Full Transcript

Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. Thank you. Pleasure. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Okay. Councilman Rothwell, do we have somebody for the invocation? We do. Today we are in to be honored by the presence of Reverend James Wayland from the Church of the Harvest. If you could kindly come forward to lead us in an opening blessing this morning. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you for joining us. I apologize for my dress, but we're in the middle of the food pantry. It's good advertisement. So anyway, we have a saying, blessed are the short-winded that we invited back. So I'm going to pray this morning. Just ask you to bow your heads if you want. Father, we thank you for today, Lord, and we lift up this town board meeting to you, Lord. We're thankful for the people that you put in place in the town of Riverhead, Lord. Father, I ask you to give them wisdom today, Lord, as they make the decisions. Every on a daily basis, Lord, for the future of Riverhead and for all the people who are sitting out here waiting to come before them. So again, Lord, I ask you to give them wisdom, Lord, give them discernment to make the decisions, Lord, to benefit this town. In Jesus name. Amen. [transcription gap] Reverend, thank you and Gwen for all the work you do up there in the food pantry. I know it's a very, very highly visited food pantry and just a public information if anybody would like to donate food to the Church of the Harvest food pantry, I'm sure they can contact you up there and food can be donated. So thank you for all you do. Okay, we're going to take things a little bit out of order here. We're going to pull up resolution number 38 and we are appointing five new members to the Riverhead Police Department today. And I would ask Chief Frost to come on up. Chief, do you want to do it one at a time or you want him to come up at a... Do them all at once. Okay. So today we will be swearing in future police officers, Jared Pollock, Julia Budzinski, Sebastian Narowski, Anthony Lazar, and Krista Romer. We're going to read the resolution prior to you swearing them in, Chief. I'm just getting them ready. Okay. Appoints police officers to the police department. Congratulations. Welcome. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. I think you have to do open comments on the resolution. Waski. Oh. Right? Vote. Just pause for one minute. Hang on. Let's open this to an open comment on this resolution alone. Just on this resolution, do we have anybody who would like to comment on this? Anybody from the public online? Okay. Seeing nobody, go ahead and do the vote. Waski. Yes. Congratulations. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Great, fine officers. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for your service to the town. I vote yes. And Hubbard. Absolutely. Welcome aboard. Godspeed to each and every one of you, and may you enjoy the academy if you have to go. And if you don't have to go, get in the car with a training officer and learn the ropes of the town of Riverhead. Okay. We're glad to have you aboard. Thank you. Resolution is adopted. Congratulations. Thank you. [transcription gap] Do you have a right hand? Do you? State your name. State your name. Zalumi Zweiad, that you will uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, and that you will full...faithfully perform the duties of the rank of police officer for the Riverhead Police Department to the best of your abilities so help you God. I do. I do, sir. Thank you. Thank you. [transcription gap] Jason, I'm going to need everybody to sign here. You're Jason, right? Jared, that's what I meant. I just wanted to make sure you got my name right. It's not right there. See you all back here in 30 years for your time. I know it's at home. It's not anywhere. Okay, thank you. Julia? Yes. I'll need you to sign right there. Congratulations. Thank you. That's Nikki, that's it. Baczynski. That's a riveted name. That's some signature. You should be a doctor. Okay. You're not Sebastian, are you? I am not. I am Krista. You're Krista. Roma, right? Yes. Thank you very much. You went out of order. I need you to sign right there as well. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Sebastian. [transcription gap] Let me sign right there. Do it.

And then right up here, Sebastian.

Last but not least, Anthony, right? Yes, sir. Not a sir. I'm a town boy. More like a man. Thank you very much. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. All right. I'm going to get out of your way so you can shake hands with us. Congratulations. Thank you. That's the one. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Before you go, one at a time if you want to come up and have family members come up to take pictures. And remember this face. face. Go ahead up and if you have family or a friend that wants to come up.

Wait for grandma or grandpa to get up there.

Next up. Smile Mark. Come on now. There we go. Where did Alex get all the height from? I don't know. Thank you. Congratulations.

Wonderful family. Congratulations. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap]

Two in the academy. Three are coming right up. Academy sorts this month, right? December 9th. Okay. There goes Christmas. Yeah. Well, congratulations to our five again. Three of them are coming straight on because they're already certified police officers coming from other jobs. And two of them will be attending the police academy starting December 9th. So for those of you going to the academy, have fun. It's six months of no nights, so that's kind of nice. But once you get out, you'll be on the wheel and working around the clock, possibly on different shifts. So good luck to all. All of you, and we're proud to have you. Thank you very much. Enjoy your holidays. Congratulations to all. Thank you.

Mark, you've got to stay for the whole meeting. I was going to invite everybody to stay.

