Full Transcript

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. So we have a few announcements today. We have the Roanoke Elementary Community Day this Saturday at 10 a.m. Our recreation department is having their community day at Stotsky Park also at 10 a.m., but on Sunday. So the first one's on Saturday, the next one's on Sunday. And I think some of the council members, do you have any announcements this morning? We also have the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Their open house is Sunday from 11 to 4. Let's make everyone aware of that. And so I'll just give them a second in case they have an announcement. And we also have the 4th before the 4th coming up on June the 4th in Gradual Park. Council members, any other announcements to the right? Not really, thank you. Joanne? No. Okie dokie. So with that said, we'll move into our work session. Today we have our first item is Joe Petrucelli, Eric Russo, Esquire. Matters surrounding the site plan and special permit application for the Peconic River Hotel project in connection with the town square. With Matt Charters, Anne Marie Preventi, I don't know if she's here in the room with us, and Thomas and Seamans. Don Thomas. So if you guys would like to approach and come on up, that would be awesome. I have a little intro we could do just to kind of set the table. I think you guys can do it while she's speaking. Alright. Come forward. Right here. Come sit. Come on up. Have a seat with us. I promise we're not going to hurt you. It's going to be okay.

I think we, there's, I'll sit by the drawers. You sit here. Go ahead, Anne. Sit by the drawers.

