Full Transcript
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Maryfield, would you mind leading us? Thank you, Supervisor. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you.
Councilman Rothwell, do we have somebody here for the invocation? I do believe we are scheduled to have Reverend John Everett, Evans, from the Wading River Congregational Church, has joined us today. Thank you for coming here and joining us, Reverend. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Let's start with a word of prayer. Almighty God, before we start this meeting, we want to begin with thanksgiving. And I pray, Lord, that during this meeting, as we discuss many things and make many decisions, that we never lose sight of our gratefulness to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you for your faithfulness and provision in our lives. Thank you for each person in this meeting and the unique talents and perspectives they bring. And we want to thank you for the opportunity to gather together and work towards a common goal. As your word says in everything, give thanks. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. May our hearts be filled with gratitude as we start this meeting, and may it guide us throughout, Lord. And we pray, especially today, for this family community life center, Lord, that this church has tried to get off the ground for almost 40 years, Lord, that the town would cooperate with them, and that they would cooperate with the town, Lord, and that you might move the needle by your almighty power. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. Thank you, Reverend.
At this time, I'd like to call up Chief Frost and Lieutenant Devereux. Devereux to handle the National Night Out poster contest winners. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. National Night Out is an annual community building campaign held on the first Tuesday of August of each year. It promotes both police and community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safe. We invite all residents to join us between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. tonight as the Riverhead Police Department Crime Prevention Unit will recognize National Night Out. Local Local Local Local and Target, courtesy of the Riverhead PBA. There will be a free barbecue, courtesy of the SOA, music, courtesy of the Riverhead PBA, canine, drone demonstrations, police motorcycles, bikes, ATVs, command posts, SWAT, and dive equipment. We will also have a visit from McGruff, the crime dog. If you are interested in establishing a neighborhood watch team in your neighborhood, please call the Crime Prevention Unit, 727-4500-273, and we'd be glad to meet with you and discuss. This afternoon, we are officially kicking off National Night Out and Give Crime a Going Away Party by recognizing poster winners from the Town of Riverhead summer campers. All of the children who attend camp look forward to a visit from the Crime Prevention Unit who give a presentation on the importance of neighborhood and home safety. The campers make posters after their presentation. After the presentation, as you can see on the wall, we have our first, second, and third place winners in three separate age groups. The supervisor, Town of Riverhead, board members, Chief Frost, and myself would like to present each poster contest winner with an award certificate along with prizes which are generously donated to our winners here from the Long Island Aquarium, Bagel Lovers of Riverhead, Black Sheep Bagel, and the Riverhead PBA. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the many contributors who have donated to the Riverhead PAL program throughout the year. Their contributions continue to make our program successful and possible for the youth of the Town of Riverhead. As I call your name, please step up and claim your prize. OK, the five- to six-year-old age group winners, in third place we have Lisa Williams. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
In second place we have Olivia Eddington. In first place we have Mallory Ferrara.
In the seven, eight year old age group, in third place we have Colin Dennis. Colin may be on a camp trip, is that right? Okay, I think we think he's still on a camp trip. Okay, we'll get that to him. In second place we have Ethan Morrow.
And in first place we have Avery Jane.
Okay, in the nine to twelve age group, in third place we have Emma Smith.
In second place, in second place we have Claire Coconoa, I hope I said that right.
And in first place we have Mila Novosabska.
Congratulations to all the winners.
Do the winners want to all come up and take a photo? Winners want to all come up and take a photo? Who's running the meeting?
Can we take a break if I have a thought? Yes. Okay, good. We better be happy about that. We're going to get fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and fixed up and Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chief and Lieutenant. As Lieutenant Devereaux mentioned, tonight at 5 o'clock from 5 to 8 p.m. at the town square is National Night Out. Saturday, August 9th, is the cardboard boat race day. It starts at 9 o'clock down on Heidi Bear Way at the river. And there will also be a public forum regarding North Fork Transmission Line, which is the water line that Suffolk County Water Authority wants to run from Flanders out to South Hold. And that will take place on August 13th at 6 p.m. Public participation is welcome and intended for an announcement. An informal discussion that will be held here in the boardroom on August 13th at 6 o'clock. Bob, did you have something you wanted to... Yes, thank you. Summer concert at the Community Baptist Church in Riverhead, which is Church Lane and Sound Avenue, will feature Glory Bound Men's Quartet and free ice cream while you listen to the quartet. And that starts at... That's Friday? At 7 p.m. Okay. Anybody else have anything? No. Okay. Did you have the cardboard boat races? He mentioned it. Oh, you did? I'm sorry.
Okay. Clerk Wooten, do we have any correspondence and reports? We had a few correspondents come in. They're all listed on your agenda as well as on the website. A few came in for the Family Community Life Center to add to the webinar. We had a few of the ones that came in at the last meeting, so several letters of support for that endeavor. We had quite a few come in, reference the Town Square Project, which we're dealing with, some in favor, some with questions. And that concludes the correspondence. There was some that received later on. That's been circulated, and they'll be in the next meeting's packet. But that concludes the correspondence. And there is no reports as of this date. Okay. Thank you, sir. That brings us up to our public hearings. And the first public hearing we have today is a public hearing on an unsafe structure, Chapter 217-38. And, Counselor Howard, I imagine you're handling this? Yes. So we have Deputy Town Attorney Danielle Hurley is here with, I believe, Ken Testa and Senior Town Investigator, Richard Downes. They're here somewhere. Weave the Deputy Supervisor is trying to track them down out in the main hall.
Thank you. Here they come.
My apologies, there was lots of children in the hallway. Okay. All right, so good afternoon, town board. We are here for a public hearing on an unsafe structure, 4017th Street, Wading River, New York, for my first witness. I would like to call Richard Downs, and I request that he be sworn in. All right. Raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so hope you got it. I do. All right, could you please state your name and official title for the record? Richard Downs, senior town investigator. Thank you. Okay, thank you, town attorney. Mr. Investigator Downs, how long have you served as senior town investigator for the town of Riverhood? Approximately 14 years. And do you hold any New York State certificates related to building or code enforcement? Yes, I'm a New York State certified code enforcement official. I've been certified with New York State for approximately 25 years now. And what are your responsibilities as part of the town's enforcement team? I enforce the New York State property maintenance codes, as well as the Riverhead Town Code and New York State Building and Fire Codes. Okay, thank you. And are you familiar with the property located at 4017th Street in Wading River, New York? Yes, I am. And how did this property first come to the town's attention as being unsafe? We received numerous complaints from various neighbors regarding the flighted property condition. And have you reviewed the deed on file for this property? Yes, I have. I'm handing in the witness Exhibit A.
Investigator Downs, is this a true and accurate copy of the deed for 4017th Street, Wading River, New York? Yes, it is. Okay, and if I can ask you to hand that up to, we'll start at Councilwoman, the town attorney, and then pass it down to the town clerk to be admitted into the record. Thank you.
Investigator Downs, based on the deed, who is the record owner of the property? Michael Vitale. And to your knowledge, is that owner deceased? Yes, to my knowledge, he is deceased. Has the town been contacted by anyone claiming to be a successor or representative of the estate? I was contacted by the law office of Harvey Arnoff, who is representing the deceased owner's wife, Dorothy. Her name is Miss Hale. Miss Hale is the daughter of Dorothy Vitale. Okay, and is the surviving spouse you mentioned or the alleged daughter or stepdaughter of the deceased, are either of them, or are they not? No, they are not. Okay, and was a notice of unsafe building or structure issued pursuant to Chapter 217 of the Riverhead Town Code? Yes, it was. Okay, handing this up as Exhibit B, Notice of Unsafe Structure. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Investigator Downs, is this a true and accurate copy of the notice issued for 4017th Street? Yes, it is. And on what date was this notice posted on the property? It was posted on March 20th, 2024. And where exactly was the notice posted? It was posted on a tree in front of the structure in a conspicuous place on the property. Okay, and if you could pass that around for the board.
And was a copy of that notice mailed to the last known address of the record owner by certified mail? I'm sorry, can you repeat that again? There's music. Shut your phone. It's down on vibrate, please.
Thank you. That's okay. What was the question again? I couldn't hear it. Sorry, yes. Was a certified copy of the notice of unsafe structure that we just discussed, was that mailed to the last known address of the record owner by certified mail? Yes, it was. And was that same notice also mailed by first class mail? Yes, it was. And did both the certified and first class mailings come back as undeliverable? Yes, they did. Could I just quickly? Yes. Investigator Downs, did you post the notice? Yes. Okay. And could you describe the location of the tree to which you posted the notice in relation to, say, the driveway or the front porch? Sure. It was off to the left side of the property in the front. Closest to the property. Closest to the street was the first tree that I saw that I could post it. Okay. Thank you. What did you post it with? How did you affix it to the tree? A staple gun. Okay. Thank you.
I'm handing Exhibit C, Return Certified and First Class Mail Envelopes.
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Investigator Downs, did the town board adopt a resolution scheduling this public hearing? Yes, I prepared it. And marked as Exhibit D is town board resolution. Is this a true and accurate copy of the resolution you prepared and that was subsequently adopted by the town board? Yes, it is.
And to your knowledge, was the public hearing notice both posted and published in accordance with the town code? Yes, it was. It was posted on the property by one of my officers, Connor Catala.
Okay, if you could pass that around.
And do you have documentation confirming that posting? I have photographs that were taken of the property. Okay, I'd like to mark the document as Exhibit E, photographs of public hearing notice posting.
Counsel, I just want to stop for a moment and say that in Exhibit C, it's not only the envelopes, but also the letters are contained inside as well. Yes, they are. Yes, thank you for the correction. Thank you for the correction.
Investigator Downs, looking at Exhibit E, does... Does this photo fairly and accurately depict the public hearing notice as it was adopted on the property? Yes, it does. Where is the picture taken of? The picture was taken, it was placed on a wooden stake that was secured into the ground and then it was stapled onto that stake. And you said one of your officers did that? Yes, Officer Connor Catala. And what date was that? July 17, 2025. And what else is contained with the photographs? It's the notice of public hearing.
Thank you. I could circulate that to the town board. Thank you. I'm getting my work out today.
