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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. okay so this is for the file that's the file yes thank you uh by way of background this property zoned agricultural rejection zone such zone expressly permits farming and greenhouses whereas here the property is at least five acres as well as accessory farm operations which the town code defines as building structures and land uses associated with agricultural production and processing of agricultural products the proposed cannabis farm will not and indeed is prohibited from by its license from making any retail sales to the public that with respect to the character of development we note that the uh there is a vacant former farmland to the immediate south across middle road town owned former farmland to the immediate east and town owned woodlands and a landfill to the north uh the such town owned lands extend 3 700 feet to the north and approximately 520 feet to the east to the southwest is land owned by waterford stables llc well to the immediate west is a single family residence the proposed improvements will all be screened by vegetation that is before the planning board the screening times directly into the deer fence relief before the board this evening the variances for the deer fence height is to protect the on-site vegetation that is being proposed to screen the property from both middle road and those residing east and west of the facility during the winter months when food is scarce deer are known to eat evergreens even though those proposed to be planted are less preferred by deer the impacts from the deer consumption of the vegetation could lead plantings dead or subject significant bare spots defeating their screening purpose as can be seen on the site plan and the renderings that were filed the deer fence is set back a great distance from the residence to the west it is also a long town owned agricultural protected land to the east as such the fencing is not going to change the character of the neighborhood installing a deer fence at six feet is insufficient as this board has previously held for another VARIANCE FOR DEER FENCING IN CALVERTON AT 2203 RIVER ROAD WHICH I SUBMITTED INTO THE RECORD SUCH DECISION FURTHER NOTED THAT THE ONLY IMPACT OF DEER FENCE ON THE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS OF THE AREA COMES FROM THE INSTALLATION WHICH IS TEMPORARY IN NATURE AND WOULD ALSO OCCUR WITH A SIX FOOT INSTALLATION FURTHER THIS BOARD HAS HELD AS IT MUST THAT THE OVER POPULATION OF DEER IS WELL KNOWN AND THE SOURCE OF THE HARDSHIP THAT THIS REQUEST IS DIRECTED TO SOLVE
TURNING TO THE IMPERVIOUS SURFACE VARIANCE RESPECTFULLY THE VARIANCE RELIEF WILL NOT RESULT IN UNDESIRABLE CHANGE IN THE CHARACTER OF THE AREA OR BE DETRIMENTAL TO NEARBY PROPERTY IF GRANTED THE VARIANCE WILL RESULT IN AN OPTIMALLY DESIGNED AGRICULTURAL USE IN A ZONE THAT PERMITS SUCH USE AS A RIGHT ALONG MIDDLE ROAD A ROAD WITH SEVERAL ACTIVE FARMS AND GREENHOUSES AS TO THE RELATION OF THIS VARIANCE THE AREA AS CAN BE SEEN IN THE AREA THAT WAS SUBMITTED WITH THE APPLICATION AND I WILL HAND ADDITIONAL COPIES UP TO THE BOARD RIGHT NOW
THE AREAL SHOWING THE EASTBOUND APPROACH OF THE PROPERTY APPROXIMATELY ONE ACRE PROPERTY AT THE 350 FEET SOUTHWEST OF THE PROPERTY AT 1553 MIDDLE ROAD IS ESSENTIALLY A BUILDING WITH A PARKING AND LOADING THROUGHOUT ALMOST THE ENTIRETY OF THE PROPERTY WITH VERY MINIMAL VEGETATION THAT WAS INSTALLED TO GIVE IT A LITTLE SOFTENING IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO THE PROPERTY AS I NOTED ARE TOWN OWNED PROPERTIES ONE OF WHICH THE ONE THAT IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT IS HAS BEARS ASSESSOR CODE NUMBER 129 WHICH IS DEFINED AS LAND FOR WHICH DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS HAVE BEEN ACQUIRED BY A GOVERNMENT AGENCY FOR EXAMPLE CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN SUFFOLK COUNTY ACCORDINGLY THERE ARE NO PRIVATE OWNED LANDS TO THE NORTH EAST OF THE PROPERTY THAT ARE IMPACTED BY THE VARIANCE TO THE WEST THE SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENCE THE NEW DEVELOPMENT IS SET BACK AS FAR AS POSITIVE TO THE PROPERTY
AS POSSIBLE WELL BEYOND THE APPLICABLE TOWN CODE REQUIREMENTS AND THERE'S NO PROPOSED REMOVAL OF THE MATURE LIVING TREES BETWEEN THE NEW DEVELOPMENT AND THE REQUIRED SIDE YARD SETBACK ALONG ITS WESTERN BOUNDARY THE PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS AT ISSUE ARE ALSO SCREENED BY DOUBLE ROW EVERGREEN PLANTINGS WHICH ARE DESIGNED TO SCREEN THE PARKING AND APPROVEMENTS OF THE PROPERTIES TO THE EAST AND WESTERN AND BILLOW ROAD THE PROPOSED NEW IMPROVEMENTS BUILDINGS ARE FURTHER WITHIN THE 15 LIMITATION IMPOSED BY THE CODE THE VARIANCE INSTEAD RESULTS FROM THE PRIMARILY THE INCLUSION OF PAVED AND DRIVE AREAS AND SECONDARILY THE RETENTION OF THE EXISTING RESIDENTS AND GARAGE THE HOME AND GARAGE ARE PROPOSED TO REMAIN FOR THE SINGLE FAMILY USE OF THE LEAF GROWER AT THE PROPERTY WHILE THE TOWN CODE DOES NOT HAVE A PARKING REQUIREMENT FOR AGRICULTURAL USES AND AS CAN BE SEEN IN THE AERIALS PARKING DOES OCCUR ON NON-PAVED SURFACES AT FARMS IN THE TOWN PURSUANT TO DISCUSSIONS WITH THE TOWN PLAIN DEPARTMENT THE APPLICANT IS PROPOSING PARKING FIELDS IN CONFORMANCE WITH THE TOWN CODE SUCH PARKING LOT HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE TOWN'S SUBSURFACE DRAINAGE REQUIREMENTS SO THERE'LL BE NO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS TO NEIGHBORING PARCELS FROM THE ADDITIONAL IMPERVIOUS AREA THE TOWN CODE ALSO WAS AMENDED LAST YEAR IN AUGUST TO SO THAT EVEN PERVIOUS OPTIONS SUCH AS CRUSH STONE ARE TREATED AS IMPERVIOUS SURFACES FOR LOCK COVERAGE PURPOSES AS SUCH THE VARIANCE IS NEEDED IN ORDER TO ALLOW FOR EMPLOYEE PARKING IN DEFINED AREAS ON SITE MORE OVER THIS BOARD HAS GRANTED A NUMBER OF IMPERVIOUS SURFACES VARIANCES IN THE PAST A FEW OF WHICH I SUBMITTED INTO THE RECORD THIS EVENING AT THIS TIME I'D LIKE TO ASK JERRY DEMARRO TO WALK THE BOARD THROUGH THE POSED IMPROVEMENTS AND RELATES TO THIS QUESTION MR. STANSBURG ABSOLUTELY YOU INDICATED THE PURPOSE OF THE EIGHT FOOT FENCE IS TO PROTECT THE EVERGREENS IS THAT CORRECT YES SO BY THAT LOGIC IF I HAD EVERGREENS IN MY PROPERTY I COULD GET AN EIGHT FOOT FENCE OR IF I WANTED HAD AN EIGHT FOOT FENCE I COULD JUST GO OUT AND BUY EVERGREENS IS THAT THAT ACCURATE THE REASON FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE EIGHT FOOT FENCE IS TO PREVENT DEER FROM JUMPING A SIX FOOT FENCE A DEER CAN EASILY JUMP YEAH TO PROTECT THE EVERGREENS IT'S THE REASON TO PROTECT THE EVERGREENS IS TO SCREEN THE PROPERTY IF YOU DON'T PROTECT THE EVERGREENS AND YOU STALL THEM THEN MY UNDERSTANDING YOUR ARGUMENT WAS IT WAS TO PROTECT THE EVERGREENS IT DOES THAT'S PERFECT THE EVERGREENS THE EVERGREENS PURPOSE IS SO IF I WANT TO PROTECT THE EVERGREENS I JUST HAVE TO PUT UP AN EIGHT FOOT FENCE IS THAT CORRECT IF YOU'RE IN THE EAST END OF LONG ISLAND I HAVE SEEN DEER EAT EVERGREENS SO THE ANSWER IS THAT'S CORRECT YES DEER EAT EVERGREENS THANK YOU I LIKE TO ADD TO THAT AREN'T THERE CERTAIN EVERGREENS YOU COULD PLANT THE EVERGREENS THAT WE ARE PROPOSING ARE ARE DESIGNED UH TO BE MOST DEER RESISTANT THEY ARE THE ONES THAT THE DEER ARE LEAST LIKELY TO EAT BECAUSE THERE ARE THERE ARE PLANTINGS YES WE HAVE GREEN GIANTS AND MR DEMARO CAN GO THROUGH THE EXACT SPECIFICATIONS OF THE PLANTING I HAVE SOME ON MY PROPERTY THAT THE DEERS DON'T EAT YES WE ARE AWARE AND OBVIOUSLY DEER HAVE I WOULD SAY AN INVOLVING PALLET OVER THE YEARS IN TERMS OF WHAT THEY WON'T EAT OR WHAT THEY WILL EAT BASED ON LEVEL OF FOOD SCARCITY I NEVER HEARD OF AN INVOLVING PALLET IN A DEER BUT UH THERE'S EVERGREENS THAT YOU CAN PLANT THAT DEERS DON'T EAT I KNOW THAT FOR A FACT BUT I HAVE THEM ON MY PROPERTY WE ARE PROPOSING THOSE TYPES OF EVERGREENS ON THIS PROPERTY WELL IF YOU HAD THOSE WHY WOULD YOU NEED AN EIGHT FOOT FENCE BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THAT THE DEER EVEN AT SOME POINT WILL EAT THOSE EVERGREENS SO TO PROTECT THE IT'S ALL ABOUT PROTECTING THE EVERGREENS IT'S ALL ABOUT PROTECTING THE EVERGREENS THERE'S A SUBSTANTIAL COST OF PLANTING EVERGREENS AND THEY ARE PURPOSE IS THERE JUST TO SCREEN THE DEVELOPMENT WE DO NOT WANT THEM TO NOT GROW TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL YOU REALIZE IF WE ADOPTED THAT LOGIC THAT THE WHOLE TOWN OF RIVERHEAD CAN HAVE AN EIGHT FOOT FENCE RIGHT I DO UNDERSTAND THAT BUT I DO ALSO KNOW THAT THIS FACILITY THERE HAS BEEN REQUEST THAT IT BE SCREENED OKAY
SIR
YOU WOULD TURN THE SHIRF EXCUSE ME ARE YOU ATTURNING ME ARE YOU ATTURNING ME NO JERRY JERRY TOMORROW TOMORROW ENGINEERING AND SO OH I'VE GOT TO SWEAR OKAY YOU SOMEWHERE TO TELL THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH TO HELP YOU GOD I DO YOU STATE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS JERRY TOMORROW TOMORROW ENGINEERING AND SURVEYING 20 MARIPOSA LANE MANNERVILLE NEW YORK 11949 THANK YOU THE UH PROPOSED UH CAUTION WILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL ST all know, the deer will just mow them down if they have access to them. That's the primary reason for those fences. Sir, are you aware that they also, if you choose to plant a tree that the deers are going to eat, I don't know why you would do that, but if you did choose to do that, are you also aware that you could spray the trees so the deer don't eat them? I can't be the first person that suggested that to you. No, actually I wasn't aware of that. You can spray trees and the deer won't eat them, so we're talking about a couple hundred trees. They could be sprayed faster than I could eat a sandwich. I was not aware of that. I've got guys with big hoses that spray the trees very fast. They walk at a high rate. You should research that. Okay, I will. Okay, as far as the impervious cover goes, my original intent, I'm the site engineer, was to provide permeable pavement until I found out that the town does not consider that any different than asphalt pavement because asphalt requires less maintenance. We went ahead and proposed a parking lot which conforms to the town code for pavement surface as well as drainage, and that's where the proposal stands right now. How many people will this greenhouse I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Are there any people at it? Are there any people at it? Are there any people at it? About 15 employees on average. Yes, sir. Five of them. Fifteen. One-five. One-five. That's on a full-time basis, you know, five days a week?
Are you an attorney? No, I'm not. What's your name? Tony Kiefer. My company is Arch Solar, and we are the... Ready? Yeah. Tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me God. I do. State your name and address. Yeah, Tony Kiefer. Could you spell your last name, please? K-I-E-double-F-E-R. Thank you. Yeah. I'm with Arch Solar, and we are designers and building manufacturers, specialty in greenhouse gas. We're a production. And my address of my office is 128 Cassidy Point Drive, Portland, Maine, 04101.
