Full Transcript
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As I was saying, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's cold out there. Thank you for coming.
Welcome.
Why are you all leaving? Was there something I said? May I say something to you quickly? No, Leroy's on there. May I say something to you? Yes. Now? You want to speak? Yes, please. You're from Civics, right? I have it. You're the person of the year. Pardon? You were the person of the year. Shh. Why are you all leaving? Was there something I said? Yes. What did you want to say quick? Very quickly. Takwee Turchin, Greater Calverton Civic Association, on behalf of everyone who's in this room and folks at home who are watching on Zoom and others that are going to learn about this in our e-blast, I want to thank you, the board, for your time, your care, and your seriousness with which you brought your review of this application. The residents appreciate that the decision reflects the record developed through the hearings and the impacts discussed. Regardless of what comes next for the applicant, the community recognizes the effort the board made to evaluate the evidence before it. Thank you for your service. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you.
Give him five minutes or so, please. Can you hear me or see me now, Mr. Chair? Yeah, Leroy, now we can see you. Leroy, we can hear you and see you now. Okay, thank you. You want to, Leroy, can you hear me? Yeah. Just, would you vote yes on the last? Yes, I said aye. Thank you. Thank you, guys. You're welcome. Take care of yourself here. Drive carefully. You're welcome. You too. Should have made everybody bring brownies or something.
Wow.
That's a new look.
Oh, Leroy. There were so many people in there, I didn't see it. You got a new look going on. Yeah, you look good. Look. Yeah. Janet. What's wrong? Janet. Janet. Janet, shut off your screen. We can all see you having dinner.
Folks, we have some more hearings to attend to tonight, so if you kindly move along, we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
One of the planning boards, they were screaming and yelling. One of the planning board meetings, they were screaming and yelling. Really? Over this? Yeah. Oh.
What's next? The adjournment. Oh, yeah. That's right. Anne-Marie? Go ahead. The zoning board is going to proceed with its agenda. Appeal number 2025-036, Muhammad Fasil et al., 2041 Osborne Avenue, Riverhead, Suffolk County tax map number 6621. 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 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 Aye. And I vote aye. So that has been adjourned. Okay. Next matter, appeal number 2025-041, Badoon Warehouse 52, 52 Main Road, Riverhead, New York, Suffolk County tax map number 684-5-13, commercial residential campus zoning, proposed storage warehouse, applicant request variance and relief from town code chapter 301-79A where the proposed storage warehouse is not permitted within the CRC zoning district. Members of the board, let the record reflect that I did receive the affidavits of posting. Thank you. All right. Thank you, counselor. You solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? So help you God. Yes. Please state your name and address. Sure. Patrick Fadoon, 400 Eagle Nest Court, Warren, New York. Okay. Go right ahead. Okay. I'm here tonight to propose a doing. Excuse me, Mr. Fadoon. 3,900 square foot. Would you bring it a little closer to you? Yeah. Mr. Fadoon, if you could really project your voice. Yeah. Especially people. They're going to close the door. I'll do the best I can. They're going to close the door.
Thank you.
All right. It does close. All right. It's much better. Good evening, chairman, board members. I'm here tonight seeking to construct a 3,900 square foot warehouse and CRC zone, which it is not listed as a use. My wife and I purchased the property about 15 years ago. We've actively marketed. We're figuring to do a land lease, build to suit. We're brokers. We put it on MLS, which we're members of, which are about 20,000 members on Long Island. For 15 years, we've got maybe a handful of inquiries about doing projects. One big thing about the property, I just want to probably go back to it. It's gallons per day. This property is only 22,000. 710 square feet. It's less than a half acre. And this lot only allows 156 gallons per day of water, which is very little. So a lot of the uses that are on CRC, it hinders that, the duties uses, for one reason or another. For example, we try to reach out to franchises. We've got a couple of responses. One was they rather would be west of the traffic circle. The one that we did get a response, it said, you know, don't call us, we'll call you, basically. So after they did the reviews, they realized it just, the gallons per day just wasn't enough to support the franchise uses for a restaurant. For a standalone restaurant, with the gallons per day, it allows, through the Suffolk County Board of Health, allows a 10-seat restaurant. If you look at the site plan, you can see where it says 156 gallons per day. It should be towards the middle if you're looking at the site survey.
So getting back to a standalone restaurant, it would only allow a 15-seat restaurant. I could build a 4,000-square-foot building, but 15 seats. It's just not going to be feasible. I have to charge, what, $1,000 a plate to make it feasible? That just doesn't happen in today's world. We reached out to banks. Years ago, when the master plan was developed back in 2003, you know, banks was considered for this use. But as of today, a lot of the banking is done on your phone and online. There hasn't been a brick-and-mortar bank built since. So it's not a problem. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. Probably. So banks are basically not even considering a spot like this. So what came down to work for the best feasible project would be doing a warehouse, which I have built other warehouses, and they're very successful. With that, I'll take any questions you have. What was the purchase price when you bought the property? Purchase price? Fifteen years ago, purchase price was $55,000. And you said you received a handful of bids. What was the average bid? It was really for lease. We were trying to lease, and I was going to build the suit. Didn't you have it listed for sale? We had it listed for sale for around $500,000. I thought I seen something for $700,000 plus $1,000. That was, it's been registered. There's another parcel with it. We tried to add another parcel onto it, and it's still not feasible to do that. Because there's a problem with that. There is right-of-ways dividing the properties. Do you think maybe you would be able to sell it if you lowered the price? We're really looking to lease it at this point. I know, but my question was, if you lowered the price, would you be able to sell it? I wouldn't know. Have you ever tried? To lower the price? Yeah. We did try to make it a different option of leasing just the land. But we didn't try lowering the price. What's the lowest price? I've never listed it for sale. The lowest price I had it listed for sale was around $400,000, $460,000. I'm sorry, can you repeat that? Well, I had it for $460,000. I had somebody interested, and they decided not to buy it because they could not put the size building that they wanted on it. So the price, I could ask any price. Bottom line, as an office, you're only allowed to do per the gallons per day. You don't even do a 2,600 square foot office. So the time you build out an office, with today's rate, it's going to cost you over a million dollars. I can buy anything on Runnick Avenue that size for $650,000. You said you have other similar places? Yes, I do. How many? I have several. What's several mean? What's several mean? More than two, more than three? I have about four. And how many are in this town? Units, probably about 10 units. No, of those locations, you have four? How many locations do you have? Four locations? Three locations. Three locations. And how many are in Revent? All of them. You said three? Yes. And you said both? Well, all right. I have two buildings on Lincoln Street, one on Sweezy, two on Sweezy Avenue. All right, so you have three locations in the town. Right. Okay. So you're aware of the... Oh, absolutely. Of warehouse use. And they're fully rented. And when I do put them off for rent, I get bombarded with offers. I can pick and choose wherever I want. But you were aware before you made this application of the needs that you'd have to... Oh, I know the needs of a warehouse. Right. You said you tried a bank and you said you tried a restaurant. Yeah. And you were aware that the also permitted use would be an office, a funeral home, a single family residence? Right. All right, I can do it. Two family residence? Sure. A townhouse? Garden apartment? Sure. Radio and TV broadcast studio? Right. A school? Museums or art gallery? Mm-hmm. Meeting rooms, paternal organizations, place of worship? Park or playground? And an indoor sports and recreation? There are other uses for that. If I do an indoor sports, I'm allowed to do one court for the gallons per day. So you have alternatives? But it's not feasible to do it. You can't do a one court. I'm not talking about that. But of all those alternatives, you have no other alternative but this one proposal? There's no alternatives. I have outside putting a warehouse here. Putting a warehouse is the best use, I feel. It's not listed as a permitted use, though. It's not listed as a permitted use on the list. But also when I did the applications for Lincoln Street, they also weren't permitted on the list. When you say they're not feasible, you mean in terms of you're not getting enough return on them financially? Yeah. But you understand that, or you've testified here, that you bought the property. You bought the property for $55,000. Right. Sure. How much of a return do you expect to get on a $55,000 investment? It's just not the land. It's the build out of the building. All right. So let's say you built the building and you rent it out. What are you expecting? Well, by the time I get done putting down, getting a loan, trying to get 7% cap on it, the loan is roughly 8%. I'll probably be losing 1%. And that's at an office, at 400 square foot, to build an office use. Okay. That's just for the building. That's not site work. But you could potentially build a single standing office and rent it out, right? I have offices. For example, on MLS, I have listings of the commercial properties in Riverhead that are offered. Roughly 30% are office use out of all the commercial listings in Riverhead. 30% is quite a bit. I have offices that I'm trying to rent. Further down, for about a year, no takers. 30% is a high number. So you're quoting... Patrick. You're saying the market... I'm shooting myself in the foot. You're saying the market's soft right now for office? Very soft for office. It's basically, yeah. There's one just on the other side of this building here on Griffin Avenue. That building's for sale for around $600,000. Been there for about a year. Why should I build a $1.3 million building? I'm going to buy this one. It sounds more like a bad investment than it is a problem for the zoning board. The problem is the water. I can't get the yield on that property. That ties into a bad investment to me. You bought a property for $55,000, and now you're asking the zoning board to permit something that's not permitted because you can't make enough money off of it. Am I right or am I wrong? There are uses that you could do, but you're not happy with the return. Well, because of the low rate of... If I could get... If there was a sewer there and I could get the rate of the water coming in, it would make it feasible to build a money project.
