HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-09/09/2026 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 9 , 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 JILL DOHERTY, COUNCILWOMAN
18 BRIAN MEALY, COUNCILMAN
19 ANNE SMITH, COUNCILWOMAN
20 ALEXA SUESS , COUNCILWOMAN
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SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
2
3 Public Comments 3-11
4 16-92
5
Public Hearing - Designation of Shiloh 11-16
6 Baptist Church as a Historic Landmark
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SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 PUBLIC COMMENTS
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Is there
3 anyone who ' d like to discuss any agenda
4 item before we start the meeting?
5 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Good evening .
6 Benja Schwartz . Pleasure to be here today
7 on September 9th . I want to comment on
8 the agenda item, Southold Town Board
9 Resolution, West ProFlex Plan, Town
10 Attorney . But first, I ' d like to take a
11 moment to quickly comment on the agenda .
12 Agenda starts with, Southold Town Board
13 agenda, Southold Town final agenda,
14 Southold Town Board Meeting September 9 ,
15 2026 . But it doesn ' t say there is
16 Wednesday . But I was thinking about that ,
17 and I did a quick -- This is going to be,
18 hopefully, a funny story . Very quick, but
19 did a quick AI . Does the Southold Town
20 Board always meet on Wednesday after Labor
21 Day? So you know how smart AI is . No,
22 that doesn ' t happen . It ' s every other
23 Tuesday, and it falls on a different day .
24 In 2024 , the first meeting after Labor Day
25 was on Tuesday, September 10th . In 2025 ,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 the schedule shifted further during
2 this -- whatever . It was Thursday . So
3 2024 , it was Tuesday . 2025 , it was
4 Thursday . 2026 , it says the meeting fell
5 on Wednesday, September 9th, which was
6 intentionally pushed one day later than
7 normal because of Labor Day . So really,
8 the meeting was on Tuesday, or would ' ve
9 been on Tuesday . Anyway, it ' s not even a
10 mistake . It was just my not reading it
11 clearly . But that ' s the way AI is .
12 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : It also
13 shows you how used to we get to a schedule
14 and our normal things , and we make a
15 little change and --
16 BENJA SCHWARTZ : And then what got
17 me started thinking about that, Jill , was
18 the -- I wanted to thank you for
19 scheduling on Wednesday . And if possible ,
20 maybe we could have some other meetings
21 that didn ' t always fall on Tuesdays . I ' m
22 sure I ' m not the only one that Tuesday is
23 a difficult day . So it ' s nice to have a
24 little change of pace once in a while .
25 Anyway, Labor Day is gone . Have more time
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 at the end of the meeting . I know you ' re
2 anxious to get on with the agenda items .
3 1 want to speak in support of the West
4 ProFlex Plan, Town Attorney . I think
5 you ' re doing a great job with this action .
6 Of course, you all know me . I think you
7 could do better . Number 1 suggestion for
8 Denis . The -- for good reason, they ' ve
9 taken the numbers out of the draft agendas
10 because the final agenda changes , so we
11 don ' t want to put numbers that are going
12 to change . It ' s awkward . So he took the
13 numbers out . But the way the agenda is ,
14 it says category, department . Well , it
15 has a number, category, department, and
16 then it has the name of the agenda or the
17 title of the agenda . But it doesn ' t say
18 name or title, just has the words . If you
19 just inserted that one word, name colon or
20 title colon, that way the agenda would be
21 easily referenced from the draft through
22 the final complete . Not a big deal , but
23 just a little suggestion . So this is
24 agenda -- You ' re going to probably read it
25 later . I don ' t want to read the whole
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 thing now, but it basically says the Al
2 Krupski ' s author resolves , authorized to
3 execute Westlaw order form Order ID
4 Q11975456 . And I ' ll go in a little more
5 detail what that means . But the point,
6 really main thing is that, we don ' t really
7 know, even if we read the whole agenda
8 item, it doesn ' t really say what it ' s
9 about . And I know you can ' t always say
10 what it ' s about . The whole thing . You ' re
11 just inserting it , but you ' re voting on
12 it . And I don ' t know, but I have my
13 suspicions that y ' all don ' t really know
14 what you ' re buying here and what the
15 taxpayers are paying for . And I think
16 that if you do know, it ' d be nice to try
17 to have it in the agenda item so that the
18 public would know what they ' re -- what
19 they ' re getting . And in particular, I
20 have a pretty good guess because , well ,
21 I ' m an attorney, and I know a little bit
22 about Westlaw, and I did some research .
23 So the West ProFlex Plan -- West ProFlex
24 Plan is not -- You can ' t just look up and
25 see what it is . It ' s a private contract
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 7
1 between a private company and the public
2 municipality, and it ' s negotiated
3 depending on what components the town
4 wants . So it ' s different -- so that ' s why
5 it would be interesting to know what ' s in
6 there . As well as know -- Well , I can
7 guess what is in there . I have a -- I
8 would -- I don ' t bet -- I don ' t buy
9 lottery tickets , but I would bet , if
10 anybody wants to take me up, that the
11 ProFlex Plan negotiated by the town
12 includes some AI accessible components
13 because that ' s -- Everything is AI these
14 days .
15 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : it
16 doesn ' t, no .
17 BENJA SCHWARTZ : No AI ?
18 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : No
19 AI .
20 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Because Westlaw has
21 a fantastic AI Program that is focused on
22 utilizing the excellent library of public
23 information, which Westlaw has built up .
24 Starting back 50 years ago when I was in
25 law school , West already had cornered the
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 market on reporting the decisions of the
2 judges and also the edicts of the
3 legislatures , the -- the laws , and
4 commenting and working on them . And now
5 their AI focused on that would, I believe ,
6 would be very useful .
7 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
8 Sure . So, just quickly, the reason we
9 have this is , it ' s the most economical .
10 So it is the -- the cheapest form for us
11 to get exactly what we need . The AI
12 platforms are much more expensive, and
13 we ' ve actually significantly cut this --
14 this year including other services that
15 that we have that we decided we don ' t
16 need .
17 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Okay . Well , you
18 would be the primary user, so I can
19 understand that . How many users are in
20 the plan, if I might ask?
21 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : I
22 believe there are four .
23 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Four . So is that
24 limited to only four specific people, or
25 could the Town Board member, for example?
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
2 Four specific people .
3 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Okay . Well , I
4 guess you ' re going to have to ask the Town
5 Attorney ' s Office . Okay . I guess --
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No, it ' s
7 a good -- it ' s a good question . No . And,
8 an on this , it ' s like we don ' t ask the
9 Highway Department what chainsaw they ' re
10 going to brand, chainsaw they ' re going to
11 buy . So we have to take the Town
12 Attorney ' s advice here and invest in the
13 tools that -- that they need . Good one .
14 But it ' s a good --
15 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Absolutely . And AI
16 has advantages and disadvantages , so if
17 you ' re not using it, that ' s your choice
18 and, you know, I respect that .
19 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : As a
20 Town Board member, I would like to have,
21 like, a AI Use Policy, at least a
22 discussion on it before we start buying
23 AI -- AI products .
24 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Okay . That ' s a
25 good idea . I ' d like to join you in that
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 discussion . I know quite a bit about AI ,
2 having utilized it at work for over 30
3 years . And recently have been utilizing
4 it . And it ' s a very valuable tool , but it
5 can be misleading .
6 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : If used
7 correctly .
8 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Primarily it can be
9 misleading because it learns from humans .
10 Unfortunately, they ' re trying to -- like,
11 suck up all the knowledge of -- for
12 example, doctors that work in a doctor ' s
13 office and always trying -- in fact, I
14 think they ' re stealing the doctors ' notes
15 and trying to train the AI . But the AI
16 doesn ' t have the same brain that we do, so
17 1 -- whether you use it or not, I
18 encourage you to use your brains and to
19 look at all of the issues in town, not
20 just from the perspective of one
21 particular official or one town agency or
22 yourself, but look at it as the Town
23 Board . You ' re not only our legislative
24 body, but you ' re also responsible for the
25 entire direction and policy, et cetera, of
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 the Municipal Corporation . Thank you for
2 your time .
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
4 you .
5 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Thank you .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Would
7 anyone else like to address the Board on
8 any agenda item before we start?
9 (No Response . )
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Seeing
11 none .
12 (Whereupon, the meeting continued on
13 to the Resolutions at this time . )
14
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : The
16 public hearing is continued from August
17 25th meeting at 6 : 00 . There was the
18 designation of the Shiloh Baptist Church
19 as a historic landmark . Is there anyone
20 who ' d like to contribute anything else to
21 that public hearing? Please --
22 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : The
23 content that was from the last meeting is
24 in our -- in our records as well .
25 DAVID MAMMINA: Good evening,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 Supervisor, Councilmen, Councilwomen, Town
2 Clerk, and Town Attorney . David Mammina,
3 architect . I ' m here as the chairperson of
4 the Historic Preservation Commission,
5 which I ' m very pleased to be a part of .
6 And more importantly, our representatives
7 from the Shiloh Baptist Church . And what
8 1 do have, which I ' ll just read into the
9 record, because it had been requested by
10 Ms . Kivney, who is the counsel to the --
11 to the commission . And it says , "To the
12 Town of Southold, this letter is
13 confirmation that Reverend Dr . Linda Cosby
14 Johnson, " who is sitting right up in front
15 here, "and Ms . Pamela Rollins , are
16 representatives for the Shiloh Baptist
17 Church located in Southold, New York . "
18 And we also have Ms . Rollins here . And
19 Ms . Cosby Johnson is the -- is the
20 reverend of the church . And our
21 Secretary/Trustee then is Ms . Rollins . So
22 very pleased to be kind of moved up, you
23 know, a notch here . And I think everybody
24 knows how important the Shiloh Baptist
25 Church is to the history, you know, of the
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 town going back to the late 1600 ' s , and
2 the introduction of an ethnic Black
3 population to, you know, to the town, and
4 then its continuing growth, and the
5 construction of the church in 1921 . And
6 its continuous operation, which they are
7 excited to be able to get back, you know,
8 into that as well . So on behalf of the
9 church and the -- and the commission, I ' m
10 very happy to be here tonight, and
11 hopefully to receive a positive
12 affirmation from the -- from the -- the
13 council .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
15 you, Dave .
16 DAVID MAMMINA : Thank you very much .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Would
18 anyone else like to speak on this public
19 hearing? Please .
