HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-01/27/2026 PH 1
1 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK : STATE OF NEW YORK
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SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD
4 REGULAR MEETING
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7 Southold, New York
8 January 27 , 2026
6 : 00 P . M .
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14 B E F 0 R E :
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16 ALBERT KRUPSKI JR, SUPERVISOR
17 KATE STEVENS , JUSTICE
18 JILL DOHERTY, COUNCILWOMAN
19 BRIAN MEALY, COUNCILMAN
20 ANNE SMITH, COUNCILWOMAN
21 ALEXA SUESS , COUNCILWOMAN
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JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
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3 Public Comments 3-4
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JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 PUBLIC COMMENTS
2 DEANNA MOSCOSO : Would anyone like
3 to speak to any agenda item?
4 JOHN REICHERT : I see you have
5 the SEQRA on your agenda, and I ' m
6 here -- I want to speak later about what
7 it ' s take to get the SEQRA review
8 exercised?
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Which
10 item numbers ?
11 JOHN REICHERT : 2026-126?
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Oh yes ,
13 yes . That is for the Planning Board .
14 If you are the applicant, and you have
15 to have a SEQRA review, you will pay for
16 that as the applicant .
17 JOHN REICHERT : Well , I ' m not the
18 applicant .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No , no,
20 but this is for any action that the Town
21 takes . We ' re trying to -- and really,
22 this is working on the Cell Tower Code .
23 It ' s our own initiative . We ' re working
24 on Cell Tower Code . We have to comply
25 with the State Environmental Quality
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 Review Act and conduct a SEQRA review .
2 We have to pay for it . So we are
3 short-handed in the Planning Department
4 right now, and we ' re in the process of
5 hiring to bring the staffing levels up
6 to where they should be . This is to
7 hire someone to conduct that review for
8 us , for the cell towers .
9 JOHN REICHERT : If I want to
10 initiate or have you initiate a SEQRA
11 review on the proposed chicken farm, egg
12 farm, how do I go about that?
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That ' s
14 -- the proposed barn on the --
15 JOHN REICHERT : Farm itself .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That is
17 being reviewed by the Planning Board .
18 JOHN REICHERT : All right , I ' ll
19 talk to you later about that .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Would
21 anyone else like to speak to any agenda
22 item before we start the agenda?
23 (No Response ) .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Seeing
25 none and -- Let me check . Seeing none .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 Now we can go . Thank you .
2 (Whereupon, the meeting continued
3 on to the Resolutions at this time . )
4 PUBLIC COMMENTS
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
6 right, so that ' s the end of the regular
7 agenda . We have a few people on Zoom .
8 Is there anyone who ' d like to speak to
9 the Board about anything, any topic at
10 all? Please come to the microphone,
11 identify yourself, and the hamlet you ' re
12 from .
13 JOHN REICHERT : My name is John
14 Reichert . I know what I ' m gonna speak
15 about -- the egg farm is before the
16 Planning Board . I attended that meeting
17 and I wasn ' t satisfied with the answers
18 I received . So we ' ve come here to
19 approach the Town Board, hoping we would
20 get a resolution in favorable to the
21 residents of Jasmine Lane, the
22 development on that area . My name is
23 John Reichert . I have lived in
24 Southold for 40 years or more . I have
25 operated my business here for a good
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 part of those years . I love this
2 town and could think of no better place
3 to live . When people ask me where I
4 live, I am proud to tell them Southold .
5 And invariably, they are familiar with
6 the town -- if they are familiar with
7 the town, they would say, "oh, I love
8 Southold . " Some people have inferred
9 that since we are against the egg
10 operation that we are anti-farm .
11 Nothing could be further from the truth .
12 The Farm Preservation Act has allowed
13 Southold to maintain its open space and
14 given us residence the pleasure of
15 seeing horses grazing in their corrals
16 and cattle lazing in the field . We
17 enjoy the fresh vegetables we can get
18 from roadside farm stands at the Country
19 View Farm Stand and fresh strawberries
20 in June . We are fortunate people who
21 are able to live here amongst our
22 neighbors and friends enjoying the
23 beauty of the open spaces and the water
24 views of the Sound and Bay . To
25 introduce into this bucolic scene a
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 7
1 6 , 000 chicken egg farm, which could go
2 to 12 , 000 . And it ' s a tragedy,
3 travesty, and a failure of the town
4 leaders to protect the town we all love .
5 I don ' t think any resident who
6 supported the Farm Preservation Act ever
7 imagined a foul smelling, rotator
8 tracking, fried breeding chicken
9 enterprise replaced bordering Ackerly
10 Pond Lane and the Jasmine Lane
11 development, which has about 35 homes .
12 A mixture of senior citizens , as I am
13 one , young children, babies , people with
14 compromised immune systems , and some
15 with diseases like asthma . We were told
16 that -- that it ' s a farm and that
17 sludge cannot be stopped . I don ' t
18 believe that at all . Since when does a
19 business that would produce a health
20 risk to the citizens of the town and a
21 foul order that would be carried long
22 distances toward Route 25 , not be able
23 to be stopped? If a hardware store that
24 was going to be built in Mattituck could
25 be stopped, then I say certainly this
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 obnoxious chicken egg farm can be
2 stopped . The dust from store chicken
3 manure will be carried on the
4 prevailing northwest wind . We are
5 southeast of that farm . So we will be
6 inundated with the odors , not to mention
7 rats , mice , flies , and disease carrying
8 dust . We have many people suffering
9 from compromised immune systems , which I
10 am one . And as medic young boy, my
11 neighbor, and many more who are
12 suffering from other lung diseases or
13 who could be suffering, I ' m sorry .
14 You who have been voted into positions
15 of trust and authority by your
16 neighbors and friends , who depend
17 upon -- we depend upon you to
18 preserve the uniqueness and beauty of
19 this town, and their investments in
20 their homes and the protection of their
21 health . Will do the same people a
22 horrendous disservice and be a
23 dereliction of your duties , in my
24 opinion . Those who have come into this
25 town claiming they want to be good
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 neighbors while being miles and miles
2 away are in reality only concerned
3 with their bottom line . Some people
4 working for the town describe this
5 business as a father-son small chicken
6 operation . That statement stinks as
7 bares the proposed chicken farm . We
8 were given very little time to organize
9 an opposition to this proposal , as it
10 seems to have been fast-tracked to the
11 detriment of the citizens of Southold .
12 And a favorability to those who would
13 bring a blight to this town that we
14 all love . This 6 , 000 chicken farm
15 should never have been considered for
16 this site , let alone Southold Town . If
17 this agribusiness is not stopped,
18 then the harm that it will do to this
19 community will be attributed to all
20 those in a position to put a stop
21 to it . That will be your legacy as
22 elected officials of Southold Town .
23 Thank you .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
25 you .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
2 Mr . Supervisor, if I may, I just want
3 to point out to you all that this is a
4 pending matter before the Planning
5 Board . There ' s been no decision on it
6 yet and I ' ve asked the Town Board not to
7 comment on the application, while it ' s
8 still being considered by the Planning
9 Board .
10 JOHN REICHERT : As I stated before ,
11 I realized we went before the Town Board
12 and what the answer we got -- the answer
13 we got was it couldn ' t be stopped
14 because it ' s preserve farmland . I can ' t
15 believe it can ' t be stopped for the help
16 of the people .
17 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
18 Understood . Sir, I ' m just pointing to
19 point out that there ' s a record pending
20 before the Planning Board . The Planning
21 Board, I understand, held the matter
22 open for further comments , written
23 comments , and once the matter is closed,
24 the Planning Board will issue a
25 decision .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 JOHN REICHERT : And that ' s a
2 decision that ' s irrevocable?
3 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : You ' d
4 have to consult with your attorney .
5 There is an appeal time for the decision
6 as written .
7 JOHN REICHERT : What about eminent
8 domain? That can ' t be stopped with
9 eminent domain?
10 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : Sir,
11 if you ' d like to talk to me about the
12 application, I ' ll be happy to give you
13 my office number, we can talk during the
14 day .
15 JOHN REICHERT : Okay, thank you .
16 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : Thank
17 you .
18 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : If anybody
19 needs a seat , come to the front, and on
20 your left-hand side next to the podium,
21 there are seats .
22 SETH EGAN : Good evening . I ' m Seth
23 Egan . I ' m a Greenport resident . I ' ve
24 lived in Greenport for just over ten
25 years now . And myself and others , many
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 in this room tonight, and I ' m feeling
2 like most people in this room, are in
3 this room tonight to address
4 particularly what I ' m gonna speak on .
5 Myself and other people in the
6 community created a petition about a
7 week ago , and in that time, we ' ve
8 gathered right around 800 signatures to
9 address this topic in particular, and
10 I ' ll read the petition statement . We,
11 the undersigned, object the Federal
12 Immigration and Customs Enforcement
13 and other Federal agencies deploying
14 armed, masked, and otherwise
15 unidentifiable agents to Southold Town,
16 endangering and disrupting our
17 communities . We strongly urge and
18 expect the Southold Town Council and
19 police commissioners , as our
20 representatives , who are charged with
21 protecting and ensuring our
22 community ' s public safety, to issue a
23 public statement that only -- not only
24 condemns ICE actions , but commits to
25 enforcing -- enforcement of violations
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 of due process and constitutional
2 rights of all members of our community
3 in Southold Town . About a year ago, we
4 met in the Southold Rec Center to
5 hear what our town, particularly our
6 police department ' s role would be when
7 ICE agents showed up on the North
8 Fork . And I know I ' m not alone, and
9 obviously, with the amount of people
10 that have shown up tonight, that the
11 response that we got, we felt was
12 rather inadequate . I know that law
13 enforcement community sees itself as a
14 brotherhood . Cooperating locally and
15 federally . I get that, but now we are
16 here a year later, and things on a
17 national level , as well as , on Long
18 Island, have reached horrifying
19 proportions . People are being torn
20 apart from their families . Parents are
21 meeting with lawyers to make
22 arrangements for their children in case
23 they are taken . Kids are going to
24 school terrified that they ' ll come home ,
25 and mom and dad will be sent to a
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 detention center . Children are being
2 taken . People are dying in detention
3 centers from lack of medical assistance
4 and inhumane conditions right here on
5 Long Island . One, in September in
6 Nassau County, right in -- and then
7 also, I think Central Islip just got
8 sued for their treatment of the people
9 they are detaining . We have citizens
10 being murdered on the streets just for
11 showing up and voicing their concern for
12 their community . We have leaked inner
13 office memos between ICE field offices
14 showing agents are being encouraged to
15 violate Fourth Amendment rights of the
16 Constitution and enter homes with no
17 warrants . The range of violent
18 criminals taken off the street by ICE
19 agents varies between 5 to 8% of the
20 total number of people abducted . Based
21 on data from various independent
22 researchers . With all showing that 70%
23 or more of the people taken have no
24 criminal record . Immigration
25 violations are a civil -- they are a
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 civil violation . They are a civil
2 offense . Why do we need masked
3 gunmen to enforce it? I know it ' s hard
4 to not stand shoulder to shoulder with
5 your brothers in law enforcement, but I
6 would argue this is not law
7 enforcement . This is state sponsored
8 terrorism . And sadly, I know some of
9 you will shrug that off as an
10 exaggeration, but it ' s hard to deny what
11 most of us have seen with our own eyes .