If I may, a few questions. Sure. Do you have proof from any of the franchises that you reached out to? Yes. I do. Do you have proof of any of the banks that you reached out to? We did reach out to John Tannis. I do not have that letter. It was an email correspondence between him and my wife. But I'll give you the ones for Sonic and Dairy Queen, which I wasn't crazy to... Do you have any reports regarding analysis of the value of the property, be it at the time of purchase and today? That I do not. No, I don't. Okay. I'll accept the other information. Sure, sure. Into the record. Next, I just want to keep going. So, you described to zoning board member Portia that, well, your intention really is to develop it as a warehouse and lease it and get a return on the money, correct? Correct. Okay. And at the same time, isn't it true that you've listed the property not simply for lease, but for sale? Correct. And at the same time, isn't it true that you've listed the property not simply for sale or land lease, listing the property price at $775,000? Correct. Well, that was for the full acre. I'm sorry? That was with another property joining that. That was two properties. It should be two properties. So, do you own the other piece, Patrick? Yes, I do. Okay. Was that Doug Smith's piece? Excuse me? Don Smith? Was that Don Smith's? Don Smith. No. No, I didn't purchase from Don Smith. No. Okay. That was, he owned Kenny Chevrolet. Heingartner, I think the name was. I think Don Smith, Leroy, was east of that property, in the same area, but it was east. So, you own a contiguous piece with it. Why don't you merge it? For two reasons. If I merge it, the tax rate will go up. And I still probably can't get the yield because I have a road that's a right-of-way. It's right in between the two lots. So, it's going to be kind of hard. And whose right-of-way is that? It's the right-of-way that goes to the property in the back. It's on one of my lots. So, the right-of-way is on one of your lots? Correct. Can I ask you, in the 15 years that you've owned this, have you had any offers? Well, I had no. When I offered it for $460,000, somebody took a look at it. And they decided it was East and I Associates. So, he decided to go where there was sewer. Besides that, has anybody else? No. You've had no offers in 15 years? No. No.
I don't have this. So, whatever proof or documentation you have regarding... Yeah, I'll bring that up. I don't have. No offers or failed offers? Nothing. I had some people that wanted to do grandiose ideas. Somebody wanted to do a car wash, which definitely wouldn't happen. That wouldn't happen? No, that wouldn't happen. No. Somebody wanted to do a food truck park. I mean, I had some crazy ideas over the years.
Emory? Oh, here they go. Joe? Joe? Joe? Joe? Along the, quote, right-of-way, are there residential homes developed on those parcels? On the right-of-way parcels? Yeah. Yes. On the east side of that right-of-way. Excuse me? On the east side of the right-of-way. There's homes, aren't there? The east side of the right-of-way of Terra Lane, there's a home. And Terra Lane goes towards the back to Shiverport, which is two houses back there. And also there's a right-of-way behind the property, which is another house back. So there's three houses total off the right-of-ways. You don't own any of those, do you? I own one house back there, yes.
So are you saying that you can't merge those properties, Patrick? I could merge, but it really wouldn't give me much more of a yield. How many square feet is the? The adjoining lot. I think the adjoining lot was another maybe 16,000 square feet. So I'm still under an acre. I don't know if you remember, I tried to put a house there. Even on this lot also with the gallons per day, I can't even build a single-family house because that requires 300 gallons. So a single-family house, two-family, apartments, it all is based on the gallons per day. I mean, in my mind, if those lots are merged, that would give you the ability to push whatever project you may present back further north. I could push it back further north. On top of the main road. But the only feasible build-up would be an office use, which, like I said, is 30% available at the time, right now. Okay. So I'm building something on a hope and a prayer. Yeah. I would look at the options of merging, but I don't know how far away you would get. Yeah. And the back parcel or the parcel to the north is the same zoning, correct? Yes. Okay.
Amber, you want to see the letters?
Sure.
Right. That should be done. Great.
A number of us are really familiar with this area because we live out here and all that kind of good stuff. But that's one of the busiest parts of 25. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right there where Dairyland is, where 58 comes in and everything. And I'm looking at your survey and my gosh, you're right on the main road. It does not... Yeah. It is right, but... It has accelerated FDA approval. Studies are ongoing to confirm benefit. Only mesdiver works directly in the liver. Are we being invaded? Are we being invaded? So you don't know about liver or gallbladder problems or if you're pregnant, breast... Paul, can you mute your screen, please? Thank you. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I don't get it. I understand that. So the traffic there, I mean, in the summertime and everything, I mean, already I think somebody has been killed there this past year, God forbid, right in front of Dairyland. And, I mean, I listened to all the things that could possibly be done, but I'm looking at the survey. Even what's drawn here, I would be afraid to have this out there. On that parcel, the warehouses that I have, it is so low impact. There's like four or five cars. You can hardly tell. But they're not on this road right here at this point. This road, it's very easy to get in and out because that's two lanes. You have that running spot when the light gets red over on 105. I've gone out several times. I go there because I have a house right there. I have a watch. I have no problem getting out. And like I said, for the small warehouse that's going to be proposed, it's going to be very little traffic coming in and out of the street. And when you have a warehouse, you're not going to have big trucks or anything? What are these? No, no. The way I design it is the overhead doors are very low, and I don't want big trucks. I'm looking for like a small contractor that works in Riverhead. As a matter of fact, all my tenants live and work in Riverhead, and they employ about 50 people out of my warehouses. So it's all locally people that work. So you're really looking to help the trades. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. So, Mr. Fadoon, how long have you been involved in real estate? Real estate, probably about 30 years. So, based upon your 30 years of experience, I'm sure you know the importance of doing your due diligence when you purchase a piece of property. Yes, yes. And when you do your due diligence, that's the basis you make to pay a particular purchase price, right? Right. So you knew about the zoning and the water at the time you purchased it. Right. So that's why you only paid $55,000 for the property. Well, the... Okay. But probably, you know, I could have paid $100... I could have paid $1 million for the property. But the point is, is that at the time when the new master plan was going, they put these uses in. Hopefully, you know, the sewer district would expand, and I wouldn't be here. I would be able to do a restaurant. And also, too, with the franchises, they also require, a lot of them require 150 feet on a road. I only have 124, which, to me, is just reaching out to very few, getting back. One was Dairyland, which I wasn't crazy about. Not Dairyland, Dairy Queen. And Sonic. And Sonic said they would rather be west of the traffic circle, as you can see there. So there's very, very few options I have that people would want to look at this property. But you knew when you purchased it what the limitations were for the property. So... So you took a risk that the sewer would be extended. And also, you know, across the street, when the mini storage was developed on three acres, I'm sure they were hoping for that, too. I'm sure they referred to having a sewer come by and they could do a better yield on their property. I'm pretty much the same situation as they are. Well, actually, you... You bought a real estate in 2010. Am I correct? Roughly, 2010. 2010. So you knew since 2010 that your property had limitations regarding development. And you knew what the zoning was. And you certainly knew, because you've been practicing real estate for 30 years, you knew where warehouses, where they were permitted and where they were not permitted. Right. Okay. And I also knew on my other warehouses and Village Center, which we had sewer, we had water, higher density, more yield of a building. And I still chose to do a warehouse, which was less of a use. Are there any other warehouses located in the... In the CRC zone? Yes, Greg. Not that I know of CRC, but there's one in RLC. There's a warehouse that was permitted in Jamesport. I do believe it was the O'Neill property.