20 REV DR . LINDA COSBY-JOHNSON : My
21 name is Reverend Dr . Linda Cosby-Johnson,
22 and I ' m glad to be here this evening .
23 Just like 9/11 , 1 remember where I was . I
24 had my own licensed childcare business in
25 the state of Maryland . It was quiet that
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 morning . The children was rested . And I
2 heard a boom, and I heard a shake . That ' s
3 how close I lived to the Pentagon, where I
4 felt the effects . But I say that to say
5 this . At 12-years-old, I still remember
6 my spiritual journey at Shiloh Baptist
7 Church under the leadership of Reverend PD
8 Tann . I went to revival with my Aunt Rosa
9 Waller . And years ago, the field across
10 Shiloh, that ' s where Aunt Rosa and her
11 husband, Uncle Edgar, lived before Shiloh
12 was even in existence . Well , it was --
13 is , yeah, it was in existence . But I went
14 to revival with her, sitting on the right
15 side, third pew . Reverend Tann was
16 preaching . Then he stopped, and he
17 motioned his finger like this . And at
18 12-years-old, I ' m looking around, you
19 know, curious who he calling . Nobody
20 moved, and I turned back around and I ' m
21 like, "Me? " He shook his head, "yes . " So
22 when I heard about what was going on with
23 Shiloh and stuff, it brought me back . it
24 took me back to when I accepted Jesus
25 Christ as my Lord and Savior . And only
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 thing I kept seeing, Reverend Tann, my
2 pastor at the time, doing was like this .
3 So it was laid on my heart to get involved
4 concerning Shiloh, and I thank each of you
5 for your listening and your
6 acknowledgement of this , this effort to
7 keep Shiloh open and running again . Thank
8 you . Thank you .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
10 you for that story and that history . That
11 history ' s very important .
12 Would anyone else like to comment on
13 the public hearing?
14 (No Response . )
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Amy, do
16 we have anyone on Zoom?
17 (No Response . )
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Okay,
19 thank you . Seeing no one in the audience
20 and no one on Zoom --
21 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : I ' ll
22 make a motion to close the hearing .
23 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Second .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
25 favor?
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
2 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
3 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
4 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Aye .
5 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Aye .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
7
8 PUBLIC COMMENTS
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : if
10 there ' s no other announcements , then I
11 will open it up to the public, if anyone
12 has any comments to the Board, on any
13 item . Go ahead, Leslie .
14 LESLIE HERRLIN : Good evening, Town
15 Board members . My name is Leslie Herrlin,
16 and I ' m going to speak about three
17 subjects related to 2340 Ackerly Pond
18 Lane . One, LLC secrecy, specifically the
19 full name and mailing addresses of any
20 individual principals of any limited
21 liability company owning the subject
22 property . Two, the right-to-farm and why
23 it is erroneously being applied to the
24 site plan application for a building to
25 use for an industrial agricultural
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 facility . And Three , duties of the Town
2 Board and the -- and other town agencies
3 to protect Southold Town, including
4 residents on Jasmine Lane, children at
5 Southold High and elementary schools , and
6 farms and the natural environment in the
7 surrounding areas . All of these three
8 subjects are related to the 6 , 000-plus egg
9 laying hen operation proposed by 2340
10 Ackerly Pond, LLC . I know the Board is
11 busy with many other subjects . That is
12 why I am here to share my research with
13 you and to -- and to connect for you the
14 underlying legal mechanics of the town ' s
15 agency ' s role in regulating the land use
16 proposed for 2340 Ackerly Pond Lane to the
17 integrity of Southold ' s Land Preservation
18 Program . The catch-22 of the stop work
19 order . The Town ' s active stop work order
20 was issued on June 30 , 2026 , because the
21 site plan applicant began clearing land
22 and erecting structures before receiving
23 required site plan approval . Now the Town
24 and the applicant are in a legal catch-22 .
25 By law, the Town requires a notarized
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 agent authorization form and transactional
2 disclosure forms for the agent and all
3 principals before the Town can process any
4 and all applications from the land
5 developer . And the developer is unable to
6 submit that because it is refusing to
7 reveal the anonymous human principals that
8 own and control the LLC . The shell
9 company loophole . Section 408 of the
10 Town ' s 2007 Community Preservation Fund
11 conservation easement explicitly pierces
12 corporate anonymity, mandating that any
13 LLC must disclose its individual
14 principals . The developer ' s ongoing
15 refusal to name the actual human investors
16 puts them in acted -- active default of a
17 public contract . The right-to-farm
18 misconception . While the developer claims
19 immunity under a right-to-farm, the
20 right-to-farm cannot invalidate voluntary
21 private public deeds and covenants . The
22 right-to-farm is not a license to breach a
23 contract . Zero taxpayer risk . Sections
24 502 and 503 of the easement contain
25 ironclad fee shifting and indemnification
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 clauses . If the Town Board enforces the
2 contract or if neighbors sue the town, the
3 developer is contractually obligated to
4 pay the legal bills . The existential
5 threat to land preservation . This case
6 creates a potential blueprint for
7 dismantling Southold ' s Community
8 Preservation Fund program . If the Town
9 Board allows an anonymous shell company to
10 violate a transparency covenant, it will
11 set a disastrous legal precedent . Any
12 future developer could follow the example
13 of 2340 Ackerly Pond, LLC by hiding behind
14 an LLC, buying protected agricultural
15 land, and stripping away the Town ' s
16 oversight, effectively destroying the
17 integrity of the public trust easements
18 taxpayers spent millions to secure . This
19 isn ' t just a neighborhood zoning squabble .
20 It is a battle for the future of East End
21 conservation, and more specifically, a
22 demand for the current Town Board to
23 enforce a contract negotiated by the town
24 board for the taxpayers , residents , and
25 farmers of the Town of Southold . Will you
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 20
1 enforce our deed of development rights ?
2 So that is the question I have for you .
3 And is there any questions that you have
4 for me?
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No,
6 thank you . I don ' t think it ' d be prudent
7 for us to comment on a legal matter right
8 now . But I will ask our Town Attorney
9 to -- to get you an answer on the -- on
10 that question .
11 LESLIE HERRLIN : Okay .
12 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : And any
13 relevant, and appropriate information that
14 would come to the Town Board . I know it ' s
15 in front of the Planning Board, but if
16 there ' s anything that is okay to share
17 with us , it would be helpful .
18 LESLIE HERRLIN : Okay . If you have
19 any questions , I can ' t answer them . Benja
20 Schwartz , he ' s here --
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
22 you .
23 LESLIE HERRLIN : -- representing us ,
24 so he can also help you with that . Okay .
25 Thank you very much .
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 21
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
2 you .
3 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Hello again . Do I
4 need to give my name again? Benja --
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes ,
6 please .
7 BENJA SCHWARTZ : This is my favorite
8 time of year, so I -- I even -- I don ' t
9 even mind coming to Town Board meetings
10 this time of year . In fact, I enjoy it
11 more this time of year than others . Or
12 it ' s -- it ' s getting close to my favorite
13 time of year . Is summer really over?
14 Well , technically, summer doesn ' t end
15 until September 22nd, so I guess we got a
16 few more weeks . But astronomically --
17 that ' s astronomically . Meteorologically,
18 August 31st is the end of summer, and
19 culturally, Labor Day . And of course, the
20 kids are back in school . You know, my
21 favorite season, which is coming up, I
22 hope, although it doesn ' t always come
23 every year, is Indian summer . Indian
24 summer is the season after we can feel the
25 winter coming, when we can feel the summer
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 22
1 returning . And it ' s not here yet, but
2 right now, this time of year is -- is very
3 special . Also a lot of the plants and
4 farms are producing things . The -- It ' s
5 just a very comfortable time of year to be
6 around outside . And a lot of the people
7 who -- at the end of the summer, come and
8 make a ruckus are gone, so we have a
9 peaceful North Fork back, and it ' s a
10 pleasure to be here with you, enjoying
11 that . I did also come here tonight to
12 talk about the 2340 Ackerly Pond Lane, and
13 1 would like to second the thoughts and
14 the request of the prior speaker . But I
15 would like to go a step further and say,
16 "Hey, you know, this meeting ' s not over .
17 Even though the formal resolution period
18 has passed, there is still time . You
19 could still act . You could still -- still
20 do something . " You know, yes , this is
21 before the Planning Board, but this matter
22 is also -- It started out with the
23 Building Department, and now it ' s in front
24 of Code Enforcement and the Town
25 Attorney ' s Office . It went from the
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 23
1 Building Department to the Planning
2 Department, and it was processed by the
3 Planning Department before it got to the
4 Planning Board . And now the question has
5 arisen that it sits in the lap of the --
6 the duty and the responsibility to enforce
7 the contract that has contained the
8 language in the deed of development rights
9 is up to the Town Board . You actually
10 could -- and I ' m not suggesting you do,
11 but you could send a notice to that
12 landowner that we do not recognize your
13 ownership of the property, because the
14 town -- pursuant to that deed of
15 development rights , is a part owner of
16 that property . And when you don ' t know
17 who your partner is , that ' s not a very
18 civil partnership . That ' s not the right
19 way to do business . I don ' t know if you
20 all read the Suffolk Times and maybe saw
21 my letter to the editor last week . They
22 cut out a couple of the sections there .
23 They cut out the sentence -- or no, they
24 left the sentence , but the center of the
25 sentence that identified the father of the
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 24
1 applicant at 2340 Ackerly Pond Lane , which
2 some of our local media outlets have done
3 stories on . For some reason, the Suffolk
4 Times chose not to publish the name of the
5 applicant ' s father . They left in that
6 there was a father figure involved . The
7 Planning Department started meeting with
8 the applicant and his father, and some
9 other people, and they introduced it at
10 the Planning Board meeting . On reviewing
11 the video, they introduced it as a
12 father-and-son operation . But the
13 father ' s name has not formally been
14 inserted onto the application . But if we
15 do find out who has a beneficial ownership
16 in this company and is in control of this
17 operation, which it has agricultural
18 aspects , but there ' s also a good case to
19 be made that it ' s inappropriate type of
20 agriculture for the location for that
21 farm . You know, farmers can ' t plant
22 whatever they want or do grow whatever
23 they want . You know, you want to grow a
24 herd of elephants , don ' t do it next to my
25 -- No, I ' m just joking . But, you know,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 25
1 if a farmer came and planted a field of
2 invasive plants and they started spreading
3 all over the neighborhood, they would be
4 stopped . Well , maybe the Planning Board ' s
5 right . Maybe it ' s not the town ' s job to
6 stop them . Maybe the County or the State
7 or the Federal Government would do it .
