HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-09/22/2026 PH 1
1 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK : STATE OF NEW YORK
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3
SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD
4 REGULAR MEETING
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Southold, New York
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September 22 , 2026
8 6 : 00 P . M .
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13 B E F 0 R E :
14
15 ALBERT KRUPSKI JR, SUPERVISOR
16 KATE STEVENS , JUSTICE
17 BRIAN MEALY, COUNCILMAN
18 ANNE SMITH, COUNCILWOMAN
19 ALEXA SUESS , COUNCILWOMAN
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SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
2
3 Public Hearing - Community Development
Block Grant Funding 3-5
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5 Public Comments 5-45
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SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 PUBLIC HEARING
2 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDING
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
4 Mr . Clerk, could you read the notice?
5 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
6 This public hearing is being held to hear
7 citizens on any community development
8 needs for the approximately $100 , 000 in
9 grant funds the Town of Southold expects
10 to receive in April 2027 . Legal notices
11 for this public hearing are published no
12 less than 10 days prior to the public
13 hearing in an eligible legal town
14 newspaper . The Town Clerk ' s Office has
15 received the Affidavit of Service from
16 that newspaper indicating the notice was
17 published . The Town Clerk file also
18 includes the Affidavit of Posting on that
19 public notice on the Town Clerk ' s Bulletin
20 Board at Town Hall .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
22 Mr . Johnson, are all the notices , public
23 notices in order?
24 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
25 Yes , Supervisor Krupski , the papers are in
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 order .
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
3 you . All right . So we ' ll open the
4 hearing on the Community Development Block
5 Grant funding request .
6 Is there anyone like to speak to
7 this public hearing?
8 (No Response . )
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I don ' t
10 see anyone in the room . And for the
11 record, I don ' t see any in Zoom . if I
12 don ' t have anyone to speak to this , I will
13 entertain a motion to close the hearing?
14 TOWN CLERK DENIS NONCARROW : Do you
15 want to leave it open for two weeks .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
17 you .
18 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Motion to
19 leave the hearing open for two weeks for
20 comment .
21 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Agreed .
22 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
23 right . Thank you, Mr . Clerk .
24 TOWN CLERK DENIS NONCARROW : Thank
25 you .
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
2 right . So that hearing will be open and
3 people can -- if they want to comment,
4 they can come to the meeting in two weeks ,
5 but they can also e-mail us or -- or give
6 us a call . So contact us that way .
7 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : With your
8 permission, I -- because I have Swiss
9 cheese brain after a 12-hour meeting,
10 there ' s a couple other announcements I
11 want to -- that are important for the
12 community . May I do that now, or did you
13 want to go to the --
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No, go
15 right ahead .
16 (Whereupon, Councilman Mealy made
17 announcements at this time . )
18
19 PUBLIC COMMENTS
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
21 right , is there anyone who would like to
22 address the Board on any matter?
23 LESLIE HERRLIN : Hello, everyone .
24 I ' m Leslie Herrlin . So I just wanted to
25 say a little something . The withdrawal of
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 the proposed 6 , 000 hen operation is a
2 significant and welcome change for the
3 community . Southold Villas and now the
4 site plan should be reconsidered based on
5 a much lower intensity fruit and/or
6 vegetable farm actually being proposed .
7 But one fundamental problem remains . We
8 still do not know all the human beings who
9 own and control 2340 Ackerly Pond, LLC .
10 The Town holds a taxpayer funded
11 development rights easement on this
12 property . That easement requires
13 identification of the transferee and the
14 individual principles thereof . The public
15 record produced to date does not contain
16 that required notice . Why does this
17 matter? The Town ' s own disclosure form
18 says its purpose is to alert the town to
19 possible conflicts of interest, but that
20 safeguard cannot work if the people behind
21 the LLC remain unidentified . An LLC does
22 not have personal , family, or business
23 relationships with town officials . People
24 do . You cannot disclose or recuse from a
25 relationship you cannot identify . I am
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 7
1 not alleging that anyone has a conflict .
2 1 am saying the Town must obtain the
3 information necessary to determine whether
4 one exists . I am asking this Town Board,
5 as holder of the easement, to require the
6 names of all individual principles --
7 principles , establish who is authorized to
8 bind the LLC, and ensure that the required
9 conflict review is completed . The
10 proposal has changed . The Town ' s
11 responsibility has not . Required means
12 required, and I just find this very, very
13 important that we know who these
14 individuals are . Because no one would
15 want to later find out, "Gee, " you know,
16 "he did some work for me, " or, "Yeah, I
17 had -- you know, "He ' s my cousin ' s
18 uncle ' s " You know, this is a small island,
19 so we do need to know who these
20 individuals are . It ' s part of the
21 required documentation . And I -- I really
22 don ' t understand why it ' s -- to this
23 point, hasn ' t been brought to fruition .
24 So I don ' t know if the Town Attorney, if
25 you have anything to say on this ? Ben, is
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 there an update?
2 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : I
3 don ' t have an update on this at this time ,
4 no .
5 LESLIE HERRLIN : Okay . So are you
6 still pursuing it?
