HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-02/26/2026 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 February 26 , 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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FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
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3 Public Hearing 3- 6
Chapter 71
4 Agricultural Advisory Committee
5 Public Comments 6-131
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FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 CHAPTER 71 , AGRICULTURE
2 ADVISORY COMMITTEE
3 TOWN CLERK DENIS NONCARROW :
4 This public hearing considers an
5 Introductory Local Law to the 226
6 laws to consider an amendment to
7 Chapter 71 , Agriculture Advisory
8 Committee , which proposes the
9 following changes . Committee to
10 emphasize aquaculture and mariculture
11 as part of the agriculture to change
12 the requirements for the composition
13 of the Agriculture Advisory Committee
14 as follows . The committee shall
15 consist up to 11 members appointed by
16 the Town Board . Members must meet at
17 least one of three criteria . One , up
18 to seven shall be active owners ,
19 operators of land-based agriculture
20 farms in Southold . Two, up to two
21 shall be residents with substantial
22 and proven experience in agriculture
23 or aquaculture, mariculture . And
24 three, up to two shall be otherwise
25 qualified to represent these
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 industries , as determined by the Town
2 Board . Legal notices for this
3 hearing are published no less than 10
4 days prior to the public hearing and
5 an eligible legal Town newspaper .
6 The Town Clerk ' s Office has received
7 the Affidavit of Service from the
8 newspaper, indicating that that
9 notice was properly published . The
10 Town Clerk file also includes an
11 Affidavit of Posting of the public
12 notice on the Town Clerk ' s bulletin
13 board at Town Hall . Thank you .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
15 Thank you, Mr . Clerk .
16 Mr . DeChance , are all the
17 postings and notifications in order?
18 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
19 They are in order .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
21 Thank you . All right . Does anyone
22 like to speak on this public hearing?
23 (No Response . )
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
25 right, I you don ' t see any hands .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 Oh, go right ahead, sir .
2 JOHN REICHERT : My name is John
3 Reichert . I ' m a resident of
4 Southold, Jasmine Lane . Where it is
5 proposed that a 6 , 000 chicken egg
6 farm would be --
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : This
8 is the public hearing to amend the Ag
9 Advisory Committee .
10 JOHN REICHERT : Oh, I thought we
11 had it open --
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No ,
13 not yet . No , we ' re looking for
14 comment on that , and I thought I had
15 somebody on the floor here, but --
16 STEPHEN KIELY : Good evening,
17 Stephen Kiely from Mattituck . I
18 fully support the proposed local law .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
20 Okay . Thank you .
21 STEPHEN KIELY : I felt bad .
22 Nobody was saying anything, sir .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
24 Thank you . All right . This has gone
25 -- this was distributed to the
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 current Ag Advisory Committee for
2 their review, so there ' s -- I ' ll
3 take a motion -- if there ' s no
4 comment, I ' ll take a motion to close
5 the hearing?
6 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : I ' ll
7 make a motion to close the hearing .
8 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Second .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
10 in favor?
11 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
12 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
13 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
14 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Aye .
15 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Aye .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
17
18 PUBLIC COMMENTS
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Now,
20 would anyone like to speak on any
21 matter? Please . Go ahead .
22 JOHN REICHERT : Once again . My
23 name is John Reichert . I ' m a
24 resident of Southold . I live on
25 Jasmine Lane . The community is going
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING
1 to be -- is threatened with a 6 , 000
2 chicken egg producing farm, possibly
3 12 , 000 . As you can imagine , this is
4 what I go to sleep thinking about . I
5 wake up thinking about the
6 destruction of a community that was
7 planned by the Town of Southold . The
8 land was purchased by the Town of
9 Southold . The development was placed
10 there by the Town of Southold . And
11 now the Town of Southold is
12 considering placing this egg
13 producing farm abutting this
14 development . Where we have a child
15 with asthma, two houses away . We
16 have people with cancer being
17 treated . We have a trash plant --
18 transplant individual . And there is
19 probably many more at risk . We went
20 to the Planning Board, and we spoke
21 about this , and we were told that it
22 was known for agriculture . So the
23 agriculture trumps the health of the
24 people of Southold, the citizens that
25 you were elected to protect . It
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 seems that the farm lobby is being
2 placated at the expense of people who
3 put down roots in this town, raised
4 families in this town, and have
5 contributed to this town . For
6 myself, over 40 years I ' ve been in
7 business here . I consider it a
8 terrible travesty of justice to do
9 something like that to people . They
10 invested their monies , their effort
11 to maintain a beautiful home , if you
12 go down the Jasmine Lane , the
13 surrounding areas . You see that the
14 houses are well kept . It ' s a
15 beautiful community . People know
16 each other . We ' re very happy to be
17 there . And then we get hit with this
18 chicken farm proposal . And I know
19 there ' s a right-to-farm act in
20 Southold . I ' m not gonna read the
21 whole thing . I ' m just gonna read
22 Sections 3 . These activities can do
23 generate dust, smoke, noise ,
24 vibration and odor . These activities
25 may occur on holidays , Sundays and
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 weekends at night, and in a day .
2 Such activities are presumed to be
3 reasonable . Such activities do not
4 constitute a nuisance unless the
5 activity has a substantial adverse
6 effect on the public health safety
7 and welfare . I received a letter
8 from the resident of Ackerly Pond,
9 and she gave me permission to present
10 it to the Board . That ' s my daughter .
11 Daughter starts becoming your mother,
12 when you become a senior . I got two
13 mothers . Anyway, she had -- this is
14 -- woman ' s name is Emily Geist . I am
15 writing with regard to the proposed
16 6 , 000 chickens to be housed on
17 Ackerly Pond Lane . I look directly
18 across the street from the parcel and
19 my living window look out directly on
20 that land, which as long as I have
21 lived here in 35 years has been
22 woods . When development rights were
23 sold, I appeared at Town Hall and
24 expressed delight on behalf of myself
25 and my neighbors . We all noticed a
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 "For Sale " sign this Summer and
2 assumed a local farmer would be
3 farming . As we all now know, the
4 owner is a full-time college student .
5 He told me he owns it with his
6 father, who has remained entirely out
7 of sight . This is an owner invested
8 with a startup business . Not a local
9 farmer . In fact, neither one of them
10 have any experience in farming .
11 They ' re both been involved in real
12 estate . The son is in his college
13 group studying real estate and the
14 father has a background in real
15 estate . His plan is to house 6 , 000
16 chickens in six moveable houses .
17 1 , 000 chickens per house , hoop houses
18 likely, and will not feed them
19 anything when additives thereby align
20 for organic labeling . The chickens
21 will not be birds in pastured
22 sunlight but will live in enclosures .
23 Workers will feed, water, collect
24 eggs , wash eggs , refrigerate eggs .
25 If washed, package eggs , and load
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 onto trucks to carry the market . As
2 someone who has spent their childhood
3 on a farm, and as someone who has
4 back yard chickens and ducks , I have
5 questions about the enormous egg
6 operation outside my living room
7 window . Laying hens produce most
8 eggs between 20 and 70 weeks of age .
9 We ' ll be bringing already laying
10 hens , and what is his plan for the
11 natural death of 100 of his 6 , 000
12 birds ? Statistically, that will
13 happen . Not diseased or sick birds ,
14 simply die at about 10% rate . What
15 is his plan when his 6 , 000 to same
16 age birds age out, prime production,
17 70 weeks ? Will he kill him on site?
18 Bury them in a hole or hole till all
19 is done? Maybe in an arrangement
20 with a meat processing plant . 6 , 000
21 hens will lay an egg at least five
22 days of the week . If Rhode Island
23 rents or another big produces is six
24 days . As I said, it will every day
25 have roughly 54 , 000 -- 5 , 400 eggs .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 Every week . Maybe 37 , 000 eggs .
2 Ackerly Pond will certainly
3 experience unprecedented daily
4 traffic, truck traffic . I ' m sure you
5 have done your research into the
6 terrible problem of manure, nice
7 subject . One hoop houses 1 , 000
8 birds . Remember, there will be six
9 of these . We ' ll create roughly 260
10 pounds of manure per day . That is 47
11 tons each year for just one of the
12 six houses . It takes four to six
13 months for this wet manure to break
14 down enough to be useful on a garden .
15 Wet manure burns plants , and is
16 totally useless . What is the plan to
17 deal with this enormous amount of
18 manure produced every day? Trucking
19 away, piling heaps to age? The
20 ammonia created -- the ammonia
21 created by manure is a threat to air
22 quality, and manure is a major
23 pollutant to both surface and ground
24 water . And yes , the New York State ' s
25 right-to-farm, the state ' s farmers
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 shall have the right-to-farm in
2 Southold over the undue interference
3 from adjacent land owners or users ,
4 indeed . But I think we can make an
5 argument , even given the huge
6 umbrella of a farmer, that this is
7 not a farm despite the agriculture
8 nature of the business . Simply
9 installing a huge number of chickens
10 on a piece of land does not make that
11 land a farm . This is not some young
12 person trying to invest in his
13 community and live his dream of
14 farming . These are absentee owners .
15 This is strictly a business
16 investment . This is far more factory
17 than farm . Let ' s not be naive .
18 These hens may not be living in tiny
19 cages , dropping eggs down a tube, but
20 this is a factory farm . This will be
21 the first factory farm in Southold
22 Town . This is a proposed egg
23 production plant that threatens
24 neighbors with the very undue
25 interference which the Right-to-Farm
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 Act protects the farmer . Here we
2 have no real farmer, but we do have
3 real neighbors , who will certainly
4 feel burdened . You know, it ' s very
5 frustrating when you are faced with
6 something like this , and you come to
7 Board meetings , you go to Town
8 Planning Board meetings , and you get
9 told, it ' s for farming . Since when
10 does farming trump people ' s health?
11 I don ' t understand it . There ' s not
12 one person elected in this town who
13 has stood up for us . Now, one that ' s
14 spoken out in the favor of us . We
15 even said, hey, they have a good
16 argument . We ' ve been totally
17 ignored . They ' ve been told to get an
18 attorney . We can ' t afford an
19 attorney . They want a big amount of
20 money to represent us . Then we were
21 told, you should have bought the
22 property . It ' s $ 650 , 000 . We have it
23 in our bank account, each and every
24 one of us . We go back to where you
25 came from . I can ' t, my mother ' s
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 dead . I can ' t go back to the womb .
2 I ' m sorry, but nobody is picking up
3 the ball to support the citizens of
4 this town . There are people who have
5 born and raised in this town who live
6 in that community, and we ' re being
7 totally ignored, just because it ' s
8 known for farming . If it ' s
9 detrimental to the health of the
10 citizens of this town, then we have a
11 right to say it doesn ' t belong in
12 this town . It ' s as simple as that .
13 You have the hardware store .
14 Brinkmann wanted to put a hardware
15 store up in Mattituck . Oh, we can ' t
16 have that . I think they used eminent
17 domain . We have 30 or so homes in
18 this development . 5% of the students
19 in the Southold school live in that
20 development . There were infants ,
21 there were people -- older people ,
22 me . People who are suffering from,
23 as I said, from cancer, from asthma,
24 and we ' re being totally ignored . Not
25 one person have I heard support us .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 Not one . And we ' ve been living in
2 this town for years , we ' ve been
3 supporting this town for years . We
4 brag about this town, how we love
5 living here, and no one ' s taking our
6 course to their heart . I don ' t
7 understand . I really don ' t . I ' ve
8 lived in a couple of towns , but this
9 is the best I ' ve ever lived . I have
10 a business here . I have friends
11 here . I have relatives here , and I
12 really feel abandoned . I feel that
13 people in Jasmine Lane are being
14 abandoned . I don ' t understand what ' s
15 happening . I really don ' t . We have
16 people who just don ' t care about us .
17 Well , it seems , as I said, the voices
18 of the residents are being ignored .
19 And I do feel the placating of the
20 farming lobby is out of hand . I know
21 we have a lot of farmers . But you
22 have a lot of citizens in this town
23 who are not farmers . We didn ' t move
24 out of here because we didn ' t like
25 farms . We moved out here because we
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 liked open spaces . We liked farms .
2 We liked farmers . I like farmers .
3 But you ' ve got to help us . Someone ' s
4 got to step up . You step up, we ' ll
5 be applauded . We will applaud you .
6 If you don ' t , everybody who was an
7 elected official on this Board and
8 the Planning Board will be remembered
9 for destroying the community, the
10 local community, the development of
11 over 30 homes . It ' s been there for
12 over 30 years . The town put that
13 there . It just didn ' t pop up out of
14 nowhere . That ' s when the town said,
15 build your houses , buy your houses .
16 And then they come along, they go out
17 and put out 6 , 000 , possibly 12 , 000
18 chickens farm . Have you ever smelled
19 the ammonia from chicken manure?
