Full Transcript

Thank you. Good morning everybody today is Thursday August 6th and we're here for a work session before we go any further if we'd stand and say the pledge together Councilwoman Merrifield would you ladies in the plight please thank you supervisor I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you councilwoman so have just a few announcements this morning and I just wanted to cue that up I believe councilman wasky I am very excited Today's the day, live on 25 downtown Riverhead. I know it's a little hot out there, but it's going to be nice and cool on Main Street tonight. So we have plenty of vendors and five different bands that will be playing. It's going to be fantastic. I hope to see everybody there. And can't wait to hear all of the great things that people did while they were there and bought while they were there and went to the restaurants while they were there. It's going to be a great night. Absolutely. National night out was great. This is going to be great. Anybody else have any other announcements? I don't want to... Just the following weekend, after this weekend, next weekend after that is the Polish Festival, Saturday and Sunday, and the Polish Fair. Yes. Together. All together. I will be there serving pierogies and kielbasa sandwiches. I don't know if I will be eating pierogi and kielbasa sandwiches. What? I said I will be eating pierogi. Okay. Not the week to get your blood work done. I have one. The Elks Lodge Lobster Fest is this Sunday at 3 p.m., which is a really great event. Probably about 3 million people go there, so you want to get there early. Impressive. It's impressive. Our recreation department also has a movie night August 15th on the beach. You can sign up through our rec department. so I believe unless anyone has any other announcements I just have one more we have Blues on the River the last Friday of August from 12 to 5 and that's going to be a wonderful day hope everybody can come down to that as well, lots of good stuff going on on Mean Street I have one more, I forgot to mention it this is just announced on August 28th down at the Wading River Beach we're going to have live music so come on down and watch the sunset from 6 to 8 30 p.m august 28th at waiting river beach exciting stuff so with that we will move into our open session first one is uh i believe we're going to take mr bergman matters surrounding proposed agricultural work right we we'd flip-flop that oh it doesn't matter all right you guys up do uh thumb wrestling to see who comes up uh so we'll all right we'll do mr bergman he has matters surrounding proposal agricultural worker housing located in soundshore farms 5641 sound avenue riverhead with our senior planner good morning everybody

oh it still doesn't camera doesn't all right well we can look at it here the plan is available on the uh the agenda work session agenda this morning so everyone can look at it they want so real quick this is a AG worker housing application submitted by Sanjur Farms which is owned by Paul Reeve the address of the property is five six four one Sound Avenue so there's roughly a one acre parcel that is owned in common ownership with adjacent 41 acre farm parcel which has development rights sold they've submitted an application to convert an existing structure probably used to be an old farmhouse it's probably just used for storage now they've submitted an application to convert that to a three-bedroom AG worker housing structure it is a type 2 action pursuant to secret consistent with general generally accepted farm management principles there is an existing curb cut that serves right now there's two curb cuts that serve both the farm stand and there's an existing curb cut that goes back to the AG structure currently with the farm field they are not proposing any modifications to the existing curb cuts so that will remain as is one of the requirements for an AG worker housing structures for them to get approval from the Suffolk County Department Health Services which they've received they've got a letter of water availability from the Riverhead water district they need to make application for service and payment and they need to install an RPZ enclosure that'll be all handled through the water district this was I guess the owner had started this process way back back in 2018 this actually went to the Riverhead farmland preservation committee they recommended approval of the application subject to all other applicable regulations I recommend approval of the application there are some conditions basically just reciting the conditions of an AG worker housing approval right from our town code the one condition that's not specifically listed in town code is that because they are technically on separate parcels held in common ownership that in the event that the parcels are ever separated or sold that this season you know the ACK worker housing will cease great pretty straightforward the development rights sold on this lot so no so this is a one acre roughly a one acre lot where development rights are retained it's directly adjacent to a believe it's about 41 acres that has development rights sold to the county So they don't have to go to Suffolk County Farmland Preservation? No, because this is on the separate retained parcel. Very good. Straightforward, I will have a resolution for the next town board meeting to approve this. Great, thank you. I have one question. How do we enforce that the workers that are residing in the house actually do, in fact, work on that farm? So they do have to get rental permits, so they are inspected. In terms of, it's kind of a tough question to answer. I don't know that we have really any enforcement to go validate who is working