Okay, I have a couple of announcements to make. First of all, out in the lobby here, there is a box. There are some items for veterans that the VFW posts here in Riverhead. They're collecting items for our veterans. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes, combs, unscented deodorants, body wash, body lotion, nail clippers, vials, shampoo, conditioner, clothing, underwear, sweatshirts, sweatpants, shirts, slippers, flip-flops. If anybody would like to donate anything, the box is out here in the lobby, and it will be here through, I guess, up through to the holidays. And it's open Monday through Friday, 830 to 430. So feel free to come on down if you want to donate something. Secondly, we have this weekend, we have the holiday events going on downtown. We have a lineup for the parade at 1 o'clock somewhere on Griffin Avenue. The exact location hasn't been named yet. The parade will start, and then at 2.30, Santa arrives by boat down on the riverfront. And then at 5.15, and at 2.30 when he arrives, he'll go into the holiday house, and kids can line up and get their pictures taken with Santa. And at 5.15, we have the tree lighting and the bonfire. So Saturday, weather holds out. Looks like it's going to be good. Come on down. It's always a fun time. There'll be hot chocolate down there, a lot of stuff going on, so please show up. And one other event, I'm going to, Joanne, you have something with the North Fork Animal League. You'd like to mention maybe? Joanne Bauer- I do. Saturday, December 14th, the North Fork Animal Welfare League is hosting an open house with photos of your pets with Santa at our Aquabog location on Church Lane from 12 to 2 o'clock. So this is, I believe, one of the first times that our animal shelter has done this here in Riverhead. They usually do it out in South Hold. So it would be great if we could have people from the community come out, come see the animals, see animals that are available for adoption, and bring your pet down and have a photo taken. And one other thing, we also have the Jamesport Civic Tree Lighting Thursday, December 5th at 6 o'clock. And there's some carolers coming from the Aquabog school, some of the students. So it's always a fun night in Jamesport. So again, Thursday night, 6 o'clock, come on down. I believe there's hot chocolate, and it's always a wonderful time. Thank you. David Plylar- Thank you, Joanne. Anybody have anything else? Joanne M. Yeah, Wading River Fire Department always every year does the collection of food for the Stuff-A-Bus program. So we encourage those that, especially in Wading River, when you're doing shopping at King Colin there, you can come outside. The Boy Scouts are also helping to participate for the collection, but also at any time, any hour, you can go down to the headquarters station. In Wading River Fire Department, there is a container right outside the big yellow bus. So let's fill it. It's, we usually deliver those to pantry needs right immediately after the holidays when everything seems to be at an ultimate low supply. And they do a great job collecting every year. So help out with Stuff-A-Bus for Wading River Fire Department, please. David Plylar- Excellent. Denise? Denise Rapp- Nothing. David Plylar- Bob? Bob Riefer- No, no, good. David Plylar- Good? Bob Riefer- Thank you. David Plylar- All right. Town Clerk Wooten, do we have any correspondence and reports? Bob Riefer- We did. Under correspondence, we received five different letters, one from Meredith Ritter, reference zoning recommendations, a letter from the Amato Law Group, reference to cell tower, elite towers, letter from Wading River residents also for the cell tower, letter from Campanelli and Associates, memorandum of opposition to the cell tower, and then a letter from Laura Bolt, reference to the industrial zoning. Those can all be viewed on the website. Under reports, we received the election notices for all of the area fire departments, Wading River, Manorville, Jamesport, and Rivet, and they have been posted on the board. And that's it. We're good to go. David Plylar- Okay. Thank you very much. We have one public hearing scheduled for today. And that public hearing is scheduled for 2-05. It is now 2-21. And it's to establish a fair and reasonable sewer rent. And I would ask the sewer department superintendent, Michael Reichel, to please come up. Michael Reichel, Superintendent, Sewer Department, Good afternoon. The resolution that was posted for this public hearing, it says it ratifies the rate for out of the six sewer connections for 2023. Also sets the rate for 2024. The rate for 2024 is $10.046 per thousand gallons of flow with a multiplier of 1.75. This is for out of sewer district connections only. And our out of district connections involve the Suffolk County Center and the Suffolk County Jail, correct? Michael Reichel, Superintendent, Suffolk County Jail, Correct. County courts, the jail complex, and the county center. David Plylar- Got it. Anybody have any questions? Anybody from the public have any comments? Nobody online? Okay. Thank you, Michael. Michael Reichel, Superintendent, Suffolk County Jail, Thank you. David Plylar- We will keep this open for 10 days, which puts us around December 13th. We'll close the public hearing, but keep it open for written comment. Okay. That being the only public hearing, now we're going to open it up for comments on the resolutions. Any comments on today's resolution? I see we have one person online. Why don't we take that person? Okay. [transcription gap] We'll head over to Cathy McLaughlin. Cathy McLaughlin, Sublet's Hi, good afternoon. Can you hear me? We can hear you, Kathy. How are you? I'm good. Kathy McGraw from Northville. I hope everybody had a nice Thanksgiving. Thank you. I would like to comment on Resolution 977, the Wading River Wireless Tower. And what I'm concerned about with this is the handling of SECRA on this matter. This resolution says that you are assuming lead agency and issuing a negative declaration. And I'm no SECRA expert. You've seen me before not fully understand SECRA, but I have learned a bit about it. And I'm wondering... Whether there was any earlier resolution in which you were found to be a lead agency, and if you identified other interested parties, other agencies that needed to be contacted. Okay, Matt, I'll ask you to come up and address that, please. Matt Chorters from our planning department. Involved agencies. Sorry, that's what I meant. Yes, it's in the book. It's in the body of the resolution. So if you look at page two, it identifies involved agencies as the Suffolk County Planning Commission, the New York State Office of Historic Preservation, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. We also identified two interested agencies, which if everybody's not aware, an interested agency has the same ability to comment as a member of the public, and that's the town of Brookhaven and the Wading River Civic Association. Matt, maybe you can help me here. Sure. Does the... Does the town not normally designate itself the lead agency by means of a resolution, not on the date that they're adopting the NEG deck? It does not have to be... It just has to be before your determination of significance. So it can, in fact, be the same day. It's just in a separate resolved. So the NEG deck would... Sorry, the establishment of lead agency comes first, and then the NEG deck. It's perfectly fine for it to happen the way it is now. Okay. Okay. Then my question is... This is the opportunity for the public to comment on this NEG deck, and I don't know how the public can make informed comments when the environmental assessment form was not available to them. It was not attached to this resolution. I did provide it to you today, correct? Yeah. Yeah, well, I wrote to you yesterday because I read this resolution, and it said that the FEC... The FEAF drafted December... I read this yesterday, December 2nd. It said the FEAF drafted on December 3rd... Correct. ...is being adopted. Yeah, which I believe I answered that question for you in an email yesterday, Kathy, that it's not uncommon for us, even a resolution, they're drafted ahead of time, and it will still be the resolution date because it's not final until this town board takes an action on it. The town board could say, hey, I don't like your FEAF. I want you to do X, Y, or Z. It's not final. It's not typical that's happened, but it is possible. So it's finalized after the board takes a vote. Well, I'm curious to know, since you didn't have it yesterday and you provided it to me at 1130 today, has the town board seen the FEAF? They have it in front of them. Have you all seen it? Have you read it? Have you had the chance to read it? Correct. Yes. The public hasn't, and how can the public, intelligently comment if they don't have it available? That's not right. These are public documents, and for you to issue a NAGDAC and open this up for public comment, it's nonsensical because the public has nothing in front of it. The public's been able to comment on, I guess they could comment on secret throughout the whole process since we coordinated. I don't really have anything else to add. The public hasn't seen your assessment of why it's a NAGDAC, hasn't even seen part one that the agency filled out. It's publicly available to anybody who asks for it. I just find this to be really distressing, particularly given my observations. I don't live in Wading River, but I've watched the town board meetings, and there are a lot of people upset. About this, who live in the area, who are impacted by this. And to say that there is no or little impact on community plans, community character, possibly on human health. I have read the FEAF, but I think the members of the public should have the right to read it before you find a NAGDAC on this. And it wasn't available. It just, flat out wasn't available to the public. That's not right. Town board, do you think that's right? Any other comments? Kathy? No, but I'm really, I'm upset about this, and I just don't, I would like to see you make this open to the public in a meaningful way. So thank you for listening to me, and I'm sorry you're unwilling to open this up to the public. But I'm sorry to say that there is no up for informed comment by the public on the SSECRA determination. But thank you very much. Thank you Kathy. If I could just add one comment before you step away. Matt, when we vote on a resolution such as this, it no longer would require a special permit from the town board. But I want the general public to know that this has been, quite frankly, since I've been in the member town board, so four years in the making, It has been large, extensive administrative work within your office with this application. So it's really an application that has gone through every step of the familiar process, but more in an administrative way through the direction of your office, through questioning, answering, and discovery. So do you mind just taking a minute to just explain, more importantly to the general public, that this is not something that has just arrived on our desk and something we're looking at? This has been over four years in the making, a determination towards the necessity, need, or placement, and health risks, everything. Yeah, so I think even going back before that, I know the fire district has tried to initiate this before, but specifically to this application, we received it on September 21st of 2023, took an initial review out of the application. It was actually deemed incomplete on October 2nd. We asked for additional information, more studies. When this first came in, it was actually what's called a monopole. So all of the cell phone infrastructure were on the, that's where you see all of the antennas on the outside of the pole. Part of our incomplete determination would say, hey, we'd like to see a redesign, so it's a stealth tower. Aesthetically, it's much more pleasing and less intrusive when all the infrastructure for the cell phone providers are inside of the tower, so they did that. We got additional information back, and then we issued an additional incomplete letter on January 2024 asking for more information. And then again, and on May 2nd, asking for even more information. So we've been constantly updating the record on this. This has not gone through any different process than a normal site plan would go through in terms of referrals, going to outside agencies, and et cetera. We've really tried to hone in to make sure this is the least intrusive sort of design possible for, you know, siting a cell tower here. So it's pretty extensive. You know, we're here in December of 2021. We're here in December of 2021. We're here in December of 2024. So this is not just happening, you know, at the flip of a coin, so to speak. It's gone through a robust process. And I can say that it was over four years ago where former Winding River Fire Commissioner Mike Harrigan came to us, and we had multiple meetings with the deputy town attorney, myself, and looking at the proper ways and steps in which to move this process forward. Yes. Consideration of other sites that, you know, the potential site being headquarters itself. It has been a long process that has gone through. Multiple entities. I just want people to understand when they read this resolution, we haven't skipped a beat or a step in any way, shape, or profession. It's been, I think, looked at and over-examined in more detail from your office and the planning board than any other typical application that comes before us, because through administrative review. Yeah. I mean, the resolution that you have before you today pretty much speaks for itself. I want to say it's 13 or 14 pages. Fourteen findings within the resolution. That kind of detail the town board's thought process on how we got here. So I hope everyone had the opportunity to read it, including members of the public, to see how we got here, which I think we have a robust record. Thank you for your time, sir. You're welcome. Thank you, Matt. Yep. If you have anybody from the audience who would like to come up, please come up, state your name and where you're from. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Sure. My name is Andrew Campanelli. I'm an attorney. I actually represent 26 counties. I actually represent 26 homeowners, many of whom are here today. I'm going to ask, please, that the board allow me a little more than five minutes, because it will probably save you time. Not all of my clients will have to come up and go over it again. So some of them wish to cede their time to me. So I hope that's acceptable to you. I will tell you, I've been handling cell tower cases for decades across the entire United States. And speaking quite candidly, to exempt this particular project from your local zoning code, I have to admit, would be the most irresponsible action I've seen by any local government agency. Anywhere in the United States. This application just is bewildering to me. We're talking about putting a 21-story tower 50 feet from someone's property line. This installation, aside from the fact that there's absolutely no evidence in the record that anyone will derive any benefit from it, it will inflict upon the nearby homes and surrounding community the precise types of adverse impacts that the town of Riverhead adopted a zoning code to prevent in the first place. And you'll inflict the precise types of adverse impacts that the town of Riverhead adopted a zoning code to prevent in the first place. And you'll inflict the precise types of adverse impacts that your code is designed to prevent. And so it really bewilders me why this board would want to circumvent your own boards. Why would you want to circumvent your planning board and your zoning board of appeals and the landmark preservation committee, which are trained to handle and do handle these specific types of issues. Even more troubling is that you're doing so in the face of zero probative evidence to substantiate any claims of the applicant. So where do you start? Let's start with aesthetics. Let's start with aesthetics. Who would want a 21-story tower 50 feet from their house? This tower, your code is designed to require a special use permit so the planning board can deny applications where they would have a significant adverse aesthetic impact on nearby properties. Now you have direct evidence of significant adverse aesthetic impact from the homeowners. Because federal courts have ruled, and I'm very concerned about creating a proper record, federal courts have ruled that the person's in the best position to both know and understand the property. And so the plan is to make sure that the person is in the best position to know and understand both the nature and the extent of adverse aesthetic impacts that nearby homeowners will suffer or the homeowners. You've got them. I've submitted to you a brief attached to which are exhibit B, which detail the specific adverse aesthetic impacts they will suffer. Now what did you get from the applicant? Garbage. And I don't take that term lightly. They gave you photo simulations, which omit any photographs taken from the perspective of the nearby homes. Why would you do that? The whole purpose of those photo simulations is to make sure that the property is protected. And so the purpose of those photo simulations is to give this board an accurate depiction of the actual adverse aesthetic impacts this 21-story tower will inflict upon these nearby homes. If that was their intent, why did they omit from their presentation to you any photographs taken from the perspective of those homes? I'm going to tell you why. Because everybody knows in the wireless industry since 2005, it's the OmniPoint case. A federal judge says that where, as here, an applicant submits photo simulations, where it omits, any photographs taken from the perspective of the nearby homes, it's defective and should be ignored by the board. They know that. OmniPoint's been the law since 2005. So why did they do that? But they're claiming they need this for some type of coverage. I tried to find any probative evidence of a need for coverage. There's none. There is no probative evidence in the record. So whose coverage? Are you claiming somebody needs it, a carrier needs it for wireless coverage? Let's talk about that. Let's say for arguments in the record, it's a wireless coverage. Let's talk about that. Let's say Verizon had a gap in coverage somewhere in the town of Riverhead. And I'm not saying coverage is perfect. What Verizon would do is they'd come in and say, look, to maintain reliable service in the town, we need a minimum signal strength of minus 98 dBm. And they do a drive test through the town. And they come to you with the probative data showing those areas in the town where the signal strength drops below minus 98 dBm. If and only if you get that data, do you now have evidence of the existence of gaps, the locations of gaps, and the boundaries of the gaps? None of that's in the record. So who's got a gap? Who needs this? Not Elite. It's a site development company. They don't provide any wireless services to anybody. So who needs the coverage? The fire department? I see. The fire department says it's going to get money. And that's what this tower is about. It's not about coverage. So let's talk about coverage. There's an allegation by VHB, whoever they are, that says the Waiting River Fire Department, they need this because it will meet current requirements and address existing coverage deficiencies. You have zero evidence in the record of any coverage deficiencies. In fact, this applicant has left you absolutely incapable of finding that anyone will derive any benefit from this tower. Here's why. Let's say they have gaps. Let's say the fire department and fire departments and police use VHF and UHF. If they want to claim there's gaps in service and this is going to remedy it, how would you figure that out? The first thing they would do is they would come and give you a map showing you where they have coverage and where they have gaps. And they would give you the actual coverage. And they would give you the actual data. You have zero data. Even if there are gaps, you have nothing showing that this tower at this location will remedy those gaps, much less why anyone needs a 21-story tower in Long Island. I've never seen one this tall in Long Island, much less the state of New York. It's absurd. And what about property values in your code? The whole reason they have to get a special permit is to make sure that the irresponsible placement of a wireless facility just like this won't adversely impact the property. And that's why they're doing this. They're doing this because they're not going to get a property that's going to adversely impact property values. Well, how do you know if it's going to adversely impact property values? We have expert opinions from brokers, not just any brokers, brokers licensed in this area. They have an acute understanding of this specific real estate market. And they've provided professional opinions to tell you that if this 21-story monstrosity goes up 50 feet from someone's house, it's going to reduce the value of their home by at least about up to 20% easily, as common sense would dictate. On top of that, you've got a fall zone. Who would put a 21-story tower 50 feet from someone's house? Can you imagine if a piece of ice lets loose from the top of that thing? There are four dangers associated with these towers. Structural failure, ice fall, debris fall, and fire. And by the way, the self-contained towers, the odds of fires go up like 60% on these towers. 50 feet from someone's house. On a 150-foot tower, if a chunk of ice lets loose as it thaws, by the time it reaches the ground, it's doing 67 miles an hour. It goes through people's homes. It goes through windshields. And it'll kill anybody under it. This is a 21-story tower, not a 150-foot tower. How can you possibly find that this facility, and I'm not against cell towers. Everybody loves their iPhone and their iPad. Cell towers are a necessary evil. But this board should not condone the irresponsible placement of a cell tower, which is going to inflict upon the nearby homes and surrounding communities the precise adverse impacts you adopted a code to prevent. You adopted multiple sections of your code for this specific type of application. And I'm well aware of the fire department wanting the money. And the people behind it. And they better tread carefully. Because the whole purpose of a fire department is to protect the properties around it. In fact, these homes that are going to be adversely impacted, the fire district, whose sole purpose is to protect them, taxes them. And it taxes them in exchange for protecting their homes. And this is not going to protect their homes. It's going to inflict severe harm to their homes. And anyone who approved this for the fire district should walk very lightly. Because there's an argument that could be made that that's a severe breach of fiduciary duty. These people's homes are going to suffer severely. Why not give it to the boards that you charge with responsibility to review these specific types of adverse impacts? You're not trained for this. They are. In fact, under New York State law, members of your planning board must undergo annual training, none of which you have submitted. Thank you. So I respectfully submit that it would be wholly irresponsible of you to exempt this project from your local zoning laws. Give it to the boards whose job it is to determine the adverse impacts. Especially because there's no balancing. The Monroe balancing test was never intended to apply here. I know the Monroe balancing test. It had to do with an airport. One town had to extend its runways. And the only place you could extend them is at the end of the existing runways, which brought it into the next town. So it pitted two towns against each other. That's not the case here. It has nothing to do with that. If you even wanted to conduct a Monroe balancing test, which you shouldn't do, you'd have to weigh the benefit to the community against the adverse impacts that would be sustained by the community and the homeowners if this thing goes forward. Right now, you have zero evidence in the record to establish that anyone would derive any benefit whatsoever in Riverhead or anywhere else if this 21-year-old man is not in the community. I have no 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 clear some of your comments because you're you're inaccurate and let me explain why you say there's there's no benefits to the town residents okay completely wrong this is benefit to our Police Department our fire department members every resident that gathers in that area I personally I'll switch hats sat this morning in the ambulance out at headquarters and I have no radio communications and when I have a paramedic that is on on scene and a critical situation and I can't communicate with them because I am sitting basically in a hole in waiting River with no communications when when somebody is in CPR in progress you have six minutes of life it takes us time to get to the house to get to me on the ambulance to respond to the scene every second counts and without radio communications we fail and we don't want to fail when we know we have the ability to fix something when we know we have the ability to recruit increase response time when we know we have the ability to to direct the appropriate apparatuses and medical needs to our paramedics to our police officer that is a benefit to every resident in the town every resident in waiting River on top of it I'm a member up I'll switch my hat to my to my as a father I have two I have two members of the fire department in waiting River and one of them is going in that burning building as a firefighter and and both of them are ENTs when they go in I want to make sure I have the ability to give my chiefs of my department the ability to have radio communications to communicate with any firefighter inside that's the benefit of this the benefit is about protecting life and property and the safety of every resident in this town when you talk about that they at exceeding height the height is is just over it has to reach route 25 a when when we're when our apparatuses are in a hole and so it's not about just the surrounding homes directly around headquarters in the fire department we've got to reach out to fresh pond Avenue we got to reach reach out up into Lake Patamoka and the other areas and open shore where our district expands to because when the paramedic or the fire chief or the police officers on scene they need to be able to communicate where is my ambulance how far out are we do we have medical crews responding where are we at that is what this is all about so when you say no benefit I completely disagree with you and no farther from the truth when you have the ability to protect officers to protect residents and somebody has a heart attack in st. John's Church or waiting River Congregational Church and everyone's grabbing their cell phones and nobody can call 9-1-1 and nobody can get through that's a problem and when you have the ability to fix it you do fix it and we have that this is a long overdue project that needs to go forward to protect every resident in the waiting River area and facility it's a huge benefit you're wrong okay mr. I'd like to further make some comments coming up on that as well thank you furthermore you stated sir that there was no probative evidence to that that was testified to as mr. Rothwell just said to you there he's given information also people are not able to get out of the building and they're not able to get out of the building and they're not able to get out of the building spoke in the Monroe hearing and gave information testifying to that so there is probative evidence in the record with regard to whether this is a benefit to the community second sir you said this as to an aesthetic issue I'd like to draw your attention to page three where it talks as on the bottom of page three whereas on June 28th 2023 and from the FCC advising New York State Office of Park and Recreation historic preservation concurred with the recommendation of the