20 They knock over a horse . It ' s
21 disgusting . And it ' s
22 disease-bearing . That is absolutely
23 documented . That accrual will come
24 down Jasmine Lane and go across Main
25 Road . And you will have the same
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 smell you have on a duck farm, but
2 worse . We don ' t have ducks . We
3 aren ' t allowed to have ducks in
4 Southold because they have polluted
5 the water plates . You ' re going to
6 allow a chicken farm to pollute the
7 very air we breathe . It is a
8 disease-bearing . We need your help .
9 I hope someone will step up to that .
10 Thank you .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
12 Thank you for coming . I ' m not sure
13 what the Town Board, what you really
14 want the Town Board to do where
15 someone does have the right-to-farm
16 in the law . And that we are a
17 community that values its tradition
18 in agricultural production .
19 Agriculture being a business , I can ' t
20 say how many chickens he should have .
21 Or how many should, he owns the
22 property . He has certain property
23 rights . And we value property rights
24 in Southold Town . And he should be
25 able to have a farming operation, the
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 Town invested in that land, the Town
2 of bought development rights on it,
3 preserved that land for agriculture,
4 so it wouldn ' t get paved over . And
5 so now he ' s gonna propose an
6 operation -- I ' m not familiar with
7 him, the owner or the proposed
8 operation . I know the Planning Board
9 had to go through site plan for the
10 proposed storage barn that he wants
11 to build .
12 JOHN REICHERT : Right next to my
13 property, right next to it . He wants
14 to also go through the cul-de-sac,
15 because he doesn ' t want to open up a
16 roadway on Ackerly Pond Lane because
17 it ' s too far . It ' s gonna cost him
18 too much money . But he ' s
19 jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of
20 values , house value .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
22 don ' t know what his access is , which
23 road he ' s got in the access system .
24 JOHN REICHERT : It ' s in his
25 records . It ' s also been approved
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 20
1 that he can go through Jasmine Lane .
2 And if you drive down Jasmine Lane,
3 because with Affordable Housing, the
4 road is narrower than any other
5 street in Southold . And you put two
6 cars parked like that, you ' re not
7 gonna get a truck down there . You ' re
8 gonna have trucks , you ' re gonna have
9 stench . You ' re gonna have disease .
10 You say they have the right to -- we
11 have the right to live . You, the
12 Town planted that community there .
13 They didn ' t deserve it . That ' s what
14 the town ' s , oh, here, come . Here ' s
15 your house , buy a house . It ' s great .
16 And then you ' re gonna put a chicken
17 farm there ? I know this is a farming
18 area, but there ' s certain things if
19 it ' s -- if it jeopardizes the health
20 of the citizens , it can be stopped .
21 That ' s in the Agricultural Law you
22 have here . That ' s right in the law,
23 I read it to you . And the people ,
24 that ' s jeopardizing the health of how
25 many people? But we ' re a farming
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 21
1 community . Hey, come on, we ' re
2 living people, we ' re human beings .
3 This guy can ' t even live here . And
4 you are superseding our right to
5 health, happiness , and our values of
6 our homes because you got to put
7 6 , 000 and 12 , 000 chickens there . You
8 can ' t say, no . You said no to a
9 hardware store . Why can ' t you say no
10 to a chicken farm, egg farm?
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
12 don ' t know that the Board ' s
13 considering trying to stop a farmer
14 from raising chickens on his own farm
15 land . I don ' t believe that the
16 Board ' s gonna consider that .
17 JOHN REICHERT : It says right
18 here in your law, go to the health .
19 That ' s right in the egg farm -- I
20 read it to you .
21 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
22 Sir, I ' m not sure that the Planning
23 Board has issued a decision on that
24 application yet . It may be still
25 pending . Certainly, I can tell you
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 22
1 that the application for that
2 development is not before the Town
3 Board, nor should the Town Board
4 comment on an effort of the pending
5 application . I understand you ' ve
6 been before us before , and I think
7 I ' ve said that the last time you ' ve
8 been here .
9 JOHN REICHERT : These are the
10 elected officials that were elected
11 by the people in this community .
12 That ' s why I came here to speak . We
13 need elected officials to stand
14 behind us . That chicken farm is a
15 blight on this whole community . Hey,
16 you want to plant potatoes , great .
17 You want to put pumpkin, eggs , great .
18 But chickens ? They ' re going to
19 jeopardize the health of -- It ' s
20 right in your own law . Unless the
21 activity has a substantial adverse
22 effect on the public health, safety
23 and welfare, that ' s what can stop it .
24 That supersedes the Farm Law . It ' s
25 written in your law . It trumps the
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 23
1 farmer . These activities can ' t
2 generate dust or smoke . There ' s not
3 one person who ' s elected in this
4 community that would have that in
5 their backyard . Not one . Then you
6 would do all of your power to stop .
7 And you can ' t tell me you wouldn ' t .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
9 don ' t think that ' s a fair thing to
10 say .
11 JOHN REICHERT : It is a fair
12 thing to say . It is absolutely fair .
13 We are human beings . We live here .
14 The hell with the damn chickens . How
15 about us ?
16 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
17 Sir, this Town Board has no ability
18 --
19 JOHN REICHERT : The Town Board
20 supercedes the Planning Board?
21 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
22 No, sir, it does not . The Planning
23 Board, in that matter, before the
24 Planning Board, is within its own
25 jurisdiction . The Town Board has no
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 24
1 ability to affect it, either way .
2 JOHN REICHERT : But you are
3 elected officials . You certainly
4 have a voice .
5 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : I
6 do not know if that is a question .
7 JOHN REICHERT : You certainly
8 have a voice .
9 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : It
10 is a matter pending before the
11 Planning Board .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
13 Right . We do not have any say on the
14 location or approval of that
15 building .
16 JOHN REICHERT : But you have
17 influence . You are supervisors .
18 There are council people . You have
19 influence . If you came out and said,
20 we do not approve of this , we think
21 the Planning Board should think
22 harder about this . That has some
23 weight to it . For me to say it, has
24 nothing compared to what you can say,
25 what your influence is . Let ' s face
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 25
1 it . We ' ve gone to newspapers . We ' ve
2 gone to several newspapers . We ' ve
3 gone to Newsday, with the Post . Next
4 is Channel 12 . But you have more
5 influence than we do . You are
6 elected to take care of the people of
7 Southold, no?
8 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
9 The application before the Planning
10 Board --
11 JOHN REICHERT : The application
12 before the Planning Board . The
13 Planning Board tells me --
14 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
15 Sir --
16 JOHN REICHERT : The Planning
17 Board tells me, it ' s zoned for
18 agriculture, so take it quietly --
19 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
20 Let me finish my statement . The
21 application before the Planning Board
22 is based upon the Planning Board
23 record . Not influenced from any
24 outside source . Only upon what ' s in
25 the Planning Board record . I believe
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 26
1 that you were there and you spoke in
2 that record . And those comments will
3 be considered . The Planning Board is
4 not allowed to consider any other --
5 anything else other than what ' s
6 within that record . You ' re
7 suggesting that there should be
8 outside influence that could affect
9 the Planning Board ' s decision or a
10 decision of any other Board of the
11 Town . That is not possible . That ' s
12 not legal .
13 JOHN REICHERT : What about the
14 Agriculture Committee?
15 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
16 You ' re asking a question, what is it,
17 sir?
18 JOHN REICHERT : Do they have any
19 influence with the Planning Board?
20 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
21 Did they speak at the Planning Board
22 Work Session? Or did they speak at
23 the Planning Board Public --
24 JOHN REICHERT : They wrote a
25 letter . They said it ' s fine to open
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 27
1 up Jasmine Lane . They wrote that in
2 a letter to the Planning Board .
3 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
4 It ' s allowed to be considered .
5 JOHN REICHERT : You people
6 represent the town . You don ' t have
7 any control over the streets . The
8 guy doesn ' t wanna move his barn to
9 Ackerly Pond because he ' s gonna spend
10 $2000 in water . But he doesn ' t care
11 about the value of the homes in his
12 community .
13 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
14 Those are all issues made by the --
15 JOHN REICHERT : Pardon me ?
16 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
17 It ' s determined by the Planning
18 Board . Not by the Town Board .
19 JOHN REICHERT : You have no
20 influence over the Town Board . You
21 have no influence in the Town? This
22 Town Board has no influence
23 whatsoever in this town?
24 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
25 Has no ability to --
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 28
1 JOHN REICHERT : I ' m not saying
2 that . I ' m saying influence .
3 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
4 You want this Town Board to affect a
5 decision of one of its land use
6 boards . That is inappropriate . That
7 can ' t be done . The Planning Board
8 decision once made is going to be
9 based upon the Planning Board record .
10 JOHN REICHERT : And nobody here
11 can say anything?
12 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
13 Sir, you actually are here saying
14 something and you ' re certainly
15 entitled to that .
16 JOHN REICHERT : I ' m asking you
17 and nobody is sitting on this
18 council --
19 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
20 There ' s no requirement that this Town
21 Board respond to you .
22 JOHN REICHERT : I can ' t hear
23 you .
24 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
25 There ' s no requirement that this Town
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 29
1 Board respond .
2 JOHN REICHERT : I ' m not asking
3 for a reply . I ' m not -- asking for
4 some sympathy for the people who live
5 on Jasmine Lane in Southold Town for
6 the last 40 years .
7 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
8 You ' re asking for intervention, where
9 that would be inappropriate .
10 JOHN REICHERT : That ' s
11 inappropriate?
12 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
13 I ' d be more than happy to discuss
14 this issue .
15 JOHN REICHERT : You ' re all
16 citizens of Southold .
17 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
18 Sir, why don ' t I leave you my card,
19 if you want to understand the -- If
20 you want to understand the workings
21 of the Planning Board or any of the
22 land use boards , I ' ll be happy to
23 talk to you during regular business
24 hours .
25 JOHN REICHERT : What did you
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 30
1 say?
2 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
3 I ' m going to leave you my number .
4 I ' m going to ask you to call me .
5 JOHN REICHERT : What are we
6 going to discuss ?
7 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : We
8 can discuss how procedurally a
9 Planning Board or any other board of
10 the land use board of the Town hears
11 a case and it determines it . And
12 what is permitted to affect it or
13 not . It ' s not sympathy . It ' s not
14 influenced by --
15 JOHN REICHERT : Evidentially --
16 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
17 It ' s based upon the --
18 JOHN REICHERT : We can ' t go
19 against agriculture .
20 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : I
21 recognize how strongly you feel about
22 this .
23 JOHN REICHERT : I live there .
24 You ought to try living there when it
25 comes to chicken farming .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 31
1 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : So
2 that you need to understand that the
3 Planning Board has to issue a
4 decision . And based upon that
5 decision, if you feel that you ' re
6 agreed, you have certain rights
7 associated with it . And this is why
8 you may have been told, if you wish,
9 you can consult outside counsel .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : And
11 feel free to come in . Well , feel free
12 to come in and talk to me, if you ' d
13 like to tomorrow .
14 JOHN REICHERT : I ' m working . I
15 have to work . I ' ll stop in though .
16 I will stop in .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
18 Please do . Thank you .
19 SANDRA KOLLEN : Hello . My name
20 is Sandy Kollen, and I live on
21 Jasmine Lane , and this project is
22 killing me . It ' s just killing me .
23 Like Mr . Reichert said, it ' s all I
24 think about . I wake up in the middle
25 of the night , I think about it . I do
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 32
1 my research . I ' ve done nothing but
2 research since January 12th .
3 Although this project has been going
4 on long before that, but we just got
5 notified in the beginning of January .
6 There are certain things that I was
7 going to say, and I still want to say
8 them . Anne Smith, you wrote a
9 beautiful article, Community Matters
10 Above All Else . And some of the
11 things that you ' ve said, how do we
12 help our neighbors through the lens
13 of humanity and friendship? Southold
14 is a place where we come together as
15 neighbors during a crisis or when
16 there ' s a cumulative impact on basic
17 needs . Southold Town is home to
18 non-profits with incredible leaders ,
19 which I believe , organizations and
20 advocating wherever there is a need .
21 Partnership builds our capacity to
22 respond to needs in real-time . We ' re
23 in need right now . We stand up for
24 all residents . Is that true? I hope
25 it ' s true . Perhaps we can expand our
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 33
1 thinking about community character .
2 Embracing what our town looks like,
3 feels like , sounds like, and sounds
4 like when we strive to be the best we
5 can . Our work must be rooted in
6 respect, compassion, and dignity .
7 How do we help our neighbors through
8 the lens of humanity and friendship?
