Full Transcript

Thank you. [transcription gap] Okay. Okay. Do you solemnly swear that you uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, and that you will faithfully perform the duty of the rank of sergeant for the Riverhead Police Department to the best of your ability, so help you God? I do. Congratulations. Thank you.

[transcription gap] Chris, did you want to come over here and sign something? Yeah. I want to add you have to go. All right. Put that down. Nice. Nice. You already did. There we go. There we go. I think so. Okay. I think you're good. Yeah. Chris. Come on. Yeah. You want to make fun? Yeah. Thank you. [transcription gap] Congratulations, Sergeant. Thank you. Why don't you go through? Okay. Go that way. I don't want to give you anything. Sorry.

Sergeant Penzick, can we get a picture with you? Mr. Ward, please.

Can you come to it?

I'll head over to you. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. Thank you. Thank you.

There's no greater feeling to a young police officer other than when they're being promoted. And I want to thank the turnout from Riverhead Police to come down and support Sergeant Penzik. And as always, be safe out there. Godspeed.

Okay, moving on. Mr. Woon, do we have any correspondence and reports? Well, we do. We have a 36. 36 letters, all dealing. They were letters that came in too late for the last meeting. They all dealt with agritourism and the comprehensive plan. Nothing other than that. It was 36 of those. They can be read in their entirety in the package. Under reports, we have the tax receiver's monthly utility report for the month of August at $644,040.46. We have the building department monthly report for the month of August at $144,620 even. The town clerk monthly report for August is $11,052.60. And we received the monthly report for the month of July from the police department. And that's it for reports. Okay. We have three public hearings scheduled for tonight. The first public hearing is on a water main extension on Young's Avenue. And it is posted at 6 o'clock. It is now 6.08. And I would ask Frank Mancini to come on up and start out the public hearing. Hello. Thank you, Supervisor. This is Frank Mancini from Riverhead Water District. And this is a map and plan for the proposed lateral water main extension for the CVE project we're doing on the landfill, which is solar and battery storage. The total cost, in this case, we're going to be extending the district into there. So there won't be any future costs, but the developer is going to pay approximately $450,000 to bring in about 1,100 feet of 8-inch, water pipe through the facility, locate two fire hydrants. And we've been meeting with the developer, fire marshal, and the Riverhead Fire District for about two years. That's how we got here. Okay. Any questions? Do we have anybody from the board? Do you have any questions? Straight vote. Okay. Do we have anybody here tonight that would like to comment on this? Having seen nobody. Nobody online to comment? Okay. I will close the public hearing and keep it open for written comment until September 27th at 4.30 p.m. Thank you. Thanks, Frank. Thank you. You did a lot of work on this.

Okay. That brings us up to public hearing number two, which is posted for 6.05 p.m. It is now 6.10. And it's a public hearing on Chapter 289, Vehicle and Traffic. And I would have Counselor Saru please come up to the microphone.

Good evening, everyone. So I have some packets for the board, and I have a couple extra copies for press if they would like it. It's just photos to assist in the explanation. And then whatever's left, if you could leave it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Nope. Sorry. Thank you. [transcription gap] SO APPROXIMATELY TWO MONTHS AGO WE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF TRAFFIC ENGINEERING AND PERMITS NOTIFYING THE TOWN THAT THIS LAW THAT'S BEEN ON THE BOOKS FOR OVER 12 YEARS JUST HASN'T BEEN REFLECTED IN THE RIVERHEAD TOWN CODE. SO IT'S A VERY SIMPLE CHANGE. IT WOULD JUST BE TO ADD THERE'S A LIST OF NO RIGHT TURN ON 289-6. WE WOULD JUST BE ADDING ALPHABETICALLY CHROMER AVENUE AT COUNTY ROAD 58. THE SIGN HAS BEEN UP THERE SINCE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 2012 AND 2013. EVERYONE HAS SEEMED TO BE ABIDING BY THIS. WE'RE JUST PUTTING IT INTO OUR CODE SO IT'S REFLECTED AS A REQUEST FROM THE COUNTY. AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE PHOTOS, THEY CHANGED THE LANES A FEW DIFFERENT TIMES OVER THE YEARS AT THE TIME. ACCIDENTS WERE STILL OCCURRING. SO SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 2012 AND 2013, THEY DECIDED TO NOT ALLOW RIGHT TURNS ON RED ON THAT INTERSECTION. SO THAT'S WHY WE'RE DOING IT. SO IT'S BEEN THERE. IT'S JUST NEVER BEEN CODIFIED. AND WE'RE HAVING A PUBLIC HEARING TONIGHT TO LET THE PUBLIC KNOW WE PLAN ON CODIFYING IT. CORRECT. VERY SIMPLE PROCESS. I HOPE SO. OKAY. VERY GOOD. ANYBODY FROM THE PUBLIC WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON THIS PUBLIC HEARING? THANK YOU.

parking lot. I started to back up and my backup camera on my, I don't turn around as well as I used to, my backup camera was blinded by the sun so I didn't see anything. But there was nobody in the parking lot until suddenly, I luckily go very slowly, I tapped a person and it ended up being considered an accident. He cut right from Cromer across Carl's. I don't know if there's any way you can stop that or prevent that from happening because people do need to enter Carl's equipment from both 58 and Cromer's. It's a violation of the New York State traffic law to avoid a traffic, a lighted intersection and cut through a parking lot to avoid the traffic signal. Correct. So if that's ever witnessed by a police officer, they certainly can be witnessed a ticket. In your case with an accident involved, did the police come? No, I didn't. Well, I didn't. It wasn't, it wasn't, I just backed up and I said, well, where did that come from? So. If it were an accident and the cop went to the scene to handle and write the report up, your statement of him cutting through the parking lot, he could be issued a ticket on based on that. So. Thank you. You're welcome. We have anybody else who would like to comment? We have nobody online. Okay. Having seen that, we will close this public hearing and also keep it open until September, 27th for written comment at 4.30 PM.