recommendation of the recommended finding which stated there is no historic properties in the area of potential effects with regard to any visual effect there would be no effect on any historic properties that would go for also residential properties as well third sir and you said that there's no probative evidence of the need for coverage relating back to what Mr. Rothwell just said what everyone had testified to at the Monroe hearing there's absolutely a need for the safety of That is the paramount issue here when we're weighing this in the Monroe balancing test. The needs of all of the citizens of the community. What's further stated in this document is today 71% of citizens only have cell phones. They no longer have landlocked phones. So the ability, and there was testimony from the police captain who testified with regard to this. Many of those 911 calls are dropped. Those are citizens' lives that are at stake when we can't respond. That's the responsibility of the town. Our police department must respond. Our fire departments must respond. And this particular cell phone tower allows us to keep all of our citizens safe. Those are issues I'd just like to bring to everyone's attention. When you say there's no probative evidence or a need for this coverage, there is. There was testimony left and right of how the calls are dropped by the firefighters, by the police department, by the citizens. They're always dropped. There's evidence throughout this whole procedure that occurred, this whole hearing that occurred. Lastly,

and this particular location is in between two churches. This is not on top of homes. It's in between two churches and also a business that is there on the corner. It is not in the middle of a neighborhood. Excuse me, folks. You will have your time. And that's, this particular location was chosen because it's an area that the fire department can maintain when other particular properties in the vicinity did not want it. There was information put out to the Rock Hill Golf Course, to other properties, to other communities, to other communities. To East Wind, and also to the church that was right there, the Roman Catholic Church. None of those in particular properties, private properties, wanted this on their site. These are the reasons, after balancing all of this information, that we feel this is in the need of the town to go forward with. Okay. Respectfully, you're middle. All right, sir, hang on. Your five minutes is up. You can have a seat. I'd like to respond... No, no, no. have a right to respond to that, sir. Sir, you may have a seat. Thank you. Okay. I will tell you that in my 32 years as a police officer in this town, I worked the 604 sector for some time, which is actually the Wading River sector. And I can tell you that radio service out there was pathetic, absolutely pathetic. I will also tell you that we had an officer out there one night we could not raise on the radio for a long time. We had to contact Suffolk County Police. They had to send up a helicopter to find that patrol car because we could not have contact with that officer. So there is a dire need out there for this to happen. Not to mention 180 case, one person dies simply because there's no radio service. And you want to argue that this is an unsightly structure. I'm sorry. I don't buy that. I will tell you, and I'm not going to lie to you, I'm not going to lie to you, I'm not going to lie to you, I understand the resident's feeling. Because if this were built within 50 feet of my house, my first reaction would be, uh-uh, no way. I don't want to see that. But when I look at the whole picture, and the whole picture is a matter of me, I call, I'm having a heart attack, and I can't get help to come there because I can't get through to EMS, that far outweighs any, any concern I have about a tower that's put up within 50 feet of my house. So I will state that, and I will stand by that. And I think for the safety, of the residents, this is an absolute necessity to have. Are there benefits to it? Sure. And why shouldn't there be? And if the fire department can make some money, they won't have to charge you much, as much in a district tax. That's a good thing. That's not a bad thing. But this is how it plays out. This is 2024. This is what technology is today. It's not back from when you had to climb a telephone pole and crank a handle to make a call to somebody. This is how the world works today. And that's my comment. And I thank you for listening to me. Do we have anybody else? So I will give you a chance to rebut, but I want to see if there's anybody else first or anybody online that would like to comment. Come on up. My name's Joanne Romano. I am one of the residents within 50 feet of this monster tower. I, I am appalled at some of the comments, appalled. I feel like the sense is take one for the team, supervisor, with your comments. Take one for the team. Take one for the residents. Is it my, is it my turn to talk now or yours? Go ahead. Go ahead. I mean, I'm just shocked that you actually said that. I worked my whole life. I love Waiting River. I bought my house in Waiting River because I love it. You know. And I have grandchildren. And yes, I feel for everybody. But I don't feel that I should take one for the team. I don't feel like you're taking one for the team or this board is taking one for the team in that matter. As a matter of fact, if we were going to take one for the team, why don't we find money to make a better solution for this? My grandchildren are going to be running up my hill and there could be ice falling down and slice their head open. How is that fair? How is that fair? Can you answer that? Oh, you want to buy my property or buy all the surrounding properties? Then do it. You know, that's, that's the right answer. I feel bad for everyone, you know. But why should I take one for the team when you're not? You stand behind that position. Sir, if you want to speak, you come up and state your name at the microphone. Otherwise, we remain silent in the audience. Thank you. Do we want anybody else want to come up? Come on up. State your name and where you're from, sir. My name is Nicholas DiPiero. I've been a resident of Waiting River since 1938. I have seen many, many changes in Waiting River. My question today to those who are opposed to this tower, if they individually fell down in front of the firehouse and they had a cell phone with them, would they be able to reach 911 for help? Are they only thinking of their own parochial interests or are they thinking of the community as a whole? I have to ask, does someone have to die first? I lived, like I said, in one part of Waiting River and there was a road that was heavily trafficked. The portion of the road was Long Pond Road and Waiting River Manor Road. When I moved to that area, the traffic was horrible. I started a petition to have some stop signs installed in various areas. Everyone was against it until someone died. A woman ran the stop sign on Long Pond Road and a car t-boned that car and a child died. Guess what? They ran to me to sign that petition to have the stop signs installed. Does someone have to die before this South Communications Tower is approved? I hope not. Because another example, when I was a school bus driver, I was in that vicinity. My bus broke down. I tried to reach the home base. I could not reach the home base. I had children on board. I was able to chug that bus up the hill by Little Flower and I was able to reach home base. What would happen now if I had the children on board and I couldn't reach home base? As many people here think that the cell tower is going to be an eyesore, if they look at a tree that's rotted and it's dead, that's an eyesore too. But again, I'll conclude my little sermon here, whatever you want to call it, with the question, does somebody have to die before the approval is, before the communication tower is approved? That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next.