Good? Ready? Good. Yeah. So this morning we're here to talk. We're here to talk about the plans for the Peconic Hotel. Pretty exciting day, actually, when I started to think about it because it's really literally been eight years in the making. And so just as a backdrop, the Peconic Hotel is one of six components of the town square project, which is an urban renewal project. And for those of you who don't remember, the town adopted an urban renewal plan first in 1993 addressing blight. And it's a tool that's available to us through New York State Urban Renewal Law, specifically Article 15. It allows us a lot of latitude in providing and attracting revitalization. So the tools include ways to address blight and deterioration, promoting clearance, replanting, reconstruction, redevelopment, and similar. And in particular, to foster public-private partnerships. And so we're really excited to talk about how we can really advance these projects and developments to a place that needs revitalization. So New York State recognizing the need of communities to bring investments to towns gave us specific tools to do that in 1993. And the town recognized the need for that and implemented that plan. Since then, there's probably no less than 20 additional revitalization plans, all of which were great, all of which involved a lot of public engagement, public meeting surveys, polls. And so we're really excited to talk about that. any variety of meeting types that could happen happened. We had, just to give you one example, in 2016 we did a Brownfield Opportunity Area study. That was a very deep study that was probably turned into several hundred pages, but it was many, many public hours of drilling down on something. So ultimately, in 2018 we got a foothold into the plans and a lot of the polling and the public engagement sort of suggested we should have a connection between Main Street and the riverfront that was always missing. There was no convenient access to the riverfront. So in 2018 we applied for funding through New York State to build a town square, being a public place for public use and access to remove blighted buildings and to really try to revitalize the town. And so we got $800,000. And since that time, eight years ago, we've enlisted probably thousands, literal thousands of hours advancing the project, acquiring the properties, removing blighted and vacant underutilized buildings, creating a temporary space, advancing public-private partnerships, and designing the details of all of the components and obtaining about $40 million worth of funding towards the project. So just by way of backdrop. And in 2022, we, began a public-private partnership with Jay Petrucelli Development Inc. relating to the creation of a hotel. The hotel was a recommended element for the town square, the private investment that we were looking for. It was recommended in a market study that was done in 2022 in connection with one of our design efforts. And that market study was conducted by a economic development company called HRNA out of, I'm sorry, Street Sense was out of New York City. And since then, we've been working with Jay Petrucelli Development and Company, which is a big, a lot of people, engineers, architects, surveyors, flood mitigation specialists, people who help us create sewer and water connections, electric, lighting, everything you could possibly think of that's needed for this project is now done, ready to go. And we're just on the precipice of permitting these projects. And so, we're just on the precipice of permitting these projects. And so, that was what I started to, I wanted to back up with and think about, because it took us a very long time to get where we are and a tremendous amount of work. So, you know, now I'm going to turn it over to them to talk about their project. Eric Russo Good morning. Eric Russo, Van Brunches, Weak and Russo with offices at 140 Main Street, Saville. I represent Jay Petrucelli Riverhead Town Square, LLC. And they're situated at 100 Colmac Street in Brunswick, and they're situated at 160 Bay Bay Street, Town Square LLC and they're situated at 100 Cormack Street in Brown-Kakama. Joe Petrucelli, Joseph Petrucelli, and John Petrucelli are the managing members of the LLC. I've been representing them for probably 25 years in various projects, whether it was the aquarium, whether it was the Preston House Hotel, and also there are other projects throughout Long Island that I have assisted them with. And we're most proud of going forward with this particular project because we've been working with Dawn Thomas and Anne-Marie Prudenti and Eric Howard trying to move this forward with the selection of Petrucelli Riverhead Town Square LLC and Joe Petrucelli as the master developer, which we finally had a signed agreement as of August 19, 2025. And we're moving forward from there. And what we have done... What we've done is filed an application for a site plan for your consideration based on your Riverhead Town Code and also for a special permit for the hotel, which is what you have before you today. I have with us today our architect, Andrew Jambretone, who is from Elm Street in Huntington. I also have representatives from VHB Engineering, which is Andrew Nee, as well as Christiana Kastelec, who will help us just review some of the points that were raised. And the memo that was provided to everybody within the last 24 hours from your senior planner, which is Matt Chheaders, who did an excellent job of writing an 18-page epistle for all of us to read and summarize even further what Dawn has outlined for you. Our hotel project, which we will have Andrew explain to you, and then we'll go through And then we'll go through the various points from a site plan and an environmental standpoint. And we'll conclude with Joe explaining to you his desire and passion for trying to move forward with this project here in the town of Riverhead. Because this will just continue to make it a place where you can have community, you can have tourism, and you can have vibrant downtown that the residents of the town of Riverhead have been longing for and has been the goal of the town board and your town planners. That being said, I would like to allow Mr. Jambretone to explain to you the hotel component, which is the special permit that will be sought by our applicant. Good morning. My name is Andrew Jambretone. My office is at 62 Elm Street in Huntington, New York. I got involved with this project a while ago. It started out as a conceptual design based around... the recommendations of Urban Design Associates, which is the town's consultant in dealing with how the town could be developed to advance all the goals the town had for this project. The project was developed after careful consideration from studies with the Army Corps of Engineers, in particular because of its proximity to the river, to make sure that when this project is built, it wouldn't be affected by... potential long-term... rising of the sea level and that type of thing. And that's all been accounted for in the design of this building. So this building basically consists of a first floor that is the hotel lobby, some retail space, which may include some... coffee shops and that type of thing, as well as a 5,000 square foot restaurant at the south end of the building. Above that, there will be four additional floors of hotels with a total of 94... hotel rooms, the top floor being primarily 14 suites for the hotel. In keeping with the... town's pattern book, the building is designed to accommodate the wedding cake... progressive elevation from Main Street to try and maintain the... streetscape along Main Street. When we look at the building in front of you, and we're still in the process of tweaking some of the details, but... the... idea of the front of the building is that it looks like it was there forever. This poorly rendered olive green facade is meant to look like a patinaed metal, which we're working on getting that... worked out. But the building, the fenestration is in keeping with the spirit of the existing... elements of the buildings on downtown. As you go into the square, all the hotel rooms will face over the downtown area. And the retail shops will feature awnings and decorative elements to... enhance the activity within the square. And as I said, at the south end of the building, we have the restaurant. The suites at the top floor all enjoy the benefit of built-in terraces off the suites. And we're going to be incorporating a series of Juliet balconies on the... west side of the building, as well as the east side of the building, to, again, further enhance the activation from the square. When we look at the... building from the back side, we have these two tower elements that originally housed two elevators, but now it's going to be an elevator and a secondary staircase. You see here on the back of the building, a two-story restaurant that will be overlooking the water. It'll enjoy a cantilevered terrace with some shade screening above it. And again, we have maintained that same type of fenestration as you go across. across the building. In the distance, you see what is one of the feature elements of the square, which is the Suffolk Theatre. So the square is actually centered on the Suffolk Theatre to... augment its importance to the design and to the community at large. There are a significant amount of recreation areas that are going to be developed... with the other partners in the town. And you can see just how important the activation... of the plaza will be with the retail space, again, along the western side. And how it all spills down into the riverfront activation and community activity areas. I'll just also add that we've worked this design through State Historic Preservation. They had a lot to say and were actively engaged in the design. The other part of this particular application, as the Board is probably aware, is that we had to go and work with the Town Attorney's Office and the Planning Board... so that we could make sure that we had lot line modifications and deeded property rights... pursuant to the Master Development Agreement for Petrocelli to own and build the hotel on the property. The Planning Board reviewed the lot line modification agreements in the application that was made on behalf of the town. And it was done by Eric Hatton. Eric Hatton was the first person to approve the lot line modification agreement. And it was heard on February the 19th. They approved it at that particular time, allowing it to go forward for a decision. And they made a decision as of March 5th, 2026, so that the lot line modifications and the deeds could be transferred. Because the land was owned by the town. Also, part of the land that's being discussed is also in the town parking district. So, the Town Attorney's Office has a lot of property from the parking district to the town. And then arranged for the transfer and sale for what is going to be approximately a half an acre for the hotel to be constructed. And when we go through the site plan, you'll understand which portions of the project and the site plan that is being developed by Petrocelli. Everything that is being shown to you by Andrew for the square is all part of what is going to be designed. And then, as the master developer with a contract from the town, he will be working on putting forward and developing the square as the hotel or once the hotel is completed. Because part of the storage area for the construction in terms of materials and the contractors' employees are being staged on the west side and also the east side of the subject property. So, that being said, I would ask that... My good friend Andrew Nee from VHP explained to you the site plan elements and our requirements for meeting those sections of the code as it relates to the special permit that we're here to address. If I can interrupt for a second. Andrew, do you have a copy of the site plan on the board? I apologize. It's a small version. I have a full size. I believe you do have it. I know I sent it to you in an email. You can put it on so they can see it. Great. Give me one second. I was going to print it this morning. I like that. That's perfect. We also like the fact that VHP comes up to the launch on the plans. Nice and smooth. Red field on the bottom right corner. C2, go 300. That's perfect. Yes. And, Justin, if you could just zoom out to get this whole sheet, that would be great. Out.

Oh, thank you.

