forty acres they're spending around 46 dollars per acre to manage it now most of this land that's managed by south old town is what they call passive uh recreation so it's not like big things it's like walking paths maybe a parking area uh really not big things right and as we look at that investment i think particularly for this case in riverhead where the county seems willing to spend about two million dollars to acquire a parcel of land that's a huge roi for riverhead if they if riverhead town is able to acquire a parcel of land and only have to spend a little bit of money on the town's part at least to me that seems like a good thing to me but i think that's a huge roi for riverhead and i think that's a huge investment and i think that's a huge investment for the county now looking through what's been done in riverhead in the past there is the sharpers hill acquisition that was done with suffolk county this started back in 2018 and close 2018 2019 and the management agreement to it was only signed last year so i think one of the other big fears here is that suffolk county is going to demand all of these big things you know parking lots kiosks whatever and if you look at the management plan to the sharpers hill project it's really just a walking path you know it's a i think a five foot wide walking path um the riverhead town board in 2019 agreed to spend up to ten thousand dollars on uh that management plan and over the course of you know the better part of a decade negotiated the agreement now the deal was still closed then and it's my understanding that all of the work on that parcel hasn't been done yet so there is i want to be clear some flexibility right flexibility on the town's part to define what management looks like and also timeline for completion and again based on my experience in south old you know we have parcels that we've acquired in 50 50 partnership with suffolk county out there that they you know years ago they haven't started to do anything on you know it's my belief that providing public access to these parcels is beneficial uh both as kind of good marketing for open space preservation so people actually see [transcription gap] the trail yes I'm talking about just the trail itself right which which is very very minimal but it was very very expensive and I could tell you because I worked on this I picked this up when I got in an office it took forever working with the county just so you know because you're in a good seat now they wanted the path to be three feet we and the way that grows it would have closed up in a month and a half so we made it five feet we still are waiting on the sign for over two years approval from the county yep I mean and that's where you know I'm all for this stuff but we need better communication and we need to get these things done on a timely basis because you know it and I still get people say where's the sign I don't know you know it's the county so I'm just giving you the heads up on that I know you're doing a great job and I'm sure you're doing a great job and I'm I don't work for parks and I do I guess I can see some of the timeline to being beneficial to the town in that the county is not there kind of demanding that you do this work now at least in my experience in Southall that sort of flexibility and almost hands-off approach by the county can be beneficial right where you can the town does have the ability to to define what management looks like for them. And on this particular parcel, I think they can do very little, and it would be acceptable for the county. And for me, that would just be a simple walking path. I don't think you need to put in a huge public parking lot. I don't think that's what they really need. All right, I'm going to stop you right now. Yes. This is prime farmland. Yes. This should be preserved as farmland, not open space, not a parking lot, not walking paths, not public access to everybody that lives in Suffolk County. This is Jamesport, a quaint, unique area, neighborhoods surrounding it. I would rather see this developed with $5 million homes, five one-hours. One million-dollar homes, not saying $5 million homes. Thank you. Than see a parking lot and whatever else the intention could turn into down the road. This is beach access. That would mean that people from all over Suffolk County would be coming here to access our beaches. I am not in favor of this being open space. I would like it preserved as farmland. And that is originally what legislator Catherine Stark and I were talking about. It should stay as farmland. So this, to be clear, is the deal that was submitted by legislator Stark? For it to be open space? For it to be open space. That was not my intention. Okay. This, my only involvement with this is it being before the EPA committee. It was. Okay. All of the appraisals, all of the project design, everything was put together. And it was my understanding that you were working with her on this. I was. And it was. Excuse me. When I originally went to her, I had sat down with the farmland preservation committee, because I am the liaison to them. And we identified certain properties throughout the town of Riverhead that the farmland preservation wanted to be. And I wanted the legislator to look at, to assess, and see if it could be preserved as farmland. That is what I went to her for. All right. Well, this is the package that was entered in, you know, probably more than a year ago. Definitely more than a year ago. And it finally made its way to the EPA committee, which is kind of the final stop on the train. And this is what we have before us. It's my fear that, it's my understanding there's an approved subdivision for it. There is. And really, we're at the point now where the choice is either to preserve it as open space or let it be developed. And I guess I just wanted to put that out there on the table. I agree with you. If I had my way. I agree. There should be farmland and there could be a buffer or something like that. But that's not the deal that was put together before my time. This is the deal