12 I personally have accompanied
13 individuals trying to follow the legal
14 path to citizenship . Gone with people
15 to Hauppauge to get fingerprinted, and
16 ICE is waiting outside just to collect
17 brown people . This is racially
18 profiling . These are not rumors .
19 People like me are witnessing this on
20 the daily . There are violations of
21 people ' s civil rights , and it ' s just
22 morally wrong . And if the destructive
23 human or the cruelty made it out by ICE
24 agents doesn ' t move you, then I would
25 question your humanity . But we are here
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 today because we need to know, will you
2 protect and serve your community? And
3 will you stand on the wrong side of
4 history? Thank you . I won ' t take up
5 any more of your time . I know there ' s
6 others that also would like to speak on
7 this .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
9 you . Thank you for coming today .
10 JENNIFER BAPTIST : Hello . Good
11 evening . My name is Jennifer Baptist .
12 I ' m an Orient resident for about 30
13 years or so . And as a United States
14 citizen and Southold Town taxpayer, I
15 urge the Town Board, County Legislature ,
16 Chief Grattan, and the Southold Town
17 Police to uphold the rights of the
18 American people under the laws of our
19 great Constitution and Bill of Rights
20 from the indiscriminately lawless and
21 violent assaults of ICE here in Southold
22 Town . We have all witnessed the
23 brutality of ICE due to the courage of
24 peaceful protesters filming the actions
25 of ICE throughout our great nation, a
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 nation built by immigrants . We have all
2 seen the violent executions of
3 law-abiding citizens by ICE in the
4 streets of our American cities in
5 broad daylight without impunity . We
6 know of the inhumane treatment of any
7 human being unfortunate enough to be in
8 the path of this gang of armed and
9 untrained thugs , sanctioned by the
10 Federal government to commit injury and
11 murder without any apparent legal due
12 process . I appeal to your collective
13 sense of integrity and morality as
14 officials and public servants to uphold
15 the rights of our citizens and protect
16 us , all of us , from the onslaught of
17 ICE in our peaceful community . Thank
18 you .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
20 you .
21 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Thank
22 you .
23 VINCENT GUASTAMACCHIA : Good
24 evening and congratulations to our new
25 Board members , Councilwoman Suess and
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 Councilwoman Stevens .
2 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Thank you .
3 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Thank
4 you .
5 VINCENT GUASTAMACCHIA : I ' d like to
6 take this opportunity to one --
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We know
8 who --
9 VINCENT GUASTAMACCHIA : I ' m sorry,
10 Vincent Guastamacchia, Town of Southold
11 -- Southold Town . I would like to
12 further the -- I ' m a former law
13 enforcement, I ' m a retired NYPD
14 detective , and I am all for supporting
15 our community and standing with our
16 law-abiding community . Thank you . And
17 I ' d like to add my signature . All
18 right, I ' d like to take this opportunity
19 once again to place several
20 long-standing concerns on the public
21 record . Concerns I have raised
22 periodically over the last few years .
23 So that this new Board members can fully
24 understand the position it has inherited
25 and the urgency of addressing it .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 Vineyards and agriculture on the
2 North Fork are facing a convergence of
3 pressures that threaten long-term
4 viability . I ' ve referred to this as
5 grapes are becoming the new potato, a
6 once-defining crop slowly pushed out by
7 accumulative policy decisions rather
8 than a single event . There are three
9 primary issues converging on the
10 industry . First, the sliding overtime
11 threshold, moving from 60 hours to 40
12 hours over the next few years , which
13 disproportionately impacts labor,
14 intensive agriculture , and
15 dramatically increases costs for crops
16 that rely on seasonal labor . This means
17 we can ' t even compete with New Jersey
18 because this isn ' t happening in New
19 Jersey, let alone Argentina . So our
20 bottle -- our local product, would be at
21 the cost of production around $ 60 . 00 on
22 the shelf of a liquor store , whereas
23 New Jersey or even Argentina will be
24 about $35 . 00 , give or take . So you ' re
25 not paying for a better product,
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 20
1 you ' re paying for the exact same grape,
2 exact same vintage , only double the
3 price . We won ' t be able to compete .
4 The declining tourism is the next ,
5 not to mention the moratorium . But
6 sky-high land values in the area have
7 forced many farms and vineyards to
8 adopt a retail and hospitality model
9 simply to survive . However, visitation
10 is down, and when tourism softens ,
11 retail models fail . Removing a
12 critical offset to production costs .
13 The third, increasing pressure around
14 unionization and regulatory complexity .
15 It has been stated workers themselves
16 that are somewhat unhappy with their
17 current union representation do not
18 wish to pay union dues and understand
19 that unionization may result in fewer
20 available work opportunities . Despite
21 this , efforts continue to expand
22 unionization, even where the worker
23 sentiment has raised concerns . This
24 dynamic adds further instability to an
25 already fragile agricultural workforce
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 21
1 on top of ICE . This is what they have
2 to deal with . Now, if I didn ' t hear
3 this from them, I wouldn ' t even raise
4 the issue because I would probably think
5 they might want the sliding scale
6 because that was a union-raised issue .
7 And being a former union myself, there
8 are pros and cons . But if you don ' t want
9 it, I have to protect that community,
10 like I would protect them from ICE . The
11 issues must be viewed through an
12 economic lens , not solely through
13 complaints or individual preferences .
14 Town Board members are not just
15 policymakers . You are managers of our
16 town . The responsibility requires
17 considering what is economically
18 sustainable for the community as a
19 whole, not just responding to the
20 loudest voices or narrow interests . I
21 want to address recent matters raised at
22 the Agricultural Advisory Committee,
23 where Planning Board member Heather
24 Lanza outlined two agricultural
25 projects , one of which is the chicken
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 22
1 farm . The first involved the
2 subdivision in Orient, where lot
3 placement was entirely as of right, with
4 no variance of Special Exception
5 required . The property owner initially
6 placed the lot on less fertile land to
7 preserve the most productive acreage for
8 agriculture . I think that was very wise
9 decision . Precisely the outcome our
10 policies claim to support, yet the
11 placement appears to be facing
12 resistance . The second involves the
13 chicken farm seeking an agricultural
14 structure on land, where development
15 rights are sold . Now this is the same
16 thing for the vineyard, right? Property
17 rights are property rights . This should
18 have been a straightforward building
19 permit . Yet ambiguity in the
20 development right easement language
21 forced a farmer into a Planning Board
22 process , and ultimately a public
23 hearing . This is highly unusual for an
24 as-of-right agricultural structure and
25 placed unnecessary strain on both the
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 23
1 former and an already overworked town
2 staff . This highlights a broader issue .
3 The language and development right
4 easements must be clarified and
5 corrected . Farmers do not have the
6 time, resources , or capacity to navigate
7 discretionary processes for structures
8 that are otherwise permitted as of
9 right . It ' s an agricultural structure
10 on a bona fide farm . This should have
11 never went to a public hearing, and if
12 you didn ' t like it , you could have
13 bought the property . And that ' s what --
14 UNKNOWN SPEAKER : I ' ll argue -- I
15 am going to talk to the Board .
16 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : Sir,
17 I ' m going to ask you to direct your
18 comments .
19 VINCENT GUASTAMACCHIA : Yes , thank
20 you . I apologize . Our town employees
21 are already stretched thin . Creating
22 unnecessary hearings and procedural
23 hurdles helps no one and actively
24 undermines agriculture . If we truly
25 value agriculture, we must align our
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 24
1 policies , processes , and economics with
2 that goal . Not just in words , but in
3 practice . Thank you again for allowing
4 me for this statement to be entered into
5 the record . I have a couple of
6 questions . I ' d like to ask a clarifying
7 question for the record . Who empowers
8 the Planning Board to be this
9 restrictive over people ' s property
10 rights ? In conjunction with a hard to
11 navigate building department , they can ' t
12 both be without guidance from another
13 power . Authority coming from a specific
14 charter, is it? Is it a mandate from
15 the Town Board or other formal
16 directive? Understanding what --
17 understanding where that authority
18 originates is important because it has
19 real consequences for property owners ,
20 farmers and applicants navigating what
21 are otherwise as-of-right uses . So
22 could you answer that question?
23 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : This
24 is a public comment period only --
25 VINCENT GUASTAMACCHIA : It ' s no
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 25
1 questions --
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
3 you know, you can reach me . You know,
4 you can -- we can talk about this , but
5 not tonight . We want to be respectful
6 of everyone ' s time .
7 VINCENT GUASTAMACCHIA : I
8 appreciate everyone ' s time . Thank you
9 so much .
10 UNKNOWN FEMALE SPEAKER : Hi , I ' m
11 sorry, I have to leave . So I would just
12 like to say something before I leave . I
13 am a senior . I ' m 18 . I am part of the
14 ROTC program and I have to leave for
15 their award ceremony, but before I ' d
16 like to say, thank you for the people
17 who has come to speak up about the ICE .
18 I ' m an immigrant . I am planning on
19 attending Villanova University in this
20 Fall . I am joining the ROTC program,
21 and I plan on joining the United States
22 Navy after my four years . And I just
23 want to say, I ' m not an animal , I ' m not
24 an alien, and I am not a criminal . So,
25 I ask you to please, to the best of your
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 26
1 ability to protect my people , because
2 we ' re here to work . We are here to --
3 we ' re not here to take anything away
4 from you . We are here to work . And if
5 we could stay in our countries , we
6 would . We would, trust me, we totally
7 would . Our countries are beautiful
8 countries , but there are governments .
9 They ' re just way too corrupt . And if it
10 wasn ' t for the immigrants that are here ,
11 and send money back to our families , our
12 countries would be destroyed, it ' d be
13 over . So yes , I just want to say thank
14 you for the people who came here and
15 spoken about this topic, because it ' s
16 very sensitive . And obviously as an
17 immigrant, it ' s very scary to do this
18 type of things , because we put our lives
19 in risk . Yeah -- I just wanted to say
20 thank you, because it ' s very scary .
21 It ' s very scary to go to school and be
22 afraid when you come back, your parents
23 are not home anymore . And we are not
24 criminals . We are not aliens . We are
25 not animals , like we ' ve been referred as
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 27
1 by the President . So thank you so much
2 for everything you do . Thank you for
3 coming here . Thank you for listening to
4 us . And yes , thank you so much . Have a
5 great night .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
7 you for coming . Thank you very much .
8 SANDRA BENEDETTO : Hi . That ' s a
9 little bit of a hard act to follow .
10 Hello . Good evening, and thank you for
11 allowing me to speak with you here
12 tonight . My name is Sandra Benedetto .