7 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : I
8 would ask that you address your questions
9 to the Board . We will do everything that
10 we have to --
11 LESLIE HERRLIN : Do you know if the
12 Town Attorney is still pursuing this ?
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Okay .
14 Well , I didn ' t hear what Ben said at the
15 end there . That --
16 LESLIE HERRLIN : He told me to refer
17 to you, and you ' re telling me maybe to
18 refer to Ben . So I ' m just -- you know,
19 where are we at with this ?
20 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
21 We ' re -- we ' re doing everything that --
22 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Mr .
23 Johnson, could you --
24 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
25 We ' re doing everything that --
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Could
2 you answer the question to the best of
3 your ability, please?
4 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : The
5 Town is doing everything it can to protect
6 its interest .
7 LESLIE HERRLIN : Okay . All right .
8 Well , thank you very much .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
10 you .
11 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Thank you .
12 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Evening . I have a
13 little handout for you tonight . May I
14 bring it to you?
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Sure .
16 BENJA SCHWARTZ : So what that is , is
17 a copy of the deed from the prior owner --
18 My name is Benja Schwartz , by the way .
19 What I ' ve just handed you includes , on the
20 last page, a copy of the deed from the
21 prior owner to 2340 Ackerly Pond, LLC .
22 And the first two pages have copies of two
23 of the paragraphs in the Deed of
24 Development Rights Easement . So the first
25 two pages were written in 2007 . They ' re
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 from a contract between East Coast
2 Residential , the owner at that time , the
3 grantor, and the Town of Southold,
4 grantee . I think you know that one . it
5 sets forth right here in the contract how
6 it can be, what it requires , and how it
7 can be enforced . It requires not only
8 disclosure of the name, but also it
9 requires language express -- explicit,
10 specific language referring to the
11 development rights easement in the deed .
12 And as you can see from the copy of the
13 deed, there is no such language in the
14 deed . So we not only have the one
15 violation, we have two . Now, as far as
16 enforcement that ' s not the Planning
17 Board ' s job . They could help out . They
18 could be a big help in this case because
19 they could just stop processing the
20 application until we get this information .
21 But it sets forth in the easement, the
22 contract between the Town of Southold and
23 whoever the owner is of that property .
24 When they buy that property, they assume
25 the role of the grantor in this contract,
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 and it sets forth there that if there ' s
2 any violation of the -- or breach or
3 default, which these are, two, that the
4 grantor can act immediately, but it ' s
5 better form to give 15 days notice . So I
6 would ask you, I don ' t know what your Town
7 Attorney ' s going to tell you . I ' ve tried
8 to talk to him, and we have disagreed .
9 But you are the ones making the decision,
10 not him . So that ' s the first part of what
11 1 prepared --
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
13 you for providing us with that .
14 BENJA SCHWARTZ : You ' re welcome .
15 One thing I think that we can agree , as
16 attorneys don ' t like to agree much, but
17 that the right-to-farm laws have nothing
18 to do with this contract . The
19 right-to-farm laws cannot interfere or
20 override voluntary contracts like
21 development rights easements . So there ' s
22 no issue about the agriculture and markets
23 law or the Town of Southold right-to-farm
24 law . That doesn ' t impact this . And the
25 Planning Board really should have stopped
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 processing that application until this is
2 resolved, which would have put some
3 pressure on the property owner to resolve
4 the matter . But they haven ' t done that,
5 and they don ' t really have the right, as
6 you do, to enforce this . And I forgot to
7 mention the enforcement rights of grantee ,
8 which I gave you the paper there . It says
9 in there that the -- any action that is
10 required to be taken by the town, if legal
11 action is required to be taken to have the
12 deed amended or the information provided,
13 the grantor, the property owner, pays for
14 that action . So it would not cost
15 taxpayers anything to enforce the
16 contract . We paid over -- well over a
17 million dollars for the contract . I think
18 it ' s worth enforcing . So last week, I
19 think it was -- I was lucky enough to
20 attend a Planning Board meeting . They
21 tried to kick me out . They didn ' t
22 succeed . But they did pretty much succeed
23 in ignoring me . They asked me to -- They
24 told me that I was not on the agenda .
25 Well , you know, this goes back -- at least
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 six weeks ago, I think it was in the end
2 of July, that I sent a letter to the
3 Planning Board regarding this -- and
4 they ' ve been ignoring the issue since
5 then . So on the Friday before the meeting
6 on Monday, I saw on the agenda that the
7 Planning Board was going to be discussing
8 a Planning Department Staff Report . I
9 requested a copy of that and was denied
10 it . Told that I could file a Freedom of
11 Information Request and they had five days
12 to provide that . Upon returning home, I
13 looked up the law, and the Freedom of
14 Information Law is overruled by the Open
15 Meetings Law . So if you have a document
16 and you ' re discussing it in an open
17 meeting, the public is required to have
18 access to that document . I tried to talk
19 to the Planning Department about that, but
20 I ' m not as convincing as some of you can
21 be , so I ended up having to write a letter
22 and send them a letter on Monday morning .