8 But that ' s a very strange position as far
9 as I ' m concerned . I ' ve -- you know, been
10 monitoring what ' s happening in this town
11 for over -- well -- well over 50 years .
12 I ' m not going to get specific, but longer
13 than --
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : How many
15 would you say?
16 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Many years . So
17 usually the town kind of wants to be the
18 one in control , but in this case , the
19 Planning Board has said, "Nope, we have no
20 say over anything . " Now, even if they
21 don ' t have a say over -- even if there is
22 a State or a County agency or a Federal
23 agency, and I believe there are all three
24 involved in this , the local agency that is
25 considering that application -- and
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 26
1 there ' s also a -- an application that ' s
2 going through the County . And don ' t get
3 me started on that, because we ' ll be here
4 for weeks .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I won ' t
6 mention it .
7 BENJA SCHWARTZ : But I want to say I
8 support agriculture . I support
9 agricultural districts , but the process so
10 far has not been fair to even the farming
11 industry or community . You know, we -- we
12 want successful farms that do no harm, or
13 that the harm is incidental . But when you
14 have a plan, which is pretty obvious it
15 has potential for serious environmental
16 farms , and the Planning Board says , "Hope ,
17 we don ' t want to hear about any of it .
18 Just, someone else will take care of it, "
19 1 -- I can ' t go for that, you know? So
20 one thing the Planning Board did the
21 beginning -- Anyway, let me get to the
22 Town Board and -- I don ' t want to take
23 your -- You know, I ' ll go -- I would like
24 to go talk to the Planning Board .
25 However, the Planning Board does not
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 27
1 permit the public to speak . They had a
2 public hearing . Well , we ' re not going to
3 go there . I ' m -- I ' m -- have communicated
4 with the Town Attorney ' s Office regarding
5 that . The Planning Board is acting
6 without jurisdiction . And part of the
7 lack of jurisdiction has to do with the
8 fact that they ' ve never -- they ' ve never
9 -- the ownership of that property was
10 never properly transferred . So you could
11 actually sue to -- sue to undo that
12 transfer and give the property back to the
13 person who sold it to the limited
14 liability company . That was a illegal ,
15 invalid transfer . I ' m not suggesting you
16 do that, but what I think you do need to
17 do is not just ask the Town Board, "Are
18 you working on it? " But make a
19 resolution . I ' d be happy to prepare one
20 for you . Maybe we could do it in two
21 weeks . But , you need to act, and you need
22 to instruct the Town Attorney . Town Board
23 needs to instruct Town Attorney that 2340
24 Ackerly Pond, LLC, limited liability
25 company, is in material breach of Section
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 28
1 4 . 08 of the Deed of Development Rights for
2 failing to disclose its individual
3 principles . Now, this wouldn ' t cost the
4 town anything . In fact , if you made that
5 motion, the Town Attorney could then
6 contact the LLC . We do have a post office
7 box . That ' s all we know about who the LLC
8 is or where they live or where they ' re
9 from, is they have a post office box up in
10 Nassau County . They have someone here who
11 claims to be their authorized agent , but
12 we don ' t have the affidavit, which is
13 clearly required in the site plan
14 application process to authorize that
15 application . This applicant skipped over
16 that page . I think he didn ' t understand
17 it . He may be a business student, but he
18 mistakenly assumed that it was optional ,
19 because that page says you need an
20 Affidavit of Authority . But depending on
21 what situation you ' re in, we ' re not going
22 to give you a form for it . However, we
23 will give you -- and this is from the
24 Planning Department of the Town of
25 Southold, three sample templates , and
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 29
1 please use whichever one is suitable to
2 you or make up your own . But we have to
3 have an Affidavit of Authority from the
4 company . And that ' s one defect . That ' s a
5 jurisdictional defect . Without that
6 document , the Planning Department should
7 never have referred it to the Planning
8 Board, and the Planning Board should not
9 be processing this application . And right
10 now, the only authority the Planning Board
11 has is to say, "No more . Stop . Enough is
12 enough until we get the right paperwork
13 until you finish the application . " Beauty
14 of this , it ' s not -- I ' m not saying the
15 Town hasn ' t made mistakes and done things ,
16 and the Planning Department referring this
17 to the Planning Board with an incomplete
18 application was a mistake . However, the
19 first mistake was the applicants . And
20 they can ' t sue us , if this is done
21 properly . If they do sue us , they will
22 have to pay for us to hire a lawyer to
23 defend our property rights in that
24 property . So, you know, I don ' t control
25 the Planning Board either . You keep
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 30
1 telling me, you know, you -- you tell me I
2 should get educated . I know too much .
3 But, you know, I also know where -- where
4 my limits are . I don ' t know everything, I
5 make mistakes . But in this case , I would
6 love to be able to tell the Planning Board
7 what to do . I can ' t do that . I cannot
8 order them what to do . But I can tell
9 them when they ' re doing something wrong .
10 If the Planning, you know -- if they ' re
11 doing something illegal , you as the Town
12 Board have same right as anybody to tell
13 them that you want them to cease and
14 desist and stop . And we ' re not -- you
15 know, I -- I really -- seriously, honestly
16 would love to see a farm on that property .
17 And for that reason, I haven ' t really
18 opposed the inclusion in the Agricultural
19 District . I ' m a little surprised that --
20 that that whole process played out without
21 any participation officially from the
22 town . There was no formal letter of
23 opinion from the Town, which you --
24 Normally, the County would ask the Town
25 what they think before they would vote . I
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 31
1 don ' t know if they voted not -- you want
2 to speak on that, sir? You look like
3 you ' re --
4 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
5 did sit on the Suffolk County Farmland
6 Protection Board for 11 years , so I am
7 familiar with their procedures .
8 BENJA SCHWARTZ : On -- excuse me --
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Suffolk
10 County Farmland Protection Board . They
11 meet, they have -- There ' s an application
12 period for inclusion into the Ag District .
13 In Suffolk County, they meet in March of
14 each year to consider all those
15 applications . And then they vote, and
16 then the legislature takes those
17 recommendations and they vote , and then
18 that goes up to New York State Ag and
19 Markets for inclusion into the Ag
20 District .
21 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Did somebody from
22 the Town of Southold participate in that?
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No . No .
24 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Because I was there
25 in Hauppauge when the Council for
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 32
1 Environmental Quality of Suffolk County
2 met . And they didn ' t want to let me
3 speak, but I insisted, and they did . But
4 then they ignored what I said . And off
5 the record, I was told that they were not
6 going to tell a farmer what they could or
7 couldn ' t do . Now, I ' m not trying to tell
8 any farmer what they can or can ' t do,
9 unless what they ' re doing is damaging to
10 the -- the very farm that they pretend
11 that they are a farmer of . I mean, I
12 don ' t know how to tell you, but you ' ve got
13 the Suffolk County well field -- I believe
14 it may be the -- the most significant or
15 one of the most significant well fields in
16 the Town of Southold, providing fresh
17 water without a pipeline . It ' s -- There ' s
18 a railroad track in between, but the
19 watershed from this property is connected
20 to the watershed there . The aquifers
21 are -- are, you know, even if it ' s up
22 gradient, I ' m not sure . It may be --
23 little bit up gradient . But then when you
24 have three wells on the Suffolk County
25 well field pumping water out of the earth,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 33
1 that sucks the -- that could suck the
2 water that ' s put -- that ' s going down into
3 the aquifer from this farm up gradient .
4 So these are, you know, serious
5 environmental questions . They need to be
6 reviewed . The Planning Board absolutely
7 has every legal right in the world to
8 declare itself as lead agency, conduct a
9 SEQRA, and work with other agencies in the
10 other levels of government, and get this
11 thing done right, and reestablish that
12 property as a active farm contributing to
13 the agricultural industry in Town of
14 Southold . And that ' s what I ' m hoping for .
15 But that ' s not what ' s happening now . So
16 1 -- Just closing, I ' d like to reiterate
17 that, hey, you are sitting up there , six
18 of you . Together as one body, you are the
19 Town Board, the same Town Board, the
20 Southold Town Board . You ' re different
21 people, but it ' s -- the Town Board is the
22 same organization, same agency that sold
23 the -- the -- that bought -- No . Yeah,
24 that bought the development rights . And
25 when you bought them, one of the
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 34
1 requirements in there was , we want to know
2 who owns the property and who ' s going to
3 be using it . We don ' t know that . We
4 can ' t give them a permit to build a
5 building or a -- especially if the
6 building is obviously intended to be the
7 cornerstone of an operation which -- I
8 won ' t argue that it ' s agricultural , but I
9 would say it ' s also industrial , and it ' s
10 also would be a -- a first in the Town of
11 Southold . And I have done my research . I
12 have talked to many farmers who have
13 operations , which involve many of the same
14 parameters , and I know a little bit
15 about -- from personal experience about
16 dealing with birds . I love birds , but
17 they can also be horrible . You know?
18 They -- they can kill each other . They --
19 they can be -- have diseases . They
20 normally, if you have too many of them in
21 one place, you end up with concentrated
22 manure . This person is saying he ' s going
23 to keep the birds moving, keep the birds
24 moving around, and let them poop on the
25 ground, but keep them moving so there
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 35
1 won ' t be any too much in one place . But
2 when you crunch the numbers , 6 , 000 birds
3 on 16 acres , it ' s possible , but honestly
4 not on those 16 acres . Those 16 acres are
5 sloped . They have porous soil with a
6 shallow aquifer underneath it . And, you
7 know, first time I heard about it, I
8 didn ' t think it would work . Now, after
9 six months or more later, doing a lot of
10 research on it, I ' m convinced it won ' t
11 work . So I would ask you that at least
12 hold the applicant to the contract to
13 your contract, our contract, your our
14 Town Board . And that ' s your job, is to
15 protect the public contracts . Thank you .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
17 you .
18 Sure , ma ' am . Sure .
19 BARBARA PANTINO : You know me . I ' m
20 Barbara Panting --
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Welcome .
