Full Transcript

Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. Today is Wednesday, June 10th, 2026. The Knicks play at 830. But before we get to any of that or what we have scheduled for our special town board meeting tonight, why don't we stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance together? 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. So joining us from North Carolina is our town clerk, Jim Wooten. Jim, I'd like to ask if you would, since we're in a special meeting and you're in a special place, if you would lead us in our invocation tonight. Oh, I would love to. Thank you. Let us bow our heads. Dear Lord, as we come together as a community, as a one people, to best decide what our future lies in for us. Be with us, govern our thoughts. Be with us during our deliberations. And may all our decisions be just. Amen. Thank you, sir. We have a couple of announcements. I don't know if anybody from our council members have any announcements tonight. Anybody? So we do have our 4th of July Grand Float Parade at 11 a.m. on the 4th of July. We also have fireworks at the South Jamesport Beach. We'll be approximately about 9.30 on the 4th of July. And this Sunday is the Wading River Duck Pond Day. And again, the Knicks play at 8.30, so go Knicks. And we're excited about all of that stuff. With that mentioned, we will begin our very first agenda item tonight, which is why we're here. and we will open up for comments on our public hearing. Our public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. It is 6.02. And so I believe, Mr. Howard, you will begin that for us. Yes, thank you. This is a special permit and site plan application hearing relative to the Peconic River Hotel. The public hearing is intended to provide for review of the plan submitted, for the board to receive information and comments and other evidence to consider in deliberating upon the site plan and special permit applications. The special permit is governed by Riverhead Town Code 301-312, which sets forth a variety of factors that the town board will consider. The site plan application is regulated by Riverhead Town Code 301-305, Which similar similarly sets forth a variety of factors for the town board to consider in reviewing the applications

Charters The record match our senior planner for the town of River I plan department I Did you give Eric the notice?

Leads for the return cards green and white All right, mr. Wooden. I wasn't aware

Thank you If you want I can read the the public knows into the hearing will you review or you want to review it first leads? So please take notice of the public hearing will be held before the town board of the town of Riverhead for West 2nd Street Riverhead New York on the 10th day of June 2026 at 6 o'clock p.m. to consider the special permit and site plan applications in front of the Connick River Hotel file in connection with the master developer agreement for the town square which proposes the construction of a five-story 69,738 square foot gross floor area 94 room hotel which includes retail spaces a restaurant cafe hotel common spaces and amenities as well as nine parking stalls on the lowest level within an 18 480 square foot project area which is located within the downtown center one main street it's dc one zoning use district situated at 117-1 217 east main street riverhead more particularly identified as part of suffolk county tax map numbers 600-129-1-13 14 and 15 and part of suffolk county tax bomb number 600-128-6-86.1 so if the board and the public recalls this was first discussed at a work session back on may 14th there was a publish and post resolution on the 20th which was our last down board meeting to hold this public hearing i'm sorry it might have been two meetings ago uh within that notice OF PUBLIC HEARING RESOLUTION WE DID FIND THIS WAS CONSISTENT WITH THE OVERALL SECRET DETERMINATION FOR THE DOWNTOWN TOWN REVITALIZATION PROJECT SO WE'RE REALLY MOVING THE BALL FORWARD FOR WHAT'S BEEN A VERY LONG PROCESS TO REVITALIZE OUR DOWNTOWN AND GET OUR TOWN SQUARE ACTIVATED. I DO HAVE MR. PETROSELLI AND HIS TEAM HERE, WHICH IS LED BY MR. ERIC RUSSO, WHO'S THEIR ATTORNEY, WHO'S GOING TO GIVE A NICE PRESENTATION TO THE BOARD AND TO THE PUBLIC MORE ABOUT WHAT THIS PROJECT IS. ANY QUESTIONS FOR ME WHILE I'M HERE? Eric's reviewing the notices.

Eric, just let us know when you're complete and you're ready to move forward.

Do we want to let Mr. Rousseau start? Yep. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you had reviewed everything. So, Mr. Russo, if you just identify yourself once again, bring the microphone close to your mouth, and then begin. Good evening, Mr. Supervisor and members of the board. It is a pleasure to be with you this evening to discuss the project as noticed. Again, Eric Russo, Van Brunches, Wieck & Russo, with offices at 140 Main Street, Saville, New York, 11782. I'm here tonight representing the applicant J Petrucelli Riverhead Town Square LLC 100 Comac Street Ronkonkoma New York 11779 as Mr Charters pointed out there are four tax slots involved and I won't review them again as they are in the call of the meeting and the site location is 117 to 127 East Main Street in Riverhead the property in question is zoned Main Street, DC 1 District, and the site area is approximately 8.42 acres, which will be reviewed by our engineer who's with us this evening. The applicant is proposing a five-story building by a brand hotel known as Tapestry by Hilton. There is approximately 94 rooms proposed, 80 guest rooms, and 14 suites for the subject hotel. me this evening to present this application is our engineering team Angelo Leno who is the manager of civil engineering for VHB Christiana Kastelec our environmental planner in addition we have Patrick Linehan our director of mobility transportation and also an engineer David Wortman senior environmental planner who is also with us this evening in addition we have Andrew Jamber tone our project architect who is from Huntington and has been working with us for the last approximately four and a half years to design this particular project as well we will hear from Joseph Petrucelli the managing member of J Petrucelli Riverhead Town Square LLC what I would like to do is just summarize briefly that the elevations will be reviewed with you as we discuss them at the work session previously when we presented the application to you the various floors in the hotel the first floor has approximately 5,100 square foot restaurant and bar with a terrace area and a coffee shop there is also a retail space that is going to be split and utilized for the project the second floor has 26 rooms the third floor has 28 rooms the fourth floor has 26 and the fifth floor has 14 suites the lowest level in this particular construction is for nine parking stalls for staff and management and they consist of eight regular and one handicap space the elevations will be reviewed by our architect during the presentation and as far as the zoning table that we have summarized for you pursuant to the town code the lot area requires 5 000 square feet we have 18 480 square feet the lot frontage is 50 feet required we have 74 feet the building in terms of the coverage your code requires 80 percent we have 79 percent the impervious surface is 100 percent and we have 100 percent the building height is 60 feet our proposed structure is 60 feet and the floor area ratio required by the town as a maximum is 4.0 and we have 3.77 feet as indicated by mr. Howard and reviewing it we will go through with you the site plan requirements through it mr. Leno and then we will review under your code the section 312 a through R as it relates to the special permit for the town square hotel that we are proposing that being said I would ask that mr. Lano come forward and he will describe and run through for you the site plan which we have on the conference table which it's my understanding Justin will tell you the camera show on the screen for the public so that they can see the site plan that's being discussed thank you mr. Russo good evening members of the board my name is Angela Lane ohm with VHP engineering office is located at 100 motor parkway hop out as mr. Russo said I will quickly take you through the site plan that you have before you this evening I apologize that some of this is being reiterated but I wanted to get it on the record in the context of the site plan description as was indicated the subject property is approximately 0.4 acres and is located within the town downtown center one main street zoning district the applicant is proposing to develop the property with a four five-story hotel consisting of 94 rooms a restaurant coffee shop and retail space on the street level the building as was said is approximately 69 738 square feet and gross floor area and it directly abuts the riverhead town park property it is noted as mr russo indicated that the project conforms with the main street zoning regulations with regard to lot size frontage building coverage height and far the building will front east main street to the north it will border border existing commercial space to the east and the town square park site to the west and to the south the primary entrance to the hotel lobby will be on the north side directly off of main street there will be a valet parking service at the front of the entrance for hotel guests and patrons utilizing the property so that vehicles are managed efficiently and do not impact on streets parking or surrounding uses the western side of the building fronting the town square site will feature entrances to the proposed ground floor commercial retail and restaurant spaces which aligns with the intention of the proposed park design There is approximately a 12-foot wide access way on the east side of the building that will function as a back of house for the building accommodating utility services, loading, deliveries, and refuse collection. The southern side of the building will serve as the entrance to the garage level, as was indicated earlier. We'll have nine parking spaces to be utilized by hotel staff and to serve and support day-to-day operations. access to this south side of the building will be from Heidi bear way through a proposed part through the proposed park parcel via in agreement with the town regarding emergent sorry regarding emergency access a fire marshal plan was included with the site plan package that demonstrates the intent for emergency access to the building via Main Street as well as the west and south sides from the proposed park it is noted that coordination with the town fire marshal and fire district is ongoing we've already received comments and have addressed said comments from the fire marshal and we will ensure that all of their needs are met as we get this site plan approved topography on the site slopes from north to south with elevations at main street around 12 to 13 and elevations at the rear of the property at approximately four and a half as shown on the site plan the result of this project and the town park project will fill will be brought in to raise the site to approximately elevation seven to nine behind the building a retaining wall is proposed along the eastern property line to accommodate the increase in site elevation as noted in the staff report once the neighboring site is redeveloped potentially the the retaining wall will no longer be necessary and could be removed as shown on the site plan the southern portion of the property is located within a fema ae flood zone with a base elevation of seven The center portion of the site is located within the shaded X zone, which is the region that is between the 100-year and 500-year floodplain. In accordance with FEMA and the New York State Building Code, all habitable space will need to be minimum 3.5 feet above that base flood elevation. The proposed finished floor for the habitable space is 13.5, so we well exceed the FEMA regulations in that case. Water for the proposed project will be installed on the adjacent park via an agreement with the town. The project is proposing to store two inches of runoff over its effective area in 25 four foot deep leaching galleys on the west side of the building. Also as noted in the staff report, this will serve to manage storm water for the project to the greatest extent practicable. And then finally regarding utilities, sanitary and water are being proposed to connect to riverhead water and sewer districts respectively the applicant is working with the uh town's consultant h2m and obtaining maps and plans uh to provide service to both of the uh for both of those utilities uh with regard to electric and gas coordination with psc and g and national grid will have to happen respectively and they will inform the applicant the best way to service the building it is the intent of the applicant to bury the power lines in front of the property in order to meet fire code for emergency vehicle access that concludes i'll turn it back to eric and i'll be happy to answer any questions later on thank you