13 I am a tax-paying Greenport homeowner
14 since 1999 . I too would like to
15 congratulate and welcome Councilwoman
16 Suess , Councilwoman Stevens to our
17 Board . And I ' d just like to add my
18 voice . I came before a slightly
19 different board last August to express
20 my concern about ICE raids in Southold
21 Town, in particular in my home ,
22 Greenport . At that time , we had
23 experienced two back-to-back raids . The
24 second was the most disturbing with
25 masked, armed, unidentified Federal
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 28
1 agents who were terrorizing my neighbors
2 and my friends and their children
3 outside of Greenport laundromat . I ' m
4 not gonna go into the details of what I
5 said to you then . It ' s a matter of
6 public record, and you could look back
7 at the minutes . But since August , we
8 have all witnessed an escalation in the
9 aggression from these Federal agents
10 culminating in senseless murders this
11 month of two young white U . S . citizens
12 in Minneapolis . A mother and a nurse,
13 who simply sought to protect their
14 friends and neighbors , and exercise
15 their First Amendment rights . They were
16 gunned down . But these raids have also
17 escalated in our own backyard . I don ' t
18 want us to think that this is so far and
19 divorced from us . In Riverhead, in
20 Flanders , in Hampton Bays , Islip,
21 Hauppauge , and further west, the level
22 of brutality and aggression that has
23 been documented in these neighboring
24 towns in ICE raids is escalating as
25 well . As I said in my August statement ,
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 29
1 it would be naive to think that our
2 local government and community could
3 stop ICE from returning to Southold .
4 They are clearly emboldened to do
5 whatever they want at this point . But
6 it would be equally naive for us to
7 think that they are not planning to come
8 back here or that there is nothing that
9 we can do or say about it . As a Town
10 Board, you can go on record . As many
11 municipalities across the country have
12 done, and make a public statement that
13 ICE is not needed, or wanted, or welcome
14 in Southold Town . As a police
15 commissioner, you can provide guidance
16 to our police department to ensure our
17 public safety and protect our community
18 members . I urge you to make such a
19 public statement as the governing body
20 representing all residents of Southold
21 Town . Thank you for your time . Thank
22 you .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
24 you .
25 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Thank you .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 30
1 SARAH PHILLIPS LOTH : Good evening .
2 Hi . My name is Sarah Phillips Loth, I ' m
3 a Greenport resident . I also am a
4 Greenport business owner . I ' ve sent
5 many of you an e-mail , so you already
6 know how I feel on this matter, but I ' m
7 going to reiterate a couple different
8 things here . I wanted to begin by
9 reading a brief excerpt of a message
10 sent to me this week by a friend who
11 lives in St . Paul , Minnesota . This is
12 not media, this is not AI . This is not
13 propaganda . This is a real person
14 describing what is happening in her
15 neighborhood . " I live in St . Paul two
16 blocks away from the governor ' s mansion,
17 and ICE has raided the restaurants in my
18 neighborhood . They park outside the
19 Spanish Emergent School a few blocks
20 from me . They wait outside churches .
21 They don ' t make us feel safer, they
22 scare us . We now use whistles to warn
23 people that ICE is in the vicinity . "
24 I ' m sharing this because what is
25 happening there does not stay there . It
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 31
1 travels , it arrives quietly until it
2 doesn ' t . I ' m a United States citizen .
3 I expect that when I walk out my front
4 door, my constitutional rights are
5 intact . Increasingly, they are not . We
6 are being asked to accept a reality
7 where due process is blurred, where fear
8 replaces trust, and where constitutional
9 protections are treated as conditional .
10 When the First Amendment is chilled,
11 when the Fourth Amendment is weakened,
12 when people are afraid of schools ,
13 churches , and workplaces , everyone ' s
14 rights are compromised . Not just the
15 rights of those being targeted first .
16 So my question to this Board and to our
17 local police and fire department
18 leadership is simple . Do you support
19 this erosion of rights ? Do you support
20 a community governed by fear rather than
21 law? Because I do not . And if those
22 entrusted to represent and protect this
23 town cannot clearly stand for
24 constitutional rights , transparency, and
25 the dignity of our neighbors , then I
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 32
1 cannot continue to support them in that
2 role . We live here together . We are
3 neighbors . We are a community . Excuse
4 me . And we should not allow outside
5 political forces driven by power and
6 profit to divide us from one another .
7 I ' m asking you to stand with us to
8 affirm our rights , to protect our
9 community, and to say clearly that fear
10 is not governance . Thank you .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
12 you .
13 JEREMY GARRETSON : I normally don ' t
14 do these things , but this is a cause I
15 care about . Good evening . My name is
16 Jeremy Garretson . I ' m a resident of
17 Town of Southold . I ' ve been that way
18 for about 25 years . It would be easy to
19 stand up here and speak broadly about
20 what we ' re seeing nationally, but I want
21 to keep my comments focused on what
22 we ' ve actually witnessed here on the
23 North Fork . On August 3rd, during an
24 immigration enforcement activity in the
25 Village of Greenport, I responded in my
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 33
1 professional capacity as a
2 photojournalist working for a local
3 publication . I exercised my First
4 Amendment right to document enforcement
5 activity from a safe lawful distance . I
6 did not interfere . I did not speak to
7 any agents . I was simply observing and
8 recording what was happening in my
9 community . Sorry . I ' m not a great
10 public speaker .
11 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : You ' re
12 okay .
13 JEREMY GARRETSON : Prior to my
14 arrival agents had already detained a
15 man who was with his two children .
16 Those two children were left standing in
17 a parking lot crying . That moment
18 raised immediate public safety concern
19 when children are left alone in the
20 public place , frightened and without a
21 parent present . Someone needs to be
22 clearly responsible for their safety .
23 As the operation continued, I observed a
24 mix of Federal agents from multiple
25 agencies . Some more clearly marked more
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 34
1 clearly . Marked FBI and ATF gear .
2 Others only wore generic identified --
3 generic identifiers reading Federal
4 agent with no agency name visible . When
5 the activity concluded, agents entered
6 vehicles and dispersed throughout the
7 Village . When I later got into my car
8 to leave, I was followed throughout
9 Greenport by an unmarked black Dodge
10 Charger with dark tinted windows . I
11 eventually pulled over to determine
12 whether they needed anything from me .
13 The vehicle stopped behind me . No one
14 exited after several minutes . It pulled
15 away . I want to be careful with my
16 language here . I cannot know their
17 intent . As a resident being followed by
18 an unmarked vehicle, with unknown
19 occupants , was both unsettling and
20 intimidating . Not long after while
21 documenting another enforcement stop on
22 5th Avenue , there are three agents on
23 scene . They had just knocked on a
24 residence door looking for somebody who
25 was not home . From what I had
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 35
1 witnessed, it appeared that the person
2 they were looking for was not there .
3 And that they immediately redirected
4 their attention to the next brown
5 skinned person they could find . There ' s
6 only a handful of us who witnessed this
7 and so everything you heard about
8 Greenport ' s ICE raid is through those
9 witnesses . There ' s three of us at one
10 point . The mayor being one of them .
11 One of the agents noticed me and began
12 taking photos on a cellphone in an era
13 when facial recognition and digital
14 surveillance are increasingly being used
15 being recorded by an unidentified law
16 enforcement officer, while engaged in a
17 protective First Amendment activity
18 raises serious civil liberties concerns .
19 Prior to prior to that moment , I had not
20 spoken to any officer . When I asked
21 which agency he represented and whether
22 he had a badge number, he laughed and
23 said, why would I tell you anything?
24 That moment matters because it
25 illustrates that armed individuals were
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 36
1 exercising authority in public spaces
2 without the transparency or
3 accountability that local law
4 enforcement is required to uphold . I
5 later attempted to it -- to obtain the
6 images or video taken to me through FOIL
7 requests even though even after
8 providing photographs of the agent,
9 time, location, the request was denied
10 because I cannot identify the agent
11 involved . There is no name , no badge,
12 no number, no agency identification, and
13 therefore no accountability . This is
14 not about immigration policy, it ' s about
15 constitutional rights . First Amendment
16 protects the right to observe and
17 document law enforcement activity . The
18 Fourth Amendment protects people from
19 unreasonable detention and intimidation .
20 Due process requires accountability when
21 government authorities is exercised .
22 When enforcement occurs without
23 identification or any mechanism for
24 civilian review, those protections exist
25 only in theory . So my question to the
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 37
1 Town Board and the Chief, if a resident
2 is followed by an unmarked vehicle and
3 feels unsafe , should they call the
4 police? If residents encounter armed
5 individuals in tactical gear who do not
6 clearly identify themselves as law
7 enforcement, should they call the
8 police? If traffic is blocked or a
9 situation feels dangerous or unclear,
10 should they call the police? If
11 children are left crying in a public
12 place after their parent had been taken
13 away, should they call the police? If
14 someone witnesses blatant disregard for
15 the Constitution, the same Constitution
16 that you all took an oath to uphold,
17 should they call the police? Right now,
18 people do not know . If the answer is
19 always call the police, then that should
20 be clearly stated . If the answer is
21 sometimes do not call the police, then
22 residents deserve to know when and why .
23 And if local law enforcement has no role
24 in all in the matter of public safety
25 during Federal operations , then that too
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 38
1 should be made plainly clear . People
2 are not asking the Town to interfere
3 with Federal authority . They are asking
4 who is responsible for public safety
5 when something frightening or confusing
6 is happening in our community . Clear
7 guidance would reduce fear, prevent
8 misunderstanding, and protect both
9 residents and officers . There is a lot
10 of strain right now between the public
11 and government . My hope is that
12 Southold can be a place for trusts
13 reinforced, not eroded . A clear public
14 statement from this Town be a meaningful
15 first step . Thank you .
16 DINNI GORDON : Good evening .
17 Welcome to the new council members . I ' m
18 Dinni Gordon . I live in Greenport . I
19 want to speak about something very, very
20 close to me personally . I have been for
21 at least a decade teaching individual
22 classes in English to young eager
23 immigrants . And mostly they have --
24 until very recently, they have been so
25 -- they have felt so welcomed here in
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 39
1 the country, in the state, in this town .
2 And they often say that they feel that
3 it is so peaceful here compared to where
4 they were in El Salvador for instance,
5 and to the disruptions , the corruption
6 that they had in their prior lives . Now
7 they don ' t feel that it is peaceful here
8 and I don ' t know whether a statement of
9 the sort that Jeremy is talking about
10 would make a big difference , but I can
11 tell you that news travels very fast in
12 the immigrant community . And actually
13 in general , it ' s pretty accurate when I
14 get reports of what people are hearing .
15 And the fears that people experience , I
16 think could be in some small way
17 addressed, if there were a strong public
18 statement . Public and specific about
19 the kinds of protection that police
20 would provide . I think it could make a
21 difference . It would be marginal of
22 course , but I think as you ' re -- in your
23 role as police commissioners , as well
24 as , your role as council members , it is
25 really incumbent on you to think
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 40
1 seriously about this and assure all the
2 rest of us also that you care enough to
3 make the police department a force for
4 positive public safety activities that
5 will protect our immigrants . Thank you
6 very much .
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
8 you .