9 I believe community matters above all
10 else . When community exists , and we
11 exist in big ways , we can continue to
12 fill the deep well of courage and
13 hope that a Southold Town . We must
14 safeguard and protect the value of
15 community, the value of your
16 community, and come together in
17 unity . I believe community character
18 includes how we relate to others ,
19 care for each other, and build trust
20 and purpose . As a result, we are
21 working towards creating a positive
22 quality of life for all residents .
23 What a great statement . But after
24 Mr . Reichert talks , I ' m not sure that
25 I have any faith anymore . We have a
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 34
1 petition . It ' s got over 400
2 signatures . One thing I wanted to
3 point out, because I ' ve done my
4 research, I have scrutinized this
5 paperwork, I have scrutinized his
6 application . Here ' s his site plan .
7 So he went in, this is the site , and
8 this is his building, and here ' s our
9 homes . Are you telling me that it ' s
10 impossible to tell this man he can ' t
11 put it here? Put it in the middle of
12 the property . Therefore , none of
13 anybody . This is Ackerly, Jasmine,
14 North Road, Tucker ' s Lane, Blossom
15 Lane, Terry Court, Greenfields Lane,
16 businesses , residences . If you put
17 it in the middle here , it won ' t
18 affect anybody . I mean, it will
19 affect us , but it would be better
20 than at the end of Jasmine Lane .
21 Does this make sense to anybody? And
22 the other thing is , I was also told
23 by the Planning Board -- so I see
24 some pink tape encased in hundreds of
25 trees from the back of Mr . Reichert ' s
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 35
1 yard, across the street, across my
2 front lawn, across my backyard . Do
3 you know how big that is ? All these
4 trees are coming down . So I asked if
5 there was an updated site plan . What
6 trees ? How many trees ? Where are
7 they? The Planning Board said to me ,
8 no, we didn ' t require him to do that .
9 So before he got approved, and your
10 letter says that, before he got
11 approved, it ' s okay to take down
12 trees . But keep in mind, sir, that
13 this project might not go through .
14 Then why are we approving taking
15 trees down? You can ' t put them back
16 up . They ' ve been there for hundreds
17 of years . The other thing you can do
18 is a substantial buffer, and I ' m not
19 talking 100 feet . I have done my
20 research and it says 340 feet of a
21 buffer, which would act like a filter
22 for all of the dander and the smell
23 and the noise, and everything else
24 that ' s going to come with these 6 , 000
25 chickens . So that can be done . You
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 36
1 can do a 300 foot or more buffer
2 around the entire perimeter of his
3 property . That ' s an option . The
4 Farmland Bill of Rights for Southold
5 Town says -- oh, you just read this ,
6 to be presumed good agricultural
7 practices . This is not good
8 agricultural practices . I love
9 farming . I love all my farmers .
10 I ' ve been here my whole life . This
11 is a commercial farm . This is not a
12 farm . This belongs -- I don ' t even
13 know where it belongs , but not in
14 Southold and certainly not surrounded
15 by residents . I mean, I can ' t
16 believe that you ' re saying that you
17 have no influence . The Planning
18 Board shut us down by January 24th .
19 There was no more comments . There
20 was no more e-mails . There was no
21 more letters that were going to be
22 added to the file . That was it . We
23 had our three minutes to say our
24 piece, write our letters , and then
25 that ' s it . They don ' t want to hear
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 37
1 from us again . So that ' s why we ' re
2 here because , please, will you listen
3 to us and help us ? So I wrote my own
4 speech . Again, this is all I do .
5 Working 11 hour days , 7 days a week
6 to be able to afford my home . I
7 stand before you tonight, again, in
8 opposition of the proposed commercial
9 egg farm . According to the Planning
10 Board, there are no more chances for
11 us to speak publicly, nor submit any
12 additional letters or e-mails to be
13 added to this file . So here I am
14 again, begging and pleading for this
15 project to be shut down . I am not
16 just a proud resident of Jasmine Lane
17 because, Denis , you know how long it
18 took me to get this house . I worked
19 my ass off to get this house , and I
20 finally got a home of my own, in the
21 world of crap that I was in for
22 years . I felt safe . I didn ' t have
23 to rent from a landlord that was
24 threatening to kick me out all the
25 time . This is my home . It ' s a lot
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 38
1 of money . And I worked seven days a
2 week, 11 hour days , no joke , to
3 afford this home . But it ' s better
4 than the life that I had . I am not
5 just a proud resident of Jasmine
6 Lane, but I am also a community
7 member who has lived on the North
8 Fork since the mid-1960 ' s . I grew up
9 surrounded by farmland . My friends
10 worked on farms growing up in the
11 fields and at makeshift farm stands .
12 I remember open fields without
13 towering fences , without netting,
14 tractors and potato trucks moving
15 slowly along the roadside while
16 traffic trailed behind, waiting
17 patiently . Not like the people that
18 come out here now and have road rage
19 constantly . Somebody ' s going to kill
20 somebody on the North Road . Farm
21 stands abundant with their produce in
22 a makeshift building certainly never
23 3 , 000 square feet . That is the
24 allowable maximum in our Southold
25 Town Code . That ' s insane . 3 , 000
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 39
1 square feet? People don ' t even have
2 homes for 3 , 000 square feet, but
3 you ' re going to allow a 3 , 000 square
4 foot farm stand to be erected with no
5 site plan . That ' s what you also say .
6 No site plan needed . Just do what
7 you want . Farming was a part of the
8 landscape and part of our identity .
9 It co-existed peacefully with the
10 community . What I am struggling to
11 understand is how a project of this
12 magnitude was ever considered on a
13 parcel that is literally surrounded
14 on all sides by a single family
15 homes . 6 , 000 laying hens or more ,
16 because the land owner already said,
17 I can do more if I want, and we do
18 believe that he will . And who ' s
19 checking 6 , 000 chickens ? You ' re
20 going to have somebody counting
21 chickens ? Nobody ' s going to do that .
22 This guy ' s going to do whatever he
23 wants or more, as the applicant
24 stated at the hearing on January
25 12th . I kept asking myself, who
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 40
1 would decide to initiate such an
2 intensive , powerful odors that
3 generate health risks , noisy and
4 obtrusive commercial operation in the
5 middle of an established residential
6 neighborhood? And now, learning the
7 character of the owner through his
8 actions towards people, it ' s hard to
9 reconcile his claim that he wants to
10 be a good neighbor . Since this new
11 out-of-town land owner shows little
12 note to no regard for the community
13 members living all around his new
14 piece of property . We have concerns
15 of how the good neighbor system will
16 likely not work well with these new
17 owners . The right-to-farm should
18 never become a right to passage to
19 overwhelm or effectively destroy the
20 residential character around it .
21 This property is not an isolated
22 tract of agricultural land . It is
23 encircled by homes , homes owned and
24 occupied by the very community
25 members who serve this town every day
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 41
1 in countless ways . We are your
2 teachers , nurses , contractors , small
3 business owners and public servants .
4 We are not outsiders to be
5 disregarded . As it stands , the
6 landowner is proposing a 70 x 30 foot
7 metal building, approximately 100
8 feet from the end of Jasmine Lane . I
9 told you I could see the pink tape .
10 I did one of these , you know . 15
11 steps and there ' s the pink tape from
12 the end of the dead end . And the
13 Jasmine Lane operating 7 days a week
14 he says , 6 : 00 a . m . to 6 : 00 p . m .
15 including holidays . 6 , 000 chickens
16 or more, it ' s gonna be a lot more
17 than that . We ' re never gonna get any
18 sleep . The lights are gonna be
19 cranking all day long, including the
20 chickens and all his workers . 100
21 feet is nothing . Has anyone on this
22 Board or the Planning Board
23 physically visited the site and stood
24 at the end of Jasmine Lane? Has
25 anyone seen the hot pink tape that
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 42
1 runs from Mr . Reichert ' s backyard
2 across the road, through my front
3 yard to my backyard? We look at
4 those markers every day, wondering
5 when the mature trees and vegetation
6 that shield our homes will be
7 replaced by a noisy aluminum
8 structure . Place this building in
9 the middle of his 15 acres . Then it
10 will not be near any residences nor a
11 business , particularly Sparkling
12 Pointe . They ' re a classy,
13 established agricultural business and
14 we ' re happy to have them . So don ' t
15 say that we ' re not into farming,
16 because we are . And are very worried
17 about the noise and odors that will
18 emanate from this new venture . The
19 conflicting answers from the
20 landowner owner that the owner plans
21 to access the site from Jasmine Lane ,
22 which is in his application . I ' ve
23 scrutinized that application . He ' s
24 got conflicting answers on
25 everything, because he doesn ' t know
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 43
1 anything . At the meeting in October
2 or November, with the Land
3 Preservation meeting, the landowner
4 does not plan to access from Jasmine
5 Lane . Does he or doesn ' t he? Quite
6 frankly, makes me uneasy . So my
7 question regarding the building and
8 access . If Ackerly Pond will be his
9 access , then why allow a building to
10 be erected at the farthest east point
11 on his property? So picture , you ' re
12 on Ackerly Pond Lane, now you have to
13 drive all the way to Jasmine Lane to
14 get to his building with trucks ,
15 feed, chickens , manure . All this
16 kind of stuff . That makes no sense .
17 But I also don ' t want to
18 inconvenience my Ackerly Pond Lane
19 friends , either . Why allow this
20 building to be erected at the
21 farthest point? Huge trucks
22 delivering feed, equipment, hauling
23 away hopefully debris , manure , dead
24 birds , trucks delivering some means
25 of heat because I did my research,
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 44
1 and egg washers -- commercial egg
2 washers have to be 95 degrees because
3 they don ' t want to ruin the eggs . So
4 he ' s got to heat the water somehow,
5 otherwise he ' s going to ruin his
6 6 , 000 eggs every day . We ' ll have to
7 drive from Ackerly all the way east
8 to Jasmine Lane . Accessing water
9 from Jasmine Lane is a problem . We
10 get multiple notifications from
11 Suffolk County Water Authority to
12 reserve water and our water pressure
13 is terrible from June to October with
14 the increased population . The
15 applicant ' s answers on his
16 applications are inaccurate at best .
17 Financial reasoning should not sway
18 your decision because that ' s what he
19 says , oh my God it ' s going to cost me
20 so much more money . Guess what bud,
21 I don ' t care . Move the building .
22 It ' s ridiculous . Your final
23 decisions will be permanent, and the
24 lasting effects on our neighboring
25 homes will be permanent, and you will
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 45
1 have to live with that . And I say to
2 you, and I ' m here because I really,
3 really don ' t have any faith in the
4 Planning Board . They ' re not nice to
5 us anymore . The poor girls , I mean,
6 the girls have to field all these
7 questions because none of them want
8 to answer any questions . Go to the
9 girls . Go to the girls , and they ' re
10 so lovely, and they ' re so helpful ,
11 but nobody wants to hear from us
12 anymore . This is why we ' re here .
13 Supervisor Krupski , you have to --
14 You are a leader . You are our town ' s
15 leader . We look up to you . You ' re a
16 farmer, and I love that about you . I
17 love that about your family . I love
18 that about your neighboring family ' s
19 farmers . You have to help us . You
20 are the leader of this town, and we
21 look up to you, and we value your
22 opinion . This is not a minor
23 accessory building tucked away in a
24 distant field . It is development .
25 Whether you are building a home , a
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 46
1 winery, or a 70 x 30 foot metal
2 structure , it is development . These
3 buildings that you so-called
4 Agritourism needed for Agritourism,
5 they have bathrooms , sewage systems .