The building is going to front on Main Street, which is a DOT road, and the entrance to the building or the hotel lobby would be located at the northwest corner of the building. Valley parking would be available for hotel guests at that location and be coordinated with New York State DOT and the DOT improvements for Main Street that are underway. As Andrew kind of alluded to earlier, the western property line fronts the town square and would be activated with those retail and restaurant spaces with entrances available for those commercial opportunities. On the southern property line, underneath that cantilevered balcony or terrace for the restaurant space, we have an entrance to a below-grade parking level that will house nine parking spaces that's intended at this time for hotel staff. And then along the western property line. Okay. I'm sorry, the eastern property line abutting East End Arts. That's effectively back-of-house space. We have a 14-foot space between the property line that was subdivided and the face of the building, and that will serve as utility space, loading, deliveries for the hotel and commercial uses, but effectively back-of-house. It's not intended to be driven by vehicles or anything, but that would be available for refuse pickup as well. So effectively the back-of-house space for the building. So as Eric mentioned. We are seeking the special permit for the hotel, and as this plan was developed in conformance with the findings of the town's review for environmental review of the creation of the downtown revitalization, we submit that it's in conformance with the criteria for the special use permit. We can go through that in any detail that you may wish, but as Christy from my office will detail it further, we've submitted a consistency analysis that effectively shows how this application is in conformance with the criteria for the special use permit. Okay. So it's in conformance with the study that was previously undertaken by the town for the environmental review. What Andrew's referring to is your section of the town code, 301 through 312. And when you read that, that's all your criteria for a special permit, and you have letters A through R. And if you, at your leisure, want to review that section of the code, everything that we're discussing today shows that we're either in compliance or it doesn't apply as it relates to those criteria. So that if the board. Seems it appropriate to proceed with the special permit, you know there's been compliance with your code review. Correct. So with that, we respectfully request that you, you know, would effectively grant our special permit to allow the hotel in conformance with the zoning district. If you don't have questions on that component, what we'll do is move on to Christiana Kastelec, who's our environmental planner, who can just reiterate and also review with you some of the elements. And the status of the CEQA and negative deck that is being proposed on the project in keeping with Mr. Charter's memo of May the 12th. Does anyone have any questions with the special permit? You're on. All right. Good morning, members of the board. As Eric mentioned, my name is Christiana Kastelec. I'm an environmental planner with VHB located at 100 Motor Parkway in Hop Hog, New York. VHB was retained to prepare the site plan, but as well as to review the application. From a planning and environmental review perspective, specifically in accordance with the CEQA process conducted by the town of Riverhead Town Board, VHB has prepared a part one EAF for the proposed project, as well as a consistency analysis of the proposed project's consistency with the town of Riverhead's EAF narrative and determination of non-significance, the negative declaration, which I'll refer to it as. For the proposed Riverhead downtown revitalization projects, which was briefly introduced at the time. And that overall, those revitalization projects really make up the Riverhead Town Square, a multi-phase development that includes the proposed hotel as part of the phase one of that development. These documents that Eric mentioned I just introduced were dated May 2026 and have been submitted to this board for your review. The town's part three EAF and negative declaration reviewed a number of items identified in the part two EAF. As potentially having a negative declaration, the town's part three EAF and negative declaration reviewed a number of items identified in the part two EAF.

