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Home My WebLink About08/10/2026 Southold Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes August 10, 2026 Location -Annex basement Time—4 PM Present - Alexa,Amanda, Brent, Jack, Paul Absen/Excused - Brian, George, Jennifer, Rich Call to Order - Jack 0 OLD BUSINESS • Introduce Marisa Harney as potential new member. • 1. Business survey • The EDC is developing a survey of Southold Town businesses. 0 Goals: • • Keep the survey short and easy to complete. • • Make questions specific and neutral, avoiding questions that steer respondents toward a desired answer. • Ultimately make it an annual survey, retaining a core set of questions so results can be tracked over time. • Use the survey to identify issues affecting local businesses. • Timeline discussed: • • Finalize the survey and cover letter by approximately August 19. • Submit it for Town Attorney review and seek Town Board approval August 25. • • Target a first-week-of-September launch. • • Keep the survey open for at least one month. • The survey will be distributed digitally, including through QR codes, and promoted through local media, business organizations and potentially direct outreach. • 2. Business database/directory • The EDC is building a comprehensive database of Southold Town businesses. • Potential sources include: • North Fork Chamber of Commerce • • Existing EDC/business databases • Other local business lists • • The Town Comprehensive Plan's business list • The databases will be consolidated and de-duplicated. • An important point was that the EDC does not want to rely solely on existing databases, because many businesses particularly small contractors, home-based businesses, professional services and other businesses that aren't Chamber members—may be missing. • The survey itself should help identify additional businesses and clean up the database. • 3. Marketing the survey • The committee discussed getting broad participation without unnecessarily spending EDC advertising money. • Potential promotional partners include: • North Fork Sun • • Times Review • Chamber of Commerce 0 • Other community organizations • • Flyers and possibly door-to-door outreach • The EDC wants to reach every segment of the local business community, not just established Chamber members. • 4. EDC Business Guide • The proposed EDC Business Guide remains under development. • The committee agreed to: • Continue refining it. • • Incorporate information learned from the business survey. • • Target a mid-fall completion. • There was also discussion of making the guide more useful by addressing confusing Town regulations and requirements. • 5. Code enforcement and regulations affecting businesses • A significant new idea was raised: examine the most common code-enforcement problems affecting businesses in the Hamlet Business Districts. • The EDC wants to determine: • • What are the top 5-10 violations involving businesses? • • Are businesses repeatedly violating the same provisions because the code is unclear? • • Are regulations concerning signs, outdoor displays, A-frames, merchandise racks, tables/chairs, lighting, etc., unnecessarily difficult for small businesses? • • Are Town regulations being interpreted consistently? • • Are there gaps between Town, State, Federal and ADA requirements? • The initial proposed step is to ask Code Enforcement for its most frequent business-related violations over roughly the past six months or year. • The information could then be incorporated into the Business Guide or potentially lead to recommendations for updating Town regulations. • 6. Winterfest • The future of Winterfest remains uncertain. • The Southold Town Historical Society/Museum indicated it does not want to take responsibility for the event. • The Chamber of Commerce has expressed some interest in: • Supporting Winterfest • • Possibly helping obtain grants • But it apparently wanted the Historical Society to run the event. • The EDC recognized that Winterfest is a very substantial undertaking and that the existing organizers do not necessarily want to continue running it. 0 One possible solution discussed was creating a separate Winterfest organization/board, rather than having the EDC itself run the event. • The matter was to be discussed further with the Chamber. 0 NEW BUSINESS • 7. Small-business mentoring program—major new idea • A new discussion came from Marissa, a retired commercial-banking executive with experience helping small businesses. 0 Her proposal is essentially to create a local small-business mentoring and advisory network. • The concept would connect Southold-area entrepreneurs with experienced people who could provide help with: • • Business plans • • Accounting/bookkeeping • • Financing • • Banking • • Marketing • • Risk management • • Grants • • Zoning and regulations • • Business feasibility • • General management • A particularly interesting component is tapping into the large pool of experienced retired executives and professionals living on the North Fork who may want to volunteer as mentors. • 8. Helping entrepreneurs before they invest • The committee discussed making the proposed program particularly useful before someone commits substantial money to a business. • For example, a prospective business owner could receive assistance answering: • Is this actually a viable business before I sign a lease, borrow money or invest my savings? • The program could help analyze: • • Expected revenue • • Seasonal versus off-season business • • Rent and overhead • • Financing requirements • • Regulatory/zoning issues • • Business risks • • Whether the proposed location is appropriate • The discussion noted that this could be especially valuable on the North Fork because of high real-estate costs, high rents and seasonal business conditions. • 9. Existing resources that could be tapped • The committee identified numerous existing resources rather than necessarily creating everything from scratch: • • SBA resources and mentoring • • Stony Brook small-business resources • • Long Island Association • • Local banks and their community-investment programs • • Retired executives and professionals • • Attorneys • • Zoning specialists • • CAST and its existing facilities, volunteers and workforce-development activities • • Local business/entrepreneurship organizations • A recurring issue was that resources and grant money may already exist, but small businesses don't know about them or don't have someone to help them navigate the system. 0 10. Funding versus organization • One of the strongest themes of the discussion was that money may not actually be the biggest obstacle. • Banks and other institutions may have grants or community-development money available. The bigger problem is: • Who organizes the program, applies for the money, administers it and takes responsibility for delivering the services? • The committee discussed potentially creating a separate organization or board, possibly in partnership with an existing nonprofit such as CAST. • Bottom line • The meeting focused on making the EDC more useful to Southold's small-business community. • The major initiatives are: • 1. Complete and launch a comprehensive business survey. • 2. Build a reliable Town-wide business database. • 3. Use the survey to identify business problems and trends annually. • 4. Develop an EDC Business Guide, informed by the survey. • 5. Investigate recurring code-enforcement problems affecting businesses. • 6. Determine whether and how Winterfest can continue without placing the burden on the EDC. • 7. Explore creation of a small-business mentoring/advisory network, potentially utilizing retired executives, attorneys, bankers and other professionals. • 8. Identify and connect businesses with existing grants, SBA, Stony Brook, banking and nonprofit resources. • The mentoring/advisory concept appears to be the most significant new idea introduced at this meeting, because it could potentially become a longer-term EDC initiative rather than simply another one-time project. • Discuss need for new members. Adjourn