6 They ' re run off water, so dirty
7 water . That ' s development . So
8 you ' re calling it a farm in
9 agriculture? It ' s development, sorry
10 to say . It requires infrastructure,
11 generates traffic, activity, and
12 noise from egg washers , employees , et
13 cetera . I am positive this building
14 will also house his water pump . The
15 building material itself, the metal
16 building, adds to the noise as metal
17 will vibrate all of these tasks . It
18 will store feed for 6 , 000 chickens or
19 more, and then comes the mice and
20 rats . Simply placing it under the
21 umbrella of agriculture does not make
22 those impacts disappear . I am also
23 confused by the scope of the
24 application . The paperwork I
25 reviewed in January referenced 19
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 47
1 parking spaces , bathrooms , and what
2 appeared to be plans consistent with
3 a commercial scale 6 , 000 hen egg lane
4 operation, yet those pages are
5 missing when I got my copies . So I
6 asked clearly, what is the full
7 extent of what is being proposed
8 here? This is not just about a
9 building, it is about launching a
10 detrimental commercial business in
11 the middle of a residential
12 neighborhood . If this property
13 transitions into something else
14 allowed on agricultural land, we all
15 know what often follows , Agritourism,
16 which I just spoke about . On the
17 North Fork, and I am not against all
18 of these things , there ' s a time and a
19 place . On the North Fork,
20 Agritourism has become overwhelming
21 to the residents . Because of lenient
22 codes , farm stands can be up to 3 , 000
23 square feet and not require a site
24 plan . That ' s -- I can ' t even believe
25 that ' s in our codes . Before long, we
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 48
1 could be facing another building for
2 a farm stand because he only wants
3 one building, right? But eventually
4 he ' s going to put a 3 , 000 square foot
5 farm stand because where else is he
6 going to sell his eggs ? We ' re going
7 to watch trucks in and out? No, he ' s
8 going to have a farm stand because
9 that ' s what everybody likes , the
10 Summer people . How are we going to
11 go to the farm stands ? Before long
12 we could be facing another building
13 for a farm stand, amplified traffic,
14 events , parking congestion and
15 commercial activity directory
16 abutting our homes . And that ' s -- by
17 the way, probably going to go right
18 on Ackerly Pond Lane . This poor
19 little road that ' s been here forever
20 cannot handle this project, nor can
21 the residents . That is not
22 speculative . We have seen this
23 happen again and again . None of us
24 are against farming, and I want to
25 make that clear, because we have had
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 49
1 some nasty comments towards us that
2 we ' re against farming . That ' s not
3 the case at all . I appreciate the
4 innovation that has taken place on
5 the North Fork . I am a foodie myself
6 and I value fresh local produce and
7 the heritage of our agricultural
8 community, but there must be limits .
9 Not every parcel of agricultural land
10 is appropriate for every type of
11 agricultural use, especially of this
12 magnitude , surrounded entirely by
13 residential housing . Your own town
14 map designates our area, Ackerly Pond
15 Lane, Terry Lane, Main Road, Jasmine
16 Lane, Tucker ' s Lane, as low density
17 housing . In reality, it ' s nothing
18 but housing . It ' s high density
19 residential . Why you put us in a low
20 density housing area? I don ' t
21 understand that . Families have
22 invested their life savings here .
23 Some of us , like me, worked years and
24 have rented before finally purchasing
25 a modest half an acre home to secure
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 50
1 for me and my kids ' future . This
2 house is my retirement . It
3 represents decades of 7 day work
4 weeks and 11 hour days . I believe
5 that one day, that sacrifice would
6 provide stability and value . Now
7 with this looming project, I fear
8 that investment is at risk . And this
9 home is all I have . I don ' t have
10 anything else to fall back on . I ' m
11 not a farmer . I work for hourly . I
12 don ' t work . I don ' t have any skills .
13 I had to go back to work after a
14 divorce, which is fine . But my long
15 days and hours and what I do for a
16 living, for four jobs allows me this
17 house . And I ' m happy to do it . I ' m
18 not sleeping at night, as this is
19 filling me with grief . To see tree
20 after tree encased with hot pink tape
21 ready to come down, this proposed
22 factory farming business is going to
23 negatively impact my life and so many
24 of my neighbors as we know it . It
25 feels as though the town is so
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 51
1 focused on protecting agricultural
2 expansion, wineries , Agritourism, and
3 even short-term rentals . That ' s a
4 whole other problem . That is losing
5 its sight of the residents who have
6 been here for generations . Where are
7 our protections ? There has to be
8 some protections . Otherwise, do you
9 want the whole town, the whole
10 village to go agricultural ? Is that
11 what you really want? You want us
12 out? I don ' t know what you want .
13 Where are our protections ? Why do
14 residents seem to have little to no
15 rights when an agricultural label is
16 attached to a project? If
17 development rights were sold to
18 preserve farmland, why are we now
19 facing development of this intensity?
20 If the goal was preservation, then
21 perhaps the land should have remained
22 undeveloped . That ' s what I say . I
23 want open land . I don ' t want
24 anything developed . Not even a farm .
25 Like, I ' m for the farms , but I think
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 52
1 we have enough farms now . Like,
2 they ' re all being developed . When
3 you clear land, to me that ' s
4 development . When you leave it
5 alone, that ' s preservation . If the
6 goal was preservation, then perhaps
7 the land should have been
8 undeveloped . Alternatively, the town
9 desperately needs housing . A limited
10 number of homes would at least align
11 with the surrounding character . But
12 instead, we are being told that
13 because this is agriculture , it
14 proceeds with minimal scrutiny . It
15 is imperative that restrictions be
16 added when agricultural land is
17 surrounded entirely by residential
18 properties . Livestock operations ,
19 large-scale community egg production,
20 and industrial-style structures do
21 not belong 100 feet from somebody ' s
22 backyard, or in our case , our front
23 yard and backyard . If this building
24 is to be approved at all , it must be
25 relocated to the middle of his 15
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 53
1 acres . He has 15 acres to move this
2 building . This suggestion is not
3 unreasonable . Forget his financial
4 reasoning . We don ' t care, and you
5 should not care either . This -- that
6 should not be our problem, nor the
7 town ' s problem, if you are really
8 interested in all of us living
9 harmoniously . And I do believe we
10 can, if there are restrictions , major
11 restrictions , because this guy is
12 already our neighbor . He already
13 purchased the property . He ' s already
14 our neighbor . So that ' s problem
15 Number One . I respectfully ask this
16 board to pause and truly consider the
17 human impact and the impact to 6 , 000
18 chickens or more that this landowner
19 is experimenting with . I am speaking
20 up for the voiceless , the chickens ,
21 because I am a huge animal advocate .
22 I didn ' t even clear my whole land
23 because I like that wildlife . I like
24 to leave it alone . I like them to
25 have places because we ' re just
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 54
1 developing all over the place . Even
2 a farmland is development because now
3 you ' re clearing, now you ' re putting
4 big fence up, now there ' s no room for
5 wildlife . There is no farming
6 experience here . I thank goodness
7 every day that there are no chickens
8 next to me because of the weather .
9 If he had chickens over there with
10 this weather, I ' d be crying every
11 day . 6 , 000 chickens will require
12 round-the-clock care, which I am not
13 hopeful they will be treated
14 humanely . And what is he going to do
15 with the roosters that he
16 accidentally gets ? Because that ' s
17 the truth . And the lifespan of a
18 laying hen is only about 18 months .
19 So 6 , 000 chickens times 18 months ,
20 then what do we do? We ' re gonna get
21 more chickens , and we ' re gonna wait
22 till those die, and we get more
23 chickens . We ' re constantly gonna
24 have chickens over and over and over
25 again . After that, their ability to
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 55
1 lay eggs is drastically reduced after
2 18 months . Then what, with all these
3 chickens ? It ' s going to be
4 heartbreaking for an animal lover
5 like me sharing a property line . I
6 don ' t wanna hear anybody getting
7 killed . I don ' t wanna hear any
8 chickens being attacked by fox that
9 we enjoy right now . I enjoy, my
10 neighbors enjoy, watching the fox .
11 We have all kinds of wildlife that
12 we ' re enjoying . Visit the site . Has
13 anybody visited the site? Has
14 anybody drove down Jasmine Lane ? So
15 you know how beautiful our
16 development is . You know how much we
17 value our development .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
19 Well , you know, if you like , you
20 could come in tomorrow, because I
21 wrote down quite a few of the points
22 that you ' re -- and I ' d be happy to
23 talk to, maybe address some of these
24 with you tomorrow, if you ' d like?
25 SANDRA KOLLEN : I would love to .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 56
1 I will say that I e-mailed you and
2 you never answered me , because I
3 wanted to meet with you . Would you
4 have a couple of minutes to meet with
5 you and you never answered me? So
6 that was a little discouraging, but
7 now I will . I definitely will , and I
8 appreciate that .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
10 Good .
11 SANDRA KOLLEN : Visit the land .
12 Stand at the end of Jasmine Lane .
13 Imagine looking out your window every
14 day at a commercial agricultural
15 structure where mature trees and
16 vegetations once stood . Imagine
17 worrying about traffic, severe health
18 threats from the odor and the air
19 quality . Constant noise . They are
20 noisy . Their 6 , 000 chickens is 90
21 decibels . That ' s equivalent to 6 , 000
22 people having a loud conversation .
23 That ' s what we ' re gonna listen to
24 from 5 : 00 a . m . till 6 : 00 or 7 : 00 p . m .
25 when the sun goes down . That ' s
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 57
1 insane . Constant noise and the
2 unknown scope of future applications .
3 That ' s what I ' m really worried about
4 because everything around here lately
5 with these people coming in that have
6 a lot of money is a flip . They build
7 it, they build it up, they flip it .
8 So now the next person -- now I gotta
9 worry about the next person . What ' s
10 he gonna think? What ' s he got up his
11 sleeve? That ' s worrisome . We are
12 not asking to eliminate farming from
13 the North Fork . Again, I wanna be
14 clear . We are not eliminating
15 farming from the North Fork . I love
16 the farming that ' s happening here . I
17 love the innovation and the
18 intelligence of the people that are
19 having all these different farms . We
20 have mushrooms , we have produce , we
21 have everything . People are so
22 smart . We even have oyster farms .
23 Like, I just love it all . We are
24 asking for a balance, for reasonable
25 limits , and for some same
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 58
1 consideration that is extended to
2 other interests . Please protect the
3 people who call this community home .
4 I am hopeful that the Town Board,
5 specifically you, our Town Supervisor
6 Krupski , interjects on this project
7 and initiates intense restrictions to
8 the Planning Board . You have that
9 ability . I already read it, you have
10 that ability, and we expect decent
11 decisions to be made . I have done my
12 due diligence, researching since
13 January 12th, on Town Codes , chicken
14 care, diseases , human health, humane
15 treatment, local and state
16 residential and agricultural codes .
17 Has anyone else done their research
18 on any of these things ? I mean, I
19 know you all know your codes , but
20 chickens in general , like, I don ' t
21 know, I ' ve learned so much and I
22 really don ' t wanna do this . I work
23 11 hour days , have I mentioned?
24 Drastically reducing the number of
25 chickens , that ' s Number One . Why
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 59
1 start with 6 , 000 chickens or more as
2 an inexperienced new poultry farm?
3 That ' s what I wanna know . You have
4 the ability to say to him, listen,
5 6 , 000 chickens , why don ' t you start
6 with 1 , 000 or 2 , 000 and let ' s see how
7 it goes . What ' s wrong with that?
8 Substantial buffers are 300 feet or
9 more and that ' s not me coming up with
10 a 300 foot number . That ' s research
11 that I ' ve done . It says 300 feet
12 will act as a filter for the dander
13 and hazardous particles that will be
14 flying in the air 24 hours a day .
15 Keep existing vegetation and trees as
16 a buffer . No need to clear all the
17 way to the property line . And that ' s
18 what I said to Brian Cummings . I
19 said, why? He says , well , you know,
20 a buffer could mean new growth, you
21 know, like planting new trees or he
22 says it could be a fence . Leave it
23 alone . Leave 300 feet alone, just
24 leave it . Why uproot it to build new
25 things , you know, plant new things ,
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 60
1 it makes no sense . Relocation of the
2 proposed building to the middle of
3 the property so as not to
4 inconvenience anyone . Rats due to
5 the storage of feed for 6 , 000
6 chickens . Noise from egg washes
7 against the metal structure . Work
8 beginning at 6 : 00 a . m . to 6 : 00 p . m .
9 every day . And the explanation of
10 his water usage as his calculations
11 and answers on his applications are
12 inaccurate . They ' re just inaccurate .
13 If you did your research, you would
14 see that they ' re inaccurate . I did
15 my research . He says a thousand
16 gallons per day . Guess what? 6 , 000
17 chickens need a thousand gallons per
18 day . 6 , 000 chickens need 1 , 500
19 gallons a day in the heat, which is
20 between May and September on the
21 North Fork . His egg washes are 55
22 gallons a day . I don ' t believe that
23 because it ' s going to be more because
24 we ' re going to have more than 6 , 000
25 chickens . So we ' re going to have
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 61
1 more than 6 , 000 eggs a day . I don ' t
2 believe that figure . We ' re talking
3 about bathrooms , flushing the toilet .
4 The employees are going to use water .
5 This man is definitely going to
6 exceed over 2 , 000 gallons a day . So
7 his 1 , 000 gallons a day for the
8 Suffolk County Water Authority to
9 say, oh, okay, that ' s no problem . We
10 can do that . Inaccurate .
11 Explanation of traffic patterns .
12 What ' s Ackerly Pond Lane? Has
13 anybody done the traffic study? Just
14 because it ' s agricultural , none of
15 these things have been done . I can
16 tell you right now, you guys have not
17 done that . Planning Board has not
18 done that . Residential roads were
19 never meant to have commercial
20 traffic on them . And don ' t forget
21 about the historic railroad bridge on
22 Ackerly Pond Lane .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So
24 feel free , if you want to, just come
25 in tomorrow if you ' d like to .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 62
1 SANDRA KOLLEN : I do, I will .
2 Now, the right-to-farm law says ,
3 protect practices on raising poultry
4 and selling produce, however, these
5 activities must not have a
6 substantial adverse effect on the
7 public health, safety and welfare .