Okay. So now to the site condition itself. Have you personally inspected the subject property? Yes, I have. What dates or time frames did you visit the site? I've been there several times between the years 2022 and 2024. And when was your last time there? The last time I was there was March 20, 2024. And did you perform a vegetation or debris cleanup pursuant to Town Code Chapter 255? Yes, we had to do that pursuant to our 251 Chapter Town Code because we couldn't physically inspect the building because it was so full of overgrowth and trees, so we needed to do that first. And based on your observations, has any party undertaken repairs or improvements to the property? No repairs, to my knowledge, have taken place since that posting. And what about since the vegetation cleanup you mentioned? Have any repairs or improvements taken place since then? None that I'm aware of. In your professional opinion, does the structure continue to pose a hazard to public safety? Yes. And can you expand briefly upon that? Well, it's been abandoned for a lot of years. Its roof in the rear portion of the building is open and exposed. It's collapsed. The building is exposed to the air. It's exposed to the elements of nature. The interior is, you know, of course getting rained. And on top of that, you know, it's been a hot spot for squatters and mischievous kids getting into the building. So for that reason, it poses a health and safety risk. Thank you. So I'm going to end this testimony. Thank you for your testimony, Investigator Downs. I'm going to move on to our town engineer and my second witness. Ken Testa. Investigator Downs, you can stay at the table, please. All right. So... Mr. Testa? Yes. You can raise your right hand. You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So I hope you got it. I do. Thank you. May I inquire? Yes. Please state your name and position for the record. My name is Kenneth Testa. I am the town engineer with the town of Roofhead. Okay. And are you a licensed professional engineer in the state of New York? Yes, I have been. Are you certified as a New York State Code Enforcement official? Yes. And can you briefly describe your overall experience with structural inspections and engineering work? I have over 40 years of experience in the professional engineering field, 30 with the town of Riverhead, where I'm responsible for design, construction, and maintenance of all the town's infrastructure, buildings, roads. I also perform structural inspections for the code enforcement officials. I've done approximately 50 structural inspections, most resulting in demolition or repair. Thank you. And did you inspect the property located at 4017th Street in Weeding River? Yes, I did. And on what date did you conduct that inspection? That was March 20th, 2024. And did anybody accompany you? Yes. And did you have any other senior code enforcement officer? Yes. And what was the purpose of your inspection? I was asked by the code enforcement department to provide professional engineering advice as to the structural stability of the building in question. Okay. And did you prepare a written structural condition report based on your findings? I did. And is that report, I have marked that as Exhibit F. Okay. Should I leave my word to Mike? I'll leave it to Mark. Yeah, you're on. Thank you. And I understand that you have individual copies of each report for the town board that is being handed up. I do. Thank you. Ken? Does the town clerk need one? Yes, please. I'm wondering. Ken? Yeah. Can you, being asked to move the mic closer to you? Sure. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, Mr. Testa, is this the report? Yes. Is this the report you prepared in connection with your inspection? Yes, it is. And in addition to the written report, I understand that you prepared a PowerPoint presentation? That's correct. And are the contents of the presentation consistent with the conclusions in your report? Yes, they are. Okay. And are you prepared to walk the board through the PowerPoint presentation you prepared as part of the public hearing? Yes, I am. Okay. Thank you. Justin, if we could turn to the PowerPoint. Okay. So, this is basically a PowerPoint that was prepared from the structural report that's in front of you, so it should be easy to follow. The first page, cover page, shows the frontal picture of the structure in question. The second page is basically just a verification that I did do an inspection on the property along with Senior Inspector Rich Downs in response to complaints from community members and others about the potential dangerous condition of the structure. It reiterates that I'm a licensed professional engineer, certified code enforcement official, and that I've done in excess of 50 structural and code and compliance inspections, both municipal and private. The subject structure is located at 4017th Street in Wading River. It consists of a wood-frame, one-story house with an attached garage under the main floor of the house. This detailed inspection was performed at the request of the town attorney's office, due to the dilapidated structure. Thank you. The house is located in a dilapidated and unsafe existing condition of the structure, which I believe poses a public safety hazard. The structure is located in a residential neighborhood and remains unoccupied. There's visible evidence that this structure has been accessed and used for illicit purposes by trespassers. The house is clearly in a state of structural instability, with openings in the roof, soffits, and walls, which are allowing rain, snow, and vermin to enter the building. In addition, the house is littered with bags and boxes and trash, which presents a fire safety hazard and prevents a hazard to emergency responders should they have access to structure in the event of a fire. This is a brief summary of my findings, which I'll follow with some photographs. The roof, as will be seen in the pictures that follow, is extremely deteriorated. It has large openings that are exposing the interior of the building to the elements and, with access by vermin, the rain and snow that has entered the structure over the past several years has caused extensive damage to the interior structures and floor. In addition, the openings expose the remaining portion of the roof to the elements, causing further water damage and rotting of roof members. The building envelope, which consists of the walls, was found to be in a state of rot, with deterioration and openings from the exterior to the interior. There's multiple areas. The windows of the building siding that are open to the interior of the building, allowing rain, wind, and vermin to enter. Winders are not boarded up, further exposing the building to the elements and unauthorized entry. The interior of the house is littered with debris. The walls show signs of structural failure, as you'll see in the photos, and water damage. The interior of the house is littered with bags of clothing, garbage, debris, which presents a significant fire risk. And there is roof leakage, which is exposing structural errors. The building is a ! ! The building is a !
This year, it is of imminent importance that this structure be demolished to avoid the risk of flying debris should wind get through the openings in the roof and the walls and cause an uplift of the structure. Could damage neighboring homes and emergency service workers. As such, I strongly recommend that the structure be demolished and that the site be cleared as soon as possible. Below are some photographs, which I'll go through for you as quickly as possible. But there is the front of the house again. A closer view of the front door. You can see rot on the overhead parapet of the roof, where the roof is open to the exterior. Just another shot of the front of the house. Here's a shot of the front of the house. You can see the roof is mostly gone and there's opening to the exterior of the building causing concern in my mind of a potential uplift should we get strong winds from a hurricane or a bad northeast storm. This is a photograph of the southwest corner of the house. This is a photograph of the southwest corner of the house. Showing the rot that's caused by rain coming through the leaking roof down the interior walls and rotting the structural members that the house is sitting on on the foundation. Another shot of the roof. And as you can see, it's pretty much, the roof is pretty much gone. Another shot. Pretty much you can see right through the side wall and through the exterior of the house. Wind gets in there. It's a real problem. This is a picture of the back of the house with similar rot on the roof. And as you can see, it's pretty much gone. Another shot. Pretty much similar rot on the roof structure. Right. Back of the house, looking up at the roof, showing the deterioration of the roof parapet overhang. A little bit more of a closer up shot of that, showing water damage to the other side of the roof. Rear of the house, you'll see an opening in the bottom there of the house and I have a close up fixed arm that goes clear through to the interior of the house that's leading access for somebody potentially to get into the house. Right. That's the opening. Right. Right. That's the opening. For whatever reason there's an opening whether it's from water damage or somebody trying to get in. But that's an opening from the exterior of the house to the interior. Again, another shot of the roof showing the extreme deterioration of the roof. Another shot of the roof. This is the east wall of the house showing damage to the siding allowing water to get in. This is a shot of the interior. The best we could get. Difficult to get inside because the doors were jammed by debris. But you can get a sense that the house is filled with garbage and debris that's a potential fire hazard. Inside of the house, water damage, mold. Another shot with some debris. More debris and junk accumulated inside the house. Car tire inside the house, you know, fuel for a fire. Hole in the side wall. This is the garage which is underneath the main portion of the house. Inside the garage is a car and a can of gasoline. So obviously, yeah. So obviously should a fire take place with the car or the gas can, we have a real problem. And in conclusion, it's my professional opinion as a licensed professional engineer, certified New York State code enforcement official, that this structure is in poor condition with signs of possible structural damage. It's a structure that has structurally compromised components, contains hazards to the occupants and emergency service workers as well as neighboring houses. As such, it poses a danger to the health and welfare of the public. It presents a danger to anyone entering the building, including police and fire personnel in an emergency situation. This structure also presents a public access due to the potential for rodents and vagrants to enter and occupy the building, as well as possible injury to emergency service workers that should have to enter the building. So I recommend that this structure be demolished and the site be cleared of any and all debris as soon as possible. And the last page is my professional engineering certification that everything I just said is true to the best of my knowledge and based on my inspection. Thank you for your testimony. I have no further questions for any witnesses. If the town board has any questions for myself or any of the witnesses. Yes, if I may, Ms. Hurley. I apologize if you had said it. I just wanted to make it clear. Mr. Testa, when you went to the house in March of 2024, are these photographs that you're showing us, are they a fair and accurate representation of how these items, these portions of the house appeared back that date when you saw it? Those photographs were all taken on that date during that inspection. And I recently went by the structure on a trip to Wading River Beach and noticed that nothing seems to have changed. Just the question is, they're just fit, they fairly and accurately represent what it looked like when you went there? Yes. And I have those photographs date stamped on my computer. Thank you. Councilor, can I just ask, knowing the risk hazard of the structure, have we notified Wading River Fire Department and Ambulance and the police department, just anybody that may respond if there's an incident here, just the safety of all? I don't know if they were notified. We do have a resolution actually in today's meeting. Okay. We have a resolution in today's packet for the demolition, so we're hoping that that gets voted and approved so that we can take it down before anything. I'm just asking if we could just notify, just in case anything happens, fire anything, that they understand the neglect and safety, you know, hazardous conditions that are in place just for any responding units, that's all. That's a good point. I can do that when I leave here today. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Ms. Hurley? I'd like to ask, you said earlier that it's Tina Vitale that was represented by Harvey Arnoff, is that correct? It is, I believe, Tina Vitale's daughter, Stacy Hale, is represented by Mr. Arnoff. I believe it's Dorothy Vitale. Oh, Dorothy. Dorothy Vitale is the wife or the spouse of Michael Vitale. On the deed, it was Tina Vitale. I think that was sold from Tina to Michael. I'm sorry? It was sold from a Tina Vitale to a Michael. To Michael Vitale. And Harvey represents, Mr. Arnoff represents who? Yes, I believe there's a representative from Mr. Arnoff's office here, if he would like to speak on the record at all. Yes. Yes. Please. Okay. Do you want to hear from him? Yes, please. Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Joe Palermo. I'm from Arnoff Law. We represent the estate of Michael Vitale. The estate owns the property. We're handling the probate of the estate. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. We're going to have a meeting with Mr. Arnoff and Mr. Vitale. to request the ability to deal with the property ourselves. We actually have a buyer lined up for the property that would be sold, his name is Daniel, he's here today, to Daniel and he would take possession of the property and clean it up. Well, demolish it. Thank you. I guess you can clean it up if you wanted.
That's some fixer-upper, huh? Mr. Palermo, what's the timeline on that? The petition for probate was submitted yesterday. So we need permission from the court first, looking at a few months from surrogate's court, and then the transfer of the property would be quick. Really, just the surrogate's court would be the slowest part. What, if anything, is your client willing to do to secure the structure pending that sale and transfer? The best I could offer would be put a fence around the property to keep people out. I mean, I know people could still possibly get through a fence, but there's really no repair that could be done to the property. Okay. What was the date of death of the original owner?
I believe it's 2020.