23 To their credit, after reading the letter,
24 they did change their minds and even
25 called me up and e-mailed me a copy of the
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 Planning Department Staff Report . So I ' m
2 grateful for that, but the reason I bring
3 it up tonight is that I thought that that
4 might have sent a message to the Town
5 Board that they agreed with me then .
6 Maybe when I would try to talk to them in
7 the meeting when this application was on
8 the agenda and they were discussing --
9 Well , I wouldn ' t call it discussing . They
10 were processing at a very rapid pace,
11 setting a new public hearing . That ' s what
12 this is about . This is the Planning
13 Department Staff Report . Basically, I get
14 two things of substance out of this . One ,
15 they want to set a public hearing because
16 the applicant asked for it . Everything
17 the applicant asks for, he gets . There ' s
18 also in here, they ' re saying now that
19 regular farm access is proposed from
20 Ackerly Pond Lane . Now, we all knew that,
21 but the change is it used to say that farm
22 access is proposed from Ackerly Pond Lane ,
23 but when the Planning Board asked the
24 applicant, "Do you agree to that? " He
25 said, "No, I can ' t agree to that . " So
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 apparently, the Planning Board has changed
2 their position, or the Planning Department
3 has changed its position . It ' s very hard
4 to keep track of these positions because
5 we ' re -- we ' re not following the proper
6 procedure . They never closed the last
7 public hearing, and they know that . I
8 wrote them six weeks ago . Why would they
9 schedule a new one or reopen something
10 that was never closed? Doesn ' t make
11 sense . In addition to that, to have a
12 public hearing, you have to give the
13 public something, what you ' re going to be
14 discussing . There ' s a process in the
15 Planning Department . They have
16 pre-submission conferences before it even
17 goes to the Planning Board . When it goes
18 to the Planning Board, it gets referred
19 out . This is just a pass the buck, let
20 the applicant and the applicant ' s attorney
21 call the shots , and we ' re just going to
22 get this thing back on the calendar and
23 approve it as quickly as we can . And
24 what ' s wrong with that? Because there ' s
25 no more chickens . Well , I ' m grateful that
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 there ' s no more chickens , but chickens
2 don ' t drink that much . Okay . Never even
3 heard of them drinking wine . They drink
4 water, but they drink -- 6 , 000 chickens
5 drink somewhere between 4 and 800 gallons
6 a day . So it ' s not nothing, but compared
7 to the water use that fruits and/or
8 vegetables might require, and I don ' t know
9 all the details . I did do a quick AI
10 search, told me in about 30 seconds that
11 if you ' re going to grow watermelon,
12 celery, or strawberries , you ' re going to
13 use a lot more water . Of course , most of
14 the water is used during the peak summer
15 season when demand is already high . if
16 you want to conserve water, they could
17 grow garlic, sweet potatoes , or asparagus .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I have
19 to -- you ' re pushing a 10 minute limit
20 here, and I --
21 BENJA SCHWARTZ : All right . I ' ll --
22 I ' m going to --
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : If you
24 could -- if you could wrap it up because
25
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 BENJA SCHWARTZ : I have my notes , so
2
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : If you
4 want to come in and discuss the water
5 requirements --
6 BENJA SCHWARTZ : No, I don ' t want to
7
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : for
9 different crops --
10 BENJA SCHWARTZ : I want to
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : You know
12 you can come to my office anytime .
13 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Well , I will do
14 that, but let me try to quickly get
15 through this . So as opposed to 4 to 800
16 gallons a day, fruits or vegetables could
17 use over 60 , 000 gallons a day . So I think
18 that needs to be examined by the Planning
19 Board in the site plan application, and
20 that could have been done before the
21 public hearing instead of afterwards . The
22 public would like to know what the facts
23 are so that they can intelligently present
24 their comments to the Planning Board . I
25 don ' t know any of you are online . I
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 assume you are . There ' s this new magazine
2 online called The North Fork Sun . They
3 just recently -- I think it was yesterday,
4 published a list of the 20 highest
5 residential water users . It ' s amazing how
6 much water some of these people can use in
7 their house . It ' s an excellent article .
8 It goes into the details of trying to find
9 out why people were using different water
10
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
12 you .
13 BENJA SCHWARTZ : -- amounts , et
14 cetera .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
16 you .
17 BENJA SCHWARTZ : I don ' t see an
18 article yet about farms using water .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well , I
20 think you should come to the next Ag
21 Advisory Committee and you should ask that
22 question . I think they would be happy to
23 explain to you how agriculture uses water
24 for crop production .
25 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Yeah, it would be
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 my pleasure . That ' s all I wanted to share
2 with you, but I ' m hopeful that you won ' t
3 just give this blank face . You know,
4 someone in the town government -- I ' m not
5 going to say who it was , but they told me
6 that in their long history of their
7 service with the Town, no Town Supervisor
8 would ever have sit idle while the
9 Planning Board was saying that this
10 application is a walk in the park, and
11 they don ' t really need to evaluate this
12 use, et cetera . You have -- every one of
13 you has the right to go down to the
14 Planning Department and talk to them and
15 tell them, Stop . Let ' s wait till we find
16 out who this company really is , and also
17 let ' s get the -- our deed of development
18 rights mentioned in the property deed .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So to
20 that point, I will ask the Town Attorney
21 to look into the in -- the information
22 you ' ve given us and to give us an opinion
23 on that .