9 KRISTIE LUTZ : Hi , my name is
10 Kristie Lutz . I ' m a Greenport resident
11 for the last 10 years . I wasn ' t
12 actually planning on speaking, but I
13 feel compelled to say something because
14 I ' m -- I ' m a member of the Greenport
15 Fire Department . I ' m a firefighter and
16 an EMT . And I ' ve seen firsthand our
17 police force , who I think really care
18 about our community, and that has made
19 me feel really comfortable being a
20 member of the department . One of the
21 reasons I moved here is because of the
22 strong sense of community that exists
23 here and the peaceful nature of this
24 community, as Dinni mentioned . And I
25 would just love to see those things
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 41
1 preserved in this community . And if you
2 were to make a statement like the ones
3 that have been described here tonight, I
4 think it would go a really long way to
5 just ensuring that that community
6 strengthens and that people feel safe
7 and that the peacefulness that we
8 experience here continues . And I would
9 like to also see that -- I would like to
10 ensure that the fire department that I
11 serve, that I volunteer with, isn ' t used
12 as a staging ground for ICE operations ,
13 and that ' s really important to me as
14 well . So I just wanted to say those
15 things , and thank you so much for
16 listening .
17 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Thank you
18 for your service .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
20 you for volunteering for your community .
21 ELLEN NEFF : Ellen Neff, long-time
22 resident of Greenport in Southold Town .
23 Now, in your role as police
24 commissioners -- and welcome to all the
25 new members . Thank you for your service
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 42
1 as firefighter . The opportunity that
2 you have to make any kind of statement
3 over time , not just tonight, but
4 ongoing, is hugely important . What I
5 know is the agitation I feel , just about
6 the things that come up in my life . But
7 when I think of my friends and
8 neighbors , and the constant agitation,
9 that does not make them better parents ,
10 members of communion, or drivers .
11 That ' s where this impacts public safety .
12 Everyone who is endangered, if they can
13 be reassured, it makes them stabilize,
14 and things are not stable now . At any
15 statement for people ' s rights , and
16 upholding, over time, their rights , and
17 working for better status of the
18 situation in our country, which we
19 cannot do in a minute , but over time , to
20 keep our commitment clear that that ' s
21 for the safety of all of us .
22 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
23 you .
24 DEANNA MOSCOSO : Hi , everybody . My
25 name is Deanna Moscoso . I ' m a
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 43
1 first-generation American . I live in
2 East Marion . I ' m a taxpayer, homeowner .
3 And I just want to use my voice as for
4 those who cannot speak or to afraid to .
5 I am a daughter of immigrants . I do
6 consider myself an Ecuadorian-American .
7 I was raised that way to be proud of
8 both . The country that saw my parents
9 be born and raised them, and be part of
10 being American . But what has been
11 happening lately is scary for not only
12 my family, because we have immigrants in
13 our family as well , but for the family
14 of the people I serve . I ' m a civil
15 servant too . And having kids ask me ,
16 "Ms . D, what happens if I go home and my
17 parents are not there? Or what happens
18 if I see a cop, should I hide? " Cops
19 are supposed to serve and protect . But
20 how do I explain to them that they ' re
21 serving and protecting them too ? I
22 assure them that they shouldn ' t be
23 afraid to look for them for protection
24 because that ' s what they ' re there for .
25 It was hard like raising my kids and
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 44
1 explaining to them that, you know, one
2 day they might not be able to see
3 somebody they really love because they
4 could be sent somewhere else . I just
5 would like to not empower you, but kind
6 of like, ask you to please support our
7 people . As a mom, as an immigrant, as a
8 civil servant, to be able to actually
9 know that I could guide all the kids
10 that I serve , and all their families to
11 know that they ' re safe here . That they
12 shouldn ' t be afraid because they left
13 everything that they were afraid of back
14 in their country . They came because
15 they couldn ' t feed their families . They
16 came because they wanted a better life
17 for their kids . And their kids , or they
18 know, is here . Their families left
19 everything they loved behind . And so
20 their families and who they are going to
21 become -- I ' m sorry, I wasn ' t prepared
22 to talk today . I just want a peace of
23 mind . A kid shouldn ' t be worried about
24 what will happen to their families . A
25 kid should be worried about learning,
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 45
1 about what they want to be in the
2 future , and be assured that they ' re
3 going to have their families with them
4 to applaud them and to encourage them .
5 And that ' s it .
6 DON BRACKEN : Hi . My name is Don
7 Bracken, and I ' m a resident of Jasmine
8 Lane . I realize this Board is not in
9 charge of the plans for the farm,
10 however I do think that it ' s important
11 that you guys be aware that the way that
12 Jasmine Lane came about was because of
13 Town planning 45 years ago . That
14 Affordable Housing was an important
15 thing, and so therefore -- well , let ' s
16 go back even further . And this is a
17 failure of the Town overall . For years ,
18 I ' ve heard about the idea of open space
19 and hamlet and it was never officially
20 adopted and therefore people have been
21 buying develop selling development
22 rights in the hamlet . Not allowing for
23 the density of the hamlet to happen .
24 Let ' s go -- let ' s go forward . Now, when
25 Jasmine Lane was built, it was built on
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 46
1 an abandoned farm . And that farmland
2 was no good because it was full of giant
3 boulders and clay and loam . And not
4 really farmable . As a matter of fact,
5 nobody ever put temeke (phonetic) on
6 that ground because they couldn ' t grow
7 potatoes there . The Town in this wisdom
8 had done Affordable Housing in several
9 other places , including High Point
10 Meadows and Cedar Fields . My father
11 built Cedar Fields , and I put the houses
12 up there , and then he managed Southold
13 Villas , which is Jasmine Lane . When
14 that map was filed, it was on AC
15 property that was brought to a different
16 level . Brought so that we could have
17 the density for Affordable Housing . And
18 it was done actually in two sections .
19 The first section was for Affordable
20 Housing, and originally, the second
21 subdivision was gonna be for
22 condominiums , multi-family use . But
23 because at that time, condominiums were
24 not selling out here . We worked a place
25 with the wineries and the food . The
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 47
1 developer that we were working for
2 decided to -- and also their grant money
3 was available for more Affordable
4 Housing . The second section was built
5 for Affordable Housing . Now if -- the
6 property surrounding us was AC . AC was
7 Residential Agricultural . The property
8 who our west, was trying to be sold for
9 years . And finally, Tom Yule , who owned
10 that property under the corporation
11 name, came to the town for a map . They
12 used the density . They extended off the
13 road, which was on the lower part of our
14 development, Blossom Court . They gave
15 them four lots there and another lot up
16 top, and then preserved the rest of the
17 land based on R-80 and R-120 . So it
18 made sense . Jasmine Lane, even though
19 it ' s a cul-de-sac at the top, the file
20 map shows it as right to that property
21 edge . Okay . The idea was that possibly
22 more Affordable Housing could have
23 happened there, or at least residential
24 could have happened there . That didn ' t
25 happen . When the Planning Board bought
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 48
1 the rights to that property, that ' s now
2 the chicken farm, they didn ' t take into
3 consideration a few things . One is that
4 Jasmine Lane does abut it, and therefore
5 is a legal road to that property, which
6 is great in some ways , but not . The
7 roads were built narrow to save money so
8 that we could have Affordable Housing .
9 It ' s not meant for commercial traffic in
10 any way . Even though this particular
11 farmer wants to put the barn right at
12 the edge of that road, he ' s gonna take
13 access from Ackerly, but there ' s nothing
14 to stop another farmer from doing
15 Jasmine Lane as a main thoroughfare, or
16 for this barn to be expanded later on .
17 Secondly, the water that we have in our
18 neighborhood, according to the Water
19 Authority, will be adequate for what
20 this particular farm wants to use it
21 for, which is washing eggs , 1 , 000
22 gallons a day . We have low water
23 pressure during the Summer, and now
24 we ' re gonna add that on, and that might
25 work fine . But if another farmer comes
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 49
1 in and now uses town water to irrigate,
2 we ' re gonna have issues . So , yes ,
3 people think that we ' re against farming,
4 that ' s not true . It ' s just wise use of
5 the land for the farm itself . It does
6 have two frontages because of the road
7 that we ' re on, and Ackerly Pond . We ' re
8 asking just so that we can coexist . And
9 hopefully the Town is gonna take that
10 into account with the planning . I just
11 would like to say that, once again,
12 history was never taken into account .
13 And it ' s sad because what happened with
14 Southold Village was great for this
15 town . First , people who got a shot at
16 having a house there, were people that
17 lived here . Second were people who
18 worked here . And after that was done
19 for qualified people, it was open to
20 other people . Most people stayed . Most
21 people are fire -- we have firemen . We
22 have people who work in the town here .
23 It served this purpose . I have to
24 express this for the Facebook crowd, the
25 things that were just nuts . We ' re not
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 50
1 millionaires in million dollar houses
2 that are fighting a farm because we ' re
3 against farming . We just wanna be able
4 to live in our neighborhood without
5 having health concerns . And we
6 expressed this to the Planning Board .
7 I ' m praying that they actually take some
8 of it into account . Yes , they did have
9 to submit to the Planning Board, just
10 like the wineries have to do if they ' re
11 going to do expansion and all the rest .
12 I ' m hoping that the process works right .
13 I know we cannot stop the farm by the
14 farm law . I ' m not some crazy person
15 that thinks I ' m going to yell and scream
16 and we ' re going to stop it . I ' m just
17 hoping that wisdom can be used and how
18 it ' s going to be done . Thank you so
19 much . Have a great night .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
21 you, Don . I ' m glad -- personally, I ' m
22 glad you were there and raised the
23 family there .
24 LESLIE HERLIN : Hi , I ' m Leslie ,
25 Leslie Herlin . I hand wrote my
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 51
1 statement, so I ' m hoping I can read my
2 writing . My name is Leslie Herlin, and
3 I am the owner of Jasmine Lane property
4 along with my husband . My father, John
5 Reichert , his wife , they live there .
6 And many have said that because we are
7 objecting to this plan, the proposed
8 operation, that we are opposed to
9 farming and farm families . That ' s the
10 furthest thing from the truth . We
11 support farm families , but we ' re
12 families too , and we want to succeed
13 too, and we have already proven that .
14 What myself and my neighbors -- what
15 myself and my neighbors oppose to, is
16 the total disregard by Mr . Callahan, who
17 owns 2340 Ackerly Pond, LLC . Total
18 disregard for his neighbors . He has 16
19 acres to choose from . He chose the spot
20 closest to the adjacent residential
21 community . The 2100 square foot
22 activity building is where most of the
23 intense part of his operation will be .
24 There will be rats , mice , flies ,
25 airborne disease, manure compost, feed,
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 52
1 all that comes with it . All that comes
2 with an operation of this scale and
3 magnitude , and it ' ll be right at our
4 doorsteps . Just 60 feet away from the
5 property line . I don ' t know about you,
6 but I don ' t think that ' s good for
7 anyone . With 16 acres to choose from,
8 he chose that spot . He had a choice .
9 He chose that spot to protect his
10 finances and protect his clean air . And
11 his serenity, while sacrificing us to
12 it . Sacrificing our peace and serenity
13 in clean air, and subjecting us to all
14 that comes with that building being so
15 close . To all the harmful negative
16 effects . This isn ' t just a mistake, it
17 was a clear choice . This will affect
18 our property values , our health and our
19 well-being . Our property values will
20 plummet, for most of us , our future .