2021. April 2nd. April 2nd. April 2nd. So why are we only just filing the estate papers to appoint an executrix now, multiple years later? Because Dorothy is in really poor health. She's been in and out of the hospital with a heart condition. And Stacy, her daughter, was helping her with this. She didn't really necessarily have the funds to do it any sooner. So now she has the money to help, and with the help of Daniel, she can get that done. Okay. Well, for... Senior Investigator Downs and Engineer Testa, in your judgment, is there anything that could be done to secure the structure for a period of up to several months in order to accommodate the transfer? I'm going to say no on that, but I'm going to defer to Ken with respect to the structural stability. I have to agree. The biggest concern I have is that with all the openings in the roof and the siding in the building, my biggest concern besides fire is the wind. When hurricane wind gets in there and it's uplift on the roof and some of the structures are water damaged, there could be flying debris. So it would have to be some kind of either an expedited demolition and just clear the property and get that portion done, either the seller or the potential buyer. Mr. Testa, can you talk into the microphone? I'm sorry. I can't pick you up. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was saying that in my mind, my biggest concern besides fire is potential wind-blown debris from a hurricane. A hurricane or a bad storm with the uplift of the roof, which really aren't designed for uplift, when the walls are open and the roof is open and wind gets inside the structure. So I would recommend either the seller immediately demolish it or the potential buyer if that's possible to do. I don't see shearing it up. I mean, you'd have to... The amount of work that would be required to shear it up would be... It's not worth it. Yeah, I think so. So maybe a... I mean, if the town's a monster, if you demolish it, it's probably going to cost more than if you privately demolish it because we have the pay-prevaling wage rate and everything. So if you could say within whatever the board feels is a reasonable period of time that you would have it down and cleared, I think that would be a potential... I'm concerned about the timing with the probate court. It doesn't take several months. It could take a couple years. Given the size of the estate, I don't think it'll take... It's not a complex estate. It's really just the house. I think that would expedite the process. I know it's still a long process. I know, but you're at the hands of the county. That's correct. I happen to own a title insurance company. So you're all too familiar. I deal with surrogate support all the time. So I don't... I can't see myself taking a bet on surrogate support taking a couple months. Okay. I believe the property is in arrears too, I think. The buyer... I've spoken to the buyer, and he's willing to pay the arrears and also, as you said, Mr. Testa, demolish it. So is the seller in a position to take this building down now? I would have to speak to the seller. I would have to speak to Dorothy about that. I think it would be a good idea. We were hoping the buyer could do it, but if it's not going to be soon enough, then I'll speak to Dorothy about doing that. But then you also said that Stacy is in bad health. No, Dorothy. Dorothy, sorry. Dorothy. Stacy's helping Dorothy. Yeah. So that could be another issue as well going down the line. Right. So there's a lot of obstacles there. I know. We can get this. And you said you just filed yesterday? That's correct. I mean, even if the wood portions of the structure... I don't think there's a lot reusable there, honestly, because so much water damage has gotten in. I don't think it's going to be practical if somebody come in and gut it to the frame and rebuild it. So maybe demolish it down to the foundation. And if you think the foundation is reusable, then you can... you could just fence it in to prevent somebody from falling into the foundation and build off of that when the time comes. The plan would be to remove every drop of structure. You got to come up to the podium if you're going to be part of the record. Do you have any other questions, or should I turn it over to Daniel? You can turn it over to Daniel. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, how are you? I'm Daniel Olivo. The plan would be to rebuild a new structure there, completely, not to use anything. I don't think there's anything safe there at all. And my volunteering to help with removing the structure was to preserve some money for the estate, you know, because it can be done at a lower cost, more efficiently, as long as we can make that agreement legally when the time comes. Would it be your intention to remove the foundation as well? Yes, 100%. So you might as well just... It would be new, yeah, new from the ground up. If that could be worked out, that seems like... Just a matter of time. What would be the time frame that the town would have it demolished? If it was ruled on today, when would it be? If we got order to demolish on something like this, we would have it down in three to four weeks. I mean, I'm capable, as long as we can make an agreement, you know, to help them. You know, I don't know if that can be agreed on in this moment, but I'm willing and able. I've done it many times before. So demolition permit, correct? Correct, which would have to be filed by Dorothy, so... So what we could do is we have the resolution in the packet today to direct the demolition. Given the amount of time that it would take to get to that point with engineering, if the potential... I'm sorry, if the estate's attorney can enter into an agreement with us to, you know, suspend that directive, based on a plan to demolish it themselves, within, I would say, the next two to four weeks, then, you know, I think the board could adopt the resolution today, and we could pursue that agreement. And then if that agreement doesn't materialize, the board's resolution stands, and engineering can proceed with the demolition. And what I can do in the meantime is, we've done this on other safe structures, where the owner did come in and ultimately take action, and then the owner did take action. And so, you know, I think the only way that we can do that is I can proceed with the process of getting prices, lining everything up, getting the utilities disconnected, so that if that doesn't work out, it's not another two to three weeks for me. It's a matter of days. It doesn't cost me a lot to go out and get that all in place. This way, you know, we give them the three or four weeks. It's not another three or four weeks. It'll be three or four weeks and pull the trigger. I wanted to say that there is a... an agreement such as that in the packet, in the resolution and the language was incorporated into this resolution for the board to make that sort of decision to enter into an agreement with the property owner to do the repairs that are necessary, in this case, a demolition. So it's in the actual packet. Does it have a timeframe on it? Well, it's a fill-in-the-blank packet, but we can agree that they've... we can file a building permit or a demolition permit, in this matter, you know, immediately or within a few days so that we get that right away. The problem is that he is not the owner. He's the person... Exactly right, yeah. So I can't get you out of here. No, I understand they would have to make an agreement. Right. They need it. Okay.
The only issue is I couldn't have Dorothy sign as the executrix because she's not appointed yet. Right. Yeah. So what timeframe are we looking at? We're still held up by the constraints of the surrogate's court. Well, that won't be done in three weeks. No. It will not. I think that we should just move forward with our resolution. Yeah, how do we not move forward? We can't...I mean, this has been going on for over a year. So... Over three years. Over three years. Excuse me. That's right. You were just there 24 hours. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Mm. Mm. All right, so that's up to the board. When the resolution comes up, it can either be approved, it can be tabled, or it could be voted down. As Senior Investigator Downs articulated, there is an agreement option pursuant to that resolution, and if we're able to reach terms with the state's representatives and attorneys, then we can go that route. Otherwise, as our engineer, Kent Est, has articulated, he can proceed with getting quotes for the demolition. Can I just add one thing, Mr. Howard? Can we also have part of the record that the clerk has also sent out, the public notice of the hearing being here today? Can we make that part of the record, too? Yes, please.
Thank you.
Okay, so we'll move on and we will vote on it. I guess we're subject to any other comments. Good? Good. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, thank you, gentlemen. This was the first public hearing. The second public hearing we have on for today is a public hearing to amend Chapter 301, Community Benefit Zoning Use District.
Greg Bergman, will you start this off, please? Yes. Good afternoon, Supervisor, members of the board. For the record, Greg Bergman, Senior Planner with the Riverhead Planning Department. What we have is a public hearing to amend Town Code Article XVIIA, Community Benefit Zoning Use District. This was a zoning district that was originally adopted by the Town Board back in 2016. Until then, I know the church has been working on a potential project at this site for a number of years. To this date, there has been no viable project that's come forth on the First Baptist Church property, so we have worked with the church. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. on-site sewage treatment plant in accordance with suffolk county department of health regulations it removes the requirement for a special permit it puts it now just as a straight site plan as long as the property proposed would be is eligible for the community benefit zoning designation we did significant amendments to the use of the transfer of development rights previously the use of suffolk county workforce housing transfer of development rights from suffolk county could be utilized we now cap the use of suffolk county tdrs at 30 of the total tdrs required we reduced heights of the permitted buildings and we introduced architectural standards among other amendments the language of the text has been available on the town website now since we've noticed the public hearing at this point i would open it up to members of the public if they wish to speak on it
thank you hi cindy clifford riverhead would anybody from the public like to come up and comment on this thank you wait tim i couldn't wait to get up here anybody get online behind me on behalf of the harder riverhead civic association i am again here to fully support every step needed to move the family community life center forward to completion today we're counting on your votes to adopt the revisions on the community benefit zoning clearing the way for the fclc to fully and finally benefit our community not only with the fcfl fclc project literally open doors to help retirees and our children remain here in the town we love sparing them having to move away in search of a home they can afford given the multiple attempts to bring a community center like the ymca into our town this project will also fill that void providing a 10 000 square foot center specifically designed to serve multiple age groups needs and functions today's vote to adopt the updated cbd zoning will finally set the fclc project into motion creating an affordable housing community anchored by an activity center offering all sorts of activities and welcoming everyone and making reverend and mrs coverdale and all who wholeheartedly have championed this project through the years very very happy thank you
would anybody else from the community like to get up and speak at this public hearing
we have nobody online okay come on up ma'am
this is the public hearing
good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon and acted upon today with regard to the resolution that's before you. Greg Bergman, I would ask you to come up and address that, please.
So this is just a public hearing on the proposed amendments to the CBD zoning district. There is no resolution in the town board's packet upon which they would be acting. So this is just a public hearing for the purposes of receiving input on the proposed amendments. There is no action being considered today on the code amendment. Correct.
My next question is with regard to the proposed amendments themselves. Am I correct in understanding that this would be like an overlay zoning proposal? That is correct. With regard to the amendments? Yes. Okay. And that being said, would that overlay then be applicable to any property within the town of Riverhead which would deem to meet the conditions of the overlay criteria as set forth in an amended? Yes. There are other properties that this would also involve with the overlay. All right. So we could have properties in Wading River, Jamesport, Aquebaugh, that if someone... I'm not sure that the properties are that far away. I think they're pretty close to the area that we're referring. No. I'm just talking about conceptually. If the proposal is to provide an overlay, the overlay is town-wide, correct? No. No, it's not? No. Okay. What's the scope of the overlay? The overlay, if I believe, it affects up to maybe seven other properties, Greg? Yeah, I can speak to that. Okay. Okay. Sorry. So under the existing community benefit district, by my estimation, there are three properties which could be eligible for development under the existing CBD zoning district. Those are generally located in the vicinity of the First Baptist Church. One of the limiting... The biggest limiting factor in the existing text is the requirement to hook up to the Riverhead Sewer District. Based on the requirements of the proposed... Okay. Based on the proposed amendments, by my estimation, there would be a total of eight parcels that would be eligible to be developed. There is a property in Wading River, there's some in Calverton, and there is one property in Jamesport. So it is... The requirement being having a minimum of 800 linear feet of frontage on a arterial county or state highway does open up a total of approximately eight parcels to be potentially developed under this CBD. Mr. Bergen? Mr. Bergen? A minute ago you said three properties could be, or is it eight? So the existing CBD... Okay. And again, this is, you know, in a perfect world, I would know for a fact, but one of the limiting factor is the proximity to the Riverhead Sewer District. So the likelihood that someone in Wading River is going to run, you know, 10 miles of sewer pipe to connect to the sewer district is not realistic. Allowing the on-site STP would open it up to approximately eight total parcels, whereas, the existing CBD, approximately three parcels could be developed under those standards.