24 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Thank you .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : But on
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 20
1 the -- on the other point, if you say that
2 the Town Board has the right to -- or the
3 supervisor to go down to the Planning
4 Department and tell them to stop working
5 on an application, we also then have the
6 right to go down there and say, "Approve
7 this application . "
8 BENJA SCHWARTZ : No , no, I didn ' t
9 say that . I didn ' t mean that , Al .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No, I
11 did . I did .
12 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Oh, okay .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So then
14 if we have the authority to stop them --
15 BENJA SCHWARTZ : No , no --
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : -- have
17 the authority to direct them to approve it
18
19 BENJA SCHWARTZ : I didn ' t say you
20 have the authority to stop it . I said you
21 have the authority to go and question them
22 and discuss with them that the Planning --
23 that the Town Board is trying to get this
24 information, the applicant ' s backing, but
25 maybe a little pressure if the Planning
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 21
1 Department, which you do have a authority
2 and an obligation to monitor what the
3 Planning Department is doing . Did you
4 know that they threw me out of the meeting
5 for trying to even raise this issue? And
6 at the same time, they were pushing this
7 through . I ' m afraid to watch the video of
8 that, but if you could have seen the speed
9 at which they were -- put this on the
10 agenda and this Planning Department
11 Report . You should look at that and see
12 how that sets us up for failure in
13 reviewing the fruit and/or vegetable . And
14 I ' m not asking to know what kind of fruits
15 and/or vegetables is going to be grown
16 there , but we have to have some idea of
17 how much water ' s going to be used -- where
18 the water ' s coming from . If he ' s going to
19 be using Suffolk County Water Authority,
20 he needs to put in backflow . But anyway,
21 that ' s the process .
22 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
23 right . Thank you .
24 BENJA SCHWARTZ : You ' re a part of
25 the process .
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 22
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Would
2 anyone else like to address the Board on
3 any matter?
4 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Good evening .
5 Linda Goldsmith, East Marion . I had
6 spoken to you, Supervisor Krupski , about a
7 program that I am anxious to -- to have
8 the town -- somewhat involved in, and that
9 is in agriculture . For a couple of years
10 I ' ve been speaking to my colleagues at
11 BOCES about starting a CTE Program having
12 to do with agriculture . So our District
13 Superintendent, God bless her, ended up
14 with a wonderful meeting with the
15 Commissioner of Agriculture, with Long
16 Island Farm Bureau, with the Commissioner
17 of Education ' s second in command . And we
18 had that two-day meeting and, and two-day
19 visitation in July . What came out of that
20 meeting for me was not unexpected because
21 my father was a farmer and my husband was
22 a bayman for years . So I had some
23 knowledge of what they were doing . But
24 what came out of that was the fact that we
25 don ' t have any clear definition of
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 23
1 agriculture . And it ' s kind of funny that
2 you brought up the chickens today because
3 we don ' t have a clear definition of
4 agriculture . And we don ' t have a
5 definition of the careers that agriculture
6 can -- can foster . Well , when we went --
7 we went to -- and Brian was there
8 actually . And we went to Long Island Game
9 Farm . We went to the Stony Brook -- I ' ll
10 call it the incubator, but it wasn ' t . At
11 the campus in Southampton . We went to
12 East Hampton Oysters , where they do the
13 spat program, and I was familiar with that
14 because I actually got to help a friend
15 clean the oysters . Not for me, thank you .
16 A very, very involved process . And we --
17 And it was -- it was funny that one of the
18 young men that were there was just in the
19 Suffolk Times , Will Peckham, and he told
20 us about his journey as an oyster
21 fisherman . So we basically concentrated
22 on what they call in -- in New York State
23 dirt farming and aquaculture . We did not
24 touch upon viniculture, which I think --
25 You know, I think we , we need to do . But
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 24
1 my point is , is that several of the
2 schools most notably Bridgehampton and
3 Brentwood, have started an agricultural
4 Tech Program . They haven ' t started it
5 through BOCES , but they have started it .
6 And I looked, you know, when -- when the
7 graduation comes , you know, the paper
8 comes out, I look at the kids that, you
9 know, employment, employment, employment .
10 And I look to see , you know, which of the
11 students have been to one of our BOCES
12 programs , and there ' s a lot who have not,
13 you know . And sometimes I fear that they
14 are going to be, you know, not that
15 there ' s any -- there ' s dignity in any
16 work, I believe, but , you know, they may
17 be in a vineyard or a landscape . So why
18 not try to give them a leg up? So on my
19 own, I actually spoke to several farmers ,
20 and one of them was -- it was interesting,
21 because we touched on this at this
22 meeting, said, " I need skilled labor . "
23 And I said, "What do you mean? " " I need
24 somebody that can fix irrigation pipes ,
25 who can weld, who can do public relations ,
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 25
1 who can do advertising, who can fix my
2 machinery, who can build, you know,
3 rebuild maybe my farm stand . " And that
4 was interesting to me as well . The big
5 problem I see out here, as compared to
6 Upstate, because I will tell -- I went
7 Upstate to a pig farm . I have a friend
8 who works at Cornell . She has a pig farm .