21 Our futures are directly tied to our
22 homes . Our clean air will be polluted,
23 our water supply strained, our waterways
24 contaminated . Our peace and serenity
25 that we have come to enjoy will be
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 53
1 diminished . Right at our doorsteps will
2 be air pollution, noise pollution, water
3 pollution, light pollution . This isn ' t
4 a maybe, it will happen . With all this
5 being said, how could a project of this
6 scale just be rushed through the process
7 without full transparency and sufficient
8 time for the public to give it the
9 scrutiny it demands ? To say that this
10 operation and the site plan is
11 compatible is an understatement, and no
12 one at this initial process gave Mr .
13 Callahan any pause as far as it looks .
14 With an operation of this scale , it ' s
15 not suitable to put so much pressure on
16 the nearby residents . One would think
17 there would have been some pushback, but
18 that didn ' t happen . Not even when they
19 saw the plan with the 2100 square foot
20 farm operation building right outside
21 the community ' s doorstep . And instead,
22 I received a Notice of Hearing, which is
23 10 days to prepare . And here we are
24 today . Still trying -- still trying to
25 wrap our minds around it . With all of
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 54
1 the 16 acres , you would think someone
2 would have suggested to the owner, scale
3 down his operation to mere hundreds
4 being so close . To move his operation
5 building to Ackerly Pond by the railroad
6 tracks . To give more than the maximum
7 amount of setbacks instead of tens of
8 feet, hundreds . That ' s what a good plan
9 would have included . And to offer the
10 option of a different site completely .
11 I believe they know this is a bad plan
12 for our community, and I believe it was
13 fast-tracked due to that from
14 presubmission straight to a public
15 hearing . Did anyone know about this
16 plan? I certainly didn ' t and my -- my
17 neighbors didn ' t . And the bottom line
18 is Mr . Callahan has 16 acres to choose
19 from . We don ' t have 16 acres . We can ' t
20 move our homes . We are a diverse
21 community . Many families live here and
22 there are many who are vulnerable and
23 predisposed to illness just simply
24 because of their age . Not to mention
25 the many who are already battling
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 55
1 illnesses young and old . So I ' m here
2 tonight, along with my family, my
3 friends , and my neighbors , to let you
4 and the public be aware of how this is
5 affecting us . And with all the odor
6 downwind from the farm through Jasmine
7 Lane, we will all be affected by it .
8 You ' ll come down the roadway into town
9 and as soon as you think and say to
10 yourself, how beautiful is this town?
11 When you come to the gateway, to the
12 heart of Southold, you ' ll have a smell .
13 And that smell will hit you, and that ' ll
14 be welcome to Southold . Thank you .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
16 you for coming .
17 RODNEY HERLIN : Good evening . My
18 name is Rodney Herlin . For the record,
19 I ' ve e-mailed a copy of this to the
20 Planning Board, Town Board, and to the
21 Supervisor . My name is Rodney Herlin .
22 I ' m a resident of Southold and my wife
23 and I are the owners of 1450 Jasmine
24 Lane, home currently occupied by my
25 father-in-law, who you ' ve heard from,
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 56
1 excuse me . I believe the proposed
2 chicken and egg farm that to be opened
3 in the adjacent lot to ours is being
4 done in a matter that is questionable at
5 best . The speed at which this proposal
6 has moved from the process and the fact
7 that some town officials are downplaying
8 it as just a father and son operation,
9 not a big deal , should be questioned . A
10 6 , 000 to 12 , 000 hen egg production
11 facility is no small family operation,
12 no small task . This is a big deal . How
13 many trucks for the feed? Trucks for
14 deliveries ? Cartons for the storage?
15 Washing of the eggs , waste products ,
16 dead birds naturally occurring on the
17 property and manure storage and
18 disposal ? It ' s going to be at least a
19 12 hour a day, 7 day a week operation .
20 It could be 24 hours , if there are that
21 many eggs . Some of these hens may lay
22 twice a day . Do you know how much
23 manpower that will take to operate a
24 production of that scale of magnitude?
25 And all of it next to neighboring home
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 57
1 development, it ' s immense . It will
2 disrupt the neighborhood and the lives
3 of those living there in ways we can ' t
4 even begin to imagine . Not to mention
5 the documented negative health
6 implications . I think there is a time
7 and a place for this operation . It ' s
8 just not on Jasmine Lane and Ackerly
9 Pond . How is it possible that this got
10 all the way through from conception to
11 public hearing without being heavily
12 scrutinized? We are not against farming
13 or the right-to-farm, but I believe that
14 this is an industrial application, which
15 seems to have fallen through the cracks
16 into the right-to-farm category . Having
17 grown up in a family that had a farm on
18 the South Fork, we had chickens , pigs ,
19 steers , ducks , and gardens for my family
20 to live off of . That was how I grew up .
21 And that was our family farm for
22 consumption . We didn ' t do it to sell .
23 The only thing my mother went to the
24 grocery store back in those days was for
25 milk, bread, and snacks for us kids .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 58
1 Let me tell you, out of all the farm
2 animals we had, the worst smelling was
3 the chicken coop . And we only had about
4 25 to 30 birds . So this particular
5 chicken brings rats , mice, flies , fox,
6 and other predators , raccoons . I said,
7 the proposed operation is of an
8 industrial caliber in my eyes , and I
9 think needs to be re-imagined or denied
10 in its current proposed location . As
11 you have heard from many others in our
12 neighborhood that there are those among
13 us in the community with compromised
14 immune systems and underlying health
15 issues , which all will be in jeopardy if
16 this goes through . The community that
17 built in Jasmine Lane are the working
18 class of Southold . They moved into the
19 Affordable Housing with the help of the
20 town through HUD and to live , to raise
21 their families , and to produce in the
22 hamlet of Southold . It ' s a good crop
23 with a high yield . Many of them with
24 their futures tied to their homes for
25 retirement . This proposed project will
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 59
1 destroy their property values and their
2 quality of life . I know you ' ve heard
3 that before . I ' m just reiterating it .
4 These homes are owned by the people who
5 are the backbone of this community . The
6 proposed operation has the stench of
7 crescent duck farm all over it, and it
8 hasn ' t even started yet . They say they
9 want to be good neighbors , I believe
10 that ' s just a lie . They know full well
11 what kind of operation that this is , and
12 they have no consideration or regard for
13 the families who live there or else they
14 would have chosen a different location .
15 I believe they don ' t care what it does
16 for the surrounding community because
17 they they ' re not from here or do they
18 have -- or have any ties to this
19 community . It ' s in my opinion that the
20 Town needs to take into account the size
21 and scale of the operation and how it
22 will destroy the neighboring development
23 and community . Also we are requesting a
24 full SEQRA review that is needed before
25 anything else happens . The residents
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 60
1 need to know that there will be full
2 transparency along the way of the
3 planning process . Thank you .
4 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
5 you .
6 UNKNOWN MALE SPEAKER : Welcome the
7 new Board members , Alexa and Kate , and
8 on the customs , I am to speak before
9 such an illustrious group . But I do
10 want to urge us to support this petition
11 that ' s been circulated . And put out a
12 good statement, a strong statement
13 against ICE . Because to me , they ' re not
14 just a bunch of thugs dressed up in the
15 uniform . So it kind of reminds me, if
16 you dig in the history of the Irish
17 history back in 1920 . When the British
18 entered the prisons and put a uniform on
19 the prisoners and sent them over to
20 Ireland, they were called the Black and
21 Tans . And these guys in Minnesota don ' t
22 seem any great difference to me . So I
23 urge you, it takes all small towns
24 across America to stand up against this
25 stuff . And I urge you to support this
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 61
1 petition . Because it just -- it has to
2 -- the small towns in America have to
3 stand up for what ' s right and decent ,
4 and that we might lose this grant or we
5 might lose that grant . We just gotta
6 get some -- back to value system here .
7 And our values have been trampled up .
8 So we have to stand up with the public
9 and take a stand on it . It was -- thank
10 you for that . But one other thing was
11 the -- I ' ve been an unabashed supporter
12 of overtime for farm workers for a long
13 time . And it worked it out, the
14 governor worked it out, that ' s the task
15 credits , most of the task credits the
16 farmers are going to pay for this
17 overtime . And it won ' t reach 40 hours a
18 week until 1934 , the full team comes
19 around . So, you know, the overtime for
20 farm workers shouldn ' t be seen as a
21 negative . And the other thing was , I
22 was wondering if you had -- that truck
23 you ' re buying, if it was coming off the
24 State bid or the County bid?
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 62
1 believe it is off the State contract .
2 UNKNOWN MALE SPEAKER : Okay . Thank
3 you . Yeah, so again, I urge you to
4 support the petition . Thank you .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
6 you .
7 SAMANTHA PAYNE-MARKEL : My name is
8 Samantha Payne-Markel , and I will be
9 brief . I was born in Riverhead -- no,
10 I ' m just kidding . I ' m a lifelong born
11 and raised here . I ' ve been here since
12 1987 . This is my community . And I ' ve
13 worked in hospitality my entire life .
14 And I have met the hardest working
15 people , the best people, the kindest
16 people , all of whom have worked in
17 kitchens of restaurants that you go to .
18 And I just need to be clear that --
19 actually, if anyone here who ' s here
20 about this issue today, could stand up
21 for a moment . We ' re not going anywhere .
22 And this is not a statement that we ' re
23 asking for, like take -- think it over .
24 Take your time . Like by the end of the
25 week would be nice because honestly why
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 63
1 haven ' t you done this yet? Why do we
2 have to even ask you? Like this is a
3 horrific time in life and it ' s
4 terrifying . And my community members
5 your community members whether they ' re
6 here legally or illegally, they are
7 human beings and they ' re terrified .
8 Petition is not going away . We want a
9 statement and we want it clear . Do not
10 put out some fluffy statement that makes
11 everybody happy . Okay . I ' d like to
12 submit these signatures . This is also
13 not going to stop . We will continue
14 collecting them .
15 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Thank
16 you .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
18 you .
19 SANDRA KOLLEN : Hello . Good
20 evening Southold Town Board members .
21 Thank you for allowing me to speak
22 tonight . My name is Sandra Kollen, and
23 I live at 1455 Jasmine Lane . I ' ll be
24 sharing a property line with the
25 proposed 6 , 000 chicken commercial egg
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 64
1 laying operation . This commercial
2 business is planned for agricultural
3 land that is surrounded by residential
4 homes . Since I ' ve heard of this project
5 a week before the January 12th hearing,
6 I have been filled with angst . I am not
7 sleeping and I ' m consumed thinking about
8 what ' s to be right next door to me .
9 I ' ve lived here my whole life since 1969
10 and have supported our farmers and
11 agriculture as a way of life . So I want
12 to be clear and say that this is not an
13 opposition to farming . Agriculture is
14 an important part of Southold Town .
15 However not all agricultural uses are
16 the same and not all agricultural land
17 is appropriate for industrial scale
18 operations . Especially when it is
19 located within a residential area .