Thank you. Just a point to follow up from there. Notwithstanding the representation that's been made about the proposals or properties that may be deemed eligible or qualifying for the criteria that are being proposed in the amendment, would that preclude any future developers? Or... Parties of interest from coming forward to the town under, say, if this was amended and adopted for them coming before the town and being considered, and if so, how would that process work in terms of who would determine if there was eligibility for another project to come under the criteria that would be adopted in the resolution? It would have to fit the guidelines of the zoning of this overlay district. Right. But who would make that determination if the guidelines were met? The zoning officer. The zoning officer. Right. Okay. And then the property would be precluded from, or excluded rather, from the regular special permit process. Is that right? If it didn't meet the standards, yes. If it did meet the standards. Right. Okay. Anyway, just fast track right to the planning, approval of the planning by the planning department. Is that how it would work? Greg, I'll let you clarify what she's asking. Yeah. So the removal of the special permit, the town board in adopting any proposed legislation is setting eligibility criteria. There was sort of a discussion that having a special permit and a concurrent site plan being reviewed, sort of a redundant process. The board in considering the proposed legislation establishes clear criteria for a property to be eligible or not be eligible. So if there was a property... Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So even if there's a property that someone wanted to come in and develop under the CBD, they would come to the planning department, we would review the property. If it meets those eligibility criteria, they could move forward and develop a site plan application. I do not want to stay fast track by any means. It would go through the standard site plan review process. We would do an environmental quality review on it, assess and mitigate any potential impacts. So this is not to say that someone's just going to make an application and it's going to be approved tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have anybody else in the room that would like to comment on this public hearing? No, not seeing anybody. Eric. There we go. Hello, Mr. Alexander. How are you? Supervisor Hubbard, good to see you, members of the town board. Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island. We do not live in Riverhead, but we have been supportive of your downtown and planning efforts for over 20 years. One of our first meetings in Riverhead was with the Reverend Charles and Reverend Dr. Shirley Coverdale on this project, or a different version of this project. And we thought at the time in the plan of 03, it should have been incorporated into the master plan then. For whatever reason, we could go back and look why it didn't. I don't know why, but whatever. That should have been done. It didn't get done. So we're glad to see this happen 24 years later. I think we've talked to six different supervisors and many, many different members of the town board about this project and the benefits of it from our outsider observation perspective. But we've never heard anyone in the community oppose this initiative. And in addition, in recent years, we've been aware that Georgia Green, which has a tremendous track record as affordable housing developers on the project, they've won five plus Smart Growth Awards, East Hampton. The different parts of South Hampton, Glen Cove, Patchogue. And this group knows how to build projects well managed and also securing the proper financing. So they're an excellent partner. So really, look, the affordable housing and the 10,000 square feet of community space is phenomenal. So I'm glad. I hope you're moving forward without delay now. It's just been a little late, 24 years, but that's not your guy's fault. So with that. From our outside observation, we just wanted to, we were asked to say a couple words. So just wanted to say that to you guys and Godspeed. Thank you very much.
Do we have anybody else?
Not seeing anybody. I will make a motion to close the public hearing, but keep it open for written comment until August 15th, 2019. August 15th, 2025. August 15th, 2025. We have a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Okay. Thank you, everybody. We're now going to move on to comments on all resolutions. Comments on all resolutions. I would ask that you keep your comments to three minutes. And we'll remind you. We'll remind you with the clock. Okay? Thank you, sir. Thank you. Good afternoon. Members of the board. My name is Dean Ganley. I'm an aid to legislator Catherine Stark. She's currently getting ready for the general meeting out in Riverhead. So she couldn't be here, but she asked me to speak to you today with a written letter, which I'll present to the clerk after, if I may. To Supervisor Hubbard and the town board of Riverhead. I have known the Petrocelli family since my father. Former. Supervisor Jim Stark worked with Petrocelli and Bassett to bring the Long Island Aquarium here to Riverhead, which helped beautify a significant portion of our town. I fully support the town board in this selection process. I believe the town board has been transparent and open to the public. Could you please hold it down until you get outside, please? Yeah. Do you want to just pause and wait until everybody who's filtering out filters out?
Reclaim my time. time You really know how to clear a room. I know, right?
I would say you can probably get started. Thank you, Supervisor. Thank you. From where would you like me to start? Just the last sentence and continue? Just start over. All right. So if you insist. I don't know how many people could hear you. That's okay. So my name is Dean Ganley. I am with the legislator, Catherine Stark's office. She's currently getting ready for the general meeting out in Riverhead tonight, so she asked me to come speak on her behalf with a written letter, which I can present to the clerk after. To Supervisor Hub, and the town board of Riverhead, I have known the Petrocelli family since my father, former supervisor Jim Stark, worked with Petrocelli and Bessette to bring the Long Island Aquarium here to Riverhead, which helped beautify a significant portion of the town. I fully support the town board in this selection process. I believe the town board has been transparent and open to the public. It has conducted public hearings and is working to ensure we have a fair and open process. I attended a public hearing and listened to both sides on this issue. I strongly believe, that Supervisor Hubbard and the town board, in choosing Mr. Petrocelli, are making the right decision for our town. Our town needs revitalization. We look at other communities across Long Island and see what can be achieved through smart development plans, which seek to balance environmental protection with real needed progress for downtowns like Riverhead. I love the town of Riverhead. I only wanted to see it succeed. And I trust this board and the supervisor to see this project through. I would like to be part of the project, and I am committed to the project. I am committed to the project. I would like to extend my full support for Mr. Petrocelli to be designated qualified and eligible by the town board. And I hope all the best for Mr. Petrocelli and the town of Riverhead. Sincerely, Catherine Stark, Legislator of the First District. With the permission of the board, I would like to submit the letter to the clerk. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank you.
My name is Nadine Lofretto, and I'm going to the past one on 40, 17th Street, that we've been discussing the demolition of. I can't hear her. Yeah, can you get to the microphone a little closer? Okay. Is that better? Usually I speak too loud. I live two doors up in the dead end area from that house. I was there when Michael and his wife were removed from the house at 11 o'clock at night and told that they could never return because it was uninhabitable. And since then, it's just deteriorated more and more. So there's probably still food in the refrigerator amongst all that debris. And the animals have been going there. And unfortunately, the neighbors below them have been infested with rats and mice. The house catty corner to them had raccoons invade their attic, had to replace their whole roof and everything. The children, I'm a mother of three, and I'm a mother of three. And I'm a mother of three. And I'm a mother of three. I'm a past educator from Brentwood Schools, 20 years, social worker, teacher, everything. And currently I'm a realtor part-time. And I've been advocating for something to be done. And I've been advocating for something to be done. A fence will not stop anyone. Kids love to climb fences. And I'm so happy that you've brought it to the point And I'm so happy that you've brought it to the point that we can't wait longer. Because I've been doing this along with the neighbor that's right across the street from them. And I'm so happy that you've brought it to the point that we can't wait longer. And I'm so happy that you've brought it to the point that we can't wait longer. Because we do have children going in there. Because we do have children going in there. We've had the police down several times. And they're wonderful. They call their parents. They come. They try to explain to them that they can't be breaking windows. They can't be going into this property. But middle school and higher elementary children, But middle school and higher elementary children, they're explorers. This is a great place to explore. So it's a danger. Now, a month and a half ago we had a fire on 19th Street. In what would look like a relatively new home. In what would look like a relatively new home. And the fire, there was no wind down there. And the fire was, the wind was barely moving. And it destroyed the house. And four police officers had to go to the hospital. Because the second floor fell on them. Those are the police officers that Those are the police officers that take care of our community. In addition, what wasn't mentioned is this property, it's really two double lots, is right next to the community center. I mean, right across the street from the community center. Where children do go. And parents go. And we have the police come and we do outside things. It's a hazard in so many levels. And we have enough problems without that. But if there's a fire at this end of the street, because I live a little bit higher with a double house, we have major wind. I'm telling you I was worried over the 4th of July because we had someone down the street shooting fireworks. Police were called. They could have been shooting into that lot and started a fire and it would have engulfed all our homes. So it is really imperative that when you say time is of the essence, I've been coming here, not here, this is a first, but coming and talking to the supervisor and alerting them to this and the fire kind of made it really more realistic how quickly something can be taken over. So I really encourage you to really push it. They have to get in and demolish it and clear the property. Because you know how we clean the side streets by the jets so that their fire won't spread? This has like 150, 200 homes. Okay, so please work on that. Thank you. Hello, Supervisor Hubbard and Riverhead Town Board. I'm Bruce Kagan and I have some handouts that I would like to pass out for you to look at.
Thank you. I'm going to speak about restoring the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Recreation Path to Safety and Beauty. Is that a resolution? I've got a package that is coming out. What resolution would this be, sir? This is a comment period. 646. We're restoring the bike trail. Thank you, Ken. Okay. You're getting a series of photographs that show you the dangers of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Recreation Path. The dangers of the trail. And I'm going to speak briefly about these. You'll see the first set of photographs show you the disruption that the new sewer line has done and the coarse stone backfill that has been placed down and left for months. If you're a bicyclist, you're not going to be riding over those stones and pebbles. They're uneven. They're dangerous. If you're pushing a baby carriage, you're not going to be doing it on that area. Mr. Kagan, have you not been contacted by our town engineer and advised you of when this is going to be fixed? There are still questions. We were told that we could make a few comments in order to reassure you or try to push the positive vote for it. Okay. I understand Ken Testa has talked to you because he's talked to me about it. And I was able to secure some money in our budget to be able to have it repaired. So they went out to a business and right now it's up to when the business can actually do the repair work. Which should be very shortly. Oh, because the last I was told that there was still a question mark as to whether the town board would vote a yes for the money. Well, we have to vote for it, yes. But we've made it available for that to happen. And I don't know of anybody in opposition of having that patch that section fixed because it is exactly what you said. Okay, then what you're saying is you don't need to hear from me. Well, yeah. Bruce. You're welcome to speak, but there's unanimous support to restore the bike trail. This is going to be done. Okay, well. Bruce, I wouldn't let you down. Excuse me? I wouldn't let you down. But nice photographs. I didn't get that, Ken. I said nice photographs. But we're going to get it done. Okay, well that's the whole purpose. Sooner than later. And I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you. Also keep in mind, I think that the town engineer also wanted some settling time and so they've gone back a few times and graded it and put it in the settling is completed before they pave it so that there's no future issues. So I think we're ready now at this point. Good afternoon. George Bartnik for the same issue. And I don't have to be set for three minutes. This will take about 15 seconds. I have a petition here that I'd like to give to Jim to hand out to you. Hi. And it's self-explanatory. When I started getting these signatures from people who were using the bike path, I guess I had more to say. I had more time than I knew what to do with. So for about four days I would go up there for maybe 20 minutes or a half hour and I got over 100 signatures for the support of the restoration of the bike path. Before I give the petitions to Jim, I would like to, I had a discussion with Ken as he was leaving the room here and he has negotiated a very good deal for the repair of the bike path and line road. So much to his credit. Thank you very much. Thank you, George.