Okay. We have a third public hearing tonight and the third public hearing was scheduled for 6.15. It is now 6.15. Perfect. And I would ask senior investigator, Rich Downs to come on up to the microphone from our town code enforcement office. Oh, let me, I'm sorry. The public hearing chapter 263 rental dwelling units is the title. Good evening. My name is senior town investigator Downs. I work for the code enforcement department. As you know, we handle a slew of complaints in our department and more frequently now than ever before, our code inspectors are recognizing some serious over occupancy. And by the exterior parking conditions that are arising from our rental properties. We are also fielding more complaints with regard to substandard rental properties. We are also more commonly seeing situations on rental properties where landlords are attempting to add as many bedrooms as possible into their prospective rental dwelling units. Adding more bedrooms into a home. Okay. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] traffic in the neighborhoods. The building department is also seeing an increase in applications for buildings that are one, two and multi-family houses where the goal is to increase the bedroom counts. They are seeing this trend on any and all floor levels including third-story attics and basements. This is being done without taking into account that the building or the property for that matter may be of an adequate size to handle more occupants. As mentioned permitting these types of alterations can essentially create substandard parking conditions and exterior blighted conditions throughout our surrounding neighborhoods. Some of our other East End towns have strict policies with regard to basement and third-story occupancies. Parking and driveways also which also prompted us to look further into regulations with respect to our own rental code. Currently as you may or may not know we have over 1,900 rental properties in the town of Riverhead and that number continues to rise. Substandard rental properties tend to promote and encourage deterioration of the housing stock within the town, create blight and often institute excessive vehicle traffic and parking problems not to mention in some cases overburden our municipal services. It was our goal in drafting this revision to curb the proliferation of certain conditions that encompass those rental properties which may be operating in such a manner to cause over occupancy blight and substandard parking conditions. With that being said the proposed amendment on for public hearing today is an insertion into our chapter 263 entitled rental dwelling units. And I'm here to speak. I'm here for any questions that you might have. Does the board have a copy of the amendment? Yes. Yes. Okay. We do and this amendment is just simply adding information that's already been on our books since I believe 2006 regarding the definition of family. And this also coincides I believe with the New York state law of definition. Okay. [transcription gap] Okay. Okay. Okay. [transcription gap] Okay. Okay. I did this when I was young. We got together. We rented a house, four of us. But we rented a house. We split the rent between the four of us. We used the same kitchen. We cooked. We had dinner together. We shared the utility bills and everything else. That would still be allowed under this code. Correct. Under this definition. Our definition of family in our town code is the constitutionally accepted definition pursuant to the guidelines of New York State. Correct. What this does not allow is let's take those same four people and a house is being rented to them and each one has their own bedroom, which is their own living area. And it's possibly padlocked on the outside with a hot plate and a mini fridge inside making each bedroom an actual living area of that house. That is when it becomes dangerous with electrical cords running all over the place, hot plates in rooms, no exhaust fan. The whole nine yards. That's what we're aiming at. Correct? Correct. Because they're not, in that case, the occupants aren't actually sharing the common areas of the house. Correct. And that helps. More of a dormitory type situation that you've got. Correct. Okay. I just wanted to be clear with that. Yeah. Richard, I'm going to ask, does anybody here tonight wish to comment on saying, come on up, state your name and where you're from and give us your comments. Hi. Cindy Clifford, Riverhead. I want to start by saying I'm not here to complain or to criticize. I just want to make a case for why you should reconsider passing this resolution. I want to start by saying that reinstating the civic roundtable has been a great benefit already in bringing the community concerns and issues to your attention. It could just be as beneficial, if not more so, that the town might consider creating a civic council to provide input to the city council to make changes to the city council. to provide input on some of these potentially problematic resolutions before you roll them out, saving both residents and the board maybe a tremendous amount of time and effort and attention and emotion. On the heels of so much of our community turning out about the agritourism resorts, a lot would like a break from having to show up again so soon to express opposition to another resolution that just doesn't sit right with some people. Given that the once independent anti-bias task force is now town appointed and its chair receiving a salary from the town, it's unlikely this revised task force will publicly object to this resolution, which could be interpreted as targeting against a vulnerable population. But pointing out the faults of this resolution is solely in the hands now of a concerned community. While this resolution serves to technically limit rentals to a single family or functional equivalent, as you explained, and define driveway specifications and limit the number of cars and commercial vehicles that could be parked at the residence, it was less than a month ago that you voted to accept the comp plan which clearly addresses a housing shortage in Riverhead and the need for truly affordable housing, yet this resolution would make it illegal to rent to those very categories of the most likely in need, co-workers, minimum wage workers, students, or other unrelated roommates for whom sharing a house is the only way they can afford to live in Riverhead. This doesn't stop that. We just addressed that. It doesn't stop that. No, you're saying that they'd all have to, if they're not allowed to use like common areas. Correct. I'm saying that perhaps in the... We're not allowing boarded... If you have a roommate and you live separately. I mean, I know you addressed that, but I'm saying that there are still... I'm looking at the big picture of everything that is excluded. There are several homes in my neighborhood... They would have to use a single family residence for the purpose that a single family residence is intended for, which is as a single family residence. Right. But we know that that's not exactly how things are going on now. Which is what's in the zoning. Right. [transcription gap] Right. [transcription gap] Right. Right. a roof over their head, as long as it's safe, and I completely agree, like the safety issue is key, then I don't understand really why you would want to prohibit it to an extreme. On the other hand, as Rich mentioned, we've got 1,900 rentals. Property owners are often taking full advantage of these multiple family living situations, charging $500 to $800 a month for an individual, $1,200 a month or more for a couple living in a communal house, $6,000 a month for a three-bedroom ranch. It's no wonder these tenants are having to share, but they're not going to complain and risk losing their home. And who are the landlords? In one specific case, the house down the street from me was the owner of a very profitable agritourism business outbid every other potential buyer to purchase a tiny three-bedroom ranch to provide housing for his employees. You think there's a party every night, but it's just everybody. And a lot of them home from a long day at work. Now of the properties we're looking at, how many are owned by LLCs? Even just in the downtown district, how many properties do each of the LLCs own? Are there any financial penalties significant enough to cover the windfall profits they're making off of these people? According to the most recent census, almost 40% of our residences are rentals, but we still only have six code enforcement officers to enforce all the zoning codes that are all already in place. We already have driveway and parking restrictions that have not clearly been enforced. So how does the town board see these new limitations having any more teeth? Overcrowding housing is not a new problem. Homelessness is not a new problem. But as much as this particular resolution could potentially lead to people losing a home and joining the ranks of the homeless, it still isn't going to really accomplish anything for this town other than to signal that the board recognizes it's a problem, which we all appreciate. Instead of voting to approve what could be regarded as a show that you're trying to do something or something worse, what if you instead vote this down and turn to your community for creative and substantive steps for solutions that could work for everyone? It's just an idea. Thank you. Thank you, Cindy. Hi, my name is Steve Haber. I live on Northwood Road in Bading Hollow. My name is Paul Romer. I'm also a New York City resident. I'm a resident of New York City.