at this point what we would like to do and with the assistance of christiana castellek our environmental planner we will review with you the requirements of 312 of the riverhead town code under 30 chapter 301 and we'll go through point for point from a through r each of the items and with that being said i'm going to ask christine to come forward and we've decided in order not to be monotonous i'm going to read the section she's going to read the comments as they relate to that so pursuant to the section 312 the first item a is that the The site is particularly suitable for the location of such use in the community. Christy. The site is particularly suitable for the proposed hotel due to its location within the downtown where the town board and the community development agency had planned for increased tourism, visitor accommodations, and economic development. Letter B. The plot area is sufficient, appropriate, and adequate for the use and the reasonably anticipated operation and expansion thereof as just mentioned by the project engineer the subject property provides sufficient appropriate and adequate space for the proposed hotel inclusive of nine on-site parking spaces and a service corridor on an approximately four point zero point four two acre site which exceeds the minimum lot area of the five thousand square foot minimum within the downtown center one main street zoning district c the characteristics of the proposed use are not such that its proposed location would be unsuitably near to a church, school, theater, recreational area, or other place of public assembly. The proposed hotel is consistent with the existing downtown East Main Street development and the surrounding mix of commercial, hospitality, retail, restaurant, civic, and multi-family residential uses. Although the hotel is proposed to be adjacent to the Suffolk Theater across the street and In proposed town square development, the proposed project is anticipated to stimulate economic development and enhance economic stability by constructing a name brand first class boutique hotel in the heart of the downtown and incorporating restaurants, a bar, retail establishments that will draw patrons into the area. D, access facilities are adequate for the estimated traffic from public streets and sidewalks so as to ensure public in relation to the general character of the neighborhood and other existing or permitted uses within it, and to avoid traffic congestion. And further, that vehicle or entrances and exits shall be clearly visible from the street and not be within 75 feet of the intersection of street lines at a street intersection except under unusual circumstances. As to that point, Christy will elocute just one point, but later we will have Patrick Glenahan our traffic consultant further elaborate on this in relation to the area streets and parking that is being proposed by the town and to be utilized as an area presently as we operate for parking of vehicles hotel hotel guests and patrons will arrive via Main Street and utilize the hotel valet services that will be provided parking spaces will be made available on Main Street in front of the proposed hotel set back from the street to access those valet services valet parking will utilize the available town parking lot north of the suffolk theater in conformance with the master development plan executed in august of 2025. as detailed in that master development plan a hotel project parking agreement and parking garage pay to park agreement will be executed with the applicant as well as the town letter e all proposed curb cuts and street intersections have been approved by the street or highway agency which has jurisdiction that is part of our site plan and mr lenahan will review that as well and even with that while there are no curb cuts directly proposed by the applicant the project integrates with the design of the town of riverhead's town square town square and their consultants developing both the town square in addition to the main street roadway improvements as you are aware and just to add to that the property in question that the applicant is purchasing from the town is approximately tax slot 14 and it's about 80 by 220 feet in length so it there is no on-site place for landscaping or for parking other than what's being proposed under the garage as to f emergency provisions have been made for emergency conditions as mr lano spoke just recently about the plan as submitted conforms with the fire access plan prepared by the town of riverhead for the town square which provided for the appropriate routes to the hotel in consultation with the fire marshal specifically access to the site in the event of an emergency will either be from east main street through the town square adjacent to the proposed hotel building from conic avenue from the west or from heidi bear way from the south letter g there are off-street parking and truck loading spaces at least in the number required by the provisions of this town chapter but in any case an adequate number for the anticipated number of occupants both employees patrons or visitors and further that the layout of the spaces and driveways are convenient and conducive to safe operation in conformance with the master development agreement the hotel will operate the valley services and utilize the existing parking parking lot behind the suffolk theater until the parking garage is constructed as detailed in the master development agreement as i mentioned before a hotel parking agreement and a parking garage pay to park agreement will be executed furthermore the nine parking spaces on the lower level of the building will be available for use by the hotel staff letter h adequate buffers landscaping walls fences and screening are provided where necessary to protect adjacent properties and land uses. As Mr. Lano spoke to, the plans do conform with the zoning requirements for the Main Street Zoning District, and additionally the proposed hotel has been designed to complement and blend with the proposed improvements to this town's square development to its west, including the landscaping. Letter I, where necessary, special setback, yard height, and building area coverage requirements or easements, rights of way or restrictive covenants shall be established. And as I just mentioned, as you've heard also from Mr. Lano, the project does conform with the bulk dimensional requirements, including height and building coverage. Additionally, in March 2026, a tax lot line modification of a number of existing tax lots was approved by the planning board. The application for the lot line modification was made pursuant to and in connection with the master development agreement. Additionally, the proposed project will require an easement across one of the newly modified lots from the town to the applicant for the purposes of permitting an overhang from the building. And then also over, that would be over the town owned lot and then a second easement from the applicant to the town for the drive aisle to access the proposed mixed use building from the rear, the southern portion of the site. In addition, our office and I have been working with Ann Marie Prudente and her law department staff to confirm the deed descriptions as well as the easements provided for the parking district the town property and that property that's subject of the contract with the Petrocelli development group the documents have been prepared they're being finalized and going to be reviewed if the board grants the site plan and also the special permit then those documents will be completed so that we can proceed to closing that being said Instead we move on to J where the appropriate public or semi-public plaza or recreational or other public area will be located on the property. As stated in the consistency analysis submitted by VHB to the Board previously prior to this hearing tonight the project will improve public access to the downtown area and the Peconic River waterfront by activating Main Street at the site frontage and opening access from the proposed building onto the proposed Town Square Park development that would be located to the west. MR. Letter K, adequate provisions will be made for the collection and disposal of stormwater runoff from the site and of sanitary sewage, refuge, or other waste, whether liquid, solid gashes, or other character. MS. The proposed hotel has been designed to improve stormwater management control on the subject property by collecting and piping stormwater runoff generated by the hotel property two concrete leaching galleys located within the adjacent town square property. In regards to the generation of sanitary sewage on the site, the proposed hotel would be connected to infrastructure to collect and convey sanitary waste to the Riverhead Sewage Treatment Plant to be treated. Consultations with the Riverhead Sewer District are currently underway. And lastly, in respect to solid waste to be generated by the proposed project, solid waste, including recyclable materials, would be collected by a licensed carter and disposed of at a license facility. Letter L, existing municipal services and facilities are adequate to provide for the needs of the proposed use of the applicant. Consultation with both the Riverhead Water and Sewer Districts are underway and the required sewer service analysis and map and plan will be completed by H2M with the cost being covered by the applicant. Letter M, the use will tend to generate or accumulate dirt or refuse or tend to create any type of environmental pollution including vibration noise light electrical discharges electromagnetism odors smokes or irritants particularly whether they are discernible or adjacent properties or boundary streets during construction there may be temporary noise vibration and dust at the subject property however such potential impacts would be mitigated by the implementation of a construction best management practices plan these would be relatively short duration and would seize upon project completion no vibration or dust impacts would be anticipated once the site is fully operational specifically potential dust generation would be addressed during construction by the implementation of appropriate dust suppression measure dust suppression measures as needed as well as soil wetting and other soil and erosion and sediment control practices during the hotel's operation the noise and lighting environment would be similar to the existing commercial uses within the downtown corridor today. Measures have also been incorporated into the design such that there would be to maximize potential impacts in regards to lighting. All proposed lighting will be properly shielded and directed downwards to eliminate or minimize light spill to the maximum extent possible in conformance with the town's dark sky requirements. Lastly, all electrical work would be subject to approval by PSNG Long Island for connection and or the town of Riverhead as part of the building permit and CO processes such that no adverse emissions of electrical discharges are expected. Letter N, the construction installation or operation of the proposed use is such that there is a need for regulating the hours, days, or similar aspects of its activity during the process. Operation would occur during hours permitted in Chapter 251 of the Town Code of Riverhead, specifically Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. However, the hotel will operate on a 24-hour basis once the project commences operations. Letter O, the proposed use recognizes and provides for the further special conditions and safeguards required for particular uses as may be determined by the Town Board or the Planning Board in the process. the application is before you both for the site plan as well as the special permit pursuant to your code of riverhead and to that point that is acknowledged and been has been demonstrated throughout the presentations this evening letter p the design layout and contours of all roads and rights of ways encompassed within the site of the applicant are adequate and meet town specifications This criteria is not applicable such that the proposed project does not include the construction of roads or rights of ways for public use. Letter Q, adequate provisions have been made for the collection and disposal of solid weights including but not limited to the screening of all containers. As previously mentioned, solid waste and recyclable materials will be collected by a licensed corridor and disposed of at a licensed facility. It is expected that guest rooms and common areas of the hotel as well as the restaurants and retail uses will have designated receptacles for solid waste and recyclables. Additionally, the ground floor and the lower level of the hotel will feature enclosed refuse holding areas screened from public view. These holding areas are accessible by the entrance to the garage level and the service corridor on the east side of the property. Lastly, letter R, that the intensity of the proposed specially permitted use is justified in light of the similar uses within the district in terms of the hotel in relation to the downtown area. And as demonstrated in the consistency analysis previously provided to the town board, the proposed hotel would be consistent with the goals and the objectives outlined in the purpose and needs section of the town's environmental review. Accordingly, it is respectfully submitted that the proposed project is consistent with the relevant special permit criteria in the town code. Thank you. Supervisor members of the board in terms of reviewing your town code we believe that the criteria have been evaluated by our VHB team and that we find that we meet the criteria and address it if not as is go above and beyond in order to improve the downtown area we will take questions at the end unless you have questions now but what I would like to do at this point is move on to Patrick Lenahan our engineer who has reviewed the traffic circumstances as the director of mobility and transportation sir Lenahan thank you Eric good evening supervisor helping members of the town council and council my name is Patrick I am director of mobility at VHB at our Long Island office at 100 Motor Parkway in Hoppog. I will just speak briefly about the project as it relates to traffic and parking and the overall Riverhead revitalization projects. As part of our work, VHB prepared a consistency analysis to look at this project versus the specifics included in the overall Riverhead downtown revitalization projects, SECRA. And that talked to traffic and it talked to parking. in terms of traffic the intent of this project and other projects that are in the overall plan are to revitalize the downtown and bring folks down um to the to the downtown and visit not just one site but many um so the siting of a hotel and a restaurant and a small amount of retail goes towards that goal in in the fact that when you get folks staying in the downtown they're going to walk around the downtown the folks many of the patrons to the restaurant are going to be staying in the hotel the retail will certainly have walk-ups from folks that are in the downtown on you know day tripping or what have you so in terms of the traffic the new traffic that we'll see downtown it will be significantly less than if these uses were let's say located someplace else on an island. So as part of the consistency analysis, we included a trip generation estimate for the proposed hotel, restaurant, and the small amount of retail. That analysis is very conservative, meaning that's very high, the numbers in there, because we didn't account for all this symbiosis, which is going to happen. and still in the staff report that I reviewed recently that includes your environmental consultant's review of that consistency analysis, I believe they found that it was within the bounds of the original SECRA analysis with regard to traffic. Parking was mentioned a couple of times. We do have the valet area in front of the building on Main Street. The intent is to have an area the length of about that will accommodate about seven vehicles. Vehicles will be valeted to the lot on the north side of Main Street behind the Suffolk Theater. As per the master development agreement, until such time as the parking garage is constructed. And then there is an agreement that the parked vehicles be accommodated in that parking structure directly. And the details of that are in the agreement. There was a question in the staff report regarding how people arrive and access the valet area. So the valet area, as the site is, is on the south side of Main Street. So that will be accessed from eastbound Main Street. We expect a significant majority of the folks who arrive at the site by car to do so from the west, either across the river at Peconic or further from the west from the expressway. Even folks who come from the South Fork will probably come over on Peconic, but certainly there will be some people who arrive from the east. So if they wish to utilize the valet service, what we're proposing to do is try to educate those folks as best we can on the website for the hotel, perhaps even when bookings are made, of a route they could take to arrive at the valet eastbound and right right So if a guest or a patron should arrive from the east on Main Street, I believe the best route would be for them to turn down McDermott towards the river. There's a traffic light at McDermott and Main Street. Make their way down Heidi Bear Way to Peconic Avenue north to Main Street. There is a northbound right turner arrow there that's green a lot of the times, which will help them negotiate that intersection. I know it's not the easiest intersection to navigate, but I think an arrival from the south is better than routing them around the north side. So, and hopefully folks will visit us most often and may only be confused once as they make repeat visits to downtown Riverhead. So that's really the thrust of the traffic and parking. If you have any questions now, we can do now, we can do later. and I appreciate your time thank you

thank you and with that I would now ask that Andrew Jamber tone was our project Andrew Jamber tone who is our project architect come forward to explain to you the various elevate colored renderings that we have provided and mr. Jamber tell me good evening supervisor ladies and gentlemen of the board andrew jambarton with officers at 62 elm street in huntington new york 11743 for the applicant we started our first presentation for this project back in august of 2022 over the land over the last four years we've carefully developed and cultivated this design with assistance and guidance from the town's consultant urban design associates as well as in concert with the with the landmarks preservation board and the architecture review committee this did not happen overnight has been numerous iterations of this until we've arrived at the rendering you see in front of you from Main Street the front of the building is designed to be in keeping with the spirit of the downtown area it's been carefully designed to conform to the pattern book of the town in terms of the wedding cake design where it steps back at the upper floors both along main street and along the the east and west sides the west side of the building is designed to be undulated and create and reinforce activity on the town square area the building in spirit is designed to look like an adaptive reuse of an existing commercial building that existed along main street during the time when all the buildings on main street were built materials will predominantly be brick on the upper stories the lower level will incorporate what looks like exposed steel both on the front and rear of the building the north and south side there will be a lower level course of cast stone both on the east and west side in discussions with both the landmark Preservation Board and the Architecture Review Committee, there was a request that the east side develop a more animated facade, which we'll do, and I'll show you that in a moment. So the building is designed to be very much in keeping with the spirit of the downtown historic area. It's meant to augment and add to the activity within the town square area. So the view we see in front of us right now is the view from the Suffolk Theater. If you were looking into the town square and across the street at the entrance to the hotel, there is a canopy that projects from the hotel where guests pull up for the valet service and their cars are taken by the valet and they enter the building there. The building has been designed to be carefully in keeping with the floodplains as a result of the study by the Army Corps of Engineers. The first floor elevation of the building is elevation 13.5, well above the FEMA requirements for the site. If we go to the next elevation, this is a view of the building from the east side. We see what will be the relocated East End Arts buildings on the left and the building behind it. And once again, you can see the wedding cake step back design of the building, which is again in keeping with the pattern book required by the town. If we go to the next elevation. So this is a view from the south side of the site, and you can see the animation of the facade on the west side. There are two towers that anchor the building along the town square. There's full ADA compliance from both the town square as well as from Main Street, and the building is designed to provide retail activity along the town square. Next view. This is a view from directly behind the building. You can see the canopy over the two-story restaurant where there's a projected deck for dining outdoors and a full glass facade on the three sides of the restaurant with the hotel spaces above that. And finally, this is a view from the southeast side, and again, you can see that the buildings, in keeping with the animated design, it's hard to see in this rendering, but the east elevation has been designed to create some recesses in and out, as well as the lower course, incorporating screening, recesses, and other articulations to accommodate comments by both the Landmark Preservation Board and the Architecture Review Board. This view is from the area which will ultimately be developed behind the building in concert with the town's master plan for the overall development of the town square site. If anybody has any questions, I'll be happy to answer them either now or later. This would be a view from where the amphitheater would be? Yes. Okay. okay on a personal note i've been a witness to the revitalization of riverhead for a long period of time at the end of the day the revitalization success of riverhead started with one act that was the construction of the riverhead aquarium and is one of the unique opportunities we see on long island where somebody has put their money where their mouth is and made a difference in the community and has stood by that commitment to riverhead throughout the last 25 years and i think it's notable to uh to be aware of that thank you