22 BARBARA PANTINO : -- from Southold,
23 and it ' s good to see you . And I want to
24 mention something at a different
25 perspective . I ' m not going to give big
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 36
1 legal terminology and addresses , because
2 who can remember? I call it the chicken
3 farm . I ' m just -- I can ' t understand at,
4 1 guess , an emotional woman ' s point of
5 view, how neighbors can actually consider
6 this gentleman proposing on a small lot of
7 property, I think 16 acres . Actually, the
8 numbers are 6 , 000 to 12 , 000 chickens
9 that ' s stated in the documents that you
10 wrote , or the Planning Board wrote, for
11 this proposal . Knowing that chickens
12 breed rats , it ' s placed right on top of an
13 Affordable Housing community that have
14 children living there, and they ' re going
15 to be infested with rats . They ' re not
16 going to be able to sit in their yards
17 with the squawk-squawk, whatever kind of
18 noises the -- and the roosters and the --
19 Can you imagine what 6 to 12 , 000 chickens
20 could sound like on 16 acres ? Right
21 abutting, on top of, backing a cul-de-sac,
22 what it -- it ' s going to be for those
23 people living there? I mean, think about
24 it . You gotta think, before this Planning
25 Board just made a decision . I don ' t
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 37
1 understand how they can make a decision
2 when you, Mr . Krupski , are the boss of
3 everybody . You control what the Planning
4 Board does . You should be aware of what
5 the Planning Board is doing . You are the
6 chief in charge, like the President of the
7 United States , as far as I ' m concerned,
8 within the Town of Southold . And if the
9 Vice President or the attorney was out of
10 line, I can rightfully say something,
11 because I ' m the President of the United
12 States . Nobody said anything and allowed
13 this proposal to go through . Could you
14 live next to that? Their water is going
15 to be poisoned with the nitrates . Think
16 about the BESS . What happened in East
17 Hampton between the fire, the burning of
18 the lithium, and the foam that the firemen
19 had to use for hours to put the fire out .
20 Nobody thought -- nobody had hindsight
21 over this go green nightmare . These poor
22 people are sick . Some of them died, and
23 now they ' re getting sued by the actual
24 people that drank the poisoned water,
25 besides the water company filing a lawsuit
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 38
1 against them . So bringing it back to
2 this -- this is what ' s going to happen
3 when the President of the United States
4 doesn ' t speak up and say something when he
5 knows something ' s not right . How could
6 you not think that this is right for these
7 people to live next to? In 2007 , you
8 bought an Ag easement . So now what
9 happens to that property? That property
10 is now no longer residential . It has a
11 little sidekick attached, farming . So
12 here comes this very wealthy man, from
13 what I understand, who ' s not very ethical ,
14 which I know, comes in, asks -- asks if he
15 could purchase the lot back in 2025 , and
16 then with full intention, which he was
17 brewing in his head for quite some time
18 wherever he was located, and then brought
19 it to purchase the property, brought it to
20 the town . I guess the Town had to approve
21 it because it was Ag . Who -- who approved
22 the purchase? Anybody have an answer?
23 You, you ' re the president . You ' re the
24 attorney .
25 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 39
1 There is no approval process when private
2 landowners -- private landowners -- two
3 private landowners were there .
4 BARBARA PANTINO : Who represented
5 the Ag property --
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Oh, you
7 have to use the microphone so everybody
8 can hear you . Thanks .
9 BARBARA PANTINO : I get --
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That ' s
11 all right .
12 BARBARA PANTINO : -- Emotional .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That ' s
14 all right .
15 BARBARA PANTINO : Who sold the Ag
16 easement .
17 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : So
18 the Ag easement or the property?
19 BARBARA PANTINO : The Ag easement .
20 Who sold it?
21 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : So
22 we -- we bought an interest in the
23 property .
24 BARBARA PANTINO : I don ' t hear you .
25 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : We
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 40
1 bought an interest a long time ago in the
2 property . I ' m I ' m trying to fully
3 understand your
4 BARBARA PANTINO : You bought
5 interest into it?
6 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
7 Correct .
8 BARBARA PANTINO : So that means your
9 interest owned part of it?
10 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
11 Correct . That ' s correct .
12 BARBARA PANTINO : Okay . So when
13 that lot was purchased, I would assume you
14 had some kind of a lien on the property?
15 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : No .
16 BARBARA PANTINO : You had no lien --
17 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : No,
18 there ' s no lien attached to an
19 agricultural easement .
20 BARBARA PANTINO : Who did you -- who
21 bought -- who did you purchase the
22 easement from?
23 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : I
24 don ' t know offhand who the original
25 purchaser --
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 41
1 BARBARA PANTINO : It wasn ' t the
2 woman that owned the property?
3 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : it
4 was whoever owned the property I believe
5 in 2007 , but I don ' t know exactly who that
6 was .
7 BARBARA PANTINO : No, that ' s fine .
8 So you purchased that Ag easement from
9 this . Okay . So now you own it?
10 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : We
11 own -- we own an easement .
12 BARBARA PANTINO : Own the easement?
13 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
14 Correct .
15 BARBARA PANTINO : All right . Well ,
16 if there ' s an easement attached to a
17 residential piece of property, how do they
18 jump through the hoops that they need to
19 because you are the owner of the easement?
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : They
21 have to abide by the easement . No matter
22 who owns it, they have to abide by the
23 easement .
24 BARBARA PANTINO : Okay . They have
25 to abide by the easement . But if you own
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 42
1 that easement and it ' s your rules ,
2 correct?
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes .
4 BARBARA PANTINO : What were the
5 rules of the easement?
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Oh,
7 there ' s a lot of different changes over
8 the years as the town bought development
9 rights . There were -- the easements
10 are -- they vary .
11 BARBARA PANTINO : They vary . Okay .
12 So the Town of Southold had the approval
13 on the actual details of that easement?
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes .
15 And the owner, you know, when you buy a
16 piece of property like that, you should
17 make sure your attorneys are well aware of
18 your limitations on that parcel .
19 BARBARA PANTINO : Okay . And you
20 were fully aware of the gentleman ' s
21 intentions that was purchasing that
22 property?
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No, that
24 was a private transaction .
25 BARBARA PANTINO : It was a private
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 43
1 transaction?
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes .
3 BARBARA PANTINO : You didn ' t know
4 the -- the realtors that were involved?
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No .
6 BARBARA PANTINO : You didn ' t know
7 any of them?
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No .
9 BARBARA PANTINO : Okay --
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : A
11 totally private transaction .
12 BARBARA PANTINO : Totally private .
13 So it was nobody locally that sold the
14 property --
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I don ' t
16 know that .
17 BARBARA PANTINO : That the rumor
18 went around that so-and-so sold the
19 property to this gentleman -- excuse me,
20 not a gentleman, person .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I don ' t
22 know who owned it before .
23 BARBARA PANTINO : Okay .
24 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : I
25 know that it ' s changed hands a number of
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 44
1 times since we ' ve purchased the easement .
2 BARBARA PANTINO : I ' m talking about
3 the gentleman that purchased the property
4 recently in 2005 now . Maybe I ' m not
5 explaining myself well , because sometimes
6 1 lose my focus , but I did go from one
7 issue to the next piece of information to
8 the next . So, I think --
9 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Can I
10 try to attempt to answer?
11 BARBARA PANTINO : Please help me .
12 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : So when
13 the Town sells , buys easements ,
14 development rights from farmland, we have
15 an easement, the contract . Right . And,
16 that goes with the land . We do not get
17 involved or have knowledge of sales ,
18 future sales of that land . We don ' t get
19 notified that it ' s selling or we don ' t get
20 involved in any future sales . That
21 easement goes along with the land . So we
22 had no idea of any of the sales along with
23 it .
24 BARBARA PANTINO : But then the
25 gentleman that purchased it knew it was a
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 45
1 Town of Southold easement ; correct?
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes .
3 She should have known, yes .
4 BARBARA PANTINO : Yeah -- No, I mean
5 the gentleman that purchased --
6 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Yeah, it
7 goes -- it goes with the deed and --
8 BARBARA PANTINO : -- Not she, he .
9 Yeah .
10 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : It goes
11 with the deed .
12 BARBARA PANTINO : I ' m sorry?
13 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : It goes
14 with the deed .
15 BARBARA PANTINO : It goes with the
16 deed .
17 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : So when
18 you ' re buying a --
19 BARBARA PANTINO : So it said on the
20 deed Who owned the easement that he was
21 purchasing; correct?
22 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : And
23 the -- the details of that easement as to
24 what the limitations are --
25 BARBARA PANTINO : -- and he had to
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 46
1 follow the --
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : -- to
3 what they can do .
4 BARBARA PANTINO : Okay . Okay . So
5 now I understand .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yeah .
7 BARBARA PANTINO : He was made aware
8 that the Town of Southold --
9 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : That the
10 development rights were sold to the Town
11 of Southold and here ' s the rules .
12 BARBARA PANTINO : Okay . So it was
13 then his decision .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
15 no, no -- that ' s just -- She ' s going to
16 address us though, thanks .
17 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Can I just read the
18 one sentence here? It ' s very significant .
19 BARBARA PANTINO : Whisper it in my
20 ear . Just --
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No .
22 BENJA SCHWARTZ : You can read this
23 here .
24 BARBARA PANTINO : I can ' t see
25 without my glasses .
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 47
1 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Can I just read the
2 one sentence?
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Just one
4 sentence .
5 BENJA SCHWARTZ : This is in the --
6 BARBARA PANTINO : Which one?
7 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Part of the
8 easement . It says that the seller shall
9 promptly notify the buyer of the easement
10 of any conveyance if they ever sell the
11 property, including the full name and
12 mailing address of any transferee and the
13 individual principles thereof .
14 BARBARA PANTINO : Okay .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
16 you . All right . Thank you . But let --
17 let -- let her finish though . Let her
18 finish, yeah .
19 BARBARA PANTINO : Thank you . That
20 wasn ' t the point I was trying to make, but
21 all that legal stuff is very important .
22 It ' s over my head . This is about just --
23 you know, the peas and carrots of it . Not
24 the champagne --
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Sure .
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 48
1 BARBARA PANTINO : And chocolate . So
2 this guy gets the idea in 2026 to just
3 build a chicken farm with no farming
4 background whatsoever other than a college
5 degree . The son . Doesn ' t matter who the
6 father is . We all know who the father is .