So the question was about staffing of the plan. The primary hours and staffing will be a staff of approximately 15, more or less. We will have some staggered shifts operating. Typically in a 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. time frame. And there will be weekend shifts, but those are reduced shifts just to make sure that plants are, you know, doing well. Mr. Kiefer, what's your title or position with this? President. Okay. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Okay. DO THEY INTEND TO DO ANY RETAIL SALES? NO, NOR ARE THEY PERMITTED TO BY THE LAW. WHAT AMOUNT DO YOU ANTICIPATE TO MAKE FROM THE SALES? PARDON? WHAT AMOUNT DO YOU ANTICIPATE TO SEE AT THE END OF THE SALES? AMOUNT MEASURED BY? DOLLARS. DOLLARS? YEAH. YOU KNOW, THAT'S REALLY DEPENDENT ON WHAT THE GOING RATE IS FOR CANNABIS. CAN YOU ESTIMATE IT? ANYWHERE FROM SIX TO EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS. FOR ANIMAL? FOR ANIMAL. SO EVERYTHING THAT'S BROUGHT INTO THIS GREENHOUSE FACILITY COMES THROUGH THAT ONE DRIVEWAY, IS THAT CORRECT? YES. THERE'S NOTHING IN THE BACK? NO, NO ACCESS. YEAH. SO I GUESS JUST TO MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND THIS THEN. SO EVERYTHING OUTSIDE OF THE GREENHOUSE IS ALL JUST GOING TO BE LAWN AREA OR WOODED AREA? THERE'S NO CROPS? THERE'S NOTHING BEING GROWN THERE? NOT UNDER THE CURRENT PLAN, NO. SO THE CURRENT PLAN, YEAH. AND SO IF I COULD ELABORATE ON THAT ONE. I WANTED TO GET THE CURRENT PLAN IS TO HAVE ALL CULTIVATION INSUBITS IN THE CURRENT PLAN. SO THAT'S THE CURRENT PLAN. AND THEN THE CURRENT PLAN IS TO HAVE ALL CULTIVATION INSIDE OF A CLOSED ENVIRONMENT, CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT GREENHOUSE. AND THE DEERS CAN'T GET INTO THE GREENHOUSE, I PRESUME? NO, THEY CAN'T. THE DEERS ARE PRETTY CLEAR. I DO HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE WITH DEERS IN PERIODS OF TIME OF STARVATION. THEY WILL EAT NON-BOTANICAL ITEMS. THEY WILL EAT DESPITE BEING SPRAYED. THAT'S ONE OF THE UNKNOWN FACTS AS WELL. SO WHILE SPRAY IS A GOOD APPROACH, DEERS WILL EAT THINGS THAT THEY NORMALLY DON'T WHEN THEY ARE FACED WITH FULL STARVATION. YOU SAID UNDER THE CURRENT PLAN. YEAH. DOES THAT MEAN THAT YOU ARE GIVING US AN INUENDO THAT THE CURRENT PLAN IS EVENTUALLY GOING TO CHANGE? WE HAVE NO PLANS FOR OUTDOOR CULTIVATION OF CANNABIS. PERIOD. OKAY. SO THE CURRENT PLAN, THE PARKING THAT'S PROPOSED, IS OVER 25 SPACES, CORRECT? THAT'S CORRECT. YES. SO YOU'RE PLANNING ON 15 EMPLOYEES AND OVER 25 PARKING SPACES? WE ACTUALLY HAD THIS CONVERSATION BEFORE THIS MEETING. AND YOU ARE CORRECT. AND WE ACTUALLY LOOKED AT THE PLAN. AND WE ARE CONVERSING THE IMPERVIOUS SURFACE AREA. GERRY, CAN YOU PULL UP THAT PLAN? YEAH, THAT'S FINE. THE IMPERVIOUS SURFACE AREA THAT IS. YOU HAVE TO SPEAK INTO THE MICROPHONE. GERRY, YOU CAN POINT TO WHAT IT IS. THERE IS AN AREA ON THAT PLAN THAT IS ESSENTIALLY WAS DESIGNED NOT REALLY EVEN FOR THE PURPOSE OF PARKING. THERE ARE PARKING STALLS THERE. BUT ORIGINALLY IT WAS DESIGNED TO ALLOW A 52-FOOT LONG TRACTOR TRAILER TO ENTER THE PROPERTY AND BACK UP WITHOUT ACTING OUT. HOWEVER. CAN WE PLEASE. HOWEVER. THANK YOU. OPERATIONS TEAM HAS DECIDED THAT BOX TRUCKS AND HAS DISCUSSED WITH OPERATIONS THAT BOX TRUCKS ARE SUFFICIENT. SO THAT AREA IS NO LONGER NECESSARY. BY REMOVING THAT AREA, WE WOULD REDUCE THE VARIANCE FROM 24.04 TO 20.4%. AND. I'M SORRY. YOU CONTINUE. I INTERRUPT YOU. I'M SORRY. DID YOU PREPARE AN AMENDED PLAN FOR SUBMISSION? WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING AN AMENDED PLAN. WE HAVE ONLY DONE A SKETCH PLAN WHICH GERRY HAS PREPARED. BUT WE WILL SUBMIT THAT INTO THE RECORD IF THE RECORD IS LEFT OPEN. SO CAN I JUST ASK A QUESTION MAYBE FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THIS. IF YOU CAN GET DOWN TO 20%, WHAT'S PREVENTING YOU FROM GETTING DOWN TO 15%? IF YOU GET DOWN TO 15%, YOU WOULD HAVE TO FIRST OF ALL, YOU WOULD HAVE TO GET DOWN TO 15%. FIRST OF ALL, EACH BAY OF THE GREENHOUSE IS ABOUT 1.9% OF THE OVERALL GROSS FLOOR AREA OF THE PROPERTY. SO THAT'S YOUR IMPROVISED COVERAGE. TO ACTUALLY SHRINK YOURSELF DOWN TO THAT, YOU HAVE TO DOUBLE TIER THE GREENHOUSES. IF YOU DOUBLE TIER THE GREENHOUSES, YOU HAVE TO RAISE THE HEIGHT OF THE GREENHOUSES. AND YOU ALSO HAVE TO RAISE THE HEIGHT OF THE A-FRAME BUILDING. THE A-FRAME BUILDING WOULD GO FROM 28 FEET TO 35 FEET. AND THE WHAT'S IT CALLED? THE GREENHOUSE WOULD ACTUALLY, THOSE BAYS WOULD ALSO BE RAISED ABOUT A FEW FEET. AT LEAST FIVE FEET. SO IS IT THE EQUIPMENT INSIDE OF IT THAT'S PREVENTING THAT? OR IS IT THE GROWING AREA? IT'S NOT THE PREFERRED GROWING METHOD BECAUSE YOU WANT A BETTER LIGHT FIXTURE. IT'S BETTER TO HAVE LIGHT WITH NATURAL LIGHT ENTIRELY. BY INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT'S CALLED SPLIT LIGHT. WHICH IS WHAT WE HAVE TO DO IN A TWO-TIERED APPROACH. AND ALSO IF WE WENT TO A TWO-TIERED APPROACH, THE ONLY OTHER OPTION TO HAVE A TWO-TIERED APPROACH IS IT WOULD BE TO DO OUTSIDE CULTIVATION. WHICH IS WHAT HE WOULD DO. AND THAT'S WHAT HE WAS ALLUDING TO. BUT THAT WOULD NOT BE CANNABIS. THAT WOULD BE HEMP. NOT OUTSIDE CANNABIS OF. I GUESS WHAT I'M TRYING TO GET TO IS YOU MENTIONED BEFORE THAT BALLPARK ESTIMATE, SIX TO EIGHT MILLION PER ATOM. YOU'RE BUILDING A GREENHOUSE. THERE'S APPARENTLY SOME TYPE OF EQUIPMENT INSIDE THERE FOR PROCESSING IT. IS IT THAT YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MAKE MONEY IF IT'S SMALLER THAN THAT? WHAT'S DRIVING IT THAT WE HAVE TO HAVE A GREENHOUSE THAT'S THIS SIZE, THAT WE HAVE TO BE MORE THAN 15%? WHEN YOU BOUGHT THE PROPERTY, YOU KNEW WHAT SIZE IT WAS, YOU KNEW WHAT THE REQUIREMENTS WERE. I'M JUST NOT SO SURE I GET WHAT'S PREVENTING YOU FROM GETTING THERE. SO AS I SAID, THE ONLY DIFFERENCE THAT WOULD HAPPEN IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LIGHTING. THE PROJECT WOULD PROCEED IF IT WAS DENIED. IT WOULD PROCEED IN A LESS THAN OPTIMAL WAY. IT WOULD BE MORE VISIBLE TO THE RESIDENTS, PARTICULARLY TO THE EAST OF THE PROPERTY AND ALSO TO THE SOUTH BECAUSE YOU CANNOT SCREEN 35 FEET. SO THAT'S ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WHY WE DID IT FOR SCREENING PURPOSE. THE MAIN REASON WE DID IT OPERATIONALLY, AS I SAID, WAS FOR THE PREFERENCE FOR MORE NATURAL LIGHT. AND ALSO WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO DO OUTSIDE GROWING. YEAH, BUT I THINK WE'RE EITHER TALKING PAST ONE OR ANOTHER. MY QUESTION IS, YOU CAN DESIGN THIS TO BE WHATEVER SIZE YOU WANT IT TO BE, RIGHT? SO IS WHAT'S DRIVING THE SIZE... WHAT DRIVES THE SIZE IS THE LIGHT. DO ME A FAIR... I'M SORRY, MY APOLOGIES, JUDGE. AT A TIME, NOT FOR OUR PURPOSE, BUT THE STENOGRAPHER, HE USUALLY HAS TO WRITE DOWN. I CAN'T DO IT IN STEREO. SO I UNDERSTAND THE LIGHT PREFERENCE, THINGS ALONG THOSE LINES. WHAT I'M REALLY TRYING TO GET TO, THOUGH, IS IF WE WERE TO SAY, WELL, IT'S GOT TO BE 15,000 SQUARE FOOT, OR NOT 15,000, BUT YOU'RE GOING TO BE AT 15%. IT WOULD BE, WELL, THEN WE HAVE TO GO UP BECAUSE WE CAN'T MAKE OUR RETURN ON THIS? WHAT EXACTLY IS HAPPENING? IT'S TO MAKE THE PROJECT PENCIL OUT, AND THERE'S ALSO REQUIREMENTS THAT WE HAVE TO DO WHEN THERE ARE LICENSES WITH NEW YORK STATE, AND DEPENDING ON WHAT WE HAVE TO GROW, WHICH TONY CAN SPEAK MORE TO. OKAY. SORRY, I JUST MISSED THE END OF THAT. CAN YOU SPEAK A LITTLE BIT LOUDER? SURE. SO WHAT I WAS SAYING IS THAT THERE'S TWO MAIN FACTORS THERE. ONE, THAT WE HAVE TO MAKE THE PROJECT PENCIL OUT ECONOMICALLY, AND TWO, WE ALSO HAVE TO COMPLY WITH OUR LICENSE FROM NEW YORK STATE, WHICH TONY CAN SPEAK FURTHER TO AND TO WHAT WE'RE ALLOWED TO GROW HERE. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. I'LL BE INTERESTED IN HEARING THAT. YEAH, SURE. SO I THINK TO ELABORATE ON JOHN'S POINT, IT'S, YOU KNOW, IT'S THE ECONOMICS THAT DRIVES FARMING PRIMARILY OR THE LAYOUT AND THE SIZE. WE'LL BE GROWING UNDER A MIXED LIGHT LICENSE. MIXED LIGHT MEANS NATURAL LIGHT PLUS ARTIFICIAL LIGHT SUPPLEMENTALLY THIS TIME OF YEAR WHEN WE NEED TO GET TO THE 12 HOURS IN TOTAL. SO IN ORDER TO DO THAT, WE NEED TO HAVE THE RIGHT MIX OF MIXED LIGHT BUILDINGS. AND THAT'S NOT, THAT'S OPTIMALLY DONE IN A MORE OF A HORIZONTAL WAY RATHER THAN A VERTICAL WAY. SO I DON'T KNOW IF THAT CLARIFIES. NO, I UNDERSTAND HOW GREENHOUSES WORK. BUT I GUESS MY QUESTION IS, THE PORTION ABOUT NEW YORK STATE LICENSE, IT SOUNDS LIKE PART OF THE REASON FOR THIS, THERE WAS SOME TYPE OF LICENSE REQUIREMENTS THAT EITHER HAD. FOR MIXED LIGHT, YEAH. OKAY. WHAT IS THAT PORTION THAT'S DRIVING THAT? WHAT IS THAT? OH, IT'S THE MIXED LIGHTING IS THE REQUIREMENT. IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING? YEAH, THE LICENSE IS PREDICATED UPON BEING A MIXED LIGHT LICENSE. IT'S THE TYPE OF THE LICENSE. THE LICENSE, THEN THE PERMIT OR LICENSE DOESN'T STIPULATE THE SIZE OF THE GREENHOUSE. THE SIZE IS UP TO YOU? IT LIMITS THE SIZE AT 12,500 SQUARE FEET OF FLOWER AND CANOPY. THAT'S THE LICENSE. BUT THERE'S NO MINIMUM? THERE'S NO MINIMUM. OKAY. SO YOU COULD REDUCE, ESSENTIALLY? THE REDUCTION IS TIED TO THE ECONOMICS OF THE PROJECT. YOU'RE MAKING SIX TO EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS. YOU COULD SPARE A FEW BUCKS, I PRESUME. THE ECONOMICS ARE MUCH MORE COMPLEX THAN THAT FROM AN OPERATING PERSPECTIVE, THE COST TO OPERATE AND THE INITIAL CAPITAL COST AND AVAILABILITY OF CAPITAL FOR THIS TYPE OF INVESTMENT. SO IT'S MORE COMPLEX THAN THAT. THANK YOU. OKAY. SO JUST SO I UNDERSTAND THAT, WHEN YOU PURCHASED THIS PROPERTY, YOU KNEW THE SIZES, YOU KNEW THE REQUIREMENTS, AND IT WAS THE ASSUMPTION THAT YOU WERE GOING TO GET THE ZONING BOARD TO DO IT. YOU WERE GOING TO GET THE ZONING BOARD TO GIVE AN EXCEPTION FOR IT? I'M TRYING TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS ISN'T A SELF-MADE ISSUE. YEAH, I WAS NOT PART OF THE PURCHASING TEAM, AND I'M NOT OWNERSHIP, SO I WANT TO CAVEAT THAT. WHEN THE PURCHASE WAS MADE, WE UNDERSTOOD IMPERVIOUS TO BE MORE OF AN INDUSTRY STANDARD DEFINITION OF IMPERVIOUS WHEN THE PLANS WERE FORMULATED AT THE BEGINNING. SO IMPERVIOUS BEING USUALLY EXCLUDING PERVIOUS SURFACES, LIKE PERVIOUS PIECES. LIKE PAVERS, LIKE GRAVEL. THAT CAME