! Hi, my name is Dennis Trena. I'm going to be living across the street from the cell tower that you guys are erecting in Wading River. I would like to know from the town council members how many of you would like a 214-foot cell tower next to or across the street from your properties, if I could just maybe have hands raised. Yeah, we don't poll the board up here, sir. This is for open comment. No, no. It's... Just something to think about. Something to think about. Because you had stood by your decision. I addressed that when I spoke about my own property. I would love to have a cell tower next... You would love to have a cell tower next to your house. You said that you would love it, and it would increase the property value of your house. I think that... Or any of the members, volunteers, or associated with the fire department in Wading River? Yes. Councilman Rothwell has openly admitted he's a member of the fire department. You're going to be voting on this? Yes. Thank you for your service, by the way. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for your service. Are you going to be voting on this that's going to benefit the fire department that you volunteer for? It benefits the town of Riverhead? No, no. I'm asking a question. Yes, I will be voting on it because there's no conflict of interest. I am a taxpayer in the town of Riverhead just like you. Right. And there's no self or personal gain on my part whatsoever other than... Right. I mean, you don't think ethically... What's that? You don't think ethically maybe you should... Since it's benefiting the department... It's not even an issue that would go before an ethics board. No. It's not even close. Right. Okay. Not even close. All right. Well, I have different standards. I'm not building a cell tower. I'm not selling anything. I have nothing to give. Right. And they're not building it next to yours. But my job is to make certain that I provide all safety mechanisms in place to protect every resident of the town of Riverhead. And when a problem is arising... Everyone? ...I put before you, everyone in the town of Riverhead... Even Joanne, who's going to live next to you? Every resident in the town of Riverhead has the right to live safe and harmony in... And the falling ice, even her? I don't know. And the fire hazards? I don't know. I'll continue on. Go ahead. Just not her, though. And not us. That my property value is going to decrease by 20%. I'm sorry that your property value you feel is going to be effective. But... You're sorry. You just said you'd protect everybody. The fire department has been in place... Just not me and Joanne. And the other... For over 75 years, the fire department has been in that place. That is where it is built. That is where the apparatuses drive in and out of every day. And that's where the communication is a necessity and a need. That's what we're up against. There's not the ability to move the fire department someplace. But regardless, even if we did do that, then we still have to provide communications. So even if the fire department's up on 25A and they drive to the bottom of that hill, they still need... You live right there. You see the house around the corner burned to the ground. Guess what? I was on scene. No radio communications. Really hard to communicate with the firefighters going inside and searching for any person. You're saying that the house burned down because there was no radio communications? Very limited... Oh, come on. I didn't say it was. I said there was no communications on that scene. That puts a chief in a very difficult position. What does that have to do with... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You could... Excuse me. ... have line of sight views of the... Excuse me. This isn't cross-examination of the board. This is comments on resolutions. Go ahead. They're answering. Please make your comments on resolutions. Town board, my recommendation to you at this point is to stop answering questions and putting yourself in the position of being cross-examined when we're commenting on resolutions. Sure. Okay. All right. Well, I guess... We held a public hearing on this through town board meetings. I hope... I hope they build... I hope they build larger cell towers next to every one of your houses. And I hope the radiation doesn't hurt anybody because I hope you all wear tinfoil hats that protect you from the radiation. And also from the falling ice and the potential fire hazards and the 20% lower property values due to the cell tower. So I thank you very much for not considering the fact that we love this community and we don't want to see this. And also thank you for not considering... You said it was 2024 and we have to get with the times. You don't think that there's another solution out there? You think this is the only solution? Have any other solutions been explored that were viable that could prevent a 214 foot cell tower going up next to the fire department next to all of our homes? Alternative locations were... No, no. Not alternative locations. Alternative solutions. Different story. We're in 2024. There are many different communications options aside from a 214 foot cell tower. This satellite... Aside from radio communication? What's that? Radio communication between EMS, fire department and police agencies. You're talking about a cell tower and you're talking about... That's going to have radio antennas on it that enhance communication of those agencies. Okay, but the cell tower is what's going up. The cell tower. Okay. And we'll need a tower to get those radio antenna up. Right. Okay. Okay. So there's no other solutions that we can come up with aside from this tower? Not any better ones, I think is the takeaway. Thank you for your time. Do we have anybody else? Come on up, ma'am. How many online, Chip? One? Okay. My name is Valerie. I'm a senior. I'm a senior. My name is Valerie Frost and I'm one of the properties that abuts directly in back of the fire department. My property is right on top of it, so it's less than 50 feet away from the proposed cell tower. We had bought there initially for the tranquility, for the peace. My husband is a Vietnam veteran, a disabled Vietnam veteran. So that was premier for him. For him to be able to relax for his time. There is no place on my property that you won't be seeing the cell tower. We see it out my bedroom window. We will see it out my dining room window. We will see it out from my kitchen window. We will see it from my deck. We will see it from the play area where my grandchildren play. And this tower, which will also house a red light. I'm not sure if you can see it. I'm not sure if you can see it. It's a red blinking light. Every single night, my skylights, I have three skylights in my home, will, my home will be washed. It will be a glow in red blinking light. My husband did two tours in Vietnam. You don't think that the rocket's red glare every single day and every single night isn't going to affect his peace? No. My company that comes. Our fire pit that we sit around. My family. Everybody. Every day. Will be seeing this red blinking light. On top of this 21 story facility. Cell Tower. Please consider that. Thank you ma'am. Chip can we take the person online. Do you want to point. [transcription gap] Can't hear you, John. Sorry. It's John McAuliffe from Rolling Woods, which is a pretty dead area in terms of cell phones, if anybody has been over here. Now, I don't know whether we will benefit from this tower. I'm a little skeptical. But I'm wondering whether it's now a priority in the town to try to establish towers and responders or whatever they are to get coverage all over town for cell phones, because the same concerns that have been raised about Wading River affect other areas in Riverhead. I think you're in the middle of a crisis. I think you're in the middle of a classic conflict of legitimate interests situation. But institutionally I'm hearing from the board a real listening to one set of interests and not another set of interests of dismissing and minimizing the concerns of the people in the area that would be affected. I also am concerned. Just looking at the report. Riverhead local story. I am concerned that a possible motivation of receiving the tower is revenue. It's a volunteer fire department, so people won't be sleeping on the norm under the tower, so they're not going to be affected by it the way the neighboring houses are going to be affected. I also wonder, again, looking at the local story. I'm not sure if you can hear me. [transcription gap] I just didn't get what she's saying. I didn't get what she's saying. [transcription gap] rather than just a certified letter might pursue that further. I also found that suggested locations, including a nearby cemetery and the decommissioned Shoreham nuclear power plant, would present regulatory hurdles and create added time and cost. Well, I don't think those are sufficient reasons to disregard all of the concerns that are coming from neighbors that will be permanently affected. When this discussion first started happening, I assumed, okay, it's another cell tower. But this is this 21-story, I mean, you're talking about a difference in kind that really needs a much deeper reflection and investigation about alternatives. I don't think there are alternative technologies. At this point, we don't want little satellites over us. But I think that alternate locations really ought to be looked at before you move ahead on this resolution and not be dismissed so cavalierly. Thanks very much. Thank you, John. Do we have anybody else from the audience?