there, verifying that they work on the farm. It's within our town code. They're not supposed to be rented, so they're not supposed to be charging rent. Now, whether the farmer sort of incorporates their pay into providing housing, that's something that's generally handled between the farmer. We don't necessarily get into that. But in terms of how we validate that a resident of this ag worker housing is actually working on the farm, I don't know that there's a mechanism. I think it's funny that that's the first condition. Right, it is. That's just right out of town code. I can speak to Rich Downs about that. I just don't know how we would ask someone, do you work on the farm? They could say yes. Well, they would have ID. I mean, some sort of – the farmer would know who they are. Yeah, I don't think, I mean, again, this is only a small, it's a three-bedroom conversion, so maximum would be six people, right, two people per bedroom. I think the owner of the farm operation could provide an employee's list of who's living in there, you know, and then there would be a trail, obviously, with payroll stuff. I just know that we have so many people that reside here in Riverhead that are going to other towns to work. And I just want to try to keep a cap on that. So I will speak to Rich Downs about it. Maybe that's something, and I'll speak to him about how they do their inspections. Maybe when they come in for a rental permit application, maybe, as the councilman said, they just provide an employee list. And when they go and do their inspections, possibly verify that. That's another reason for work housing is to prevent them from taking other jobs and moving on to landscaping or whatever. So it's an incentive for the workers as well. Right, because it says they're supposed to only be living there while they're employed in the agricultural production at that farm. They can't be working somewhere else as a farm worker. so I will speak to Rich and I will incorporate probably a comment to like provide an employee list upon submission of a rental application our next matter is an update on our town square project don't Thomas we've had a lot of people continually asking and so I asked on a start coming in on a regular basis to keep us all updated the public everyone just works in Shannon keep us right on point I'm just gonna hand out this is a call it a bridged copy of our oh sorry I were vision plan that was created as community planning effort in 1995 and so I think Justin would you mind putting that up on the screen quick but basically the plan was created in 1995 it's a 20-year plan we're pretty close to I don't know where it is on here Justin I can't because Sam technologically challenged here okay so this vision plan and I've just as I mentioned sort of abbreviated it for you but you can see this was a community guided plan done in 1995 I'm just gonna roll through the pages really quick I had I did not in 1995 I was I was working as a associate attorney for a firm in downtown so I was not involved at all other than doing litigation as a outside counsel to the town but basically it was commissioned in 1993 Gary Jackman was the architect and you can see here I just I'm gonna go through on the screen the people that were involved in the creation of this plan and you could see there many local people Andrea Lonaise who was my predecessor in title, Larry Oxman, Pat Stark, Jim Stark's wife, late Pat Stark, Vinnie Vilela also gone now, and Bill Talmadge, who's a friar's head. So those are the people that worked on this plan, and there was a bunch of different focuses, But if you skip over to some of the goals, and so I'm just going to get you to page nine. It talks about widening sidewalks and modifying the curb width of Main Street. And then if you go to the following page, page 10, you know, calming of vehicular traffic and pedestrian priority on Main Street, curb extensions which are the bump outs that we talked about which we are now having our Main Street streetscapes plan it highlighted these uses Town Square and if you go to the following page 12 Transportation Center which is a TOD at the railroad station and then if you go to page 13 Arts District restoration of Suffolk Theatre already done utilization of Main Street loft spaces for artist studios and galleries that's happening new waterfront amphitheater arts and crafts teaching facility at seastone arts council council new first class waterfront hotel so these ideas that we are implementing now and then the next is structured parking system so and if you went fast i just want to make everybody hear that so it included yes first class waterfront hotel yes and it also included a structured parking and i'm just gonna i'm rolling through because i don't want to spend a ton of time on this but i just want people to understand 30 years old now yeah well I mean it was a 20-year plan and that's a planning document it's a typical planning document and people visioning and coming up with ideas you know as a group but if you get to I just want to get to and it has a whole section on wayfinding signs which we are using or still in the placement of signing but Main Street improvement so if you go to 27 design guidelines you know calm vehicular traffic repair sidewalks phase out existing on street parking provide standing only lane that's you know those are the things that were discussed and agreed upon and then I just want to show you this one little thing because it's just funny how we get to the same place after many years of going around these are some of the signs that were you know designed by Gary Jackman and the team. I like them. I think they're pretty neat. But I just want to get to the structured parking piece. These are all just signs like wayfinding signs. Very nice. They wanted to call it Riverhead Landing at that time. Change the branding of it, which is what we would call that now. I'm just going to go to. Oh, I'm back. I just want to show you where the structured parking is. You can see it. 45 page 45. The location of it is exactly where we have it pegged for now Also, and they have it at 500 and change spaces, which is also the same so we're landing on the same spots over and over again Sorry, I'm scrolling here