TO OUR ATTENTION AFTER ALL OF THIS. IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK, WOULD YOU PLEASE GO UP THERE? IF I CAN ADD, THE BUILDING AND APPERTENCES, THE CONCRETE PADS AND WHATNOT THAT SERVICE THE BUILDING AROUND IT, ADD UP TO ABOUT 14, 15% COVERAGE. MY ORIGINAL PLAN WAS TO HAVE IT BE A PART OF THE PURCHASE, BUT NOT CURBS. not even curbs just put some gravel in there you know so that cars can park on there without digging holes until I found out that impervious didn't have the definition that I thought it did in reading the code so that's how we ended up with this exact size building well according to your plan the greenhouse alone is at over I believe it's fourteen point five percent coverage so you had to know going into it it was already in had certain improvements including a single-family residence a driveway well yeah the driveway I assumed was going to be gravel that's what that's what I'm saying I was looking at that as being permanent you know the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the me evil surfaces so I did not include that in the original fifteen percent calculation that's correct and choose it is for reference purposes when did you purchase the property I don't have that I believe it was I believe it was it was the spring of this year I'm sorry little is the spring of this year three of this year hey many time frame it is And the change in the definition of pervious was last year, the year before? It was last year. It was last year. Okay. It was August.
What's the plan for the residential house on the property? The plan of the residential house, as I briefly mentioned earlier, is for the leaf grower. It's going to be a leaf grower. A what? I didn't hear that word. Leaf grower. The head grower. The head grower. It's the head grower. It's the head agricultural worker on the site. The purpose is, it's agricultural housing is a permitted accessory use in the APZ zone, subject to certain permit requirements. So, like, the manager of this operation is going to live in this house? Is that what you're trying to say? That's correct. Joe, but presently, you would agree it's a single-family residence. It's a single-family residence. It would have to remain a single-family residence. The code for a single-family residence would require nothing greater than a four-foot fence in the front yard and up to the front facade. True? So, that's a necessary use, though. It's not the principal use. Currently, now, the property is improved with a single-family residence. That is the principal use. The fact that you intend to later make application to the town board to convert that single-family house. To agricultural worker housing. That requires town board approval. So, until that time, this is a single-family residence. It is the current principal use of the property. I don't disagree. It's the current principal use of the property. So, the four-foot fence code would apply to this, correct? If it was treated as a residential purpose, then why was the denial written up under the contract? Correct. So, what is the concept with the residents remaining? The residents remaining, and we were told it could only be used by the planning department, only be used for residential purposes. Why was it written up under the agricultural standard of six foot? That's my question to the board. Now, also, I've spoken to Brian and his partners, and they are not wed to retaining the agricultural house. If the house has to be removed, we will remove it. But if that's what the requirement of the town is, we will do it. Well, there's only one... Only one... plan that was presented to this board, the zoning board. Yes. And that's the same plan that went before the planning board. We have no different plan before us for consideration. Correct. So what's presented here today is what's before this zoning board. Agreed. Okay.
And just double back to one further point. Just as a mention about the rationale for the deer fence. This was the board's exact rationale for the fence in 2021. The benefits sought by the applicant cannot be achieved by some alternative means because a fence with that height, which in that case was four foot and six foot, that conforms to the town code will not prevent deer from entering the property and destroying gardens and plantings. Okay. But the benefit you seek is to protect the evergreens. Just as they were protecting their garden, yes. Our purpose is to protect evergreens. And you said no trailers but just trucks? Box trucks, yes. For pickup. How many? Tony, you want to speak? We anticipate that supplies will be delivered every two weeks. My question is how many trucks? Probably one to two trucks every two weeks. There's no There's no tractor trailers that are going to be left on the property? Like the ones that hook up to a cab and you leave them there? No, definitely not. You mentioned before artificial. There's a mix of natural lighting and I'm assuming like an artificial lighting. Is that how this works? LED light. LED lights. Yeah. You're going to be able to see that at night? No. In our application, we're going to be able to see that at night. Okay. Are there any uses for it? Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. Actually it uses it. trying to look around the room to see if they're poinsettias but poinsettias are raised the same way if they go beyond the 12-hour period they they move out of a flower period and back to a vegetative state so those are 199.99 percent um blackout so they're on the outside of the greenhouse on the inside how does that work it's an automated system that runs inside the greenhouse so you could drive by there at night you won't see any light you won't see any any light from inside the greenhouse and and that's that's that is industry standard across 50 states and there's plenty of backup uh we can share videos to that effect to show how it works you you built one of these in long island already uh we have not in long island but there are several blackout where have you built where have you built one that you're describing that's close closest uh closest closest would be in maine from here in maine yeah yeah wow of this type of greenhouse yeah but we have examples in uh michigan ohio colorado new mexico but not in new york state we uh our our brand not in new york state thank you there are there are several are several blacked out you know dozens of blackout facilities in new york state that we can help to reference just really more my own curiosity how is the the greenhouse ventilated is it is it just able to be opened up or is it a matter where you're basically fully hvac conditioning the space inside there and there's you know either filtration or something else that's going on with respect to the exhaust that's a great question and it's one that our audience has asked and we welcome the opportunity to explain it what we are building hoping to build is a completely sealed greenhouse with hvac climate control so what that means is that there are purpose-built hvac units that basically take air from within the cultivation room that has changed over completely every two minutes and that air goes through an hvac system that is gasketed neoprene completely closed circulates through and hits a cooling coil where the air is conditioned and dehumidified and then returns through the supply back into the building in a completely closed system that that in the rooms is activated carbon systems that's a completely closed system that are also working to circulate that air and scrub the air with a circulation rate of every two minutes and and those uh activated carbon in general in each pass takes out about 60 60 percent of things like vocs and there were concerns about buildup of terpenes in the room that's purposely why you have those in the cultivation space so that's a really good question i think that's a really good question okay so it works i'll say for lack of a better like a central air conditioning system inside a house pardon me it's it it works more or less like a central air conditioning system inside of a house you're really not exhausting except that the units themselves are completely sealed because we can't let pathogens from outside inside you know any sort of pollens or insects or other pathogens into the building okay people come into the building they suit up as if they are in a clean room environment like a library or a !
laboratory and they go through air showers. So ultimate care is given to closing off to the outside. And we've got tests and data for what that means in terms of how loud the units are and also in terms of odor through third party engineers that we plan to be submitting as part of our response to the staff report. Excuse me. Yeah. Does any part of this operation utilize prime agricultural soils? Is soil any part of this growing operation?
The intended technology and technique for the greenhouse is a hydroponic system which uses cocoa as the medium for the growth. But whether or not whether or not soil is used or living soil or a mix of soil or rock wool or aeroponics, it is it is an agricultural generally accepted technique for agricultural production shared from lettuce production further on the island to various uses. Well, we know that they do that with vertical farming, right? But here, I believe you've described it before the planning board as a greenhouse operation. But the more information that I'm receiving, the more I'm questioning, is this a greenhouse operation? How do we get to that point? I just want to make one thing very clear under New York State law. Under the New York State cannabis law, towns are prohibited from regulating where cannabis is grown. Fully prohibited. The only time that a town is allowed to regulate anyone with a cannabis license is for reasonable time, manner, and place. And those are strictly for retail cannabis and dispensary. The use, cannabis growing, cannabis production are exempt. The towns are prohibited from regulating it expressly in state law. I'm well aware of the law, Counselor. Well aware.