This is near about 135 Northwood Road. And we're here to support the rental regulations draft. And... Closer to the mic, guys. Otherwise the people at home can't hear. I would like to present the board with pictures of what I wake up to every morning as far as commercial vehicles that are parked in the residential house that was inspected a couple of months ago and then they started again. So can I present these pictures? These are from yesterday. You can walk up and present them to... The town clerk. Mr. Wood. Thank you. I've been living on Northwoods Road for over 20 years with my wife and love the community. Beautiful neighborhood. Twenty-eight homes on the block. Everybody knows each other. Every person that passes, we wave, we say hello, and we are very concerned about what's happening in our neighborhood. I know that there's a lot of... I know that there's a lot of... There's a lot of differences between taking up houses and making rooms, having family live in it, but that's not what's going on in our neighborhood right now. I'm retired. I have enough work to do taking care of my honey-do list every day. So every morning I go outside, my cup of coffee, and I get out there around 5 o'clock because that's the time I've always woken up at. At 5.15... 5.15. 5.15. Someone walks down the block after being dropped off from Depot Road and walks to this house in question. Then at 5.30, a gentleman goes past my house doing maybe around 45, maybe around 50 miles an hour in a red Toyota Camry, and then he rides back the same exact way. This goes on and on for the whole... The whole entire day. What has happened is that the people that are living in the house, after rooms have either been subdivided or bedrooms have been created from a dining room, have employment, and they have commercial trucks, which Paul will discuss, a large portion of my day happens to be... Is going into the room. Is going into the room. [transcription gap] [transcription gap] and refrigeration and it's not one person that's wearing four hats. I have tried to stop cars, which I have, and inform them that the speed limit is 30 miles an hour. I even called up and had a sign posted two weeks ago, which the traffic and safety put up a sign very quickly. For most of the time, they stop. The other times, they pass me on the side and give me the finger. When I tried to talk to one of the neighbors, she had said that she doesn't speak English, but she told me to go F myself. The traffic is unbearable. We have more traffic in there, not just from the people that live there, but from the people who are dropping off and picking up. It's an everyday type of situation of construction that's going on at the house, building materials that's being delivered, and it's just getting out of control. Going back 17 years ago, we had a flag lot on my block, and at one point, there were 22 people that were living in a one-family home. That's what we're trying to stop. I think if it continues that they continue to finish the basement or make another room into a bedroom, and they get another trade to work out of that house, it is going to become a nuisance and a danger to the people in the community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I just wanted to make sure the code's aware of the address. I'll talk to him later. Okay. Perfect. Good evening. How are you? Thank you for the Board for allowing us to speak, and Happy Hispanic Heritage Month. My name is Ryan Walsh. I'm a Housing Counselor at Housing Help, which is a non-profit that helps people find affordable housing, and we're a housing counseling agency on Long Island. I'm so... I'm so... I'm going to read the words of our executive director, Pilar Moya-Mansera, who could not be here tonight, but she asked that I read her words today. So, dear Supervisor Hubbard and town council members, as executive director of Housing Help, I commend the town of Riverhead for its efforts to ensure the safe and compliant rental practices through the proposed rules under Chapter 263. While I understand the intent to protect tenants and maintain property standards, I have some concerns about the unintended consequences of these regulations, particularly for immigrant families and senior citizens who rely on rental housing, as well as homeowners who rely on rental income to prevent foreclosure. Many immigrant families consider their friends and neighbors to be like family. They may not have family relatives nearby, but they form networks. They may not have a family that they can trust and rely on. They may not have a family that they can trust and rely on. For example, I know a group of mothers who take turns caring for a group of children while the others go to work. It is a system that works because they trust one another and depend on living near each other. These kinds of ties are vital to our existence, but by limiting rents to family or other functional equivalents, the proposed restrictions will cut off these critical networks. So, I'm going to read the words of our executive director, Pilar Moya-Mansera, who could not be here tonight, but she asked that I read her words today. Similarly, many of our senior citizens rely on caretakers or acquaintances who may have become like family over time. Living together makes sense for them. Indeed, these bonds may become increasingly crucial when adult children leave Long Island. However, limits on renting to just family or functional equivalent would disproportionately harm the elderly, restricting their access to affordable and supportive housing. Immigrant families and elderly frequently rely on rent. They rely on informal networks of care and support that go beyond their biological connections. Restricting rents to family members only risks excluding individuals who require housing, etc. This is especially true for elders who may require a caretaker to reside with them and immigrant families that share childcare and supportive obligations. Additionally, many homeowners improve their income by renting. They may also increase their income by renting. So, I'm going to read some of these. Here's an example. portion of their home. The proposed limits on using these areas for rentals and financial requirements of property improvements and upgrades may create an undue burden on homeowners. These rules may limit usable rental space and may impact a homeowner's capacity to meet financial responsibilities, particularly during times of economic hardship. Rental restrictions may potentially reduce the amount of affordable homes in Riverhead by restricting homeowners from renting out their homes. The town may unintentionally reduce the number of rental alternatives for families and retirees. I urge the town board to evaluate the unintended repercussions of these laws which will disproportionately harm our community's most vulnerable members such as immigrants, retirees, and homeowners suffering from financial hardship. And additionally, Housing Help remains dedicated to collaborating with the town to develop a balanced approach that protects both homeowners rights, renters safety, and the community's safety. While considering the needs of vulnerable community members, thank you for your attention and cooperation. Any questions I'm happy to relay to my executive director. Thank you sir. Thank you Brian. I'm just going to quickly clarify that a homeowner can't really rent out a portion of their home right now unless they have an accessory apartment permit obtained through the building department. Correct. Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Irma Solis. I'm the homeowner of the homeowner's home. I head up head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head is to defend and promote the fundamental principles, rights, and values embodied in the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution, and the Constitution of the State of New York. The New York Civil Liberties Union works to protect and expand the rights to privacy and intimate association. The proposed revisions of Riverhead's rental dwelling units law would establish certain maximum occupancy limits for rental dwelling units on a per-bedroom basis. The revisions would ban dwelling units for sleeping purposes while permitting the grandfathering in of certain pre-existing uses. The revisions would also mandate maximum and minimum driveway sizes and limit the numbers of permissible vehicles to be parked in those driveway spaces based on the number of bedrooms within the rental dwelling units and or based on commercial license plates carried by a vehicle. The town of Riverhead appears to assert that the New York Civil Liberties Union's law would not be able to protect and ensure that these proposed revisions to Riverhead's rental dwelling units law are necessary to protect the health and safety of the occupants of certain rental properties in Riverhead. While New York law allows landlords to limit the total number of people living in rental unit to comply with legal overcrowding standards, these revisions appear to be untethered from and or deviate from both the apartment sharing provisions set forth in New York real property law and a host of other legal standards set forth. For example, the New York State property maintenance code and other applicable New York State building and fire safety codes as well as recently adopted occupancy guidelines by the New York State homes and community renewal for New York State funded housing units. All of those codes and occupancy guidelines are intended to promote occupant safety as well as ensuring there is an appropriate stock of affordable housing options for the residents of the New York State property. Thank you. Thank you so much. preventing locales from engaging in pretextual acts of discrimination to ban or otherwise limit or restrict people from obtaining housing in that locale. At the bottom, these proposed revisions appear pretextual and likely will encourage the town of Riverhead to engage in impermissible inquiry and make impermissible social judgments based on rental dwelling occupants' sleeping arrangements, all tied to Pernicious definition adopted by Riverhead with respect to what constitute a traditional family or the functional equivalent of a traditional family. But there is a right of intimate association within the home, and this right cannot be conditioned on any government actor's subjective opinion about the value, motivation, or characteristic of the people who seek to invoke this right. Zoning law can serve its historic function without defining family at all. Riverhead can enforce its zoning codes to protect health and safety. It can enforce its rules of safety and wellness and control cohabitation based on the health and safety limits of residential structures. By uncoupling the definition of family from residential limits, all kinds of chosen families – foster families, communes, students, seniors, and group homes – would be able to live together legally. We have said it before, several years ago, and will say it again. Code enforcement inspectors simply do not belong in the business of inquiring into personal relationships. Zoning boards and code enforcement inspectors are obligated constitutionally to use tailored approaches to addressing neighborhood problems. The regulatory focus properly should be directed at the use of the building and its structural characteristics. The main purpose of designating a residential structure as a single-family home, as a two-family home, or as a multi-family housing is to distinguish between buildings that contain single-dwelling units and those that contain more than one. A single-dwelling unit simply means a residential unit that is not divided into individual apartments within their entrances and kitchens. What matters from the health and safety perspective is that people who share a dwelling should live in it in the manner that is compatible within residential use. Numerical occupancy limitations can be crafted based on appropriate analysis of the sanitary code and fire code restrictions. Based on a room's square footage. And enforcement of existing mandates on the types of numbers of amenities of the dwelling space, toilets, and other washing fixtures, bedrooms, can and should still apply to preventing overcrowding and other ordinances that already exist. Can be used to regulate parking noise, property maintenance, and other aspects. And there are additional drafting issues that raise questions for us, including enforcement of the law. How is the law going to be enforced? How is it to be prosecuted? It's unclear who would actually be bringing prosecutions under this law and which courts would have jurisdiction. Will there be criminal prosecutions or will it be an administrative hearing? What is a court of competent jurisdiction for purposes of this law? Another question is number of occupants permitted to reside in a dwelling. The proposed revision. Um, do not state. Okay. [transcription gap] Okay. [transcription gap]

Okay. more than two families. Another question is potential conflict with New York State's roommate law. Will the Town of Riverhead Code amendment conflict with the New York real property section 235 , also known as the roommate law, which allows one occupant in addition to tenants and their immediate family? Operation of this new town code provision also leads us to other questions. How does this law work actually in terms of the initial application by a landlord? Then the inspection of the premises. What do the application's forms look like? Who can complain? Who would assert to inspect the premises be authorized? Would a potential claimed violation of this claimed life and safety provision of the town code constitute an emergency for which no search warrant would be required? Another question is improper sharing of accumulated data. This will have collateral consequences. Why all the resident's permit application information is protected from FOIL and there is some cabin sharing of the information accumulated with town personnel engaged in the enforcement of these provisions. The Riverhead Code contains no affirmative commitment that the information collected in connection with occupancy registration forms will not be shared with federal, state, and local law enforcement entities. This is a very important point. Thank you. I have a full head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head the Department of Homeland Security and the Suffolk County Sheriff, among other entities. The information accumulated of any on the occupancy registration forms or through any other interrogation should not be subject to discovery, subpoena, warrant, or other means of legal compulsion for release to any person or entity admissible in civil, administrative, criminal, or family court proceedings. No one should ever be criminalized or deported for obtaining shelter for themselves and their families. For all these reasons, the New York Civil Liberties Union respectfully urges the Town Board to reject this latest set of proposed amendments to Town Code Section 263. Thank you. And I do have a copy for you. Supervisor, can I speak for a moment? Sure. Just to kind of redirect the focus, I believe, of this legislation. This is about preventing and protecting lives. Our firefighters that serve in our town go through the Suffolk County Fire Academy. And they learn about what we refer to as Black Sunday, which happened on January 23, 2005. It was an accident that had happened. It was a fire that took place in New York City, where an apartment building was illegally subdivided, and partitions were put in place. And when the fire ran quickly and fast and spread throughout the structure, they were trapped. And six firefighters jumped, and two were fatally killed. Fatally killed during the evacuation where they had jumped. And the other four were seriously injured and ended their firefighting career. And spent the rest of their lives living with those injuries. This is about simple protection and protecting life and safety here in our town. And I think that's where we begin to lose focus. When you have multiple cars on the front lawns, I respond in an ambulance almost every day to different houses throughout the town. And very often, when there are multiple vehicles parked, you have full head lights in the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle of the middle in this town and that's what should be the main focus. That's the drive of this legislation because as long as I'm sitting up here, I wanna know that I've done everything I can to protect every resident and every firefighter and every police officer in this town and I'll stand by that legislation. That really should be the focus.

