MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE VILLAGE OF SAGAPONACK April 9, 2018

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1 MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE VILLAGE OF SAGAPONACK April 9, 2018 A duly held meeting of the Board of Trustees was held at the Village Hall at 3:00 PM on Monday, April 9, The meeting was called to order by Mayor Donald Louchheim with a pledge of allegiance to the flag. Those members present were Deputy Mayor Lee Foster and Trustees Joy Sieger, Lisa Duryea Thayer and William Barbour. Also present was Village Clerk/Treasurer Rosemarie Cary Winchell, Village Engineer Drew Bennett and Village Attorney Anthony Tohill. Absent was Village Planner Rich Warren. BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING TENTATIVE BUDGET Mayor Louchheim opened the Public Hearing for the Tentative Budget for the Fiscal Year and read the following Budget Message: The tentative Sagaponack Village projects total spending of $911,106 for the year, an increase of $38,898 over the current budget. The increased spending results from an additional allocation of $50,000 to the Highway Capital Reserve fund, making it a total contribution of $250,000, to help offset the heavy toll on Village roads from this winter s severe weather. Spending for all other Village operations in the budget, $661,106, actually decreased slightly from the previous year. The tax rate will remain 6.14 cents per $1,000 of assessed real property valuation, or $61.40 per million. It is the 13 th year-in-a-row that the Sagaponack Village tax rate has either dropped or remained the same. There are no new spending initiatives in the tentative budget and no change in staffing. The Village s two full-time employees and two part-time employees will all receive 2.5 percent raises. Mayor Louchheim asked if there was anyone from the public who wished to speak on the Tentative Budget to which no one did. He then asked the Board if any member wanted to comment on the Tentative Budget to which they all agreed that they were satisfied with the Tentative Budget and praised it for a job well done. A motion was offered by Trustee Sieger and seconded by Deputy Mayor Foster to close the public hearing for the Tentative Budget. It was approved unanimously. LOCAL LAW #1 of 2018 PUBLIC HEARING VB Plan.WS meeting docx 1

2 Entitled A Local Law Authorizing a Property Tax Levy in Excess of the Limit Established In General Municipal Law 3-c Mayor Louchheim opened the public hearing for Local Law #1 of 2018 explaining that as a corollary to the budget process, the Village is planning to adopt the Tentative Budget at its next meeting. The spending in the Tentative Budget puts us slightly over the NYS 2% Budget Cap largely because of the increase in the highway reserve fund so it will require a separate local law to pierce the tax cap if the tentative budget is adopted. Because of the small size of our budget, the tax cap is proven totally impractical. For example, a revised projection of as little as $5000 in overall net spending could put us under the tax cap this year. But it s such circumstances we believe that the tax cap does not promote austerity but merely encourages budgeting games. And this Board has chosen not to play those games. We believe our budget should responsibly project our best estimates of revenue sources and spending needs. And if, as this year, our budget happens to pierce this arbitrary tax cap we will consider tax cap exception resolutions rather than budgeting sleight of hand. Therefore, the Board is considering the adoption of this local law. Mayor Louchheim asked if anyone had any comments regarding this local law or wanted to discuss the tax cap to which there was no response from the public or the Board. Mayor Louchheim asked for a motion to close the public hearing on Local Law #1 of A motion was offered by Trustee Duryea Thayer and seconded by Deputy Mayor Foster to close the public hearing for Local Law #1 of 2018 Entitled A Local Law Authorizing a Property Tax Levy in Excess of the Limit Established In General Municipal Law 3-c. It was approved unanimously. PUBLIC HEARING LAND PLANNING ITEMS Final Subdivision Application con t Sagaponack Realty LLC 451 Daniels Lane Final Subdivision application for the subdivision of acres into 4 residential lots and an agricultural reserve Mayor Louchheim noted that there are a couple of applications submitted by an applicant calling itself Sagaponack Realty LLC. This is one of them. We have been adjourning until there is some judicial clarification on who is the authorized representative for Sagaponack Realty LLC. He asked if there was anyone who wanted to speak to this application. VB Plan.WS meeting docx 2