20 While the parcel may be zoned
21 agricultural , the reality is that
22 families live nearby, children play
23 outside . People expect to enjoy their
24 homes without constant noise, odors , and
25 heavy traffic . Land use regulations
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 65
1 such as zoning maps , density
2 requirements , land use, and setbacks
3 must be evaluated based on their
4 practical daily effect on people,
5 infrastructure, and community equity
6 rather than just abstract legal or
7 technical rules . A 6 , 000 hen laying egg
8 laying operation is not a small or
9 traditional farm as it is a commercial
10 business with industrial level impacts .
11 These include persistent odors from
12 manure , increased flies and rodents , and
13 noise from both the birds and the
14 equipment used to maintain the
15 operation . These impacts do not respect
16 property lines , and once they exist,
17 neighbors have no meaningful way to
18 escape them . There are also serious
19 environmental and public health
20 concerns . Concentrating thousands of
21 animals in one location means
22 concentrating waste . That raises
23 questions about groundwater protection,
24 runoff, air quality, and long-term
25 environmental stewardship . I ' m
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 66
1 requesting a substantial buffer be
2 implemented of 100 feet or more . This
3 landowner wants to use Suffolk County
4 Water from Jasmine Lane . He claims to
5 only need 1 , 000 gallons per day for
6 6 , 000 chickens . In the heat, which is
7 June through September, they need 1 , 500
8 gallons of water per day, and that ' s
9 just the chickens . 1 , 000 gallons per
10 doesn ' t account for employee and
11 customer usage, commercial egg cleaning
12 machines , sprinklers , et cetera . This
13 operation will surpass 2 , 000 gallons per
14 day . Traffic is another concern . A
15 commercial egg operation requires
16 frequent feed deliveries , egg and
17 chicken transport, waste removal ,
18 service, employee, and customer
19 vehicles . Ackerly Pond Lane was not
20 designed to handle this sort of heavy
21 load traffic on a residential street ,
22 not to mention the safety of the
23 railroad bridge dating back to the early
24 1900 ' s . I am also deeply concerned about
25 potential access to this property from
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 67
1 Jasmine Lane . Again, we will be sharing
2 a property line . Property values and
3 homeowner expectations must also be
4 considered . Many residents choose to
5 live here believing that while nearby
6 land might be agricultural , it would be
7 used in a way compatible with
8 residential life . Allowing an
9 industrial scale livestock operation in
10 the middle of a residential area
11 undermines that expectation . I work 11
12 hours a days , 7 days a week . I finally
13 was able to buy my own home for me and
14 my kids after many years of not knowing
15 where we were going to go . Although a
16 monthly struggle to pay my mortgage, I
17 finally felt secure, but now I do not .
18 This house is all I have and now I worry
19 its value will plummet, offering me no
20 financial retirement . This decision is
21 not just about whether agriculture is
22 permitted on this parcel , it ' s about
23 whether the specific use at this
24 specific scale is appropriate in this
25 specific location . The Town Board has a
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 68
1 responsibility to balance agricultural
2 interests with the health, safety, and
3 quality of life of residents . In this
4 case, that balance is not being met . I
5 respectfully urge the Board to deny
6 approval of this proposal or at the very
7 least require that an operation of this
8 scale be scrutinized by a SEQRA review .
9 Our concerns should be considered before
10 moving forward for our health, the
11 building location, substantial buffers ,
12 groundwater, and Jasmine Lane access ,
13 just to name a few . Protecting
14 residents while supporting responsible
15 land use is exactly why Planning and
16 Zoning authority exists . If it ' s okay,
17 I would like to give you a copy of my
18 letter that I sent to the Planning
19 Board . Thank you for your time, your
20 consideration, and for listening to the
21 concerns of the community you serve .
22 Thank you .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : -- No,
24 just let everyone else get a chance
25 first . Thanks .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 69
1 MARK ZABLOTNY : Good evening . My
2 name is Mark Zablotny . I am also a
3 Jasmine Lane resident . I live next door
4 to Sandy, so I am one house removed from
5 the property line . So I ' m not going to
6 repeat everything that you ' ve heard
7 already . Obviously, you know we have a
8 ton of concerns as full-time local
9 residents that basically fight to
10 survive out here, as we all know . We
11 feel that we ' re being disregarded --
12 completely disregarded by the people
13 that should be representing our
14 interests . Not the interests of an
15 out-of-town business owner with a great
16 idea . So all that being said, I also
17 want to mention I ' m a Senior Director of
18 cyber security at Wells Fargo , and I can
19 assure you I understand the stresses you
20 guys have gone through recently with the
21 IT issues that you ' ve had for the town .
22 I actually can ' t get documents to
23 understand what the plans are . They ' re
24 not available for me to go get
25 digitally . So that ' s been a struggle
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 70
1 for me . So I have a few questions . I
2 am one of those people that ' s been
3 referenced . My 8-year-old son has
4 asthma . So he ' s going to live , you
5 know -- again, one house removed from
6 this industrial farm operation . Has
7 SEQRA been triggered? And I understand
8 you said we can ' t ask questions , but I
9 like that on the record . I demand that
10 it be triggered and a full review done .
11 I would like to see the EIS ,
12 Environmental Impact Statement . And I
13 will also be very closely monitoring
14 that and then depending on the decision,
15 will consult my attorney for Article 78
16 to be triggered within four months ,
17 right, which is the timing that I know
18 we need . Beyond my personal family
19 experience here -- I also just want to
20 know one more thing to make sure that
21 we ' re all clear about this community .
22 30 school-aged children live in this
23 neighborhood, 30 . Small town, right?
24 Southold School District, 5% of the
25 total student population in our Southold
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 71
1 School District lives in this
2 neighborhood . And we are considering
3 allowing this operation to be spewing
4 air and dangerous chemicals water issues
5 -- again, I ' m not gonna go through all
6 that you ' ve already heard it . We are --
7 We are actually considering allowing
8 this ? If you guys allow this to happen,
9 it is a very clear statement that you do
10 not support the full-time local
11 residents of this community . Thank you .
12 BETSY GERTZ : Good evening . I ' m
13 Betsy Gertz . I ' m a Greenport resident
14 and I ' m here for two reasons tonight .
15 One is in support of the petition that ' s
16 been passed around, urging the Board to
17 make a statement . And in support of the
18 people who have spoken before me, who I
19 must say I have spoken with great
20 restraint . I feel like we are being
21 bombarded daily with one more outrageous
22 incident of illegal abuse of tactics and
23 that this is not a time for the Board to
24 be restrained . So I -- I do urge you to
25 make a quick decision to do something to
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 72
1 take some action to let our community
2 know that you are here to support and
3 protect us . Secondly though, I ' m here
4 as a member of the Greenport Village
5 Affordable Housing Community to comment
6 on a matter that was presented at your
7 work session this morning, the pro
8 housing community designation . The
9 Greenport Village Housing Committee is
10 tasked with exploring, studying,
11 recommending actions to take to increase
12 housing in our community . The pro
13 Housing Community Program was
14 implemented by Governor Hochul in 2023
15 in response to the well-recognized
16 housing crisis throughout the state .
17 Its goal is as you heard this morning to
18 create more housing to -- of all kinds
19 and to incentivize and reward
20 communities , who are willing to make a
21 commitment to exploring and increasing
22 the housing in their areas . Becoming a
23 certified pro-housing community entitles
24 the community to certain benefits .
25 Namely grants and funding from state
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 73
1 agencies . The program is new, 2023 . So
2 the number of programs that have been
3 providing funding has not been enormous
4 so far, but each year the monetary funds
5 are being increased . So right now there
6 are millions and millions of dollars
7 available to certified pro-housing
8 communities . There is not a lot of
9 downside to becoming a pro-housing
10 community . And as you heard this
11 morning, there are several paths to
12 getting that certification . A letter of
13 intent is the first thing you have to
14 do . It ' s a simple process . Secondly,
15 you have to show either that you ' ve had
16 a certain increase in housing stock .
17 Over the one year or three years or --
18 and this is the part that seems most
19 relevant here, or you pass a resolution
20 that indicates you are committed to
21 increasing housing in the area . That
22 resolution has been passed by the
23 Village of Greenport . It also has been
24 passed by every other town on the East
25 End . East Hampton Town and the Village
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 74
1 of Sag Harbor are already certified as
2 pro-housing communities . The Town of
3 Southampton, the Village of East
4 Hampton, and Shelter Island and Village
5 of Greenport have all applied for this
6 certification . In addition, almost
7 every other town in Suffolk County has
8 it . Brookhaven, Riverhead . Smithtown
9 is applied, Islip, Babylon . I think the
10 only one that hasn ' t that I know of is
11 Huntington . So it ' s widespread and
12 recognized to be beneficial and not
13 intrusive into the towns themselves . I
14 wanted in particular to talk about the
15 resolution because it is significant for
16 several reasons . The significance is
17 not only that it makes a clear explicit
18 statement that you are committed to
19 improving and increasing housing, but it
20 obviates the need to show that you have
21 in fact any housing growth, and that
22 raises a concern I noticed this morning
23 by several members , that you can still
24 get the benefits of being certified even
25 if you ' re not growing, which seems odd,
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 75
1 but that ' s the case . If you are making
2 this commitment to try to see what you
3 can do . Now the growth numbers , I think
4 they ' re asking you to show 1% for one
5 year, 3% for three years . None of the
6 other towns on the East End have met
7 those goals . The certified ones are the
8 ones who have applied . So it ' s not
9 essential that you show that . It ' s not
10 even essential , apparently, that you get
11 there over any number of years . It ' s
12 just essential that you make this
13 commitment . So what I wanted to do --
14 actually, is to read the resolution,
15 which is available on the website , as
16 you probably all know . And I have extra
17 copies if everybody wants to see it, but
18 I wanted to read it into the record for
19 your contemplation . And this is what it
20 says . Whereas the city, town, village
21 of -- blank, believes that the lack of
22 housing for New York residents of all
23 ages and income levels negatively
24 impacting the future of New York State ' s
25 economic growth and community
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 76
1 well-being, whereas the housing crisis
2 is negative effects at region and local
3 level , we believe that every community
4 must do their part to contribute to
5 housing growth and then benefit from the
6 positive impacts , the happy healthy
7 housing market brings to communities .
8 Whereas , we believe that supporting
9 housing production of all kinds in our
10 community will bring multiple benefits ,
11 including increasing housing access and
12 choices for current and future
13 residents , providing integrated
14 accessible housing options that meet the
15 needs of people with sensory and
16 mobility disabilities , bringing economic
17 opportunities and vitality to our
18 communities , and allowing workers at all
19 levels to improve their quality of life
20 through living closer to their
21 employment opportunities . Whereas we
22 believe that evidence showing that
23 in-fill development that reduces sprawl
24 and supports walkable communities has
25 significant environmental and public
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 77
1 health benefits , and Whereas we believe
2 that affirmatively furthering fair
3 housing and reducing segregation is not
4 only required by law, but is essential
5 for keeping our community strong and
6 vibrant . Now, Therefore , it is hereby
7 resolved that in order to take positive
8 steps to alleviate the housing crisis ,
9 the town adopts the pro-housing
10 community ' s pledge , which will have us
11 endeavor to take the following important
12 steps . One, streamlining permitting for
13 multifamily housing, affordable housing,
14 accessible housing, accessory dwelling
15 units , and supportive housing . Two,
16 adopting policies that affirmatively
17 further fair housing . Three,
18 incorporating regional housing needs
19 into planning decisions . Four,
20 increasing development capacity for
21 residential uses . Five, enacting
22 policies that encourage a broad range of
23 housing development, including
24 multifamily housing, affordable housing,
25 accessible housing, accessory dwelling
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 78
1 units , and supportive housing . Thank
2 you . And again, I urge you to act
3 expeditiously both on this matter and on
4 the petition . Thank you .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
6 you, and thank you for being here this
7 morning .