If I could comment on your, I think you are making a point that vertical cultivation is not agriculture or is not. Not at all. Not at all. In the agricultural protection zone, you are permitted a greenhouse. On five or more acres. A greenhouse. Differing from a vertical farm. Our code defines it differently. I mean. So, looking at your code. I would ask, the definition of greenhouse that you're referring to, if you could please share your understanding of what that is. Well, let me ask you. Describe to me the construction of these structures. Sure, happily. So, a greenhouse by definition is a structure used for year-round agriculture or for extended seasonal growth. Right? To control the environment. To either extend the season or to be able to operate year-round. The critical principle in cultivation in a greenhouse. Is that. Is to have light transparency. To capture natural light that comes through. The greenhouse. And. Basically. Ideally. Helps to supplement both the light and the heat that can make the environment suitable to growing. So, in effect, achieving the greenhouse effect. As it's known. So, critical to that. Is a light. Transparency. Transparency. Transmitting. Roof. By definition. Okay. So. Sorry. You asked. What is our construction? Sorry. Yeah. So, our construction has a. It's a structure that is an arched structure. 50-foot span arched structure with a polycarbonate light transmitting roof. Which allows it to achieve the green light. Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? greenhouse effect. Turn it 360. Sorry, 180. It's been a long day. So the rendering here shows the cladding of the curved roof structure that Jerry's pointing out, and that is all polycarbonate, light-transmitting polycarbonate. It's light-diffusing, so it has a slight soft white sort of tinting to it. You can't speak. You have to go to the microphone. Just in that picture, just to understand it, so the Quonset-looking structures with the dome roofs, those are the growing areas? Yes. And then on the western side? Is that a processing area there that has a more traditional roof? Yes. Yeah. So that traditionally is known as the head house, the accessory building. And that building houses shipping and receiving. It houses all of the locker room, gown up, gown down, air showers, offices, the drying rooms, the curing rooms, trim rooms. The water treatment rooms, the fertigation rooms where everything is mixed according to Suffolk County pollution control. The distribution of that automatically to the tables, the single-tier tables where these plants grow. These plants are different than microgreens. They're different than lettuce. They grow six, seven feet tall. And so it's a different crop. The method is designed for that. The height is designed for that. And so also in that space is the nursery where the mother, the genetics, the mother plants where clones are taken are kept. The clones themselves are then grown to a vegetative state. So there's square footage in that space for vegetative growth as well. And then they move into the greenhouses where they grow vegetatively prior to being flipped to the 12-12 hour. So that's the greenhouses where they grow vegetatively prior to the 12-12 hour requirement. Eric Green So but that one on the right hand side doesn't have that type of clear roof? In other words that's not the poly? Eric Green Correct. That is a typical agricultural standing seam insulated metal panel roof. Eric Green So this pictorial that you're presenting, this differs from the site plan that you submitted, correct? Eric Green Yes. Eric Green Right. So in the site plan that was submitted you had fencing a buddy all along the street and All along the perimeter of the property in the subsequent meeting with That we had with the building department and senior planner Greg Bergman he suggested That we actually move it back or it was discussed in that meeting and so Moving it off the road was was what was discussed He never received a changed plan an amended plan. No so What was submitted again to the zoning board? Is definitely not what's pictured here So As part of the record I did submit these renderings among others into the record tonight and we will also submit this plan that mr Tomorrow prepared which shows reduced area renderings are quite different. Correct on the site on the site plan and The zoning board is considering the site plan Represented to the Planning Board and as a result of that Site plan two issues were presented to the zoning board based upon that plan and Those two issues are still before the board which is the height of the fence and the impervious service cup variants, right? I know but You're showing a plan that is inconsistent with the submission and You're proposing to submit even a revised plan that nobody's ever seen Okay, just this okay Yeah So at this time, yeah, we just asked you if he had the plan he did he does not have to plan with him We will submit the sketch plan, which I know is not a site plan that I acknowledge
Does the board want to take a look at this and then pass it back So in this quote proposed plan that nobody has seen yet You've reduced the impervious surface coverage. Is that correct? That would be correct
All right, so it's 21.4 on it, but yeah, that's yeah
it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it of this scale exceeding impervious lot coverage minimize the conflict between agricultural and non agricultural uses so you're asking how does that minimize that well well okay it stated in the purpose and intent correct under the code the whole area in this area is owned agricultural protection zone except for the landfill which is owned by Li so this purpose is an agricultural use that is entirely indoors to prevent odors and no I will put you not really noise for a farm it's really odors these the town is also a right to farm town community there is code provisions that say that ordinary provisions of the town provoked regarding say things that create noise on a farm like tractors and things of those natures things that great you know smells such as fertilizer and things of those natures that would ordinarily be nuisance conditions are not and that's because the town has a provision in this code that is a right to farm community again counselor I'm well aware of our code mm-hmm well aware I you haven't answered my question now in the purpose and intent section yes of the APZ mm-hmm it is to harmonize residential and agricultural uses I'm fully aware Riverhead embraces its agricultural community and it's a part of the law that we have to be able to use it in the right way and that's why I'm asking you to community I'm fully aware how does proposing something that exceeds the law coverage married the two how does a lot coverage is exceeding the law coverage is solely exceeded due to a termination by the Town Board to treat impervious a pervious surface as impervious that is why we're here but they the agricultural use its itself is compliant with the, I would say, the impervious surface coverage, meaning the use, not actually the parking. Now, the code doesn't even require parking for the agricultural use. We are putting that in there for conversations with the planning department because they want us to, and they believe that it's preferable than having people park on dirt, which I do know there are people that do in the agricultural community in this area. So, your client purchased the property prior to the code change. So, when your client purchased the property, he knew the impervious surface coverage. At the time of purchase, he also knew. The size of the property and its limitations regarding lot coverage. All of that is true. Again, we're not contesting that. I will tell you that the client, before I was retained, did meet with the planning department. They had a pre-eating with staff. They went over their plan, and the town, when they told them when they were designing, was that you cannot exceed 25% ex impervious because the town, the ZBA, would not consider that. Now, we're considering that. We're here, under those conversations that were had that were relayed to me. Again, I was not there. This is what the board would, the maximum board would consider is 25% for this type of use. Obviously, the board has granted numerous impervious variances in residential zones, including those where 80,000 square foot requirements, much higher, particularly in residential context, as well as for non-residential uses in the town. So, that's why the application was submitted as it is. If the application is denied, there are alternatives that we would pursue. That would allow use to be constructed there. It would not be optimal for the developer. And we don't believe it would be optimal for the residents because of the increased height. But again, it's not our determination at the end of the day. It's not at it's boards. Another question for you. Same section of the code. How does the proposed scale with the parking exceeding lot coverage maintain the agricultural vistas or preserve the rural character? Sure. I'll submit some photographs that show existing greenhouses on Middle Road that are unscreened a short distance from this property. So there are also other facilities that are screened on this property. There are greenhouses up and down the Middle Road, which I will submit some photographs right now showing them. They are in harmony with those. And if you look at the property in its context of the area, you can see that it's not pushed against the residents to the west. There's a large open. Open field that has been proposed to maintained under this configuration. If the variance is denied, yes, it would possibly be cultivated for hemp, not for cannabis. But that would also go to the agricultural vista. As far as screening it, the purpose of the screening is also to preserve the vista so that when you drive past on Middle Road, you do not see the facility, except obviously at the gate. Why do you require? An eight-foot fence in front of the single-family residence. The only reason the eight-foot fence is there is to keep a continuous fence to keep the deer out. That's it.
Just what's your definition? I'm not an expert on it, but what's the difference between hemp and marijuana? Hemp and marijuana? You keep referencing hemp, and I don't know. The Ag and Markets Law. The Ag and Markets Law defines cannabis and hemp under different criteria. Tony, I'm sorry, he's had some horticultural experience and be more experienced. I'd say look at the agricultural law for the definition. I don't want to put words in there. Yeah, but it's in the agricultural law that's defined as a separate and different type of crop. And obviously it's used for different purposes. It's not marijuana. It's not marijuana, no. It's not what you would smoke pot. You don't smoke it? No. Hemp can be smoked. It can be smoked, yes. But it's different if you choose to. They are classified and regulated as different products under the law. You know, one of the things we consider is, and Dan already touched upon this, and Amory may have too, but one of the things we consider is whether you're creating this problem. It's a self-created hardship. So I think where the board is going is, why can't you just make the greenhouse smaller and the parking lot smaller, and you wouldn't be here? I think you're asking us to grant a greater impervious surface than what's allowed. I mean, it seems to me like you're creating this problem. Okay. Wait, I'm finished. And you're creating this problem for profit. That seems the only... It seems the only reason in my mind after sitting here and listening to all this is just so you can make more millions. I don't see any other reason why you can't comport with the current requirements. If I'm wrong, tell me. I just wanted to ask a question. I just wanted to be clear about something. Is the board okay with removing the parking lot? Then we would meet the 15%. We could just get rid of the parking lot. No. Under our town code, the planning board... The planning board has the right to require a site plan. They did require a site plan, and they also required you to include parking. No, they did not. Well, I... They did not. We offered the parking, and then the parking required the deer fence and the landscaping, the screening, and everything else. All of that came about because we didn't want to have an open greenhouse. We wanted to have a green house sitting on an open piece of property, which is currently not wooded. So if the board is suggesting we can get away with not having a parking lot, we can just get rid of the parking lot. No. I need to be perfectly clear. Please. The zoning board is not taking a position on a site plan. Site plan is for planning board. And again, a particular plan was proposed to the planning board. They reviewed it. Two items of relief were required to be presented to the zoning board. Those are the two items that are presented. And for the fifth time, the plan that the zoning board is reviewing is the plan that was presented to planning board. We understand. Yes. Again, in answer to your question, no. No to what? Crystal clear. No. On the issue of parking. The zoning board is not going to take a position on the planning board's site plan. Okay. So we can revise the site plan to the planning board and this board also. That can be revised. I'm not giving you any direction on that. I'm not giving you any direction other than what I've told you, what is before the zoning board. I understand. Thank you. I also don't feel that this eight foot fence is to protect trees and to keep deers out. What do you feel it's there to protect? There's many ways to plant trees that don't get eaten by deers. So what is the purpose of the fence? And there's many fences in Riverhead. Okay. There's many fences in Riverhead that meet the code that don't have deers. I'm not disputing any of that. Let me finish speaking. That don't have deers jumping over their fence and attacking their property. There's plenty of area in Riverhead for deers to roam around. There's an occasional deer that hops over a fence here and there, but it's not like we're under attack. I thought the New York State DEC. I believe that there's many ways that you can mitigate the deers other than what you've proposed. I can go through them if you want me to. But we all know what they are. I feel the real reason for an eight foot fence is to protect the greenhouse and the products in the greenhouse.
That's what's really going on with the eight foot fence. So let's just be straight with everybody. So. Wait. Let me just finish with that comment. Even if a deer jumped over your fence and damaged an arborvalley. You're making $8 million a year. You could replace it. I can give you the number where you can get one for $200. So I just wanted to make a comment that the planting of the vegetation on the property or a question to council. Is that a requirement of the code? I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. I think it's a requirement. vegetation that would screen the the greenhouses in terms of your your comment about a deer fence protecting the building there is no need for that because the building itself is far less penetrable than what a deer house a deer fence is made of right so that that that logic is really not the concern well from a safety perspective well my my law arms if i may continue the alarms the camera systems and the construction of the greenhouse is such to preserve the safety of what's inside what's inside further inside as vaults per the code for the protection of the product and that is not the intent of any of the other buildings that are in the greenhouses a deer fence thank you
and just to uh double back on one thing i know that uh that was mentioned uh by council that uh the parking is a planning board concern and she said that it came from the planning board so again if it wasn't again obviously the zba is not the planning board and the zba does not tell the planning board what to do but if we're only here for parking because the planning board is hacking us through parking where our parking is not required for the use then that's why we're here for the impervious variance because if we took down the residential building and didn't have parking we don't have a variance and again if we don't have the screening we don't have the second variance first the the beer the deer fence is purely uh a endeavor to mitigate the condition from the residents and from middle road from those driving by it period there was no other purpose to it is it your position that the this system that you described is completely odorless from the outside i will let our experts speak to it i'd like you to put that statement on the record actually uh yeah um aren't uh i'm not going to go on the record to comment on odor it it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's
I believe that description was for the purposes of letting everybody know here that there's not going to be an odor that leaks out of the building. That was the reason to go into all that detail, right? I appreciate that. But we never got to the question. Is there going to be an odor outside the building? There is not going to be a detectable odor that comes... I don't like the word detectable. Is there an odor outside the building? The issue is if there is an odor, whether or not an odor can be detected within the range of what the ordinance is. And so if a door opens and an odor comes out, it will be non-detectable at any of the property lawns. Full. Full. Fully non-detectable. So for instance... Do you agree there will be an odor? What's that? Do you agree there will be an odor? I think any manufacturing, if you're in a... If you are in any...
Okay. So for our farm leaders, for our farm people, in due respect... I'm sorry. You know, you asked, you know, are we going to cultivate with soil? Are we going to... I'm not asking that question. I asked you, will there be... Will there be an odor? Not when the building is closed and sealed? No. There will be no odor. No. My... The building's not going to be closed and sealed because you're going to be having 15 workers there every day walking in and out of the building. So the question... There are plans for two doors if we need to... You know, the point here is this is a closed system. No, the point is we want to know if there's an odor outside the building. You could describe... No. You could describe the system any way you want with any fancy words. Is there going to be an odor outside the building? Yes or no? No. There'll be no nuisance odor outside the building. So what is... It will be an odor. So recently we did a third-party detection at 125 feet. There was zero terpenes, terpenoids detected on that test, right? Are you saying it's an easy yes or no question? No. Will there be an odor? Yes or no? That's all. That's all I'm asking. Can you answer that? The answer to that is, to summarize his statement, there was an odor study done at 125 feet, which is farther from any resident, no residents, anyone do that? I will continue. I will answer your question. I will answer your question. That's not responsive. It's a yes or no question. The answer... No, no, sorry. I will answer your question. As you also said, will there be temporary odors that are temporal in nature when a door opens a handful of times a year? The answer is it's possible. Yes. not day, a handful of times a day, not year. So the answer is yes, there will be an order. Yes, temporary yes. Thank you. And of course, as this board knows, that issue is not before this board, that issue is before the planning board. Oh, I'm sorry. I asked you a question. You asked me the question. I can answer it. All right? Yes, I understand.
All right. I think we've heard everything. I would like to give the public an opportunity to speak. And if you come to the mic, I'll be standing up to swear you up. So we'll try to move along and then present your feelings, and we'll go on from here. We're not making any decisions here this evening. Okay? We're here to hear what's going on. Mr. Chairman, he just wants to say one more question. There's one more comment I'd like to make. Certainly. Go right ahead. It was about the harmony with agricultural intent, I think. And. The system of closed environment greenhouse agriculture is intended to be as harmonious with this community as possible. The ownership, as defined by the fact that it's filtered, it's closed. We are not doing traditional farming involving manure, heavy machinery. We are not growing in an open. Greenhouse. Cannabis. Which is within the code. And the law. We are offering up to use the most sealed, contained, filtered, highest technology that is available to grow this crop. That's what we are doing. That being said, there's still going to be an order. No. No.