9 Was lucky enough to be there when the sow
10 was giving birth . Don ' t get near her . Do
11 not, because they are nasty then . And I
12 actually went to a vineyard up in the
13 Finger Lakes region, the Buzzard --
14 Buzzard something vineyard, who -- which
15 grow the grapes just for jelly, for
16 Welch ' s . So, you know, there ' s a lot -- a
17 lot -- a lot of opportunity, but the one
18 thing down here there ' s not a lot of is
19 land to rent . So I don ' t know if the
20 town, you know, you buy the development
21 rights , so I ' m hoping, you know, that
22 there is land that is not being farmed
23 that is be -- that -- that can be farmed,
24 because I just think it ' s an opportunity
25 for people to -- to have a career in -- in
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 26
1 agriculture . I mean, it may not be as
2 lucrative as they like in the beginning,
3 but look at aquaculture and what you know .
4 When the scallops went away, every bayman
5 said, "Oh, God, what are we going to do? "
6 Well , the oyster industry came in . And
7 there ' s a lot of different change . And if
8 you look at places like Harbes or
9 something, I ' m sure they have somebody
10 doing their advertising and doing their
11 public relations and fixing their
12 equipment and things like that . So at
13 some point, I ' m -- I ' m getting a report
14 together with my personal and I ' ve asked
15 Jasmine or Diaz if I could share this
16 with, you know, maybe your Ag Committee .
17 I ' ve spoken to Bill at Long Island Farm
18 Bureau . I ' d like to share it with your Ag
19 Committee, because I just think it is a
20 career that, you know, went on the back
21 burner for many, many, many, many years
22 and needs to come to the forefront . We
23 have -- we have cattle farmers . We have
24 raw milk being sold . We have , you know,
25 eggs . I mean, you know, I thought we were
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 27
1 going to have chickens . I didn ' t know if
2 we were -- and maybe we will on a smaller
3 scale . But there ' s an awful lot of
4 opportunity . And, you know, we can ' t even
5 have a future farmers club out here ,
6 because no school has a farming
7 curriculum, and you cannot have a club if
8 you don ' t have the curriculum . I had a
9 4-H club for many years , and I mean, that
10 we could have . But, you know, I ' m -- I ' m
11 going to eventually -- I ' m -- I ' ve done a
12 lot of curriculum writing in my days , and
13 I ' m just playing with a curriculum, you
14 know, like a half year, you know, for some
15 school to do, you know . And I priced it
16 out less than $10 , 000 just to say, "What
17 is agriculture? What is it? " And it
18 would have to involve a lot of field
19 trips . We went to Vander -- I think it
20 was Van de Wetering, and it was
21 interesting how they use their water to
22 water their plants . I was very impressed .
23 They really conserve it, and I thought
24 that was great . And they were telling us
25 how some people started just by putting
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 28
1 little plants in little plastic things ,
2 and two of them are now managers making
3 six figures . So anyway, I know that you
4 said that, you know, you were interested
5 in letting me on, I ' m going to pull Brian
6 in there too . I ' m not doing this by
7 myself . Maybe present some of this to the
8 Ag Committee . It won ' t be till after the
9 first of the year because I ' m getting my
10 thoughts , and I ' m going back Upstate to
11 visit another farmer that I know that
12 grows hay for -- for the, you know, equine
13 community . And the other one that I was
14 told, that it ' s a big one, and this is in
15 Virginia, I have a friend, blacksmithing .
16 There is nobody to shoe their horses , and
17 that -- that also translates into welding
18 and things like that . And this kid down
19 in this town of Palmyra, which is 127
20 people, by the way, made $175 , 000 last
21 year as a blacksmith . So I just wanted to
22 remind you that, you know, I ' m not going
23 away . It ' s just going to take a little
24 more time than I thought .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 29
1 thank you . That ' s encouraging, those
2 people who are interested in helping
3 agriculture . And we should, in this
4 discussion, include Peconic Land Trust
5 also, because they have a Future Farmers
6 Program . And so they would be -- I think
7 that ' d be -- that ' d be very helpful in
8 this whole area . Both the education, the
9 access to land, you know, communication
10 between people in the industry, it ' d be
11 very helpful .
12 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Well , that ' s what
13 I ' ve been trying to find out, where , you
14 know, who I can get and what industries .
15 1 don ' t think people realize what
16 industries actually comprise agriculture .
17 It is such a broad definition . It goes
18 from everything from -- from digging in
19 the dirt to fixing the most complicated
20 equipment .
21 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : I just
22 wanted to --
23 LINDA GOLDSMITH : And helicopters ,
24 by the way, because we spray .