Sir? Supervisor and template. I'm sorry. If I could just quickly. I've reviewed section 235F of the real property law and it relates to a landlord's ability to impose restrictions on leases and based on my reading of this, I don't believe that anything that is set forth in this law would require a landlord to violate this law. Thank you. Sir? Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I appreciate you hearing me. Kenneth Rothwell, I agree with everything you just said. 100%. Now, I live at 321 Baywood Drive, Bading Hollow for 30 years. And the town of Richmond, the town of Riverhead has changed. Sir, can you just state your name? William Sproston. The town of Riverhead has changed. It's gotten more populated and things have changed drastically. I support Richard's, Richie's bill because it's gonna make this town a lot safer. I've dealt with him on several issues and we've had houses in my neighborhood and one of them is 135, 130 Baywood Drive, no, 130, 330 Baywood Drive. 130 is coming up. 330 Baywood Drive, where they went in there, they made them take out the garage. They had an apartment built in the garage. They made them rip it out, okay? And okay, they were still working. Rich is still working on this and so is the town attorneys about finding out who actually owns the property. I know the bank supposedly has a mortgage on it, but no one knows what's going on with the property or who's responsible. So they're working on that. They're trying to make it safer. There's too many people in that house right now, I'll tell you that, for a fact, I see them coming and going all hours of the night and it's a danger. Next thing you know, I go back outside one day after the garage was taken apart, the house, actually the rooms of the garage were taken apart, I see an air conditioner in the window. Now I know they're not air conditioning the car. Richie goes there, finds out they got mattresses in the garage. Somebody's living in there. That's not a safe condition, any way, shape, or form. I know at 130 Baywood Drive, there's a Colonial, there are people renting rooms out in that Colonial. Now, as you said, you can have people in your house, but you don't know what's going on in that house. They're subdividing that house, they're locking these rooms. You don't know if they've got a hot plate in there. It's wrong. The town has to have stronger rules and regulations and you have to have teeth to put bite into them. To make these people understand, when they violate the codes and the laws of this town, they have to pay a price. And this is what's not happening. That's why people get away. I have a gentleman across the street from me. He, I, they're very, they haven't, they've been working on the house nice, but they're doing things without permits. Okay. I go to the building department. I should have went right to Rich, but I didn't. I went to the building department because I wanted to see if they had a permit for what they were doing in the backyard. And how this came about, they had the garbage all over the front of the yard. So I went to the door, I rang the doorbell. Okay. No one answered. So I said, okay. I walked around, I hear people. I walk around the side. There's a fence. I could look over the fence. Lo and behold, they're building a Taj Mahal back there. No permits, but this is not a shed. This is the Taj Mahal. Believe me. So that's another problem we have. People just, and then I went to the gentleman in charge of the building department, and we had problems with him before. And the guy said, well, the last time he didn't know he needed a building permit. Meanwhile, the guy's a contractor. He's a building contractor. And a building contractor, doesn't know he needs a permit to build in the town of Riverhead? That's baloney. He knew exactly what he was doing, because he doesn't want to take the time to get the permit to come down to the town of Riverhead and apply for it properly. When I built my pool, I got a town permit. When I put my deck on, I got a town permit. I do it by the code. I don't take it upon myself to do anything. I don't have other people. The other thing, with your safety problem, at 35, 135 Baywood Drive, there is 10 cars in that driveway at night. Ten. Two on the street. That's 12 cars. That's a big occupancy for that house. Okay? Now, if they park the cars on one side, and the gentleman who has the house on the other side has his car out there, you know how much space you have to get a fire truck through there? None. None. You got to wake them up to get it out? That's wrong. This is, the town has to come up with a system. And I like Richie's system, because it's a start. But the thing is, in order to help him out, you need to get more code enforcement, and you got to give him more bite. When he goes to a house, and you know what the building guy, the building man in charge of building permits here told me? He could, when he sent somebody there to check on this Taj Mahal they were building, he rang the doorbell, he was there four minutes, he rang the doorbell, never took the time to walk to the edge of the porch, where he could have looked right in the backyard and saw the guy working on the Taj Mahal, but the guy told me he can't do it. He can't do it. [transcription gap] He can't do that. He can't go on their property. He's not on their property. He's on the porch. He's on official business. Just check what's going on. He couldn't walk to the end of the porch and look in the back. He could hear, I could hear the guys working. Or he couldn't get off the porch, walk to the side, like I did when I saw it, and look over the four-foot fence and see the Taj Mahal being erected. That's ridiculous. That's uncomprehensible. The guy can't do a better job than that, to walk to the end and look what's going on in the backyard. He's not, I'm not telling him to go in the backyard. I'm not telling him to violate the gentleman's rights. But at least see what's going on and take initiative to stop it. Okay? Now, I don't, to this day, I don't know if they stopped it at 316. They put a stop work order on it or not. But it's not a shed. Believe me. It's too nice for a shed. But as far as, and then I got another one at 135, 130, and then the 330. And then the other one I want to bring up to you people is at 625, Osborne Avenue, right across from the school, right in Riverhead. Okay? There's a guy, people park on the front lawn and the guy, they park on the sidewalk, on the sidewalk. They park, they fill up the driveway and they park right across the sidewalk. So kids going to school in the morning have to walk around his car, around the telephone pole, right on the street to get, where they could get whacked, to get around his car so that they can get on the sidewalk again to go to school. And that's at 625 Osborne Avenue. And I've called the police twice. I don't, they, I think they responded. I don't know whether the person was there at the time they responded. But that's got to stop. You can't park on a sidewalk that kids are using to go to school. But it happens in the town of Riverhead. That's why I'm saying a town, I like Richie's proposal. I think the town should adapt to it and accept it and give him the tools, he needs to do his job, even if you've got to give him extra people. I'll pay the difference in the taxes to give him the people he needs to keep the town what it needs to be and protect the town. This is a wonderful town. I love it. I've been here for 30 years and I want to see it to stay like that. That's all I have to say. Gentlemen, you have a wonderful night. Thank you, Mr. Stockton.

Hello. Good evening. I'm Eva Roberts, Eva June Roberts. And I live at 49 Phillips Street, Riverhead, New York. I wanted to speak about this amendment. I wanted to start with, I think it was mentioned earlier that this is sort of an addition to the 2006 amendment. Okay. But there was one amendment, whatever the right word is, amendment or regulation or code. There was one in 2006. And that one I wrote a letter to the editor about, I'm sorry. I wrote a letter to the editor about that one because that one, I believe, is illegal under color of law. And for those that defend people against these things, that's something maybe you want to look at, because I believe that one and this one are targeting groups of people which, you know, that they're designed to target certain groups of people. So that's not legal. You're right, it is targeting groups of people. Groups of people who violate the law and landlords who take advantage of people in houses and let them live in unsafe conditions. That's the people it's targeting. You're correct. I realize that's your position. I realize that's your position, but what I'm talking about is targeting people that may not look like you or speak like you. Not a factor whatsoever. Not a factor whatsoever. I'm not looking at you. I'm not looking at you. I'm here to speak and I realize we may not obviously be on the same page. You know who I am targeting? The firefighters. To the uniforms. Okay. This is the thing. This is great. I didn't know I could get a response. I thought I just spoke and then, you know, maybe later. Well, when you're accusing us of something, I like to be able to come back and say that I have not heard anything about the safety of our first responders, the safety of our residents. They come first. They're the ones that are running into a burning building because of hot plate caught on fire. They're the ones that are trying to get into a house that has a room that's been sealed off that they can't get through. Every second matters for them to respond to those calls. So that's my target. Yeah. [transcription gap] legal changes but I disagree with it and I'm not saying I want I don't know police officer once came to me when I got hit by a car and I still remember them you know looking down at me and trying to make sure I didn't die you know I I support our people that are fighting fires and police officers but I still think this particular amendment and the one that came in 2006 I do believe is targeting there is a lot of anti-immigrant anti-hispanic anti low-income people so what country are you in was a debate no but do you have any specific instances of that oh oh yes oh yes I do I [transcription gap] !