We are. We're happy to point you guys in the direction and members of your board to go visit where the sampling was done. The test will be submitted as followup to the record. To the staff report. That shows zero detection of terpenoids. Those are the odors that are put out by cannabis plants. Right? Hemp creates a lot of odor. Open field production of hemp. Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? is a very odor producing crop which is a crop that we can legally grow on the land in order to make our project a project that realizes what the goals of ownership are we are working in our best intent with this community to be open to share all of the data to help to dispel misunderstandings about what the science is and we welcome open dialogue about that and we welcome you all to become educated in what best practices are and what non best practices are and there are many non best practices across this industry that have given it a bad name this facility as designed is the best technology available and we appreciate your willingness to listen and to become educated and to engage with us as good neighbors and thank you thank you Mr. Kiefer can I just ask you one other question and one I really do appreciate the calm manner that you've tried to present everything in so my hats off to you on that um you mentioned before that deliveries which only come about two box trucks every two weeks or something like that delivering supplies just on the opposite end of that as the product is leaving is there anything special that happens this is more has nothing to do with the two questions we're dealing with but I am interested in it there's special protocols or the armored trucks that show up is there anything that's unusual about it that's different than you know a box truck showing up at a regular I'll say greenhouse taking away floral type of point status let's use that's W perfect not to my knowledge requirement-wise for brings type truck now typically operations use like a sprinter van for their deliveries the the cubic volume of what's being produced is not particularly high right the the items that will be delivered are the substrate the cocoa which will come in a couple times a month and the nutrients right all of that is on palletized we can stage it off-site and bring it in a way that is you know a lot less traffic than you know arguably anything else on the road that is commercially doing an operation in just one other product you're making you went when I thought about this for a bit right you talked about the drawing room so I kind of understand how that works it's in you've got your sealed environment so the air is just recirculating through it's going through filters stuff like that are you making actual end-use products in any cases where you need a little bit more of a process to make sure that you're not just taking a product and drying it yeah we are not there's no commercial kitchen there's no solvent based extraction no no activities of that nature that are going to need to have a lot of ! to have a lot of ! to have a lot of ! to have a lot of ! so we're going to have that type of air scrubbing and air handling it's it's not part of what the plan is okay thank you thank you Heather I just want for the record so we don't forget we did receive correspondence from Town of Riverhead open space committee a letter from the group for the East and a letter from a Ms. Marks a letter from Greater Calvertine City. a letter from the group for the East and a letter from a Ms. Marks a letter from Greater Calvertine City. in Civic Association and a letter from Calvertine Civic Association. Did I hit them all? Yes, that's everything. So there's Calvertine Civic 458 Committee that sent a letter, and then there was a greater Calvertine Civic Association, like a packet that they sent. Great. Okay. I think we'll open it up for public comment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. One at a time. One at a time. Come on up.
Yeah. Okay. Solomon, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I do. This is Salvatore Salvato. I live at 112 Golden Spruce Drive, Calvertine, which is situated approximately, it's about 2.6 kilometers down. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. Sale it for $1. I'd like the applicants to disclose the location of that address of where that greenhouse is for the record that you know that location because they're making reference to this proposed greenhouse structure, right? Where is that located? Ms. Danzalo, can you answer that? Are you referring to the rendering? The photograph. That's a rendering of the site, of the proposed site. Sure. Where is that located? 1458 Middle Road, Albertson, New York. No. The one, the photograph. It's a proposed rendering. It's a three-dimensional rendering. It's not an actual photograph. Oh, okay. It's not. It's digital. Okay. Thank you for that clarification.
And one other question. In the context of when it was told that there is a greenhouse in the area, were there other greenhouses being built? And where is the nearest ones? The gentleman indicated Maine and some other states. And my question to them is, in those locations, where would be the nearest residential home to those locations if they know? If they did their homework, they would know and be prepared to answer that question. That there was viable greenhouses of the same kind that we're going to build in those neighborhoods or areas, and they're just adjacent to residential structures like ours. I'd like them if they could add to this comment I'm making, if they know. Thank you. Can you answer that? So, there are cannabis greenhouses operated. And they're operating in an open mode of operation, meaning direct exhaust fans within 500 feet of houses by ordinances all up and down the coast. We have one of our structures in an open environment, which is within 250 feet of a residence. And that's operating in an open environment where the air is not circulating. That's turning over. Once per minute, all of the air volume in the cultivation space. And in that process, it disperses before it reaches, and it's not resulted in a nuisance. So. Thank you. As defined by the TAM. Thank you. No further questions. Thank you. Thank you for your time. And I just wanted to make the point that that's in an open setting. This is in a completely closed setting. Yeah, as I pointed out. Next one. Who wants to come up? Good evening. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. Sale for Sale. operations for the commercial growing says that businesses must secure a compliant location which this is not and obtain local zoning permits just to like point that out when there was this uh statement earlier that new york state like sort of they wouldn't be here if they didn't need zoning approvals so um i just wanted to go through the criteria from my own perspective i am a professional town planner i would say that this is not an operational farm as prudenti is correct that it is a single family residential parcel there is no right to farm because it is not an operational farm the variance or any variance for this use would create an unwelcome change in the neighborhood character and it would harm nearby properties based on what everyone is here safe the applicant can achieve their goal with another plan to create a new residential housing plan and then the plan will be implemented in the next year and that would be a practical solution which is find another location the variance is substantial and significant this is a lovely rural parcel with a historic home that I drive by 50 times a day my parents live in Foxwood Village and no one wants to see it turn into a commercial operation it just doesn't fit the character of the area and I think in that way it would negatively affect the physical and environmental conditions the traffic the drainage are all the things that we identify with in this location and this is definitely a self-created hardship they are trying to profit off of something buy something that is not for this purpose and receive variances and different things for something that does not belong here so I would say that those considerations and the balancing that this board has to do it would lean in the favor of denial thank you thank you
thank you tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do help you god please state your name and address hi takwee turchin greater calverton civic association president welcome pardon welcome thank you and i while i review uh zoning board proceedings by zoom and on channel 22 quite often this is the first time i've been in front of your board to speak to you so thank you very much chair whitmire and for the questions that have happened tonight it is refreshing to see such detail and such rigor in your questioning we appreciate it
california civic committee 1458 committee submitted uh two documents that you wrote you quoted with the first one is the california civic committee's report on the first was a short one it was a three pager and the third the second was um a 20 pager i'm sorry what it was very detailed thank you mr robert gas
the second one was on the two use variances the two variances before this board the first letter i'd like to just read it into the record it is quite quick it is for what you have accomplished tonight we thought that we would ask you for a use interpretation outright before entering into a discussion on the variances what you were able to do by your questioning from your attorney and from yourselves has accomplished what we we asked in that letter so here it is um our request for use interpretation brother bear canna 1458 middle road calverton on behalf of more than 500 households along with the county council and long middle road including 420 senior households at wincrest east and foxwood village located approximately 500 to 700 feet from the project site we respectfully request that the zoning board of appeals using use a use interpretation pursuant to town code 108-213 before considering the applicant's fence and impervious surface variances december 11th why a use interpretation is required first the threshold question is a proposed facility a traditional agricultural greenhouse or is it more accurately classified as vertical farming manufacturing or industrial processing uses that are not permitted in the agricultural protection district if the proposed use is not permitted in the ap zone the variances are moot why this is not a traditional greenhouse the application describes a 34 000 square foot 24 foot high industrial building supported by 24 7 multiple shift operations with 30 employees we were told 30 i don't know where the number of four 15 or 20 came up tonight but in the paperwork it was listed as 30. artificial led lighting and full industrial hvac systems on-site drying curing trimming and packaging and possibly extraction secure eight foot fencing a tip atypical for residential uses a retail ready or wholesale ready finished product rather than raw material agricultural commodities these characteristics match vertical farming slash industrial processing not greenhouse agriculture regulatory indicators of an industrial agriculture and the use of the
industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses for industrial uses long pause here what we recognize so it's not in the letter this is a precedent-setting project and we appreciate the scrutiny to which you're putting it to this board has previously issued use interpretations based on regulatory requirements such as the epcal anaerobic digester case where dec permitted permitting placed the facility in a use category not allowed the same logic applies here regulatory classification determines zoning classification request we respectfully request that the board issue a use interpretation determining whether the facility is a permitted agricultural greenhouse or unpermitted industrial vertical farming use if industrial determine that the use is not permitted in the ap district and therefore the variances are not eligible for consideration alternatively table the variance hearing until this interpretation is resolved if the board proceeds to variances not recommended we also know independent grant grounds for variance denial one through four public health exception to aml 305a 120 126 nearby senior households with high copd and respiratory vulnerability no health emissions analysis has been conducted two not an agricultural building building code number 202 excludes buildings that process treat or package agricultural products three missing required permits spdes disturbance permit has not been obtained for seeker type 2 exemption does not apply industrial 24 7 operations are not farm management practices conclusion this proposal is functionally an industrial cannabis cultivation and processing facility not a greenhouse a use interpretation is required before any variance can be considered we urge the board to make this determination and protect the intent of the agricultural protection district we're expectably submitted the 20 pager i'm going to spare you i'm sure you read it and it goes into the details on the two variances i'm holding in my hand a packet only going to fan it there's about 125 245 signatures on a petition that is ongoing it's in it's in circulation tonight and we're going to continue through the process of adding names onto this petition and the petition reads very similarly to what i just read to you the people in the room tonight it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's clear it's referred to as farmland inaccurately that land is 42 acres that town of Riverhead residents own as open space not farmland
additionally if I haven't taken up too much time the the third parcel of the original Kowalinski farm the five acre of postage stamp the 42 acre preserved property for open space and by Riverhead town there's a third our parcel across the street south for 12 acres which abuts the Foxwood village that also is going into preservation my information from Dean Gantley from a super from Suffolk County Legislature starks office is that it is currently in the process of being preserved as open space not farmland and I'll leave you with that thank you with a short piece here let's stop sugar coating it this is not a greenhouse it's an industrial cannabis factory dressed up in agriculture language factories need scrutiny factories need environmental review factories do not get variances without proving they won't harm the land around them especially not with wetlands why wildlife and 500 homes downwind but that's exactly what's happening tonight they want exceptions before explanations they want permission before accountability you are the firewall between our community and a reckless approval please don't lower the shield thank you you were a ternisher I am an attorney all right just say your name and your address my name is George Palmer I live at four green ash in wincrest east sorry could you spell your last name pammer p-a-m-m-e-r and i'd like to thank the board and council for their attention to this and the rigorous questioning that it absolutely does deserve what you're witnessing here in this room tonight is and no pun intended a grassroots movement this is a a problem of a company coming in that is an outside organization they have no business here in new york they've transferred a cannabis license possibly illegally as the head of the ocm was terminated yesterday in new york state by the governor transferred their distribution and cultivation license to this property under a different llc which was coming from a different llc than bought the property and we still don't have any presence of an ownership this is being done this is systematically being done to pull the wool over the planning board's eyes as well as this board this cannot be allowed what we have is a full industrial site when that planning picture was up i counted 14 hvac units in that picture i don't know of a farm anywhere that has to operate 14 different hvac units 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it
I'm going to call bull because it's going to be more like 15 or 20. They're going to be operating these trucks regularly, shipping their product out. I'm so glad that they acquiesced that they're not going to use tractor trailers because there's an eight-ton limit on that road. They can't use tractor trailers. So they're trying to come in here like they're making all these great amends to the community to satisfy everybody, and they're really not. What they're trying to do is change plans, change designs, change sizes, and say, no, we're good. We don't need a variance because we'll go without you. I don't think that's going to work because I know this board and I know the planning board is not going to allow that to happen to these people. On a more personal basis, I will say publicly, I have 18 years of service. Sobriety in February. I have abstained from alcohol, marijuana, drugs of all types. The last thing I need when I get up to leave my house in the morning is that odor of marijuana or hemp, which is quite more pungent, drifting over to my house because I'm going to be approximately 753 feet away from a marijuana home. Speaker 5. Speaker 6. Speaker 7. Speaker 8. Speaker 9. Speaker 10. Speaker 11. Speaker 12. Speaker 13. Speaker 14. Speaker 15. Speaker 15. Speaker 15. Speaker 16. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. Speaker 17. What you didn't hear from the developer is that our property is 653 feet from the property line to the immediate east, northeast of this development. The prevailing winds year long are out of the southeast. That is going to blow any and all odors immediately over this property. And it's going to be in a community that's 55 and older that has health issues, COPD issues, lung issues. We have one resident in the community. You're going to hear from her daughter next. She's 106 years old. God bless you. I want to be very, very clear that this community that is here tonight and the people that couldn't be here tonight do not oppose cannabis. We're not here for that. That's not what this is. What this is is destroying a neighborhood of hundreds and hundreds of people that have their life savings invested in their homes and in their families. And it's going to absolutely destroy a neighborhood. This is not hyperbole. This is a factory that's coming in to a residential area to do factory type work. And it's not acceptable. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Are you a librarian? I do solemnly swear to tell the truth. All truth. And nothing but the truth. I do. I do. Please state your name and address. My name is Diane. I'm from 76 Golden Spruce Drive. Calverton. Win helt. Thank you. Members of the Board. I appreciate speaking with you. Every one of us here, residents and officials alike, share a responsibility to the future, and that responsibility is being tested. Pardon me, I have a cold. An industrial-scale cannabis facility wants variances that will alter drainage, alter wildlife movement, alter the character of the land, and yet we still don't have the environmental studies, the wetlands determinations, or the operational clarity that any responsible reviewer would demand. You are being asked to act without sight, and that's not how government should work. Please remember that this land, this water, this open space, they belong to all of us. We really appreciate your postponing these variances until real information not speculation is available. Thank you. Thank you. Are you an attorney? I've got to ask. No. I do solemn swear. I played one once. Tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me God. Yes. Please state your name and address. Carrie McKillop, 93 Northwoods Road, Calverton. I wanted to say thank you very much before the meeting tonight. Thank you. I went through the board's roles and responsibilities, and you have like far surpassed any expectations that I had, so thank you very much. I just wanted to point out, just as a matter of fact, this property has not been farmed in 45 years, that we can confirm. Historic GIS suggests even longer than that. It is additionally, it's assessed residential 210. I know that's not zoning. But it was assessed that way for some reason. Who the applicant for this project is, is unclear. The application on the original, or the applicant on the original application to the Zoning Board of Appeals is 1458 Middle Road. I don't know that anybody here tonight is from 1458 Middle Road, LLC. Okay. The proposed greenhouse project is Brother Bear Canna. I don't know if anybody here is from that organization.