that we have. And I'm just trying to bring it across the finish line. And what's preventing it from being brought across the finish line right now is that Riverhead doesn't want to manage the property. Well, I think Riverhead doesn't want a public parking and a public access to the beach. And I know we discussed that. I shared that with you when you asked about how many present. And meeting with, I had a meeting for a different reason yesterday, but I spoke to Councilman Lodwoski and she talked about farmland. Richard Wines happened to be in for something else. He mentioned farmland that this was, and I think that that's the heart of what we want. We would like to see it stay is that if there's a, I mean, you know. Yeah. And if I may, I handed everybody just the pertinent pages from the updated community page. We have the updated community preservation fund project plan. This document was worked on from months by the open space committee and farmland committee. Both committees. The proposed preservation for this piece of property was purchase of development rights. Next. I just want to comment. You referenced that there was a project plan. Yes. plan for this parcel what in the statements you made you said they finalized the project plan what is the plan no the project plan for the Sharper's Hill was what I was referencing okay my apologies if I was I'm sure I'm just gonna highlight the town board you are correct it took a very long time to negotiate the management agreement with the county because the county had certain demands so in theory it's great when you state that the town can design its own management plan you know I assure you it has not worked that way in the past it's the county which dictates the terms to the town and we negotiated councilman Kern and I on several aspects of that plan that were extremely expensive if you remember policing garbage lighting you know so it's you know perhaps Southhold's been more successful but our projects tend to be expensive you know that shore I mean and this isn't this is not you know this is just open discussion shore still continues to be a nightmare in terms of we still don't have a sign I actually and for me I'm looking I have you know we as you know I mean we all have the fiduciary duty on this board and for me I'm not you know we keep more for selling development rights but it's not you know a million farmers knocking out the door to farm that property So if there's a subdivision or, you know, somebody, you know, I want to look at that too from a tax standpoint. You know, what's going to benefit the taxpayers the most? Because we do have, and I know this was, you know, you inherited this. You didn't. Absolutely. And I guess just to, we don't need to get too far in the weeds on the tax discussion, but I think it is useful because you did bring it up on the 4-H property as well. I think that's the most crucial thing. So our residents have responded resoundingly concerned about our yearly budget, our increase over the past few years. So the things that we have to look at, we are an agricultural community, but every time we take a parcel off the tax map, the remaining residents of the town have to pick up that cost. So as a, for example, on a simplest stone, if it's 10 houses in there and they're going to contribute $10,000 each and it's $100,000 a year, you know, in property tax gains, that's what the remaining residents of the town are going to be forced to make up or decide that, okay, we're going to keep absorbing more and more properties. You know, the reality is, what's there, 6,800 acres left? If we took them all in, our residents would be paying $100,000 a year in property taxes. It's not a realistic thing, but that's where we're elected to do is to protect the taxpayers. So I am all for land preservation and for farmland. I love the idea. I'm all for the idea of, you know, perhaps, you know, this person selling the development rights is one aspect, but we still keep it on a tax roll and we have an active farming community and there's still great benefits and they're still paying taxes. I myself, you know, own land, that is, that the development rights are sold on it, and I'm paying $50,000 a year in property taxes, more than that. So I'm still a contributor to the tax base. When we take this off and we remove it as open space, we go down to zero and that's a, you know, we just, we have to tell the taxpayers, this is really what we're doing. So every time we take something off the roll, we're looking around the town and going, everybody else has got to make it up. And that's, you know, same thing with the 4-H. We said, well, they're only paying $1,500 a year because they're a nonprofit organization. But what if it's, you know, we talked about RV and other programs, but what if a private entity comes in there, you know, the Campgrounds of America comes in there and develops it. Do we get a larger tax base off of that? You know, I don't want to see large residential construction because that's hampering the school district. I don't want to see large residential construction because that's hampering the school district. I don't want to see large residential construction because that's hampering the school district, which just aids to the problem. But I think we just got to look at what the overall options are before we jump ahead and go, let's take this one off the tax rolls. Absolutely. I do, though, want us to be careful because I do think, you know, you cite the 10 homes, you know, $10,000, $100,000, right? It's not net $100,000 to the town because if you built homes there, you have kids going to school, you have roads that need to be put in, you have snow that needs to be picked up, garbage, you know, you have a lot of things that need to be put in. You have snow that needs to be picked up, garbage, you know, you have snow that needs to be picked up, or snow that needs to be removed, garbage that needs to be picked up. And there's actually some pretty decent research that shows for residential development, for every dollar that's collected