7 What ' s the point of knowing and making a
8 point on that? Because it ' s a matter of
9 what is he ' s doing, not who he is . We all
10 know who he is . He ' s Grant Callahan ' s
11 father, which is everybody on Long Island
12 and in New York know who the man is and
13 what he does for a living, and where he
14 was before he purchased the property . So
15 all these facts , if I knew the facts , I
16 don ' t understand how the Planning Board
17 couldn ' t understand the facts that this
18 gentleman wants to do a chicken farm with
19 this amount of chickens where the
20 property, I believe, was already slated
21 for Affordable Housing . But because of
22 the easement, he was able to purchase it .
23 It was supposed to be a continuation of
24 Jasmine Lane . And to allow a -- it ' s like
25 disrespect to these people . It ' s
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 49
1 disrespectful that they did this .
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
3 this --
4 BARBARA PANTINO : And the State was
5 involved with -- with Jasmine Lane . And
6 you ' re the president , Mr . President --
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : There ' s
8 still a process that they ' re going
9 through . They have not received any
10 approval .
11 BARBARA PANTINO : There ' s still -- I
12 get it . Okay? All this legal crap, but
13 that ' s not the point I ' m making here . You
14 guys didn ' t speak up .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : What
16 they ' re -- they ' re -- we don ' t we don ' t
17 -- We don ' t speak to when the
18 BARBARA PANTINO : -- your little
19 underlings --
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : The
21 Planning Board is a separately appointed
22 Board that reviews all these land use --
23 BARBARA PANTINO : I get it --
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : -- issues
25 and we don ' t comment on their
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 50
1 applications .
2 BARBARA PANTINO : Trust me , I know
3 that . Okay . I get it . But there ' s a
4 bunch of different divisions , I ' m sure .
5 But you ' re the -- you ' re the big guy, uni
6 guy - You know?
7 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON :
8 Mrs . Pantino?
9 BARBARA PANTINO : -- You ' re children .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : But I ' m
11 not the dictator, so I can ' t -- I can ' t
12 dictate to them .
13 BARBARA PANTINO : You ' re not the
14 dictator . No . But you are supposed to be
15 informed of what ' s happening through your
16 underlings . So in my eyes , you allowed
17 it . The Town Board allowed it .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
19 they ' re still going through the process
20 right now .
21 BARBARA PANTINO : And I ' m hoping
22 they ' re going to do the right thing,
23 because if they don ' t, there ' s going to be
24 a lot of noise , because it ' s disgusting
25 what this man is doing there to these
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 51
1 people . Disgusting . It could be
2 Affordable Housing, that we ' re in a crisis
3 now and you know it . And that ' s all I
4 have to say .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
6 thank you for coming .
7 BARBARA PANTINO : I ' m a woman .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
9 you for coming . Would anyone else like to
10 address the Board? Yes , sir . Mr . Levy ' s
11 been waiting . Okay .
12 JOHN REICHERT : My name is John
13 Reichert . I live at 1450 --
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No,
15 let -- let John continue . Let just --
16 that ' s fine .
17 JOHN REICHERT : I didn ' t see him
18 raise his hand .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That ' s
20 all right . That ' s all right .
21 JOHN REICHERT : I live at 1450
22 Jasmine Lane, which abuts the future
23 chicken egg laying farm, where he wants to
24 put his barn right next to our property .
25 No easement . Nah, Mrs . Denstler, we don ' t
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 52
1 need an easement . We don ' t need a
2 50-foot, we don ' t need a 5-foot easement .
3 What I want to say is , in 2007 that --
4 what was residential property before that?
5 Was that residential property before 2007 ?
6 And knowing there was a resident there ,
7 they changed this to farmland? And then
8 give this carte blanche -- you can put
9 anything you want there because it ' s
10 farmland? Even though there ' s residential
11 property surrounding the whole place?
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : The Town
13 and County have purchased development
14 rights on a lot of farmland adjacent to
15 residential property .
16 JOHN REICHERT : Do they all have
17 chicken farms next to them now?
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I don ' t
19 know what they have .
20 JOHN REICHERT : 1 , 000 chickens ,
21 6 , 000 chickens ? That ' s criminal . That is
22 absolutely criminal . I don ' t know
23 anybody -- anybody who would want to live
24 next to 6 , 000 chickens , me included .
25 They ' re ruining the lives of the people,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 53
1 and nobody up on this Board or the
2 Planning Board gives a damn . The Planning
3 Board doesn ' t even let us speak . We can ' t
4 say anything . So you say you ' re not a
5 dictator, evidently the Planning Board is
6 because we have no rights to do anything .
7 Just shut up, sit down, and take it . Who
8 appointed the Planning Board God? It ' s
9 terrible . You ' re sitting there
10 stone-faced, and my life, and my health,
11 and my welfare is all being jeopardized
12 because no one speaks up . No one . You ' re
13 elected to represent the Town of Southold,
14 not just farmers . And the only thing I
15 ever get from you all is , is
16 right-to-farm . Right-to-farm . Right to
17 live . I got a right to live . I got a
18 right to breathe clean air . I got a right
19 to sit in my backyard and not be invaded
20 by rats , mice, and flies , and that ' s going
21 to happen, as everyone knows . But nobody
22 cares . No one says anything . "Well , we
23 can ' t, we can ' t say anything to the
24 Planning Board . " You could voice an
25 opinion . You could tell Jim Rich, "Hey,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 54
1 listen to these people . " God, I don ' t
2 understand it . I really don ' t . Why did
3 you get elected? Why did you run for
4 office? I don ' t understand it . What --
5 you just ran for office to sit up there
6 and not say a word to us? Listen --
7 nobody helps the people of Southold -- We
8 are the people . We ' re the citizens , and
9 nobody ' s helping us . Nobody . I -- I
10 don ' t know . I hope you all feel very
11 proud of yourselves , because I ' d be
12 ashamed, to tell you the truth . Thank
13 you .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Welcome .
15 DAVID LEVY : I wanted to start by
16 asking a question . The Town Board --
17 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Mr . Levy,
18 can you we know you . Can you just
19 identify
20 DAVID LEVY : Oh, I apologize . David
21 Levy .
22 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Thank you .
23 DAVID LEVY : I live in Laurel , the
24 Southold portion of Laurel . Some weeks
25 ago, the Town issued this document, which
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 55
1 is labeled as a draft of the Community
2 Housing Fund Down Payment Assistant Loan
3 Program guidelines . I just wanted to ask,
4 having not heard much about it since then,
5 and having heard at that time that this
6 program was going to be implemented in
7 January or February, what is the status ?
8 Are these the guidelines? Are these
9 proposed guidelines that are subject to
10 approval? Where are we with this?
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : At Work
12 Session today, we discussed a number of
13 code changes that are going to enable us
14 to subsidize housing, and I don ' t know if,
15 Alexa or Anne want to -- want to answer
16 that with greater detail?
17 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Sure . So
18 yes , as Mr . Krupski said, we did go over a
19 bunch of code changes that need to happen
20 before any of these programs or -- release
21 of funds happen at all . So these code
22 changes are paramount, and that is where
23 we are putting all of our staff time
24 currently . Keeping that in mind, this
25 program is still being discussed . It ' s
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 56
1 still being looked at . It ' s still a
2 draft, as your copy says .
3 DAVID LEVY : I ' m very glad to hear
4 that . I assume at some point if these are
5 code changes , that there will be public
6 hearings ?
7 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Yes , so
8 there -- That is correct . There will .
9 DAVID LEVY : Will there ever be a
10 public hearing on this package of
11 guidelines ?
12 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : That I ' m
13 not sure of at the moment . However, there
14 will be lots of opportunity for public
15 input . We are currently scheduling some
16 public information sessions on where we
17 are on our housing goals and in the
18 execution of our housing plan and code
19 changes . So keep an eye out for those
20 informational sessions that will allow you
21 to comment and give us your input .
22 DAVID LEVY : Do you mind if I make a
23 comment now?
24 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Please .
25 DAVID LEVY : This would be an
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 57
1 excellent program if the goal was to get
2 as much as money -- as much money as
3 possible to the fewest possible people .
4 And I know that ' s not the goal . I ' ve been
5 vocal about this in the past . It ' s not
6 only a bad plan in that regard, it ' s
7 poorly executed . And I say that because
8 it doesn ' t answer any of the questions
9 that I ' ve been asking since 2022 .
10 Questions which the Board all agreed were
11 important questions that needed to be
12 answered before we started doling out
13 money . For example, hypothetically, let
14 me give you some facts and -- and I ask
15 you to assume they are true, although none
16 of them are true . I show up at Town Hall
17 on the first day of the program, and I ' m
18 seeking to make an application . In fact,
19 I have an application filled out . It ' s
20 properly and completely filled out . I
21 have all the necessary attachments . The
22 house I want to buy is under $1 . 9 million,
23 and we ' re a family of three, and we earn
24 in total under $230 , 000 . I am qualified,
25 and I ' m the first guy to your door . When
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 58
1 will I be notified that I have an award?
2 Will I be notified that I that -- that
3 1 am a beneficiary of the a beneficiary
4 of the program? That was a question .
5 When or will I be -- I -- be notified
6 that -- that I get to collect my $335 , 000 ?
7 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Sure . So
8 that is a system that is currently in
9 discussion and is currently being planned .
10 Like I said, most of our staff time right
11 now is being used for those essential code
12 changes that are required for us to
13 implement any of our housing plan .
14 Whether it be a down payment assistance
15 program, whether it be a subsidy, a
16 developer subsidies , whether it be ADU
17 programs . We have focused all of our
18 attention -- so -- so we ' re taking on code
19 first that much of a step back from
20 this
21 DAVID LEVY : Which I would take as
22 good news because this is the wrong way to
23 go . As a matter of fact, if you read the
24 plan that you adopted -- the Board
25 adopted, I realize that there ' s been much
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 59
1 turnover on the Board . That plan and --
2 and what was being talked about at the
3 time when residents voted to approve this
4 tax, there was nothing about this . And
5 1 -- and I know because I ' m active on
6 social media and I ' ve written a lot about
7 this and I ' ve gotten a tremendous amount
8 of reaction . And I ' ve laid out what these
9 guidelines say and I ' ve asked people in
10 the town of Southold, "Would you have
11 voted for this if this had been the plan
12 at the time of the vote? " And I got about
13 20 yes and about 98% hell no . This is not
14 what people want, and the reason is
15 because the people who voted for this
16 wanted their kids to be able to stay in
17 Southold . And based on the numbers that
18 we ' re doing here, and you ' re calling them
19 loans , but these are really grants because
20 they never have to pay back until they
21 sell , which could be 40 years in the
22 future, which is with devalued dollars .