Good afternoon. Takwee Churchin, Greater Calverton Civic Association President. My question is on number 44, it's number 687 about the publishing post for the change to the noise ordinance. I'm looking to understand if this has, what the implications of this will be and if Young's Avenue situation with Patriot and with Crown has anything to do with what your intent is in here and if you could explain it to me. Pretty brief, probably. Yeah, so the intent here, this issue didn't actually arise from Young's Avenue. This relates to commercial establishments that abut residential neighborhoods and it's intended to address noise coming from commercial vehicles and crossing over into residential areas. Are there instances where it could apply on Young's Avenue? Maybe. In the particular stretch that we're concerned over, would it work there? Yeah, I mean, I think the prohibition on parking and idling that we did on Young's Avenue should pretty comprehensively address that issue. If it were to become an issue, this could potentially be an additional violation to the extent that those trucks were backing up into Maestro Estates and going forward. Yeah, so I mean, I suppose if there's an idling truck for more than 10 minutes outside of like, say, Crown Sanitation and it goes over into the subdivision across the way and down the way a little bit, it could apply. Okay, great. Thanks very much. And I also wanted to thank you again for those signs. And just if it's appropriate now where I can ask a public comment, there was discussion at the time of the vote for those signs about the wording on it, and I believe Mr. Rothwell mentioned something about maybe adjusting the language to include multiple axles so that we're not limiting ourselves just to semi-trucks. Is that something that you've already looked into? So we were looking into a revision on that, and it was going to, I believe, include dump trucks, but there was an issue with the technical definition of it, and it may be encompassing more than we wanted it, or more than it needed to. It is being reviewed still by Deputy Town Attorney Pilo. I'm very interested to keep up to date with that. If you feel like reaching out to me individually, I'd be very happy to receive it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Bob Castaldi, Suffolk Theatre. I like the idea of a hotel. That was probably up there. I thought I was supposed to read this. I like the idea of a hotel across from the theatre. I think they'll complement each other, work out. People who go to a hotel that have never been here come to the theatre that may or may not have ever gone to, so it's good. And I was a contractor for a long, long time. I know good work when I see it, and Joe Petrucelli does nice work. So, that's it. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Adele Wallach, Riverhead. Who's that? Adele Wallach, Riverhead. In April, pending a qualified and eligible hearing, Joe Petrucelli was named Master Developer. In July 2022, Resolution 2022-524, he pledged money for the playground and two other town square components so that the town could secure the grants. Now, according to Line 524 in the agreement contract, the total monies he pledged are being deducted from the total price of the main street property he is purchasing from the town. If for some reason he had not been deemed qualified and eligible, would he still be getting his pledged return? Was it actually even paid, or if not, would he still be making the pledge in spite of not getting the designation? Was this agreement made three years ago to designate him Master Developer, guaranteeing him the position in exchange for putting up the money? And finally, did this obligate the town to vote him qualified and eligible? Not expecting an answer. Good one. Next up. Good afternoon, sir. My name is Joseph Oliver. I'm the owner of J.J. Armory on Main Street. I'm here to strongly support Joe Petrucelli's town project, Resolution 696. This development will bring a 76-room hotel, new retail, riverfront restaurant, and public spaces like a plaza, playground, and an amphitheater. Finally connecting Main Street to the Peconic River and turning our downtown into a true destination. For businesses like mine, this means more visitors, more foot traffic, and a stronger local economy. When tourists stay at the town, stay at the hotel, or attend events at the amphitheater, they'll walk Main Street and discover local shops like J.J. Armory. Just as important are the infrastructure improvements tied to this project. The flood mitigation work included in this plan will help protect our businesses and ensure downtown a safer and more resilient for the future. Most importantly, Mr. Petrucelli has a proven track record. He brought us the aquarium, the Hyatt, and other successful projects that helped put Riverhead back on the map. This town square is the next step to that progress. Downtown Riverhead has waited long enough. We don't need another study or another empty lot. We need action. Joe Petrucelli's project will bring the foot traffic and revitalization our businesses need to thrive. Approve this project, and let's stop imagining a better downtown. And let's open up the doors and walk into it. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Supervisor and Town Board. David Gallo, 49 Herp Hill Road. I just echo everything that gentleman just said about the Joe Petrucelli project and just wanted to let everybody know we support him, the project, the revitalization. He does have a proven track record and has been a catalyst for this town and we wholeheartedly support the resolution in support of him. Thank you. Thank you.
Hello. Monique Parsons, 62 Young's Avenue. I am in strong support of designating Joseph Petrucelli as the qualified and eligible master developer for the Riverhead Town Square project. Joe and his family's firm have been quietly yet tirelessly investing in our town for decades. He's delivered transformative projects, the Long Island Aquarium, Hyatt Place East End, the Preston House Hotel, and East Lawn Office buildings. Thank you. These developments have enhanced our downtown vitality while honoring our historic core. Importantly, his team has preserved iconic buildings such as the Howell House and East Lawn House, balancing progress with place-based heritage. The town has thoroughly reviewed his credentials and financial fitness including audited 2024 statements confirming bonding capacity via Liberty Mutual, strong credit arrangements with TD Bank, and clear commitment of developer equity and public grant support. Additionally, backing him are many respected local institutions. Joe's vision isn't just about building a boutique hotel or town square plaza, it's about activating Riverhead's downtown. Joe Petrucelli brings local roots, demonstrated delivery, preservation, sensitivity, and financial strength, everything needed to make a town square work for all Riverhead residents. I urge the board to formally designate him as our master developer and allow this long-planned transformation to be a reality. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have anybody online? Nobody online?
Oh, we have one now? Okay. Go ahead. You want to do your online? That's fine. Go ahead. You're up there. Okay. John McAuliffe, Rolling Woods, Roanoke Landing. I think that you ought to postpone action on both this and the CDA resolution until September. I think you find yourself in a little odd position of having announced that comments could be received and then making a work session, a decision that moved this resolution ahead before the comments had been concluded. Also, the later comments don't show up to public view at this point. So I think they're just some reasons that would be better procedurally to have some more time and also the financial information has just come in. I don't know if we've seen it yet. Mr. Howard, it said he was preparing something for the board, but I assume that would be available to the public too. We don't have it. I think I made this point before that this whole process has conflated two things. One is that the city is the town square which everybody is in favor of. The other is the hotel which many people are opposed to. I sent you the results of the poll, the anonymous poll, also the petition. If you look at the letters you received today, there are 19 letters and 17 are opposed to the hotel. So I think you just need to have further discussion of whether the hotel is the best way of moving forward and that means postponing it. The I was interested in looking at the Petrocelli presentation online. This picture is of course one that's been in the papers and the Riverhead Local. If you look at that picture, you really have to think about what it means to have a hotel which is so much higher compared to the Suffolk Theater. It blocks out entirely any view of the Arts Center and I think overwhelms the whole concept of the square. Now, Mr. Hubbard, you've said that one story, two stories is no different than four or five stories. It is different. If you look from the Suffolk, if you look from Main Street, having a five-story building there is overwhelming as opposed to the lower. I also, these pictures I didn't see in the public but this is, this is it. This is in the Petrocelli proposal. This is their actual side view which is much less interesting of course than the artist's rendering of lots of people but is a pretty bleak side that's on the park. And then this is the end which you can sort of see in that first picture and looking like cars are going underneath and to the right of where people will be. I just think that this is this whole project really is something that people are not convinced about. And even though there's obviously support for it too, that it would be better for the town if you paused a bit and had a discussion in September when people have had a chance to look at all of the financials and there's been a real discussion about do we want a five-story hotel? I mean people say you said at the work session you want to have hotels in the center. Well you've already got two hotels that Mr. Petrocelli owns that are five minutes away. So it's not like people have to go to 58 to get to a hotel room. And there is discussion of a new hotel to the west around Spiceys which would also create a more ample availability of hotel without losing that unique space. So that's, I will have no doubt some more to say during the CDA session, but I think I would hope that you would, though I'm not very hopeful it'll happen, I would hope that you would suspend further action until oh the other thing that I will talk about later. Save it for later. Yeah I'll talk about it later which has to do with state law and regulations.
Earl Truhlin Earl Truhlin Aquabog Also owner of Sandy Pond Links which is just three miles up the road on Roanoke just to let we strongly recommend and support the Jay Petrocelli as the master developer. Also I guess in response to what the last speaker was saying about a five story building all you have to do is go down 400 feet east of there. There's two five-story buildings, and they don't seem out of place whatsoever. This will actually probably conform to what the height of those buildings are already. So I don't see a problem with that. Thank you very much. And he took my three minutes away. Thank you. We'll take the one on line now. Hi, Kathy McGraw from Northville. Mr. Petroseli may indeed be qualified and eligible to be the master developer. I'm not questioning that. But the sham and mockery you've made of the legal process to reach that finding is deplorable. It underscores your disdain and disregard for public input. You held a public hearing on July 22nd and left the written comment period open for two weeks. You were given a total of 10 days. Yet on the ninth day at your work session, you told Mr. Howard to draft the resolution you're voting on today in the CDA meeting. You made clear that the resolution will be passed. Your minds were made up before the comment period closed. That's some kind of real nice message to the public. At that work session, Mr. Howard said he, Don Thomas, and the town accountant had met the day before with Petroseli's office. He would then announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce that they would announce never shared with the public so the public could not ask questions or comment upon it writing and you the makers never saw the actual documents only a summary thereof it's worth noting that a resident who foiled for those documents was told in writing by the town attorney that the town did not copy those documents but there would be a memo summarizing them that would be on the town website by yesterday meaning monday well there's no such memo on the website in today's lengthy detailed resolution there's a tortured reading of the fourth requirement in the law for a finding of qualified and eligible you say in the resolution that this fourth requirement is that there be a public hearing where the developer describes the project to be built and you find that happened at the july 22nd hearing but the law says more than that it says the public is entitled to the information the board is using to make its finding yet the information in the august 1st memo summarizing the developer's financial records was never shared with the public we have had no opportunity to see that memo or comment on its contents you've made a joke out of the public hearing process you made it clear your minds were made up the day before the public comment period closed and you failed to share information that we the public were entitled to see and comment upon before a decision was made you all promised a change from the aguiar regime and you have been given a new day with open government and meaningful opportunity to be heard sadly that just hasn't happened it's the same playbook a few different players i hope you'll consider reopening the public comment period on that public hearing thank you very much
anybody else online nobody anybody else in the room if i could speak to that quickly um the memo that i described at the work session last week was filed with the town clerk on friday the first it should have been posted to the uh to the town's website um but to the point as to the fourth requirement presentation of the applicant sponsor to the public at a prescribed public hearing upon due notice there was a hearing it was on due notice and it did provide an opportunity for the applicant to present his proposal and present ability to meet the established criteria that did occur all right in a in another section of the cda's rules it makes reference to certain financial documents that should be reviewed those documents were reviewed as i stated by myself by community development department director don thomas and by financial administrator jeanette dipola and our our findings after review were unremarkable it demonstrated what we expected it would demonstrate which is it furthered the notion that mr petroselli has sources of funding and available funding to complete the project and acquire the property that was set forth in the memo and that's all set forth in the resolution as well thank you okay we're going to move on to resolutions