there was a couple of examples that I spoke to Chief Hagermill about that was unfortunately in the department and this relates to how chapter 263 you're talking about anti-immigrant well I mean I'm talking about I'm talking about this proposed law you're saying that this proposed law initially adopted in 2006 relating to rental dwelling units right is your yeah I'm alleging that it targets people so how exactly does this target someone in your opinion what I what I wanted to speak to I appreciate that question and if I have time because I'm even on 65 I work full-time but um I appreciate your questions and you know it could respond to them at another time but I had some of the things I wanted to say which I'm not being allowed to say because of these other points that you're bringing up any of your comments need to relate to this proposed amendment that is what I've said and I'll say it again I believe that it's illegal under color of law okay so that said I wanted to look at there are what happens is don't you know don't throw the baby out with the bathwater excuse me people please keep your comments down and let the speaker speak okay the comment that someone just said in this room is throw you out meaning me is this a democracy ma'am go on with your points shame on you so what I wanted to point out is that there are people who might be you know what I believe are going to be harmed by this you know if you if you think about who might rent you know other people had spoken about this but you know people that are lower income that work lower income jobs people and I don't know you mean like you might when it comes down to it they might just be doing a home share but this is going to make it difficult for people to you know make arrangements because they're going to be going to be like the fear element so we need to and I know that the town is my understanding doesn't help people find housing you know since some of you responded before does anyone want to respond do you help people is that the county's responsibility so people that are displaced in one way or another you know where are they going to go I believe I agree safety is important however I believe safety is important however I believe safety is important however I believe safety is important however so so so so so so so so so so so so so So I oppose this legislative act. I know that it's very difficult, you know, to, as you get older, you know, to keep your home. There are people, my mother was a person with a disability, June Roberts, and she was a disability rights advocate. And what if you as a person with a disability had to rent from someone because you couldn't live by yourself? You had to rent. I know that this town board and town boards in general, I think, are not in the business of providing human services. But I think this is just fanning the flames. When I think of the United States, one of the things I think about is the fact that when I think about all the people that came into the country that were not native people and, you know, not enslaved and brought here. But one of the things I think about is how many of those early pioneers and so forth were living in crowded conditions. Remember the one house on the prairie? People all crowded together? What about the tenements? This is the history. Because of economic difficulties. So,

I think how I, and I want to also say for anyone, which the town, I don't know if you're going to be doing this, but it might be good to let people know their rights. I am actually friends with someone who under some other initiative of the town to, you know, improve properties or something. A drone was used to take pictures of her property. And she's an older woman. And now she's struggling with this. And she didn't have any knowledge that anything was amiss until this. And it is being, that is being treated in part as a criminal act. This woman is having to go to criminal court because of this town's actions. So, that's a separate regulation. But a lot of times the people you think these things are going to affect may be your mother, your sister, your brother. Ma'am, I'm going to ask you to wrap up. Because you're kind of getting off point a little bit. Yes. Well, I wanted to bring that up for my friend. That it was another regulation by the town. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Next. And after you, sir, I'm going to take one online because I have somebody online. Of course. Well, good evening. Derek Stein. I represent the, well, I represent Erase Racism tonight. Two weeks ago when I spoke with the, on the comprehensive plan update, I was speaking to a woman. I was speaking under the hat of the Long Island Housing Coalition, which Erase Racism chairs as, just as the chair of the organization. So, you know, certainly I think the concerns with the first responders and firefighters and policing are absolutely warranted. I think that, you know, there is real concern that this, that there is overcrowding in the town. That there is overcrowding with apartments. But there is also, from our perspective as a civil rights organization, we are concerned about the indirect impact of those regulations. Perhaps having an impact on fair housing law and perhaps just running a foul and causing the town to be, you know, potentially victim of a lawsuit on this. So, really, you know, what our view is, we just want to continue this discussion, have a round table on this at some point, and really work out these, how we can kind of balance these two issues while, you know, living up to the, really the great work that was done with the comprehensive plan update in terms of promoting housing in the town. And I think really taking a forward looking approach to that. So, and certainly I think on that topic, ADUs are particularly a key tool for balancing that out where you would be able to regulate these apartments that are just a bedroom with a heater that are, you know, certainly a fire hazard. And be able to, you know, be able to have that regulation so that if there is something that goes wrong, you have that tool to deal with it. But, you know, certainly we are concerned just if there is that legal issue that could come up, that could be a problem for the town, we would like to do our part to help alleviate that, as well as to make sure that that doesn't have that impact. So, certainly happy to meet with you at line and the sponsors as well, Councilman Rothwell, Councilwoman Woskie. Thank you. Thank you. And help hash this out. Thank you. Thank you. Can I just say, can I say one thing just to address this? I think everyone is, you're missing the mark. This legislation is to prevent slumlords from harming innocent, maybe people that do not know all their rights, that what violations they are being subjected to because they may not have access to an attorney to know. So, this is not targeting the tenants. This is targeting and going, I say target, I mean going after and trying to stop the slumlords that are taking advantage of these people. Absolutely. Whatever, nationality, race, creed, makes no difference. It's making sure that people that have quality standards of living and are not subjected to horrible living conditions, that some of these people are. So, I just ask you to take that into consideration. Oh, yeah. Not necessarily view it as going after a tenant. It's not. It's going after a landlord. Right. That is subjecting people to unsafe living conditions. Right. That's a, yeah. That's a good point. Yeah. I. Also, I would like to say that I know your organization and I know they do good work. But I would suggest that you take your mission to South Hold, South Hampton, East Hampton. Because the town of Riverhead does more than its share of affordable housing. That no street other townships put together. So, we work. We have a lot of affordable housing in this town. We've done our job. The other towns have not. And we house the people in Riverhead that commute to work to go in those other towns every single day. So, we've done our job. And I would just ask you to take your good word to East Hampton, South Hampton, and South Hold. And pass it on that they need to do their job for affordable housing. Yeah. And I can say that we've done outreach to South Hampton on that particular issue. And with particularly the housing issue with Riverside trying to. Keep it up. There. It's not working very well over there. Yeah. And it's a hard thing. But. I know. I know. But, you know. Certainly, it's a real issue. But I also thank you for bringing up the landlords and the LLCs. That's what this is going after. Because that's a huge issue. That's exactly what it is. That's a huge issue. That's what it is. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Derek. Thank you. [transcription gap] basements from being overcrowded, plywood walls being put up, numerous mattresses, wires going across the plywood hanging down. It's a very dangerous situation for not only the firefighters, but also us trying to get any residents out of a basement. Basement fires are very tough to handle. Normally, one way in, one way out. They open those doors. We try and find people. That heat and smoke come out. It's just a very tough type of fire to fight. And again, this is about public safety. Not trying to find people in attics in the event of a residential house fire. Again, one way in, one way out. So in short, we're here representing the men and women that make up the Riverhead Volunteer Fire Department, the fire commissioners from the fire district, that we fully support any type of change that limits the amount of people that can be sleeping, living in a basement with any type of structural changes or people living in attics. It's fire safety for the public. And for our members. And we support that. Commissioner Murphy also has just something else he'd like to add. Good evening. Good evening. One of my responsibilities in the fire department is I work with the fiber venture program. And every year we go to all the schools and we have 3,000 student contacts in the school district. Unfortunately, every classroom we go into, one student always asks the question, what do I do if I don't have a window in my room? Because part of our... The lesson is we teach the children, go to your door, feel the door at the back of your hand if it's hot, go away from it, go to your window, and try to scream for help or if it's a first floor window, you can get out. And putting these children in that position of trying to explain to them that we're going to come and get you, isn't very comforting for them. So I just ask, please support this resolution. Thank you. My name is William Renton. I'm the chief of the fire department. I'm just going to make it short and sweet. Everybody's talking about color prejudice. Fire doesn't make a difference. When it burns, it'll burn my house, your house, rich people, poor people. It'll go after anybody. Our concern is people's safety. You know, I understand everybody has their issues. We all have issues in life. But I just want to say we're here about people's safety. And I don't want to say we're prejudiced. I don't want to get... I don't want to get myself in trouble. But we're here to protect everybody, residents, our firefighters, our first responders, ambulance, everybody. And thank you for your time. Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, RFD, for coming out tonight. We appreciate that. I have one online I'm going to take. Ma'am, can you hear us? Yes, I can. My name is Diane. Thank you very much. I hope everyone is safe. I want to thank all the first responders. For all the work you've done. And I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. And I really believe that we're all on the same page because we all want to be safe. My main concern is the buildings and the potential development on Sound Avenue. As a resident out here for over 50 years, what I've seen on Sound Avenue, it just gets busier and busier, as we all know. But I would like to know what the intentions on that are. I know originally it was all farmland and legislation. I didn't have clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear Okay. Okay, so if you would just sit tight, you'll have an opportunity to come back on. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Yes, sir. Good evening. Evening, Mr. Supervisor and members of the town board. My name is Ian Wilder. I'm executive director of Long Island Housing Services, a 55-year-old civil rights nonprofit focused on fair housing. I'm also a Riverhead resident. I wanted to move my comments around a little bit to address a little bit. I'm sorry the firefighters left. I wanted to thank them for their service. I think they never get thanked enough. We agree. I want to make clear in my comments up front that health and safety of all residents of Riverhead are a prime interest. To that, in this proposal, I only see one addition that addresses health and safety. We're regulating how many people per square foot, in a bedroom. The town believes that this addresses health and safety, that it should pass it for the entire town, regardless of how they pay for their housing, not just for people who are in housing whose landlord happened to get a permit. This is especially true because in the manner it's being passed tonight, it will only affect landlords who choose to rent legally with a permit. If they're renting, illegally, it doesn't affect them because you can't enforce it against them. You're only tying it to the permit.