having a moderate to large impact on the environment which resulted then in the negative declaration our consistency analysis briefly examines those issues relative to the proposed action I will not go through every detail of our consistency analysis but rather just provide some key points and takeaways but before I do I do just want to note that as you've heard already from those that spoke before me the project no longer includes the condominium units so just to understand the difference from the town's review for this project for the site first hours specifically the changes that the proposed project first the one that was analyzed in the town seeker review is that there has been an increase in the number of units for the hotel from 76 to 94 and the residential units are no longer proposed the commercial component analyzed by the town is similar to the current scope under this proposed project despite the change in the program the analysis for the hotel condominium development by the town and then the conclusions regarding the impact set forth in the EAF would be similar to those from the proposed project since the number of formerly proposed condominium units 12 was small as compared to the remainder of the project so overall the proposed project would be consistent with the goals and objectives as previously mentioned for the downtown such that the proposed project will first improve stormwater management by controlling and collecting and piping stormwater runoff generated by the hotel parcel to concrete leaching galleys located off-site within the town square which I know Eric briefly mentioned the project will minimize potential flooding impacts by terracing the grades from Main Street south to the Peconic River and again collecting that stormwater within the town square the project is projected to produce significantly less than the 35,000 35,000 gallons per day of sanitary water and wastewater or sanitary wastewater as well as water as projected in the town's EAF and the generated wastewater would be collected conveyed and treated at the Riverhead sewage treatment plant the project will improve public access to the downtown area and the Peconic waterfront by activating Main Street at the site frontage and also opening access to the proposed building onto the town square located to its west the proposed project the proposed building will offer an active use fronting Main Street with ample street amenities such as planter boxes benches trash receptacles things like that and additionally these amenities will also be offered again on the town square property west of the building the project will enhance walkability and encourage pedestrian traffic by opening up the commercial spaces onto the first floor as mr. Jamber tone talked to onto the sidewalks of Main Street as well as new sidewalks proposed along the west side of the town square as a proposed project includes a development of a hotel there will be initial trips into the downtown area to reach the hotel but it will be a project that will be a project that will be a project that will be directed that once parked by the hotel valet space a service hotel guests will walk to other downtown facilities and commercial uses rather than driving so there will not be a need for separate trips within the downtown the project will stimulate economic development and enhance economic stability by constructing a name-brand first-class boutique hotel in the heart of the downtown and incorporating restaurants a bar this area the project will enhance opportunities for commercial investment by providing separate retail and restaurant space again within the first floor of the building and as you previously heard from the project architect they have worked closely with the firm that created the downtown pattern book to ensure that the project development meets the design vision for the town and for specifically the Riverhead town square as such the project would adhere to the architectural standards and downtown pattern book that has been developed again for the overall area includes a downtown revitalization project seeker assessment and would not adversely affect the environment or the surrounding area in addition what I would also like to point out in the memo that was provided by Matt charters which would be something for the board to consider there is full compliance as it relates to the zoning criteria with the town code so if you look on page seven in that diagram they relate and go through the lot area where it indicates the minimum required is five thousand and we have eighteen thousand or eighty the lot frontage is 50 feet we're providing 74 the maximum building coverage is 80% we have 79% maximum pervious surface is a hundred percent we have a hundred percent maximum building height is 60 feet we have 60 feet and the floor area ratio is four point four zero or four point zero and the maximum pervious surface is one hundred percent we have one hundred and we have three point seven seven so in terms of a zoning code compliance as to the structure itself we are in compliance with the rear-end town zoning code in terms of trying to seek a issuance of a building permit without having to go to a zoning port of appeals application and in addition to that the report that you have looked at has already had plans submitted to it from the sewer district the fire district as well as the water district and I know they're under review because I delivered the plans myself to the respective districts offices the fire marshal has reviewed it and I know that they have met with Petrocelli in order to talk about how to get around the building in the event of fire which is going to happen down and through the south side as well as to the west side of the proposed hotel as was pointed out earlier the east side is for service purposes only and the fire marshal as long as they were sufficiently able to get to the building and the fire hydrant up on Main Street they were satisfied with what was going on there but we're waiting a final letter of approval to my knowledge as it relates to that we've also and I know it's under review for the landmark and historic committee to come back with their input as well as the architectural review committee which is cited in Matt's memo to all of you for consideration we have also submitted plans anticipation and hopeful approval by the town board at the site plan and special permit for foundation permit because we are very anxious to get started and get a shovel in the ground which I'm sure you'll hear from Mr. Petrocelli and I know that they've received three sets of foundation plans for review along with applications insurance certificates as well as the bond that's required in order to proceed should you elect to grant the particular applications before you the most important thing that you should know and they're talking about the hotel it's a Hilton brand it's tapestry by Hilton so you have a high quality commercial entity that's coming here and wanting to be part of the downtown community and Joe can explain that further for you in a few moments and lastly I need to be right up front and tell you we are pending and have an application pending with the Riverhead IDA if we haven't heard from them but it's part of the financial component of the project and we're going to be able to get that done and we're going to be able to get that done and we're going to be able to get that done that the Pet�� solely organization is interested in we filed one we've spoken I've spoken and had discussions with mr. Farley your board chair and we're waiting for them to continue their review with gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead gheadhead ghead I know I brought it up at prior hearings and discussions before the board, so I just feel impelled to Tell you that and bring you a status update Yes, that being said I now would like to turn over the presentation to our Applicant mr. Joseph Petruccelli who has several things to share

We try To Table for a few years now. It's actually been three years that we've all been working on this But I just want to take us back to 1999 when we My family originally came to Riverhead to answer an RFP for the Economic generator that we needed so bad in Riverhead We built the aquarium That is it a lot think the first year we brought in 400,000 people came to our town and the bad part about it is when people came they look left they look right and they went home The start of it all started there

Banquet Hall Waiting for others like myself to come in town actually Didn't happen. So then we went on to build the Preston House Hotel across the street and We stopped there momentarily Since then we've been word the master developer Which allowed us to continue as we are today It's very important that the momentum Has to continue The point right now where if we don't keep going it's it's never gonna happen. We're never gonna turn this town around So it's important to me in the family that we keep going with this So once we get it going, I think we're going to finally exceed. This is the year, right? So just to touch on Eric, on the Tapestry brand. The Tapestry brand is kind of a new brand in Hilton, which is very boutique-y. This fits in with the hotels that we have. The Hyatt is more of a middle, soft brand. And the Preston is an independent brand that we created due to the history of Henry Preston, our first sheriff in town. We dedicated that building and did that for him, for their family, which they've been here. So we want to continue that kind of history with UC Sweezy on this building. We'll see how that works out. But it would be good to continue on that history. And keep some artifacts and different things in that building, which we will do. What else?