There is another building that's a warehouse that is... Well, Fleet Pride is there. And they have a distribution company back. That's about 10,000 square feet of a warehouse right down the street. There's also the... The auto... Not the auto body, auto mechanic on the west side, I think. And then you also have the industrial use across the street.
Thank you. You know, just for the record, the self-storage unit, I believe, across the street is roughly three acres? Yeah, 3.3 acres. And, you know, the footprint of that building is set back... Quite a bit. Quite a bit off the road, just for the record. So it's not cookie cutter exactly what you're describing it to be. Right. Well, I set my building back as far as I could, so I wouldn't have to come from more garages as impermeable surface. Right. I just think, for the record, we should realize that you have a much smaller property. Oh, I do have a small lot. I think, you know... Half an acre. Yeah. Most of the properties around are acre plus.
Um... Yeah. Yeah. Actually, it's only 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. 2 acres. want to speak on this variance? Yes, I do. Where are you? Come right up front.
All right. My name is... You solemnly swear to tell truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Yes, I do. Please state your name and address. Timothy Murphy, 58 Tower Lane, Riverhead, New York. Go ahead. I'm from Riverhead. I've resided at this location for more than 20 years. I respect Mr. Padun's right to develop his property, but I don't believe that... I'm against the change of use. I believe that there is just too much and too small of a package here. The way he's got it drawn up, it's not just for one warehouse. The use is for three warehouses. I believe that there is just too much and too small of a package here. And each of the warehouses have three separate large bay doors that are in the back of that warehouse. The use is drawn up so that they are using Tower Lane. Tower Lane is what myself and other residents in the area use to access our homes. This is just going to become an extension of his parking lot if he takes over that particular area, that use. He's got perpendicular parking lot, perpendicular parking directly next to the easement. The Tower Lane easement. Being that he doesn't have any access to his property from the main road, any overflow is just going to park on that easement. So he's got three separate buildings with large bay doors in the back, three warehouses. Those warehouses are going to be used to store goods, I'm assuming, conduct businesses. Each of them are going to have three sets of employees. Employees are going to need to park somewhere. Employees are going to need to do things. I do respect his right to use the tower lane easement. I believe that there is just too much Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. crowded. He may have others that are okay, but at this site, I can't, I don't think that that's gonna be the case. I believe this one is gonna be a crowded one. I believe this one's gonna have full occupancy and it's gonna restrict the use of that easement and my easement as well as my neighbors. For those reasons, I think it's reasonable that this change of use does not fit on this site plan the way it's drawn up. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Anyone else? I'm gonna swear you in again. I did that last week, but you solemnly swear to tell truth, tell truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God. Yes, I do. I know your name, but state it again and your address. Takwee Turchin, Greater Calverton Civic Association. Normally, I speak on projects that are in the footprint of Calverton. However, I also feel it's fair game to look at things that fit within the footprint of Riverhead. Thank you. Thank you. And that's the reasoning why I'm speaking on this project. I wanted to remind the board, probably don't have to, but HK Ventures now has their approval to build, correct? And they're somewhere in the neighborhood of how many hundreds of thousands of square feet? Are they 600 something thousand square feet? And the purpose for those warehouses was intended, was told to us that they would be for contractors so that they have a staging area and they're using Riverhead in order to do that so they can get out to the east end more easily and reduce the trade parade that we exist in on the roadway. It seems that this project, this warehouse is looking to do similar, provide a similar supply of warehouse for the same reason. Of course, it's considerably smaller. I ask that, hearing the questions that you're giving about the project, about the intensity of use and the traffic, I'd ask you to also consider that the residents who live on Tara Lane aren't looking forward to looking at a dumpster out of their front door windows. And I think that that's what would happen if this type of project were put on that spot. Thanks very much. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Please raise your right hand. Do solemnly swear. Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God. I do. Please pull that mic down so you're talking. Yeah, thank you. All right. You want it? I'm going to read what I have to say. Your name and your address. Yes. Yes. My name is Victoria Smith. I'm. Sorry. Wife of the late Don Smith. And I live in 56 Tara Lane since 1988. Directly behind the proposed warehouse facilities. And thank you so much for this opportunity to speak tonight. But. I. I don't understand why the zoning board will allow the construction of warehouse facilities in the CRC zone. This is no right to use or to build a warehouse in that CRC. Also I have trouble about moving the right of way that we're maintaining and been using for the last 30 years and have been put in there since the beginning for the people who live there before us to share the road. So please do not change the plan and keep it the way it is. And gentlemen, I urge you to consider this. This is your responsibility to not allowing the warehouse facilities to be built in this location. Besides, there's no certified letter notice that we had received, none. So please adhere to the zoning rules. And please consider the impact of the surrounding houses, homes. Thank you for listening to my issues. Good night. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone on Zoom? Even if I was to merge the two lots, and go ahead, all right, I can do my office. Maybe I can do a 5,000 square foot office with a 50-car parking lot. I'm proposing nine spaces. So if that's the way this was going to go, plus now we're talking about traffic and safety, 50-car parking lot, coming out of that right of way, that's a lot of traffic. So there goes the safety concerns. It would be more safety than maybe a few cars a day. Like I said, my warehouses do not require a lot of traffic at all. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. lot a 300 gallons per day for a single family house on that lot a two family house is 600 and also if i do a two-family act to get it for preservation credit it's i'm sure they're going for you know 60 70 000 for a credit i don't i'm not quite sure so that's you know even to do a res at that point on a commercial lot it just doesn't make sense well you're calling it a commercial lot it's the crc zone and zoning board member gazillo read you the permitted uses so it's a mix between commercial residential and if you look at the purpose and intent it's actually very much much a small scale or residential right so the size of take this back so on CRC if you correct me I'm allowed to do a 4,000 square foot a office because it's campus style so a 4,000 square foot so that means I would if I could do it on that lot but I would not reach the gallons per day requirement I would only be able to do a 2,600 square foot building and even if I did that I'm still talking about you know 20 stalls or so 15 stalls so we still had the same I'm not we were gonna have more traffic but an office than you would with the warehouse are you able to get an increase in the usage the gallons per minute no it's not possible it is possible it's not possible it is possible it is possible it is possible it is possible according to the board health if I purchased another property and that it's called the Terry Greek overlay so I'd have to find another property and a Terry Creek overlay which they don't exist purchase that property bank it and then be able to get my yield so we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a 4,000 square foot office that's feasible. It just doesn't make the right sense. Even those options won't work.
Anyone else? Any comments? Is there anyone on Zoom? No, they said no. I think we'll do a reading and a reserved decision in two weeks. No moves. Second. Mr. Porsche? Aye. Mr. Barnes? Aye. Mr. Zawieski? Aye. Mr. Gazillo? Aye. And I vote aye. So we'll see you in two weeks. Very good. Appreciate your time. Reserved decision will be for February 12th.
I just want to check the date. Yes, sir. February 12th. Yes.
Next matter on the agenda. Appeal number 2025-042 Stony Brook Ambulance Center 1087 Old Country Road Riverhead Suite 1103 Suffolk County Tax Map number 600108-4 14.5 Shopping Center Zoning Center ! Proposed Ambulance Center. Applicant requests variance and or relief from Town Code 301-110A where proposed use of Ambulance Center Garage is not a permitted use within the Shopping Center Zoning Use District. Let the record reflect that counsel for the applicant provided a copy of the affidavits and mailing receipts. You counsel, sir? I am, yes. I got to ask you one thing before we stop. First, state your name and address, please. Anthony Guardino, law firm of Farrell Fritz, Hoppock, New York. Welcome. I live in the town of Riverhead and I see the ambulance every once in a while, but I have a question before we hear you. Where is their base in Riverhead? Do they have a place that they hang the, park the ambulances? I have two words here. Just actually have, I have two gentlemen from the Riverhead, the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps who have to leave for a meeting and I wanted to call them up first and I think they can answer your question directly. Well, we want to know where the Stony Brook Ambulance is parked. Hello. Steven Slovetsky, I'm the Director of Emergency Medical Services for Stony Brook University. Are you a lawyer? No. I am not a lawyer, no. Can you spell your name and state your name? S-L-O-V-E-N. We're going to do this easier. Please state your name and address after I swear you and do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Yes, I do. Please state your name and address. Steven Slovetsky. Okay. Can you speak up a little bit? Steven Slovetsky and number 18 Brook Nursery Drive, Brookhaven, New York. Okay. So where does the ambulance park? So we currently have a storage facility at 1015 East Main Street in Riverhead, which we store our vehicles in now. 1015? And we've outgrown that facility, which is why we're looking to move to a new one.