okay uh resolution number one which is 644. accepts donation to the revet police department for the purchase of jerseys for the police athletic league so moved second vote please waski yes murrayfield yes kern yes rothwell yes hubbard yes thank you to mr ochagrosso for that uh lovely donation to the police athletic league yes resolution number 645. water district capital project number eight two one two six budget adjustments so moved seconded vote please waski yes merrifield yes kern yes rothwell yes hubbard yes resolution is adopted i'm getting there we're gonna go a little slower just so i can keep up with the computer our resolution number 646 budget amendment for capital project 72306 veterans memorial park bike cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 648. 2024 budget transfers. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 649. Authorizes the removal of fixed assets. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 650. Declares certain fire marshal vehicle surplus property and authorizes disposal. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 651. Appoints a maintenance mechanic too. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 652. Appoints a harbor master. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 652. Appoints a harbor master. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 652. Appoints a harbor master. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 652. Appoints a harbor master. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 653. Appoints a water treatment plant operator trainee. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Ann Rothfeld. Yes. Sorry. Computers. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 654. Appoints a call-in park attendant to the Recreation Department. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothfeld. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 655. Ratifies the appointment of a call-in recreation specialist to the Recreation Department. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothfeld. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 656. Ratifies the appointment of a seasonal recreation aid to the recreation department. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 657. Ratifies the resignation of a senior wastewater treatment plant operator 2A. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 658. Ratifies and accepts the resignation of a traffic control specialist. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 659. Ratifies and accepts the resignation of a senior wastewater treatment plant operator 2A. So moved. Seconded. Local Yes, Rothwell. Yes, Hubbard. Yes resolution is Adopted resolution six six one Yes, we're gonna go through it this one, okay authorizes the demolition of a dangerous and unsafe structure at 4017 Street waiting River, New York Suffolk County tax map number zero six hundred zero zero five two zero zero zero two zero zero zero two three a hundred pursuant to chapter 217 article four of the Riverhead Town Code
So moved Seconded wait. All right. So before you vote, I just want to I just want to make sure we closed the record on that I'm not sure that we formally did that So if the supervisor wanted to entertain a motion to close that that record I will I will make a motion to close that public room Hearing record and not leave it open for written comment so both All in favor, I need to be second second. Okay Okay all opposed And now you can take action on the resolution. All right, so moved seconded Vote please wasky. Yes Mary field. Yes, her. Yes Rothwell, yes Hubbard, yes Resolution is adopted resolution 662 extending blighted property registration fee for three three zero Baywood Drive tax map number Suffolk County tax map number zero six hundred dash zero forty point zero zero dash six dash one pursuant to section 217 dash 112 D for the twenty two thousand twenty four Twenty five tax year so moved seconded vote, please Wasky yes, very few. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rockwell. Yes, Hubbard. Yes resolution is adopted resolution number six six three Adopts the town of Riverhead title six plan related to federal funding assistance to local government entities so moved seconded vote, please Wasky yes, very few. Yes, Kern. Yes, well, yes Yes, resolution is adopted resolution six six four authorizes funding application to the dormitory authority of New York State for capital improvements to the George Young Community Center so moved Second vote, please. Wasky. Yes, very few. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rockwell. Yes, Hubbard. Yes resolution is adopted resolution 665 proofs fireworks application for Riverhead Raceway August 9th 2025 rain date August 16th 2025 so move seconded vote, please Wasky yes, very few. Yes, Kern Yes, Rockwell. Yes, yes resolution is adopted resolution 666 approves fireworks application for the Baiting Hollow Club August 23rd 2025 so moved seconded vote, please Local
Local 6 6 8 Approved special event chapter 255 application for water drink a farm garlic festival September 13th to the 14th 2025 so moved second vote, please Waski yes, very few. Yes, her yes Rothwell. Yes, Robert. Yes Resolution is adopted resolution 669 approved special event chapter 255 Application for Kenneth Rothwell friends of Ken Rothwell concert event so move seconded vote, please waski Yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes Rothwell abstain Hubbard yes Resolution is adopted resolution number 670 approved special event chapter 255 application for Riverhead Lions Club music for four meals so moved seconded vote, please waski yes, Murrayfield. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rothwell. Yes, Hubbard. Yes Resolution is adopted resolution 671 Approved special event chapter 255 application for Riverhead Polish Hall Polish festival so moved seconded vote, please Waski yes, very few. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rothwell. Yes, Hubbard. Yes resolution is adopted resolution 672 Designates alcohol service vendor to service alcohol at the Polish town Street Fair and Festival 2025 so moved second vote, please Waski yes, Murrayfield. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rothwell. Yes, yes Resolution is adopted resolution 673 authorizes the supervisor to execute an agreement authorizing the town to accept funds from Suffolk County Office for the aging to supplement the town's expanded in-home services for the elderly program so moved seconded vote, please Waski yes, very few. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rothwell. Yes, Hubbard. Yes Resolution is adopted resolution 674 ratifies authorization for the supervisor to execute an agreement between the town of Riverhead and the Riverhead Police Benevolent Association and Superior Officers Association So moved seconded vote, please Waski yes, very few. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rothwell. Yes, Hubbard. Yes resolution is adopted resolution 675 authorizes the supervisor to execute short-term runway use agreement for racetrack not Street 2025 summer Motorsports Racing Series So moved seconded vote, please Waski yes, very few. Yes, Kern. Yes, Rothwell. Yes Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 676. Authorizes the supervisor to execute short-term runway use agreement for Racetrack Not Street 2025 Fall Motorsports Racing Series. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 677. Authorizes agreement non-protect with, and Denise you can help me with this, is this QS? QS Enforcement. QS Enforcement Inc. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 678. Authorizes the town clerk to publish and post public notice to amend Chapter 301 entitled Zoning and Land Use Development, Part 4, Subdivision and Land Development, Article 56, Site Plan Review. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 679. Adopts a local law to amend Chapter 269 of the Riverhead Town Code titled Shopping Carts. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 680. Adopts a local law to amend Chapter 217 of the Riverhead Town Code titled Buildings, Building Construction Improvements and Housing Standards, Part 1. Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local cemetery zoning public cemetery ! ! 曲 ! 曲 shopping center zoning use district. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 682. Authorizes the town clerk to publish and post public notice to consider a local law to amend chapter 289 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled Vehicles, Traffic, and Parking Regulations. Article 6, Penalties. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 683. Authorizes town clerk to publish and post public notice to consider a local law to amend chapter 231 of the Riverhead Town Code titled Fire Prevention. Article 24, Penalties for Offenses. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 684. Schedules a public hearing regarding the unsafe structure located at 39 Pye Lane, Jamesport, New York, Suffolk County. Tax map number 0600-070.00-01-00-022-000. Pursuant to chapter 217. Part four, Article four, the Riverhead Town Code. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 685. Authorizes the town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for street lighting materials for the riverfront. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 686. Authorizes the town clerk to post and publish notice of public hearing to amend town code chapter 301 article 45 supplementary use regulation. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rockwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 687. Authorize town clerk to publish and post public notice to consider a local law to amend chapter 251 article 1 of the Riverhead town code titled noise. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rockwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 687. Authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice of public hearing to consider the adoption of a local law to amend part three zoning and land development of the town code of town of Riverhead to include chapter 304 moratorium on cannabis retail establishments and cannabis on-site consumption establishments. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rockwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 689. Authorizes town clerk to post and publish notice of public hearing to amend town code chapter 301 article 18. Very good. Business center zoning use district. Thanks, teacher. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 690. Ratifies authorization for a public hearing for the purpose of conducting a Monroe balancing test for the Suffolk County Water Authority's proposed North Fork water main extension products. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 691. Awards rebid for installation of water. Water main and. Appurtenances. I can't say it. Appurtenances. Appurtenances. Appurtenances. Yes. Thank you. 205 Osborne Avenue. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 692. Awards bid for disposal and recycling of humanist. Local public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public
84 pays bills so moved second vote please Waski yes, Maryfield. Yes, Kern. Yes Rockwell yes, yes Resolution is adopted resolution number 695 authorizes town attorney to retain special counsel for for perfection of an appeal So both second it vote, please. Waski. Yes, very few. Yes, turn Yes Yes Rockwell yes, Hubbard. Yes Resolution is adopted resolution number 696 long time coming a Resolution of the town of Riverhead as legislative body for the town of Riverhead and governing body of the Community Development Agency Designating J Petrucelli Riverhead Town Square LLC as a qualified and eligible sponsor for the purchase and development of portions of the town-owned property described as Suffolk County tax map number 600-129-1-lots 13 14 15 and Suffolk County tax map number zero six hundred dash 128 dash six dash 86.1 Located on the south side of Main Street Riverhead, New York so moved second vote, please Waski yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rothwell profound. Yes, Hubbard I
Have had so many people contact me about this project and So many of them in favor of this project and It's hard for not only myself But many other residents to understand why there would be opposition to making your downtown a beautiful destination place where people from all of Over can come support our local businesses Have a great time and leave here and tell other people and say I can't wait to go back to Riverhead This project does exactly that and for people to disingenuously come up to the microphone and say oh Can you put it off another month? You know, this is too long Or too short of a time period. Are you kidding me? this is decades in the making from when it first started if If you just got your head in the game in the last two weeks, that's on you. This has been blasted to the public. The residents have chimed in on it. For years, multiple, multiple public meetings. I can't wait to get the shovels in the ground for this project. Somebody said to me the other day, well, these people that are so negative about everything and they don't want this to happen, what political party are they? And I'm like, I don't really know. I can guess, and I'm sure I would be right. But they said, you know what they should be? They should be called the party of stagnation. And when I heard that, I thought, that is really great. I do agree with that. Because it seems every good thing that you want to do, everything that at the end of the day is the whole picture of Riverhead and good for the whole of Riverhead, somebody just has to come out to oppose it. Sometimes for no other reason other than, I have an R after my name as opposed to somebody having a D after theirs. And that's wrong. It should be about what's best for the town of Riverhead. And what is best for the town of Riverhead is the golden hand of Mr. Petrucelli and the projects that he has built over the years and helped to put Riverhead on the map starting out with the aquarium. This is a fantastic project. I can't wait for it to start. I thank everybody involved for the work over the years that they've done to make this a reality. Thank you. I can't wait to see this happen. And I'm very excited. I'm like a little kid on Christmas morning because now we can start unraveling the packages. So I enthusiastically vote yes. Thank you. Bravo, Mr. Supervisor.
Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 697. Authorizing conveyance of a portion of a property approximately 2,785 square feet described as Suffolk County Tax Map number 0600-129-1P-023 from Riverhead Public Parking District number 1 to the town of Riverhead. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 698. I don't have any other.
Budget adoption for the removal of weeds, yard waste, litter, garbage, refuse upon the premises known as 262 Hulse Avenue, Wading River, New York. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution. Resolution is adopted. That concludes our resolutions for this meeting. Okay. We're going to open the floor to comments on any matter. Comments on any matter. We do have a C.