8 DAVID MARKEL : David Markel from
9 the Hamlet of Southold . A statement on
10 ICE is all well and good, but I also
11 believe there needs to be a law, which
12 states that law officers may not wear
13 masks . That law officers must show
14 identification . Thank you .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
16 you, David . Good evening everyone .
17 NICHOLAS DOWLING : My name is
18 Nicholas Dowling, and I ' m a senior at
19 Greenport High School . I want to start
20 out by saying that earlier this year
21 there was a survey that went out to
22 schools a while ago . That produced some
23 results , and I don ' t remember the
24 statistics exactly, but in our school ,
25 on average per grade, Hispanic people
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 79
1 held a vast majority . They are our
2 future . They are the future of this
3 town . They are my brothers and sisters ,
4 and it ' s a moral responsibility for this
5 government , this local government here,
6 to say that ICE is not welcome here .
7 ICE is not welcome to destroy the
8 families . ICE is not welcome to destroy
9 the future of this town and this
10 community . It is not okay, and we need
11 this statement to be passed . Thank you,
12 and good night, everybody .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
14 you .
15 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : Thank you,
16 everybody . Welcome new members Suess
17 and Kate . It ' s wonderful to have both
18 of you here . It was very nice to
19 participate in today ' s work session
20 earlier, where you had New York State
21 talking about the opportunities with
22 pro-housing, as well as , a technical
23 assistance grant . I know we ' ve got a
24 few members of our Housing Committee
25 from the Village here this evening, as
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 80
1 you heard from our chair, Dinni , who
2 also joined me when we came and spoke
3 about the technical assistance grant to
4 the Village, or pardon me, to the town
5 many months ago . And then as Betsy
6 spoke about the pro-housing initiative,
7 I look back on this crowd . We heard
8 some wonderful conversations by the
9 folks on Jasmine Lane talking about
10 community and housing and affordable
11 housing . This is something we all know
12 is desperately needed here, and I urge
13 the Board to expeditiously look at
14 passing the Pro-Housing Resolution, as
15 well as , supporting the Village of
16 Greenport on this assistance grant,
17 because we ' re trying to do the work and
18 study what can be done in order to help
19 solve this problem . Together with that,
20 I also stand with my community in
21 regards to this issue that we ' re all
22 dealing with, with the Federal
23 Government , and what ' s being done and
24 the concerns we have as a community .
25 I ' m the great grandson of immigrants .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 81
1 My father was a police officer . He and
2 his brother were Vietnam veterans . My
3 grandfather and my great-grandfather
4 were naval veterans and they all fought
5 for this country to preserve our
6 Constitution . That young lady whose
7 name, I ' m not going to share is a member
8 of our community and has been an active
9 member of ROTC at Greenport High School .
10 I know her mom who works in a local
11 restaurant . Her dad is a construction
12 worker, who ' s done all kinds of work up
13 and down the North Fork . She ' s got two
14 brothers . Who are both active members
15 of the school as well . And it was
16 wonderful to hear Nicholas talk about
17 the school and the community we have .
18 Jeremy Garretson spoke to you earlier
19 about his work on behalf of some of the
20 local publications , and he mentioned I
21 was standing next to him for some of
22 these things . Couple of weeks ago, we
23 had a vigil in Mitchell Park on this
24 very issue , and I spoke about it, and I
25 said this is one of the most difficult
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 82
1 things I ' ve ever dealt with personally
2 and professionally . I ' m a cancer
3 survivor, and one of those children who
4 was in the parking lot, begging for
5 help, is also a cancer survivor, an
6 elementary school child, who to this
7 day, anytime I see them, says , what are
8 you doing to keep my dad here and keep
9 my family together? These are people
10 who no longer feel comfortable going to
11 our local laundromats . People aren ' t
12 going to the grocery store . As you
13 heard Dinni Gordon talk earlier, this is
14 a woman who wrote a book about the
15 immigrant experience in Greenport
16 decades ago, and the immigrant
17 experience is what every single one of
18 us here comes from, because frankly,
19 each one of us had a relative who came
20 here at one point from somewhere else .
21 My family did, escaping religious
22 persecution, they traveled across the
23 country in wagons to try and make a home
24 and make a life . It is scary . As
25 Jeremy said, it is very frightening
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 83
1 what ' s happening, and I ' m not just the
2 great grandson of immigrants , I ' m also
3 the Mayor of the Village of Greenport,
4 and we have an agreement with the town
5 for policing, and have had it for 31
6 years now . And as Sandy Benedetto
7 mentioned, there was a conversation
8 about this a year ago, and I have
9 amazing faith in our chief, and our
10 police officers , and our local fire
11 department , but we need some direction
12 and some help from all of you . And I
13 ask you to please help set that
14 direction and stand with us and support
15 our local community and the safety that
16 we need . Because one of those SUV ' s
17 with blackened windows and people with
18 their face masked up coming into the
19 Village has more Federal officers than
20 we have police officers on the street at
21 that moment, likely . And so whatever
22 you can do to set the tone, implement
23 standards of public safety and how we ' re
24 going to protect our local residents .
25 Will be hugely meaningful to me as Mayor
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 84
1 of the Village of Greenport and to our
2 community . I don ' t want children up
3 here crying because they ' re afraid of
4 themselves or their family being taken
5 away . We need to know that we ' re going
6 to do everything possible to make sure
7 that the Constitution is upheld . And if
8 there ' s anybody that is trying to serve
9 a warrant on somebody without a real
10 warrant or abusing somebody that our
11 police department will be there to
12 support them . Thank you very much .
13 There is a vigil this coming Friday . I
14 would urge any and all of you to
15 participate with us in Mitchell Park at
16 6 p . m . Appreciate it . Thank you .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
18 you .
19 ERIC MCCLURE : Good evening . My
20 name is Eric McClure . I ' m a resident of
21 Mattituck . And I did not come here
22 tonight intending to speak on any of the
23 topics that have been spoken about
24 already . In fact, when I got here, I
25 texted my wife to say it looks like a
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 85
1 really short and non-controversial
2 agenda . And I ' m not sure why everybody
3 is here . With that said, I did sign the
4 petition that ' s been discussed tonight
5 about a week ago when it was first
6 brought to my attention . And I would
7 just like to express my great gratitude
8 to my neighbors for their compassion and
9 their sense of justice . And I would
10 urge you to all do as they ' ve asked and
11 to put out a strong statement about ICE
12 and this community and how important it
13 is for us to stand together, and to
14 oppose the kinds of actions we ' re seeing
15 across the country in places like
16 Minneapolis and now in Maine . And just
17 thank you to all of you for your courage
18 and for standing up . So I did come to
19 speak about something totally unrelated
20 to all of this . And since I ' m here and
21 waited a couple hours , I ' m going to do
22 that really quickly . Congratulations to
23 Councilwoman Suess and Councilwoman
24 Stevens for their new positions . I came
25 to talk about noise and you guys know
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 86
1 I ' ve been coming for years to talk
2 about . Strong ' s Water Club and
3 Windermere and the noise that people
4 across the water from them are subjected
5 to every Summer season . I was
6 encouraged to see the notation about the
7 Town reviewing all special events in a
8 couple of the items on the agenda
9 tonight . And I do hope that that will
10 apply to Strong ' s , who have had 80 plus
11 amplified rock concerts for the last few
12 Summers , who I don ' t think have been
13 subject to any kind of special event
14 considerations . They just do it as a
15 course of how they run their business
16 and it has made the life for me and our
17 neighbors untenable for several Summers
18 running . So I just I know it ' s quiet
19 now in Southold, especially with all the
20 snow on the ground, but it ' s not going
21 to be quiet soon enough when the warm
22 weather starts to roll around . And I
23 know that it ' s something you guys have
24 discussed last year probably in great
25 detail . And I just wanna make sure that
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 87
1 that will be on the docket . I know
2 there ' s always a lot going on in the
3 town, but attention to this matter is
4 something that ' s really important , and I
5 hope it will be something that the Board
6 will give due consideration . So Thank
7 you for that , and thank you again to
8 everybody here, and good evening .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
10 you . Would anyone else like to address
11 the Board?
12 (No Response ) .
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I don ' t
14 see anyone on Zoom that would --
15 JOHN REICHERT : As I said before,
16 my name is John Reichert . I would just
17 ask the Board to think about how you
18 would vote , how you would work to defeat
19 that chicken farm, egg farm . If you
20 were a resident of Jasmine Lane , the
21 homes were purchased long before that
22 chicken farm ever came into anybody ' s
23 mind . And now the people who have
24 purchased the homes , they are going to
25 be punished because of poor planning .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 88
1 That has to be stopped . I don ' t care if
2 you move it 100 feet away . The wind
3 blows northwest . We live southeast .
4 We ' ll be inundated with that dust that
5 has ammonia, nitrates , and other
6 disease-carrying things . I would hope
7 the Board would contemplate that and
8 think about how they would vote . I
9 don ' t think it would go through if the
10 Planning Board lived there or anybody on
11 the council . Thank you .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
13 you . I ' d just like to thank everyone
14 for coming tonight . You know, we are
15 elected . We know what we know, but it ' s
16 good to hear from the public because
17 your voices are really important and we
18 want to continue to communicate, you
19 know, with everyone, with all different
20 points of view . And to that end, we are
21 committed to something about amplified
22 noise this year . I ' ve had that
23 discussion with the new Board members .
24 We ' re a little short-handed now in the
25 Legal Department, but we ' re remedying
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 89
1 that . As far as the chicken -- the
2 proposed chicken farm goes , we did ask
3 Ag Advisory, the meeting was last week
4 for an opinion . The Planning Board,
5 Planning Director came to asks , one was
6 for the lot placement on a subdivision,
7 that ' s it ' s been ongoing, that review .
8 The other one is was the chicken farm,
9 the placement of the barn . So Ag
10 Advisory has been asked about that
11 application . And they will -- they will
12 render an opinion to the Board . And as
13 far as the other issue, we hear about
14 new builds in the State and Federal
15 government about the immigration issue .
16 As far as the Town Board, we spent a
17 good deal of time . We had our regular
18 work session today . We spent a good
19 deal of time as police commissioners
20 talking about this issue , how it affects
21 the community, previous statements that
22 we ' ve made . Trying to follow the law
23 and as someone said, uphold the
24 constitution . So I ' ll read the
25 statement, "To our community members .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 90
1 As local elected officials and police
2 commissioners , we affirm the following .