23 When these programs are successful , the
24 same money is used over and over again
25 because there ' s turnover . But there ' s not
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 60
1 going to be turnover here . So in the
2 worst possible case, and I know that
3 you ' re not likely to get a bank loan under
4 these circumstances , I get that . It ' s not
5 impossible . But I realize it ' s not
6 likely, but if you ' re going to spend $1 . 4
7 million or $1 . 5 million in a year, you ' re
8 going to be able to benefit four people .
9 Four people . You ' ve got 570 some odd
10 people on your -- on your Affordable
11 Housing Registry . This is not the way to
12 go .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well , we
14 would -- we would certainly welcome
15 suggestions as to better -- better ways to
16 subsidize housing because there ' s --
17 there ' s other methods in the plan, like,
18 you know, subsidizing rental units and
19 also subsidizing single family homes . But
20 that would be a much bigger subsidy for
21 those because you ' re -- you ' re -- you ' ve
22 got to make it affordable at some point .
23 DAVID LEVY : You need to create --
24 This is a supply and demand situation .
25 You ' ve got to create more housing .
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 61
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well , we
2 have to subsidize it so that it ' s
3 affordable . The goal here is for first
4 time home buyers .
5 DAVID LEVY : It ' s not for -- it
6 shouldn ' t be for first time home buyers .
7 We should be trying to put roofs over
8 people ' s heads . We shouldn ' t be buying
9 them $1 . 9 million houses or even $ 900 , 000
10 houses .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
12 don ' t -- I don ' t think that ' s the case
13 here . That was the New York State
14 guideline that was put in that, the $ 1 . 9
15 million --
16 DAVID LEVY : That was a maximum .
17 You can come in lower than that .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes .
19 That was the New York State number, not
20 a -- not a Southold Town number .
21 DAVID LEVY : It was a maximum
22 number . Right . You can come in lower
23 than that .
24 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : But the point
25 was you would -- you would not be eligible
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 62
1 that -- for that because of the income
2 cap . So it ' s the -- it ' s your income
3 threshold that ' s setting the actual
4 purchase price of the home , which would be
5 closer to $ 900 , 000 . Also point is that
6 this is one of multiple programs that are
7 all being -- they ' re all being developed .
8 So there ' s a portfolio of strategies that
9 include short-term rentals , that include
10 ADUs , that include developer subsidies .
11 So it ' s a series of things . And so the --
12 the issue is we have to focus on one thing
13 at a time, and each thing that we focus
14 on, it gets the microscope and it gets
15 seen as the priority, but it ' s just being
16 done one piece at a time .
17 DAVID LEVY : Why would you focus on
18 your third priority according to the plan?
19 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Well , the
20 point is we ' re focusing on all of the
21 housing this Fall , and this was -- this
22 was attacked this Summer because it -- it
23 appeared to be closest to finalizing . So
24 we are trying to -- while we have a list
25 of things that we ' ve committed to do this
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 63
1 Fall , this was just the one that was
2 closest to being done so we could get it
3 through and check it off the list . But I
4 have And we --
5 DAVID LEVY : I can tell you, and I
6 don ' t take my stuff down, it ' s on -- on
7 all the North Fork website ' s , nobody wants
8 this . And if you read the comments ,
9 people ascribe bad motives to the Board .
10 1 don ' t share that .
11 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : So can I --
12 DAVID LEVY : But you will -- you
13 will not be happy with what you read .
14 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : So can I
15 explain a little --
16 DAVID LEVY : And I should also
17 mention that in my experience , these
18 programs always bring heartache . I don ' t
19 want you to think that I ' m coming at you
20 as an adversary of the Town Board . I ' m
21 trying to help you avoid doing something
22 that you ' re going to regret, because what
23 comes out of these things are most
24 unpleasant . Bad publicity and worse . And
25 if you go back and go through a month
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 64
1 worth of Newsdays , in the month of August ,
2 there were three full page stories about
3 problems with Affordable Housing Programs
4 in towns in Nassau County, and one half
5 page article about a problems with -- with
6 Affordable Housing, some kind of a program
7 that Suffolk County was running .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : It ' s
9 a -- it ' s a -- and that ' s why it ' s taken
10 so long for the towns , after the adoption
11 of that -- of that new tax to develop a
12 housing plan . Because everything ' s so
13 complicated and we don ' t want to -- we
14 don ' t want to have something that doesn ' t
15 serve the residents .
16 DAVID LEVY : The Town ' s position is
17 that it came up with a plan in 2023 .
18 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Can I --
19 can I just explain a little bit of the
20 adoption of that goal that you have in
21 front of you? HUD asks each municipality
22 to adopt guidelines every year . So that ' s
23 why we went and we adopt -- we -- every
24 year -- usually in Spring, we did a little
25 later this year, we adopt the guidelines .
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 65
1 We cannot go over what HUD is , but we can
2 go under . And we chose to adopt what HUD
3 did . So that ' s what you have before you .
4 It doesn ' t mean that people will be
5 eligible for the highest amount . They can
6 go under it , but we adopted those
7 guidelines . So it has a lot of factors .
8 It doesn ' t mean somebody ' s going to go and
9 get a $ 1 . 9 million house, because there ' s
10 other factors . There ' s -- their income,
11 there ' s , you know, mortgage eligibility .
12 So to present that to us , to the public,
13 saying that we ' re going to let somebody
14 get a $ 1 . 9 million house and give four
15 people opportunities , that ' s not the
16 reality of the program .
17 DAVID LEVY : I ' m not only taking
18 issue with the limitations , I ' m taking
19 issue with the whole concept of buying
20 people homes and giving them money --
21 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Well ,
22 but --
23 DAVID LEVY : -- in order to do it .
24 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : I ' m sorry, we
25 need to clarify that . It ' s not buying
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 66
1 people homes . It ' s actually s -- it ' s
2 giving people a boost when -- for a down
3 payment at the initial --
4 DAVID LEVY : You ' re paying -- you ' re
5 paying 180 of the total cost of their
6 home .
7 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Yes . And so
8 it ' s an -- it ' s an initial boost, and then
9 it ' s a long-term boost because it allows
10 them to remove their -- their mortgage
11 interest , which will save them a bunch of
12 money down the line .
13 DAVID LEVY : You were -- you were
14 not --
15 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : -- the whole
16 point is to stabilize families to stay in
17 town . It ' s not -- it ' s not for
18 individuals . It ' s households .
19 DAVID LEVY : You were not on the
20 board when I asked the question, "Are
21 people going to have to remain eligible
22 for the program in order to stay in
23 whatever home they get assistance buying? "
24 And I was told "yes , " and that there would
25 be a mechanism where they had to make tax
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 67
1 return filings every year to demonstrate
2 their continued eligibility . I was also
3 told that there would likely be some sort
4 of a -- of an asset test to -- added to
5 the list of qualifications , because you
6 can meet all the qualifications of this
7 program and have $8 zillion dollars in the
8 bank . There ' s nothing that would
9 disqualify you . And I was told that ' s
10 correct, we should have an asset test . No
11 asset test .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : When
13 were you told that?
14 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : We
15 talked about it in the --
16 DAVID LEVY : This was around the
17 time the plan was .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
19 right . So I would invite you next week,
20 September 15th, to come to our Code
21 Committee Meeting when we ' re going to
22 discuss the changes to the -- the
23 different chapters of the Town Code in
24 relation to Affordable Housing .
25 TOWN ATTORNEY BENJAMIN JOHNSON : And
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 68
1 if I may, what Councilwoman Suess actually
2 mentioned before is -- is I think the more
3 important factor here is , yes , we are
4 taking a step back because of issues that
5 we found, and we are looking at the entire
6 code as one and trying to rectify those
7 issues moving forward . And the board has
8 made a very deliberate effort to do that .
9 So we -- we had a code . We recognized
10 that it was not perfect, and we ' ve taken a
11 lot of staff time to rectify that issue,
12 and we ' re going to continue doing that in
13 an open forum moving forward .
14 DAVID LEVY : Well , I ' m glad to hear
15 that . I would much prefer to see this . I
16 prefer to not see this done at all , but if
17 we ' re going to move forward with something
18 like this , I ' d rather see it done
19 correctly than done quickly .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : You
21 sound like our town attorney now . He
22 advises the same thing today .
23 DAVID LEVY : He ' s a genius .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I tell
25 you, that ' s the same words . You guys must
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 69
1 be --
2 DAVID LEVY : -- appreciate your time .
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
4 you . And please come on the 15th .
5 DAVID LEVY : I ' ll -- I ' ll see if I
6 can get the information and see if I can
7 do that .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Good,
9 thank you . All right . I ' m going to ask,
10 is the -- Amy, is there anyone on Zoom?
11 Okay . Thank you .
12 Is anyone else here who would like
13 to address --
14 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Nancy,
15 you can go first .
16 NANCY SAWASTYNOWICZ : Good evening .
17 Nancy Sawastynowicz of Cutchogue . I ' m
18 just concerned about land preservation and
19 what ' s happening to it . I know when my
20 family gave the development rights to the
21 taxpayers , they had a specific thing in
22 mind, and I ' m sure the person that sold
23 the development rights to Ackerly Pond
24 Farm had something in mind, and I -- I
25 don ' t think it would be a factory farm . I
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 70
1 know you don ' t like that word, but that ' s
2 what it is , and it ' s cruel to the animals
3 and cruel to the neighbors . And I just
4 think we ' re losing the whole land
5 preservation idea . And I mean, my
6 family ' s farm got ruined, and they sold
7 the development rights . There were eight
8 acres of vines , and now there ' s a 7 , 000
9 square foot garage with 12 tractors in it
10 for that amount of grapes . That ' s
11 horrible . It ' s going to set a precedent
12 for the rest of the people not to sell
13 their land to preserve it, because they
14 see what happened to our farm and what ' s
15 going to happen to these, this chicken
16 farm if it goes through . It ' s -- it ' s
17 just ruining the land preservation idea .