8 That is your code . You wrote it .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Now,
10 feel free to come in and learn what
11 you want , and some of these things I
12 can address . Some I ' m not really
13 familiar with, you know, the amount
14 of water used for eggs in washing,
15 things like that, I admit, but we can
16 certainly talk about addressing a lot
17 of the concerns that you brought up .
18 SANDRA KOLLEN : The other thing
19 is disclosure of the right-to-farm .
20 It says , farmers provide fresh food
21 and clean air . This farmer is not
22 providing clean air . Good
23 agricultural practices are presumed
24 not to adversely affect the public
25 health and safety, and welfare . You
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 63
1 wrote that too . And the other thing
2 is , our development is a HUD
3 development, meaning that it ' s
4 affordable housing . So HUD says --
5 HUD says , even after a site is
6 established, HUD assisted projects
7 must maintain a suitable living
8 environment, which can be used to
9 challenge new nearby industrial
10 developments that introduce excessive
11 noise, odor, or pollution . That ' s
12 from HUD . Most of our mortgages are
13 HUD . Industrial farming must comply
14 with Federal Regulations , including
15 the Clean Water Act and National
16 Pollutant Discharge Elimination
17 System . HUD has strengthened --
18 bah-bah-bah -- adverse human health
19 and environmental effects on
20 low-income populations . That ' s us .
21 I said about the buffer . He only has
22 15 acres , but the hoop houses , he
23 says , he only wants -- he ' s only
24 going to do six . Like as if that ' s
25 going to make us feel that any
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 64
1 better, but to have 6 , 000 chickens ,
2 six hoop houses , that ' s a 1 , 000
3 chickens per hoop house . That is not
4 a movable hoop house . How will he
5 move a movable hoop house that has to
6 be 2 , 000 square foot each to maintain
7 1 , 000 hens per hoop house . That is
8 not a daily manageable hoop house? I
9 don ' t know . I don ' t know what else
10 to say about that . So here it is
11 right here . The owner plans to
12 access the site from Jasmine Lane ,
13 but then he says , no, I ' m not going
14 to do that . So what ' s the truth
15 here?
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : If
17 you want, just bring everything in
18 tomorrow .
19 SANDRA KOLLEN : I definitely
20 will , but I just wanted to bring to
21 your attention this also, the
22 groundwater sensitivity area . Like I
23 said, I did my research . And this is
24 what this says , this is the LWRP --
25 the water something --
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 65
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
2 Local Waterfront Revitalization --
3 SANDRA KOLLEN : Thank you . Yes .
4 So I did my research, and here ' s
5 where we are . So this is the special
6 groundwater protection area . Look
7 where we are , Jasmine Lane . This is
8 his property, all the way up to
9 Middle Road . He ' s putting 6 , 000
10 chickens on special groundwater
11 protection area . I don ' t understand
12 that . Unless I really don ' t
13 understand, that just doesn ' t make
14 any sense to me . So I don ' t think
15 that anybody did their research as
16 far as the Planning Board . He also
17 says 55 gallons a day for egg washes .
18 Maybe just the egg washes , but that ' s
19 not the rest of his water . I already
20 addressed the water . Low density
21 housing . He ' s right next to Southold
22 School . Although he says , are there
23 any facilities serving children, the
24 elderly, people with disabilities
25 within 1 , 500 feet of the project? He
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 66
1 wrote, "no . " Well , Southold School is
2 right there . So he wrote "no . " So
3 nobody questioned that? He also only
4 mentioned cottontail rabbits , red
5 fox, gray squirrels , and raccoons .
6 That ' s all he mentioned . Under the
7 Federal Migratory Bird Treaty,
8 woodchucks , barn owls , great horned
9 owls , short eared owls . Those are
10 just the owls I researched .
11 Historical sites . This property
12 owner knows nothing about Southold .
13 So what does he write? He writes ,
14 Founders Landing is the only
15 historical site that ' s going to be
16 affected . Well , guess what? These
17 are our village historical sites . If
18 he was from Southold, or was invested
19 in Southold, he would know this , but
20 he ' s not . And I ' m worried about the
21 Southold Town Fire District, says --
22 recommends , an access road to the
23 building or barn, and a hydrant near
24 the building . So are you going to
25 say to me? Well , they said it, so
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 67
1 the building has to go there . No, it
2 does not . There ' s already a fire
3 hydrant right there . And if he ' s --
4 I don ' t even know, distance , half a
5 mile in, there ' s a fire hydrant right
6 there . That should not sway him by
7 his decision, because I know that
8 that ' s going to be an issue . What
9 happens to all the houses that don ' t
10 live by a fire hydrant? So within 7
11 days , he got the okay to cut down
12 these trees . Nothing ever happens at
13 the Town Hall or the Building
14 Department or the Planning Board
15 within 7 days . Nothing . But this
16 one did . So that ' s my speech, and I
17 really hope that -- I know that you
18 say that you don ' t have an influence ,
19 but I really believe that you do .
20 The Planning Board is not, you know,
21 they ' re young . They ' re a young
22 committee , and you have experience
23 and you have knowledge, and I respect
24 your knowledge . And I expect you to
25 intervene . I really do . You must
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 68
1 intervene . You are our leader .
2 Thank you very much .
3 STEPHEN KIELY : Good evening
4 again, Town Board . Stephen Kiely
5 from Mattituck . I ' m here to speak
6 tonight, going to pivot here,
7 regarding the East End Public Safety
8 and Accountability Local Law . Two
9 questions that I have based upon
10 Councilwoman Smith ' s comments . One,
11 is that latest iteration public on
12 the website?
13 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH :
14 ( Inaudible ) .
15 STEPHEN KIELY : Will it be?
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : It
17 should be . By tomorrow .
18 STEPHEN KIELY : Okay, great .
19 It ' s hard to find even, like , you
20 need a Google Drive or whatever that
21 is , but anyway . So also, as far as
22 the task force, has there been an
23 advertisement for people who want to
24 be part of this task force?
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 69
1 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : We ' ve
2 established the rules that we need
3 right now .
4 STEPHEN KIELY : No , I just
5 didn ' t, because you said you picked a
6 community member at large .
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We
8 haven ' t picked anyone yet, but we
9 will pick someone .
10 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH :
11 ( Inaudible ) community input and we
12 invited the village to send someone
13 because of the activity being in the
14 village .
15 STEPHEN KIELY : Okay, yeah . I
16 just didn ' t know, because typically
17 when you task force some committees ,
18 you put out an advertisement asking
19 anybody who ' s interested .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : This
21 isn ' t going to be a committee . This
22 is going to be a couple times just to
23 review that legislation . That and
24 other proposed legislation .
25 STEPHEN KIELY : Okay . All
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 70
1 right . So I ' m going to make a couple
2 of brief statements on the current
3 iteration, and then obviously I don ' t
4 know if how it was changed, but -- so
5 I understand that it ' s the first
6 golden resolution and then within the
7 body it ' s a local law . I ' m not sure
8 which way they ' re going with it,
9 whether it ' ll be a resolution and
10 it ' ll be a directive as police
11 commissioners to the police
12 department , or it ' s going to be
13 something codified in the town code,
14 but needless to say that ' s just --
15 I ' m geeking out , Town Attorney
16 geeking out right now . So I
17 understand it was drafted in response
18 to concerns about recent ICE activity
19 on the East End . And I recognize the
20 sincere compassion and worry that
21 some in our community feel for our
22 migrant neighbors . These families
23 are part of the fabric of our town,
24 they work in our businesses ,
25 contribute to our economy, and have
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 71
1 children learning alongside our own,
2 including mine . I believe many of us
3 share the hope that those who are
4 simply trying to build a better life
5 here would have a short path toward
6 legal status , and should not live in
7 unwarranted fear . That compassion is
8 real , and it matters but I also
9 believe that when we legislate from a
10 place of emotion alone, we risk
11 creating consequences that none of us
12 intend . The proposed local law would
13 require our police to investigate ICE
14 for potential impersonation claims .
15 Report ICE activity to any
16 organization that requests them, and
17 use license plate readers on ICE
18 vehicles . While I understand the
19 desire for transparency, I worry that
20 these measures can unintentionally
21 hinder legitimate Federal operations ,
22 particularly when it comes to
23 individuals who have been convicted
24 of serious crimes . As a criminal
25 attorney practiced on the East End, I
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 72
1 have seen firsthand that while many
2 migrants are hardworking and will
3 abide, there is a smaller group
4 within that community, who have
5 committed offenses such as rape ,
6 sexual assault, public lewdness , DWI ,
7 drug dealing, robbery, burglary, and
8 other violent crimes . These cases
9 are not abstractions . They involve
10 real victims and real harm . Our
11 community has a responsibility to
12 ensure that individuals who pose a
13 threat can be removed swiftly and
14 safely . My concern is that the local
15 law, though seemingly
16 well-intentioned, can make that more
17 difficult . The local law does not
18 create a sanctuary town, admittedly,
19 but it does create a hostile
20 environment for Federal law officers
21 who are carrying out lawful duties .
22 It asks our police to take actions
23 that may impede safety efforts ,
24 rather than support them . I believe
25 there is a more constructive path,
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 73
1 one that honors both our compassion
2 and our responsibility to protect our
3 community . First, I urge the Town
4 Board to issue a sense resolution
5 encouraging our Federal
6 representatives to support the
7 Bipartisan Dignity Act, which will
8 provide a meaningful path to legal
9 status for many of our neighbors .
10 That is the kind of reform that
11 addresses the root of the issue .
12 Second, if the goal is transparency
13 and accountability, we should build
14 on the trust we already have in our
15 local police . The local law itself
16 acknowledges their professionalism
17 and dedication . Instead of placing
18 them at odds with Federal agencies ,
19 we can empower them to work alongside
20 us in ways that ensure operations are
21 safe, transparent, and respectful .
22 They can include deputizing certain
23 officers under a 287G agreement,
24 conduct joint operations , have local
25 officers accompany ICE during those
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 74
1 operations , or establish direct
2 information sharing protocols . These
3 approaches allow our police who know
4 this community best to be present ,
5 informed, and involved . They also
6 reduce the risk of impersonation or
7 unsafe practices because our officers
8 will be directly engaged . My hope is
9 that the Board will consider these
10 alternatives , and also ensure that
11 the Public Safety Task Force includes
12 a full range of voices . Our
13 community has diverse views and the
14 solutions we craft should reflect
15 that diversity . Thank you for
16 listening and for your commitment to
17 the well-being of everyone who calls
18 Southold . Thank you .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
20 Thank you . We were just in response
21 to that . We did get that e-mail with
22 a new proposal at 9 : 20 last night ,
23 and we had work session all day
24 today .
25 STEPHEN KIELY : No , no, no --
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 75
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
2 We ' re at a disadvantage . None of us
3 had a chance to really look at it ,
4 except to see that it was quite
5 different from the original proposal
6 that we received . So we will make
7 sure that ' s posted tomorrow .
8 STEPHEN KIELY : Okay . Thank
9 you .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
11 Thank you .
12 ED DUNN : My name is Ed Dunn,
13 Jasmine Lane . I just want to share
14 some thoughts of my life and I put
15 down on paper, on public record .
16 I ' ll read to you . As original
17 residents of Southold Village ,
18 Southold ' s very successful affordable
19 housing neighborhood . We ' re writing
20 to express our concerns with the
21 proposed chicken farm and the
22 property adjacent Jasmine Lane .
23 We ' re aware of the development of the
24 ( inaudible ) land, which was sold as
25 development rights to the Town of
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 76
1 Southold . And it ' s too bad like we
2 had that Albertson Lane proposal .
3 Wouldn ' t it be great if the Town
4 could possibly even see their way to
5 take this into protected land . But
6 anyway, we ' re aware that the Southold
7 Town has adopted New York ' s
8 Right-to-Farm Law . We do not believe
9 that these have the right to impact
10 the quality of life of the
11 neighborhood . It was proposed by the
12 tenant of Southold as affordable
13 housing for its working class
14 community members . The proposed
15 chicken farm will greatly impact the
16 quality of life of the neighborhood
17 through potential infestation by
18 rodents , effective feasting fire from
19 noise generated, and not to mention
20 the smell and the impact of air
21 quality that was generated by 6 , 000
22 plus chickens and their excrement .