in residential taxes, they require $1.15 in services. You know, schools are the largest driver of that. You know, you look at Riverhead School District, it's averaging $19,000 per student that they're spending. I just want to be cautious against, you know, this presenting land preservation as a net. $10,000 is kind of, it is more geared towards a net of the town and that's contributing to the budget because there's very few houses that are paying $10,000. My home in Wading River is probably around $15,000. Absolutely. So there's, you know, it's significant. But still, you know, and this is a, you know, there's a farmland trust that actually did this, you know, it studied 26 communities and, you know, the median, was $1.15 for every dollar that was spent. Some communities went as high as $2. You know, there is, yes, it increases your gross number, but your net number actually, I think more times than not, we see it challenging, right? And I think Western Suffolk kind of proves this. You know, they have a ton of development there, a ton of people paying a ton of taxes, and it is. But I think, I guess my concern with this particular parcel, right, is if it was up to me and we were starting this from the beginning, I would push really, really hard to maintain the farmland on the front there. That's not what my predecessor did. And I don't know why this deal was entered this way, but this is the deal before us. So. If, and it's very easy. So. If you don't want to do this, I can just share to the EPA committee that Riverhead Town Board is firm in the idea that they don't want to manage the property. They don't agree with this. I just want to be clear with what that messaging is. We could explore going back to the beginning and looking at farmland preservation, but when deals have made their way this far, there is actually, and this was one of the things we were running into with the 4-H property. If this deal goes south, it's five years before we can kind of reevaluate it, at least in the current program. So it's, this is not a perfect situation, but this is what we have before us. It was just developmental rights sold. That's a year out, 18 months. I don't think that's a five-year plan. So I think that there's a little bit of a spin that's being put here that, you know, you've said several times that, is that the town does not want to maintain the property. Okay. That's not the reason that I personally am opposed to this being open space. The reason is, is that this would open this property up to non-Riverhead residents. This does nothing for the residents of Riverhead. And just so that the board is aware, the current application that's in for the subdivision, I believe, is five houses. Four. Okay. Four. It originally started out as, I think, seven. The deputy supervisor and I met with Matt. He's the one who started the charter this morning. So the town board is aware those lots are to the westernmost portion of the property. One, two, three, four. And the remainder, because it's in the flood zone. There is no development yield. So this will not be developed, just the four lots. In addition. I just have to state for the record. As far back as August of 2025, I had requested from the county on this piece, can you provide some information on county environment parks and ad committee proposed uses and or improvements for the property? Because while it's stated. Okay. Oh, thank you. space it talked about a maintenance partnership typically in the town of Riverhead when we preserve open space and we label it open space that property is not going to be improved it's natural and the ecological features are left intact when we quote improve properties for open space we designated open space passive recreation so here in all my correspondence back and forth with the county it was labeled simply straightforward open space hence the inquiry back dating back to August of 2025 and the what is the proposed plan that the EPA the county rather wanted the town to maintain like it just has been unclear okay well on that I would just request that please include me on your correspondence to the county especially on preservation whether it's farmland or open space these are top priorities of mine and if I can do anything to help you please please include me right right so that's number one that number two before your turn that that was absolutely before might be it's not just one back and forth it's more than one back absolutely so I'm just saying going forward please include me I do also want to say and maybe I'm wrong here it's important to clear this up on the record when Michael Kerr from Suffheadhead County�� wrong here it's important to clear this up on the record when Michael Kerr from Suffolk County called you to ask about management of this parcel you did say Riverhead Town supported the preservation but just not the management so if that's untrue I need to chase that down a little bit because it seems like there's a little miscommunication here but at least what was presented to the all the communication that is incorrect all right and that's a misstatement okay and the only other than asking what was the plan that the county wanted for the property even though they were calling it open space it really appeared that they wanted some type of park use or hamlet park use so the only communication was from me I'm discussing it with the supervisor the department of recreation but I suspect additional time will be needed to get clear direction and provide a definitive statement after that by the supervisor we requested what is the project plan what is the thought regarding the improvement of open space such that it would require maintenance and you'd have to agree if you're doing a walking trail we would have to create the trail if we're doing a walking trail we'd have to create and pay for parking and then we have to maintain those things but it's even unclear what is desired well and again this is again just based on my experience in South Old where we have on paper a lot of people who are going to be using the