Sorry to Mr. Castaldi that I confused him with this sign that I took away last time I was here. Toppy Church and Greater Calverton Civic Association President. Very quickly, big trucks. Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local It was explained that it's similar to what the USPS does and utilizes, that we could do that with the contractors. Evidently, they've been using the incorrect roads and entering youngs from the western side and they're overweight. So, it's a suggestion that perhaps you could take under advisement. I'll just say real quick, about a month and a half ago, my office did send out letters to various commercial establishments along there and advised them of the route that they should be taking from Route 58 up, I believe it's Mill. Yeah, they're allowed to take... No, I'm sorry, they're supposed to stay off Mill and they're just supposed to stay off. It's only Osborne and they do take Mill, you're right. Right. Yeah, so they were told that they can't take Mill and they should be accessing right from 58 to Osborne... To Osborne to Youngs directly. ... going back out the same way. Yeah, 1,350 feet, you're done. Thank you. Is it possible to get that forwarded to me, the list of who you've informed? Yeah. Okay, thanks. So, Supervisor, similar to your suggestion, I think it was last week, to contact the PD when residents are able to get the information on the large trucks that they're seeing going the wrong routes, I advised a resident who wrote to me and said, hey, after that moment that you had suggested that, another instance where a truck was in the wrong. So, I wrote back and advised, if you can, which is not easy to get the appropriate information and advise a PD right away. I've been trying to put out the concept of a field report versus a complaint so that people understand what that means. It's still involved, you still have to wait for them, but at least something goes on the record, because it's really hard for residents to be police officers and get all those details. The same way it's difficult for police officers to always be there when something's happening. Okay. Thank you. And finally, a very large thank you to the board and to the appropriate staff who have collectively brought together this public forum that's going to be next Wednesday, August 13th at 6 p.m. for the proposed North Fork water transmission pipeline. It's proposed by Suffolk County Water Authority, which must go through Riverhead to get to its destination. And for not only posting on Town of Riverhead website prominently, but also for getting it out in an email to me today, to CalCivic, so that I can include it in our e-blast for our residents. And understanding that in that public forum, and along with questions that are going to be asked, the idea of the Monroe testing is going to be explained. I'm going to have my hand in the air trying to understand, because this is completely new to me, but I've looked it up. There's like seven to nine points I need to understand. Thank you. Thank you. But you're going to go ahead and explain that, and then the opportunity will be the next week on Tuesday, the following Tuesday, August 19th. At what time are we going to have that public hearing on it? I believe it's noticed for 6 o'clock. It is another 6 o'clock. Yeah. I didn't get that far. Okay, great. It's posted on the board outside. Yeah. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. session that you had disparaging taxpayers because they disagree with you last time i looked this was america and people are still allowed to disagree with you and you may notice some of their disagreement is not with mr petrocelli as a person or a developer but with the process but to disparage taxpayers we pay for the right to disagree with you we pay taxes for that right and everybody has their own opinion but to make it a political uh issue because they disagreed with your idea of developing downtown they're not necessarily against the project they just maybe didn't like the process or what the way it worked and you did allow 10 days for a comment period and decided before that 10 days was up to make him the developer so you're not adhering to your own rules but to disparage taxpayers it's rude and uncalled for and i am offended thank you if the shoe fits where it some people say and i call it as i see it and i will continue to do that my entire life thank you well and i'll just clarify that at the work session on wednesday we didn't close the record for a written comment and it's my understanding additional written comment did come in which was distributed to the board for consideration, and the board's decision didn't actually happen until today when you voted on the resolution. The directive that happened at work session, because preparing the resolution is not really a simple thing to do, and would take some time, so the directive came on Thursday so that there was more time, I guess, than I would, I guess, to give me adequate time to prepare the resolution. More than adequate time. Good afternoon. John Radigan, Riverhead. For starters, I just want to thank you, Mr. Supervisor, and all the board members. Whenever you get email communication from me, you answer them, be it to the good, the bad, the indifferent, and I can only speak for myself, I can tell you that is a change from your predecessor. Councilwoman Merrifield, great, great outing at the Whiting River Beach with the music. Thank you. That was absolutely fantastic. Looking forward to the next one. Councilman Rothwell, will we be able to roll a blade on the veteran's bike path? When it's paved, yes. But you can still roll a blade right now on the other eight miles. Speaking of, we are working on a code amendment to propose to the board regulating electric bike use bike use on the bike path correct those bikes are mighty fast okay we have two online we'll take one
grace kathy mcbrough again i would just like to say that i have been my mother was born in riverhead i love the town of riverhead and there's nothing i want more than that town square to be developed and prosper i have no problem with mr petroselli i have a problem with this town board not being willing to do anything for me to be able to do anything for me to be able to do anything for me to follow the legal process if mr howard says your minds weren't made up before the record closed but they clearly were or you would not have insisted on this resolution being ready for tuesday you said you liked it you were going to do it i'm just asking that you follow the rules and i would love to see the relationship between the people who who take the time to come and show up at town board meetings i would love to see that relationship improve with this board and mr howard told a resident that that memo summarizing those documents those financial documents would be made available and it wasn't and i would also say that section d municipal law says in addition to presenting the proposal the applicant sponsor will also have the ability to present its proposal and its ability to meet the established criteria for designation by the cda which means proving that it has financial ability you all had that information you move forward all you had to do was say we do have this memo and we'd like to share you all and we would like to reopen the public comment for five days and we will put this resolution on in two weeks what earthly difference would that have made and i'm telling you you would not have been hearing from me today i would be applauding you um i just don't get it i don't get the antagonism that you seem to generate with the people who care thank you for your time we have one more online i'm going to make a couple points um hang on one second the memo whether it was posted to the town's website or not it was foilable as of friday and the the town boards or the cda's rules rather relating to qualified and eligible so the qualified and eligible refers to the general municipal law the cda's rules are their or their own rules so the applicant sponsor at the qualified eligible hearing is has to prove qualified eligible pursuant to the gml the town board's rules are separate in that they require certain things and in my assessment the applicant sponsor complied with the cda rules and was uh able to be had the ability to be deemed qualified eligible pursuant to gml in accordance with the cda's rules thank you and just one other point the cda rules don't say that the town board can't form an opinion before the conclusion of an open comment period so you know to the extent that you express an opinion as to what you're going to do that's entirely within your rights as members of the cda and elected members of the town board no legal process was violated in this q and e hearing none none whatsoever no matter what anybody gets up there and says they'll throw spaghetti against the wall and see if it sticks well i'm telling you nothing's going to stick because this was done correctly i i would just say that the process has been consistent with the town board's prior qualified and eligible determinations 100 and that's you know from what i remember of the cat qualified and eligible hearing and i think that actually there was a little more substance produced for the public in connection with this public hearing process definitely was we'll take the next one online
colleen hello hi colleen o'brien can you hear me we can hear you colleen go ahead hi hi one i'm gonna i just want to go on the record i am not opposed to the town square i think it's long overdue that we need to like bring our town into line with the towns to east and west of us i think like others i'm more opposed to the process and i'm also concerned about paying off that 2.7 million dollar bond that the town is holding but that is not why i'm online i'm online talking to you about the skating rink which is my pet project as you well know and i would love to see if there is a plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea online talking to you about the skating rink which is my pet project as you well know as it is Mr Rothwell's pet project pursuant to the agreement with Peconic Hockey Foundation article 7 section 7.4d Peconic has responsibilities to the town of Riverhead including but not limited to provide us with independently audited financial statements these statements are due on the 31st excuse me March 31st we had one that was due for 2023 on March 31st of 2024 and one that was due for 2024 on 3 31 of 25. you notice I say they were due I was notified after numerous foils by our very capable financial administrator on Friday July 11th that the 23 or 24 financial audited statements have not been received now the 23s are 16 months delinquent delinquent 2024 are four months delinquent what I find disturbing is I have an email chain and I'm going to first read the one from our financial administrator on March 31st and it's to Kevin at the rink did Peconic Hockey perform an audit of its financial statements on 2023 operations I don't recall receiving a copy of the audited financial statements for 2023 we just received a foil request for this now in between that and some other emails with her and our town attorney and member of people at the rink asking for them to just give a letter that they're being done which that is not satisfaction of a default and that would have required the town board and their Authority level to have put a resolution up to either call them in default or to modify the contract and to me is an email in April 29th from Eric Howard our town attorney a letter from the accountant would be good to have for the file basically undermining the suggestion that Peconic Hockey is delinquent and the accountant stating that due to a heavy tax season workload they've been unable to fixed it finish question mark uh I'm going to ask you are you going to call them in default or what are you going to do about it and then we will get back to you What are you gonna do? These, that's a town asset. Your job is to protect the assets of the residents and taxpayers of the town of Riverhead. What are you gonna do? Mr. Hubbard, like you, I call it like I say it. We're in default. They're in default and you haven't called the default. That's all I have to say. And I guess you don't wanna respond. So thank you very much. Thank you. What I'll say is they are in default and because they weren't producing the audited financial statements that they needed, we suggested that they at least produce something indicating that it's being worked on. Something from the accountant, you know, anything. Anything to support the notion that we've asked for, which we have, and that they are aware that they're not complying and that it's being worked on. As of today, we still haven't received that. They've been notified again by my office that they're in default. And so, you know, it's not really, in terms of a contractual issue with Peconic Hockey, that's something I would typically refer to an executive session discussion with the town board as to how they'd like to proceed. You know, the relative, the default, the level of it needs to be considered relative to what, you know, your consequences. So are we going to start a lawsuit because they haven't provided us with audited financial statements? Is there some other remedy set forth in the contract? So if the town board is interested in having that in an executive session discussion coming up, my office would be more than happy to bring in the contract and go through those options. If I might add another comment, if you'll allow me to, please. Go ahead. If any of you are in default on your mortgage, for four months or 16 months, they would have triggered, in this case, the contract calls for a 90 day notice. Your mortgage company would have triggered a notice of default. I think as taxpayers, we have the right to expect from you people as our elected officials that you took an oath. You're going to protect our interests here. That's your oath. And you've let us down and you've let one, the 2023 financials are past due for 16 months. Those financials are going to, you know, are going to give you an oversight of what they're doing with the money they're collecting while we continue to pay 150,000 plus a year on electric bills. And we've done various leasehold improvements. Like I see in April, there was a sidewalk put in up there for approximately $24,000. We're expending our money. We're keeping up our part of the agreement and they aren't keeping up theirs. Come on, let's be real here. This isn't about the friends and family. We're not network. This isn't about being, you know, good neighbors. Sometimes you've got to call a default and the time has come for you to call a default. Thank you. Thank you. So they have provided profit and loss statements and they have provided the operating budgets that they were required to provide under, under the terms of the agreement. You know, whether you want to equate not producing audited financial statements to not paying, you know, a sum of money, that's, you know, that's a separate conversation to have. You know, if they are in default and the board is interested in terminating the agreement, you know, there are, the agreement with them does lay out that process and what the town would be required to do in order to take, to basically evict them from the, from the facility and take the, take the operation of the facility on itself. So those are all things that the town board would have to weigh. Next caller.
Just pass the laptop over.
Thank you. This is Ron Hariri of AqwaBog. Because I would anticipate further litigation, regarding this matter, I would just like to confirm with the clerk that we had submitted certain emails regarding the town attorney's communications with the applicant Petrocelli's counsel after the prior hearing. And Jim, I'd just like to confirm that the several emails I sent to you regarding that communication and the propriety of that communication, will be included in the record. I did, I did see it actually put in correspondence this afternoon. So yes, it's there. Thank you, Jim. And best to Olivia and Rebecca. I also have a, another question. Mr. Howard, you indicated that you have provided a memo, which apparently was also provided the clerk that was supposed to be posted, last Friday, but was not. My question is, did you, pursuant to that meeting, with Mr. Petrocelli and or his representatives, review any certified financial statements of J. Petrocelli Riverhead Town Square LLC, which is the applicant? So to the extent that the applicant explained that that LLC was created earlier this year, those documents don't exist yet. As you probably know, those are typically generated on an annual basis. So it's fair to say that, that in fact, you did not see any financials regarding the particular applicant for this project. Is that true, counsel? So the applicant for this project is an LLC that is going to take the property and hold the property under that LLC. It's a pretty common business practice when you're acquiring real estate for income producing purposes. My question called for a yes or no. Well, the answer that I gave you is the answer that I gave you. I appreciate your explanation, but I'll have another question, because I find it particularly interesting that you refer to the Calvary Aviation, which is a property that is not eligible and qualified, where in fact, the town is being sued for, among other things, fraud, misrepresentation as well. So can you tell me whether your memo will include any explanation of the various relationships between the different petrocelli entities that were included in your review? So what you can do is, you can foil the memo, and you can say, well, I failed the memo, and you can read it for yourself. There you go. You just said it would be posted, sir. Well, I actually just said that if it wasn't posted to the website as originally stated, that it is foilable and was foilable as of Friday. Well, we will certainly do that. And to clarify, that's Friday, August 1st. Thank you. I would just note that the way we read the CDA's resolution and its own laws and its own rules, is that the presentation of the financial information needed to be presented at a public hearing on notice. And you need to consider the consequences of failing to do that. So I will tell you, let me just continue. I will tell you that I admire Mr. Petrocelli's work. I think he has the potential to do good stuff in Riverhead. But as Judge Cathy elaborated earlier, because I think, I think that there's a lot of work to be done. I think that there's a lot of work to be done. But I think, I think that there's a lot of work to be done. But I think, that process is important. And for me, it's not a political matter. It's not whether I'm a Democrat or Republican or Independent. It's what's fair to the taxpayers. And process is vital. And you as members of the board have a fiduciary duty to protect the taxpayers' interest. So I'll look forward to reviewing that memo. And I will hold you to A, either responding to my FOIL or B, posting it online so it's available to review. And I would reiterate, you know, a prior request. And again, the financials may be terrific. That you allow public comment on whatever is provided. Because again, it's not a political issue. It's what's fair. And you as board members have an obligation to act in the town taxpayers' best interest. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Take the next caller.