eric i have one question did the state approve the traffic study on main street uh to my knowledge i believe it it has been reviewed i don't know the only comments that we have received so far is from the Suffolk County Planning Commission and they met last Wednesday I was present at that and they provided their approval for the project subject to what they cited were three points approval of the proposed special use permit by the proposed and the proposed site plan by the town board the second was that there be consultations with the Riverhead sewer district to obtain require head required approvals to connect the Riverhead sewage treatment plan and extend the sewer from Main Street to a point within the proposed town square. And then the last point, which is not valid in this particular case, but was a proposed site have a identification as the potential environmental justice area and that notices should be provided according to New York State General Municipal Law 239, Article 14 of the Suffolk County Administrative Code. And then they recited how the notices were to be handled, and we've provided all of that pursuant to the Riverhead Town Code. So they're supportive of the project. Just for the record, we do have a permit from the New York State Department of Transportation and also the parks and historic preservation. So they are in place. They are. Okay. Thank you. Matt was going to answer that. In addition, what I would like to just point out to you, that the total number of jobs that are anticipated for construction are approximately 210, that the hotel upon completion would have approximately 26 employees, 18 full-time, 6 part-time, and that the retail tenants would bring somewhere in the total of 50 employees between 36 full-time and 14 part-time. And as Mr. Jambortone pointed out, there has been and continues to be, as the board and members of the Riverhead community are aware, that the Petrocelli Development Associates and the Petrocelli family, over the last 25-plus years, have been investing here in the downtown area with their projects that they have undertaken. Those projects include the historic Howell House Hotel, as well as the Preston House Hotel and Restaurant, which has 26 rooms between the two hotels, the Ostrander Property LLC, which is approximately a parcel of vacant land on 117 Ostrander Avenue. The J. Petrucelli Development Associates, which is 129 Ostrander Avenue office space, 543 East Main Street, which is a parking lot, and then two vacant other parcels that they have acquired so that they have additional parking as may be needed in the area as it develops. And then you have, as was pointed out as a result of the Long Island Aquarium, You have the Hyatt Place East End, the Long Island Aquarium, Treasure Cove Marina, Jerry and the Mermaid Bar and Restaurant, which is another four properties with the total of all these properties that have been developed here in a development value of monies put forward at about $53 million here to try and maintain the downtown Riverhead area. And the total taxes that are generated at the present time are approximately $596,000, which you can review through your town records on all the respective properties. That being said, I believe, and it's our position, that the applicant is truly committed to the improvement and benefit of the downtown community area. And with that, I would like to ask Mr. Joseph Petrucelli to come forward and just make a statement on behalf of the application. Thank you for the opportunity, supervisor, staff. Eric and team, thank you for outlining. I appreciate all the efforts tonight. The one thing I think we need to talk about more is the concerns that we had. Richard Wines is a historical guy for our town. He was concerned about the elevation from the west, the east side. We worked on that. Andy worked on that. I think the arts is comfortable, what we're doing. I think everybody covered what we needed to do. I'm very proud of where we are tonight. It took a lot of effort for us to get here, and I know all of you have been helping me to get where we need to be to make our town a better place. And I think the momentum is going, and we need to keep it going. That's what we need to do. So thank you for tonight, and any questions, I'm ready. No, but I would like to add to Eric's list. You worked diligently with me to move the old town hall into this building. When people said it would take a year and a half, we did it within a year. Less than that, Bob. Come on. You know what? It was about eight months and saving $900,000. And in addition, we worked diligently together with the OCA, which is the Office of Court Administration, which is probably one of the hardest people I've ever dealt with in my life, and I think you would agree. and to redesign the court on Hallow Street. And we still have a lot to do, Bob. I know. So it's always been a pleasure to work with you. Thank you. Look, we have a momentum. We have to move on this as a town, and we've got to keep going. And we'll get there. We're almost there. Thank you, Mr. Petruzzelli. I'd just add for Mr. Petruzzelli that over the past six years, this project has developed, and I think it's been a great collaboration of your ideas and desires and knowledge towards revitalizing downtown Riverhead, but also opening your arms up to listening to the public, town board members, and there was a lot of revisions throughout this process as we were AND I THINK THAT IT WAS A GREAT COLLABORATION EFFORT. AND I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU FOR BEING TRANSPARENT THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PROCESS, BUT JUST OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS ON HOW TO GO FORWARD. AND I THINK THAT BECAUSE OF WHERE YOUR HOTEL SITS AND ITS PROMINENT SPOT, YOU KNOW, ADJACENT TO THE TOWN SQUARE, YOU REALIZE SINCE DAY ONE THAT YOU'VE BEEN INVESTED DOWNTOWN, BUT your work with us has certainly take great pride to get the revitalization up and going you already an invested component downtown I think this can take us up to the next level and I think that this project is a project that's you know it's not about your own business but it's about bettering the welfare of every restaurant retail store the Suffolk Theatre Vail Leavitt Theatre It's about bringing foot traffic downtown. And I just want to thank you for the collaborative effort for at least what I've seen over six years to get to where we are today. We're close. We're almost there. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mr. Russo, do you have anyone else who wants to speak on this site plan? The only thing I would like to add is that, as was stated by Mr. Charters at the beginning of the presentation, The CEQA analysis that VHB has done has been consistent with that as done by the town, and we believe that you'll be able to proceed, given the Planning Commission's response and recommendation, if you should choose to go forward with the site plan and the special permit. In addition, I would also just again remind everybody that we have an agreement that has signed as of August of last year where we can close on this project if all various conditions under the agreement are met, and there are five in total. Whether the town has conveyed Lot 14 with the building demolished, that's criteria one. Relocation of structures on Lot 15, which is the East End Arts. Whether or not the Planning Board approval to lot line modification has been approved, which was done last month. Town Board approval of the proposed development plan, which is what we're discussing this evening under the site plan and a building permit is issued for the construction of the hotel so we can close if those five criterion are in place and have happened we're almost there and that being said i would conclude with the fact that as was discussed at the beginning and throughout the presentation this is all about bringing people into the community and having them walk about having them look at and see where they would like to go if they're staying here or if they're coming in there's a reason that they can find a place to park and walk around and see the attractions and see the stores that are going to hopefully take place in the downtown area based on the revitalization so with that I wish to conclude at this time unless you have any other questions and we'll respond to any members of the public that come forward and address what their concerns or input is so I thank you thank you thank you mr. Russo so this time we will be opening up to comments from the public and I know typically in a open meeting we have a three minute we will not have that because it is a public hearing so you are allowed to speak but we do ask that you honor the people around you good evening and that you keep it to the specifics of the cyclone Martin said Lusky 215 Roanoke Avenue. I just want to disclose I'm the chair of the Rivhead Public Parking Committee. However, I'm not speaking on behalf of that committee. I'm just here with my own comments. They do relate to parking. However, there are two items that I think you as a lead agency in considering your hard look and evaluation of the projects impacts per secra REVIEW AS IT RELATES TO PARKING SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING. FIRST, THE MAIN STREET PARKING IMPACT. THE HOTEL CERTAINLY NEEDS THE VALLEY AREA ON MAIN STREET, WHICH APPEARS TO BE INDICATED ON THEIR SITE PLAN. ABSOLUTELY NEED THAT. THE CURRENT MAIN STREET PLAN REMOVES APPROXIMATELY HALF OF THE PARKING ON MAIN STREET FROM 49 down to minus 19 leaves 21 spaces on the current improvement plan the current improvement plan did not designate the valet area which is required the submitted hotel plan is different than the improvement plan in the hotel plan there appears to be a curb coming back out to the east of the hotel defining THE VALLEY AREA WHICH ELIMINATES ADDITIONAL PARKING AND THE VALLEY AREA WOULD ELIMINATE APPROXIMATELY FOUR ADDITIONAL SPACES ACTUALLY IT WAS MENTIONED TONIGHT IT MAY BE MORE LIKE SEVEN PARKING SPACES THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC SO THAT WOULD REDUCE THE PARKING ON MAIN STREET FROM THE 21 PER THE CURRENT PLAN DOWN TO 17. THE PARKING COMMITTEE HAD PREVIOUSLY recommended to the town board we marked up a plan copy of the improvement plan recommended the town maintain an additional eight spaces which would be very easy to do the town did not accept that proposal at that time i would just think that as part of the secret review you might want to reconsider uh revisiting the implementation plan the improvement plan for main street IN SUMMARY, THERE ARE 40 SPACES ON MAIN STREET BETWEEN ROANOKE AND EAST AVENUE NOW. MINUS 19 PER THE CURRENT PROVEMENT PLAN BRINGS IT DOWN TO 21. AND THEN THE HOTEL WOULD REDUCE AN ADDITIONAL FOUR OR SEVEN. I'LL STAY WITH THE FOUR. FOR THE WHOLE VALLEY, WHICH WOULD REDUCE IT DOWN TO 17 SPACES FOR THE PUBLIC, IF YOU CONSIDER ADDING BACK THE EIGHT ADDITIONAL SPACES, THAT WOULD BUMP IT BACK UP TO 25 SPACES FOR THE PUBLIC. for the public. So that's just the first item that I think you should consider. Can I just ask you a question? Yes. Sorry. Maybe my mind's a little bit fuzzy, but weren't you just here about an apartment complex going in that has zero parking? Yeah, that has nothing to do with tonight's meeting, though. Well, Mr. Senzelowski, I agree. I think that's relevant for the public to know that you own a property that has parking in the parking lot, and there you're also working on another project the Zenith building that has no parking what does that have to do with tonight's application you mentioned sir that you are the chair of the parking committee so I also think the public should be aware of your other relationship to this downtown area in the parking that's all fine thank you as a matter of fact that is one of the I'm glad you mentioned I can use that's something but I'll get to in the second POINT. SO THE SECOND THING THAT YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER IS THE WHAT'S INCLUDED IN THE APPLICATION AS FAR AS THE DESIGNATED PARKING FOR THE HOTEL. THE CURRENT APPLICATION FEAF PART D2 PROJECT OPERATIONS SUBITEM J ROMAN AND WILF 4 BY FOOT NOTE ON THE BOTTOM OF PAGE 7 INDICATES THAT PARKING FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL USERS WILL BE PROVIDED IN THE PROPOSED OFF-SITE TOWN PARKING GARAGE OR IN INTERIM PARKING FACILITIES AS DESIGNATED BY THE TOWN. THE EAF NARRATIVE INCLUDED AS PART OF THE APPLICATION STATES PARKING FOR GUESTS AND PATRONS VISITING A SITE WILL BE PROVIDED OFF SITE. ACCORDING TO THE MDA, A PARKING AGREEMENT HAS BEEN SET FORTH THAT INDICATES PARKING will be allocated for the hotel guests directly behind the Suffolk Theater. At the time when the parking garage is being built, the town will provide an interim location for hotel guests parking spaces which will then be moved into the garage once completed. According to the MDA, there shall be an agreement between the town and the hotel project owner providing for the hotel's use of a portion of the parking garage to pay to reserve and pay to park per stall within the parking garage. Now currently there is no agreement to that effect included with the application. I've actually foiled the town to get a copy of that and I have not received any copy of any agreement between the town and the developer relative to the parking it does not appear that any agreement exists however the documents are submitted could be considered to establish an implied in fact contract or an agreement between which may be legally interpreted as follows an implied in fact agreement is a contract the only difference between it and a written one is how the parties communicated instead of signing a document or shaking hands on specific terms both sides demonstrated their intent through conduct courts look for the same core elements as any other contract a clear offer clear acceptance mutual intent to be bound and something OF VALUE EXCHANGED. IN THAT THERE IS NO AGREEMENT INCLUDED AS PART OF THE SECRET REVIEW OF THIS APPLICATION, THERE ARE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS AS TO WHAT THE IMPACT WILL BE FOR LEASING OR DELEGATING PUBLIC PARKING SPACES FOR PRIVATE USE. THAT WILL IMPACT THE PARKING DISTRICT SUCH AS WHERE WILL IT BE SPECIFICALLY LOCATED AND HOW WILL IT BE CONTROLLED? SO IS THIS going to be gated fenced in with a controlled arm what physically is it going to be how is it going to be accommodated and taken up in the town first street parking lot how is it going to be controlled what is the amount of the this lease or use agreement per space and interestingly to councilwoman merrifield's point will other owners within the district be allowed to enter into similar agreements that particular application that was mentioned uh my client has asked me hey that's going to happen how do i get 15 spaces that i can save then does that open up for somebody else hey i want 10. um how is that going to be handled in the future and also what are the legal requirements for this agreement uh in that the first street parking lot does not belong to the town of Riverhead it is the property of the Riverhead parking district number one I'll explain the difference the parking district was originally established by a motion if the parking district was originally established by a motion to the town board it would be town-owned parking and the town board cut forth such an agreement however the parking district was established by petition of the property owners and is by deed owned by the Riverhead Parking District number one, not the town of Riverhead, and therefore must actually be put forth by the parking district trustees, which consist of the currently elected town board members. When you're elected as a town board, you will also become a trustee of the Riverhead PARKING DISTRICT. SIMILAR TO THE SUPERVISOR BECOMING THE HEAD OF THE PD AS A PART OF HIS ROLE AS SUPERVISOR, YOU'RE ALL PARKING TRUSTEES IN YOUR POSITION AS TOWN BOARD MEMBERS. A COUPLE OF IMPORTANT POINTS. THE PARKING DISTRICT IS A SPECIAL TAXING DISTRICT. Includes 137 parcels, 17 are town-owned, 2 are county-owned, 4 are utility-owned, and 114 are private property owners. An agreement requires a public hearing to be held per Town Law 198.12a, which can be confirmed by review of New York State Comptroller's Opinion 92.93. Subsection 12B of that same section infers that that action could also be subject to a permissive referendum of property owners within the district. When the first street lot was acquired by eminent domain by New York's Supreme Court Petition Index number 87-19520, signed by then-supervisor Joe Janoski on September 21, 1987, finding number six specifies that, quote, the public use for which the property is required is for public parking within the riverhead public parking district number one which mandated it as being accessible to the public community rather than than to a specific individual or private entity also a heads up for the future secret for the parking garage it still needs to be determined if the town or the parking district taxpayers will own and will be liable for the future parking garage it is currently proposed by the town however the property will be located on is not town property it's parking district property in summary this project like all others in the parking district including my clients other project are permitted without providing parking per town code 301-231l which states land owned by the town IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE CODE IN THE property within such district need not provide off street parking areas required by this chapter so it's absolutely permitted however there are no provisions in the code that include entitled or reserved parking within the district I'm just a little confused because I just clarify are you here to advocate that you have two projects and you want to purchase spaces for those two buildings and you want to I'm just here I want to contribute to a parking Absolutely no. So I'm just clarifying for you. I'm just clarifying. I'm just addressing two items that are pertinent to this application. That's it. Therefore, as lead agency, you need to ask for answers and guidance to the following as you give this application a hard look as required to be documented in your reasoned deliberation of your final determination per seeker one would be how can you move forward with the special permit and site plan approvals without the reference parking plan and agreement being in place and included as part of this secret review and also without an agreement being in place and included as part of this secret review to keep things moving because you don't want to delay the project would you have to amend the application and the determination to note that reserved or allocated parking is not included or agreed to in any capacity as part of this approval thank you so i don't think we're discussing a parking garage but you're more than welcome to come back i'm sure eventually if we uh any local businesses i would certainly say if wanted to contribute to be part of that parking garage project you're welcome them to invest in it and rent spaces out and be a part of that. Did you have a comment, ma'am?