dirt dirt dirt dirt

g g g g g parking lot with beach access and then it's everything's a little bit different i'm just asking the example you're using did that happen saying broadly yes some of them yes parking was created i'm thinking uh down by ashamah mcpond there's one um i'm thinking there was just a one that was done recently out on paradise point manasseh uh that there's no parking but there is a trail down to the road uh there's there's kind of flexibility on on the parcels right and you know it is i think that's one of the benefits at least the way i see it to having the town do the management because ultimately you're the one who's doing it right if if if if suffolk county

was willing to purchase this open space and do the management it's their property they could do whatever they wanted yeah you know and and and for me i don't think that's a good thing no it's not and that's one reason that in south old we wanted to do the management because it gave us control over our destiny i think there's real benefits here there are costs but to me a multi-million dollar acquisition you know ten twenty thousand dollars one time seems like a really good investment especially in a particularly environmentally sensitive area right so i'm a little bit and you're right about the dollar fifteen i'm very aware of that that study i'm also aware that south told you got a lot of second homes which are now multi-million dollar homes and it's not putting anybody in the school and that's why the school system there is shrinking that's happening on a very slow scale here okay you know where where people are buying you know one million dollars a year and then you're going to have to buy a lot of second homes 1.8 two million dollar homes as second homes which i'd like to see that proliferate a little bit more and i think it will however on this particular piece what is uh it seems like how complicated is it and i'm not sure where i land on this whether there should be a subdivision and understanding the taxing but i'm fine if there's four two million dollar homes there and there's nobody in the school but if we go from it's going to be a lot more than ten thousand dollars a year as a whole exactly so but my my point is this how difficult is it to go from open space which i am to preserving just to buying the development right so it can be farmed it starts the process over again right it would need to go but i'm sorry but you had said if we completely stop it it's it's five years but if we just morph it as opposed to stopping it what's the the time yeah and frankly i i don't know right and and you know it this is kind of one of those things i can tell you just from a procedural level where best case scenario be like 18 months by the time you know everything would need to be reappraised you're looking at the development rights there's the other big question right i would say if if if if i was to place a bet the reason they did open space rather than a development rights purchase is that the owner of the property wanted full fee money for it he just wanted to be out from under it right so the other you know the other consideration here is not only what the town's priorities are but the property owner's priorities and my my guess and i don't know because this predated me is that this owner said you know what i'm either going to do the subdivision or i'm going to sell this i don't want to hold development rights and look for a farmer you know it's my understanding that it hasn't been farmed in at least five years so probably some work needs to be done it's probably not very marketable farmland because there's some floodplain it's also kind of on the waterfront so they're going to be paying the higher side so we have a property owner that's only going to get part of what full fee money would be so my my guess and i could be wrong here is they probably weren't willing to do a farmland uh you know development rights acquisition right i'm going to tell you i actually know the property owner personally and i think that the property owner believed that it was farmland preservation not understanding that this would open this area up to non-riverhead residents because the property owner lives right down the road yeah well then i i i'd love to know why it was entered in as i think i think you know to joanne's point she thought it was something other than what it is yeah you know and you you didn't know what it was and then it changed so yeah i think we know i know what it is we all know what it is what's before us but i think i mean i need some time on this this is not a decision that we need to convene so the problem is the epa committee is meeting on monday and um you know they basically the the what i told them is i would approach the riverhead town board to see if they would reconsider