Good afternoon, Mike Foley, Reeves Park. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Thanks, Tim. You know, I'm a little disappointed in a few of the residents' questions and comments on the resolutions and in the public comments. People that, you know, I agree with on most of their issues. But to insinuate that you as supervisor, Tim, are no different than your predecessor, it just, it is a statement that just, you know, it's not, you know, it's not a statement that just belies belief. Since you took office, town board and work session agendas are now posted four, five, six days before the sessions, instead of five o'clock the night before. You've decided to include every correspondence, every letter that was written in the attachments on those work sessions, giving everybody the ability to very, very simply see what everybody thinks about every resolution or every work session that comes forward. Eric and you, the town attorney and the supervisor, have answered hundreds of questions from residents during town board meetings. Instead of getting the rubber stamp, thank you for your comments, without any answers from the prior administration. And I just don't understand why the people, that disagree with you on issues, Tim, I've disagreed with you on a couple of issues over the last couple of years in private and from the microphone. We agree to disagree and we move on. I just don't understand how you can be lumped into the same category as the predecessor that thankfully you stood up to run against. Quarterly civic round tables, the board members of every civic in this footprint has a chance to sit down and talk about issues and曲o and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea and plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea ! plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea ! of civility that your administration has restored. I consider, in my opinion, Ron Harari, to be the biggest antagonist in our town. Yet not only did you answer questions, but you gave him extra time to do it. So I'm just going to ask every reasonable person to think about just those handful of things that I was able to jot down to show the difference between your administration and prior administrations. And I just want to say, don't let him get you down, pal. I know it is tough to maintain or to control your anger. I got angry listening to it, and I wasn't the subject to some of these allegations. So all I can say is thanks for what you do, Tim, and keep doing the good work that you guys do. Thank you very much. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate that, but it's a whole board of us up here that do this, and none of this... This works without the board that I have. So... Tim, it comes under your lead. You know, there are people on that board that were there when your predecessor was there. Eric was sitting up there when your predecessor was there, and he wasn't allowed to speak. He was muzzled for every meeting. And I'll say it again. Eric just answered every question that the biggest antagonist in our town asked him. Instead of hearing a thank you for your comment, or foil whatever you want to foil, he answered it. So I think everybody, I hope everybody understands and can see the difference and can at least evaluate emotion from reality. And right now, you know, listen, obviously the town square, everybody's worked on that for a long time, including me. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product one step at a time, and I'm glad you guys passed the resolution today. Thanks again, Tim. Thank you, Mike. Okay, nobody else online? Oh.
John McAuliffe, Rolling Woods, Roanoke Landing. I don't know whether this is equal time or just to follow up with the discussion. First of all, Mr. Howard, I don't know whether, to me, there's a difference saying that something is available foiled versus on the website in terms of how us lay people, how people can access things. So that's just a point of that. The other is whether when you talk to the Petrocelli people, whether you got data about their profit and loss on the aquarium and the Hyatt and the Preston House and the justification for the continuing IDA preferences that they have. So everything that we reviewed is listed in the... Resolution. Okay. So you do have that information and their vacancy rates in the two hotels? We didn't know. That was part of the presentation. Okay. Well, I think that would be some relevant data to get about whether we really need... At any rate, I wanted to respond. The supervisor and I have had good moments and bad moments. I mean, your characterization... We have agreements and disagreements. We've also had good moments and bad moments. The party... You used a negative characterization of a party. I could use another negative characterization about a party of arrogance and overdevelopment. I think you may or may not be right legally about this, and certainly the town attorney is supporting your position, but it seems to me, in terms of... I think it's a process. Though we were asking two weeks ago that you extend the comment period for a month because of anticipating information that might be coming up and the need for things to be discussed more, you rejected that. You put the 10-day limit on, and then by jumping the gun with the resolution, comments that were made as part of that process, did not show up in the agenda today. And so they may well have been circulated, and all of you may well have read all of the golden words that we wrote, but the public did not see those comments. There's no way on the website where there is simply a place that you can look at comments that were made for the hearing, at least that I could find. I wanted to quickly... As I say, when we get into the CDA, I have another whole... I have another whole point to raise, but I want to say in terms of the last work session that I found that very unfortunate and that it distorted several things, including, and I don't know whether I was being alluded to or others, but certainly Mary and I are regular downtown people. We're once or twice or three times a week doing things downtown. We have been involved, I have been involved in all of this, and I think that's a very important part of the process and spent hours going back, looking at the videos. There is in fact no track record of discussion of the hotel until it is decided at the top that you're going to put a hotel in. And there is even the... It shows up in a work session and board meetings, but it's not an open discussion as it was about the question of the amphitheater. And the playground area. And that's what's been missing. Again, there is no disagreement about the need to have a town square and the product, the positive sides of that, but there is deep disagreement about whether a five-story hotel and condo are appropriate. And that's what's never been joined in terms of... And as I sent you the opinion polls, Mr. McCall, before you get into that, I suggest that you go back and watch the work session meeting that we had last week at Dawn Thomas. Oh, I watched it. But Dawn passes over the question of what actual discussion there was of the hotel. I don't think that she passed it. Oh, she did. She did not. Very thorough. No, no, no, I agree. I watched it. But her sense of thoroughness is the thoroughness within the planning department and the engagement with the town board. Those are all legitimate and important things. You're well over. Okay, but there was not... She does... Go back and listen to her. She does not... And as I say, I went and looked at all these things. There is no record in the pattern book or in the town, the comprehensive plan or in any other grassroots involvement that talks about a hotel. John, come on. Okay, I'll come back when we get into the CDA discussion. For three minutes, you will come back. If you don't mind, I'd like to just address that. Please. Because earlier this week, Mr. McAuliffe, I sent you an email in response to your comments in an email on August 1st. I sent you two emails. One, I tried to attach multiple documents, which was rejected, and then I sent you a second email, which did not come back to me as rejected. And in that email, I indicated to you that the need for hotel use was discussed in the two emails. From August 1st, in the final downtown activation plan after it was identified in the street sense market study in 2021 attendant to the downtown activation plan to be the most viable main street use a hotel was flanking the east side of the town square was thereafter reflected in the renderings created for the downtown activation plan hotel use and the ongoing need for it for downtown was also referenced in the strategic investment plan created as part of the of the dri local planning committee process in 2021 the 2024 comp plan update also discussed the strong demand for hotels and their role in the implementation of our planned creative place making strategies and i sent this to you it's a direct response it was it's been discussed for many years uh by many people it's been analyzed by marketing specialists who we hired in connection with our plans and so your suggestion that a hotel was never discussed or contemplated is completely false two years i think we've had enough time to get this forward john i was going to say one thing i totally agree with one thing that you're saying is that i don't think people that live in riverhead need a hotel that's not what it's built for this is built for tourists that's we want tourism correct we want to we want to drive an economy right i mean correct me if i'm wrong about misunderstanding something you're saying john john john john john now can i have the nine minutes he's had so far i just got a few things to say it's called a history and tim i'm going to go back my great-grandmother was born here my mother my grandmother me my daughter i've seen revet i started 50 years ago working on main street at the lola shoe store you were a young cop at the time walking the street i started the year after that we saw main street at its best and we saw main street at its worst i can tell you without a doubt 50 years ago main street was dying it was dying and it wasn't dying because of anything other than economics the mom-and-pop stores down on main street cannot compare to grants and billy blake and robert hall and favorite shoes and kaldor they just couldn't do it and they slowly slowly died now and they're still alive and they're still alive and they're still alive and they're still alive and they're still alive and they're still alive and they're still alive and they're still alive he used to complain that the stores were facing the wrong direction we weren't taking advantage of the river and then when crack hit the town in the mid 80s we saw a big decline on main street but we rescued the town back i can't imagine in all my life and i've always lived near main street always because i love the downtown we have an opportunity now to make it great i remember my daughter is she's 20 now at 10 years old she wanted to take the train out to greenport and spend the day in greenport that's the way you're going to greenport let's go to riverhead no no no i want to go no i want people to come to riverhead and riverhead is a destination place don't kid yourself one bit it's a destination place and it's going to be beautiful and i'm just going to say one more thing because i'm over four minutes but i had my brother carl come up for my daughter's graduation on june 6th and i was like oh my god i'm going to be a riverhead i'm going to be a riverhead and riverhead is a destination place and it's going to be a riverhead and riverhead is a destination place and riverhead is a destination place i even went to the big guy brian to luca hey can you can i get a room with the higher and riverhead is a destination place and it's going to be a riverhead and riverhead is a destination place and riverhead is a destination place you know what he said and riverhead is a destination place i see what i can do within an hour he has no room and riverhead is a destination place so i called my buddy lucifertico and riverhead is a destination place he's got no room and riverhead is a destination place and riverhead is a destination place Nobody in Riverhead had a room. And I'm talking about River Resort, Swiss Motel. I'm talking about all of them, how desperate it was. I found one room that was vacated a couple days before at the Radisson for $490 for the night. And I booked it. So don't think that we don't need lodging. We need lodging because you know what? The North Fork is the beautiful place to visit. Eastern Long Island is second to none in the country when it comes to beauty. And you know what? If you have to stay in Riverhead to visit the North Fork, we'll take it. But we're on the precipice. I'm telling you. And you're right. I've dealt with it as a councilman. And I see it growing and momentum growing. It's perfect. It's going to take a few years to get it. It's going to look like hell for a couple years until it's done. But I'll tell you what. It's going to be the Phoenix out of the ashes. So just stay the course. Thank you. We have the same vision, Jim. Thank you.
Just in the record, state your name and have it, please. Okay. At this time, I would make a motion to close the town board meeting and open up the CDA meeting. Motion to close the town board meeting? So moved. Seconded. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Okay. We have a resolution. We do? Yeah. We're going to take comments on resolutions first. We will go to comments on resolutions. Resolution. Comments on the one resolution up on the CDA. I think we're going to need you to read the resolution. Yes. It's not in our packet. Sorry. I can make a quick copy. No, I just. You can read. Just the title, please. Yeah, I can absolutely do that for you if you're ready. No comments. So we'll move forward. We have resolution three of 2025. It is a town board.