The person that, the organization that holds the OCM license is Grass River Hemp. That license was awarded to a Dean Hopshower, I'm probably saying his name, or Lapshower, I'm saying his name incorrectly. He was one of the people who was awarded the license. He was one of the original awardees of a hemp license back in 2018. Then he was one of the original cannabis license awardees. And they're up in St. Lawrence County, New York. And then when this came up, we started asking questions about the licenses. And, you know, they didn't have a license. And then I did a little research and found out they're using Grass River Hemp. And then I started calling the state. And a couple of weeks later, they were using Grass River Hemp. And then I started calling the state. And a couple of weeks later, they were using Grass River Hemp. And so there was an amendment. And now the license is for Suffolk County. So I would suggest that there's a lot of questions around the licensing. And as George stated, they just had a major reshuffle at the top of OCM 2. So regardless the two variants request the applicant, whoever they are, has not sufficiently demonstrated the need for an applicant, a variants rather so. And I think you see that. Thank you. Thank you. saw that and thank you anyone else anyone online okay so I'm just where to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do help me God please state your name and address Linda Nemeth I live at nine Black Pine Street in Calverton Linda Nemeth thank you it's a little bit outside of the variances that are being asked for but when I'm researching the amount of power necessary it seems as if two to three thousand kilowatts of energy are used for every pound of product produced I don't know if we use that in our whole country but I think it's a good idea to do that I think it's a good idea to do community we're being asked during times of drought to reduce our water usage will anybody else be requested to do that if we were denied a well for whatever reasons why would someone else right near us be given a well permit the power usage is tremendous the amount of water used in these facilities is tremendous and aside from that let's say power went out they're asking for a transformer what if power goes out well then there are generators and if any of you have a generact for your house you know that that generact makes a little bit of noise imagine how many of those generators are needed to keep that place going and functioning under terrible circumstances so I just ask that you consider other things besides just this thank you thank you you saw me swear to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do please state your name and Steve Haber 78 Northwoods Road beating hollow first I must apologize the way I look before the meeting I was out there I was out in the community and the community was out there and the community was out there getting signatures in opposition of this cannabis factory and every night what I'm doing I'm soaking my feet in order to say but it used to sell vacuum cleaners at 19 can't do it anymore however I got to tell you that every door that I've gone to every person that has answered it could not get the clipboard out of my hand quick enough the community has been so kind and so Immunity is totally against this. But the real reason why I came up is I moved to this particular area in Baiting Hollow because I love the peace and the serenity. Every morning I'm up at 5 a.m. and the first thing that I do is make a cup of coffee. I go outside and I sit on my porch and I feed my cats, my feral cats. As the crow flies, I'm approximately two and a half miles from the expressway, two and a half miles from the railroad tracks, two and a half miles from any other main artery. And you can hear them as if they are in your backyard. And the questions that you asked this evening regarding smell, when we were at Windcrest, they said that, it would capture anywhere between 55 to 80 percent of the odor. Could not give a determination as to the amount of sound that would be produced by either the generators or the HVAC. I really do appreciate the serenity and the quietness. Sound travels. And especially when there's no foliage on the trees. You can hear it. You can hear it. You can hear it. You can hear it. You can hear it. You can hear it.
hear these trains and cars and by the way across the street from me there is a farm and they're up at six o'clock in the morning and i'll make you a bet that they don't nearly make as much noise as what's going to be put in my backyard i thank you very much for your time thank you i'm getting my exercise for the day so i'll make sure to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth so i'll help you god i do please state your name and address carmine annabelle 104 golden spruce drive winchrist east thank you just a a brief comment and an observation it would appear that the design intent for this project is a bit adrift um i i did attend the very first presentation for this project in our community center i still have the booklet i've shared it with a number of people here we share some of my concerns there are a few things that you can garner from that document one is the scale of this project as you look at it today seems to be growing the head house in particular stands out um the the comments about uh activated coal filters or what have you are also adrift at that present it's also it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's because you have a 40 inefficiency in the coal filters we haven't even spoken about particulates and there is a boatload of particulates that are going to be coming out of this this facility and maybe you'll get around to talking about hepa filters as the first line of defense of what's going out the door who knows um and the last thing i'll say and i'm not an engineer but i i've i've read enough to know there's gonna be a boatload of water required uh to run this project and between the fertigation process and cooling who knows if they're going to have cold water cooling for their air conditioning water cool units as opposed to air cooled cold units um there's a lot of unknowns uh the one inch assuming you can only only utilize one well the second one was said to be backup one one inch line is not going to run that facility there's gazillions of gallons of water that are going to be used just for the fertigation process if they have water cooled air conditioning units it's only going to exacerbate that number to scales that we wouldn't want to have to have a discussion about so there's a lot in the formative stages here and i i think we need to continue as as a group collectively to challenge these concepts as they're evolving uh if they continue to evolve thank you
uh how are you good how are you i just always swear to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the drill i do your god please state your name and address hi my name is larry levy i'm the community manager over at foxwood village 1407 middle road california county i'm the community manager of foxwood village 1407 middle road california county middle road calverton new york 11933 so i i spoke in front of the planning board um last the last meeting that they had and um i listened to everything that was said this evening um there were a couple things that sometimes you have to read you have to listen between the words and and i heard some things that um kind of concerned me a little bit one of them was um they were having a conversation about hemp and the growing of hemp and i was told that that would not happen um unless it may not be profitable enough or the profits aren't high enough they may then turn to possibly growing hemp in the field off to the side and hemp has a worse smell than um uh cannabis does uh it has a very potent smell it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it uses it
drive and this was uh just prior to the planning board meeting i took a drive up the driveway um i probably was 300 400 feet away and i started smelling the odor the wind was blowing my way and i said oh yep i can smell it and as i got closer and closer the smell got more and more um i drove over into maidstone as well um i knocked on doors where i saw people's cars were home and i asked them i told i introduced myself i said they're uh a possible plan to put a cannabis uh growing facility across from uh foxwood village and uh everyone gave me the same exact look they went oh like that and they laughed and i asked them i said was there is there a smell from this facility and they said yes there is they did some modifications to allow the smells not to be as as potent um but when the wind shifts they have prevailing wind that comes across the sound and blows it away from them most of the time but when the wind does shift they do get that odor so as far as an open facility that's not a open uh greenhouse facility that's not true it does have an odor to it um i did see their filtration system and i saw it was working um but the smell that was coming out of the filtration system was um was still giving an odor um um what i would what i'm going to do is if uh the organization provides um an address of one of their growing facilities i am going to take the opportunity to try to go and visit that facility i don't necessarily have to go in or even enter the property i just want to listen i want to smell i want to look i want to take in uh every sense sensory perception in the area so this way i can get a better understanding because sometimes you say something and it's not really what is um what's really there so um you know and and so this facility in i'm going to kind of end it pretty quick here but a lot of people address um uh property values in an area and so property values aren't affected very quickly uh it's it's a slow burn and i and i'm a real estate appraiser uh by professional for over 25 years and and so it's a slow burn that affects the uh um the values in a property so if there's no smell and nothing's coming out of it it's going to take a little bit longer maybe they'll be a little bit right at the beginning some of the way that you would get that slow burn is a real estate um agent talking about trying to sell a house in another community further away and then that buyer says hey you know i'm thinking about um you know looking up at a foxwood village and um that real estate agent says oh i don't know if i would do that there's a cannabis and they're not going to say it that nicely they're not going to say a count of this farm they're going to say there's a pot farm across the street i'm not quite sure if you want to go look at that and that kills one of our buyers and and so that slowly affects the the values within because we have less and less people you know so one of the things i had asked the planning board was will they put larger trees so this way you don't see the facility um larger um you know arborvitae green giants uh you know uh so this way you don't see the property because someone coming through um on middle road into my complex um and same with wind crest as well um coming into my complex and they come in to buy a home and then they say hey what is that big building over there now i can't mislead the public i have to let them know what it is so i say it's a cannabis growing farm but it doesn't affect anything you know i'm going to go back on my heels at that point and and does the person say ah who cares you know as long as a or maybe the person says I don't want to you know and we're dealing with a 55 and older community and and and so not saying that that 55 and older residents don't partake in cannabis use it the generation we have a lot we go I think the oldest we have in our community is 102 years old so the generation some of the people moving in they don't really okay it's not their style okay so being that said I just wanted to go over the way that it could greatly affect our values over time with this project then that's all I have
okay are you returning I'm gonna swear you it I just solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me God. I do. Please state your name and your address. My name is Nicole Miller. I live at Golden Spruce Drive. Thank you very much. In Cresty's community with my husband. And I probably don't look the age, but I'm legal. So I just want to highlight one point with regard to the logistics concerning the size of the trucks that would be going in and out of the proposed facility once or twice a week. I know what a trailer looks like. Those are really heavy-duty trucks. A box truck is like from 10 to 16 feet. As much as 24 to 26 feet, which is like pretty big still. So my question to the applicants, even though it's proposed that deliveries or traffic in and out would be twice a week, are we talking just one or two trucks twice a week or several trucks twice a week? And if it's at the size of 24 to 26 feet box trucks, as opposed to a little 10 to 16 feet box truck. I see them on the road every day. And I deal in supply chain management. So even though it's smaller than a trailer, it's just a couple feet smaller than a trailer. That's still heavy-duty, even if it's going to be in the legal weight limit for truckage allowed on the road and middle road. Right? But I just want to know. The regularity of how many trucks would be going in and out twice a week, estimatedly. Great. Thank you. Yes. Yeah.
So that's my concern also, among all the others that have been presented tonight. That's all I've got. Thank you very much.
You saw where to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. So help you God. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Jerry Halpin, 91 Rabbit Run, Riverhead, New York. And as the chairman of the Wildlife Management Committee, the applicant's counsel said that a six-foot fence is easy for a deer to hop over. And that is true. It is actually meant to be that way because we're to live harmoniously with the wildlife in our area, which we do here on the east end of Long Island. An eight-foot fence will actually at times cause more harm to our wildlife, which is why we don't permit them in our residence so that the wildlife can live in harmony with us. I just like to make that clear. I just like to make that statement and encourage you to live by that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Why don't we go to about 8.15? We got, what do you call it? We got a call. Next person up. Come on. We do have people on Zoom. Do we have Zoom? Oh, gosh. You want to take a five-minute break? Yes, sir. We can. Five minutes break? Yeah. Okay. So if anyone wants to come up, we can. Okay. So if anyone wants to come up, we can. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. Whoever. No, that goes into co-enforcement. We're just taking a break.