Kathy, excuse me, Kathy McGraw, Northville. Good evening, Supervisor and Town Board. At your May 14th work session about this project, Mr. Petrucelli made clear he wants to keep the momentum going on on the town square and he said that again tonight he said we're at a point if we don't keep going it never is going to happen and i quote he said we're ready to go and it appears evident to me that you the town board are likewise more than ready to go i'm aware there is a change pending to the town code to streamline the site plan approval process But that has not yet happened. Yet you are so eager, it appears, to get this Petrocelli project going that you seem to be willing to play fast and loose with the current town code controlling site plans. Specifically, the zoning code 301-305 in effect today sets up a two-step process for site plans. It requires a developer to first submit to the planning department an application for a preliminary site plan. I don't believe such an application has ever been filed for this project. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I believe only one application has been filed. It is a plan dated April 15, 2026. And the Planning Department staff report is dated May 12, 2026. All indications seem to indicate you are dealing tonight with what appears to be a final site plan application which if approved will enable Mr. Petruccelli to move forward. Yet this application is being handled like an application for a preliminary site plan. The current code states that the first step a developer must take is submission of a preliminary site plan to the planning department. The planning department must decide if the application is complete and if so, it prepares a preliminary site plan report that is distributed to up to 16 entities such as the ones that have been mentioned the town attorney architectural review board fire marshal and the like once the planning department decides the preliminary site plan is acceptable for town board review then the town board schedules a public hearing to consider the preliminary site plan after the public hearing the town board decides to accept accept, accept with modifications or deny the preliminary site plan application. Then and only then can the developer submit a final site plan application for Town Board review and approval. This public hearing tonight appears to be about a final site plan application, not a preliminary one. And as such, it seems to be a perversion of the Town Code that is currently in effect. I don't think it is legal. I expect having raised this objection tonight, your response, if you give me one, will be, oh no, no, no, this is a preliminary site plan that is being considered. Yet nowhere in any of the documents are the words preliminary site plan used. I'm quite sure this is purposeful to muddy the waters in an attempt to circumvent the required two-step process for site plans set forth in the code. And this is being done so the shovels can be in the ground ASAP. The site plan submitted in April is titled site plans. Without all the materials that term is used, never is the plan called preliminary or final as the code sets forth. I submit that you are attempting to subvert the current statutory requirements in the town code, and you are doing so to accommodate Mr. Petrucelli, who himself said he wants to keep the momentum going and is ready to go i don't think this is proper governance by the town board and i think you all know it and you are willing to bend the rules to get this project underway i'd be happy to hear if i am incorrect in my comments thank you very much Hi, good evening, Laura Jen Smith. You know, I was supervisor very much in support of revitalization of downtown. When I sat in office, we got the first $800,000 for the DRI grant to move things forward, and it's just been rolling along since then, which has been terrific. I was able to secure money for the pattern book, which this project is putting into effect to build and I support all of that. However, I don't think that this application can be viewed as a stand-alone site plan. The public hearing notice states that the project is being filed in connection with the master development agreement for the town square. Therefore, the board's responsibility extends beyond evaluating the building itself. It must also determine whether the proposal remains consistent with the public benefits, obligations and public expectations established under the master development agreement. The town acquired property, demolished buildings, secured grants, committed public parking resources, and invested millions of dollars. Those actions were justified because taxpayers were told the project would reconnect Main Street to the Potomac River, create public gathering spaces, stimulate economic activity, improve flood resiliency, and provide long-term benefits for the community. Tonight, I'm asking a simple question. Where is the cost-benefit analysis? Where is the analysis showing the total public investment associated with this project? Where is the analysis showing the value of public land being conveyed, easements being granted, parking commitments being provided, infrastructure improvements being required in any future maintenance obligations that may ultimately fall upon the taxpayer. Where is the analysis comparing the original development concept to the proposal before us tonight? The original concept included residential ownership units. Those units have been eliminated and replaced with additional hotel rooms. Has the town evaluated whether removing residential units advances or weakens the comprehensive plan goals of creating a vibrant mixed-use downtown and a variety of housing opportunities? Has the town calculated the difference in assessed value, property tax revenue, school tax revenue, and the long-term economic impact between the original mixed hotel condominium project and the current hotel-only proposal? If that analysis exists, it should be being provided to the public if it does not exist why is the board being asked to make a decision before understanding the financial consequences the public also deserves answers regarding the relationship between the hotel and the town square itself the town square was promoted as a project that would open main street to the peconic river yet a substantial portion of that riverfront area is now occupied by a five-story private hotel the board should explain how this proposal and hands is public access, public views, and the public use of the riverfront beyond, what is already being created through the publicly funded town square improvements. We just saw the picture that was presented up there with the hotel and what looked like the open town square. When you look at the dimensions there, they're not proportional. The front of the hotel is, I believe, somewhere around 84 feet across, linear feet across, while the town square is only 88. So it's a very small connection now from Main Street to the river. The first floor contains a large restaurant, hotel lobby, lounges, coffee shops, retail space and hotel amenities. What is the breakdown of public versus private space on the first floor? Of the approximately 14,000 square feet, approximately around 8,000 to 9,000 square feet seems to be available to the public. And of that 8,000, can those spaces be reserved for private events? Can weddings be held at the restaurant? Can portions of the terrace or adjacent areas to the town square become restricted for private functions? These questions go directly to the public benefit promised under the master development agreement. You have a gym, you have the lobby for the hotel, you have a bar for the hotel, you have a lounge area for the hotel. That takes up quite a lot of space on that first floor. so there's very little public space being provided by this hotel for the community's benefit. Parking raises similar concerns. The hotel provides only nine on-site spaces and relies heavily on public parking facilities and public parking infrastructure. Taxpayers deserve to know exactly what public resources are being committed to support these private development and whether those commitments affect downtown businesses, residents, and future visitors. A few questions have come to mind. How many public spaces are reserved for the hotel? For how long? At what cost? What happens if the parking garage is delayed? And what happens during festivals, downtown events, or peak tourism weekends? I know, Mr. Rothwell, you asked when Marty Sanluski came up what this had to do with this project. The public parking lot has everything to do with this project because it is involved in the master plan, and this hearing involves the master plan development agreement. I didn't say that. I, if you read back, I asked him if he was advocating for his two other businesses to be able to purchase parking perhaps. I was leading with does he want to participate in the cost of a parking garage to potentially lease spaces for those projects. That's the question. That was the question, yeah. Before you go to our, the whole strategic investment plan, it was done through the DRI and it was publicly engaged throughout the whole process. and I'll also point out that there was no access to the river prior to this. The town square, along with this project, was all begun. Can I finish talking and then? Yeah, I just wanted you to make accurate statements, please. Finally, the Environmental Review identifies ongoing discussions regarding water, sewer, stormwater, parking, easements, and infrastructure improvements. Before any approval is granted, the public should receive a complete accounting of which costs will be borne by the developer and which costs will be covered by grants and which obligations remain with the town and the taxpayer. I know on one of the pages, page 8 or 9, where it shows the East End Arts development, the hotel is going exactly where the barn in the back of the East End Arts is, and it says it will be not removed by the hotel, but the obligation will fall on the taxpayers of the town or somebody else to move it or to relocate it. The same with the buildings in the front of the East End Arts Center. These are all costs that the taxpayers are taking on and deserve to know what these costs are involved with this project. Accordingly, I respectfully request that before any final approval is granted, the Board require and publicly release a complete fiscal impact and cost-benefit analysis of this project, a comparison between the original development concept and the current proposals, evaluation of all public land easement parking commitments and public assets associated associated with the master developer agreement previous resolutions that you have put forth that are uh are with the master agreement others on the fiscal impact statements it says that there's no fiscal impact to the town and we can see even from tonight's conversation and to listen to these plans there are tremendous tremendous taxpayer impact and the town is the people that live here to know what they are. A detailed accounting of all public expenditures and public obligations related to the project and a project of future a projection of future tax revenues under both the original and the revised development scenarios. A statement identifying all infrastructure costs to be paid by the developer and all costs that may ultimately be borne by the taxpayers. This is not an argument against development it is an argument for accountability. When public land, public money, public parking, public infrastructure are being used to support a private project, the public has the right to know what is going to cost them, the benefit, and return on their investment before approvals are granted. And so the taxpayers deserve to know these things. I do have a couple other questions about the actual site plan itself. One of them is I know when you mentioned the building of it that there would be a steel facade or like a steel facade on the building. My question is, will that actually be steel? I have a pocket, so if you want to. Another question I have is the east road access for, I guess, deliveries and anything going on there. Will there be a turnaround cut or is there going to be a cut? I don't think you said there's going to be a cut on Main Street, but will there be a cut on Main Street? And how will those vehicles turn around and exit back through the easement that the taxpayers are providing in the town square.