So I think we covered everything other than just to keep momentum. We need to keep developers here. We need to bring more developers in. I think that's important that we are open to that. This board, I think, is. And thank you for all for allowing me to keep doing this. And I think it's going to be a great project for the town. It's going to advance people coming. One other note. The one thing we do realize that the attendance for the aquarium is gradually leveled out, probably about 10 years ago. And now it's dropping. So we need another spark in order to get everybody going. So this project, to me, is key to the momentum of getting it started. We have Heatherwood underway. Our project is going to be a major, to me, importance to start the kickoff of the town square. And we need it. We desperately need it. Thank you. look at general municipal law under Section 507 and realized that they needed to create a master developer and someone to ignite what is going on in the downtown. And as a result, with the research and the information that was given by the law town attorney's office and the community development input and the planning input, you're now on the precipice of moving forward with a project that can continue to be the firecracker that lights off everything that you want to do in a downtown area. So we request when we move forward, because a public hearing is scheduled for June the 10th at 6 o'clock, and to my understanding, it is limited solely to this application and no other town board business at that time, so that the public will know if they're coming. They're there to hear the presentation, which will be amplified from today, and be able to respond and address their concerns or their praise. Or? Their negative remarks as to whether or not they're in favor of the application, so that you can have a better understanding of whether or not you want to grant the site plan, whether or not you want to grant the special permit for the hotel as part of all of the efforts you've been working on as a town for the last eight years. So I thank you for your time. If you have any other questions, we'd be happy to respond. I just want to say the building looks great. Thank you. It really does. It looks great. I guess my question is, and I know I have to have this discussion. First of all, Joe, thank you. Thank you. Because as you said, other developers have had opportunities for downtown, and nobody's taken the step, and you did a long time ago. So East End Arts is going to come up. I can talk about that a little bit. Good. So we've had some meetings, East End Arts. We realized before we can develop that west side, we need the arts component involved just to make sure that it works. An access route. We need to make sure that it doesn't look like an access road. We need to. I need, in Hilton, when you look out there, we need to be part of that whole scene. So we're working on that. We'll get there. Great. Thank you. That was brought up last week when Wendy's group had come in. Yes. And the architects, they had a phenomenal design plan. And everybody in you initially spoke as well about making that more right. Transition. Giving it some nice landscaping. Yes. So, Joe, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for your constant motivation to keep this project going. So we've been discussing this for five years since I've sat in this chair. I want to thank Dawn Thomas and the Community Development Agency because they've just put countless hours, as well as the planning department and so forth, and the legal department. So there was a level of excitement a few years ago when we took the first buildings down and it was starting. And I think, you know. I'm trying to build on momentum, but there was just a lot of T's to cross and dots, you know, I's to dot and so forth. But I think this is a great day to move this along. So this seems to be a quick movement in terms of having East End Arts in here the other day and having yourself. I'd like to just to speak a little bit as this project here, your particular hotel building is under construction. Will you be developing the town square at the same time? Like, will. You know, is the goal to finish the town square, so to speak, simultaneously as the ribbon cutting day of the hotel opening so that we kind of and I just and Councilman Kern just mentioned, but that's what I wanted to do is implore you to work with East End Arts so that everything is just kind of we wanted to all really look as like one large scale downtown project and not piece together. Just to answer that. So it's important that the square is completed. Before. Oh, the worst thing he'd do is open up a hotel. Oh, the square has to be complete. the square has to be complete that's going to be the attraction that we need one of the attractions which will be many as we continue but it's that has to be completed the idea is they open the same time that's the whole I think the public should be aware with with East End art construction beginning Heatherwood is down there at the hotel being built the town square also how important it is for us to address as soon as possible the vacant bike building on the west side of the town square so that this becomes an entire you know marketable place to bring tourists and dollars you know to downtown Riverhead because the foot traffic alone saves every restaurant and potential retail space down there so I thank you for pushing forward and staying with Riverhead all these years yeah I remember you stood before Yvette Aguilar and you were like at the Old Town Hall and you said this is the board that's gonna get it done I think boards have been grinding for years and you've done a good job the flood mitigation is excellent that's so key to surviving those small businesses downtown and working towards a you know future not just for five years but for 30 years and this plan is you know our sewer district really likes it it's just really good with the flood mitigation so being able to protect those buildings at East End Arts for a long time is a big step forward and I think that's what we're going to be doing and I think that's what we're going to be doing and I think that's quite a We have to get people up and down the street to go to these restaurants to stay here. No one knows that answer, but I think the answer is just to bring more and more people here. That's what we have to do. I'd like to touch back on your point. I have a business across the street from the parking area for the aquarium. I'll sit at my desk and I will see a car parked, a whole family get out of the car. Walk down to the aquarium, an hour and a half, two hours later, they're back in their car and they drive away. And to your point, people come out of the aquarium, they look around, there's nothing there. Downtown needs to be activated and bringing a project like yours into the mix here helps everybody. It gives people foot traffic, somewhere to go. And unless we have something downtown. If there's no downtown for people to go to, they're going to just go back and get into their car and leave. And that's not helping anybody. So I thank you for investing in downtown and being a part of it. You're not a developer that just came in, built something and went away. You've been invested. You're here. And I appreciate that and thank you. And thank you to your team and your team. Everybody together is making a difference. That's powerful. And we need to focus on the positive. So thank you. If I could very briefly just touch on my staff report. Eric, thank you for doing a very good job of making my job easy today. You basically did the whole thing for me. One thing I did want to touch on is consistency with SECRA, which was Castle X before. I'm going to let Jeff speak to our secret process, how we looked at this holistically last year and how this complies with that process to make sure we're above board in that regard. And then just a couple of comments. In terms of the site plan and then to recommendations. Jeff, if you want to take it away. Sure. So a little history on the SECRA review, what we have decided to do with the board as lead agency since all of the revitalization projects are phased out into three phases. Phase one includes all of the redevelopment on the south side of East Main Street. Which includes the��

for the secret review so our goal was to look at the holistic redevelopment of downtown and then as site plans came through take another bite of that apple under secret to see if they were consistent with the conditions and mitigations that were outlined in the overall secret review so we're at that stage with this project just for a point of clarity on the water and wastewater at the time the original secret was conducted the acquisition of the property to the west of the town square was just that a potential acquisition not knowing what might or might not be constructed there i took the water and wastewater calculations from the hotel and duplicated that so we had 35 000 gallons of water and wastewater which was really split between the two sites however the hotel will absorb about 50 of that calculation which is within the limit that we expected and after the consistency analysis was completed by bhb and submitted with a site plan i reviewed their report i looked back through the history of the work i had previously done of the work i had previously done g g of the work i had previously done and i'm in agreement that it is consistent with the goals set forth in the prior secret review so those aspects are fine i only had a few very insignificant or minor questions regarding the valet parking and the methodology of how to manage the traffic flow as they pull up to the front entrance for both eastbound and westbound traffic which i'm sure the applicants can review we do have a street skate program to calm traffic on main street and maybe a detail of how that's integrated with the front would probably be appreciated by the planners to review but that's really within their their realm so everything is consistent with the prior secret review and that there's no further you environmental assessment required so i hope you all have the opportunity to read my somewhat lengthy report i didn't think everything was this small 18 pages but everything looks above board it's been referred out as mr russo said we have gotten some comments back really for minor changes we've gotten from lvf just some call outs that need to be corrected lvf is our consult for the town square as don said this is we've been working on the elevations on this with the state with lrb it it's going to go lpc sorry with arb so this nothing is happening in a vacuum here it's a real team effort and i appreciate joe and your team that you've made this very easy for us and a true and good partnership we've gotten standards letters back from the water district and sewer district about maps and plans that are needed that's all to be expected and i think we're ready for the next step in a public hearing so at the board's direction we can prepare that resolution as quickly as you would like to have a public hearing tomorrow your date okay would be good the other question that was raised has to do with the parking and yes the hotel guests are valet but the discussion is that those who don't want to valet they'll be parking behind the suffolk theater according to what the applicant's plan is so on first avenue right on first avenue and then of course there's the anticipation of the town of riverhead doing a public garage which is requiring funding and planning further on your part but it would benefit the hotel complex and the square if that happens because once all these people get here they need to go where they're going to park and the parking along heidi bear way will not be sufficient for the numbers that are coming we're hoping you donate to the parking garage before you left not a problem i have my checkbook in the master development i think that's what we outline your parking pieces there'll be an interim hopefully one day in the meantime we'll be parking directly before the town of riverhead and then we'll be parking behind the suffolk theater ultimately when the the parking garage gets built there'll be interim spots which uh ann marie outlined pretty well and uh look forward to that those days you know there's another component to this i see wendy weiss in the audience and she was here last week um with such enthusiasm for the east end arts council and what's to be with them and all of this is going to help them as well you know it's not just focused on the downtown businesses per se it's it's the east end arts they're going to thrive from from this kind of development i think it's so wonderful i really i see the clear picture of what is coming and i'm excited about it and i can't wait for it so i'm all for it any other questions or comments can you just do you have a like a vision of the valet parking for the front of the building so just like how are cars stopping on route 25 and how are they maneuvering so like just you know if it's one time go through and see that so that's my plan needs to incorporate the updated streetscape plans that we have which is that that was called out in in my staff report so i think it has the ability to pull off four four cars yeah four cars with uh is that enough it's four cars is it curbside it's actually a cut into the curb so they get off of the street there's enough uh we've been working with lvf and joe's team on how to best achieve that and with the state um with hotels everyone generally doesn't arrive at one time especially a hotel with this many rooms we're not expecting a significant traffic draw that you know what would be significant trips would be a i believe pursuant to secret is a hotel with 250 rooms or well under that size so generally people are not all coming at one time or we're looking at uh 10 minutes 15 minutes signs that'll people will drop and direct them with it's only 50 feet away or to make the left turn to get behind the theater correct so i think it'll work and the streetscape's plan was completed on our side for with the grant funding we've gotten and it's actually construction drawings are completed and permits have been issued so that's also ready to go once the funding arrives from the federal government the north elevation shows and i'll let mr jamburton so the the hotel features a marquee that'll provide protection from the weather as guests are greeted by the valet and moving into the hotel and the you can kind of get a sense here of the cutoff main street is actually here there's a landscape buffer and then the curb cuts in and that's where cars will stack be greeted by the valet and then taken to park and guests will come in under a covered entranceway and enter the hotel on the west side of that corner so in reality really the parking is already there we're already using that right parking spaces but it will just be more governed with the striping and curbs and differently so the road is that not getting wider it's it's it's going to move forward with the parking plans those uh it's sort of envisioned at this point and not formalized but the main street pieces will be the shortest term parking so we turn those over quickly and there'll be some that allow for you know handicap access of course to people who have mobility issues need to go to a restaurant that won't have to park far away we'll be able to park at main street but main street will be sort of reserved for those turnover spaces so the businesses uh can get you know that activation that they need another note too we've been working with the fire uh fire marshals and we were all good with that access to everywhere around the building we really started with the fire access plan when we started working on the town square the first thing we did was go to fire marshals and say how do you see this working and they and the fire access plan was created um with uda and uh phb and then they actually used the in the model the fire truck that the riverhead fire district owns to determine the turning radiuses the width and where it would have to go and that's all laid out and that's where we started really one of the first places we started so the number in the front started at about four and now has escalated to eight so i know that because the latest drawing shows that because we can marry those two numbers i'd like to see that like very more of a detailed site drawing of just you know where cars ! so ! um