Yeah, this way anyway, it's good, but I've outlined it for you just so you can see and then I'm gonna get out of here and I'm gonna go to the timeline so here we are now we've done many years of planning many years of visioning and now we're ready to construct right and so that's the new thing we've been we're transitioning out of the planning to a construction role so there's six projects on the town square town square Just for people following along, this document that you gave us. Yes, yes. Just so people at home, there should be a document attached. I would add that in 1995, the population was about 25,000, and downtown was thriving, right? 95? I'm sorry. Not even close. The reason they did this plan was because downtown was declining. The population was 25,000. Yeah, a little bit less, as expected. You know, the population is always expected to grow. So six components, town square, riverfront hotel, adaptive playground, amphitheater, streetscapes, and structured parking. And so we're about to begin the hotel construction. The permit should be issued within the next week or two for the foundation, now that the site plan and special permit has been approved. We're thinking about a kickoff event and a public engagement. And so throughout this process, we want to make sure the community is aware of what we're doing, when we're doing it, what to expect, how to manage it. So just an update regularly on how, where, why, when. I know we've talked about in the Parking District Advisory Committee implementing a shuttle option for parking while the main streets are being upended and the sidewalks are being redone and the utilities are being placed underground so that people know, well, they're not going to say, you know, oh, I want to go to, you know, Abigail's or I want to go to Dark Horse or one of the restaurants. I don't want to deal with the nonsense. They know they could come to Town Hall, pick up a shuttle that runs every 15 minutes on the weekend and get to where they want to go door to door. And that can be covered by the parking district fund. and then hopefully eventually by sponsorship and small very small payments I think we should do public engagement downtown updates I'm hoping we can do one in September just to give people an idea what the construction schedule still you know just to keep because that construction schedule that I've outlined here may change may contract may expand depending on weather or other you know unexpected events during the process but we want people to be able to see what we're doing when and how Wendy Weiss had a great idea she wanted to figure out how we could put a time-lapse camera up and put it on the website so that people could see you know the live action what's going on downtown feel part of it I thought that was a brilliant idea arts so what they're not on here but aren't they going to operate I mean is that gonna what's the timeline on that in terms of on here actually so yeah so I just I just wanted to kind of quickly go through we're very close now to getting the raise grant contracted the next steps on the structured parking will be designed we have 17 million dollars available for that part of the project you know 2 million for design I think and then the balance for construction that we will need to fund that rest of that construction cost which we won't know exactly what it is until we bid but we have plans to figure that out through paid parking which we've been working on for the last year and a half how to implement a paid parking system we'll be talking about riverfront amputator so relocation of the buildings begins in the fall of this year currently our consultants are doing construction drawings for the meet the move of the buildings our purchasing director had a meeting with engineering this week and a moving company just to make sure that our bid specs have everything they need in them to make it clear to the bidders because it will be multiple bidders on the project because it is grant funded and it is a New York state requirement we will have those bids in and then we will award those bids depending on who is low and most qualified and then that work will start the first building that will be moved will be the 133 the Davis Corwin building which is the closest to the former crafted building that will be coming about 10 feet east and then that building and the Benjamin house will be lifted. We're talking about the accessory buildings on the property and where they go, when and why. East End Arts participated in a study that kind of gave us those outlines for relocation. All of those buildings have to come up to the front of the property and the campus, lifted up to 13.5 feet elevation to get them out of the floodplain and then the balance of that property will be our amphitheater location however we want to define amphitheater that's still a TBD but right now it will be an accessible open space bowl area where we can have seating and performances and markets and things like that so that's happening parallel to the town square I just want to make sure the public is aware that I guess about a month maybe two months ago East End Arts did come in here for a work session so if people want to look at