The other question I had is about the leaching galleries. I saw that in the plans that the leaching, the groundwater for the geological study, the groundwater was at 4.1 feet up until I think around 9 feet or so. So I'm curious, but it didn't say a proportion of how much is at 4 feet. How much is that? Nine feet. And the leaching pools are going to be down at four feet. So it's only an inch from the groundwater. So I'm just wondering the percentage of that. Miss Jen Smith, I have a question for you. Aren't you the Democratic Party, Riverhead Democrat Party chairperson? I'm not going to answer that. I think that the public has a right to know that you stated several times. taxpayers have a right to know. I think the taxpayers of this town have a right to know that Mr. Jerry Halpin is the candidate that Democrat Party has put up for election this year. Okay, and when you speak, and when you speak, ma'am, I'm still speaking. I would like my opportunity to speak. I would like to finish making my statement. You stated several times today public taxpayers have a right to know, know taxpayers I believe the taxpayers have a right to know that you are the chairman of the Democrat Party of Riverhead and Mr. Halpin is your candidate and I'm simply asking are you speaking as the chair of the Democrat Party when you speak to this town board and Mr. Halpin specifically or as a resident of I introduced myself as a resident here and I stated that where I live I thought my other question to you then is are there anybody is there anybody on this on this board up here, any member of the town that's a member of the Republican committee? Is there any committee members here? We're not speaking. You are. I know, but the town public has a right to know. If you want to put those, decide, you know, ask me to identify myself, then the board should identify themselves. The attorney should identify themselves. Anybody else who comes up here and speaks should have to identify their political party. I think that's a little against the democratic process. I don't think it's against the democratic process, I think people simply have a right to know where you are in relation to your remarks. You need to know what color underwear I'm wearing as well? All right, all right. I think that we've, yeah, okay. Thank you. That's probably. So I'm going to ask you at this time if Dawn Thomas would take a moment to come forward. Excuse me. No, ma'am. Excuse me, I'm talking now, and you can get online and you can speak whatever you want and we will listen, but we're going to be respectful to each other. Really? So, Ms. Thomas, if you could come forward and just answer, talk about the strategic investment plan that was done and how there was public engagement involved in it because i think there were questions about that and also that uh she had questions there is no taxpayer money going to this hotel project at all so i think it's good to clarify yeah uh we'll just so just initially i just wanted to clarify the site plan process because there were some questions about how that works so currently and for a very long time our site plan process is there's a site plan application there's no difference between a site plan application there's no document demarked preliminary site plan application an applicant makes an application for a site plan provides all the documentation that gets reviewed by the planning department it comes for one public hearing at in this particular case it's before the town board because it's in the urban renewal area which is our downtown urban renewal district in a typical case it would go before the planning board it gets reviewed that would be approved with criteria or conditions that need to be fulfilled once those conditions are fulfilled it's eligible for final site plan approval without another public hearing so the criteria for preliminary site plan and final site plan are exactly the same there's no difference there's one public hearing and so that's the process we're going through so i just wanted to eliminate that confusion thank you just in terms of the and not to get into a you know a total history of the town square project and the public engagement that was done in all the studies that were done but i would just indicate a couple of different small points in 2022 we did a downtown activation plan you all will remember that downtown activation plan included a market study that market study helped us identify the types of work and projects that would be most successful in downtown and the The number one use that was recommended by that market study was a hotel. So that's where that initial concept came from. Then in 2020, later in 2021, or earlier in 2021, we did win the DRI grant when Supervisor Aguirre was in office. And at that time, the state of New York retained a company called Perkins Eastman, who was our consultant at the state's expense. The state provided a very deep public engagement process where there were six, at least six public hearings, a dedicated website, polling surveys, idea walls, and other public engagement opportunities where many individuals from the public weighed in. And that process resulted in what's called a strategic investment plan. That strategic investment plan recommended all of the projects, including the Town Square project as a passageway to the riverfront which was recommended in all of the studies going back to 1993 when the urban renewal plan was created 2008 when it was updated in 2000 when it was when downtown revitalization plan done by gary jackman was done and then again in 2016 when we did the boa study which was also a very deep public engagement study then again in 2000 and uh before 2016 2008 we did an update to that urban renewal plan and then in 2020 we did the downtown study which was all um the downtown town square study which was all done with public engagement uh virtually in 2020 during covet and what i would say to people at that time was if you didn't participate shame on you because if you turned off your camera and your mic you could have done IT FOR MIRTOILA BALL. IN 2021 WE DID THE DRI STRATEGIC INVESTMENT PLAN THAT TOOK AN ENTIRE YEAR OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT. WE HAD A LOCAL PLANNING COMMITTEE. THAT LOCAL PLANNING COMMITTEE TOOK ALL OF THE COMMENTS OF THE PUBLIC. THAT LOCAL COMMITTEE VETTED ALL OF THE PROJECTS THAT WERE PROPOSED AND THAT LOCAL PLANNING COMMITTEE RECOMMENDED THOSE AND THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK STATE THEN awarded funding to those projects uh then in we were funded subsequently in 2024 1.4 million for the amphitheater project which is funded not only the move of the east end arts council building up function to the town uh annex but also is paying for the entire movement of all the buildings on the site so that will not cost the taxpayers money and i'm hoping i'm sure i'm missing some some of those other comments, but I just wanted to make sure that the public understands that this wasn't a project that was, you know, 15 minutes ago developed. This has been developed literally since 1993 when the public said in the urban renewal plan that we should connect Main Street to the riverfront. And until that time, and I'm sorry, Councilman, there were only two tiny accesses. If most people who have been here for any length of time, Remember, there was two tiny accesses to the riverfront. There was one south alleyway that's a little bit west of the town square, which is now – if you go down there now, you'll see we did a lighting project in there, which is absolutely amazing with grant money, not taxpayer money, from Suffolk County. And there was a tiny little alleyway directly across from the Suffolk Theater that is now the town square. And I think those connections prior to that, it was hard for people to even know that the river existed behind the wall of Main Street. So that's just basically a little address of those comments, but I'm sure I could come up with more. Just, you know, I think, you know, you mentioned, I mean, somebody came to the mic and said, as taxpayers paying for East End Arts, and you made it clear that they're not. I think it's important that the taxpayers know the amount of grants we have gotten and still apply for, and there's no taxpayer money going into this, correct? In addition to the $1.4 million that we got as a pro-housing award from New York State, we last year received another $675,000 from State Historic Preservation, directed at the preservation of those buildings again specifically dedicated to the movement of those buildings and get them out of the floodplain and I think it's important to remember also that the town square project is a flood mitigation project so it's not just a public project where the public can come and enjoy open space on the riverfront which was never available before but also it protects those historic buildings on Main Street which were all listed on the National Register, by the way, from future flooding, which is anticipated and expected as identified by the Army Corps of Engineers in their study that was completed in 2025. It started in 2020. I'm sorry, I apologize. Ms. Thomas, I meant to ask as well, there was a comment about no cost analysis conducted. Has the Community Development Agency conducted a cost analysis in this? The entire Town Square project, the cost benefit was created by the Perkins Eastman Group as a part of that strategic investment plan. All of these projects are dedicated to economic revitalization and redevelopment of the downtown. There's nothing that doesn't benefit the downtown. And I think if you look at the downtown now, you'll see, and I would say this also, it's been over 35 years that the town has been trying to revitalize its downtown. We are at the point where we have major investments from the public sector, from the state of New York, from the governor of the state of New York, from the county of Suffolk, and we have private investment. And additionally, the town, I think there was some comment that the taxpayer funding was going into the private development proposed this evening. That is absolutely not the case. In fact, the state of New York awarded that project on its own $1 million in a grant called restore in 2025. And so I think, you know, we just, it is hard to follow the bouncing ball with the grants. It's been a very long time we've been working on these projects, so I understand that there might be confusion or people might not understand. We've had many public meetings to talk about it. We're always available in community development to anybody who wants to come and chat. We've provided responses to FOIL requests repeatedly. Any of that information is public. Any of it's available. and you know we do the best we can to make sure people know what we're doing thanks don i appreciate your response to that i just want to remind our next speakers as you come up this is a public hearing for the site plan for this specific uh hotel not as the downtown revitalization as a whole and so miss thomas did answer those questions for us to get us back on track and so if you're coming from the public and you have something uh there are other meetings that you can come and have an open discussion about but this is on the specific site plan uh for this hotel just want to remind every one of that. Ms. McGraw, I think that you cut the line. There was somebody else before you. I just wanted to respond. You've already been up here and have spoken. I thought you asked her. There was a lady waiting. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thanks. Thanks, Councilwoman, for catching that. I thought they spoke. Thank you, Supervisor and all the board members. Can you pull the mic down just a little bit? There you go. Perfect. If you guys could not have a conversation in the back right now, that would be great. Ms. McGraw and Ms. Thomas, thanks. Hi, I'm Peggy Koneski from, I own Riverhead Flower Shop. I'm a Main Street business owner for, oh, 16 years now. I am a lifelong resident of Riverhead, taxpaying forever. And I just want to say how wonderful it is that the hotel is coming to Main Street. I know there's a lot of talk on social media that we don't need any more hotels in Riverhead. That simply is not the case, and I know that through my business from the feedback from our customers and our clients and their families. I'm extremely pleased that Mr. Petruccelli is heading this. everything that he has touched in Riverhead has done nothing but benefit Riverhead. I believe also that if any taxpayer has issues with what is going on on Main Street, that they need to come down there and sit on a Sunday because there's all kinds of walking traffic. they need to go there on a Friday night and sit and see how many people are coming out of the Suffolk Theatre how many people are just strolling and really wanting something to do the town square is going to be phenomenal after since 1990 1993 I think it's about time that we really look at this in a positive light and I just want to thank miss mrs. Thomas for all she has done getting all the grants it is not easy to do as grant writers know so I just wanted to state that as a business owner and I'm hoping that more business owners from Main Street will come forward and let them know their perspective because I think anybody can be a sideline sure not even a cheerleader because I don't see a lot of cheerleading from the sideline but um i think we need to sit back and watch um what has been going on and what will be done once the project is finished thank you thank you for your continued investment downtown mr mcgraw i'm going to ask you to wait because we do have a couple people online i would like to say something to mrs kineski sure i appreciate that you came down i have been on my social media asking people to go downtown and speak to the business owners and I have brought up your business to people and I go and I speak to different owners downtown and they're begging for this hotel to come through. They're begging for the project to be completed. They know that this is the last straw of what is going to help them and you just had a business owner step up here almost begging, you know, please, we need this. people keep coming up here and saying we don't want this i'm looking around the room there are only 11 people here that are not staff press or petrocelli's team 11 people out of a town of over 36 000 people where is all of the we don't want this where are they they're not here at the public hearing. It was publicly noticed that this meeting was on for tonight. It seems like the same people that come to every single meeting that are in the negative about anything that this board tries to do, and they're always trying to point a finger and say that we're doing something wrong, our pockets are being lined. There is nothing more upsetting to me to have somebody insinuate that over and over and over. How dare you? I am a member of this board. I am a resident of Riverhead, a lifelong resident of Riverhead. I have a business one block away, two blocks away, from downtown Riverhead. I'm invested in this, and I'm tired of what's been going on. Eleven people remember that. Thank you, Councilwoman. We do have a couple people online, so we're going to pull one of them up first. It's not Jim, even though it's nice to see you.