[transcription gap] permit approved so we're back to you the building's demolished well our testing is is almost complete and we're ready to go i think we need to move this forward the town square project is in for we don't require permits for our own project but we're looking for permits so we can track the grant purposes and so those those are already submitted and ready to go i got to respond to you for lbf momentum speaking again we need the square to catch up we need those permits to catch up yeah where does that go okay any other questions it was dedicated beautiful building i'm just only asking like the colors of the suffolk theater so like the brickwork color is there like any way to in terms of bringing in the colors of the suffolk theater like to the like the center brick columns or something to kind of make that it's all kind of of its own era i part of i think uda's process was that this building reflects more the character and text and context of the rest of the downtown leaving the suffolk theater to be unique in its its importance in the town and we may actually detract from that the thought process was no answer questions to that is a art deco building which we don't want to even compete with we want to keep that jewel we want that to be its own identity yeah i mean it's the renders speak to the design it this looks like something that was always there it really complements the downtown which you know is it's on the national register the whole street wall all the brick facade to that in our intent and we're trying to make it crispy and cleaner and not look that old we wanted to look new but wanted to blend great job looks great so if we're comfortable moving forward if the board is comfortable with a june 10th public hearing you know this could be the the center of the show which i think it deserves to be uh that is a wednesday um so i would anticipate in your next packet that there'll be a public hearing if you're comfortable hopeful that you would do that i wouldn't picked up town permit signs from the town clerk for the site plan and the special permit let me go for you i picked him up this morning in anticipation it's building time you know you have to do it as joe said we're trying to maintain that momentum and i think we're doing a fairly good job i'm in deep already everybody thank you all for coming thank you thank you very much thank you for having us today

thank you

thank you very much nice to meet you so as they make their way out our next thing is our our resolutions with our deputy supervisor higgins she makes her way up

well oh

justin do you have the this mic on up here oh ben i'm really here devin maybe i just need to be louder i think it's the noise that's he's competing with for my feedback let's give him a second

you're gonna go justin okay so we'll get started resolution number one ambulance district budget adjustment not more seconds just a little background noise thank you thank you ghead ghead ghead ghead Thank you. All right. Okay. Resolution number one, ambulance district budget adjustment to fund RBAC 2026 budget.

Resolution number two, budget adjustment for the removal of weeds, yard waste, litter, garbage, refuse, rubbish upon the premises known as 219 Hubbard Avenue, Riverhub, New York. Is this the same property that we did this a year ago? I do believe it is. So it's a budget adjustment because we had originally allocated $15,000 for that, and it came in less, just about half that. Okay. Resolution number three, Tanna Riverhead 202-B biosolids project bond authorization.

Four, sewer district capital project number 8220, budget adjustment for biosolids facility. Okay. Number five, sewer district capital project number 82611, 1575 Old Country Road, budget adoption.

Number six, ratifies removal and auction sale of fixed assets. Number seven, authorizes removal of fixed assets. Number eight, authorizes purchase of Massey Ferguson tractor for highway department. Number nine, approves the attendance of one police department employee to attend a seminar. Number 10, authorizes personnel employees to attend a seminar. Number 11, appoints seasonal personnel to the recreation department. Number 12, ratifies the reappointment of a seasonal pump out boat operator. So did we adjust the budget? Yes. Okay. So did we adjust the budget? Yes. Okay. So did we adjust the budget? Yes. Okay. We adjusted the fees and so forth on this.

On the pump out of free. $20 an hour.

What were we paying? Is there an increase to that?

I'm just only saying he absolutely deserves because he's the only one that's doing it. For how many years he's making $20 an hour? I mean, I just... We got an increase two years ago or a year ago. I can't remember off the top of my head, but he was making $20 for the last couple of years, an hour. So, I mean, if he wanted to raise it, we'd have to just work with personnel. I think that this person deserves more than $20 an hour. He's been here for how many years? I can tell personnel just to, you know. We could have that discussion before we approve this. What the sales and what the limit would be, that kind of thing. So, I'll talk to Ashley about it. I just think that we're going to lose him, and he's the only one. And I think there's even a vacancy in the second position because nobody wants to do it for $20 an hour. So, at a certain point, we have to really take a closer look at that because if we lose him, we have none. That's a problem. All right. So, we'll work with personnel on that. Thank you.

Okay, resolution number 13 ratifies the appointment of a colon bus driver to the recreation department.

Number 14 approves a temporary part-time account clerk.

Number 15 appoints a public safety dispatcher to the police, public safety dispatcher is plural to the police department. It's three.

Number 16 appoints a maintenance mechanic, two, to the water district.

Number 17 provisionally appoints a youth counselor.

Number 18 ratifies the termination of an employee. Number 19 accepts the resignation of a maintenance mechanic, two.

Number 20 ratifies and accepts the retirement of a youth counselor. Number 21 reappoints Frank Petricnani to the recreation advisory committee. Number 22 reappoints George Geheadilsen to the recreation advisory committee. reappoints Ra They weren't updated for years. So I think they were holdovers, and I think this goes from March of 25 forward to March of 27. So I think by default they're holdovers. That's my understanding. They weren't updated. Kind of cleaning all of that up just to formalize the term. Number 28, amends Resolution 2026-305, appointing Joe Oliver to the Parking District Advisory Committee. Number 29, extends bid for annual fire and security alarm systems.