My name is Mike Sanchez from Wading River. And just to the point about alternatives, I think that there are fiber to the premises technology. I think Starlink is on the way. I think wireless eventually. We are at a place in time, and Mr. Hubbard, I started about 37 years ago in the police department when there were call boxes out there. We have come a long way since then. And we will come a long way from where we are right now. And more likely than not, this technology will not be the technology that we're using 10, 15 years from now. And we will be left with this monstrosity. We will be left with this monstrosity like what we are living with up at the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. So that's just one question. Another anecdotal story is four years ago, I had a heart attack. And I live on Zofia Mills Road. And I used my cell phone to call for help. And you know who showed up? The fire department. So we can have these stories, anecdotal stories, but I think there's probably a better way to get a better sense of what is good about this project and what's bad about it if we had someone independent. So my prepared remarks are in the November 21st, 2024 Riverhead News Reviews editorial, our first responders need help. The writer reminded us of an immeasurable debt we all owe to the volunteers and professionals who put their lives on the line and keep us safe. While our obligation to our hometown heroes is to their families as well, can never be fully satisfied, we celebrate the enduring bond that unites our community and these brave men and women who every day protect and serve every one of us. An embedded stipulation in the unwritten community contract between first responders and we the people is that we shall in turn respond when addressable risks to their health and safety come to light. Similarly when there is a community need, municipalities must recognize their fiduciary duty to their constituents and resist enticements to act in an arbitrary or capricious manner without seeking counsel from those to be impacted by the special interests of outside entities. I doubt anyone would disagree that the community leaders and constituents must work together to ensure public trust through the employment of a system of decision making that involves transparency, public participation and collaboration. Sadly, however, the imminent prospect of our elected officials' novel legislative sanctioning of the ill-conceived placement of a massive 21-story cell tower in the heart of Wading River's historic district on the property of the Wading River Fire Station has raised questions and concerns across the community. Apart from the actual risks associated with this, the community leaders and constituents must be aware that the community leaders and constituents must be aware that the community leaders and constituents must be aware that the community leaders and constituents must be clear about their full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full noted in the editorial that in this case all decision making rests upon a single word need the waiting River Community Action Committee agrees we to acknowledge that our community as a whole needs to thoroughly assess the anecdotal evidence of sporadic service and communication hiccups cited in the editorial by well-intentioned petitioners for the proposed cell tower still it is inconceivable how the promised benefit of improved cell phone service warrants the irreparable destruction of the pastoral allure of our community's historic district both the negative aesthetic and financial impacts of misplacing what would be the tallest commercial cell tower on Long Island in the heart of this locally revered area should not ever have been considered without the town board appointing an independent arbiter tasked with conducting an open honest thorough and transparent examination of the original petition and the scientific data provided by the affiliates of the community as a whole the waiting River Community Action Committee is committed to joining forces with the town board and our esteemed first responders to reach out a path toward a community centered resolution that responsibly addresses localized cell phone connectivity issues while protecting and preserving the ancestral charm and character of the historic district the work of this partnership will align with councilwoman was key persuasive opposition to degrading the inherent value of property along the riverfront and Riverhead with an expansion of the community's historic and community-centered community-centered planning and the ! the [transcription gap] the next five years next ten years about what our kids and grandchildren are going to have left of this town that is why a massive 21 story so tower belongs neither river head nor in the heart of waiting rivers historic district in the best interest of good governance policymakers would be well served if they embrace the pillars of the precautionary principle which mandates the public good must be represented in if you could just allow me to head in the heart of waiting rivers historic district in the best interest of good governance policymakers would be well served if they embrace the pillars of the precautionary principle which mandates the public good must be represented in if you could just allow me to the public good must be represented in all decisions when made when there is disunity among their constituents or uncertainty about the risks and benefits of a proposed activity. Challenging the town board in this pivotal moment is the totality of adverse circumstances emerging from internationally recognized scientific studies of the cause and effect relationships between radio frequency radiation from cellular phone base stations and the beleaguered communities in which they are placed. We, the Wading River Community Action Committee, are confident in the town board and that it is always mindful of the precautionary principle in its deliberations. However, when considering the upcoming cell tower resolution, we implore all board members to proceed not as politicians but as physicians who abide by the Hippocratic Oath and first and foremost do not. We are committed to ensuring that the town board is not a victim of the !