18 And the idea is to keep it farming and not
19 6 , 000 chickens . I mean, that ' s
20 ridiculous . I worry about the water and
21 the pollution, and all the poop that they
22 make is going to definitely pollute our
23 water . And I have a well , and I ' m not
24 close to that . I ' m in Cutchogue , but
25 still -- it ' s a big concern, and I ' m just
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 71
1 -- I think we really need to think about
2 the land preservation . There ' s a reason
3 why people did it, and it ' s not for this
4 big garage on our family farm, not for
5 6 , 000 chickens . And so please, let ' s
6 really concentrate and protect our land
7 preservation . Thank you .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
9 you . All right . Can you let Tom speak?
10 Welcome, Tom .
11 TOM STEVENSON : Hello . Can you hear
12 me?
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We can
14 hear you .
15 TOM STEVENSON : Tom Stevenson, 24850
16 Main Road in Orient, Oyster Ponds Farm .
17 Thanks for letting me speak . I ' ll try not
18 to take too much time tonight . Just
19 wanted to say congratulations to Shiloh
20 Baptist Church . Great to landmark that
21 building . It ' s always good to see when
22 the property owners and the -- the town
23 all agree . So that ' s great, and -- and
24 the heritage is incredible . So full
25 support there . I sort of have a list here
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 72
1 from the Work Session, but I just think
2 that when you guys are reviewing drafts ,
3 it ' s hard as a member of the public to
4 follow sort of what you ' re talking about .
5 And I -- I would encourage that there ' s
6 really no harm in making some of those
7 drafts public, if you can before the
8 meetings . Give us time to review it, and
9 then we ' d be able to have questions . I
10 have still haven ' t seen the drafts of --
11 you were talking about the public safety
12 task force, I think . Anyway, then moving
13 down, the economic development survey .
14 Just wanted to point out that farms are
15 businesses . Al , you did mention the Farm
16 Bureau trying to reach out to them . But I
17 feel like the Economic Development Council
18 has not reached out to an industry that is
19 fully one-third of your land area, and I
20 don ' t think we should be overlooked .
21 Farms are really struggling in this state
22 and in this town . And people are talking
23 about development rights . Well , you know,
24 if all these development right properties
25 are restricted to agricultural production
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 73
1 only and there ' s no agricultural
2 producers , what are you going to have?
3 You ' re going to have sterilized land with
4 no farms , and we ' re -- I would say we ' re
5 halfway there . So another thing on the --
6 that survey that came up, is it
7 appropriate to have -- or to have business
8 listings on the town website? Absolutely
9 not . That is absolutely not appropriate .
10 Don ' t do that because you ' re definitely
11 going to miss people . You ' re going to
12 pick winners and losers . New York State
13 is excellent at picking winners and
14 losers . Unfortunately, I ' m on the loser
15 end, I feel like . Getting down to the
16 public safety task force, I think having a
17 ad hoc task force that you formed in
18 January or February, whatever it was ,
19 totally appropriate . Creating a permanent
20 committee is the wrong way to go, and it
21 abdicates the Town Board ' s authority as
22 the police commissioners . I would just
23 recommend that the Town Board hold police
24 commissioner public meetings and invite
25 all these people you ' re going to appoint
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 74
1 to another committee to come and speak .
2 And in reality, you ' re going to have
3 incidents that create a lot of public
4 concern, and those are the things that
5 you ' re going to want to do a meeting on .
6 So I -- I wouldn ' t create another
7 committee, but, you know, I think you ' re
8 going to do it . Or you did it . I don ' t
9 think we should be adding more
10 bureaucracy . So anyway, did someone
11 mention getting rid of the educational
12 rep? I don ' t know how you have one
13 educational rep with all the different
14 school districts , but -- And the other
15 thing, it ' s not in the spirit of the Open
16 Meetings Law to discuss something in the
17 morning and then put it on the agenda that
18 evening . It ' s taken long enough . You
19 should really wait the two weeks . Let us
20 see what the language is and be able to
21 prepare ourselves to speak for the 0 . 001%
22 of people in this town that are paying any
23 attention . What else? Deer management .
24 1 got to say, you know, I -- Well , I ' ve
25 been secretary of the Oyster Ponds Rod and
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 75
1 Gun Club for about 14 years . The Town has
2 not reached out to us . I think
3 recreational hunting or using the -- the
4 hunters that you have, it would be a good
5 idea to at least try to get us towards the
6 goals of -- you know, if you have 7 , 000
7 deer, you have to take out 80% of them in
8 one year and then maintain . So you ' re
9 going to have to have all hands on deck .
10 I would recommend whoever you ' re paying
11 to, you know, reach out to the
12 recreational hunters . And declaring a
13 health emergency or a state of emergency,
14 I guess . But New York State is completely
15 AWOL on this . You guys should be up in
16 Albany . The legislature has no power . It
17 seems like the DEC has the power . And
18 that should drive you nuts . It drives me
19 nuts . I ' m sure Tommy John and Palumbo,
20 they ' re both frustrated that, you know,
21 they ' re not in the room or the, you know
22 -- they could propose a law and then it
23 gets gutted by some faceless bureaucrat .
24 And it ' s a big problem . So, you know,
25 farmers used to really do -- do some
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 76
1 permits before everybody had the deer
2 fence everything, and that ' s hundreds and
3 hundreds of deer just in Orient, East
4 Marion, I could guarantee you every year .
5 And now those are not being hunted . So
6 that ' s -- that ' s probably what, 15 , 20
7 years ago, Al , those meetings . And you
8 know, and everyone ' s like, "All right .
9 We ' re just going to have to fence . "
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : The , the
11 fencing came -- that was the -- that was
12 the State ' s response to the deer
13 population . Instead allowing for
14 population control through hunting, they
15 subsidized fencing . That was their
16 response to the farmers to put fence up
17 and, and throw the --
18 TOM STEVENSON : Right . That ' s what
19 1 have to say on that . Spotted
20 Lanternfly, you know, this has been
21 something that ' s -- this is the -- just
22 the next invasive that ' s come out here .
23 We ' ve had a number of them in the farming
24 community that are seriously disruptive,
25 destructive , and we don ' t need any more
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 77
1 nails in the coffin on an industry . I
2 don ' t think that shot backing Spotted
3 Lanternfly ' s is any sort of a realistic
4 response from Cornell or Cooperative
5 Extension -- Extension . That ' s -- that ' s
6 just a joke . Everything that I grow is a
7 host for Spotted Lanternfly . If you drive
8 up and down the North Fork, you could see
9 the Trees of Heaven -- I mean, I contacted
10 the State years ago about this , and
11 creating a website and hiring some
12 researchers is doing absolutely nothing .
13 It ' s marching right into Southold .
14 They ' re not even cutting down Trees of
15 Heaven . They were going to inject them
16 with Neonics . And so when the, when the
17 Spotted Lantern flies hosted on their
18 favorite host, you ' d be killing them .
19 Now, the response is just let it happen,
20 and maybe there ' ll be a, you know, a
21 parasite or maybe they ' ll approve a
22 parasite from China that will do
23 something . I mean, luckily I ' m an organic
24 farmer, and organic farms tend to absorb
25 these invasives better because all our
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 78
1 natural predators , we don ' t kill them . So
2 I ' m just hoping the bats , the birds , and
3 the natural predators that I have will do
4 something . But I -- I haven ' t seen one in
5 Orient yet, but we all know it ' s coming .
6 And they literally feast on all my crops ,
7 so it ' s not a joke . We got Spotted Wing
8 Drosophila, the fruit fly . Drosophila
9 Suzuki , that ' s from Japan . When it was
10 found in California, I contacted Cornell ,
11 Marvin Fritz , the berry specialist up
12 there , and he said, "We ' re not going to do
13 anything . " And, you know, that ' s --
14 that ' s a -- it feasts on berries , so,
15 which is what I grow . So, they gave a ton
16 of money to people left and right, but it
17 That was the first one . Then there was
18 the BMSB, the Brown Marmorated Stink
19 Bug . Takes out every peach that you grow,
20 punch a hole in every, you know, stone
21 fruit . Unmarketable . So I ' m going to rip
22 out the peaches because I -- I can ' t do
23 anything about them . So anyway, that ' s my
24 rant on that . And then, I just think it ' s
25 unfair to compare a battery storage , BESS
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 79
1 facility fire with the groundwater
2 pollution to a -- to a chicken farm . It ' s
3 just not -- not the same thing . Okay . As
4 much as this applicant is , you know, for
5 the Ackerly Pond, lot of emotion there ,
6 and I get it . Not everyone ' s a good
7 neighbor and -- and you guys have to
8 legislate based on the bad actors , and
9 it ' s terrible . You -- no one in 2007 when
10 the -- when there ' s , you know, the Town ' s
11 selling developer or buying development
12 rights envisions what ' s going to be done
13 with it . My question is , if you have an
14 Affordable Housing community -- How do
15 you -- like , if you go in for a
16 subdivision today, you get -- you know, 15
17 years , 20 years later, maybe, you know,
18 you might -- you might live to see the end
19 of the application . I would -- you know,
20 1 would ' ve gotten it by now from 2002 to
21 now, but I sold my development rights .
22 But you would have 500 of that property as
23 open space that has its own easement on
24 it . You wouldn ' t get another bite at the
25 apple to sell the development rights on
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 80
1 it . So I just wonder sort of how that
2 worked, but that ' s going back to 1992
3 maybe , and then the development rights are
4 sold in ' 07 . No need to answer that
5 because I don ' t know myself . But, I don ' t
6 think putting Affordable Housing on that
7 property was , you know, really the intent .
8 Like, to do another development, I don ' t
9 think that was the intent . But, you know,
10 you -- you ' re a -- you guys get elected to
11 be the Town Board . Al , you get elected to
12 be the Supervisor . When the Planning
13 Board gets appointed, they are -- they
14 have to uphold -- you know, the -- the
15 rules separately . You don ' t get to go in
16 and -- So you -- you shouldn ' t go in and
17 put your thumb down on them left and
18 right . So the process is the process .