How are you doing, Chip? In there?

in the IT room. Male Speaker 1 I didn't see that. Please don't go into our AV booth. Male Speaker 2 The next person. Male Speaker 1 Yeah, we'll take the next person. Are you ready, Chip? No. Third person. You got four seconds, and then I'm going to a person in the room. Three, two, okie-dokie. Female Speaker 2 Kathy McGraw and I apologize for jumping ahead of that woman. I was just trying to respond to Ms. Thomas. And I just quickly want to say that the planning board may have one application, but the statutory code sets up a system. And I would like Mr. Howard to take a look at this system and tell me that a public hearing is only provided for on a preliminary application. And if you all are telling me it is a preliminary application, I will be quiet. But I'm not being told that. And I'm not here to be negative, Ms. Waskie. You are negative. You're always up here being negative. Always. Yes, negative Nellie. I've been called that. Yes, yes, you're not by me. However, this has nothing to do with my view of that project. For all you know, I like that project. Don't tell them that. I believe in following the law, and you all are not following the town code. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm asking you, to follow the code. You're going to change it and make it more streamlined, but the code speaks for itself right now. And that's all I'm saying. It's not negative about the project. And I resent that you think that it is. I'm just making a legal point. Thank you, Ms. Waske. If you could wait. Excuse me, if you'd like to speak. There's the one calling out from the audience. Chip, we're ready, right?

Chip's fancy work. What do you want to count on again? What's your comment, Jim? I agree with you, Jim. I don't know what you said. Here we are. All right. Hey. Desmond Wong, Bathing Hollow. At the public hearing three weeks ago, I asked why every problem in this downtown has the same solution. And eight days ago, the board answered that it adopted findings to seize the parcel on the west side of the square without an appraisal in hand while telling us the property would later be sold mr mr wong mr wong to interrupt you i just want to make sure this is about the site plan for this hotel it is the police it is uh tonight the same board considers approvals for a five-story private hotel on the east side of the same square for the town's master developer i'll leave that pattern where it is it speaks for itself now and address this application on its own terms because on its own terms it is not ready one the environmental review for this town for this square studied a smaller building a 72 room hotel in the secret documents 76 by later town accounts plus 12 condominiums and this application is 94 rooms and no condominiums and it is being processed as a consistency memo against last year's negative declaration on the stated rationale that this is a flood mitigation project a private hilton is not flood mitigation your own 2025 determination promised a second review of this component when its site plan arrived a memo concluding that the changed building changes nothing is not that review number two 94 rooms a 116 seat restaurant retail and nine on-site parking spaces for staff the applicants own numbers say up to 165 peak hour trips the plan we heard tonight is a seven car valet line on main street borrowed spaces behind the suffolk theater and a contractual promise that the rest will be absorbed by a garage that is an unfunded later phase of this same plan the chair of your own parking committee committee just did the math main street public parking drops from 49 spaces to about 17. that is not a parking plan it is a hope and number three the water and sewer districts have not issued availability letters and their engineers say map and plan work remains approving a site plan before the town knows it can serve the building puts the cart before the horse at the public's risk not to developers and one more thing from tonight's record council listed this board's approval of this site plan as closing condition four of the august agreement the town cannot close its own deal unless you approve this application a board A board that is also a counterparty has every reason to make its record unimpeachable, and right now it is not. So the ask is narrow. Do not close this hearing tonight. Hold the record open until there is a supplemental environmental analysis of the 94-room program, a parking plan that does not depend on a garage that doesn't exist, and availability letters in hand. Nothing in this request delays a sound project. It protects your approval. Close those gaps first. Thank you. CHAIRMAN BRYANT LIMAGE. Thank you, sir. We have one more online. Are they ready to go? If you could pop them up. All right. And then we'll go to you. We're going to take a pause from in live. No, there's. Oh, go ahead. All right. Yep. Go ahead. Yep. Yeah. Okay, first of all, I just want to be clear. Cindy Clifford, I live in Riverhead. I just want to be clear. First, I'm speaking just for myself. But I don't think that people get up here just to be negative. And I think that as you... So we just want to... I know that you have an open comment at another meeting, but just on the site plan. All right, all right, first. We can all stick to that. First, it deserves to be said that Joe Petrucelli has brought a lot to downtown Riverhead. And we thank you for that. Really love the step back and going with the pattern book that makes us all really happy and recessing the upper stories is wonderful. But it seems in exchange that we've expressed our appreciation through helping to facilitate his projects. Not necessarily anything wrong with that, however. In granting the negative declaration to hurry it along, which has been done way too many times in my book, saying there'll be no environmental impact is the town saying, for instance, this 94-room hotel will have no impact on parking, or the recent 20-something feet increased width of this five-story building will have no impact on the original town square goal of opening up Main Street, or that the estimated daily 150 to 165 additional cars or trucks it'll bring to Main Street will have no impact on traffic. Anybody trying to make a left on Peconic Avenue or a right on Roanoke could be disagreeing with that. Once our only opening to the river, will the plan to elevate East End Arts property be done in tandem with the hotel? Otherwise, there is a concern that possible flooding at this point would leave the East End Arts properties vulnerable due to the hotel's new retaining wall and elevated height. Has a building permit already been issued? Because it appears construction is already in progress, and if so, I'm not sure why we're even here. The town is asking for comments on a project that appears to have already gotten the go-ahead to start should we take this as nothing more than a formality this public hearing or as a former supervisor once effectively said initials ya just because we have a public hearing doesn't mean we have to listen to you so it seems unlikely that anything anybody says is going to alter these plans but with nothing any of us have to say to reconsider the footprint in order to open up main Street we're wondering if that part of the plan has also changed or been adjusted but it's not too late to consider that this hotel is going to benefit downtown and the use of the main floor as retail space really could be opened up to be more retail space how another restaurant or another coffee shop can do more than create additional competition for our existing restaurants and our existing coffee shops and cafes that's a question and a valid question for business people who are struggling on Main Street. So that said, we just want to thank you for your time and your interest and all your sassiness tonight, and thanks for everything you're doing. I was going to strike that, but again, if you could just address us, that's where you're addressing it, so just in the future. Yep, one, ready to go. Thanks. Good evening. Mike Foley, Bruce Paul. Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. Great presentation, Joe and Eric. I learned a lot. I wrote down a lot of questions, and I'm thankful, Jerry, that this is going to be a question and answer session because I do have questions for Joe and Eric and Dawn. And my first real issue and most important issue to me from what I have observed is parking. My wife and I went to lunch at Moonfish, the new place that used to be the Peconic Brewery, which is very close to this proposed site. And parking was very, very difficult. Now, I know we have construction going on, and I know that there will be future construction with Joe's project. So the parking, to me, is really the most important component of the future of this town. If the parking that we have presently is insufficient for people to come in and to utilize the restaurants and the storefronts, it's going to be a continuing problem that could strangle this town. So I guess my first question, Dawn, I'm glad you're in the neighborhood because you know this better than anybody in town. I don't know what the amount of money is to start this garage. My original thoughts, Dawn, and please come to the microphone, was that it was going to be 500 spaces. And I think it was going to be five stories. Ken raised a good point that there are people that might want additional parking. So my question is, number one, how much have we got funded right now of this project? Number two, when are the shovels going into grounds? And number three, when will the project be completed? Because it's important not just for Joe's project, but for everybody in the town. and I've felt it myself. Like I said, it took a while for me to get a parking spot so I could have a hamburger at the new Moonfish Place, which, by the way, had a real good burger. Is Dawn still in the neighborhood? She is, Mr. Foley, but we'll ask her to speak. But this is on the site plan of this hotel, which you can't ask the question about parking, but we're probably not going to address the entire parking garage tonight or the funding raised for that. She did kind of give an overview, but I do want to draw us back into our attention on the site plan specifically for the Peconic Hotel. So I do want to keep that conversation. I understand your passion for that and your questions, and those are fair. But at this moment, for the remainder of this meeting, I'm trying to narrow that in. Thank you for understanding. Jerry, Eric mentioned it five times in his presentation. Yes, sir. Parking was anticipation of the garage and it was going to be put on the north side of the Suffolk Theater. It is absolutely germane to this public hearing. So I'll ask again. And if Dawn's not here, Eric, not Eric, I'm sorry, Joe's attorney. Yeah, Eric Russo. I appreciate your question. Have you gotten any indication from the town on when the parking garage is going to be complete so that we can have a valet situation that actually works to the benefit of the people that are going in there? And more importantly, or as importantly, to the benefit of that flower shop girl who I've gone into a half a dozen times and had to circle the block. Parking is an absolute must for this town. It is lacking now, and we're about to lose more spaces. So, Eric, if you can answer the question, Eric Russo, or Dawn Thomas, if you could give me some guesstimate on when this parking garage will be there, because we are short on parking and getting shorter with every project. It is an integral part of this public hearing, Jerry. Yes, I understand that parking is an integral part of this public hearing, and they did address how the parking would be situated, that the valet would be being used and would be going back to the open lot and be using the north side of Main Street currently until the parking garage is established and built. And when will that be? Stop right there, Jerry. When will that be? I appreciate your questioning on that, but that is not part of the discussion tonight. And I do get it. So, I mean, you could get a rough estimate from what they said before she did go over it, but this is the limited scope of where that is. And so, Mr. Russo, if you'd like to answer any more parking questions, you're welcome to. I'm not trying to avoid your question, Mike. I'm just trying to keep the scope of this to where we are. Mike, if you want to give me a call. Jerry, I disagree with you. This is an absolute part of the scope of this meeting. It's an absolute part of the scope. Mike, if you want to give me a call tomorrow, we can go over the parking structure for you and give you some definitive time frames. Yeah, you're welcome to come back. The court reporter asked if we could speak one at a time, and we'd be happy to give you a timeline for that, Mike. I just am trying to keep the scope of this so we don't keep going to every project built on. But you are correct. It is very vital, and it is very much needed of when that is. I think that Mr. Russo had said that he would like to wait until the end to answer all the questions. Yes, that's what I mean. As long as we're keeping a list. But I can answer that question. uh as far as a parking agreement that is presently in process between the town attorney's office with uh dawn with uh emery prudente and she has been drafting the agreement and we haven't finalized the agreement we haven't been given the agreement however the parking area that we are told for the hotel is to be behind as was stated by our traffic consultant behind the suffolk theater we are supposedly going to have an agreement that indicates we will be paying for the use of parking for the number of spaces and we're talking about a hundred spaces the public garage portion of this in terms of its funding and construction falls on the town board because they are looking for financing uh for you to get bond financing to move forward with that project they're also looking at grants that are supposed to move forward with that as well so that's all in the discussion process between community development and the law department with the town board or the town attorney's office but we should come to the microphone and and I appreciate the answer and we are it's the applicant that is going to be paying for parking so if you build a garage there's going to be a fee per space of a hundred spaces that the applicant is going to be required to pay just as if If a town resident was going into the garage, they would be paying for their parking space. And I'm told it's a five-story garage that's being proposed. That being said, until such time, if we get our CO and we're opening as a hotel, we will be paying based on an agreement that's yet to be finalized for parking in the area that the town has, and we will be paying for that. That hasn't been finalized or negotiated, but that's the process that we're in at the moment. And I think it's a great process, Eric. And I think Ken mentioned a very interesting tidbit that when Marty came up talking about potential parking space shortages for his businesses, Ken said, and I thought I liked the comment, you know, maybe you might want to get involved in the funding in this thing and get more spaces. So maybe, Eric, it's not going to be a 500 space garage. Maybe it'll be 600 spaces. Maybe that's something that Dawn can talk to the parking district about, about any preliminary interest in additional funding for this garage. because what's happening right now, I believe, is that the businesses are being choked off by a lack of parking due to construction and other things. So we have legitimate construction that has reduced the amount of parking south of Main Street. We now have valet parking being considered, and I understand that. I go to the Suffolk Theater at least a half a dozen times a year. I park. Parking is very easy there. And I have to say, I think it's feasible that in the short term, that up to 100 valet parked cars can fit there without too much of an imposition on existing businesses. But the fact of the matter is, and people that have been around, like Dawn and like Ken and like Bob and Jim Wooten, know the pattern book and everything else, a lot of people were involved in it. I had a small role in it as well. And from what I've seen from the engineering, it seems to me that Joe's done a very nice job on conforming to the pattern book. He's got setbacks and everything else that the pattern book described that make a lot of sense to me. My concern right now to Eric and to Joe and to Dawn are twofold. Number one, parking in the short and the long term. It's difficult to conceive long-term parking consideration when we don't have a guesstimate on when that's going to happen. And I know that Dawn has her finger on the pulse of grants and funding and everything else. And I know that people on this board, like me, are interested in getting shovels in the grounds on this garage. So the question will remain that, Eric, I did hear you say that you'd make yourself available for a call. I appreciate that. And I'll go to the town attorney to get your number, Mr. Russo, and I appreciate that. But I think that's an integral part of the future of this town, as the sooner we can remedy the parking issue, the better off this town will be. And I would encourage the town to talk about talking to the businesses. Maybe there are people other than the new Petrocelli Hotel that want to in advance say, hey, I need 50 spots, I need 20 spots, I need 10 spots. And maybe the 500 spots in five stories will go to 600 spots. That's not a bad thing to make parking available for the future profit and benefit of this town. I'm all for it. If it takes 1,000 spots and 10 stories, I'm supportive of that. We need this town to have access to outsiders by being able to park within walking distance of downtown. And I'm here to tell you from personal experience with my wife who has a handicap sticker that going to Moonfish at 1230 on a weekday afternoon was a chore to get a spot there. That's going to kill our businesses. Forget Petrocelli. It's going to kill the business that we have now, including the flower owner, and I don't want to see that happen. So let me get off of the parking and just say I certainly hope you guys got a handle on this because it's critical. And Eric, I'm glad you're still at the microphone because my question now has to do, you guys mentioned that I appreciate the data, that Joe and his corporations have invested $53 million in downtown. I want to tell you, I'm here 70 years and it's just no question, everything that Petrocelli has done in this town has helped this town. And I thank Joe for that. But I'm also going to say in regards to the development of this hotel, that the Industrial Development Agency, which helps businesses that need help to build, should not be used in this hotel. And Eric, Joe, Joe, I know you're still in the audience. I hope you're still in the audience. I'm hoping that you guys don't approach the IDA for any taxpayer benefits, because as you know, we have pierced the tax cap. The residents of this town have pierced the tax cap for the last seven years, three years that we knew about, and four years that a forensic accounting showed we had already pierced. we can really need businesses to come in here stand on their own two feet and do their development joe clearly has the ability and has the history of making successful business ventures in this town eric or joe if you could just mention how much in ida benefits have you had in the past and i'm not begrudging you on any of it. But are you going to be approaching the IDA to help with the construction of this town? Because in my opinion, a successful business that goes to the IDA goes to the IDA for one reason, to increase their profit margins. Joe, you've done very well for the people in this town. And you've done very well for yourself. That's what this country is based on, profit. Everybody's supposed to profit. It's supposed to be a benefit to the taxpayer, to the residents, to the renter, and to the business owner. If that happens, we have a successful town. And Joe, you've been a big part of it. I'd just like to know, are you guys going to be approaching the IDA on this project? So the site plan, you are welcome to answer that at the end. We'll add that to the list of questions that he's taking note of, Mike, and he'll get back to that for you so appreciate you do you want me to answer it now you just to put out the total amount because that doesn't pertain to this I can answer his question and and I appreciate mr. Foley's question I'll make it clear the agreement that we have with the town of Riverhead presently under the master development allows the applicant to go forward and file with the Riverhead town ID a an application has been filed with the Riverhead town apt idea as to this it It has not been processed because we're in the process of responding to inquiries for additional information. However, one of the reasons that we would be filing with the Riverhead Town IDA is because we're seeking three different types of benefits. Sales and use tax on the construction as it relates to the project. Mortgage tax when we acquire the property so that we are able and eligible to get a reduction in the cost of the mortgage tax. and also real estate tax benefits in terms of a pilot, a payment in lieu of taxes for a period of years. Our application is filed. It's not complete. We've gone back and forth providing more information. The Riverhead IDA has Kamoyne doing a study and evaluation of the project, and we're in the process of providing additional information to them to determine if the application is meritable. What I can tell you as far as the sales and use tax, we have determined that the sales and use tax or the sales that we anticipate having is $1,361,116.47 because I had a feeling this was going to come up based on the application that we presently have filed. And of that, the estimated cost at 8.75% is $15,555,616. So we're going to get the benefit of that estimated cost on the refund of this sales and use tax from the IDA. As far as the mortgage tax is concerned, we're anticipating based on the purchase price of $2.6 million that we would be having a benefit of $147,028 in terms of that benefit. I don't know what the tax period that the IDA is going to come back and evaluate, whether it's 10 years, 12 years, 15 or 20. It hasn't been determined. And that's as a result of their evaluation and the study that they have to go forward with. we have the ability to apply for it yes it's been negotiated in the signed agreement with the town we've got an application pending and we're waiting for that and we can't proceed until there's a site plan approval parking special I mean a special permit for the hotel so in order for them to move forward with that application process thank you for that's that's a great job Eric how many years are you looking for how many years you application so so that really doesn't again I know that doesn't really apply to our site plan plan which is what we're trying to get through tonight that does apply to the overall project mike you are welcome to to to email those questions in or call us and we'll take care of those i understand those but if you i said it was 20 years with the application i don't know what the ida is going to grant we have not had any further discussion we're still supplying information yes i understand i i appreciate the answer eric thank you very much and if you don't mind i will I'll reach out to you sometime next week with a couple of other questions. I'll just ask one more question. When this started, there were a number of condominiums contemplated to this project that have since been withdrawn, adding hotel rooms. in my parochial amateur evaluation. Having just hotels rather than condos is a benefit to the Riverhead School District. When you don't have condos, you don't have any kids going to school. I think that's a benefit. And I think adding rooms to the project, as I've seen, and I haven't seen it all, but I've seen a good portion of it, has no negative impact on this town. It just kind of shows that you guys really feel that there's a potential to fill this up Eric I forgot what kind of a Hilton property that you say was a tapestry by Hilton Thanks ever and the tapestry by Hilton has a requirement that the Petrocelli Organization has to provide a number of parking units and the number is 90 So one way or the other, that has to be accommodated with result and negotiation with the parking district. Because as I said to you earlier, the parking district is to the south and it's surrounding the whole downtown. So the agreement has to be worked out. And the five members of the town board also serve as the members of the parking district. So it will come before them as well. Mr. Russo, thank you so much. I mean, you really came prepared, Joe. You got a good attorney there. I hope you're paying him good money. Thanks, Mike. Mike, did you have another comment or question? Yeah, I do. Okay. I think that we should strongly consider sunsetting the parking district of this town and leaving parking to the sole use and providing by the town board. I don't like the fact that a third party is telling me how the parking should work. That came in in 1987. I think it's time to sunset and put it back in the town board who we elect to determine where the parking will be. Thank you very much for your time, all of you. Thank you again for your passion, Mike. I think we have one more online. Do we have anybody else in the room? Nobody else online? If you're in the room and you'd like to speak, if you could make your way to the podium.