Number 30, authorizes the town clerk to publish and post a request for qualifications for engineering services for installation of water mains and appurtenances for boundary extensions, numbers 95, 96, and 97, Riverhead Water District. Number 31, adopts a local law, do men Chapter 279 of the Riverhead Town Code, titled Taxation, Article 8, Exemption for Volunteering, volunteer firefighters, and volunteer ambulance workers.

Number 32, adopts a local law to amend Chapter 273 of the Riverhead Town Code, titled Solid Waste, Article 5, general provisions applicable to solid waste for all properties and uses. Number 33, acceptance of Environmental Protection Fund grant award through New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. Number 34, grants extension of final site plan approval for the site plan application of Zenith Building, 12 McDermott Avenue, Suffolk County Tax Map number 600-129-4-5.2. Could you slide this one to me? Yeah, so we have Greg here to expand on it further, but this is a one-year extension for this application. Good morning. Good morning, Greg. All right, so yeah, so this is a, a one-year extension. So back in 2023, the Town Board granted final site plan approval for the Zenith Building. At that point, it was a project on 12 McDermott Avenue. The tax map number identified. The applicant has since purchased the adjacent property, and they've submitted a new site plan, but this is to basically grant the extension, which is allowable by Town Code. It's a one-year extension. In theory, if that second phase of the project doesn't fall through, this is just getting them, that one-year extension for the original phase. So that could, in theory, still be built without that further addition. But this is just a one-year extension that's allowed by the Town Code. I mean, Planning Board and Town Board has always granted an extension whenever the applicant has requested it. Do we require a fee on those extensions, Greg? No. Okay. No, I just said the resolution includes a letter that was submitted by the architect. I'm sorry, because with Council . Is it, what is the difference between, just again, submitting this extension or renewing a building permit application? There is no building permit. This is just, the way the Town Code is written, it just says the Town Board may grant a one-year extension upon submission of a letter requesting such, as long as it's made 30 days prior. Do they have a building permit? They do not have a building permit yet. The letter detailed the requesting herewith, the extension, the 12-month extension of Town Board Resolution 23-546, which expires on July 18th. As you're aware, we're currently in the process of gaining approval to expand the development on the site adjacent to the corner. Upon approval of the additional site, which we expect to secure soon, it's our intent to submit one set of building permit drawings for the combined sites. Therefore, the extension is required for us to coordinate and submit one final building permit drawing. So, that's the purpose for the extension, just to get them to the point where they can cross the finish line on the . Okay. Go ahead. All right. Thank you.

Motion 35 authorizes designated alcohol service vendors to serve alcohol at the fourth before the fourth festival. Number 36, approved special event chapter 255 application for Racetrack, Knott Street, EPCAL Motorsports Park 2027 Summer Classic. 37, approved special event chapter 255 application for Racetrack, Knott Street, EPCAL Motorsports Park 2027 Championship Series. Number 8, approved special event chapter 255 application for the Raheadhead Museum, I'm sorry, Raheadhead Railheadhead Rail 41, approved special event chapter 255 application for Little Flower Children and Family Services in New York, Little Flowers Summer Festival. 42, approved special event chapter 255 application for James Port Firemen's Association Annual Carnival Bazaar. 43, authorizes co-sponsorship of Duck Pond Day on Sunday, June 14, 2026, rain date June 21, 2026 with the Duck Pond Society. 44, authorizes designated alcohol service vendors to serve alcohol at the Community Mosaic Street Painting Festival 2026. 45, authorizes designated alcohol service vendors to serve alcohol at the 2026 Duck Pond Day Street Festival. 46, authorizes the Chief of Police to execute a student intern agreement. 47, authorizes supervisor to execute a student intern agreement. 48, authorizes supervisor to sign authorization agreement with Long Island Power Authority LIPA for 2025-2026 pilots. 49, authorizes the supervisor to execute a letter of intent with the YMCA for the redevelopment of 1405 Old Country Road, Riverhead, New York, known as the former New York State Armory. [transcription gap]

an engineer's report to draft the details of the specs of the building to a certain extent so we're working with town attorney's office to try to get that expedited and get that over to him and then at some point secret has to be done so the planning department has been involved in that but he has the draft ready to go so i should be getting it hopefully sometime today in the meantime to take a look at it but he really needs the engineer's report i guess in time for the public hearing and secret in time for the public hearing so i'm going to send an email out to resolutions to push this through for this coming meeting so at least we can move forward and take care of the date for the public hearing in the meantime so thanks to you and emory and working with us to keep our back moving on course so um it's great we're ready to go out you know just about there ready to go out to bond and get shovels in the ground and begin building so there's a lot of excitement there we're making an incredible project progress so thank you for your due diligence it's coming it's sorry for me to ask i'm just very anxious no it's fine no we're crunching and getting it done so hopefully i'll have a version of it today so and then i'll send it out to everybody for review wonderful okay thank you very much thank you

i think that's our last resolution yeah so we have the one on the armory and then you have the pace bills explain pace bills so as we uh in just a second we have the the

I'll ask for a motion to go into executive session to adjourn our open session. An executive today, we have legal matters surrounding possible sale of real property with Thomas. Contractual matters surrounding contractual agreement between the town of Riverhead and Kevin Wood and parking consultant with Don Thomas. Matters surrounding possible contractual changes with employee with Councilor Howard. And matters surrounding contractual agreement between the town of Riverhead and Main Street agency with Councilor Howard. I have a motion to go into executive adjourn. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. See you next week.