23 Other potential concerns of the
24 elevation of the property, they ' re
25 uphill from us . And the uncontrolled
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 77
1 runoff pitching contaminants in the
2 neighborhood . The contamination of
3 groundwater of -- the creek is not
4 too far down on the -- by the Wickham
5 property would choose to be .
6 Contamination of groundwater, the use
7 of water to wash the eggs , and the
8 access to the property through the
9 neighborhood and the commercial
10 traffic it would entail . Currently
11 our school-aged children are being
12 picked up at the Main Road in
13 Jasmine . And so you worry commercial
14 traffic there . Many years ago we got
15 the buses into the neighborhood . The
16 Highway Department, Mrs . Cochran,
17 there were a lot involved, Jim
18 McMahon, in getting the buses in,
19 with the caveat , you can ' t park on
20 our streets . It was in our
21 guidelines . So the buses , emergency
22 vehicles , could get through .
23 Commercial trucks is going to be a
24 tough one . The road currently is in
25 very poor condition as well . It ' s
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 78
1 coming apart . It ' s 35 years old .
2 And more importantly, there are many
3 children in the neighborhood that
4 ride their bikes . It ' s a closed
5 neighborhood . It ' s nice . There ' s no
6 traffic . And visit their friends
7 utilizing this road and the
8 sidewalks . We ' ve been blessed to
9 raise our children in a safe
10 neighborhood, and it certainly was .
11 I think when we moved in, I think we
12 came up with 55 kids , school-age
13 kids . That ' s why we were able to get
14 the buses into the neighborhood with
15 the town backing us . It was at the
16 time pushed back by the school . And
17 even Mr . Brown brought a school bus
18 in, and said, I can clearly do this .
19 The Town Engineer Geyer came in,
20 said, we ' re good to go . We have a
21 lot of great supports , a great
22 neighborhood . So we ' ve been blessed
23 to raise our children in a safe
24 neighborhood without the worry of
25 being a busy thoroughfare with
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 79
1 commercial traffic jeopardizing their
2 safety . We need to protect the
3 school children and the attendees of
4 school sporting events from the
5 adverse effects of this proposed
6 commercial business . The school is
7 downwind from the prevailing winds
8 that carry the contaminants and
9 smells of school . We used to joke it
10 was Kansas , yet we all had closed
11 lines . And the wind coming down is
12 great for drying clothes . That ' s the
13 same wind that ' s going to push across
14 the Main Road and into our school
15 fields . We find it incredible , the
16 town that we have resided in for
17 40-plus years . My wife was born in
18 Eastern Long Island Hospital , and
19 she ' s a lifelong resident . I ' m a
20 transplant boy, I ' ve been here 40
21 years -- even consider this project,
22 especially when it ' s come to light
23 that they ' re out of town people , and
24 they ' re not even local people , that
25 it might be easier to speak with them
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 80
1 on this . Our neighborhood is
2 comprised of your firemen, your
3 police officer, your hospital
4 workers , teachers , and other
5 essential workers for this
6 successful , affordable housing
7 neighborhood was built for . I
8 remember we had to jump through hoops
9 at the time, we couldn ' t make too
10 much, we couldn ' t make too little ,
11 our side incomes wasn ' t counted on,
12 we had to live and work in the area .
13 It was perfect for that . And our
14 original occupants , like ourselves ,
15 all had to jump through those hoops
16 to do so . And many are still there .
17 As we spoke, don ' t we matter anymore?
18 Is our quality of life not important
19 because we live in a affordable
20 housing neighborhood? I remember one
21 of our neighbors down the Main Road
22 was had his signs up " stop the
23 projects . " We were considered
24 "Southold projects " at the time .
25 Another consideration of the Town
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 81
1 Board is the potential loss of tax
2 revenue . And this is important . If
3 the chicken farm goes through, we
4 will certainly experience a great
5 decrease in our home values , which
6 will impact the amount of property
7 taxes collected by the town . You can
8 be assured that we ' ll have to be
9 grieving our current assessment . We
10 have very low taxes out here overall
11 than we do up in Suffolk County . We
12 understand that . But if our house
13 value drops , say, at half, it ' s
14 revenue again . We think we speak for
15 most of our neighbors in our homes
16 that our greatest asset and loss of
17 value will greatly impact our future
18 retirement status for us older ones .
19 Were aging out, and our ability to
20 remain in Southold . We moved into
21 the neighborhood . We all had
22 children . We made a little more
23 money . We started having garages .
24 Then we graduated to having pools .
25 That ' s the way the progression went .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 82
1 All working class in there . Southold
2 Village was and continues to be a
3 very successful affordable housing
4 project . And we feel a huge win for
5 the working class residents of
6 Southold . Let ' s keep it that way .
7 The end goal should be health,
8 safety, and welfare of our community,
9 not the pocketbooks of others that
10 have no ties in the community, and
11 may not be good neighbors . We ' re not
12 sure . It ' s not an old name in the
13 town . Thanks for your dedication to
14 keeping Southold the wonderful
15 community it is . Our one son ' s a
16 Navy pilot . He went through our ROTC
17 program . You ' ll see him up in the --
18 he has the banner across from
19 Michelangelo ' s when we put that out .
20 He won the free wedding at Brecknacht
21 Hall . It ' s a great town . It ' s done
22 very well by us . We ' d like to be
23 able to retire -- I ' m still working
24 at North Ferry . But I ' d like to be
25 able to retire and be able to enjoy
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 83
1 my home still and not have the
2 traffic and the odors , besides the
3 home value going down, just the
4 quality of life . And I fear that it
5 could disappear if it goes through .
6 So any help you can do, at least
7 while I ' m popping the public record
8 now, and any help you can put out
9 there, that would be great . Thank
10 you .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
12 Thank you .
13 LESLIE HERRLIN : Hello,
14 everyone . Good to see you . How are
15 you? I have a few things to say
16 regarding this craziness . So I have
17 questions regarding the 6 , 000 to
18 upwards of 12 , 000 chicken egg
19 production operation . Basically
20 factory farming that is planned just
21 steps from my home and the community .
22 The proposal was described by a town
23 official as just a father and son
24 chicken farm . No big deal , everyone
25 is making a big deal about it . And
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 84
1 we know now it ' s a very big deal .
2 And suddenly that same official said
3 he now can ' t speak to it . He cannot
4 talk about the father and son, but
5 the residents still have questions ,
6 and we want answers because what we
7 found in publicly available records
8 is noteworthy . And it ' s important to
9 share in the name of transparency .
10 And if the town won ' t speak to it ,
11 the community will . The son, Grant
12 Callahan, is 22-years-old and is
13 graduating from NYU this Spring .
14 This is all publicly available
15 information . He ' s studying business ,
16 is from Old Westbury, and there ' s no
17 record of him being in a farming
18 family or having a farm . One would
19 expect an operation of this scale and
20 magnitude proposed as a father and
21 son chicken farm, that there would be
22 farming experience . However,
23 publicly available records show the
24 father, Brian Callahan, to be a
25 convicted felon in a $ 97 million
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 85
1 Ponzi scheme case on Long Island .
2 There ' s nothing suggesting he ' s a
3 farmer or that he ' s from a farm
4 family, and we, as a community, are
5 being accused of being anti-farm and
6 opposing farming . We support farming
7 and farm families . Some grew up on
8 farms , worked on farms or owned
9 farms . We ' re families , too . And we
10 have a proven track record of being a
11 successful community, giving back to
12 the town in many ways . What is the
13 owner ' s track record? Neighbors need
14 to be assured, need to be reassured,
15 that all the policies and procedures
16 that are put in place by the State of
17 New York ' s Ag and Markets Laws are
18 followed . That as it pertains to
19 this chicken egg factory, that the
20 safeguards that govern this type of
21 operation are followed to the letter
22 of the law . That there would be
23 strict adherence to the guidelines to
24 even the basic standards of care for
25 the chickens , the environment , manure
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 86
1 management , public health, and
2 safety . Avian Flu prevention and
3 protocols , noise mitigation, light
4 mitigation, pest mitigation for
5 neighbors and the surrounding
6 community . We also want to be sure
7 that all the policies and procedures
8 that are put in place by the Town of
9 Southold have been followed . How can
10 we be sure , in light of the recent
11 public findings , there needs to be
12 direct oversight on every aspect of
13 this operation . Our family ' s health,
14 our environment , the aquifer of
15 property values , and our air quality,
16 our quality of life, are worth
17 protecting . And why is this being
18 pushed through? This is a huge
19 industrial operation . How did it get
20 this far, this fast, without the
21 public ' s scrutiny and demands ? There
22 is a lot of information in the public
23 record, some of which shows Brian
24 Callahan ' s direct involvement in the
25 chicken farm . He sat in on meetings
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 87
1 at the Land Preservation Committee,
2 and he also sent out Certified
3 Mailing notifications for the
4 variants . Brian ' s name is in and on
5 this proposal . What is his
6 involvement? In the essence of full
7 transparency, the community would
8 like to know . I feel we have the
9 right to know who the town is doing
10 business with . We want full
11 transparency on every aspect of this
12 proposal . And I was glad to hear
13 that this was given to the
14 Agricultural Advisory Committee , but
15 I was really struck when I read this
16 letter given by Anthony Cimino to the
17 Planning Board . In part, it says he
18 didn ' t understand why there was a
19 public hearing to begin with on the
20 project, that he was glad that the
21 Town Board let us know about the
22 right-to-farm . And that he hopes
23 there wouldn ' t be any delays , and if
24 the owner didn ' t want to move the
25 barn, that would be okay . This is
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 88
1 someone who previously ran for public
2 office to represent the citizens .
3 Now here , without any regard for our
4 property values , our health, safety,
5 and welfare, that he has no regard or
6 consideration for us at all . This
7 clearly states that . Thank you very
8 much . The right-to-farm law notice
9 of farm practices states in part that
10 farming provides fresh food, clean
11 air, economic diversity, and
12 aesthetic open spaces to all its
13 citizens , not to adversely affect the
14 public health, safety, and welfare,
15 that they are presumed reasonable .
16 And such activities do not constitute
17 a nuisance unless the activity has a
18 substantial adverse effect on the
19 public health, safety, and welfare .
20 To immediately disregard the
21 residents ' concerns and the effects
22 on our town is disturbing because
23 this industry-scale chicken egg
24 production operation is a public
25 health risk to the residents and the
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 89
1 Town of Southold . There ' s a lot of
2 children in the community, one with
3 asthma . It ' s a diverse community,
4 many with underlying health issues
5 and respiratory and heart conditions .
6 It ' s a vulnerable population . Some
7 are more susceptible to the adverse
8 health effects just because of their
9 age . And let ' s not forget our pets .
10 They ' re our family, too . And the
11 chickens ' welfare, the stress on the
12 thousands upon thousands of chickens
13 that will be ultimately slaughtered
14 after no longer producing enough
15 eggs . There ' s risks to the
16 environment and our roadways .
17 There ' s going to be a lot of
18 trucking, huge amounts of trucking,
19 in and out , possibly 24 hours a day .
20 I would say that is unreasonable and
21 inappropriate for the location . It ' s
22 crazy that our community will have to
23 absorb all of this . This whole thing
24 does not make sense right in the
25 heart of Southold . The smell for one
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 90
1 coming into the town will be
2 horrendous . Sparkling Pointe doesn ' t
3 want it, and many in the community do
4 not want this , and it ' s not because
5 we ' re against farming . It ' s because
6 it doesn ' t belong next to the densely
7 populated residential housing
8 community . This is not a farm . It ' s
9 a factory scale egg production plant .
10 The Callahan ' s , the owners of the
11 operation, will reap all the
12 financial benefits from this
13 enterprise , and the residents will be
14 left to bear all the burdens and all
15 of the negative consequences . We are
16 expected to absorb it all , a
17 community that the town created, an
18 agreement that the town entered into
19 with its residents for safe ,
20 affordable , livable housing with New
21 York State grants and HUD . They were
22 applauded for -- The town was
23 applauded for this development .
24 Received all kinds of accolades for
25 affordable housing . To now have the
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 91
1 town officials some 35 years later
2 abandon that commitment, placing the
3 priorities of an out-of-town
4 businessman with no ties to the
5 community above its own tax-paying
6 residents speaks volumes . It speaks
7 volumes as to who they are willing to
8 stand with and who they are willing
9 to sacrifice . I ' ve posted some
10 information on Facebook, my neighbors
11 did too . I ' ve also posted
12 information on the Nextdoor App along
13 with our petition . If anybody wants
14 to look at it, let me know . The
15 community is hoping that someone will
16 help shine light on the issues raised
17 here . That the town officials would
18 now start to give careful
19 consideration to this operation and
20 how it would be managed, and if it in
21 fact gets approved . It may all be
22 legal , and that ' s all well and good .