19 It ' s chunky, and sometimes it doesn ' t
20 really work . But, let ' s see . Sort of the
21 end of my list , but Mr . Levy ' s comments
22 were apropos . In 2023 , I know I commented
23 that you should not do the half a percent
24 plan until you have a plan in place . And
25 here we are at least three years later,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 81
1 and this plan is still up in the air . I
2 think the Town needs to seriously consider
3 being in the real estate business . You
4 have to do it . You have to -- You have
5 the power to purchase a property that ' s
6 perfect for a -- even if -- we see them
7 happen, and I mean, some of the recent --
8 like the fifty acres on Albertsons . Al , I
9 told you, I -- I thought the -- you
10 should ' ve had one or two parcels on Route
11 48 there consistent with the land use, and
12 just do something . You have the ability
13 to do it . You can ' t just preserve
14 everything . You have to find a way to put
15 roofs on people ' s heads that are --
16 really, they don ' t have the time . You
17 know, I ' m lucky because I knew what was
18 happening back, you know, back when I was
19 young, you know . And I came here to farm,
20 you know . I didn ' t grow up here , but I --
21 I came here with a college degree, an Ag
22 degree to farm . And -- but I saw what was
23 happening back then . So everybody knew it
24 was happening, and what happened? They
25 made money on it, really . So speculate,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 82
1 make the cash, take care of themselves .
2 And where are we, you know? We ' re still
3 where we ' re at . I mean, it -- you got
4 money in the bank, not that much, and now
5 every property ' s , every house is a million
6 dollars . So, good luck with that . And
7 that -- that ' s all I got . I -- I
8 appreciate your letting me speak .
9 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Thank you .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
11 you . And I just have to ask you if, you
12 know, please, you ' re welcome at the Deer
13 Management Committee meetings . You know,
14 you want to represent the Orient Rod & Gun
15 Club, please come down or send somebody
16 down . Please come --
17 TOM STEVENSON : I ' ll -- I ' ll try --
18 I ' m trying to get -- I ' m trying to get off
19 of that .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : You want
21 to talk about the survey?
22 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Yeah .
23 So, thank you again for all of your
24 comments . They were quite in depth, and I
25 appreciate the range . So I agree with you
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 83
1 entirely that Ag has to be adequately
2 represented on the EDC survey, so thank
3 you again for that reminder . We will
4 absolutely add those questions as
5 necessary . If you see or think of any
6 questions specifically for Ag that you
7 would like more information on, please
8 e-mail it to me . I ' d be happy to discuss
9 it with the committee . I second the --
10 TOM STEVENSON : Well , right off the
11 bat, I would say that, farm worker
12 housing, however we want to call it, we ' ve
13 batted around language on this for years
14 with no movement . There ' s got to be a way
15 to make it easier for a farmer to have --
16 1 don ' t have any . It ' s all family-run . I
17 don ' t have workers anymore . I mean, if
18 1 -- if I could have housing here without
19 fighting City Hall for, you know, ten
20 years , I might consider it . But, like , at
21 the end of all this , ADUs , you know, like ,
22 you got to look at the nuts and bolts and
23 trying to get the bureaucracy out of the
24 way . It ' s a huge -- it ' s Herculean . It ' s
25 a mountainous challenge to put yourself in
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 84
1 the mentality of, Okay, I ' m going to go
2 down to Building Department and apply for
3 this , see what happens . You know? So
4 please look at it from, like, the not rich
5 farmer side . I know, you know, the bad --
6 have a lot of, you know, farming with
7 money . But I think there ' s a lot that are
8 sort of just holding on and seeing what
9 you guys are going to -- well , seeing if
10 you could help . But the reality is , we ' re
11 getting punished, and I don ' t -- I don ' t
12 really see anything other than packing up
13 and leaving here if -- if things stay like
14 they are . So they ' re going to lose
15 another farmer .
16 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : I
17 certainly understand that frustration . So
18 if I may -- also second what Mr . Krupski
19 said earlier, where you are absolutely
20 welcome to come to any Deer Management,
21 Committee meeting . I just wanted to
22 correct something, and that was -- our
23 local DEC actually works very closely with
24 our Deer Management Program and has been
25 supportive of our Deer Management Program .
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 85
1 It is -- is New York State and their
2 reticence to change . New York State
3 conservation law --
4 TOM STEVENSON : Right .
5 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : -- has
6 caused many of the issues that we are
7 currently dealing with . So we are once
8 again actively asking New York State to
9 change that conservation law in order for
10 us to deploy other -- other possibilities ,
11 other, you know, legislative options for
12 deer management . So we will be happy to
13 take any of your comments as supporting
14 comments to take those up to New York
15 State . So feel free to e-mail those to
16 me .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thatd
18 be great .
19 TOM STEVENSON : Yeah, I mean, the
20 state of emergency type of stuff, if that
21 -- at a previous Town Board meeting, I
22 don ' t remember, I already mentioned that I
23 thought the midnight shift for the town
24 police, you have to have -- out of -- what
25 is it, 50 police officers , probably got 10
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 86
1 hunters . I think they are your -- your
2 deer killers . If we could figure that
3 out, give them a -- if you ' re not going to
4 give -- give a bounty to the hunters out
5 here or, you know, the police could
6 think they ' re authorized, you know,
7 especially in the middle of the night, the
8 ones on the side of the road that are --
9 You ' re going to, you know, 200 plus deer
10 accidents a year . Take them out .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : You
12 know -- you know we would do that if we
13 could, and the bounty, we tried that with
14 New York State years ago, and they, New
15 York State would not allow it --
16 TOM STEVENSON : They didn ' t like it .
17 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : We ' re
18 trying that again .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Good .
20 Yeah .
21 TOM STEVENSON : That ' s good . Well ,
22 they ' ve completely failed, and they
23 shouldn ' t get the chance again . They
24 should just back away, and -- I don ' t
25 know . I get it, but it -- you know, if
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 87
1 you need to take out 5 , 000 deer in a year,
2 how are you going to do that? No one ' s
3 got the answer . But, I mean, it ' s sad,
4 but it ' s true . And, you know, the 800 or
5 600 , we ' re not even scratching the
6 surface . And I could tell -- Like, I ' ve
7 had people tell me it ' s , "Oh, it ' s a
8 little bit better . " No, it ' s not . No,
9 it ' s not . I mean, I ' m completely deer
10 fenced and they come through the gate,
11 which I ' ve got very rarely happen, and it
12 now it happens all the time . So I could
13 tell you from direct experience, it is
14 severe . And, this year, the ticks , I
15 mean, luckily we -- inside the wire you do
16 not get as many ticks , but this year we
17 were pulling ticks off of them . So I
18 don ' t -- I don ' t know . You know, it ' s
19 sort of an Armageddon . So keep on
20 fighting .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
22 you, Tom .
23 TOM STEVENSON : I ' ll try to get --
24 I ' ll try to get there to the meeting . A
25 lot of meetings . I -- you all know that .
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 88
1 And Al , we got -- we got to get the Ag
2 Advisory Committee meeting scheduled . I
3 don ' t know . What are you doing next
4 Wednesday night?
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I don ' t
6 know . All right . So to -- to your -- to
7 your part about the Town Board buying
8 lands , the past Town Board and past
9 supervisor bought , did buy land with the
10 intention of putting housing on it . One
11 of the parcels is currently in a lawsuit,
12 and it ' s tied up . And the other parcel
13 we ' re looking into opportunities there to
14 put in -- to put in housing there . The
15 Town having that opportunity, that land
16 itself becomes a real subsidy, you know --
17 a very meaningful subsidy to build
18 something . So we are -- we are exploring
19 that .
20 TOM STEVENSON : That ' s what people
21 want, is the -- like , the cottages is
22 probably the most accept -- I mean, the
23 cottages and Jasmine Lane . I mean, you
24 own your piece of paradise you know, as ,
25 you know, as small as it is .
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 89
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : The
2 cottages are -- the cottages are
3 affordable in perpetuity . The other
4 Affordable Housing projects that were
5 built before that are now market rate and
6 no longer affordable . So we want to --
7 TOM STEVENSON : It ' s tough .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We want
9 to have -- we want to have opportunities
10 for people like the cottages that will be
11 affordable in perpetuity, if we ' re going
12 to make that public investment . Yeah, and
13 it --
14 TOM STEVENSON : But, I mean, the
15 equity in your -- in your house is your
16 number one investment . So if you ' re not
17 able to ride the wave as it goes up,
18 that ' s another argument for, you know --
19 for market rate .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
21 let ' s see if there ' s anyone else who ' d
22 like to comment .
23 TOM STEVENSON : Okay . Thank you .
24 Good night .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thanks ,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 90
1 Tom . Good night .
2 Amy, is there -- is there anyone
3 else on Zoom? Okay, thank you .
4 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Just one quick, one
5 sentence question to follow-up on what you
6 were just speaking about, the Affordable
7 Housing issue . Perhaps Councilman Stevens
8 or Councilwoman Stevens or someone could
9 answer . I ' m just curious . On Fishers
10 Island, there ' s the -- you ' re blessed to
11 have the Welsh Park Benevolent
12 Corporation . And are they -- do they
13 know they work closely with the Town of
14 Southold on Fishers Island, I believe . Is
15 that right? And have they ever been
16 involved in possibly advising us what we
17 -- or something similar happen here on the
18 mainland?
19 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Yeah, Welsh
20 Park has been in communication with Andrea
21 Sullivan, in that -- in that housing work .
22 Over the past year there ' s actually a new
23 manager, program manager, Linda Morocca,
24 who ' s spoke with her and Gwen and
25 continues to be in communication . And we
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 91
1 actually invited Andrea to an island
2 community board meeting on Zoom to talk
3 about the ADU program . So there ' s a lot
4 of interest on Fishers Island and what ' s
5 going on over here, and a lot of interest
6 here in what ' s going on Fishers Island .
7 So we ' re hoping to definitely exchange and
8 learn from each other . I think there ' s
9 definitely interest in applying for -- at
10 one point, there was going to be money
11 from the Community Housing Fund for also
12 restoration and repair work, which that ' s
13 a big deal on Fishers Island because a lot
14 of the houses in the inventory need a lot
15 of work . So it remains to be seen if
16 that ' s going to be a part of the -- the
17 upcoming funds that are available, but the
18 conversations are happening .
19 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Yeah .
20 And I do want to note that in the original
21 group that started developing the outline
22 of -- of the plan, we had a representative
23 Beth Cashel from Fishers Island, and she
24 still is on the chat . So, from the very
25 beginning we ' ve had a representative from
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 92
1 Fishers Island .
2 BENJA SCHWARTZ : Very good . Thank
3 you .
4 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
5 you .
6 Anyone else like to address the
7 Board?
8 (No Response . )
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Seeing
10 none . I ' ll take a motion to adjourn?
11 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : I ' ll
12 make a motion to adjourn .
13 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Second .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
15 favor?
16 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
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 9, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 93
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 9 , 2026 .
15
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17 (Je sica&Lallo)
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