that and research it they did a wonderful presentation showing how the buildings are going to move but the older historic homes are moving up front and how those other buildings are going to be realigned and a beautiful gallery that they expect so if people want to see what you're referring to there's actually a work session I apologize I don't know the date but I think it was about two months ago or a month and a half ago, they did a wonderful presentation. So people can follow along and visually see what you're talking about today. And the grants that we've acquired have paid for those studies. The grants that we have acquired will pay for those building relocations. One of those grants was from State Parks, which is the State Historic Preservation Office, which they're working very closely with us, SHPO, as you may hear me say. And our LPC, I spoke to our chairman of the LPC last week about, you know, so it's a real collaborative effort on how those buildings are going to go. They are very precious to the town and East End Arts Council, and so it's important that they get relocated as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible, and then there is potential funding for that grant, so if anything happens to those buildings that are very old during the move, there may be funding that the state could give us to assist with repair and, you know, other items, So that's a great aspect of that grant. That's a $675,000 grant that we were happy to get last year. We're looking like winter, spring. The construction continues on the hotel. The parking structure design advances. We hope in the spring we would have another public engagement just to give people a sense of where we're at. People can come. I think we could do town hall or other locations in town and you know show people what's happening and when and give them this timeline update and how they can still participate in downtown activities in spite of that disruption town spring 27 we expect town square construction to begin it'll initially be staging for the hotel and as the hotel progresses that the all of the underground utilities structure drainage electric Wi-Fi cable fiber and anything else that needs to go beneath this where will be installed and then the square will be decked over with pavers and we can start talking about programming ideas how we're going to make sure we make sure that is programmed we also have and I think I have an in phase 3 here we have a veterans component that we want to add to the town square and now that the town is acquiring 111 East Main that's going to make it even easier to do and we have the funding for that coming from the transfer of the funds from the boathouse project that did not proceed coming to the town square so they'll be funding to not only design it but also construct it parking structure final design permitting bid package would be prepared hopefully spring of next year and then in summer of 27 adaptive playground construction begins now we have all of the permitted we have all of the final drawings construction drugs for the town square and the adaptive playground and bid specs for those so the minute we are ready to launch the bid but we don't want the bid to be too early because we don't want it to go sale so we were going to wait until our master developer tells us okay we're ready to start this and then we'll launch the bid get those numbers and then we can start there's substantial funding for the town square and the playground and we're looking at even more funding potential very soon for that and then hopefully at that point we could maybe do a community tour of what's happening we'll see where we're at we could talk about amphitheater programming how we want that to work and how we want to dovetail it with East End Arts and their schedule and then you know make sure our local businesses are coordinated with what we're doing between the bid and the chamber they've been amazing at making sure information is getting to where it needs to go in the downtown groups and then the streetscape improvements that's part of the raise grant and part of the DRI grant we have once the raise grant contract is signed which we expect to be very soon we think that we could and we have a permit from the DOT we can actually start that work so it's going to take some logistics and coordination to make sure that everybody's aware what side will be closed when what will be accessible how it will be accessible where to park where not to park when when things will be closed to traffic when they won't be closed and I know know that our consultants are very good at these logistical plans. So those, as you may remember, it's narrowing Main Street, widening the sidewalks, placing the utilities below the sidewalks so there will be no poles on the sidewalks, new streetscape landscaping, lighting, and amenity space for businesses to either do outdoor dining and or advertising for their businesses. Ms. Thomas, could you just tell everyone again what portion of downtown the streetscapes covers? Yes, good point. The streetscapes will go from Peconic Avenue to East Avenue, and then we hope eventually to continue them from East Avenue down to the Aquarium, but that's another phase of this project that's not included here at all yet, but East Avenue to Peconic Avenue. We hope next fall, winter 28, the hotel opens, And we can start bringing more economic activity into the downtown and do another public engagement with a riverfront activation forum with the BIDMA and the chamber just to make sure we know who wants to do what, when, and how we're going to coordinate that effort. We already have a collaboration group that works very well now between those entities and recreation, our