3 A motion was offered by Trustee Duryea Thayer and seconded by Trustee Barbour to adjourn and continue the public hearing until the May 14, 2018 meeting. It was approved unanimously with Deputy Mayor Foster recusing herself. OLD BUSINESS Special Exception Application Sagaponack Realty LLC 451 Daniels Lane Special Exception application for the approval of Agricultural Housing on a acre parcel Site Plan Sagaponack Realty LLC 451 Daniels Lane Site plan application for the construction of several agricultural buildings including agricultural labor housing buildings on a acre parcel Mayor Louchheim explained that the next two applications submitted by Sagaponack Realty LLC have been previously reviewed together as one is contingent on the other. He noted that we received a letter on Friday from the applicant s attorney requesting that the Special Exception application for work force housing be withdrawn. He asked Mr. Goldman if that was correct to which he answered that it was. Mayor Louchheim stated that the Board did not need to vote on the withdrawal but wanted the record to show that the application has been withdrawn by the applicant. Mayor Louchheim continued explaining that the other application is for site plan approval for agricultural buildings on the parcel and asked if there was anyone to speak to that application. Brian Locascio of the Adam Miller Group was present for the applicant noting that he was attending for Brian DeSesa whose flight was delayed and therefore unable to attend this meeting. Also present was Marc Goldman of Sagaponack Realty LLC. Mr. Goldman explained that he wanted to install 3 60 x 30 foot temporary greenhouses on the property to start growing tomato plants so that he could experiment with different varieties. Mr. Tohill asked Mr. Goldman if the only thing he was looking to receive municipal approval for is the installation of 3 temporary, hoop style houses to which Mr. Goldman replied yes. Mr. Tohill also asked Mr. Goldman if he had any issues if the approval of the installation of the greenhouses expired in one year to which he stated that he did not. VB Plan.WS meeting docx 3

4 It was noted that the file was not referred to the Suffolk County Planning Commission and that the Peconic Land Trust had not commented on the proposed installation of the greenhouses. Mr. Tohill explained that the Board should have input from both the Suffolk County Planning Commission and the Peconic Land Trust before they take action on this or they could run the risk of their decision being null and void. He advised that the application should be adjourned until the May 14 th meeting with the understanding that Peconic Land Trust will be contacted and that this application be submitted to the Suffolk County Planning Commission for comment. A discussion was held regarding the access to the greenhouses which are proposed to be located in the northeast corner of the lot. It was agreed that access would be off of Peters Pond Lane and that there would be no public access to the greenhouse. Mr. Goldman asked if the Board could review the application sooner if he received the information right away. It was agreed to schedule a special meeting in two weeks to continue the review of the application. The following resolution was offered by Trustee Sieger and seconded by Mayor Louchheim: WHEREAS; Sagaponack Realty LLC has made an application for the construction and placement of three temporary plastic wintering-over hoop greenhouses each dimensioning 30 feet by 60 feet to be located at the northwest corner of the 43 acres at 451 Daniels Lane, and WHEREAS; the applicant is required to provide to the Board a site plan prepared by Paul W. Grosser which would depict said three greenhouses located as aforesaid with a setback of not less than 60 feet from Daniels Lane and not less than 30 feet from Peters Pond Lane, and WHEREAS; the Village Clerk is required to send this application to the Suffolk County Planning Commission for its distribution of a for local determination only letter; and WHEREAS; the applicant is required to obtain the consent of the Peconic Land Trust pursuant to the conservation easement encumbering the subject premises; NOW THEREFORE; this application is continued and adjourned to April 23, 2018 at 3:00pm with the proviso that the Board will be able to adopt a resolution at that date and at that time so long as the Grosser site plan is in hand, the Peconic Land Trust consent letter is in hand and the Planning Commission for local determination letter is in hand. The above resolution was approved with the following vote: Mayor Louchheim aye Trustee Duryea Thayer aye Trustee Sieger aye VB Plan.WS meeting docx 4

5 Trustee Barbour nay Deputy Mayor Foster - recused Pre-Application Subdivision Meadowmere 3491 Montauk Highway Pre-application for a proposed subdivision of a 41.3 acre parcel on Montauk Highway Alice Cooley, attorney and Bob Smith, surveyor were present for the applicant along with the applicant, Kenny Schwenk. Mayor Louchheim noted that we received feedback from the Bridgehampton Fire Department regarding the number and location of the fire wells. Village Engineer, Drew Bennett, explained that the fire department has required the installation of a second fire well in the cul-de-sac of the proposed subdivision along with the current proposed one located further north on the access road. Mr. Schwenk noted that he had no objections to the Bridgehampton Fire Department s requirements of the second fire well. Mayor Louchheim noted that we also received responses from the Suffolk County Planning Commission who noted that it was a matter for local determination and from East Hampton Town. He explained that the Town is advocating for an 80% preservation of open space. He asked Mr. Schwenk if he would consider the additional open space and/or a development rights sale to the Town of Southampton. Mr. Schwenk stated that his family has sold development rights on over 100 acres of land to the Town of East Hampton and so therefore at this moment his is not willing to consider either of those options. Mayor Louchheim noted that there were two open items that needed to be addressed before a public hearing is scheduled for this application. They are the location of any agricultural accessory buildings. He noted that perhaps it would be best to determine a building envelope rather than trying to determine the size of the buildings at this point. Ms. Cooley stated that she agreed that a building envelope should be established but noted that they are hesitant to do it at this time in the pre-application stage when it could be done at the preliminary stage once they had a the ability to do a comprehensive analysis of what the site needs to be. Mr. Tohill noted that if there is going to be a public hearing, which there will be for the pre-application, it should be part of the plan so that the public can see the proposed location. VB Plan.WS meeting docx 5