management on this i do also if uh you know the deputy town attorney is is saying that she didn't tell uh you know suffolk county that the town supported the preservation of this as open space i kind of need to get to the bottom of that because it was represented to the epa committee that number one the town riverhead town supports the open space acquisition suffolk county is not going to acquire open space that the town doesn't want preserved so that's number one and number two i i will be clear to them that riverhead town does not want to manage this property that's it number three what are our options for potential uh development rights purchase and what that could look like and again i'm going to reiterate that it is not that we do not want to maintain the property it's just that we do not want this property to be opened up to all the residents of suffolk county we know where that's going to go it's one of the reasons that the 4-h yeah so okay yeah so i have a question for you if the town uh came up with a project plan that was two dirt parking spaces one mile of a grass trail we'd have to mow it spray it and we'd keep it open just from may to september would that be an acceptable plan i can't speak for the parks department what i can do is speak to my experience in south old and we have done similarheadings quite aheadheadings quite aheadheadings similar sort of paths like that that have been fine right but that's not knowing that puts the town at risk but this is also where you are an equal negotiating partner with suffolk county right and on this particular parcel i think you raise very legitimate concerns looking at the manasseh parcel in south hole that's out on the water i think one of the reasons they didn't want to put a parking area there is looking at some of the issues that they had at cedar beach which is a county park out in the same area they didn't want to open it up right but they did want to preserve it there's a walking path that people can use i think you have a lot more uh control as a as a negotiating partner here than than you think and they're not going to require you to put in some big time parking lot they're not going to require you to do this huge path and really they're not going to give you a definite timeline on when all of this needs to be accomplished i think that's the other really important point here i know there's parcels in south old that we have management agreements on that we're not even getting near to to to doing the work on and suffolk county is not concerned with that it's just the long-range plan and to me it's also a long-range priority to open up access to these open spaces for the residents of our community and i do look in at some of the issues that we've we've we have with with town beaches and county beaches yes you don't want it to be a hot spot for all of suffolk county right but i think you can manage that with the number of parking spots with the amenities that you're providing so if it's a very very simple trail and it's a a one mile walk down to the beach i i well so i don't i don't foresee the tab lord creating the trail to this pristine beach area if it was a trail i don't within the parcel i think you could do it mention that so i was saying forsake of argument that's what i said i think similar to to to the uh the the other parcel we were talking about it's a loop trail it's a simple loop. If I were you, that's what I would propose on it. And that's what I would, and to your point, I would do two or three dirt parking spots. You know, that's what it is. It's a simple recreational trail. Your argument is based on your experience of the use of other town-owned and county-owned parks. We don't want to, you know, we don't want to cut into the farmland with parking spots. I think you put a simple loop trail. I think you're looking at less than $10,000 that you would need to spend on this. And I think beneficially, and this is looking down the road, if you utilized even 1% of your CPF funds to partner with the county on this purchase, you could be using CPF funds to steward this property. And then there's zero tax increase. I think that's one of the real benefits here. So the town board has a decision to make whether or not you want to propose a plan and respond with what you would be willing to do as far as creation of improvements and maintenance versus the approved four-lot subdivision project. So the city up two things so the Sharpe Hill it wasn't that the town it was as soon as the it's when the community knows that this is happening the pressure didn't come from the county from the community it came from the community yeah that's one two on your so is there a percentage what I'm gonna be hypothetical the property is two million dollars the town puts up a hundred thousand the CPF funds [transcription gap]