25 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : I wanted
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 30
1 to add to include Superintendent Petretti ,
2 who was -- when he was high school
3 principal , we did start a -- with Carl
4 Gabrielson, he actually helped all the
5 schools get greenhouses . We had a little
6 trouble getting State Ed to give us COs
7 for them, but we did get that . They had a
8 great program both with -- even with the
9 -- we had the fish and you came to see it
10 So, well , we helped fund it through
11 Suffolk County Soil and Water
12 Conservation . They helped us do that .
13 But the great thing -- But Carl Gabrielson
14 was trying to help the young people
15 understand . You know, all the technology
16 that ' s involved . All of the planning, the
17 economic, the, you know, the budgeting,
18 the marketing --
19 LINDA GOLDSMITH : And there ' s a lot
20 of --
21 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Many
22 opportunities . So I ' m happy to pitch in
23 and help with any of that as well .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Oh,
25 thank you .
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 31
1 LINDA GOLDSMITH : See, a lot of
2 people don ' t know that that ' s been done .
3 They think -- just -- they just went out
4 and built the greenhouse . That ' s not
5 true .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Right .
7 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : No , they
8 did quite a lot .
9 LINDA GOLDSMITH : You know, I mean,
10 there are school gardens . Things are
11 being rewelded . And I , you know, I am not
12 savvy or whatever the word is I ' m looking
13 for --
14 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Yes , you
15 are .
16 LINDA GOLDSMITH : -- to look at every
17 single aspect . And I need to pick
18 people ' s brains . Like I ' ve only been
19 Upstate because they had the one venue
20 that I could find that didn ' t make wine .
21 And I thought, "Aha . " That ' s good .
22 That ' s very good . So viniculture is a
23 good thing . You know, it ' s not
24 necessarily wine . And you know, like I
25 said, I didn ' t see any pig farms on Long
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 32
1 Island at this moment, but I did see one
2 there . I didn ' t, you know, and I don ' t
3 see a big, huge, you know, 200 acre haying
4 operation . So I want to see what they do
5 and I want to look at their future farming
6 things . And I want to, again, I went this
7 Summer and I want to go again next Summer,
8 to one of the county fairs , and they ' re
9 still putting the apple pies out and
10 they ' re still putting the animals out .
11 And they ' re still doing that . And I don ' t
12 think that ' s a bad thing, you know, out
13 here . I mean, I , you know, I am sure I ' ll
14 be long dead before this really comes to
15 the fruition that I would like to see .
16 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Plant the
17 seeds .
18 LINDA GOLDSMITH : But, you know,
19 it ' s just something that ' s been important
20 for the last couple of years and I ' ve been
21 poking and prodding and nagging at my
22 colleagues and they said, "Go ahead and
23 share whatever we have and whatever we can
24 do let us know . "
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 33
1 thank you .
2 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : I ' d also
3 like to add, if I may that the EDC -- I ' m,
4 I ' m the liaison to the Economic
5 Development Committee, and the EDC has
6 been exploring business entrepreneurship,
7 mentorship programs . So a lot of people
8 forget, of course , that farming is a
9 business , and most of that is self-driven
10 and is entrepreneurial . So please share
11 anything that you ' d like with myself or
12 the EDC . I ' d be happy to pass it on .
13 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Well , the one
14 thing I don ' t know and I need to find out
15 is can someone make a living on a 10 acre
16 farm? That ' s a good question . I guess it
17 depends on what you grow . So those -- I
18 mean, these are a lot -- You know, my
19 father just grew potatoes . And so when we
20 had the trucks and I remember in the
21 Winter they fixed equipment and in the --
22 in the Summer they, they farmed . And
23 it -- and you were talking about migrant
24 labor . I was very proud of my parents as
25 1 look backwards because I know even in
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 34
1 1955 they provided safe , clean, nice,
2 decent housing for all of their migrant
3 workers right on the farm . And I can
4 remember my mother saying, "Bring these
5 pots and pans over, bring those dishes
6 over . And it ' s their first night, so
7 bring them over something to eat . " So,
8 you know, I guess -- I guess I didn ' t
9 realize, you know, how --
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : And I
11 can remember, my reminiscence of that of
12 the labor housing was that they made sure
13 that those children went to school .
14 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Exactly . So thank
15 you so much .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
17 you .
18 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Linda,
19 thank you very much . I will gladly be
20 hauled wherever you want to haul me , and I
21 count it an honor to be your colleague on
22 East End Suffolk BOCES . I thank you for
23 your advocacy, longtime advocacy in
24 education . And every time I speak to you
25 1 learn something new . And all your
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 35
1 longtime service to Oyster Pond School
2 District, thank you for being an -- I ' m
3 calling you the "Godmother of Southold, "
4 so I just appreciate you very much on many
5 levels . And thank you for coming to speak
6 to us . Thank you .
7 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Thank you .
8 BETH BERMAN : Good evening, you
9 guys .
10 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Hi , Beth .