Where is that? So it's when you go east on 58 and you pass the 711 on your left-hand side, you make the right-hand turn onto Main Street, I believe, and you go down about a quarter of a mile on your left-hand side, there's a tint, big yellow sign that says Tint World or something for a place. Oh, you're down by? Right next to there. There's a large green building in the back with garage bays, which we store the vehicles. You're past the Elks down in that area? Past the Elks, yes. Okay. Thank you. Gotcha. All right. Thank you, Steven. Thank you very much. Actually, can I just, can I approach in the end? Sure. Good. Thank you. Thank you. So while council's handing out material. No, he's not here. Okay. Mr. Chairman, I just want to read into the record that the Zoning Board received letters from Hackaman Capital, which is the first one. Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? Are there any letters for Mr.rock? received. Sure. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to get that to you sooner. There you go, thank you. That's from the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps. And as I mentioned, the gentlemen are here, so if I could, before I even begin, can I call up these gentlemen so that they can get back to the ambulance? So we got to swear you in, right? Yes, sir. All right. You solemnly swear to tell truth, to hold truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. I do. Please state your name and address. Patrick Gugliotta, and I work with Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance at 1111 Osborne Avenue here in New York. Thank you for service. Thank you very much. We submitted our letter of support for Stony Brook. We work very closely with them right now. As the rest of the community knows, they help us with a lot of the calls here. We are inundated with ambulance calls here, and Stony Brook has an ambulance here dedicated just to help us out. All day long, plus a fly car, which is a first responder car that they utilize or that we're allowed to utilize to help cover all the calls here in the district. They are proposing to bring out a mobile stroke unit, which would be the third one that they would put on the road. There's one in western Suffolk. There's one kind of in the middle of Suffolk, and now they're looking to put this one out here to serve the east end of the community, which if any of you guys know anything about strokes, please let me know in the comments. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's just not a feasible time frame for that vehicle to get here when we respond to a stroke. So now when we respond to a stroke, that vehicle is going to be mobilized with us at the same time. So we'll get to the house at the same time, determine whether it's a stroke or not, and then they will take care and custody of that patient and we're going to start treating that patient right there in their driveway. So it's an amazing vehicle to see and I've worked with them for years doing this and we are huge proponents of it. So I know it's a zoning change where they're going, but I think that the place that they're going is a perfect spot in Riverhead just like where we are. It's almost just across the street, just across 58 from where we are. Centrally located and very easy to get to a lot of places, almost all places here in Riverhead. Can I ask you, where are you guys actually located? We're on 1111 Osborne Avenue. So if you went down 58 Osborne Avenue, you made the right. Right across from... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Agway. Okay. So you're right next to the town garage and stuff like that. Right next to the town garage. That's Riverhead and Millins. Yes, sir. Yes. And then when are you planning on, because you're legal, I'm just interested in this. What are your plans for constructing? Is it going to be at the same site? It's going to be at the same site. It's going to be a rebuild. Okay. Is that imminent or the next couple of years? Yes. We've raised quite a bit of money for it and we are in the process of doing a lot of work on it. We're in the process of working on an RFQ or RFP that we're putting out hopefully next month, maybe award the bid in March and then start with the building process soon after that, hopefully. Cool. If all goes well. And the goal is that's a prefabricated building? Yes. So as Ann Marie knows, she's been working on this with us and she's put in a lot of time with this as well. The building's going to be prefabricated in Pennsylvania once the foundation is done. So once the foundation is built, the building's going to be trucked in, they're going to click it together and about two weeks we'll have a building. Perfect. So about another three months after that for all the interior work and stuff. But we're excited about it. I think it's long overdue and certainly need the space. And when they told us that they were bringing in another mobile stroke unit and they wanted to bring it out here, everybody in Riverhead Ambulance was excited about it because it's a tremendous asset. And if you've ever seen it work, and I've worked with that specific ambulance, it's an amazing sight to see. They can do CAT scans right in the driveway. They can start thrombolytics or TPA or they can start whatever treatments they need to right in the driveway. So clearing up that blood flow to the brain saves a lot of neurological damage. And the quicker you get it done, obviously, the better. So it's a tremendous asset to the community. Thank you. Thank you. Shall we show you? I believe it's 10 in the booklet. Is that the vehicle that you're referring to? Can you see that one? Yes, I can see that. That's the one? Okay. That's the standard mobile stroke unit. Yeah. Thank you. Any more questions for me? Just one. Has there been any effort to coordinate with Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps? Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure.
lot we just don't have the room we have a ready room and a kitchen that's all we have so the kitchen table is full all day and night and the the ready room couch is full all day and night because no there's just nowhere else to go but the future build is coming yes has there been any talk or consideration of that facility it's going to be extremely different than the current facility yes correct of coordinating so that they could locate there so even with the new build we won't have enough room for them to put that unit there because we're planning on keeping the units that we have from Stony Brook in that building so yes there has been discussions about making sure we have enough room for the Stony Brook ambulance and the Stony Brook responder car that we currently have but adding more of Stony Brook assets into our building we're just not going to have the room because that I mean I don't know if you guys know that property but it's fairly small so we're building the biggest building we can on that property but it's still not a huge building so it will suffice for us but it's not going to be enough to bring in Stony Brook and all their assets and all the equipment that they need I mean that's it's a tremendous vehicle and it requires a lot just to run it it's a four-person crew versus a two-person crew on an ambulance you're right I think that's a good point I think that's a good point I think that's a good point so there's a lot of differences between that and just a regular standard ambulance one other question for you guys a Riverhead volunteer ambulance I'm assuming pretty much all your runs end up going to Central Suffolk or Peconic Bay Medical Center yes except for so if it's a what we call level one or level two trauma it has to go to Stony Brook University and at that point we'll call the helicopter and send it out because of the ride but yes almost all of our transports go right here to Peconic so you're pretty much handling from the shoreline to the hospital it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it Please tell him thank you. So again, you know, good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. You know, this application, as was mentioned, is really an appeal from the planning department's determination, a letter of denial, that basically had determined that the ambulance slash mobile stroke unit facility, I should say, is not permitted in this on this particular property, which is in the SC zone. So before I start my presentation, I just want to introduce Sal Ferrara, architect with Combined Resources Consulting and Design. He's behind me. So Steve Slavinsky, who already spoke, he's the Stony Brook Medicine's Director of Emergency Services. And he's obviously here to answer any questions that you already have. So Stony Brook Medicine operates four hospitals, including three emergency departments on the east end of Long Island. So we have Stony Brook Medicine, which is a hospital in the east end of Long Island. We have Stony Brook Medicine, which is a hospital in the east end of Long Island. We have Stony Brook Medicine, which is a hospital in the east end of Long Island. Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in Southampton, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, Stony Brook Emergency Department in East Hampton. It also operates about 200 community-based health care facilities throughout Suffolk County, and many of them are in retail settings. Stony Brook Medicine also operates ambulances and the only mobile stroke unit program on Long Island, as was mentioned. So the program works in collaboration with 45 fire and EMS agencies. Stony Brook Medicine is a hospital in Southampton, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, Stony Brook Emergency Department in East Hampton. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. Stony Brook Medicine also operates various emergency services for various uses. emergency response in communities that Stony Brook Medicine serves. So the mobile stroke unit, as Mr. Gugliotta just said, is essentially a rolling primary stroke center that allows for the patient to receive the same level of care that they will receive in the emergency department but a lot faster. And as mentioned, it has a built-in CAT scanner. It allows patients to be scanned right in the driveway and so that they can receive life-saving care within the critical moments of a stroke and before they even get to the hospital. It's a phenomenal piece of equipment. As was mentioned, you know, I think time is brain. I saw that as well. The sooner a person who's suffering a stroke is diagnosed and the faster that stroke treatment can be administered, the better the outcome is going to be. So it's really important to be able to get the people quickly. And this mobile stroke unit significantly reduces the time required to make the accurate stroke diagnosis. And allows for the time-sensitive stroke therapies to be administered quickly and to get patients to where they need to be. The location of this particular facility is ideal because it has direct access to Old Country Road and that is key to providing residents of Riverhead and the surrounding communities with this life-saving treatment. The property, as you know, is at 1103 Old Country Road. It is in a shopping center. There's an aerial up on the board there and there's a picture of the building. I'll show you a picture of it in my book at exhibit two. It's about a nine, almost a nine and a half acre parcel. It's located on the south side of Old Country Road about 300 feet west of Roanoke Avenue. There is a shopping center, a large shopping center on the property. It's about 140,000 square feet and