head

2018 with a vague promise by the Riverhead Town Board to say we'll manage it. It took them until 2024 to actually negotiate what that agreement is. If there's no agreement, you don't need to do anything. And the point you raise, it wasn't Suffolk County that was pressuring Riverhead Town to do A, B, or C. It's the community. I think it's the community that wants to utilize these parcels. I think for me, the strategic choice here, and this isn't under my purview as a legislator, but I would recommend that in the future you consider using some CPF funds to partner as a fee owner with Suffolk County. Just 1%, right? Oh, that's a number I'm looking for. Just 1%. 1%. So you actually have a legal interest in the property? And we can— And then you can use CPF funds? And according to the CPF law, you're allowed to use 10% of those funds in stewardship. You know, if you're bringing in $10 million a year, that's a million bucks that you could spend out of that fund on stewardship that if the community, this is something that the community really wants. And I don't think it would really be on this parcel. I think it would be on some, yeah, I think there's a real opportunity, right? On this particular parcel, though, I think what's before you and I think what's a really fine idea here is you just to say, hey, we'll manage it. And then you just hold your feet firm in the sand that, no, this is a loop trail we're doing. It's three parking spots. It's an environmentally sensitive area. We've seen from the use in other parks that we don't need all of this extra parking. We don't want to attract all kinds of people there. We don't, in South Old Town, we deal with the fishermen that are overnight camping on the beach and throwing their garbage over the place. We do. We don't want to deal with that, right? We want to have a simple walk-in loop. We don't want to disturb the wetlands or the beach. I think you have that power to define that. But it's not Suffolk County that's going to be arguing for more. It's the residents. And I think this is where overall having this broader discussion about, okay, open space use is really, really important. All I can say is Sharper Sail, actually, there was a definitive plan before we went forward. I have all the series of negotiations between the county and the town on the different versions. Councilman Kern knows quite well we had to keep stripping down because what was being asked of us, truly, we can't afford. But we didn't use CPF funds on that. We used solar benefit funds. Correct. Yeah. So that did not give us the same ability to tap into the CPF fund to do. And then it became taxpayer money. I'll often tell the town board, you have, to my knowledge, never collected $10 million in CPF a year. Absolutely.

on a Thursday and say we need an answer on Friday no no Monday but I'm saying where's the breakdown here like this is like suddenly now like we have 24 hours to figure out what the real tax base would be how do you really consult with the residents in that area because I'm really I want to know what what the Jamesport residents think but I'd like them to be able to come to a town board meeting and say here's our here's our benefits here's our concerns you know because do the people living on those streets want a County Park in place I would tend to think probably not you know that's just my thought but maybe they'll come out and but but I think we need to be able to reach out to the residents in that area and really kind of learn what what they're thinking because it's it's a very much a residential road there on Peconic Boulevard so I could tell you because I live right here so I am very much engaged with the residents of Jamesport and I could safely say that preserving that as open space and allowing people from outside of the town of Riverhead to utilize it that that is not going to go over very well and I apologize that I've become aggressive I'm very passionate about this this is different a great conversation yeah there's a difference remember when you speak about open space the proposal it appears from the county is open space park preserve open space passive rec a lot of our open space parcels they are not accessible they are simply preserved intact natural no improvements you know so it's a different it's it is but you also have to consider the long-term road [transcription gap] maybe you throw it back on them that it's just passive recreation you'll agree to to cut the lawn in front of it and if any trees fall over the road that's what you'll do that's what it'll be it's environmentally sensitive it's not appropriate for for a large park just say from the beginning that that's what you'll do i think you're raising legitimate concerns um i guess you know i i guess my thought would be you could kind of get to that place by just saying you would do kind of a loop path a few parking spots and just kind of go from there but tell them hey we'll do management but it's just passive recreation which means nothing we're going to do nothing no parking spots no parking no no parking spots you'll agree to cut the lawn in front of it and any trees that fall down they can park in councilman waski's driveway right but i have to tell you what sharp as hill we we had like zero control and and i mean we really had nothing and i i understand what you're saying about the time the length of time but i can tell you how much fighting that we had to do i mean how many times i was calling the county to get things signed but and again we still don't have a sign and we sent that for approval about a year and a half ago so well again with all of your requests that go to the county please include me i really do have the ability to to to expedite things yeah for the for the record right yeah um but maybe the solution here you know it still doesn't deal with the farmland thing maybe you go back and say yes we'll do uh management but it's just going to be passive recreation with no parking yeah we would describe it to a [transcription gap] do have whereas clauses and in the whereas clause for uh sharpers hill it just talks about the town agreeing to management i think you could say the town agrees to passive management of the property with no parking paths or whatever and that is binding that is your whereas clause of the approving resolution i'm not an attorney but i think i think that's enough so that's the yeah thank you for it thank you so much for coming in and addressing this and yeah i think it's great to see healthy so uh that is that and so we'll just a second we'll do first and second to enter into executive session discuss the following we have personnel matters surrounding possible change and status oh i'm sorry oh my word i skipped right uh greg was here long you uh there's a big stack of paper next to me resolutions with our deputy supervisor higgins which thank you all so much i thought it was really good joanna i think that you brought really good concerns i don't think they were free i don't thank you i'm still set up with the podium so maybe i'll just sit here today yeah i don't think so not at all hi everybody oh look who's sitting with no doing a big kid table today guess what you're never going to be back up there you're going to have to come on down from now on so all right everybody's ready so resolution number one capital project one two five zero three waiting river highway building adjustment