And they would be charged, sir, with no permit. And we would be able to go forward with that. They'd be charged with no permit, but they would not have the additional thing to be charged with too many people in the house. I'm not sure if that's correct. We would still be able to charge that. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So is that already in town-wide code? That's under state code. That's where these occupancy loads come from. So why do we need it for rentals? We incorporate them into the town code, and specifically the rental law so that a landlord has that information right in front of them and is aware of and advised of their obligations if they're going to apply for a rental permit. And is it enforced across the board, including in whether it's rental or homes that are owned? I mean, we obviously can't be in every private residence in the town, but if something comes to code enforcement's attention, they do investigate all complaints of potential code violations that come in. As I said three years ago when this first came up, I love living in Riverhead. It's much less the community I grew up in, a working class community with a proud immigrant heritage. Three of my grandparents were immigrants. My maternal grandmother came here from Poland, like those who built this community, and like those who immigrated to Copaig more recently, where I grew up. Back at my grandmother's time and during my lifetime in Copaig, those Polish immigrants met their housing needs by living with people they knew from their village, that was a friend of their cousin. They don't necessarily fall within this functional equivalent, which also does not affect anybody's health or safety. My paternal grandfather, he graduated from the Union, but had to take employment as a furrier due to prejudice at the time. I find that I owe it to those immigrants to speak out about some of these other parts of the code that are being proposed. As discussed previously three years ago, the other items proposed impinge on how people conduct their lives, but do nothing to protect health and safety. All they do is to serve to impede the ability of people to get housing and unnecessarily intervene in how those people choose to cohabitate. Now, I want to thank Councilman Rothwell. I've been very grateful to him. I believe I contacted his office about the exercise equipment being dangerous in the play area, and I swear it was out in a day. And it was so well done that I didn't even remember for a moment that it was there. The town parks did an amazing job. But if having too many commercial vehicles in a driveway is a problem, is that a town-wide law so that it affects everybody, or is it just for people getting rental permits? It affects everyone. So, what we're doing is pouring things, so that's clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear [transcription gap] were all related or that we operate as a single family negative no well you would have to be able to show that you operate as a single family unit yes you couldn't have as a homeowner couldn't you couldn't have say uh uh basement a family living in the basement and have them confide that's their area well you couldn't have that is that because the basement's illegal or because it may or may not be illegal depending on what certificates of occupancy you have so i couldn't have family living in a habitable part of the house what would be not habitable if it doesn't have it oh well that's that's different there's already law for not habitable that covers every property regardless i mean that does not need to be amended in the code um but i i i i have i have concerns about uh how some of these especially the functional equivalent is being done uh and it necessarily unnecessarily impedes on people's ability to get housing and interview interferes in how they choose to cohabitate with people um i want to take a moment to recognize that three years ago the opposition to these proposals existed across the board the opponents range from the aclu to members of the business community unfortunately i believe we had i only found out about this late friday so we did not have a chance to get to everybody who came out last time to hear from them um also unfortunately a very important voice who spoke up three years ago and i think it's a very important voice who spoke up three years ago and i think it's a very important voice who spoke up three years ago is no longer with us though i do not have the right to speak for her i do want to remind us that sister margaret smite came out and spoke in opposition to the law uh determining who lives or what their relationship is the functional equivalent she reminded us that we've been losing our base of low-paid workers and our economy is going to suffer because of the proposal in terms of uh and i know there's been some discussion from the town about looking at the system so she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear she's clear [transcription gap] So it does not step into what could potentially be complex and very expensive litigation. Furthermore, just because the Department of State says that something's legal doesn't mean that it's useful or it's the right thing to do. In terms of functional equivalent, there are people who could fall out of it. There could be foster parents who have a child temporarily in there because the child's not in there for very long. There could be four nuns, which I know about, renting a house, who live separate lives, who would not be a functional equivalent of a family. That would still be considered most likely a functional equivalent. Most likely. So you'd be inquiring. Are they living in separate bedrooms with locked doors so that they can't get into? What about joint furniture and meals together? They're doing all that and it's the functional equivalent. No, they're not. They generally have their own mission and they live separate lives. They're using. They're sharing rent. They're using the same kitchen, same common areas. I'm not saying anything's illegal in the house. I'm just saying there's four people in a house living separate lives. It would most likely still be the functional equivalent of a family. Okay. It's not what I saw, but most likely. Now, as we've sadly seen, we have sufficient laws on the books to deal with health and safety issues. The town should focus on having sufficient enforcement funds, as has been said over and over. Again, those laws and close oversight from the town board to make sure that that work is being done. And we support that very strongly. You know, somebody mentioned 22 people living in a house. We don't want 22 people living in a house. Regardless, that's unsafe. I don't think there's any house in Riverhead that's big enough to be safe for that many people. So one last comment that I'll make it quick. Because we're talking about a lot of things. We're talking about the

We're talking about the We're talking about health and safety and dealing with landlords and tenants. Our agency had contacted the town regarding, in terms of rental permits, that they ask the landlords also to adopt a simple fair housing policy to protect both the landlords and the tenants. We have not heard back from the town. We'd like to hear back about that. If you want, I can contact you, Mr. Howard, and get you a copy. I believe it went to the supervisor's office. You want a copy of me or whatever that was? Okay. I'll get you a copy. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your time, and thank you for listening. Thank you, Mr. Waller.

Good evening to Supervisor Hubbard and the rest of the town council. My name is Stephen Rothog. I live on Baywood Drive, this gentleman here. I've been out here 11 years. We moved here from Huntington Station in the town of Huntington. It's just a short story. I'll be over soon. There was a commercial building in the town of Huntington. On West Hills Road that illegally was converted to a five-unit apartment house. By lease, each apartment was to have no more than three people in it. One night in 1999, there were 34 people in that when the fire broke out. Now, I don't remember the exact specifics of it, but I believe 13 people died because there were no windows on the first floor at all, just a door, one door to get in and out. Mm-hmm. [transcription gap]

He was questioned by a young girl because she couldn't, what do I do if I don't have a window? Well, if you don't have a window, that means there's a problem with the structure because every bedroom I know has a window. Okay? How would she get out? She's not going to get out. As an ex-chief with the Rocky Point Fire Department, I did 15 years there. I know what it's like to crawl around a bedroom. I know what it's like to crawl in a burning house when it's raging, trying to find somebody. When that house is altered in any way, shape, or form, it makes that fireman's job ten times harder, and it puts his life at risk beyond comprehension because that's how many people die. Just look at what happened on 2nd Street. Five people died there. That could have been avoided. With a fire escape, it could have been avoided. Okay. So all I'm saying is. Nothing in his bill takes away from people living their lives in their homes. What we're trying to do here in the town is make it safer for people and stop people, slum landlords, from overpacking their homes and subdividing. When you look at a house, you look at that beautiful colonial, you have no idea what's inside that place. But when I see 15 cars out there, I got a good idea what's going on inside that place. And this is what they need to be able to do their job. They have to be able to evaluate what's going on at night. Even if they have to put somebody out at night to drive around. When you go on my block and I see 10 cars, like I said, in the driveway, two in the street. There's a lot of people in that house. More than that house was built for. That's all I'm going to say. And you gentlemen have a good night. Thank you.