3 Southold Town Police Department is fully
4 committed to ensuring fair enforcement
5 of the law, treating all individuals
6 with dignity, and providing equal
7 services to anyone regardless of
8 immigration status . Our goal is for
9 everyone to feel comfortable interacting
10 with police officers without fear of
11 being reported to immigration
12 authorities . Our local law enforcement
13 and emergency services have a duty to
14 focus on their core responsibilities of
15 protecting public safety and responding
16 to emergencies . Southold Town Police
17 Department does not honor detainer
18 request absent a judicial warrant .
19 Individuals have the right to question
20 and document immigration enforcement
21 activities ; however, active interference
22 is a violation of Federal Law . As local
23 elected officials , we pledge to work
24 proactively to ensure that all community
25 members , regardless of background or
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 91
1 immigration status , feel safe calling
2 911 , reporting crimes , attending school ,
3 participating in religious services ,
4 shopping for basic needs , and accessing
5 healthcare without fear . Continue to
6 communicate with our County, State, and
7 Federal officials regarding the public
8 safety impact of Federal enforcement
9 actions and to advocate for coordination
10 and practices that support public
11 safety, health, and well-being . We will
12 follow-up on a letter of concern from
13 the Southold Town Board signed in early
14 December to Homeland Security and copied
15 to our Federal representatives that
16 express concerns and needs related to
17 public safety and immigration
18 enforcement . We will continue to
19 embrace our diversity, and celebrate our
20 immigrant communities , as important
21 participants in the rich and vibrant
22 fabric of our town . All members of
23 Southold Town matter . " And it seems
24 like a lot to ask, but there should be
25 peace on earth . That ' s a statement from
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 92
1 the Town Board .
2 SAMANTHA PAYNE-MARKEL : We want to
3 keep ICE out of our community .
4 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No ,
5 please don ' t -- You can address the
6 Board, but please come up to the
7 microphone .
8 SAMANTHA PAYNE-MARKEL : Let ' s go .
9 All right, it ' s a little fluffy . I mean
10 what are we saying really that doesn ' t
11 make me feel safe? You are hoping that
12 people will feel safe going to the to
13 the grocery store, to the school , they
14 don ' t . They just don ' t . And that was
15 very fluffy . You understand what I ' m
16 saying by that? We want ICE out of the
17 community . We want to feel safe . We
18 don ' t want them here, and that didn ' t --
19 I didn ' t get that at all .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Would
21 anyone else like to address the Board?
22 BETSY GERTZ : I just want to go on
23 record to agree with Sam . I think we ' re
24 looking for a stronger statement . I
25 think that people are feeling exposed
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 93
1 and scared . And you know, as I said
2 earlier, I -- statement -- you know, the
3 feds are gonna do what they ' re gonna do .
4 But I think a statement that is
5 published for the community to read, for
6 us to understand, especially the most
7 vulnerable among us that basically you
8 have our back . And even though you may
9 not be out there and being able to
10 prevent, we are going on record as a
11 municipality that this is not right
12 here . We don ' t want this here . And I
13 know it may seem a little sort of, you
14 know, contradictory, well if we can ' t
15 stop them, why do that? It ' s important
16 to make a statement . It ' s important to
17 make a strong statement . And it ' s
18 important to make sure that all members
19 of community -- I ' m not only talking
20 about my Latino family or my friends or
21 my neighbors , I ' m talking about all of
22 us , because when those armed gunmen were
23 in the Greenport parking lot, wreaking
24 chaos , we were all at risk . That is
25 really irresponsible behavior . And so I
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 94
1 think to Sam ' s point, you know, we need
2 something stronger, and that ' s what
3 we ' re asking for .
4 DAVID MARKEL : How about -- David
5 Markel , Hamlet of Southold . How about
6 we start the statement with, we condemn
7 the Gestapo tactics of ICE agents in
8 this country .
9 SANDRA KOLLEN : I just wanted to
10 say one more thing, so that you ' re
11 informed, as we are, or I am, about the
12 chicken farm . My name is Sandra Kollen,
13 and I live on Jasmine Lane . I have done
14 my research pretty quickly because it ' s
15 happening pretty quickly . And I asked
16 for a survey today . I went out to the
17 Building Department and I asked for a
18 survey on where the trees -- what trees
19 are being taken down? Where they are,
20 and how many, because I do see pink tape
21 all over the place on this property .
22 And pink tape encompassing a bunch of
23 trees pretty much on my property line .
24 And that ' s why I ' m a little nervous
25 because once the trees are down, you
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 95
1 can ' t bring them back . And that shows
2 no buffer whatsoever from my property
3 line to his . I don ' t see any clear
4 markers differentiating our property
5 line . So anyway, so I did ask the
6 Planning Board . I ' m always going
7 through the right steps as I ' m asked .
8 And I do . And they said they were not
9 required to submit a survey showing what
10 trees they were removing . For a 15 . 9
11 acre lot , why not? Like they ' re just
12 arbitrarily taking trees down? Like I ' m
13 not understanding the process and it ' s
14 not fair to us because I really feel
15 like I ' m in the dark . When I said
16 before that I am filled with angst, I
17 really am . This house is all I have .
18 Didn ' t feel settled in my life for a
19 number of years , but now I do . But at
20 this point , I really don ' t anymore . And
21 I ' m very upset the way it ' s moving
22 forward . And I just feel like it ' s
23 cooking right along . And we ' re in the
24 dark . As Mark says , it ' s hard to get
25 documents . So I spent my lunchtime,
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 96
1 which is only 45 minutes , at the
2 Planning Board . They were kind enough
3 to make me some copies . But I can ' t
4 access anything . And there is no
5 survey . There should be a survey for
6 somebody . That ' s why you -- the
7 Planning Board told me that they usually
8 do that . They let people take down .
9 Trees and bushes , but why? You don ' t
10 know where the building is . We ' re
11 asking for the building to be moved .
12 That hasn ' t happened yet . We ' re asking
13 for no access from Jasmine Lane . That
14 hasn ' t happened yet . I don ' t understand
15 how trees can be taken down when there ' s
16 no plan of whether this business is even
17 gonna go through . We hope to God it ' s
18 not . So why is trees being taken down
19 at this point? The other day I listened
20 to chainsaws all day long . And it was so
21 upsetting . Not just for the project ,
22 but for our wildlife . They have nowhere
23 to go . And now we ' re gonna take down
24 trees for a 15 . 9 acre lot . This really
25 needs to be considered and scrutinized .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 97
1 And a SEQRA review needs to be done .
2 And trees cannot be taken down . I feel
3 like they ' re gonna be taken down . When
4 I get home from work, they ' re gonna be
5 down . And there ' s nothing I can do
6 about it . Please let something be done
7 about this project . Thank you .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Can I
9 can -- I just -- answer you -- I have to
10 ask you, you said you can ' t access what
11 documents ?
12 SANDRA KOLLEN : Like the link that
13 you gave us in the letter for the
14 hearing doesn ' t work . And they said
15 that it ' s -- it doesn ' t work due to the
16 I guess the problem, the IT problem that
17 you had .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
19 we have limited at public access to
20 Laserfiche right now . Because of that
21 computer hack, we were starting off on a
22 major overhaul of our security system
23 just before that . And that ' s beginning
24 right now . We had -- we had bonded the
25 money last year for that and we hadn ' t
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 98
1 started it yet . So if you need -- if
2 you need information on this , which is a
3 current application, please call my
4 office , and I ' ll work with the Planning
5 Board to get it for you, to you .
6 SANDRA KOLLEN : Appreciate that .
7 Thank you so much . We would like more
8 time for opposition for this also .
9 That ' s the other thing, is that I only
10 found out about the hearing . Then it
11 was the hearing . And now we ' re at the
12 end of the month . And now I see that,
13 you know, the trees being taken down .
14 There ' s just not enough time for --
15 who ' s -- who ' s hearing our opposition?
16 That ' s what I want to know . We have
17 opposition clearly, but who ' s listening
18 to it? Who ' s going to do something
19 about it? According to the Planning
20 Board, they said that there ' s nothing
21 they could do because it ' s agricultural .
22 They have a right to farm, but we have a
23 right to live also . And it ' s not the
24 right spot for this . It ' s not the right
25 spot . We ' re not against it, but it ' s
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 99
1 not the right spot .
2 DEANNA MOSCOSO : I ' m sorry, I ' m
3 just gonna piggyback on Sam and Sandy
4 like I said before , like a lot of people
5 have come to this country because they
6 wanted to feel safe and be safe for
7 their families . The statement it is a
8 little vague and I would like it to --
9 as a Latino member, as a community
10 member, I would like to be able to feel
11 safe . Yes , I was born in this country,
12 but look at me . I was told many times
13 to go back where I came from, even
14 though I was born here, being told that
15 countless times . And it does hurt . My
16 parents took -- you know, themselves
17 leaving their parents , leaving their
18 family . I was born here , and being told
19 to go back where I came from . That I
20 don ' t fit here . That I know where my
21 place should be . This is my home . This
22 is my place . This is my community ' s
23 house, home . Most of the people -- most
24 of the kids that live here, they call
25 this place home . This community home .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 100
1 I ' m afraid . I was born here . I have my
2 license and has the flag, proud our
3 American flag . But I ' m still afraid to
4 go to the grocery store because I will
5 be stopped . Being stopped coming out of
6 CVS because they think that I took
7 something that didn ' t belong, just
8 because of the way I look . Being
9 threatened to be called for the police .
10 And then again, I need somebody to be
11 able to say that they ' re serving and
12 protecting us , regardless of how I look .
13 I ' m safe , for the most part . But people
14 that have been killed, they were white .
15 They were standing up for people like
16 us , and they were killed . They were
17 citizens . Where do we stand? What
18 chance do we have? Sorry .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
20 you .
21 All right . Would anyone else like
22 to address the Board?
23 NICHOLAS DOWLING : Hi , everybody .
24 I ' m sorry . My parents told me to go
25 light the first time I came up . But
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 101
1 that ' s not going to work here because
2 that statement is not what we need . I
3 mean, what did it take? Two American
4 citizens lying dead in the streets of
5 Minnesota in order for their government
6 to make a statement that was worth
7 something . We need that here before our
8 community members start dying . Okay?
9 We need a statement that says , we
10 condemn ICE . And if you can ' t do that,
11 you ' re not protecting the people who put
12 you in those chairs , and you don ' t
13 deserve to be in them .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Would
15 anyone else like to address the Board?
16 (No Response ) .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : For the
18 record, there ' s no one in the audience,
19 and no one on Zoom .
20 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : I ' ll make a
21 motion to adjourn .
22 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Second .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
24 favor?
25 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Aye .
JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 102
1 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
2 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
3 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Aye .
4 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Aye .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
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7 (Whereupon, the meeting was
8 adjourned at this time . )
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JANUARY 27, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 103
1 C E R T I F I C A T I O N
2
3 I , 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 I further certify that I am not
9 related either by blood or marriage to
10 any of the parties to this action; and
11 that I am in no way interested in the
12 outcome of this matter .
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
14 set my hand this day, January 27 , 2026 .
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