6 A discussion was held concerning the location of the agricultural building envelope being located south of the existing structures and east of them along the highway. Mr. Schwenk stated that he wanted the envelope located to the east of the existing buildings so that it would not interfere with the farming and that area was where a previous building had been located and it is the least farmable area. He stated that he wanted the buildings to be able to sustain a viable, working man s farm. He noted that he wanted the envelope to be 60,000 square feet. Mr. Tohill expressed concern that the Suffolk County Planning Commission already rendered their letter on the application that did not show the agricultural building envelope and now the Town of East Hampton is objecting to this. Therefore he noted that this has to be addressed now. Mr. Tohill noted that the discussion of the placement of the agricultural envelope began ten years ago but never ended. Mr. Schwenk stated that 10 years ago we were at square feet adjacent to the northern lot. Mayor Louchheim stated that it is 10 years later and characteristics have changed on both of the two adjoining properties. Mayor Louchheim queried each Board Member to see where they would prefer the location of the building envelope. Trustees Barbour, Duryea Thayer and Sieger all agreed that they would prefer the envelope to be located to the east due to the area being less farmable and the existence of the existing farm buildings in that area. Trustee Sieger asked Mr. Schwenk if the 60,000 square foot number was an arbitrary number to which Mr. Schwenk responded no. He explained that he took the 40,000 square foot number that was agreed upon ten years ago and took liberty with the 4,500 square feet and made it 7800 square feet on map that he was playing with trying to figure out how the square footage was going to work on a 40,000 foot lot and it was tight. Therefore, he expanded it another 20,000 square feet and discovered that 7800 square feet of buildings would work very nicely with the additional square footage. Mr. Smith noted that if a tractor trailer was unloading on the property, it would need a 52 foot radius to turn around. So if you add the buildings and space needed for vehicles, 60,000 is better. You would not want an eighteen wheeler backing down Montauk Highway. Mayor Louchheim asked Mr. Schwenk if the current property with the exiting agricultural buildings were off limits to farming operations. Mr. Schwenk responded that they were because they would be part of lot 1 which is independent of the agricultural reserve and if he decided to sell lot one, the farmer who farmed the agricultural reserve would need an area for the placement of the agricultural buildings. VB Plan.WS meeting docx 6

7 Mayor Louchheim stated that he believed that somewhere communications has been lost. He stated that the Board wanted a cluster subdivision on this property and were persuaded to exempt lot 1 because it was the site of the existing farm house and farm buildings and that that should be left in tack and now you re telling us that we should be looking at the future where lot 1 as part of an operating farm may be eradicated and where you need an equal amount of space that already exists there for agricultural buildings. What you are doing is basically eliminating one of the fundamental premises of how we came up with the subdivision plan. Mr. Schwenk noted that it was always their intent to make the agricultural reserve totally independent of lot 1. Mayor Louchheim stated that it seems that three of the Board Members are agreeable to the 60,000 square foot agricultural building envelope located to the east of the existing farm house and agricultural buildings on the property. Trustees Barbour, Duryea Thayer and Sieger responded that they were. Mayor Louchheim stated that the applicant should submit a revised site plan showing the location of the agricultural building envelope and the location of the additional fire well. Mr. Tohill instructed the Village Clerk to resubmit the revised plans to the Suffolk County Planning Commission for the comments. Mayor Louchheim noted that the second open item was plantings along the road which does not have to be on the site plan at this time. A motion was offered by Trustee Sieger and seconded by Trustee Duryea Thayer to adjourn the application until May 14, 2018 at 3:00pm. It was approved unanimously. NEW BUSINESS There was no new business before the Board. WORK SESSION Cablevision (Altice) Franchise Agreement Mr. Tohill noted that he would review the report from Computel regarding the draft agreement that was submitted by Altice and report back to the Board on his recommendations. NOTE: Village Attorney, Anthony Tohill was excused from the meeting at this point. Time noted: 4:05pm OLD BUSINESS 2018 Road Projects Drew Bennett reported to the Board on the 2018 Road projects. He reported that he is still waiting for the survey for Sagg Main Street in order to advise the Board further VB Plan.WS meeting docx 7