Evening. Claude at Bianco Bading Hollow. I'd like to. I'd like to. I'd like to bring up a point which I don't think I heard tonight. I am totally in favor of this resolution and the addition to the other resolution. You're not only protecting the inhabitants of these illegal houses or illegally subdivided houses. You're also protecting the residents who live next door. Another homeowner who could be impacted by a fire in a house where they shouldn't have that many people. Absolutely. So it's not just those residents. You're protecting all of us. Thank you. Do we have anybody online? Nobody online? Do we have anybody else who would like to come up and comment? Peter Guardino, Riverhead. I just wanted to thank the board for bringing up this whole topic and bringing up the changes to the ! I just wanted to thank the board for bringing up this whole topic and bringing up the changes to the! Current code. I appreciate. I appreciate it by all of you. We also want to thank Rich. My wife has had some dealings with Rich over the past. Years. This guy is trying. It's like trying to shovel Shea Stadium with a teaspoon. Okay. He's doing a tremendous job. A lot of people are saying that he's not doing enough. It's tough to do. The job with the number of people. He has. But he really is. Looking forward. And I. I. [transcription gap] I. [transcription gap] I am really curious, and this relates to everything we're saying, and I want to thank everyone for coming out today, because we have more in common, and I think we should focus on that. But I'd like to know what the development plans are for Sound Avenue, and this relates to everything. Ma'am, ma'am, again, we're still on the public hearing. Okay, but you told me to wait, and now you're asking me to come on. I'm the only one on line, I think. After the meeting is almost ended, when all of our resolutions are done, we open the floor every meeting to comments on any topic at all. So we still have... Thank you for telling me. This is the first time I'm here. Is there any way I could find out about this online? Like on the site, on the website? Everything we're doing tonight is posted on the website, yes. Okay, thank you. I'd like to know what's happening on Sound Avenue, because I want to make one point, and this is the truth. It's the overdevelopment that is causing all of this. It's the overdevelopment that is causing all of these problems. Thank you so much, sir. Okay, have a good night. Anybody else would like to comment? On this topic? On this public hearing? Okay. I have one comment outside of this topic. Yes, sir. I want to thank Mr. Spronson. It is an honor every year to hang up the hometown hero banners for your family on Main Street, and thank you for your military service, sir.

Okay. Well, that concludes our public hearing on this matter, and that is our third public and last public hearing of the evening. And I will close this public hearing, but keep it open for written comment until September 27th at 4.30 p.m. Okay. We are now going to move on to resolutions, and I'm going to open the floor to comments on any of the resolutions we have scheduled for tonight. We have 28 resolutions, so anybody who wants to comment on any one of the resolutions, you may come up to the microphone. And Mr. Supervisor, I just want to point out we do have a CDA meeting tonight. And we have a CDA meeting also at the end, yes. Folks, thank you for coming out. It's always important to hear your voices, so we appreciate you taking your time out of your busy day to come out and speak to us.

Thank you. Okay. Do we have anybody who would like to comment on any of the resolutions tonight before us? Nope. Chip, do we have anybody online that would like to comment on any of the resolutions?

I don't trust Chip. No. She wants to know about Sunday. We'll entertain her. I just got to get her in the right time frame here. Okay. We're going to move on to resolutions. Jim, if you would please read off the resolutions. Okay. We'll start off with resolution number 791. Sewer District Capital Project 82226, Cranberry Street closure. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rockwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 792. Capital Budget Project 3218, Budget Adjustment. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rockwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 793. PD Budget Transfer for PD Vehicles, ARPA. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rockwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 794. PD Budget Transfer to Vehicles. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rockwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 795. Ambulance District Fund Balance Transfer, Replacement of Radios. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rockwell. This is a very crucial component. It's about allowing more volunteers to respond in a timely manner for RVAC. You know, sometimes a paging system is, is, doesn't necessarily, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you [transcription gap] know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you that instant communication which is needed to save lives. So I'm glad that this is going through. Vote yes. Mr. Hubbard. Mr. I want to thank the Board for supporting this because as Councilman Rothwell just said, this will allow the RTVAC members, almost every one of the members, to have a radio at home so they can hear calls come over. Presently, they don't have that. And if you're home, you don't have any idea that a call is being put out, except for the very few people that actually have a radio. So this will give us really good town-wide coverage from the EMTs if they're at home. God knows the 80 case might be right next door and they don't know anything about it and they could get there really fast. So I thank the Board for supporting this and it's money well spent to our ambulance. I vote yes. Mr. The resolution is adopted. Resolution 796. Mr. Ambulance District Fund Balance Transfer Chassis and Body Rebounds. So moved. Ms. Seconded. Mr. Vote please. Mr. Waskie. Ms. Yes. Mr. Merrifield. Ms. Yes. Mr. Ahern. Ms. Yes. Mr. Rothwell. Mr. Again, this is what they do for a remount is they will have a loaner ambulance in place. They will send their existing ambulance out and they will have a new body placed on it. We'll use the same body on a new chassis, I should say. But just know that there are loaner vehicles in place so we never lose the total count of our ambulance responding. So and it's certainly a great cause, and it's certainly a great cause for cost savings to the town. So vote yes. Thank you. Our back. Mr. And Hubbard. Mr. Talk about cost savings. I met with the ambulance today and they indicated that a new rig completely outfitted is about $650,000. A remount could be upwards or towards $400,000 completely done. So it saves a ton of money doing it this way. And we appreciate it. And, you know, they need the equipment and you can't cut corners on public safety or EMS work. So. Mr. I vote yes, absolutely. Mr. That resolution is adopted. Resolution 797. Ms. Sets fees for the recreation fall brochure. So moved. Seconded. Mr. Vote, please. Mr. Waskie. Ms. Yes. Mr. Murrayfield. Ms. Yes. Mr. Pern. Ms. Yes. Mr. Rothwell. Ms. Yes. Mr. Hubbard. Mr. If you haven't gotten a copy of the fall brochure yet, I highly recommend you do. Our recreation department does a fantastic job putting programs together and it's programs for everybody, even my old self. There's a lot of stuff we can get involved in and look at it and your grandkids, your kids, it's a great program, they do a great job. So yes, I vote yes. Mr. Resolution 797. Mr. I almost cursed on TV. Mr. Resolution 798. Ms. Authorizes Chief Fire Marshal to attend Fire Arson Investigation Seminar. So moved. Mr. Seconded. Mr. Vote, please. Mr. Waskie. Ms. Yes. Mr. Murrayfield. Ms. Yes. Mr. Pern. Ms. Yes. Mr. Rothwell. Mr. Fire Marshal Andrew Smith might be teaching others a lesson. Mr. He's teaching other teachers as well. He's a brilliant man. Vote yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Hubbard. Mr. Yes, sir. Mr. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 799. Mr. Authorizes attendance at Fire Marshal IAAI Conference in the year of 2024. So moved. Ms. Second. Mr. Vote, please. Mr. Waskie. Ms. Yes. Mr. Murrayfield. Ms. Yes. Mr. Pern. Ms. Yes. Mr. Rothwell. Mr. Yes. Mr. Hubbard. Ms. Yes. Mr. Resolution's adopted. Resolution 800. Ms. Appoints a call in Recreation Aid to the Recreation Department's so moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 801. Appoints a call-in recreation aide to the Recreation Department so moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution's adopted. Resolution 802. Appoints a call-in senior recreation leader to the recreation department so moved second vote please wasky yes Maryfield yes turn yes well yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 8 0 3 ratifies the appointment of part-time police officers and places them on a leave of absence so moved second vote please wasky yes Maryfield yes turn yes Rockwell congratulations officers yes and then Hubbard yes resolution is adopted resolution 8 0 4 accepts the retirement of a fire marshal one so move Thank You Dave seconded vote please wasky yes Maryfield yes turn yes Rockwell yeah Dave a to Z was a great knowledgeable person in the fire service appreciate all those years and his guidance and wish him the best in his retirement I vote yes men Hubbard agreed you so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved resolution is adopted resolution 805 ratifies the resignation of a principal engineering aide so moved and Jason will miss you terribly I wish you all the best second vote please awaski yes Maryfield yes Kern I just want to say Jason you were great to work with and good luck in your your new endeavors yes Rockwell absolutely Jason great stream wealth of knowledge there and appreciate everything that you did for us here and wish you the best of luck going forward I vote yes Hubbard agreed Jason best of luck to you and your new venture and I vote yes resolution is adopted resolution 806 accepts the resignation of a water treatment plant operator I to be to be to be so moved we're not to be okay okay thank you vote please second it awaski yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rockwell yes Hubbard yes resolution adopted resolution 807 ratifies the resignation of an automotive equipment operator so moved second vote please awaski yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rockwell yes Hubbard yes resolution is adopted resolution 809 authorizes amendment number 7 of the agreement with the US Department of the Interior US Geological Survey so moved seconded vote please awaski yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rockwell yes Hubbard yes resolution is adopted resolution 810 approved special event chapter 255 application for bold broadcasting Riverhead holiday light show so moved seconded vote please awaski yes Maryfield yes Kern yes ! yes [transcription gap] !