23 That ' s great actually . However,
24 regardless of that , we don ' t know
25 what their plans are . Manure
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 92
1 storage, management of dead chickens ,
2 environmental protections , water
3 runoff, pollution, the aquifer,
4 trucking schedules , animal welfare,
5 and so much more . We have lots of
6 questions and clarification that is
7 needed when considering an operation
8 of this scale and magnitude right at
9 our doorsteps . Brian Callahan is a
10 convicted fellow . He doesn ' t have a
11 good track record of being a good
12 steward of real estate, of being a
13 good neighbor . This is all publicly
14 available information . Is he allowed
15 to be involved in an LLC in regards
16 to all this ? We have questions that
17 we ' d like to know . In the essence of
18 full transparency . It was only until
19 residents persisted in searching to
20 find out who our new neighbor would
21 be that all these things come to
22 life . Please know this is only one
23 part of the many reasons why the
24 community wants answers . And rejects
25 this proposal in its entirety . I
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 93
1 sent a FOIL request, my second one,
2 on February 16th last week to the
3 Town of Southold asking for
4 clarification . And I didn ' t realize
5 that I had to ask for specific
6 documents . So instead of telling me
7 right away, I called today to ask why
8 I didn ' t receive anything on my FOIL
9 request, and I was told I didn ' t ask
10 for specific documents . It would
11 have been nice to know two weeks ago .
12 My neighbors in the Town of Southold
13 residents have a right to know who
14 will be operating and managing this
15 project if it is approved . Who at
16 the town will be responsible for
17 making sure the residents are
18 protected? Trust and integrity on
19 the part of the owner and the town is
20 everything, and it ' s essential .
21 Nothing like this has ever existed in
22 the outlet . And now the question is
23 not how we got here, but what happens
24 next? Will the town act on behalf of
25 the residents it was elected to
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 94
1 serve? Will health safety create a
2 future for our community? Clean air,
3 road safety, groundwater, and quality
4 of life matter? Will the
5 preservation and character of our
6 town matter? Or will mistakes ,
7 whether oversight, haste , or poor
8 judgment, simply be buried in the
9 dirt and covered over under the
10 banner of the Right-to-Farm Law? The
11 Right-to-Farm Law was meant to
12 protect agriculture . It was never
13 meant to be used as soil to hide
14 problems . If something invasive
15 takes root in the wrong place , good
16 stewards don ' t ignore it . They pull
17 it out before it spreads . This is a
18 moment for stewardship . The Town
19 Planning Board can either bury
20 concerns or dig in, examine the
21 facts , and protect the community it
22 created . And I have to tell you, I
23 Googled 6 , 000 to 12 , 000 free-range
24 chickens , and it shows third world
25 countries . It keeps coming up third
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 95
1 world countries . I can ' t find one .
2 So we ask for manure management plan,
3 exact cubic yards per week, storage
4 method, runoff controls , nutrient
5 loading calculations , well water
6 testing plan, odor mitigation
7 protocol , fly control plan, rat
8 control , dead bird disposal protocol ,
9 emergency Avian Flu protocol , traffic
10 study . And if we don ' t have these,
11 we feel this application is
12 incomplete . And has the applicant
13 provided any professional appraisal
14 analysis regarding proximity impacts
15 of the 6 , 000 hen livestock operation
16 adjacent to single-family residences ?
17 That ' s something I ' d really like to
18 know because I ' m the closest resident
19 to this farm building . And others
20 are just steps away . So, again, I
21 really hope that the Town Planning
22 Board, and the Town Planning
23 Department , and the Southold Town
24 Agricultural Advisory Committee ,
25 listening and we ' ll watch all the
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 96
1 concerns that were raised here
2 tonight, because we ' re not against
3 farming . But this needs to be looked
4 at a lot differently than just a
5 regular farm . So thank you for your
6 time .
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
8 Thank you, Leslie . I ' m going to ask
9 for a 5 minute break . Thank you,
10 everyone , for your patience .
11 (Whereupon, a short recess was
12 taken at this time . )
13 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
14 Thank you everyone for your patience .
15 JOHN GIALLONARDO Good evening
16 Supervisor Krupski , and Members of
17 the Southold Town Board . My name is
18 John Giallonardo . I ' m an
19 Anthrozoologist and Executive
20 Director of Humane Long Island . Long
21 Island ' s leading animal advocacy
22 organization and farm animal rescue .
23 As a former constituent of Supervisor
24 Krupski when he served as a Suffolk
25 County Legislator, I want to begin by
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 97
1 echoing Councilmember Mealy ' s words
2 recognizing Al is a good neighbor and
3 a consistent supporter of animal
4 welfare . I ' m here tonight on behalf
5 of Humane Long Island and the many
6 Southold residents who have reached
7 out to us with serious concerns about
8 the proposed 6 , 000 to 12 , 000 chickens
9 egg operation at 2340 Ackerly Pond
10 Lane . We respectfully urge you not
11 to allow this proposal to move
12 forward . I live on the grounds of an
13 agricultural camp and care for
14 hundreds of rescued fowl annually .
15 So I ' m very familiar with farming .
16 However 6 , 000 chickens on a single
17 property is in a farm . It ' s a
18 factory operation with suffering
19 built into its business model .
20 Labels like pasture raised and
21 organic are marketing ploys , not
22 meaningful animal welfare
23 protections . They do not prohibit
24 the routine killing of day old male
25 chicks who can ' t lay eggs , via
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 98
1 suffocation or maturation . Severing
2 the sensitive tips of bird ' s beaks or
3 the slaughter of hens once their
4 bodies are spent at a fraction of
5 their natural lifespan . Organic
6 standards even restrict animals from
7 being treated with antibiotics when
8 they ' re sick or injured . So the
9 organic label is a negative , not a
10 positive when it comes to animal
11 welfare and animal safety . Beyond
12 animal welfare concerns , operations
13 of this scale pose serious risks to
14 nearby communities . Concentrating
15 thousands of birds in one location
16 dramatically increases the risk of
17 disease transmission . Avian
18 Influenza has already devastated
19 large-scale poultry operations on the
20 East End, including at Crescent Duck
21 Farm and Spring Farm . The more birds
22 can find in close quarters , the
23 greater the opportunity for viruses
24 to spread, mutate and potentially
25 jump species . Public health experts
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 99
1 have repeatedly warned that
2 large-scale poultry operations create
3 ideal conditions for the emergence of
4 zoonotic ( inaudible) disease . Even
5 absent a major outbreak, industrial
6 poultry facilities generate
7 significant environmental health
8 impacts . Large volumes of manure
9 produce ammonia, hydrogen sulfite ,
10 and fine particulate matter that can
11 travel beyond the property lines .
12 These airborne pollutants are
13 associated with respiratory
14 irritation, asthma, exacerbation,
15 headaches , and other health issues .
16 Particularly in children, seniors ,
17 and individuals with preexisting
18 conditions . Numerous peer-reviewed
19 studies have documented elevated
20 rates of respiratory symptoms among
21 people living near concentrated
22 animal fields operations . Runoff for
23 manure also threatens groundwater and
24 surface water quality through
25 nitrates , phosphorus , and bacterial
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 100
1 contamination . In a region like
2 Southold, where clean water,
3 vineyards , and tourism are central to
4 the local economy, even small
5 increases in nutrient pollution can
6 have outsized environmental and
7 economic consequences . Southold
8 should protect its existing
9 agricultural community, including
10 wineries , vineyards , and the many
11 fruit and vegetable farms that define
12 the region ' s character and economy .
13 An industrial egg facility threatens
14 neighboring agricultural operations ,
15 local tourism, and the residents
16 quality of life . Southold should
17 stand for genuine agriculture, not
18 factory farming disguised with
19 buzzwords . I respectfully urge you
20 to listen to your constituents today
21 and consider how you can help stop
22 this blight, and take a stand for
23 responsible community compatible
24 agriculture . Thank you for your time
25 and consideration .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 101
1 DON BRACKEN : Don Bracken ,
2 Jasmine Lane . Thank you guys for
3 having the meeting tonight . I know
4 it ' s a long night for you guys . I
5 feel bad you have to sit this long .
6 I ' m not going to bring up everything
7 you ' ve already heard about the
8 chicken farm . What I do want to ask
9 you as a resident, because I know the
10 Planning Board is in charge of what ' s
11 going to happen, is -- the reason
12 we ' re having this emotion is , the
13 town had an idea 40 years ago ,
14 carrying it out , and now we have a
15 Right-to-Farm Act . This would have
16 been easy if we stuck to the plan .
17 The way the development was built was
18 to have expansion into those
19 neighboring properties , including
20 this piece , for more housing .
21 Because it was AC, not only
22 agricultural . The mistake the
23 Planning Board made, and I think this
24 is not a mistake in the sense of
25 there ' s just something evil , there ' s
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 102
1 no continuation of thought . It ' s
2 been -- as you get a new group in,
3 they forget where we were before .
4 And to buy the development rights in
5 a hamlet on a piece that was already
6 set up to take more housing, that
7 should not have been done . It was
8 great for the landowner before , he
9 bought it for $ 6 and change . He got
10 a $1 . 2 million and sold it for $ 6 and
11 change . But look at where we are .
12 You have neighbors who are upset
13 because of the type of operation, I
14 think it ' s a form, the piece to
15 myself, the building rights were
16 bought, but they were given five
17 lots . So there was housing end of
18 end forming, and it was a wise thing
19 to do . And a smart thing for the
20 landowner there too . Part of that
21 land, to my south, has wetlands going
22 to Ackerly Pond . So they would have
23 trouble building all of that out
24 anyway . So it was a smart planning .
25 This was not smart . And you guys are
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 103
1 now talking about trying to increase
2 housing in this time in 2026 . I
3 would hate to be here 40 years from
4 now . I probably won ' t . Unless it ' s
5 a miracle . And have people up in
6 arms because of a similar situation,
7 because the thinking went one way 40
8 years before , but it changed later .
9 We need consistency of planning . And
10 that means somebody -- I know you
11 have an historian . Do you have a
12 Planning Historian? What were they
13 thinking when this went in? And how
14 does it affect this next purchase of
15 rights ? I think that ' s important .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Do
17 you know when the development rights
18 were bought?
19 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY :
20 2007 .
21 DON BRACKEN : And even when they
22 were bought, it ' s not like we got a
23 notice that this is what was
24 happening . We heard they were
25 bought . But save yourselves and
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 104
1 whoever the future born and for the
2 planning or the trouble and establish
3 some kind of continuity of thought
4 because nobody ' s crazy . We all
5 bought our houses at a great deal .
6 And truthfully, I built houses . I
7 couldn ' t build my house again . I
8 couldn ' t buy a house here in Southold
9 again . And I ' m grateful I ' m here .
10 I ' m grateful my kid ' s here . And, Al ,
11 I know you ' re grateful my daughter ' s
12 here because she ' s your
13 daughter-in-law . But that was
14 important . And it was a great
15 success . The college is a great
16 idea . She ' s got some issues with the
17 challenges . You know, it ' s a great
18 thing . To keep the value down . I
19 think what happened was with our
20 affordable housing, we had to stay 10
21 years to get the grant, just to
22 benefit from it . So we stayed up
23 here 32 years . And we put some --
24 Ann is here 35 years . And yes , one
25 other thing I don ' t want to bring up .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 105
1 For God ' s sake, we ' ve been paying
2 taxes for 35 years . I think it ' s
3 time for the town to pave the road
4 again . The only thing we ever got
5 was slurry three years in . And the
6 thing ' s cracking up . It ' s falling
7 apart . The Highway Department hates
8 plowing there . They just turn it up .
9 So I thought I ' d throw that in since
10 I ' m up here . Why not?
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : If
12 anyone ' s going to be here 40 years , I
13 think you ' ve got the right genes .
14 DON BRACKEN : We both got the
15 Polish thing going, so we ' re good .
16 All right . God bless you guys .
17 Thank you . And I know the purview is
18 the Planning Board . I ' m not
19 unrealistic . Hopefully, there could
20 be people on that Board too that
21 they ' re thinking bigger . Just a
22 comment, watching the work session
23 when we had the public meeting, what
24 they ' re worried about with a vineyard
25 in between housing was so over the
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 106
1 top, worried about outdoor speakers
2 and music and all this . And yet,
3 we ' re trying to explain what ' s
4 happening to our residents . And yet ,
5 well , it ' s the Right-to-Farm Law . I
6 don ' t think the law was written in a
7 way that it should be so ironclad
8 that, okay, it ' s a farm . We don ' t
9 care what you put there . And that ' s
10 how it came across in the work
11 session and in the public session .
12 And I think that ' s what ' s very
13 upsetting . I do know that some of
14 the members heard what we said . And
15 I ' m sure that they ' re going to try
16 and do the best so we can coexist .