11 BETH BERMAN : It ' s Beth Berman,
12 Southold . I just want to start out with a
13 thanks because I -- you know, I just -- I
14 don ' t know how you ' re dealing with all the
15 things that -- that ' s go -- that are going
16 on simultaneously here . Just to also send
17 my appreciation as a community for us
18 being together at the 9/11 memorial . it
19 was just a beautiful thing, every aspect
20 of that . But also seeing all you there
21 and standing there as a community was
22 really quite powerful . So thanks for
23 making the time to be there . I just was
24 able this morning to tune into the work
25 group session for just a little bit of it .
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 36
1 And I just wanted to put in a thought
2 about this 10 , 20 , for the short-term
3 rentals . And I would just say, because I
4 did have that sheet . I know you could do
5 -- And I said, " I know I have this sheet
6 at home somewhere , " and I found it .
7 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Thank you
8 for having the sheet . You ' re like, " It ' s
9 somewhere . "
10 BETH BERMAN : Just that, you know, I
11 know in -- in the context that it was
12 being discussed, it was really about the
13 numbers and that ' s not my thing . So from
14 my perspective as a community person who ' s
15 had concerns about this for many years , to
16 go from the 1% , which for our little
17 hamlet here , which would be 36 at the 10 ,
18 then you ' re jumping to 72 houses , that
19 would be amenable to this or be able to go
20 into this lottery and be in existence .
21 And so I ' m just saying, I lean to the 10
22 and I just say to stay with the heart of
23 why this is even a discussion, is that
24 these short-term rentals have changed us .
25 1 mean, have really, really changed our
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 37
1 community and not in -- in a very positive
2 way from my perspective living with three .
3 So just I would just consider if you ' re
4 going to do it , stick with the 10 , and in
5 some ways for me one is too many in any
6 hamlet . Like -- let ' s just have our
7 community back, have people come here and
8 live and be our community, you know? You
9 know, put out our garbage together and
10 shovel snow together and -- anyway, so
11 that ' s all . I just wanted to comment on
12 that . But thanks .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
14 you . Appreciate that .
15 BETH BERMAN : Thanks for the work
16 you were doing this morning . I just think
17 as low as we can keep it --
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
19 you .
20 BETH BERMAN : -- that ' s -- that ' s my
21 vote .
22 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
23 you .
24 ERIC MCCLURE : Good evening . Eric
25 McClure, 435 Westview Drive in Mattituck .
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 38
1 I will say I -- I ' m very sympathetic to
2 the short-term rental issue, but we have a
3 home that ' s very close to ours that
4 operates essentially as a Airbnb, and it ' s
5 never been -- they ' ve never been an issue .
6 Anybody who ' s ever stayed there has been
7 quiet and very unlike the business that
8 operates across the water from us .
9 They -- they have not been a problem . So
10 thanks for the efforts on the -- the
11 comment time . I ' ll try to be brief . As
12 somebody who ' s chaired dozens of community
13 meetings in New York City, we allot three
14 minutes for public comment and sometimes
15 people aren ' t happy about that . But it --
16 it at least lets the all-volunteer
17 community boards in the city go home at a
18 reasonable hour . And as someone in -- who
19 testifies a lot at the New York City
20 Council , they give us two minutes and it ' s
21 pretty difficult to get all your points
22 across in that period of time . So it
23 sounds like a fair compromise on this end,
24 and I will try to be as quick as I can .
25 I ' ve been fairly diligent about reporting
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 39
1 the -- the sound from Windermere and
2 Strong ' s Water Club over the past few
3 weeks using the Town Portal for that . And
4 I appreciate the -- the ability to do
5 that . On the -- the note of sound, a
6 couple weeks ago, I came home and found a
7 letter on my front porch . And when I
8 opened it up, it ' s from someone who lives
9 in Cutchogue . I won ' t name him, but he
10 had seen me testify like this at the --
11 the last time I was here and sent a note
12 along . Both -- I appreciated the moral
13 support, but also his suggestions . And he
14 mentioned that the Code Enforcement , Town
15 Police use a dBA decibel meter, and this
16 was all new stuff to me , when they should,
17 in addition, be using a dBC meter, which
18 measures base and -- and the -- the sort
19 of deeper sounds . He also thought that
20 the new Town Code must be added to address
21 amplified music, and made a couple other
22 points . And so I -- I appreciated that --
23 and I also did a little looking into the
24 dBC meters . And just by coincidence, I
25 heard a -- a story on NPR the other
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 40
1 evening talking about data centers and the
2 noise generated by data centers . And I ' ll
3 just -- I ' ll just read this portion of the
4 story . It ' s , "dBA doesn ' t tell the full
5 story . It ' s designed to show how noise
6 can damage hearing . Think of being inside
7 a noisy club . Step outside, and you ' ll
8 only hear and maybe feel the thumping
9 subs . That ' s low-frequency noise, and dBA
10 doesn ' t really capture it . That ' s a
11 critical gap for industries like data
12 centers , so low-frequency noise travels
13 far and penetrates barriers . " Then they
14 -- they ' re talking to an expert . flit
15 cannot be shut out by closing doors and
16 windows , and so when people hear it in
17 their home, they ' re not able to get away
18 from it . It ' s inescapable . " And that ' s
19 exactly the -- the situation we ' ve faced
20 for years now with the sound from across
21 the water . This noise from data centers
22 is still being studied, but Matthias
23 Basner says he already knows -- He -- we
24 already know how other noises can cause a
25 stress response and impact heart and brain
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 41
1 and health over time . He researches
2 traffic noise pollution at the University
3 of Pennsylvania . He says a lot of harm
4 happens at night while people sleep .