it's currently occupied by a number of retail uses, Harbor Freight, Staples, West Marine, Abofs, etc, etc. A couple of restaurants as well. The site also contains a lot of Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. shopping center district and that expressly permits shopping centers as defined by the town code the shopping center is served by a large parking lot that provides a total of about 424 parking spaces there's about almost 500 feet of frontage on Old Country Road which as you all know is a major five-lane highway that travels in the east-west direction through the center of Riverhead and that site and the site also provides direct access from Old Country Road by a main driveway that safely intersects with Old Country Road at a four-way intersection so access from this site onto Old Country Road is safe it's the safest intersection when you have a four-way traffic signal there is also access by way of reciprocal cross access with the shopping center to the east and this this quick access to Old Country Road allows these the mobile stroke unit and any other emergency vehicles have to leave the site to go obviously east and west and then they can travel north and south on Roanoke or any other the north-south thoroughfares so this is really an ideal location to get these units to patients in the shortest amount of time which will of course save lives and increase the chances for a better outcome surrounding the property it's a commercial corridor so you would expect to be commercial uses you've got a mix of commercial educational and other non-residential uses and there's some photos in the booklet you're obviously very familiar with the property you've got the school fields in the back from the high school so there's no one who lives back there to the west you have a almost a three acre which looks like a fallow agricultural field and then there's a commercial building there where I think there's a mold bargain molding is there and then to the north you have shopping at Roanoke Plaza and some other commercial uses there and then to the east you have the shopping center that has the cross-access over it and then to the east also and guess it's the southeast you have several residential uses located on Ackerley Street while there is a residence that's directly adjacent to this property it's not it's about 500 feet away from where the ambulance facility is and of the mobile stroke unit is going to be that's going to be on the entirely on the other side of the property which would be the southwest corner of the building that residents live adjacent to the southeast corner of the large shopping center so the operation will provide space for up to eight ambulances in one mobile stroke unit to be stock charged and stored overnight in the building it will also have room for staff it will have a training room a break room bathrooms and storage for medical supplies six of the ambulances will actually leave the site each day to provide emergency service to various East End communities one serving Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital two at South Hampton Hospital and two at East Hampton Hospital and then the one ambulance that was mentioned currently travels to the Riverhead volunteer ambulance core building the MSU the mobile stroke unit is going to operate from this facility from this site and it will go out on calls from this and the two remaining ambulances that might be in the building is up to eight ambulances they would be serve as backup vehicle so if a vehicle is out of service there will be another ambulance that can be used the Stony Brook Medicine's EMT and paramedic staff will report to the location they will pick up the ambulances and drive them to their designated locations for staging there will be a total of about 14 to 16 jobs generated by the facility but 12 of the jobs really they come to the facility but then they leave so 12 of the 16 as was mentioned by Mr. Gugliotta there are four people that man the mobile stroke unit you have an EMT a paramedic a critical care nurse and a radiology tech which will go out from the site so there's four people on site but it's actually about 16 employees at that the site generates the jobs that the site generates the vehicle will be in service the mobile stroke unit now I'm talking will be in service 12 hours a day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week and it's estimated that there will be about three calls per day there's what they're estimating no sirens or lights will be allowed on the premises so when the when the mobile stroke unit leaves the back of the shopping center it will travel please it's gonna show you the truck it goes along the western side of the building away from the houses and again without any sirens without any lights I don't think it's in the center there I don't know if you you can see that there the blue look blue dashed line on the on the image so you can see that there's a traffic light on the top of the building and that's the way that I'm sorry yes the blue lines coming out with the error is that what the traffic light is well where it where it splits is where the traffic light is on the top yes okay so they have to run along the perimeter of that property and through all those parking spaces to get to that exit right well along the edge not through the center of the parking lot but just at the at the bottom they come to the main entrance it's the only way out and they want to get to the light because the light is the safest traffic movement and so the the idea is that no lights are allowed on the parking lot and the traffic light is on the айайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайайай building, they're blocked by the building there and then it goes along the perimeter until it has to get closer to the center to get to the driveway. There will be no engine repairs, there's no servicing of the vehicles at the site. This is really for charging, recharging them, stocking them and keeping them overnight. And they have the ability to go around the back of the building too if they want to go south, they can go around the back and make a right where Dunkin' Donuts is, right? Well, they could go through that cross-access, right? I'm not sure that's ideal, but yes, the answer is yes, they could. And I think the idea is to keep the vehicle away from that, the houses are closer to that side. So we're trying to keep the houses to where there's nothing going on to the west pretty much, there's a field there on the back, there's nothing going on, you've got the athletic fields. So we're trying to keep the units as far away from the houses as possible. The staff who comes would be parking in the main lot. We anticipate the need for about 14 parking spaces, which is 10 spaces less than that would be required if this was used for retail. The community benefits, I'm not going to go into it because Pat mentioned a lot of it. You know, Stony Brook Medicine is investing almost $2 million in this unit and the building, the interior alterations to the building. And there will be no, that's without tax dollars. That's on their dime. So it's about $2 million investment for emergency services without any impact on taxpayers, no cost at all. In the five years that the mobile stroke unit program has been operating, they've responded to over 10,000 calls and they've saved countless lives. And then there's the letter that was mentioned earlier, one of the letters that was mentioned, Eric Nigeberg's letter in support. It explains that the station is really ideally located. This site is ideally located to provide Riverhead and other East End communities with this service because of the easy access and the ability to get to people in the most timely way. Stony Brook Medicine is currently onboarding people. They're training. They're going to be ready to go. If we can get this application approved, I think the unit is almost, I don't know if it's finished yet, right? It's going to be delivered on Friday. It's supposed to be delivered on Friday. I wish for, I hope we were able to get it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. service. So that's just some of the background. So I get into the kind of the why this appeal should be granted and I know you know this was couched as a use variance and it may be but again this is an appeal from a denial and the denial says that this use is not permitted in the SC district. You would agree with that? No, not necessarily. So that's what I want to get into. So I don't think it is prohibited and I'll just give just give me a minute or two to go through it. If you look at 301 section 301 110 A of the Town Code it lists the permitted uses in the district and there are five of them. The first one is shopping centers with a minimum size of 50,000 square feet of gross floor area and then there's offices, health clubs, restaurant's, and indoor sports and recreation facilities. So it says shopping centers at 50,000 square feet. That's easy. All right. Well what's a shopping center? Right. We look at different definitions of shopping center but we have a definition actually in your code. Riverhead Town Code has a definition of shopping center. And all it says here is the use of lands buildings or structures by two or more stores or business establishments where the proposed use occupies a site of one or more acres where they're built at one time or in two or more construction stages in connection with which there is provided on privately owned property contiguous there to area used for by the public as a means of access to an egress from the stores or business establishments on such premises and for free parking of motor vehicles I'm not going to read it all but that's basically it so it's basically saying that a shopping center is allowed to have stores and other business establishments so it's significant that the definition of shopping center does not actually limit or restrict the types of uses that can be in a shopping center instead it only requires two or more stores or business establish it establishments one acre and on a site one acre in size and you provide free parking the site meets all of that business establishment is not defined in the code so we just look at the code and we look at the code and we look to the general definition and I just ones I found pretty pretty consistent broadly defined as a physical location where various business activities occur so this facility is clearly a business establishment Stony Brook medicines businesses providing emergency health care services to the residents of Riverhead and the surrounding communities by employees that will be on the site who will staff the vehicles in the facility each day after the conversion if it's approved if Stony Brook medicine goes into the back of this building the site will continue to be a shopping center it's not going to not be a shopping center it will still be a shopping center because it meets the definition still it's a lander building two or more stores or business establishments we meet that there's more than 50,000 square feet we meet that it's 9.3 acres still more than an acre we meet that and lastly it's served by a parking lot for free parking so I submit that the ambulance that the facility is actually permitted in the district as long as it's part of a shopping center because we can't say with with the straight face you can't say it's not going to be a shopping center after this back door overhead door is has an ambulance and a mobile stroke unit in it the place is still a shopping center so if Riverhead wanted the town board if it wanted to