I'm talking about cellular service, VHF, and UHF, which covers cell phones, fire, and police. That's great. The only thing you have in the record is anecdotal evidence. What normally they do is they say, you know what, our fire department has gaps and this is dangerous. And I agree it's dangerous. So what they do is they do a drive test. They take a recording device, they go through the entire town and find where the signal strength drops too low to maintain service for the fire department. Then and only then, when you have that probative data, are you then placed in a position to figure out if this location makes sense for a cell tower? Because if you have gaps and this tower doesn't reach those gaps, you're not accomplishing much because they're going to come back for more towers. So you can't make an informed decision as to where a tower needs to go. In fact, your code is designed. The requirements to approve for a special permit specifically say that towers have to be strategically located so that you can saturate the town with coverage by minimizing the number of towers you need to provide that coverage. The only possible way to do that is to get the probative data. I'm not saying I want gaps. I want to see you cover the entire town. But as you sit here today, you have no idea, respectfully, if this tower goes up, is it going to remedy all those gaps? There's no probative data in the record to show that. That's what I'm saying. When I say act responsibly, get the data. Don't put it up because, respectfully, the fire department is going to get a few shekels. The bottom line is that's dangerous. If people can't reach their fire department, they're not going to get the data. They're not going to get the data. If you can't reach your fire department, the police department, that's dangerous. It would be responsible to find out where towers are needed. The only way to figure that out is figure out the existence of the gaps, the locations of the gaps, and the boundaries. And if and only if you get that probative data, not anecdotal statements. I couldn't make a phone call from Wading Hill River Road. You want the data. Now you know. Now you know exactly where to put towers. And you may find that you don't need a 23-story tower. In fact, you might put up two shorter ones. And it would give better coverage. That's what I'm suggesting. Ms. Campanelli, can I just address these points? One, as the fire chief came up and spoke and as the police captain came up and spoke, they come up as expert witnesses. This is anecdotal. This is expert testimony as to where the deficiencies are. Second of all, during the hearing, there was, in fact, a map put up that showed a whole radius. It was all addressed in a pink section of more than a mile of lack of coverage. So there was evidence of exactly where this was needed. I just wanted to address those two points. Mr. If I can address, there is another way. I physically, as a member of the department, hold a radio in my hand and it doesn't work. That's a gap. That's a problem. It's in my hand and I can't communicate. So there is other ways. Ms. I understand. Mr. And that's throughout the town. There's problems everywhere. Ms. Exactly. Mr. Forgive me, Board of Fire Commissioners. I'm not speaking on behalf of the fire department, but I'm telling you personally, holding a radio in my hand, it doesn't work. Ms. Exactly. And the wireless community says that's anecdotal. You have to do testing. And as far as the map you saw, that is a desktop-generated propagation map. It's not based on actual data. Somebody sat at a computer desktop and probably used software at ATOL and generated a map to show what they want to show. There's no actual data behind that. That's the key. This is why the FCC doesn't accept those specific types of maps. The FCC says, you want to show me a gap in coverage or the existence? Give me drive test data. All I'm suggesting to you is, especially if you're telling me it's dangerous for these gaps, make it. Make sure you fill in the gaps. Don't just build a tower because the fire department's going to get money and it looks really big and it should cover everything. Figure it out. Get the data. It's not hard. It's not rocket science. All they have to do is a drive test. You spent four years. You can't get a drive test? That's probative data. It's not opinion. It's not anecdotal. Mr. Chairman, thank you for affording me the time. Mr. You're welcome, sir. Thank you. Mr. Sir, did you have one? I'm sorry. Go ahead. Mr. I'll just add one other item is that the tower needs to be built, and we keep saying, cell phone tower, cell phone tower. It's a communications tower at hand. It is to aid the fire and police. If you want to take the cell phones off of it, well, then the Wading River residents within the Wading River Fire District are going to have to pay the million dollars to build a tower. Either way, you need to provide the communications for the fire department, police department, all emergency personnel within that area. The cell issue is added to the tower to alleviate the cost to the residents within the Wading River Fire District. Mr. Right. Mr. That's a means of getting revenue so that we don't have to, as individual residents, I live in Wading River Fire District, to have to pay upfront over a million dollars, I believe, is the construction cost of the tower. So the cell phone is merely a way to alleviate the cost to residents. But if you don't want cell phones on it, guess what? You still got to build a tower for proper communication for life and safety, EMS, fire, police, and police, all communications within the safety of all responding officers and personnel. Mr. Right. Mr. I'm sorry, sir. Go ahead. Mr. Sure. Mr. Nicholas DiPiero again. This tower keeps growing in length. It's a couple of feet different. Now we have to take into consideration the terrain of the land. If this tower was built next to the Wading River Post Office, I would probably be against it too because you would see an enormous tower. How many feet would it be? I forgot. Mr. Well, it wouldn't be that high because it's at a higher tower. Mr. Right. But considering the height would remain the same, it would be enormous. And I wouldn't see why it would be approved. But it is in an area where the terrain is very low. It's like in a valley. And if you have a tree line that's 500 feet on each side, and you have this valley where the fire department is. Mr. Right. have to have a tower equal to the height of those two areas and that would be outrageous okay but it's not going to be that high the terrain has to be considered and another point if this tower does not work it would be up to the company that's going to be building the tower verizon for instance and if it didn't work they would have to improve it or take it down i don't know what alternatives are maybe there are alternatives out there five years ten years now but the tower has been at bone of contention now for quite a few years and i think it's time to either put it to rest condemn it or approve it it has to be one way or the other and i would go for approval thank you thank you sir sir come on up um um um [transcription gap] um um um um um um We envision for this Monroe balancing review, and we appreciate the robust nature of it, the over-year-plus process in working with the town agencies, with outside agencies, to reach this point today. Notwithstanding the comments particularly of Mr. Campanelli in describing what are submissions as garbage, it actually was an apt term. When I hear Mr. Campanelli, yes, he's very experienced in these sorts of situations, representing these types of groups. And I have to admit, I've heard the story before, recycled again and again in terms of data and in terms of supplying sufficient information as part of the record. Here, we did, in fact, provide that. We did provide that information. I invite Mr. Campanelli to read it to make sure of the same. But we're just here to present the facts, and we believe we've done that. Again, we appreciate the balancing that has gone into this application. And at this time, just as the last speaker had mentioned, we just respectfully request a positive decision on this application. So thank you all. Thank you all as part of this process. Thank you. Do we have anybody else who would like to comment on any resolution? Nobody online. Not seeing anybody here. We will move on to our resolutions. Okay. We'll start with resolution number one, which is 947. Budget adjustment for settlement with State Farm Insurance Company. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskie. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 948, which is number two. I'm not even there yet. Hold on. I'm there. Yeah. There we go. Authorizes finance to establish budget for 2024 Community Development Block Grant Final Contract. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskie. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number three, which is 949. Water District Capital Project 82424, budget adoption. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskie. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 950, number four. Waves fee for use of showmobile for tree lighting at Town Square. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskie. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 951. Authorizes the removal of fixed assets. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskie. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution adopted. Resolution 952. Authorizes shotgun hunting for deer on town property at Enterprise Park at Calverton, California. So moved. Seconded. Waskie. Seconded. américano. Seconded. américano. [transcription gap] wasky yes yes yes yes yes yes yes resolutions adopted resolution 953 recines town board resolution 2024 944 so moved second vote please wasky yes very few yes yes yes yes yes resolution adopted resolution 954 reappoints Brian Mills to Board of Assessment Review so moved seconded vote please WASKI yes very few yes third yes Rothwell yes cupboard yes resolution is adopted resolution 955 appoints a code enforcement officer so moved second vote please WASKI yes very few yes third guess yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 956 ratifies the appointments of to water treatment plant operator to be so moved seconded Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 957. Ratifies the appointment of a temporary part-time office assistant. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 958. Seconded. Ratifies the appointment of a part-time bilingual clerk. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 959. Ratifies the appointment of an automotive equipment operator. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 960. Ratifies and accepts the resignation of a crossing guard. Thank you for your time here. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yeah. Pat Hocker was a crossing guard here for a good number of years. I thank her for her service and wish her the best moving forward. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 961. Accepts the resignation of a crossing guard. Second. [transcription gap] Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 962. Accepts the retirement of a heavy equipment operator. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Good luck to you, Ray. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Good luck on your retirement, Ray. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 963. Ratifies authorization for the supervisor to execute a stipulation with an employee. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution adopted. Resolution 964. Authorizes supervisor to sign agreement with Chamber of Commerce for Bonfire 2024. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution adopted. Resolution 965. Authorizes the supervisor to sign an agreement with Townscape for tree lighting at the Town Square 2024. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 966. Extends agreement with PKF O'Connor Davies LLP for audit services for townships. Yes. [transcription gap] Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 968. Approve special event Chapter 255 application for Andrews Top Gun Run 2025. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 969. Approve special event Chapter 255 application for East End Arts Annual Mosaic Festival. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 970. Extends bill sorry bid for well and pump service for Riverhead Water District. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 978. Resolution 971. Extends bid for general hardware items. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 972. Authorizes the town clerk to publish in post notice to bidders for 203-213 East Main Street sewer design contracts. Sewers. moved second vote please wasky yes very few yes turn yes well yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 973 authorizes the town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for the highway department grinding of town yard waste on site at Southside Young's Avenue yard waste facility so moved seconded vote please wasky yes very few yes turn yes yes how about roughly you skip me yes resolution is adopted resolution 974 authorizes the town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for janitorial and kitchen supplies so moved seconded vote please wasky yes very few yes turn yes yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 975 adopts a local or amending chapter 263 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled penalties and offenses so moved I want to thank Victoria for the work she did on this very important second vote please wasky yes very few yes turn yes yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 976 so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved so moved amending chapter 217 of the Riverhead Town Code titled penalties for offenses so moved seconded vote please wasky these have been a long time coming yes Merrifield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution is adopted resolution 977 assumes lead agency issues negative declaration and determines that the application entitled elite towers waiting River Fire District situated 1503 North Country Road waiting River New York is upon Monroe balancing test exempt from the zoning and land-use regulations of the town or of a head to the extent that the applicant shall not be required to receive the necessary variances from the zoning Board of Appeals a special permit from the town board or formal site plan approval for abges 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 [transcription gap] year before that, over 1,500 calls. The majority of all of those calls are EMS calls. They're ambulance calls with our EMTs and paramedics responding. Our job is to give those paramedics, the police officers, the firefighters, the necessary tools to protect life and property. And that's what has to weigh on me more. I don't in any way treat it an unlikely decision or not take into account, you know, something that's being right next to it. But it's where the fire department is located. It's where it needs to be placed in order to provide and protect those services for the residents. Counselor, can I simply ask you, is there any way or shape or form that me voting on this as a volunteer member of Wading River Fire Department plays any type of conflict of interest in any way? On the face of the code, no.