We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. We're just taking a break. I APPRECIATE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS. 10 PURPLE BEACH STREET, CALVATON, NEW YORK, WINDCREST EAST. A LITTLE CLARITY ON THE WELLS. IN 2021, WINDCREST EAST SUPPLIED FOR WELLS TO IRRIGATE OUR PROPERTY FOR IRRIGATION. WE WERE DENIED BY DEC BECAUSE OF CONTAMINANTS IN THE WATER. THEY WON'T ALLOW US TO HAVE ANY WELLS. THEY TOLD US AT OUR MEETING AT THE CLUBHOUSE THAT THEY WERE PUTTING IN TWO WELLS. WE CONTACTED DEC AND AS OF THIS DATE, THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF 1458 MIDDLE COUNTRY ROAD OR CRAZY BEAR OR WHATEVER NAME THEY'RE GOING UNDER. NOBODY EVER APPLIED TO THEM. SO I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY GOT, THEY SAID THEY HAD APPROVAL FOR TWO WELLS. IF ANYONE ON ZOOM WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK ON THIS MATTER, PLEASE RISE YOUR HAND AND UNNENEAT YOURSELF. MR. BARNEZ, CAN YOU HEAR US?
He's saying yes. I can't hear you. Yes, sir. Oh, thank you. Is anyone left here? We would like to move forward here. All right, so. I have one question. Go ahead. If I could ask you one more question, just back to the greenhouses and the head house. So I kind of understand this correctly. The grow houses, for lack of a better word, the Quonset looking type of things that have the polycarbonate ceilings, those are all basically you're calling them greenhouses, right? Correct. The head house, which doesn't have any light filtration, is that considered by you to be a greenhouse or is that an accessory building? I just want to understand what it's considered to be. The use is technically split. Between agricultural cultivation, it's not in a light transmitting roof, but as I described before, the mothers are grown there, the clones are taken there, and the vegetative stage is all grown under artificial light in a portion of that building. The rest is commonly known as accessory use of a head house in a greenhouse operation, which would be common in a typical farm. Okay. Does that help? Yeah. Also, there was a question, I believe it was by Ms. Miller, about the trucks, the box trucks. Yeah. Are they 24 to 26 or thereabouts, or 10 to 16 feet? Would you know up here? I don't yet because we haven't contracted yet. But what I can say is that I'm pretty confident that the amount of pallets that we're talking about on a monthly basis is not enough. So, the amount of pallets that we're talking about on a monthly basis, because you're in logistics, is probably less than 20 pallets, 4x4 pallets. Does that make sense to you? So, are those standard pallets? Standard pallets. So— 4x4. 4x4 with 20 pallets is— Yeah. So— What is the high— Oh, oh, no. Of a box truck? Exactly. So, how—are we stacking those— I'm sorry. I'm just going to ask you to go up to the microphone. If you can— If you can— Yeah. If you can— If you can— No, that's on a monthly basis. I know. So we're saying divided by the number of trips and the number of trucks. Okay. Yeah. So it's, I believe that to be very far below what you may have had in mind with the 26 foot trucks. Okay. And how does that facilitate your potential revenue of $68 million, which is such a small quantity? Yeah. So what we will be delivering is primarily cocoa, nutrients, and some of the other ingredients needed for integrated pest management, which are organic sprays that go on to, like peppermint spray and such, commonly used. So those items, that's all that's needed for 12,500 square feet of cultivation. The life cycle on a plant is about 10 weeks. So if you take the number of plants that grows out over a 10 week period, each plant is in a one to two gallon bucket. Right? So when you translate that into the number of pallets for cocoa, plus all of the nutrients, plus those other supplies, it's of that magnitude. I wanted to address a couple of the other questions or comments as well. Okay. So one of the questions or themes was about water. Right? In this facility, it is a closed circulating system at two levels. One is the way the system works is about 3,000 gallons of water are in circulation a day. Right? And that water is mixed with nutrients. And that water is then conveyed to the plants throughout the 12 hour cycle. And that stops. 95% of that water is used by the plant and is transpired. It sweats it into the air. Right? As part of the photosynthetic process. I think we all know that it creates humidity. That air, when it goes through the HVAC system, the HVAC system has coils that are at a temperature of about 100 degrees. And that air condenses the water being held in the air. And that water is recirculated through a filtration system and used in perpetuity. There's a need for about 300 gallons a day of water. I could say that this room, you know, in your house is using more than 300 gallons a day. So the notion that this is standard. How much is that? 300. 300? Times 40 households. No, I'm saying how much are you using? 300. 300? Yeah. 300? 300? 300. So our wells, which do not require DEC application, fall under a 45 gallon per minute rate. If you have a question, I'd be happy to answer it. Well, if you want to, if you. If you want to step up to the microphone, please, because that's to be recorded. He's been swarming. There you go. So if I can just continue on the water usage, I think the concern that closed environment, controlled environment growing is a massive consumer of water that is not based in the engineering, the science, or all of the facilities that use a recirculating system. I'd be happy to provide the plans that were submitted to pollution control. That demonstrate that. In clarity. Your name's Cable. Yes. Cable. Yes. All. I would say. If. If. Our. Water. Was. Contaminated. We. Are. A. Few. 100. Feet. From. You. So. You. Are. Going. To. Use. not recirculated as the condensate that that 5% is nutrients which flow off of the table right and into a system where they are circulated through a filtration and a reverse osmosis system and the slag of that is contained in hazardous waste buckets and will be taken off-site on a two-week period and all of this see me is in the pollution prevention plan that the County of Suffolk County so there is no discharge of fertilizer and into the into the environment so let me just say if you're using contaminated water to grow pot or hemp whatever then you distribute it and people are going to smoke it that and that and so thank you for that as well because in the as part of the sourcing of the water from the well it passes also through sand filtration reverse osmosis UV filtering all of that system is part of a very complex engineered system that is part of the plan and we are not intending to put any sort of effluent or waste onto the property well it's my my understanding that you can't drill a well unless the DEC gives you permission yeah and and that key point that I said was the 45 gallon per minute rate is the cutoff when we went to the DEC they said you don't need to do that you're nowhere near 45 gallons a minute and the second one is backup our preference was to use city water city water can't be used for agricultural uses because of precedent because people would be worried about ground cover you know the water would be used for the water that's being used for the crops being used with the limited resources that we have here on the island oh I know DTC I know record of you so pardon me mr. if you have a question yeah mr. Cavalier just mentioned the word hemp and that word hemp was raised before can you can we assure these people that under no circumstances you can change to him I mean it's gonna matter I want an assurance that he's not gonna shoot shift from marijuana that the hemp okay you know I just said that I don't know what they're growing I just asked him the question oh yeah and our plan that we submitted today for consideration we learned six times that I didn't quite understand it's not including him and our intent is not to not to do him our intent is to is our intent okay come on up to the mic this young sorry how's that you're not saying yes or no hi talk we church inside a step in front of you but the question is is there a way to get the hemp to the ! again from Calvert and Civic on the regards of water and the quality and P Foss which is a known contaminant in the area we know that up at up Cal we have a huge problem right we have a problem outside the the fence line with P Foss P Foss has been found in that area where this postage stamp property is and one of the reasons why the people on North Woods Road and Windcrest East are not on individual wells it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it DEC. It didn't stop. They had to get fresh water from Riverhead Water District and from Suffolk County Water Authority in order to have potable water. So there's going to be PFAS in this product one way or the other because it's in the ground below it. It's not scientific, but that's one of the reasons why there's large concern. That landfill is unlined. That hydrogeology is important to be taking into perspective when we're going to be dropping wells in. Whether the DEC says whatever they're doing preliminarily, I'd like to see it in writing because you should be refuting that and drilling down even further on them for more specifications. Thank you. So water testing is very important and the water quality is very important and the end product is thoroughly tested by the state. I think one of the things that really resonated there. Is that we need science. We can't just sit here and come up with anecdotes and limited research by non-scientists and make claims. So to that effect. What's that? Yeah. So if I could for a second. I need to rebut that because the gentleman is speaking directly to me without saying my name. I'm not a scientist. No. I didn't say that. I'd like to have a chance to rebut. If it's irrelevant, the chairperson will let me know. It is not anecdotal. These are science-backed examples that you can ask the Navy and you can ask, I believe her name is Phoenix with, I think she's with Suffolk County with Stony Brook's DEC and also with the Department of the Navy. There is science behind why the filters didn't work. And that's readily available. What I'm posing to you and to the people in this room are compelling questions. And our intent is to provide scientific answers to those compelling questions because we share those questions with you. There's just one last quick question for you, Mr. Kiefer. Yeah. Please. As we were going through this discussion, I just realized it when I was looking at the plan. There's a separate building identified as a proposed sanitary building? Yeah. Is it on the plot in the front? No. That's not a building, sir. That's what? It's not a building. What is that? That is an IA out system which is enclosed in a chain link fence, a long chain link fence four feet high. So it's an IA system that's 24 by 24 enclosed fence? That's correct. It encloses the system, it encloses a stanchion for an electric supply and a switch and, you know, whatever is needed for that particular facility. And that's just for, I'm going to say, the domestic use is either inside the house or inside the bathrooms for the greenhouse? Both, yes. Okay. That's right. Also, part of the pollution prevention plan on file and submitted, sorry, it's draft submitted, it'll be on file. file but we're happy to share it in its draft form today because it's it's pretty complete okay thank you so um i know my colleague wants to make a couple of of comments um there's a question about electricity yes this is an electricity intensive uh industry when you use the lights and with the hvac our intent is to have the most uh uh environmentally um sourced electricity on the site so that's that's our concession and our uh what does that mean you can purchase uh power from solar projects we need solar that has a 100 renewable aspect to it so the so it's a choice right a choice of management in respect to the environment which we thoroughly support as evidenced by the fully closed system which means fully closed with carbon filters in the cultivation room that circulate for changing the air two times a minute and each pass can remove up to 65 in each pass so this was you know a point of that was not fully understood scientifically and i apologize that you're last on the list that's more or less my last comment i'm happy to stay around and answer questions um i know john has a few things um there was a member of the audience that came up and um i had researched how much power it yeah how much power it required to to um create a pound of marrow i think it was a pound of marijuana i'm not sure i i think the units on that were not quite uh act accurate and definitive well i got two questions for you sure since you seem to be an expert on this i i don't have the calculations of how many kilowatt hours how much electric does it acquire to harvest a pound of marijuana at this facility and then how many pounds of marijuana are you going to harvest a year out of there you know um that's not my role to divulge you know confidential information about what we produce and don't as a business as you can respect how I mean it is tell me a business that comes in front of you and says exactly how do you make what you're going to make I'm not asking how you make it I'm just saying how many pounds of marijuana are you gonna harvest out of there I don't I don't have the number fully in front of me and I don't think it's relevant to the variance discussion so it's relevant I'm not gonna answer it tonight so it's really what I will say on the yeah pardon it was just relevant to the energy usage with the what there was a certain amount of energy usage electric usage per pound I guess to generate a pound of marijuana I think the the issue is how much energy is the facility going to use how much energy would the facility use in a backup energy generator situation and how does that translate to the size of the facility and the amount of energy that uses it for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for So the way the system is designed is that not the entire set of lights will be employed in the event of an outage, right? There's just key elements of the power plan will be invoked when there's an outage. So I just wanted to be clear, we're not talking about power stations of electricity that boot on when there's an outage. So there you have that. I believe I've addressed many of the questions. Again, we are open. Oh, the last thing I'll say. This lady wants to speak once again. Let her go. Thank you. I know it's a long evening. It's probably two and a half hours. You guys had a potty break. Great. I don't know if everybody in here took one. I'll be quick. Our concern with the energy is... Is that without understanding the amount of energy per pound, which you asked for, we're looking to understand also not only the daily requirements, right? But what if there is an energy outage? And what they've divulged so far is that they have a 12-hour on and 12-hour off light requirement. Last time there was a Hurricane 3, I don't think it knew that there was only a 12-hour window that it could occur. One of the supplements to the energy... The energy that they're suggesting is to have a transformer dedicated to this use. That also draws more attention to this property and needs to be looked at more closely. Thank you.
The 12-hour requirement for cultivation to keep a cannabis plant in a flowering stage, as would be for a poinsettia, is to have light presence. So in the rooms, there will be two floodlights in each of the rooms. In the event of a power outage. Just to give you an idea of the amount of power for supplemental light. I just want to scientifically say that that's what the lighting needs are to keep them in that stage. So none of the circuitry on the main sources of supplemental lights is connected to the backup generator. Period. The plans that will be submitted to the building department clearly show that. Clearly show the... The equipment. All of it is engineered to code. Otherwise, you wouldn't get it approved by the building department. So, just so you know that. How much product do you expect to produce a week? As I said before, I don't have that off the top of my head. Can you guesstimate it?