resolution number two sewer district capital project number eight two six zero nine northfield commons budget adoption number three water district capital project number eight two three zero three two or three east main street budget adjustment number four water district capital project number eight two three zero eight well number five dash two a budget adjustment

number five water district capital project number eight two six zero eight six forty five grumman boulevard budget adoption

number six water district capital project number eight two six one zero r h hamptons lc hydrant replacement budget adoption.

Number seven, authorizes removal of fixed assets.

Number seven, accepts donation from Kenneth Rothwell, Alexander Rothwell Funeral Home for PAL. Nice guy. Resolution number nine, sets the fees for rental permit applications. Number 10, authorizes sewer district employees to attend seminar. Number 11, ratifies the authorization for two police department employees to attend a training. Number 12, sets salaries for 2026 recreation summer camp coordinator personnel. Number 13, rehires and sets salaries for seasonal employees and changes the status of current call-in employees. Number 14, appoints seasonal personnel to the recreation department.

Number 15, appoints a police officer to the police department.

A great police officer. I know. We're going to miss him here in town hall. Good mornings every day. Fan favorite, that's for sure. He's such a nice guy. Yes. We could embarrass him. Yeah, let's embarrass him. Frank, could you grab Daniel? The officer at the desk? Bring him into the lion's den. Daniel. Actually, take the desk at the uniform. That's right. He's listening out there. He's probably mortified. Come on in, officer.

Congratulations. We want you full time, but we want you at the desk. Yeah, I'm going to try to figure out how to keep you here, but that's going to be tough with the chief. All right. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you very much for stopping in. Thank you.

Number 16 ratifies the appointment of a fire marshal one. Number 17 ratifies the reclassification of a maintenance mechanic two to a maintenance mechanic three. Number 18 accepts the resignation of a maintenance mechanic two. Number 19 ratifies and accepts the resignation of a traffic control specialist. Number 20 appoints Jonathan Sejecki to the Riverhead Farmland Preservation Committee. Number 21 appoints Megan Stettinger to the Senior Citizen Advisory Council. Number 22 appoints Sean Egan to the East Creek Advisory Council. Number 23 appoints Kyle Conklin to the East Creek Advisory Committee. Number 24 appoints Charles Thomas to the East Creek Advisory Committee. Number 25 appoints Thomas Pachimski to the East Creek Advisory Committee. Number 26 reappoints Gary Vogel to the Hispanic Development Empowerment and Education Committee. Number 27 reappoints Daniel Sullivan to the Hispanic Development and Education Committee. Number 26

ratifies the extension of an unpaid leave of absence 33 ratifies the approval of special event chapter 255 application for Costco wholesale CMN fundraising event number 34 approved special event chapter 255 application for muddy princess muddy kids and muddy princess 5k obstacle course mud run 35 approved special event chapter 255 application for Wonderland Midway family carnival this is as I'm told a new event just so the board is aware to propose carnival to take place up at Tanger 36 approved special event chapter 255 application for Riverhead Chamber of Commerce cardboard boat race 37 approved special event chapter 255 application for Riverhead Chamber of Commerce the fourth before the fourth 38 approves fireworks application for Riverhead raceway special effects wizard number 39 authorizes the supervisor and to enjoy an agreement with the CSCA to restructure the titles within the Water District and we have Water District superintendent Frank Mancini here

number 40 authorizes the Supervisor of Number 40, authorize the supervisor to sign an agreement with Suffolk County to reuse effluent water for the Indian Island golf course. Excuse me, did they get back to us on that? They have not. We're going to keep pushing until, and then we may have to table it if they don't. Okay. Does this include the agreement to cover our costs? Yes, absolutely. Yes.