Well, so here's the thing with the code of ethics. As an elected official, you're never required to recuse yourself as long as any potential conflict of interest is disclosed prior to you taking an action on a matter before you. So whether there's a conflict of interest or not, a conflict of interest or not, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter to whether you can vote on something. It just matters as to whether you need to disclose that conflict of interest. And I think your membership in the Wading River Fire Department at this point has been disclosed on the record. That being said, I can't think of a way that you would monetarily benefit from this application insofar as you're a volunteer firefighter, which by its terms means you don't get paid to participate or be a member of the fire department. So I do feel it is my obligation as an elected official of the town of Riverhead to do what I can do, when I can, to protect life and property, and I take that serious. So with that, I vote yes. Ann Hubbard. Folks, as I mentioned to you, I understand what you're saying. As I said earlier, if this tower were to be built next to my house, would I be in favor of it? Absolutely not. I would not. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. but in the big picture i've got an entire community of people in waiting river that are going to benefit from this tower being placed at that location and having said that that's why i'm going to vote yes because i believe it's in the best interest of the largest group of people in that community okay resolution is adopted resolution 978 show that you sorry authorizes the community development department to apply for funding through new york state djs so moved seconded vote please uh wasky yes maryfield yes kern yes rockwell yes hubbard yes resolution is adopted resolution 979 establishes time of regular meetings of the town board for 2022 meetings of the community development agency 2025 so moved second vote please uh wasky yes maryfield yes kern yes rockwell yes hubbard yes resolution is adopted resolution 980. establishes time of regular meetings of the community development agency 2025 so moved seconded vote place wasky yes merrifield yes kern yes rockwell yes hubbard yes head head head 982 classifies the development of the town square and related projects as a type one action pursuant to secret and Directs that a lead agency request be circulated to involved agencies so moved seconded vote please Waski yes, Murrayfield. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rothwell. Yes, Hubbard. Yes Resolutions adopted the next resolution is tabled and will remain so no action. We think on that. We'll go to resolution 983 983

984 okay authorizes the supervisor to execute a professional services agreement with civic plus LLC so moved seconded Vote please waski. Yes, Murrayfield. Yes, Kern. Yes. Well, yes yeah, and I want to thank Bob Kern and Rich Downs and and Matt a planning department everybody who's had input with this with civic plus It's been a long time coming and I appreciate it Jim You know, I think it's gonna make things streamlined and much better just looking and chip. Yeah chip, of course And anybody else it was about It's gonna it's gonna modernize us a good bit and I look forward to seeing it implemented. Yeah I think it's gonna be a great opportunity to see the new Resolution is adopted and resolution number 985 Resolution is adopted and resolution number 985 ratifies the appointment of a temporary part-time office assistant so moved seconded vote, please Waski yes, Murrayfield. Yes, Kern. Yes. Well, yes, yes Resolution is adopted and that concludes the resolution Okay at this time I will open the meeting up for comments from the public on any matter comments on any matter We have one online. We'll take it

Hi Kathy McGraw from Northville again, hi Kathy. Hi, I couldn't help but notice I couldn't help but notice Last resolution you ruled on 981 designating you as lead agency for secret and Collecting and and going out with Requests or setting up who should be the involved agencies on the town square That's the way secret supposed to work That didn't happen with this cell tower in waiting river, and I just can't believe listening to these people in the comments that were made that there is a negative environmental impact from this tower there has to be significant impacts on the people who live in that area They have said it they have made clear here And I think you have done the wrong thing on secret And I would urge the people of Wading River to file an Article 75 because SECRA was not done properly here. Thank you. Robert Nussbaum, Well, SECRA is what SECRA does and we followed it to the guidelines. I do understand there was a lateness in getting the final piece out, but I don't think that affects the outcome of this whatsoever. So we appreciate it. Do I have anybody else who would like to comment in the audience? Robert Nussbaum, What I think the Planning Department would say is that this was coordinated with involved agencies pursuant to the requirements of SECRA. Robert Nussbaum, Yes, absolutely. All right, having seen nobody online or nobody in the audience, I would like to make a motion that we close the town board meeting. Second. Robert Nussbaum, Third. Robert Nussbaum, Fifth. All in favor of closing the town board meeting? Aye. Robert Nussbaum, Aye. All opposed? Everybody have a great weekend. Don't forget about the

Robert Nussbaum, Wonderful events downtown Riverhead this weekend on Saturday and all the other things we mentioned. Have a great week.

Robert Nussbaum, Thank you.