5 Fortunately, the music doesn ' t go
6 sometimes playing when my wife is trying
7 to sleep, not when I ' m trying to sleep .
8 But I think it just underscores the -- the
9 situation that we ' ve faced for -- for
10 many, many years now . And just, you know,
11 1 want to renew my call to -- to urge the
12 Board to deal with this . I don ' t want to
13 go into next Summer and have to -- to have
14 80 concerts over the period of the Summer
15 with -- with no recourse on our end . We
16 really need to to tackle this amplified
17 sound issue and and do it very soon .
18 Just there was on September 3rd, I had
19 driven past the Strong ' s and -- and there
20 were maybe three or four cars in the
21 parking lot , and there was a band playing
22 when I got home . So I thought, that ' s ,
23 you know, why -- so I actually rode my
24 bike over there just to check it out, and
25 there was the band playing fully amplified
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 42
1 rock and roll music . I had my decibel
2 meter . They were hitting 80 . You know,
3 they ' re on their property, so we don ' t
4 measure sound on -- on the property it ' s
5 coming from . But I looked around, and
6 there was -- there was nobody out
7 listening to the band . There were a
8 couple tables in front of the bar that ' s ,
9 you know, 120 feet away, not seemingly
10 engaged in conversation, not paying
11 attention to the band . So it ' s not to say
12 that it -- it matters whether it ' s -- the
13 place is packed, which it was the next
14 night , or there ' s nobody there, but the
15 music is an issue . And certainly when
16 there ' s nobody there , no need to be
17 playing at 80 decibels to an empty patio .
18 So that ' s it . I appreciate you listening .
19 Sorry if I went a little longer than three
20 minutes , but hopefully within five . And,
21 1 will continue to -- to reach out to you
22 about this issue and look for some kind of
23 resolution .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Great .
25 Thank you for coming . And it ' s not that
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 43
1 we ' re indifferent to this . We are
2 heavily engaged in some of the -- some of
3 the -- the things that came up tonight .
4 Short-term rentals , we ' re very close to
5 passing legislation, and then having the
6 infrastructure in place to -- to
7 regulate that both are important . And the
8 housing things , you know, if anybody
9 could come, Alexa mentioned it, next
10 Monday?
11 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Next
12 Tuesday .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Next
14 Tuesday, we ' re having a big housing forum
15 here . We have leaned into these things
16 all -- all hands on deck . I get a lot of
17 calls for regulating leaf blower all
18 Summer and all Fall . And so noise is a
19 big quality-of-life, as well as , light
20 trespass , but noise is a big
21 quality-of-life issue . We ' re not taking
22 it lightly . It ' s just that we are fully
23 engaged in the housing issue right now and
24 fully engaged in the short-term rental
25 issue , and it ' s -- it ' s hard to be engaged
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 44
1 on all fronts . And we ' re -- we know we
2 have a list that keeps going on besides
3 the normal business of the town, so --
4 ERIC MCCLURE : Sure . And I
5 appreciate that .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We ' re
7 not taking it lightly, though .
8 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : And we
9 did -- we did at -- not today ' s Work
10 Session, but the last one, ask the Police
11 Advisory Commission to start doing some
12 research on what -- what goes on in other
13 towns with amplified music, regulations .
14 ERIC MCCLURE : That would be great .
15 And I know the -- the Board is busy and
16 tackles a lot of challenging issues . I
17 know that the -- other than you, Mr .
18 Supervisor, the members are part-time .
19 You know, I ' ve been coming to these Board
20 meetings about this issue since 2014 . So
21 1 -- It ' s been a long time . And the
22 number of events that they have has only
23 grown . I know that it ' s become a greater
24 issue across the town, as well as , the
25 entire county . So I do appreciate the --
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 45
1 the effort that everybody here puts in,
2 but I would love to see this jump up the
3 list very soon . So thank you .
4 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
5 you . All right . Anyone else like to
6 speak?
7 (No Response . )
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Everyone
9 here has addressed the Board . I don ' t see
10 anyone on Zoom .
11 1 would take a motion to adjourn?
12 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Motion to
13 adjourn .
14 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Second .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
16 favor?
17 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
18 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
19 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Aye .
20 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Aye .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
22
23 (Whereupon, the meeting was
24 adjourned at this time . )
25
SEPTEMBER 22, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 46
C E R T I F I C A T 1 0 N
2
3 1 , Jessica DiLallo, a Notary Public
4 for and within the State of New York, do
5 hereby certify :
6 THAT, the within transcript is a
7 true record of said Board Meeting .
8 1 further certify that I am not
9 related either by blood or marriage to any
10 of the parties to this action; and that I
11 am in no way interested in the outcome of
12 this matter .
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
14 set my hand this day, September 22 , 2026 .
15
16
17 (Je—sic8aiLallo)
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