Number 41, authorize the supervisor to... I'm sorry. Do you have another question about it? No, I just want to make sure that we're actually covering our costs, which we're currently not. So it's costing us a significant amount of money to take care of the county golf course, so they need to just chip in and cover that cost. Absolutely. Number 41, authorize the supervisor to execute a license agreement with the East End Disability Associates, Inc. for property located at River Road, Calverton, and known as the Henry Pfeiffer Community Center. Number 42, authorize the supervisor to execute an agreement with... agreement authorizing the town to accept funds from Suffolk County Office for the Aging to supplement the town's shopping assistance program for the elderly 2026.

Number 43, ratifies the authorization for a supervisor to execute a stipulation with an employee. Number 44, authorize the pursuit of Suffolk County downtown revitalization round 2040. Number 44, funding for the beautification of Wading River Duck Ponds. Number 45, awards bid for installation of water mains at 203 East Main Street, Riverhead Water District. Just let us step back just for a second. So when we talk about beautification of Wading River Duck Ponds, that was... I did a nice presentation with them last Thursday at the Wading River Civic Association. They were showing the drawings, and it kind of explained the whole process. And we need to utilize the Civic Association to be a co-sponsor on the grant application process for it. So it's not something which the town on their own can apply for that funding. And we've got some great feedback from the county as well to try to get that application. And so we'll keep our fingers crossed. And thank you to Dawn Thomas, and they're doing a great job. But we're hoping to move that project forward. It would include some curbing, sidewalks, plantings, and lighting in there, along there. It's really...it's a great first step. And of course, Phase 1 and then Phase 2. Eventually dredging the ponds, replacing all the bulkhead, which is a much larger scale. And that...we're working excellent with an agreement with Brookhaven Town. And that's where we're hoping to get federal funding, which would probably be in the range of $3.5 million to complete that whole project. So we are making headway with the Wading River Duck Ponds. And you showed me the renderings last week. Beautiful. It's going to be such a beautiful place for people to go. Yep. Exciting. Well done. Thanks. Okay, 45. Awards bid for installation of water mains at 203 East Main Street, Riverhead Water District. Number 46. Awards bid for re-bid for PFA treatment at well number 5-2A, SRF project number 19591, Riverhead Water District. Number 47. Resolution authorizing the Community Development Department to submit applications to the New York State Environmental... Environmental Facilities Corporation for sewer department infrastructure grants.

Number 48. Authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice of public hearing to amend chapter 231 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled, Fire Prevention, Article 4, Mitigation of Hazardous Condition or Occurrence.

Number 49. Authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice of public hearing to amend chapter 301 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled, Zoning and Land Development, Part 3, Supplementary Regulations. Uh-oh, I didn't look the Roman numeral up, L111. I don't know what that is. 52. Oh, yeah, 52. Okay. Commercial Solar Energy Production Systems.

Number 50. Authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice to consider a local law to amend chapter 213 of the Riverhead Town Code titled, Bicycles and Electric Scooters, Article 2, Electric Scooters. Number 51. Authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice for... Public hearing to amend Town Code Chapter 301, Article 17 entitled, Business F, Zoning Use District Manufacture Outlet Center Overlay. Is that the center? Yes. Number 52. Schedules public hearing for the amended site plan application of Scott's Point, AKA Island Water Park, 5835 Middle Country Road, Calverton, New York, Suffolk County Tax Bank number 600-135-1-7.34. And resolution 53 pays the bills. Thank you, Debbie. Appreciate your time. So with that, thank you for catching me before. With that, we will just in a second take a first and second to enter to an executive session to discuss the following. Personnel matters, matters surrounding possible change in status of employees with Halpin, DiApolo, and Peeker. Matters surrounding change in status of employee with Counselor Howard. Contractual matters surrounding contractual agreement between the town. And Kevin Wood. Parking consultant with Maryfield and Thomas. Matters surrounding contractual agreement and services related to coordination and planning of Alava 25 for 2026 with Halpin, Waski, and DiApolo. And matters surrounding possible change in contractual agreement with an employee with our lovely Tachi and Howard and Striplin Teo. Can I have a first and second to enter to executive session? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Business Improvement District get to work. Great job. See you next week. Thanks.