restrict the uses in this district to retail or other very specific uses it could have easily done so and it has done so in other zoning districts if you look at the destination retail Center district it lists specifically retail store or shops in the business Center district it lists retail stores as permitted uses in the zones when the town board made the list of permitted uses for the shopping center district they just defined it more broadly so that more uses could be in a shopping center so even if the board disagree and I would also point out that even if the board disagrees in the absence and there's some ambiguity let's assume that that you know the decisions there's some ambiguity that clearly prohibits the facility in the shopping center district the law actually requires that when there is ambiguity and zoning regulations they always have to be construed against the municipality and in favor of the property owner so my position is that a use variance is not needed for the reasons I just explained but I am going to go through the use variance criteria if that's okay in the event that the board thinks that disagrees with my analysis of the town code I just think it's I think it's simpler and cleaner it doesn't set precedent for the use variances you know then you know you don't know what happens with you know other people use the decisions but whatever so if I could just go through the criteria that would be great so I do think the use variance relief is actually warranted in this situation by the unique facts that surround the application so you know what the four factors are for the for use variance I'm not going to go through them but I'm just going to go through the analysis of them so I think the applicant is going to be able to make out the requisite proofs for each of the factors so I would start with the cannot realize a reasonable rate of return so there was a letter of support that was submitted last night by Michael Hakimian who is a principal of the property owner he mentioned that he and several brokerage teams have actively but unsuccessfully marketed the former Big Lots space to more than 80 potential regional and national tenants now for several years and during the this time I think he said three years the feedback has been that only the front portion of this space is actually marketable because it's kind of a weird configuration it's like an L configuration and you know retailers want visibility they want frontage and that back portion just doesn't have it right it's the back of the shopping center so none of the retailers had any interest in leasing the rear portion of the space because you know it creates a larger tenant space than most retailers want and about half of the space has as I mentioned no frontage or public visibility and again not surprising because retailers want visibility and frontage so without the ability to rent the rear portion of the former Big Lots space the property owner then he's unable to realize a reasonable rate of return he put that he laid it all out in his in his letter and I would just point out that similar evidence was provided in the Aspen Dental ZBA decision from a couple of years ago with bricksmore and the board accepted a very similar type evidence by a landlord saying look I've been trying really hard I have a whole bunch of brokerage teams out there we just can't seem to find a user for this space so and and that decision is in your booklet at exhibit 8. so the second is whether the you know the unique the hardship is unique right and we have to show that it is in fact unique it does not apply to a substantial portion of the district or neighborhood and I say that it is unique because the inability to rent the rear portion of the space is a direct result of what now is a unique configuration of this older building which is L-shaped on that side of the shopping center and it creates this large area that has no visibility from the road or from the parking lot which maybe was acceptable years and years ago I understand this was a Pergament home Improvement Center many years ago um Pergament needed the space to store the back space didn't matter whether you had visibility because there was like Warehouse space in the back but today's retailers doesn't work for them the hardship is also unique because other buildings if you look in the in your booklet at Exhibit nine I was looking at the other shopping center district the bill other buildings in the shopping center district and none of them are really configured the same way and I know some of them are newer because I don't think you would ever do that today they're most of them are in line except for the shopping center to the east the one that's just west of the BJ's and that's kind of an L but not a true L because this space between them the back is open so you're not there's no dead space in the in the shopping center in those other shopping centers like like you have here so you know again the dead space was maybe acceptable to retailers at the time but not to today's retailers so I don't think this would with this situation could be used in any of the other shopping centers in the SC district I think this is in fact unique and would not set a precedent when the building was first constructed as I mentioned was a pergament they needed this large space not concerned about the visibility but even when big lots took the space years ago as I mentioned in the beginning they didn't use the entire space for the store they actually used it for a different use it was a warehouse related because there still was big lots but it was actually being used as a distribution warehouse for other Suffolk County big lots stores and that was about 10,000 square feet that's the same area where the mobile stroke unit slash ambulance facility is being proposed so if this experience is granted I would be specific just to the rear 13,500 square foot portion the pink portion on there that is proposed to be leased to Stony Brook Medicine the third factor the use will not alter the essential character of the district or neighborhood because the ambulance mobile stroke unit center will be located in the region of the building and the area of the building will be located in the area of the building and the area of the building will be located in the area of the building and the area of the building will be primarily accessed from the rear it's not there's no frontage there's no no visible part of this operation there will be a door facing the parking lot so there will be one small door if you look on that pink there's like a tail that goes up north it gets you to the front it's just a door and where staff can come in no vehicles can go in that way so they walk down the hallway and they get to the backspace all of the vehicles obviously enter from the back which is facing the school tentative then the fields again no sirens no light bars while they travel through the parking lot only as they approach old country road the facility is not going to be visible from either old country road or the parking lot or any of the adjacent uses because there's no one at the school the only one that would actually see there where the school is or the vacant a lot to the to the west where there's a an agricultural field as As I mentioned, the closest residence is about 500 feet away from this corner of the building, and the way that the units will travel, they will not be impacted by the facility. I also want to point out, if you look to Exhibit 10, you see the picture. I think somebody brought it up, what these things look like. These vehicles, other than they're painted red and white, they're smaller than box trucks and other types of delivery trucks that come to shopping centers. So this is not a very large vehicle that's going to be traveling through the shopping center. It's actually smaller than most. And these types of vehicles are already on the road, right? You have the Peconic Bay Medical Center right there, so ambulances are traveling past all the time. So it's not introducing some new vehicle into the neighborhood that people have never seen before. And so without any visibility to the public way of this facility or from neighboring properties or the introduction of vehicles or any type of overt, activity that's different from what's already in the area, this facility will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood. And lastly, the hardship is not self-created because, as was the situation in the Aspen Dental matter, that the board accepted. The problem is really the result of the widespread change in the retail market that really is beyond the landowners control, beyond everyone's control, right? There's an evolution in retail. From retail to e-commerce, there are very few or far fewer, I should say, brick and mortar retailers. And the retailers that are left, they have choices, right? There's a lot of vacant space. So retailers, they're not going to take that back space where there's no visibility because there's plenty of spaces in the town that are vacant that have visibility. So all of them want this ample frontage and visibility. I mean, that's the key to a successful retail. And I think that's the key to a successful retail operation. This space in the back just can't provide it. So it's dead space. Again, it was for the Pergamon where it worked, you know, maybe it worked 50, 40 years ago, but it doesn't work. And if no one wants the, as a result of, you know, I mean, as evidenced by the unsuccessful attempts by the many brokerage firms and the owner, trying to lease the 40,000 square foot space with 10,000 of it, that's kind of dead. It's just no one's interested. So they're not able to. So as the landlord stated in his letter, a prolonged or indefinite vacancy of this large space will continue to have an adverse impact on the financial viability of the center, but both from a lost rent, because obviously he's not getting rent, and it's the anchor. It's a big space. He's not getting rent from it, but also in the center's attractiveness to customers. So it gets compounded. Having the vacant space, not only does he lose rent, but it impacts his ability to get other tenants in the shopping center. Because other retailers don't want to come where there's a large, dark space. Right? They want to go where there's, where there's centers that are vibrant and are full, and there's a lot of activity. And with that dead space, that's just not happening here. So that's the end of my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions. I do have Mr. Ferraro here if you have any questions, and people from Stony Brook Medicine. Steve is here. Yes. I have one question. I'm looking at the survey again. Sure. If I'm on Old Country Road and I'm going to turn in to go to Staples, right? I turn there. What, is there any signage for your facility there? Well, there's nothing there. We're not there, so. No, no. But I mean, there's no signage up by Old Country Road, or how about when in the parking lot going back to the? No. No, it's not that kind of operation. It's not that kind of business. You know, it's not. Nobody would come to that. Nobody would come there, right? It's just. No, that, okay. That's all I. Yeah, no, we wouldn't. We wouldn't even be there, really. Yeah, yeah. What's that? I'm sorry. No one will even know that. No one's going to know we're there. It's in the back, so it's a great reuse of a dead portion of a shopping center. Well, making the statement about where the doors are, people were thinking about the doors opening into the parking lot, but nobody's going to even see these doors. It's just a glass door. No, I see it. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a single, it just leads to a hallway. Give a staff entry. Oh, that's good. Thank you. Staff entry, yes. How many vehicles to get to the store? Is it eight? Eight. Eight and one. All right, so nine. Right. Yeah. One mobile stroke unit. Yeah. A maximum. Up to, yeah, there may not be eight there. Nobody's seeing. And you said there was 10,000 calls. What period of time was that for the other unit? It was about five years, right, is what that was called. The stroke program's been in operation for about five years, and just the mobile stroke unit has answered just over 10,000 calls. That's about 2,000 a year. About 2,000. That's about five and a half a day. Okay. So, that's about, that's about two thousand. That's about two thousand. That's about five and a half a day. Okay. So, that's about two thousand. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. That's about 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. At all? At all, yes. I think you said exit 67? There's a mobile unit? So we currently have two stroke units in operation. One is at exit 57 on the expressway. That handles the western portion of the county. And one is at exit 68 on the service road of the expressway, which handles between about halfway, like 50, 112, and William Floyd Parkway. Would you just identify yourself with a record? Sure. The reporter doesn't know who you are. Sure. Steven Slovenski. Okay. Yes. So the issue now is with the MSU-2, which is stationed in Shirley, essentially. Only has about a 15-minute response time to the... So we're looking to place another unit in the east so that we can go further and help more people. Right. Well, that was my next question. You talked about Stony Brook having facilities in Southampton and Greenport, correct? So we have an eastern Long Island hospital as part of the Stony Brook medicine system, as is Southampton hospital as part of the Stony Brook medicine system. And we recently, in May of this year, opened in East Hampton. What we call... We call a standalone emergency department, which has no inpatient beds, but takes ambulances and walk-in patients. So why wouldn't you seek to locate somewhere, rather than Riverhead, somewhere either further out on the North Fork or further out on the South Fork, being more proximate to the Stony Brook hospital facilities? Because the mobile stroke unit, the unit that we want to... The unit that we want to be stationed there primarily, we would like it to be in the center so that it can go to the South Fork or the North Fork. If we go too much east, then it would be locked on the North Fork or locked on the South Fork, and the response time would be too long to be able to get anywhere. Well, Riverhead is right at the Fork, so if you were in Riverside, Southampton, that would be essentially the same location. No, because I would like to be able to... That would be in the center. I would like to be able to cover the South Fork from Riverhead. So we're in the middle. If we get the location that we've asked for, we're able to respond onto the South Fork and onto the North Fork from that location. Okay, but if there was a location in Southampton, the same argument would apply. You could, from that location, service the South and come up through Riverhead to service the North. I would argue that the response time... To the North Fork would be too long, and we would not be able to respond as far out of the North Fork as we would if the vehicle is stationed in Riverhead. We would be able to go equidistance out on the South Fork and the North Fork. So about the Cutrog area on the North Fork and just west of Southampton Hospital on the South Fork. So have you investigated any properties in Riverside or Southampton, let's say within five miles of Riverhead? We don't want to be in Southampton because we want to use one unit to cover the North Fork. We want to use one unit to cover the North Fork and the South Fork. So putting the unit in Southampton would not be a good location for this. So just so I can understand this, it sounds like you said you'd go just west of Southampton Hospital, you could cover two. Yes. And then you could go out to Cutrog. Yes. So does that de facto mean that everything would come back to Riverhead? So the state designates two types of stroke centers. One is called a comprehensive stroke center. And one is called a primary. Riverhead is a primary stroke center. Riverhead Peconic is a primary stroke center. So they can take small strokes. What the stroke unit does is the stroke unit is able to go to somebody's house, scan them, do an assessment, scan them, and determine if it's a large stroke or a small stroke. So if it's a small stroke, we can give that patient the clot-busting medication and take them directly to the primary stroke center, which is the closest hospital. We do that all the time now. We take patients to Litch. We take patients to St. Catharines that have small strokes with the units that we have. But when that unit finds a big stroke, what we call a large vessel occlusion, that stroke needs to go to a comprehensive stroke center with a team that can take care of that large stroke because the clot-busting medication does not work. Well, mostly does not work on small strokes, on big strokes. And that would then be coming back to Peconic Bay? No. So if you have a large stroke, that would go to a comprehensive stroke center. There's three currently in Suffolk County. But the closest one to this unit would be in the Bay Area. It would be Stony Brook. It would be Stony Brook. Yeah. The idea is that the stroke unit's hunting for large strokes or small strokes, and we're getting the patient to the right place. That's the idea. Because if you bring a patient with a large stroke to a primary stroke center, they most likely have to be transferred to a comprehensive stroke center. And we've eliminated that with the other two units during the times that the mobile stroke unit operates. So when they find a big stroke, they take it to the right place. When they find a small stroke, they take it to the closest hospital. They give the clot-busting medication. They take it to the closest hospital. So you would basically be going wherever it was, right? So you'd go to west of Southampton, but if Southampton was closest, you would drop them off in Southampton. If someone from Eastampton had a stroke, you would not be going in. They would not be responding as far as it would go. Just because we're very careful about the response time, and we want that response time to be a maximum of about 15 minutes. So we get, we, when somebody dials 911 and they have stroke-like symptoms, the stroke unit gets, simultaneously dispatched with the local ambulance. And we've estimated from our experience that that good response time is in the 15-minute neighborhood. So we don't want to be too much over that because then they're waiting and that's not really great. So we use 15 minutes as about the response time. Okay. So I know that I can get just west of Southampton Hospital in 15 minutes. I know that I can get to about Cutchog in 15 minutes. We laid it out on a map. We looked at all the data we possibly could. Probably depending upon the day. Sure. And the time of day also. Yes. So I think it's a wonderful thing. And I thank you for bringing it out here. Having lost a mother and an aunt to a stroke, I definitely understand how it works. Can you take me back to the other ambulances? Because what I heard was you operate from like 8 in the morning to the 12-hour shifts, 8 to 8. Was it 7 to 7? I forgot what it was. So we have several shifts. We have a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift, a 12-hour shift that the staff come to. Our current location in Riverhead now at 1015 East Main Street, they park there. They pick up the ambulance, and that ambulance happens to go to East Long Island. One goes to East Long Island, and one goes to Southampton. And they sit there for the day. And they do whatever calls they get assigned. And at the end of the day, they come back, and they park the vehicle at the current location in Riverhead on 1015 East Main Street. There's an 11 to 11 shift, which goes to Southampton. Same thing. They park. They pick the ambulance up. They go to Southampton. They stay there for their 12 hours. We. The standalone emergency department that I described in East Hampton that opened in May, one of the Department of Health requirements is that there's an ambulance there 24 hours a day so that if a patient comes in there that they can't handle, they can be moved quickly. So we have an ambulance there 24 hours a day, and we staff that a little strange, but it makes sense. So the crew goes to Riverhead. They pick up an ambulance. They go there for their 12-hour shift. They pick it up at 6 a.m. And then the night crew picks up it in 2nd. They pick it up at 6 a.m. And then the night crew picks up it in 2nd. And they cross in the middle so that we have as much coverage out there as possible. So once again, nobody's actually staying there in most of those ambulances. They're getting picked up, and they're going to their assigned locations for the day. But I have various shifts, 6 to 6, 7 to 7, 11 to 11. So out of the nine vehicles, the stroke unit is going to be dispatched as it's dispatched most likely three times per day is I think what I heard. I hope so, three times a day. I think that would be great. I thought that's right. It's great. It's estimated to be about three times a day. I would be ecstatic if it's three times a day. Okay. Yes. But that one's going to reside right here in Riverhead. It is. It's not going anywhere. Then you've got three of the other ones are basically just leaving in the morning and coming back. They look like a commuter. Four of those, including this, the East Hampton one. Okay, so four of them. Four of them. So that's just really, for the most part, just two trips per day. That's right. And then we have another one. So that's the one that's going to be in the morning and then the other one is going to be in the afternoon. So that's the one that's going to be in the afternoon. So that's the one that's going to be in the afternoon. Which helps support Riverhead Ambulance that leaves that building and goes to the Riverhead building, sits with their crews and helps them answer calls 12 hours, 11 to 11. Okay. What concerned me when I looked at this draft is nine vehicles are going to be coming in and out of a very narrow area, wrapping around, and all of them are on high priority missions. The more I'm hearing this, it sounds to me like you're not going to just be in the middle of a riverhead ambulance. Right. You're just constantly see dispatching coming out of there. The only vehicle that's getting dispatched out of there is the mobile stroke unit. The rest of the ambulances are getting picked up and leaving for the day and going to their assigned posts at different times. So the rest of them are really, this is an overnight kind of parking area in, out, and that's it. Which is exactly what we do with the existing place now in Riverhead. They're just picking up parking, but we've added, I need more space. It's not enough. It's not enough parking, which is why we're looking to combine everything under one roof in a new place. Okay. So really, if you were to say the number of ambulance trips you expect going down that little narrow way to the back for a day, it sounds to me like it would be going and coming probably less than 24 if you've got nine vehicles. Yes. So there'd be, you know, the...