recreation department, who can do yoga on the square. We can do performances on the square. we can do you know a million different things there and then our bin chamber I'm sure we'll be working deeply on a downtown business promotion strategy hopefully in the spring of 28 Town Square opens and the adaptive playground open shortly after that and now we're close to done with the major components of the construction fall of 28 to fall of 30 that we can expect the construction of the parking garage once the design is complete depending on what construction method the board selects it will either be modular or cast in place there are benefits and detriments to each model and how big it'll be you know finally sized we have currently size of 504 it Maybe that more spaces are needed at that point. We'll have to think about that when the time comes, because it's been a couple of years since we last sized it. I'm sorry. Yeah, of course. I just want to mention that even in the design from 1995 on page 48, it talks about needing a garage of 589 spaces. Yes. And that was even 30 years ago, so it's going to need well more than 589. It may be that that changes what we currently have, but it's all according to the cost, and maybe we can do modular that can be added to later so those are all things to talk about you know as we move through the process um and that'll be all about the parking how we get in and out of that lot whether it's one way two ways all of that stuff sidewalks lighting safety we hope to put a police substation in that parking garage we have funding we're applying for for with that and then that gets completed and then the amphitheater hopefully once we have that bowl area, that performance-based area whether we want to do a fixed amphitheater, whether we want to do more flexible space those are things that the Board I think will understand better as we move through and see what looks like it's going to be happening, what themes we're looking at with the branding looks like whether we want to do a temporary stage whether we want to put us temporary ice skating right there in the winter there's so many options for that space it's really endless but I think we're not ready yet to sort of dial in on that until we get a little closer to what we're looking like and then streetscapes improvements should be completed and then hopefully we have a downtown celebration for all of this opening like I think it should be kind of like wild rumpus where we have to be the party of your life what is the time that's starting on that day so I could put in my I think you could put it in for 9 a.m. to 9 a.m. the following day would probably be a good window for a big party and then hopefully we're finished with that garage in the end of 2030 and again you know we're we're having added so then there's just a short at a glance construction schedule at the very last page just so you can see what we're looking at right now of course again as our timelines have changed over this process it depends on funding it depends on whether it depends on availability of product there's so many things that could impact the construction schedule so I want to say that this is what we hope for now it could change but again this is and we've been pretty aggressive I think you know we took a 1995 plan moved it forward it went through it's just 2016 renovation that plan and and then it went through in the in the early part of the 20s went through a very you know deep public engagement process through the DRI that resulted in a strategic plan which doesn't look a lot different than this honestly so you know we've moved through that from 2018 2019 to now you know we're sort of on rapid-fire getting it done so we're excited about it and I appreciate it and I would love because I know you know we have so many businesses downtown that have questions and people are constantly asking and the best thing we can do is continue to give them that information so just want to ask that right now you're coming in we know once a month almost like we do with our reports that we get and and then we'll but if there's a week that you need to be here if something happens and something's changing for the businesses downtown or our residents like if when we start the shuttle or when we begin a new area or something that's gonna just so people have the information yeah I think it'd be great if you could come and make sure you're on a work session with us and letting them know and just keeping them informed it's just a lot of social media engagement I think a lot of on the town website, anything we can do to make the public aware of where we're at and what's coming. Because this is a partnership between the town, the local businesses, the residents, and these private new entities that are coming, and everybody deserves a fair shot at making sure they're part of that team. I was going to – you had hit on it, and I didn't want to stop you, but you had said the streetscape improvements and that you have those plans, and I believe, but I don't want to misspeak, so maybe you could just say clear, where can people go to see those plans right now? Is it the CDA website? I don't know if the plans and the permitting documents are very complicated. Right, but I thought there was a picture of a rendering. Yeah, those renderings should be up, and if they're not, we can definitely put them up so people can see what it looks like. I have from both directions and close and far. Okay, and if you can get those to Justin for Channel 22, and people being able to see those on a regular basis that would be super awesome and you know just again that would be really helpful and I know we're we're doing a lot so thank you I just want to say