And you're leaving. Where are you going? John McAuliffe, Roanoke Landing, Riverhead. I'm hoping that my battery will last and I'll be able to finish this. but if not, it'll all go into the... John, pull your mic down just a bit when you get ready, okay? Thank you. All right. First, thank you for the time tonight to do this. Who are you? John McAuliffe. I said that already. Oh, I'm sorry. John McAuliffe, Borough of Oak Landing. Thanks. It won't surprise you that I urge the town board to reject Mr. Petruzzelli's special permit and site plan applications. My skepticism has only increased as we arrive at this penultimate stage. I've come to think of this hotel as Riverhead's version of the Trump ballroom. Too big, too flashy, and an insult to our heritage. The destruction of Crafted is not as consequential as the demolition of the East Wing. The arrogant spirit is analogous. There are two reasons I urge you to stop this runaway train. One, the process that brings us to tonight has been badly flawed. Two, the hotel will have a terrible impact on the town square and downtown Riverhead. Just make sure that this goes specifically to the site plan. Specifically to the site plan. Okay. First, I have detailed in my submission to the master developer qualified and eligible hearing and the eminent domain hearing for crafted the four-year process in which the Board and the Director of Development. Right to the site plan. John, just kind of get right to it, bud. It's part of the site plan. Sir, okay. In that context. The Director of Development decided without real public discussion the key question of whether the people of Riverhead, instead of open vistas from Main Street to the Peconic River wanted another five-story box separating Main Street from the Peconic River. Suffice to say, a hotel was not part of, in fact, contrary to the extensive civic discussions of the initial pattern book and the comprehensive plan. Although not legally required, it is significant that at no stage was a public competitive bid process utilized. Instead, insiders talked to insiders. By the time decisions were made, the hotel was presented as a fait accompli, justified by the advice of a hired consultant. The closed system of one party small town politics in a significant campaign... John, I'm going to stop you for a second. John, you need to stop for a second. Look, you had an hour, an hour of presentation from the people that are going to make money off this deal. You should be equally open to the participation of people in the tent. I am very open to the participation, but you are straining. Male Speaker 1 You're narrowly defining what is site plan. Male Speaker 1 No, the site plan is in front of us, John. Male Speaker 1 No, no. Male Speaker 1 So it does the most. Male Speaker 1 Well, I'm building to a discussion of the site plan. You're using that definition to stop debate. Male Speaker 1 I am not, sir. So just to the site plan, please. Male Speaker 1 I think you are. I think this is not credible. The express goal of doing this whole project with public and private partnerships was, as I cited, to open the vista. I'm skipping over stuff that I will send in writing. The character of the hotel has evolved. In 2022, it was to be four stories compatible with a pattern book. Then it became five stories with 76 hotel rooms and 12 condominiums on the top floor. At least condominiums brought the benefit of upper-range housing for long-term downtown residents. Instead, they have added 18 rooms for additional transient visitors. The hotel takes as much space as the town square. It will occupy 18,480 square feet versus 19,939 square feet for the town square. Its five modern stories overwhelm and dominate the three-story Art Deco Suffolk Theater. It hides the historic 19th century buildings of the East End Arts Council and blocks sunlight to its galleries. The amphitheater will not be visible from Main Street. Parking for guests, this is for a quote from the town itself, parking for guest patrons will be provided at designated off-site locations in accordance with the master development agreement. These spaces will be located behind the Suffolk Theater and eventually be carried over to the First Street parking garage once the garage is completed. We heard that again tonight. Presumably those are reserved spaces. Will they be located right behind the theater or at the far end of the lot, the north and west sections? Who has priority for convenience? The patrons of the Suffolk Maximus Gym, Robert James Salon, and Goldberg's Deli, or transient hotel visitors? Hotel guests coming directly from the LIE will line up at the hotel entrance on the south side of Main Street, hopefully without needing to double park. Folks coming from the east via Routes 105 and 25 or coming south on Roanoke who are required to turn east before Main Street will be driving west and have to make a U-turn across traffic to access the hotel. The premise that a luxury hotel with a fancy restaurant will lead many families to stay in town after a visit to the aquarium is dubious. The science center that the board is also determined to destroy for private profit provides a far more likely motive to walk down Main Street. An East End Arts Council whose historic buildings are not hidden between Summer Wind and the hotel is also a bigger aesthetic draw. Local restaurants are hoping that hotel clients will become their customers, but Mr. Pastraselli is not likely to welcome that loss of business from his in-house offerings. And there is also the legal question. Mr. Russo tonight referred several times to the hotel adjoining the town park. He is correct with a clear implication that the property where the hotel is being built was taken from the same town park. That should require special procedures under New York state law about the alienation of public park land to private owners. Finally, there is a different path still available if you have the vision and courage to take it. I wanted to show slides, just as the advocates for the hotel did, but the best I can do is to show this color print. So, again, this is just for the site plan accordingly? This is the alternative site plan. This is what we've done. Thank you, Mr. McCullough. John, that's your drawing. It's not an alternative cipher, and it's your drawing. If you had allowed the slide to be presented, it would have been much faster and easier. So I just want to say thank you for your comments. No, you want to shut me off. That's fine. No, sir. I just wanted to say. You have a sweet way of saying it, but basically that's what you're trying to do. No, sir, I just wanted to say that it's to stick to the site plan itself or what's before us, but thank you. So.