I think it would be a little bit less than that, but it's in the neighborhood. Okay. Yeah. All right. So this is... For backups, right? So we don't, you're not... Yeah, so... You are not... That's correct. Not moving at all. Yeah. I'm only storing four or five. And... Five vehicles there that are being used plus the stroke unit. The other ones would be... Okay. So it's like 10 to 12. That is not probably much, not significantly different than what was happening when it was a distribution center. I would argue that the vehicles are smaller. Yeah, probably less. The vehicles are smaller. Okay. And the staff would park in the front. Not around the back. Like there's ample park in the front for a staff park. And that was... You just mentioned that. I didn't see it on the plan. But so they can park in the front and there is going to be either next to the Chinese place that's in the corner there or something else. There's a hallway that will allow them to get to the back. They're not walking all the way around the building to get there. Oh, yes, sir. There's a... On that plan, if you look that little bump out in the front, like it's really small. You can't see it right by that yellow line. There's a door. A staff door. A doorway. Yeah. Okay. The other thing. There are nine ambulances, right? It has storage. Up to nine ambulances. So there's spots. What about these fast responders? Are they going to be in there? We would store one overnight, but it's not responding from there. The one that goes to Riverhead every day would be stored in there. It won't be stored there. It would be stored in there. It's an SUV, like an Explorer vehicle. But it's not dispatched from there. I count that as... It's a... We have nine spaces in there. That might be in one of the nine spaces for there, but it would not be responding from there. Dan says it's not being dispatched from there. No. Okay. Those two, they go to Riverhead for the day and stay there. I just have a few questions. Looking at this plan here, what's to prevent the emergency response vehicle from going out at the uncontrolled signal? Controlled. Going out onto... Control back. There is, but you can only go right from there. You can't go left. Here. It's got to... It's got a... A curb that forces you to go east. You can't go west from there. I agree. Yeah. So at your current location, 1015 East Main Street? Yes. How many ambulances do you store there? All the ones that I described except the Riverhead one are currently parked there. So there's the East Hampton ELI ambulance, the two South Hampton ambulances, and the two East Hampton ambulances. That's three. The East Hampton ambulance, that's four, but it's really five because they switch. So that's what's stored there now, a maximum of five. So at the other Riverhead, at the existing Riverhead location, you're storing two South Hampton ambulances and... I'm sorry. An East and Long Island ambulance. We call it the ELI ambulance, but East and Long Island Hospital on the North Fork, we store an ambulance for there also that goes there. That they're part of the... The Stony Brook Medicine System.
And what's the plan if a use variance was granted? Are you going to continue at that location? No, ma'am. I would like to consolidate all of that under one location. I think it's important, even though obvious. These ambulances, these stroke ambulances, I'll call them, they're not responding to any normal ambulance call. It's got to be stroke-like symptoms, right? So the way it works, so if you dial 911 right now and you describe any stroke-like symptoms, numbness in your arm, facial droop, anything like that, that dispatcher simultaneously dispatches the stroke unit and Riverhead ambulance if it was here. So they're not going after dog bites. So we're not going after stuff that it doesn't even go... In order to get the strokes, we have to cast a big net. So included in that list is headaches and seizures and things like that. So to get to the calls, you have to look at a whole... A subset of them. But it's nice that they're simultaneously dispatched because then the stroke unit can get on the road quick because the driving distance is usually a little bit longer. I guess what I just wanted to flesh out was they're not going to be like providing assistance to regular ambulance calls that are non-stroke calls. They don't go on non-stroke. They don't go on strokes. They don't go on ambulance calls that they're not dispatched to that wouldn't fall into the stroke category subset. Okay. On occasion... I think... The... The... The ambulance, so to speak. If they arrive first, would they call them up and say, no, it's not a stroke, go back, anything like that? Happens all the time. So if the... If the local ambulance gets there and says... Looks at the patient and says, we don't think this is a stroke, they call the radio and they cancel the stroke. They turn the lights off and they turn around. And conversely, if the stroke unit got there and it wasn't a stroke, for whatever reason, it was described wrong or whatever, they would still take that patient. They don't... They don't leave. Like we would still care for that patient. Do it like a chicken. Yes. Obviously. And that's happened. I do. I'm sort of... So what... What protects the public in the parking lot if you don't have sirens and you don't have lights? I would argue, what... How's the name different than any other car? If the emergency unit is heading to a call through the... Traversing the parking area, if there's no siren and no lights, doesn't that... Doesn't that... Doesn't that create a dangerous situation? I don't believe so because they're not responding with excessive speed. They're driving like any other vehicle to get out of the parking lot. Okay. It's just another vehicle. It's not any different than any other car parked on the side of the building. Okay. Less impactful than a tractor trailer that would have been going in to go to the warehouse. I like to... Well, just for the record, I'd like to say it's a great... It's a great... It sounds like a great purpose and it's very beneficial to the community. It's nice to know that if you're having a stroke, that you've got to specialize. You've got to specialize team like this. You've got a chance. You know, that you've got a chance. Somebody can get there fast enough where they can give you emergency room type care. We all know people that have had strokes and some of us have had relatives that had strokes. And the clock is ticking when it happens. So, I think it serves a great purpose for the community, especially the Riverhead community, because the stroke unit's localized right there. Right. I concur 100%. Yeah. So, it's a great benefit to the whole entire Riverhead community and this whole area waiting Riverhead to join. James Ford, I guess we would say, all the way to Southampton. Right. I just want to put that on the record. And on top of that, we do appreciate all the work that the volunteer firemen do. Yes, thank you. They save a lot of lives that... Of people's lives that we know. Okay. Thank you for your service. Okay. Let me ask one other... Leroy, are you still with us? Yes, sir. Do you have any comments? I'm sorry. We haven't seen your picture. I'll have to talk to... Way over there in the corner. Good God. Well, that's probably where I belong. Justin. Time out for Leroy. Do you have any comments, Leroy? I'm sorry that you're listening. No, I think they vetted everything that they needed to vet. I'm not sure how or why they don't deal with Peconic Bay Medical, but I know there's reasons. Because they have plenty of property, but I don't think they're in the position to build a new building. And they're already spending $2 million. I personally think... I think it's a good location. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You folks are in the audience. Did you want to say anything tonight, or are you just entertaining yourselves today?
You get cable TV. Is there anyone on Zoom that wants to say anything? No one. Who's got a reading here? I just want one thing on the record. I think it's important to note for our purposes going forward that the benefit to the community, that derives from granting this, is a very important component of that decision. I agree. Absolutely, Danny.
Give it to me. No, give it to me. I'll do it.
Okay, let's do it. Let's go. I think we should just do it. But that's... That's all right. We've got time. We're all getting older. All right. Anyway... I'll read it. Yes, we're going to do a reserve decision. Go ahead, John. Mr. Chairman, with respect to appeal number 2025-042, I respectfully move that the appeal of Stony Brook Ambulance Center, 1087 Old Country Road, Suite 1103, STM number 600-108-4-14.5, Business Center Zoning B.C. for Variances and for Relief from the Town Code, Chapter 301-110A, where the proposed ambulance center is not permitted within the B.C. Zoning Use District B, set for a reserve decision, pending Suffolk County Planning Commission determination for February... February 12th, 2026. Second. Second. All right. Mr. Barnes. Aye. Mr. Porsche. Aye. Dan. Aye. Gonzalo. I abstain. And I vote... I abstain. You abstain. Okay. I vote aye, so... Thank you. Two weeks. See you in February. Okay. Nice presentation. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks, sir. Leroy, thanks. Thank you. Do we have minutes or anything? Oh, yes. We got a new person. Yeah. I apologize. Oh, I just... Take care. Have a safe drive. As to the minutes, I make a motion to be accepted. We have the minutes from November 13th, 2025, and December 11th. I make a motion to be accepted. I second. All right. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. They've been passed. Next meeting, January 22nd. I make a motion to be adjourned until then. I second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.