so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 814 adopts a local law amending chapter 221 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled community preservation so moved second vote please wasky yes very field yes Kern yes Rothwell yes yes resolution adopted resolution 815 authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice of public hearing to accept recommendations of community preservation fund water quality improvement and pollution prevention committee and amend community preservation fund project plan adopted on August 3rd 2021 by local law 7-20 21 so moved second for you say vote please I just got to say can you really have a radio I was thinking the same it's such everybody can hear everything you say I've been told I have a radio face I'm not sure what your voice just you're not sure what that means but your voice just fellows out and it's perfect I wish I had a voice like that why thank you supervisor much appreciated vote please wasky yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes yes say wri Riverhead without our IV okay 816 designates alcohol service vendors to serve alcohol at the Riverhead Country Fair Street Festival and authorizes the supervisor to execute a license agreement with designated alcohol service vendors and Riverhead Townscape incorporated some of second vote please wasky yes Kern yes Maryfield yes yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 817 authorizes town clerk to publish and post public notice to consider a local law to amend chapter 231 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled fire and fire prevention so moved second vote please wasky yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rockwell yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 818 authorizes the supervisor to execute an agreement with language line services Inc for Riverhead Justice Court so moved second it vote please wasky yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rockwell yes covered this is wasky yes Maryfield yes yes resolution 817 authorizes town clerk to publish and publish a language line for justice court to help with help being an interpreter for them we have so many different languages being spoken in town it's difficult to keep up with them and this is a similar one that the police Department uses also and it will tremendously help justice court out with their cases so I vote yes that resolution is adopted and that concludes the resolutions for this meeting okay that concludes resolutions we're going to move on now to the CDA meeting wasky yes

And I would ask Ms. Dawn Thomas to come on up and we'll make a motion to close the town board meeting and open up the CDA meeting. Do I have that? A second? So moved. Okay. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? CDA meeting is open. Dawn, go ahead. Okay. Another exciting meeting with no business to attend to other than open comments on CDA matters only. Okay. Do we have anybody in the audience tonight or online that would like to comment on any CDA matters? Seeing nobody online and nobody coming forward. Ms. Thomas? Okay. We can go ahead and close the meeting. And you want to reopen the town board or? I'll make a motion. We close the CDA meeting and reopen the town board. Okay. And then we'll take the vote. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Okay. CDA meeting closed. Town board? Back to you. Thank you. Thank you, Dawn. Okay. At this point in time, we take open comments from the public on any matter. Chip, please tell me we have somebody online. We do not. Okay. Well, we're here. Maybe she'll dial in an emitter or something. Hi. Yeah. Claudia Bianco again. Bating Hall. Frank spoke, Frank Mancini spoke about the water main extension on Young's Avenue for solar panels and battery storage? Yes. Okay. Okay. I'll head over to you next. I'll head over to you next. NIGHT AND DIDN'T HEAR THIS WHEN WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DO THAT WHEN IS THAT GOING TO TAKE PLACE BECAUSE IT'S TRULY AROUND THE BLOCK FROM MY HOUSE YEAH THAT'S BEEN TAKING PLACE FOR SOME TIME NOW UH I DON'T REMEMBER HEARING ABOUT IT BUT I THOUGHT THERE WAS A MORATORIUM ON SOLAR AND I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT BATTERY STORAGE NOPE THE MORATORIUM ON SOLAR EXPIRED BUT ALSO THERE WAS AN EXCEPTION FOR THE TOWN UH IF THE TOWN FOR TOWN PROPERTIES FOR TOWN TOWN PROPERTIES DO YOU KNOW WHEN THAT'S GOING TO BE PUT IN ARE THEY CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER IS THE BATTERY STORES YEAH THEY'RE THEY'RE ON THE SOLAR ON TOP OF THE LANDFILL YEAH THAT BUT I MEAN THEY'RE BECAUSE OF EACH OTHER YES OKAY YEAH THE THE SOLAR RAISED WILL GO INTO THE BATTERY OKAY THAT'S WHAT I FIGURED DO YOU KNOW WHEN THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN GO AHEAD IT SHOULD START SOMETIME UH JANUARY OR FEBRUARY OH OKAY 25. OKAY THANK YOU JUST TO CLARIFY IT'S IT'S NOT LIKE A BATTERY POWERED ENERGY STORAGE LIKE A BEST LARGE SCALE SYSTEM IT'S ONLY I BELIEVE TWO UNITS THAT ARE GOING TO BE IN PLACE TO CAPTURE THE ENERGY TO STORE THE SOLAR ENERGY OKAY SMALL LEVEL THANK YOU YEP YOU'RE WELCOME ANYBODY ELSE WE HAVE TWO PEOPLE ONLINE ALL RIGHT WE DRUMMED UP SOME BUSINESS ALL RIGHT LET'S GO TO THEM EVERYTHING'S ON SALE

ALL RIGHT SHE'S BACK GOOD

I NEVER LEFT GOOD DIANE WE'RE GLAD YOU HUNG IN THERE THANK YOU FOR ENTERTAINING ME THIS HAS BEEN EARLY ENTERTAINING THANK YOU SO MUCH I AM VERY CURIOUS WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN ON SOUND AVENUE I HEARD THAT THEY ARE LOOKING TO BUILD A SPA AND A HOTEL AND I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS INTENTIONS AND WHAT THE PLANS ARE THANK YOU OKAY UM WELL THAT HAS ALL BEEN PUT TO BED WE REMOVED IT OUT OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN THE SECTION THAT DEALT WITH AGRITOURISM WE REMOVED IT FROM THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN SO EFFECTIVELY THAT KILLED THAT PROJECT FOR ANY SPA OR RESORT TO BE BUILT ACCORDING TO WHAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE ON THE BOOKS SO OKAY THAT'S DONE AND SO YOU'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO PROTECT THE FARMLANDS AND THEY'RE ONLY GOING TO BE FARMLANDS WHICH WAS OUTSUITUALLY PROTECTING FARMLAND AS A MATTER OF FACT WE'RE LOOKING FOR WAYS TO BUY MORE FARMLAND AND PROTECT IT AND PRESERVE IT THANK YOU THANK YOU VERY MUCH OKAY HAVE A GOOD NIGHT THANKS FOR HANGING IN THERE YOU'RE WELL CAN WE HAVE ONE MORE OKAY

Ron Herrieri of Aqibog. I would like to clarify that at this point, there has yet to be an eligible and qualified hearing regarding the master developer, the Petrucelli firm, or Mr. Petrucelli or his affiliates. Is that true, counsel? Mr. I don't know. I don't know. Mr. That's correct. Mr. Do you have any timeline or projection as to when that might be? Mr. I do not. Mr. Can you confirm to me what documents, including, for instance, financial information, were evaluated by the town board in connection with the appointment and the application? Mr. I don't know. I don't know. I just didn't have clear headings. I didn't have clear headings. [transcription gap] But it's fair to say to this point, no financials have been reviewed by the town board or the CDA in connection with his selection? Asked and answered, counsel. Go on. I don't think it's, I just want to clarify that no financial documentation has been reviewed. Asked and answered, sir. Not a question. Not a question, but Mr. Supervisor, are you trying to take the fifth? So, to whatever extent the town board has reviewed any, I don't believe they have. Thank you. You've answered the question. Thank you very much, counsel. I appreciate your honesty. You're welcome. That's it, folks. Good night. Thank you. Anybody else? Nobody online? All right. My stomach's growling. Can I make an announcement? Go ahead. All right. Don't forget, Channel 22 is commercial free. That's why everybody watches it. So, you know. True. All right, folks. Thank you so much for coming out tonight. Everybody have a safe. And healthy weekend. And we'll see you next time around. Enjoy. Make a motion to close the town board meeting. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Me. Okay. Town board meeting is closed. Weekend.

Second. Thank you.