8 on whether or not there is room to allow for a wider shoulder on that road and that we have yet to receive the survey for Wainscott Harbor Road either. He explained that the Town of Southampton Highway Department does not have a cracking sealing program so if the Village wanted to seal the cracks on various streets we would have to hire someone to do it and the cost is approximately $1 to $2 a foot. He noted that once a road starts to alligator then it would not benefit from crack sealing. Ms. Winchell noted that we usually repave in the spring but since it is getting late in the season, we probably will not be able to do it until the fall. NOTE: Village Engineer, Drew Bennett was excused from the meeting at this point. Time noted: 4:12pm MINUTES Mayor Louchheim noted that the Board should review the minutes which will be on the agenda for approval at next week s meeting. CORRESPONDENCE The Board reviewed the monthly report for March from the Southampton Town Police Dept along with correspondence from NYS Comptrollers regarding the Fiscal Stress report of the Village, the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association regarding their April meeting, SCVOA regarding Municipal training and from NYCOM concerning the additional question added to the CENSUS 2020 questionnaire. Trustee Sieger noted that we have some new police officers and asked Ms. Winchell to remind them to patrol the whole village and not just Montauk Highway. She noted that they seem to be more vigilant with patrolling the bridges. NEW BUSINESS Assembly Permit Application The Board reviewed assembly permit applications for the annual fund raiser for the Madoo Conservancy, Much Ado About Madoo to be held on July 16 th and the annual LIPHA Horse Show to be held at the Wolffer Stables on May 13 th. Ms. Winchell noted that Madoo today submitted a revised application with the cocktail party to be held on Friday night instead of Saturday night Village Election Ms. Winchell explained that there will be resolutions on next week s agenda for the Board to set the time and place for the June election and to appoint the election inspectors. Parking Request The Board discussed the request by People Pool to park 55 cars on the west side of Sagg Main Street across from 709 Sagg Main Street for the Guttman wedding on June 30 th and July 1 st. Ms. Winchell explained that Mr. McArdle is requesting to park the guest vehicles on the west side of Sagg Main Street and the guest will then be bussed to the ceremony at the Long House in East Hampton and then back to the house for the VB Plan.WS meeting docx 8

9 reception. On Sunday morning, there will be a brunch and they are requesting that the cars be parked in the same spot for this event as well. The Board expressed concerns that this many cars on Sagg Main Street the weekend before July 4 th. Trustee Sieger noted that she will not be available for next week s meeting but felt that with the valet parkers to control it, she had no problem with allowing the parking there. Ms. Winchell noted that if the Board approved the request, that she would provide them with pink placards indicating that they had permission to park there. The Board will revisit this at next week s meeting. DISCUSSION ITEMS Ms. Winchell reported that Tom White had offered to the Village the old flag pole that had been at the Sagaponack Cemetery. Ms. Winchell agreed to look at it to see what condition it was in and report back to the Board next week. FINANCIAL The Mayor asked the Board to review the financials and present any questions at next week s meeting. BOARD/COMMITTEE REPORTS Deputy Mayor Foster, Trustees Sieger and Barbour all stated that they had nothing to report. Trustee Duryea Thayer reported that the April ZBA will be held this Friday and she will report on that at next week s meeting and the AHRB April meeting will be held after next week s meeting which she will report on in May. Trustee Sieger noted that a property on Narrow Lane has large rocks on the Village verge. Ms. Winchell stated that she will relate this information to the Building Inspector. Ms. Winchell reported that she spoke with JR Tilton about the removal of the bamboo on the village verge on Sagaponack Road at the curve. PUBLIC INPUT Bill Tillotson, Village resident, attended the meeting. He cautioned the Board to be wary when they grant approval for the building of agricultural buildings on agricultural lands that they don t become something else once the land is no longer farmed or even if it continues to be farmed, that the building does not then become a second income. Mr. Tillotson, also thanked the Board for their time they spend on Village matters. ADJOURNMENT On the motion of Trustee Duryea Thayer and a second by Trustee Barbour the Board unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting. Time Noted: 4:55pm Rosemarie Cary Winchell, CMC Village Clerk-Treasurer VB Plan.WS meeting docx 9