that I know that in West Hampton the streetscape is generally the same look that we're looking to achieve for the for the actual sidewalk right not the way they have the parking industry but just if people want to actually see a visual of what we're looking to create with our streetscapes it's over there in West Hampton. The big theme of our project and the reason we were awarded the RAISE grant which is actually a transportation grant is is alternative transportation. We want people to park their car once and walk. We want them to feel comfortable walking. We want the sidewalks to be welcoming. We want outdoor dining. We want it to feel like a place where you're supposed to be instead of where cars are supposed to be. And so pedestrianizing Main Street and keeping that traffic flow calm and not to raceway like it's been for many years is the goal. And if we can do that and have people park in the garage or in other parking lots and decide it's a pleasant walk to go from the aquarium down to the town square or vice versa. Or West Main Street businesses. I think West Main Street is looking quite a lot better over the past few years. And just I know we talked about – I just want to also say, like, I know it's a lot that we're doing, but we have been – this plan has been generating a tremendous interest in different people coming to Loki businesses to move into town. And we have – I've had a few different meetings with people who want to come and do things in the downtown. And some purchases and transactions are taking place now. and we're just, one of our local businesses is about to, I don't know if anybody remembers Ralph Rotten's. You probably remember Ralph Rotten's, which was next to the Suffolk Theater. I think the Coverdale family owned Ralph Rotten's. It was for candy and popcorn, so when you went to the theater, you would have your items to bring. It closed down about 30 years ago. It's been vacant ever since. You barely notice it. It's directly next to the Suffolk Theater. it's a two it's right west is directed directly to the west it's a it's a it's a mid-century modern looking building it's not beautiful or historic looking however Shippo was very interested in and the LPC making sure that the new look is good but that is about to be occupied this building permit been issued we went to them a couple of years ago the inside of that those two store what were formerly storefronts and it used to be a beauty Academy many many years ago was boxes that looked like Raiders of the Lost Ark inside. And we were like, why don't you activate this space? And so we were able to connect them with a local business who needed more space. They partnered with that person. They are about to start construction for Skies Hampton Hair, which is already located on Main Street and started right here in the Meraki studios. And so, you know, small business getting bigger. And that's what we hope to see. local people, Hampton Bays, you know, getting started, and, you know, we're just going to keep lighting up those windows. The old Robert James has been purchased. We met with those people. They have some good plans for that property also, and using the upper floors for residential. So when you walk down Main Street, there'll be lights on at night. It'll feel like people are there, and I think those are the important things to see, and I'm pretty excited about how we're going. So that's it. I have two things. Oh, I'm sorry. You were waiting to... I'm going to wait. Mine's quick and easy. Well, mine's quick and easy, too. Go ahead. One thing that I would really, really like is if we can have some renderings up at the parking area of the aquarium so that people that are coming to the town have something to be excited to look forward to to come back again in the future. I don't want people coming down and thinking, wow, Riverhead, there's nothing there. we're not going back there next year you know just to give them a taste of what's to come and our next collaboration meeting I'm wondering if because the people that are involved in the collaboration meeting I mean they're the ones that are engaging most with the public and for them to be aware of you know this timeline and what's to come maybe if you could come and like do a shorter and when you come back it doesn't have to take this long just yeah I just I just wanted to bring us back to the beginning and show where we've gone over the last it's it's literally 30 years now, but you know a 20-year plan was optimistic so Minds quick and simple. I think the time-lapse is a great idea. I would start it now. We're building you know I mean Yeah, I don't know how to talk to engineering about where how we do that or IT how we get a time-lapse camera for where we're at. And we can put that on the website. People can click on it and see what's going on. Yep, I love it. Great stuff going on. Thank you guys very much for listening to the story as it continues. Just a second to ask for a first and second to go into executive session, and we'll be discussing legal matters, matters surrounding possible acquisition of real property with Waski and Hurley, Matters surrounding real property with Thomas. Oh.

Yep, I do. I just thought there was one crossed out. Oh, I'm sorry. Matters surrounding disposition of real property with Ms. Thomas. And I thought there was somebody else. Matters surrounding possible disposition of real property again with Thomas. Matters surrounding change of an employee with Stripling T.O., Howard, and Allen. and matters surrounding change and the status of an employee was tripled in T.O. Howard. So may I have a first? I'm a second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you, everybody. See you tonight.

Thank you.