I can't. I can tell you there's a harvest... A harvest... About a harvest a week. I don't know that off the top of my head. Is that hard? And it's... Confidential information. Oh, so you're not going to tell me? No, I said I don't have it with me. Well, would you estimate it? And whether I would tell it to you and the board, you know. Well, if you're not going to tell us, we can just, I guess, assume a number. Okay. But is it more than a ton? Is it more than a ton? Less than a ton? A week? A ton? Yeah. Well, how much? Yes, it's less than a ton. Half a ton. And bigger than a bread box. Yep. It's... I mean... Don't be... Yep. This is not the forum for such remarks. No, I'm just saying it... Is it more than half a ton?
Again, I need to look at that. No, it's not more than half a ton. All right, so... But I need to look at the plan and I... So it's somewhere between a pound and a half a ton. Safe to say. Okay. Yeah. So just in theory, it was 12,500 plants, right? And it's a two-and-a-half-month growing period, 10 to 10 weeks? Yeah. Okay. So it's a... So it's a... So it's a... Is that the number? I thought you identified the number of plants originally. I thought it was 12,000 plants, 12,000... No, no, no. That's the number of square feet under the foundation. That's a square foot. Okay. And they're in one-foot containers? Nope. The containers are a little under two feet. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Just one last question. You were saying the circuitry... Are you putting heat pumps inside there? What's your heating source? I know you're cooling it, but are you using both... A heat pump for heating and cooling? No. The proposed systems, which we have specced and are part of the designs, are air-cooled units. Thank you for reminding me. A gentleman asked, are these going to be water-cooled units? They're not a chiller system. They don't require water. They're air-cooled units. In the industrial... Sorry. In the... In the... In the realm of... What I meant to say was rooftop units. If you're familiar with rooftop units used in an industrial setting, those units are modified, in this case, to be more airtight and to have more dehumidifying capacity. So they're modified rooftop units that are closed in nature, fully neoprene gaskets, and a totally... They're a fully closed system. But they're... I just want to make sure. They're providing your heating and your cooling, or you have a separate cooling... You have a separate heating? They are. They are. So they are heat pumps. They're just modified rooftop planetary HVACs. Technically, I don't know the definition that you're using for heat pumps. They're gas-modulated units. Okay. And so when you use gas... They are reclaiming the heat that is produced off of a condenser when the condenser is creating the chilled process. Heat pumps use a similar, but I don't know that it's exactly the class called a heat pump. Right. So you have natural gas heating them? Typically, heat pumps have a condenser that's separated, and then they have a head, right? Right. In some of the office space, there very well may be a heat pump used or at least a split unit with a condenser outside. Okay. But it's all electric, in essence. It's all electric. Everything's electric. So there's not natural gas heating or anything else. No, there's no natural gas to the property. Yeah. Okay. It's all gas. There's no propane intended. And I did have one other... I don't think it's relevant. It's highly modulated system, providing both cooling, dehumidification, and reheat of that air so that it's maintained in a climate within one degree and 1% of humidity, which you need in a totally closed environment like this. Okay. So again, this is not open greenhouse. This is not a culture you may have seen before. And we're happy to provide information and continue dialogue so that you understand what your neighbors are proposing. So I want to thank all of you for your questions. And I want to thank the audience for your questions and concern, which we take seriously. And we want to have open dialogue so that you guys are educated and can understand. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. engineers who have measured both sound and odor on a site that uses the exact same units and those findings will be shared as part of the supplemental response to the staff report and with the community and we'd be happy to you know have a Q&A to explain what it is and so if you need to validate that with your own sources you can understand what the data says and what it is so thank you for your time and I just want to confirm that you would also submit it to the Planning Board arch solar brother bear cannabis multi Bay head house and greenhouse diagrams depicting the essentially ceiling construction and dimensions correct that you know what's in the manufacturer drawings are you referring to structural door yeah no no but you submit she's asking whether we submitted our stamp structural she has a copy that these documents were submitted to the plan yeah I mean if you have them that we've submitted them along the way I don't know Jerry did the submission for the application of Planning Board I assumed that the structurally stamp plans were part of it and those are the structural plans thank you I think we look for thank you for your time I think John has a few comments oh I'm sorry yeah just the getting I just want to submit those photographs of neighboring areas and the area I referenced I didn't submit so just the first thing I want to address the the use issue because it was raised several times by both the council and some of the residents so the property is zoned agricultural protection zone AP zone permits as of right agricultural production which is defined by the town code as the production for commercial purposes and the !
of all crops livestock and livestock products section 301 the New York State's acts and markets law defines cannabis as well as hemp as crops when they are cultivated in accordance with the cannabis law here the applicant has a cultivation license to grow cannabis the APZ also permits as of right on properties over five acres as this property is five point three seven acres it is permitted as primary use a greenhouse and greenhouse is defined by the town code as a structure having a transparent covering and a a! a! a! a! a! a! whether plastic or glass here we have a whether plastic or glass here we have a plastic roof utilized for seed plastic roof utilized for seed plastic roof utilized for seed germination plant propagation hardening germination plant propagation hardening germination plant propagation hardening off or forcing our maintenance of a off or forcing our maintenance of a controlled climate to sustain plant controlled climate to sustain plant growth otherwise not possible in natural growth otherwise not possible in natural outdoors surroundings as the stoney outdoors surroundings as the stoney testified several times this is being testified several times this is being done to cultivate in accordance with done to cultivate in accordance with standards of New York State and also it It is done in a climate-controlled environment that is not otherwise possible to grow in natural strandings because we don't have 12 hours of sun and 12 hours of dark every day. The Town Code further defines as another permitted use in the zone greenhouse agricultural commercial. A greenhouse, and that is defined as a greenhouse where agricultural may be sold at wholesale, but where the sale of agricultural products to the general public is not permitted. That is exactly what is proposed. The APZ further permits as an accessory use, what is called defined as farm operations, and that includes buildings, structures, and land uses associated with agricultural production, processing, and processing of agricultural products. The applicant has processing and distribution licenses, which are referenced in the staff report, for those exact purposes. Site plan approval is only required because we are proposing greenhouses. It is not for the use. The APZ further permits as a greenhouse with a Go right ahead. I forgot your name. I'm sorry. You said the applicant does have a license? They have three licenses. Okay, so the applicant on this application to this board Has a license? 1458 Middle Road LLC has a license And we've provided a statement on that. Okay. Yeah, okay, and we can follow up with the statement I'm not that look I'm not the issuing license lawyer It is done in accordance with the state So our plan will be to get that response in writing so that everyone can have a complete view on that question, thank you and also to provide The two studies that I referenced for your reading Okay well, we've heard a lot of comments today a lot of problem-solving Holy crow There's a lot of stuff that we have to digest here and we will we'll come back This will be a suggestion that we will adjourn until the first the second meeting in January. What do you think first meeting? January 8th, January We'll come back with a reserve decision Plus you have to get some information that was required I requested if you would get that in that would help us all along. So mr. Chairman, we're closing the hearing correct for reserve decision That's correct So moved till January 8th the gentle January 3rd seconds, okay, mr. Barnes Leroy Okay, he said yes, mr. Porsche hi Oh, he said I I'm sorry. Mr. Hermes hi, and I vote aye. So we have adjourned till that time. I really appreciate all the Participation by the public in the way that everything was presented you were ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much
We do have another here we have another here if everyone could exit quietly it would be most appreciated or not, you know I I I am I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ! Mr Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I know people are still exiting and speaking, but I would very much like to take the next appeal. Okay, we have to get to the next appeal. Could we exit the room, please? Have a safe home? Nick Piccinini, I think that's what he was. Love my job. Ladies and gentlemen, could you mind exiting? There's another hearing coming. Would you mind exiting? Yeah. That's awesome. That's great. We're just not going to. My wife and daughter have been at it. Stay. Can you please stay? If we could go out of order, could we take appeal number 2025-040, Royal
Dower, 850 Soundshore Road, Jamesport, Suffolk County Tax Rep. 600-8-1-10, Residence A40 Zoning for a proposed detached garage and to legalize a shed in a front yard. Applicant requests variances and or relief from Town Code Chapter 301-9A1A, where proposed detached garage and existing shed in front yard, accessory structures are not permitted in the front yard. Thank you. Thank you for your patience. Okay. Now we need, I've got to swear you in. Yeah. Hello. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, tell the truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Help me God. State your name and address, please. Monica Majewski, 30 Stolar Drive, East Clark, New York, 11942. What was the first name? Monica. Thank you. Go ahead. So, I make this short and sweet. Yeah, take your time. So, this property is waterfront lot, so there's no backyard. As the existing house is close proximity to the water, so my client's proposing garage, detached garage in the front yard. He is, he wants to create a dedicated space for his hand working hobby or personal projects. He repairs furniture solely for himself and his family and friends, does not use the garage for commercial purposes. The proposed design is aesthetically pleasing and consistent with the character of the property. We received two letters from neighbors. I don't know if you included in the packet. Yes. We have received two letters in support, one from the neighbor at 856 Soundshore Road and the other from 842 Soundshore Road with no objections. So, the two adjacent neighbors and he also is talking to the neighbor, but the garage will be the closest to. He is speaking about planting trees to create a space for the neighbors. Okay. So, the two adjacent neighbors and he also is talking to the neighbor, but the garage will be the closest to. He is speaking about planting trees to create a barrier, which was agreed on. We do have a letter of DC confirming non-jurisdiction and we met with CAC advisory board, which they recommended to move the garage 40 feet to the north, which we have done and that's shown on the new survey. So, we think that the project would not have adverse effects on environment. A driver will be installed to contain non-jurisdiction. Okay. So, the garage will be installed to contain, not driveway, driveway will be installed to contain a run of water. Additionally, the garage will be prefabricated to, we're hoping, limit the time of construction. Regarding the shed, the pre-existing shed that came up when we submitted the application, we got denial from building department saying that the shed should not be in the front yard. When my client bought this house in 2018, the shed was already there and he was told that he... He's... Does not need to permit for the shed. It's under 90 square feet. But one of the back corner, that sits on the property line. He's just asking if he could keep the shed since nobody has complained about it. It's been there. So, the other question was the five foot set yard... Setback for the detached garage. My mouth is so dry. That is non-common in this neighborhood. The lots are generally narrow. For reference, we have a survey. I do have one. I don't know if you want it. For 804 South Shore Road, where the garage is five... Setback is five feet. Correct me if I'm wrong. That shed's like 322 feet from the roadway. Is that correct? The shed? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a football field from the... Away from whatever. Thank you. And what size is that shed? 90 square feet. Use of the garage. What's the proposed use of the garage? There's a second story and it has a whole series of windows. Yeah. So, he found this online, this design. He really likes it. He said it fits with whatever the neighbors have. And like I said, it's prefabricated, so it should be very sustainable. And then, he said, if you want to use it, you can use it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. anyone. Is there going to be water? No water, just electricity. Just electricity? Yes, no plumbing. And are you willing to state on the record that the upstairs is not going to be habitable space, like people aren't going to live up there and not going to be rented? No, no, not rented.
Anybody on Zoom?
Leroy, you got any comments? No, Mr. Chairman, thank you. Okay, thank you. Who's got this?
So you updated the survey for the solution? Yes. And then it's just the silt fencing that they wanted. Good. Let me just do it. I got it. Yeah. I don't care. Mr. Chairman, regarding appeal number 2025-040, I move the appeal of Roy Dower, 850 Soundshore Road, Jamesport, SCTM number 600-8-1-10, residents A-40, zoning, for variance of gender relief from Town Code Chapter 301-9A1, with proposed detached garage and existing shed in the front yard. Accessory structures are not permitted in the front yard be granted subject to conditions of the Conservation Advisory Council approval to which slit fencing must be installed between the wetland and area of disturbance and must remain in place with duration of construction and the second floor is not to be habitable space or rented and no water utilities. The second floor is not to be habitable space or rented and no water utilities. The second floor is not to be habitable space or rented and no water utilities. should be installed for the application sketches or amendments there too if any is filed by the building inspector. Thank you very much. You got a second? Okay. Mr. Porsche? Aye. Mr. Zawieski? Aye. Mr. Sillips? Aye. Mr. Barnes? Aye. And I vote aye. So your variance has been granted. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you for your patience. No. Before we end. We did have 2 adjurements. Because there were supposed to be 2 other appeals on tonight. Appeal number 2025.0.3.2. Bayview at Peconic LLC. 47 Bayside Avenue. In Jamesport. Requested an adjurement. 2. February. 12. 2026. 2 moved. 2nd. All in favor. Aye. And then. Appeal number 2025.0.6. 2.041. Osborne. Avenue. Riverhead. requested an adjournment to January 8th of 2026 so moved second all in favor aye and we have not yet received the minutes for November 13th so that will get pushed to the January 8th meeting we have no meeting on December 25th because it's Christmas so the boss let us out next meeting that day is January 8th of 2026 all right thank you everyone
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