No, sir, it doesn't need to be presented. It can be set there. Only one graphic is needed. The point is that we are not inherently locked in to putting a hotel in the town center. This is the site plan before us tonight, sir. That's what we're speaking of, Mr. McCullough. This is the site plan. The point of the site plan is what ought to go into that site. And I think Ms. Waski said, well, where are the other people? Well, the reason they're not here, frankly, is because they think it's useless. They'll write you letters. They'll sign petitions. but they don't think you're at all prepared to listen to an alternative viewpoint about the hotel well I'm sorry for that misunderstanding but I am I am listening and you are I'm fellow board members to understand so the majority of the board is deeply committed to fulfilling this project and they have been for several years I believe so any rate I think that's that's the basic thing that I would say I think the parking problem which has been discussed is a key obstacle and if if the intention is to deprive the existing businesses of convenient parking for people who go to the Suffolk to have to walk further to shows then that's a real problem with your site plan one online over what we're waiting what I'm just going to clarify is thank you town is currently in a master development agreement which contemplates conveyance of 127 East Main Street that's why this site plan application is pending so it's it's really because mr. Petrocelli has an interest in developing that property that's why we're not really considering alternative uses at this time we'll take that one online if we're ready to hi there are you able to hear me we are is Is there any way we can see you? I am not able to do that. I put up the insignia to identify that I'm with GCCA, Greater California Civic Association, if that can suffice. Okay. I have – excuse me. This is – you just need to say your name and your Hamlet. It's Takwee. My name is Takwee Churchin. I am the president of the Greater California Civic Association. The court reporter needs to hear you, so if you could speak nice and loud for us. i'm sorry can you hear me enough now yes is this enough volume yes yes yes okay great my name is takvi churchin i'm president of the greater calverton civic association um good evening um i have uh four comments and probably pretty brief is direct relevance to the site plan um the first one is on economics the it's a follow-up to the question from Laura Jen Smith that was asked and then answered by Ms. Thomas saying that the study exists. Could that be revealed or could it be revealed now if that study is available on the town website? You're not able to tell me now and if it's not, could it be made available on the town site? It is on the town website. You can email myself, my office or the planning department and they would be happy to get you a link to it. Thank you. Are you familiar with the website? You can get it that way as well. That way you'll get it right away. No, I'm sorry. Sorry, which part of the site is it on? And I probably can find it quickly. I think it's on the... Right, it's on the CDA part section of it is where I found the other day. That's what I thought. Okay, good enough. So number two, when the opportunity to participate in the two Zoom meetings on the town square happened, which was several years ago, I was sure to do it both times. On the east, and what I'm going to mention to you now is in those discussions, and there were very many people who participated, on the east side of the town square, I observed the suggestions that were made by many of the people who participated were for a couple of spaces to be used as an incubator and another one as a pop-up space where budding business entrepreneurs could rotate in and out of there. And I'm talking about the ground level only. So I don't see that in our current site plan. And I'm wondering if my suggestion can hit fertile ground here. Maybe put the restaurant on a different floor level of the building. and take a page out of the Windows on the World, they had a top floor and had the most wonderful views. And if that were to happen in this site plan, people using the restaurant from the hotel would have the most spectacular views of the Peconic River. And then it would enable the ground level to have those openings that were discussed at the two Zooms where the public had great interest in both of those ideas. I JUST MENTIONED. AND MY FOURTH COMMENT IS I'D LIKE TO ECHO MIKE FOLEY'S CONCERNS OVER THE IDEA BENEFITS. THANKS VERY MUCH FOR THE OPPORTUNITY THAT WAS TAKEN BY MR. RUSSO. I AM INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT IT. I DON'T THINK THAT THIS PROJECT SHOULD BE APPLYING FOR IDEA BENEFITS for obvious reasons. I understand there's already an application in front of them and we can pursue this through the IDA meetings, but that takes up everybody's time. And I would ask that just as easily as they submitted it, they could retract it and not spend our time on having to explain to them why giving it to them wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for us. And I do have one last add in, I appreciate the comments made from Mr. Wong, Desmond Wong on Zoom. He made some very pointed observations. And it's the second time I've listened to him at a town board meeting where he had very pertinent things to say. I appreciate it very much. Thanks so much. Thank you so much for your comments. Mark, yes, sir, at the podium. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Martin. I just wanted to very briefly follow up, clarify the comments that I put forth. I did say that I'm not here representing the parking district. They're individual comments, and they're only relative to this application as it is submitted. I'm sorry, Mr. Sandusky. You made it clear that you were the chair of the parking committee. Yes, I am the chair of the parking district. I'm just saying you brought that up. Please make sure that's on record and make sure it's on record that I am not speaking on their behalf. I'm speaking as an individual. The reason I'm doing so is because I'm not against the hotel. I want everything to be successful downtown. The reason I'm here talking is not because I'm the chair of the parking district. I'm here because I grew up down here. My house was in view of the train station. My grandma was on East Avenue. I grew up here. I own a building here 26 years in downtown I've had my business here for 31 years downtown and I now reside here in downtown so that's why I'm here I want this to be successful just to clarify the comments the first comment about Main Street parking was only a suggestion that you as the lead agency revisit the downtown the Main Street parking improvement to consider saving eight additional spaces. If you're looking at agency, just please consider it. The second thing as far as the parking lot use, the intent of that is really to benefit both parties, the town, the town residents, the parking district taxpayers, the applicant. As the attorney for the applicant stated, the agreement is in process right now. THE QUESTION WOULD BE WHEN IS THE PUBLIC HEARING GOING TO BE HELD FOR THAT AGREEMENT PRIOR TO THE AGREEMENT BEING FINALIZED? PER TOWN LAW 198.12A, WHICH STATES PROPERTY OWNED BY BUT NOT REQUIRED FOR THE PURPOSES OF ANY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT MAY BE SOLD OR LEASED BY THE TOWN BOARD, provided, however, that if the property sold or leased has a value in excess of $1,000, a public hearing shall be held. So the only concern here is the cart's a little bit before the horse as far as approval of this application goes, only to the extent that this approval does not include approval of an agreement between the town and the applicant relative to the parking district and that should be confirmed by all of the legal counsels and it should be clarified in the final resolution and secret determination that is approved by this board thank you thank you sir one more comment from the floor hi Wayne stack i live in west hampton beach i am the developer of summerwind back in 2011 and i have another project a landmark also in process of being approved i just wanted to say that the board has to look at the big picture downtown riverhead has been under this revitalization since i started building my building in 2011 and dawn thomas has raised a ton of money through grants we are going through this process this hotel is a huge benefit the location is perfect it is going to bring people to this town who are going to use the other businesses downtown I see from owning the building with tenants that live downtown yes they will go to the restaurant once they'll go to a brother restaurant a few months later they're not going to shop he's bringing in visitors from out of town who are going to sustain this downtown. It's these retail restaurants, the stores that we bring, the people that we bring that are the revitalization. I know how much it costs to get to this phase. I've been in this for six years too. He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get here. We're talking about details. Oh, is there water? Is there gas? Is there sewer? He's not going to be able to build a building if there's not water and gas and sewer. day there will be parking in a garage now they'll be parking in the lot it doesn't really make a difference he needs to move forward he needs to get approvals this board needs to approve these projects and get downtown revitalized I started my application seven eight years ago then the pattern Burke came it was two or three years delay to decide we want this we want that so we just want to make sure we're sticking to the site plan of what we're doing I understand your overall excitement and that's everybody has passionate about their side but specifically to the site plan of this hotel this is great the building is great it looks beautiful the architecture is nice it's designed well it's placed well i think it's a great use i think that you need to approve his plan i think he needs to get moving the details whatever it is the the engineering department the building department they work all those out let him get moving does he need idea money most likely he does i've been there you know that hotel isn't going to be full day one he needs to get good tenants he needs to build out their space he needs to give rent concessions he's taking a huge risk he's investing millions of dollars downtown he needs that the the bank that he goes to get his loans if they see the huge expenditures of taxes up front his debt to income ratio is so low he can't even get enough money to finish the construction he needs everything he can get approve his project let's get the downtown revitalized thank you thank you about someone nobody else in the room mr russo if you would like to respond to the questions that you have received

that pertain to the site plan

um i'll respond to the last gentleman that spoke in terms of the cost of the project The cost of this project is $35,148,039.65. Male Speaker 1 Oh, I believe, no, I think, is our microphone bad? Is that it? Male Speaker 1 Yeah, there you go. Male Speaker 1 Okay. Can you hear me now? Male Speaker 1 Yes, sir. I think better. Male Speaker 1 So I'll start again. Male Speaker 1 Thanks, sir. Male Speaker 1 In response to the last gentleman who spoke, in terms of the cost of the project to J. Petrucelli development, the total project costs that I've been given the information. To date, estimated $35,148,039.65. Of that, $19,603,733 is being sought through conventional mortgage financing. In addition, $1 million in grants, as was discussed by Don Thomas, has been received by the applicant through New York State Restore and the owner's contribution is going to be $14,545,000. So this project is yet another development in the downtown that he anticipates and hopes, based on your approval of the site plan and the special permit, that development will begin. As far as all of the other comments, I think they've been sort of addressed through our presentation. I wrote down many of them, but I think we've addressed them, and I don't need to belabor it. And if the public wants to read the minutes or has any further questions, they can look at the analysis that was done as of May the 12th, which I have a copy of, environmental analysis that was done by the town department of planning. And that particular agreement states and goes through, and the letter was written, and they can get it through FOIL or they can go, I believe, and look at it online. It was written and addressed by Matt Charters to you for this evening's hearing. And I'm just looking for the beginning page. I apologize. I've been flipping through it as we were discussing this evening. Matt Charters, Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Trustees of the National Council of the United States of America,

you, Mr. Supervisor and the Town Board, dated May 12, 2026, and through it, it addressed the Reconic River Hotel. And in that, it announced and reviewed the 94 rooms, it discussed the parking, and in page, I'm going to say it's page 5, it speaks by letter, May 11, 2026, Jeff Seaman, CEP, conducted analysis of the subject property for consistency with the CEQA determination. Critically, in regard to CEQA, it has been found that the change from the mixed-use five-story building with 76 units, 12 units condominiums to a 94-unit hotel facility does not significantly alter the above CEQA issues to warrant substantial additional environmental reviews. The findings and conclusions of Mr. Seaman's letter can be summarized as follows, and it goes through a full letter analysis of all of the points of the development and comes to the conclusion that it's appropriate and that the necessary CEQA analysis has been done. I don't want to cut you off. I mean, I guess I do because I did. So sorry. But I just want to say that was a really good staff report. Correct. And if you take the time, if the public takes the time to read through that staff report, it does answer a lot of the questions. One of the things that was brought up, what my concern was, was the flood mitigation. And that's in this report. And I think with the site plan, I think that was really good. And this analysis that was done by your planning staff thoroughly evaluates the project that's the subject of the site plan and the parking and all of the related tangential issues. So in my opinion, if they want, they can go and get a copy of this and their questions should be answered. I tried through giving you information in dollars and cents, employment, construction, taxes and being quite honest what the applicant's looking for. I believe I've answered the 14 questions that were put before you this evening. So I thank you for your time and interest and assistance in moving forward with this application. And I would hope that you would be able to close the public hearing unless you're holding it open for written comments for 10 days and that we could move forward. And I thank you. Mr. Rousseau, again, my apologies for interrupting. I believe we've let everyone speak in the room that wants to speak. Unless there's some... Oh, you did have another comment. Okay. Okay, and then we'll finalize. The comment actually is Laura Jen Smith from Laurel. Mr. Russo, I would just address us. Okay, yeah, the comment I had that I had asked when I was up here is on the first floor in the resolution, it lists some of the footage for the public space, and then there's footage for private space. if there can just be addressed how they're what the what the amount of it is public space and what is not accessible as public space on the first floor i guess it's the gym the hotel lobby the reception area the bar the lounge and if there'll be a separate entrance for that will it be keyed was he going to yeah i'm going to address i'm going to let the mr chairman mr supervisor in the board i'm going to let our architect andrew chamber tone address and respond to that never told for the client of the 14,000 square feet of 14,500 39 square feet of the first floor the gym 813 square feet the hotel kitchen 564 square feet and the lobby 2963 square feet are the only quote-unquote private uses of the hotel first floor the restaurant is open to the public as are the other retail uses on the first floor so more than about 60 to 70 percent of the first floor is accessible to the public okay thank you for answering that and asking that question and getting clarification there so no one else online uh appreciate everyone's uh desire and passion for downtown as every one of the board members i believe said is we're all excited about the future and it's really happening and the red is changing and what great stuff and this site plan is going forward so we're going to keep the written comment open for 10 days and at that time we'll close it it should be june 20th wow june 20th and uh with that said we will we will actually i'll ask for a motion to close our meeting tonight second all in favor aye any opposed all right see you uh tomorrow Thank you.