17 But it is a major operation . And in
18 their own words , they did say we
19 could go up to 12 , 000 chickens .
20 That ' s a lot of chickens . Albert ,
21 you got 60 chickens . You could put
22 12 , 000 chickens on your records .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We
24 have eight . Thank you very much .
25 You guys have a great night .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 107
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
2 Thanks , Don . Hello Sandy .
3 SANDRA BENEDETTO : Good evening .
4 My name is Sandra Benedetto . I live
5 in Greenport . Thank you once again
6 for allowing me to speak with you
7 tonight, as always . I just can ' t let
8 something pass that was said . From
9 one of the previous speakers , my
10 friends , Mr . Kiely, talking about
11 legislating based on emotion . I
12 think one of the things that we have
13 to be careful about is he talked
14 about rapists and murderers and child
15 abusers , but one of the things that I
16 mentioned last week when I spoke to
17 you about the facts of the people who
18 were taken, is that if they were
19 hardened criminals , I would have
20 expected our police force to have
21 picked them up based on those crimes .
22 So we have to make sure that we are
23 not using emotion to create
24 legislation . And everything that
25 I ' ve talked to you about previously
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 108
1 when I talked about emotion, I ' m
2 talking about the terror in the
3 community, and I ' m talking about the
4 threats that the community speaks
5 about . So I just wanted to sort of
6 make a comment about that statement,
7 and I did go out and talk to Mr .
8 Kiely about it, had my feelings about
9 it . Councilwoman Smith, thank you
10 for the update regarding the progress
11 on the Public Safety Task Force with
12 regard to OLA . I think that when we
13 were here two weeks ago, this Town
14 Board acknowledged that you were
15 gonna move with a critical urgency,
16 and it ' s been a couple of weeks . A
17 number of us have been waiting, so I
18 would like to speak a little bit
19 later on about transparency and
20 communication, and how we can figure
21 out a way to improve upon that . But
22 also at the last meeting, the Town
23 Board expressed that it would look at
24 proposals , certainly including OLA,
25 but not excluding other things . And
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 109
1 that ' s one of the things that I wanna
2 talk about , because while I have not
3 seen the new proposal that OLA ' s put
4 out, as you mentioned, it only came
5 out last night . The previous one , I
6 supported in spirit, there were some
7 questions I had also, but when I
8 think about it, and I look at it, and
9 I ' ve talked to friends who are
10 attorneys and taken a look at it,
11 it ' s really sort of proposed as a
12 law, and we all know that laws take
13 years to enact . Greenport doesn ' t
14 have years . I want you all to really
15 understand that . We need to know
16 what other steps this Town Board and
17 body are taking to protect our
18 community . We are now up to 1 , 400
19 signatures on our petition, asking
20 the Town Board for a statement,
21 asking as police commissioners to
22 take other actions or consider other
23 actions . I am very happy that a task
24 force has been put into place . But
25 I ' ve been around the block for a
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 110
1 while, okay, with both local
2 government , regional government, you
3 know, as an executive in business . I
4 often know that when task forces are
5 set up, it ' s because we just want to
6 appease those outspoken people , so I
7 hope, and I truly believe that that ' s
8 not what ' s happening here . I ' ve seen
9 task force established in the past,
10 kind of go nowhere . So I just want
11 to state that for the record .
12 Greenport has experienced the raids .
13 I want to point out that the chaotic
14 lawlessness puts the entire community
15 at risk . I know that you guys get
16 that, right? And now we ' re hearing
17 things like this horrendous story in
18 Savannah, where there was an unlawful
19 chase, the bad, the immigrant was
20 targeted, feared his life . Again, we
21 have unidentified, armed, masked
22 people in cars . So he ' s terrified .
23 He makes an illegal turn at high
24 speed . And this woman is killed . I
25 want to point out to you that none of
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 111
1 you were there . I came in after the
2 fact, but the chaos in the Greenport
3 parking lot was like that . Somebody
4 could have been parking with their
5 kid to go to the IGA . When I ' m
6 talking about this kind of
7 lawlessness and chaos , it ' s not
8 only -- and I ' ve said it on multiple
9 occasions , it ' s not only about the
10 targeted community, it ' s about the
11 entire community . How do we get a
12 better handle on that? We really
13 need to understand it . There was a
14 report yesterday in Newark, New
15 Jersey, again, high speed crash,
16 illegal crash, illegal high speed,
17 right? Because police don ' t usually
18 go after people at high speed unless
19 they ' re going after a criminal , you
20 know . But ICE just does that .
21 They ' re speeding down Ludlam Street .
22 We had a woman here, I did not
23 witness it , but she lives on Ludlam
24 Street at the Town Board meeting two
25 weeks ago . She talked about them
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 112
1 zipping up her street at 50 miles an
2 hour . Have you been on Ludlam
3 Street? It ' s a small , dead-end
4 street . Kids live there . So I
5 really want you to think about other
6 ways that we can address this , and
7 I ' m not creating an either-or
8 situation . As I said, I support all
9 this work, but I think that we have
10 to be looking at other creative ways ,
11 and I don ' t want you to lose sight of
12 that . So I guess the only other
13 thing that I want to close with is
14 that transparency and communication,
15 I think, is key on this issue .
16 People are out there looking for some
17 leadership from you, some
18 communication . If we have a task
19 force, what is the urgency with which
20 it is being put together? People are
21 being named . Appreciate , Al , your
22 comments earlier to Mr . Kiely, about
23 how it is , it ' s not a committee .
24 It ' s not gonna be, you know, you ' re
25 putting it together to address
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 113
1 something in a very small scope . And
2 I do appreciate that . But we ' ve got
3 a -- you know, I ' m looking at some
4 urgency, and I ' m looking at my
5 community . To get some information
6 and to get some real leadership and
7 understanding from this Board about
8 what you ' re gonna be doing to protect
9 our people . So again, I thank you
10 for your time . I know it ' s been a
11 long night .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
13 Thank you Sandy . And it takes some
14 heart to hear because we do have a
15 couple of good examples of task
16 forces in town . The battery storage
17 one did a very good . Previous Town
18 Board appoints some very good people
19 to it . And they came up with a
20 report that we ' re still using . Short
21 term rental one , we had code
22 committed today to adjust short term
23 rentals . And they met four times .
24 They issued a report and they ' re
25 standing by it . It ' s still good . As
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 114
1 far as this task force goes , and I
2 understand what you ' re saying for
3 urgency, but then, you know, so we ' ve
4 got this proposed legislation . We
5 wanna form a task force to really
6 look at it seriously . And then last
7 night -- late last night, we did it .
8 Completely different version of it .
9 And so we ' re trying to hit that
10 moving target seriously, and consider
11 what it actually says , plus this
12 other state legislation that ' s been
13 proposed . We want to give that a
14 fair look and see how does it affect
15 us since we have our own police
16 department . So we are taking it
17 seriously .
18 SANDRA BENEDETTO : I understand,
19 but are you only looking at
20 outside -- outside like proposal from
21 OLA or state legislation? Is there
22 any discussion or ideas happening
23 here?
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
25 Well , that ' s part of it all . But we
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 115
1 don ' t have a baseline . We know what
2 we can do -- We ' ve put out those
3 statements before what we can do
4 legally . But then any other
5 proposal , we really need to consider
6 how it ' s going to affect our public
7 safety .
8 SANDRA BENEDETTO : I couldn ' t be
9 more concerned about public safety .
10 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : And I
11 think part of what has already come
12 up, and will continue to come up and
13 came up in our discussion today was
14 not just legislation and setting new
15 rules , but emergency management
16 approach to when any kind of
17 disruption in access to certain parts
18 of the town, schools , hospitals ,
19 neighborhoods , that we would want to
20 have a planned response . So part of
21 what we ' re hoping to hear from the
22 task force is what are immediate
23 things that are already allowed that
24 we could be doing to better interact
25 with, and be responsive, as well as ,
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 116
1 looking at more long-term legal
2 approaches .
3 SANDRA BENEDETTO : Thank you, I
4 appreciate that .
5 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : And
6 communication with the legislative
7 partners at the State level and the
8 Federal level , where we are really
9 looking for everyone to step in and
10 you can see the whole East End is
11 engaged .
12 SANDRA BENEDETTO : Well , I
13 appreciate your position . I mean,
14 you ' ve got to communicate out , you ' ve
15 got to communicate up . But then, but
16 how do we communicate down to us ?
17 You know, how do we know what ' s
18 happening so that 30 days don ' t go by
19 and then -- like, well we decided
20 this -- that is there a more fluid
21 way that we can have, you know, and
22 hopefully the task force is
23 representative of the community to
24 have that fluidity but also there
25 needs to be I think a more fluid
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 117
1 conversation or communication with
2 the larger faculty .
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
4 Thank you .
5 SANDRA BENEDETTO : Thank you .
6 TOM KENNEDY : Good evening . My
7 name is Tom Kennedy . I live in
8 Southold . I ' m not going to go into
9 too much detail on the wisdom of the
10 task force . Some of you are police
11 commissioners . You have a Police
12 Advisory Committee . You have a
13 police department . I think Mr . Kiely
14 brought some very good points up .
15 You know, those are your SME ' s , those
16 are your subject matter experts who
17 can work to give you solutions . It ' s
18 a task force . And the task force is
19 supposed to examine the health,
20 safety, and welfare concerns
21 associated with the Federal
22 immigration policies . So where is
23 the task force for this chicken farm
24 factory? Where is the united effort
25 by the Board to appoint people?
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 118
1 You ' re setting a precedent and your
2 silence is definitely noted . You ' re
3 very impassioned and your body
4 language , when it came to this task
5 force, you ' re engaged in it . But I ' m
6 telling you right now, you ' re setting
7 a precedent up for this community .
8 Where ' s the task force? Where ' s the
9 effort? Where ' s the energy from the
10 Town Board to get involved and listen
11 to the community? You ' re sitting
12 here silent . I haven ' t seen anybody .
13 But you have committees that are
14 dealing with the issues of law
15 enforcement, yet you set up a task
16 force . You have committees in
17 planning agriculture that are dealing
18 with the issues , yet you ' re not
19 creating a task force to give the
20 people . This is a big concern in the
21 community of health, welfare . Again,
22 I ' ve heard a lot of people speak
23 compassion about taxes , about the
24 future of land usage in the
25 community . But why are you taking
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 119
1 such a proactive stance on that issue
2 as well ? That ' s my question to all
3 of you . This matters to a lot of
4 people , and the decision that the
5 Planning Board makes and the Town ' s
6 actions , you ' re going to set a
7 precedent in this community . What ' s
8 next? It ' s not just this . What ' s
9 next? That ' s what I ask all of you .
10 So, take that energy that you ' re
11 putting into the task force , and I ' m
12 not going to speak to the wisdom of
13 it or my personal feelings about it
14 on the public safety issue .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
16 Well -- I ' m sorry . I thought you
17 were down .
18 TOM KENNEDY : No, by all means ,
19 go ahead .
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
21 Thank you . As far as that process , I
22 mean, the Planning Board set up to
23 review that, and they ' re reviewing
24 it . The Ag Advisory is a standing
25 committee , not a task force , but a
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 120
1 standing committee . Charged with
2 giving an opinion on agricultural
3 operations . And so they were asked
4 by the -- and I was there that night
5 in the Advisory Committee meeting,
6 the Planning Director came and asked
7 them and showed them the plans and
8 asked them to come up with an
9 opinion, you know, based on that
10 submission .
11 TOM KENNEDY : Well , couldn ' t
12 you, as the Town Board, ask them, you
13 know, do the same and ask for an
14 opinion on again the impacts that
15 this is gonna have on our community?
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : They
17 were asked -- that ' s what they were
18 asked from the Planning Board .
19 That ' s what their role is , that it
20 provides new role is to provide the
21 Planning Board -- in this case ,
22 Planning Board, with that opinion .
23 TOM KENNEDY : And again, and
24 it ' s just the Planning Board . It ' s
25 not this multi-dimensional with
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 121
1 different parts of the community that
2 are involved that can represent
3 different parts . You ' ve heard from
4 different people from the public
5 health aspect, from transportation to
6 tax, and you ' re not bringing all of
7 your experts in to give the same type
8 of energy effort towards this .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
10 Well , there ' s a whole -- I mean,
11 there ' s a whole Planning Board that ' s
12 set up and a Planning staff that ' s
13 set up to address that already .
14 Plus , the volunteer committee of Ag
15 Advisory . So there is quite a bit of
16 infrastructure there that the town
17 supports to make those decisions .
18 TOM KENNEDY : Couldn ' t the
19 safety set with the Police Advisory
20 Committee use police commissioners
21 have the same . Again, you should
22 create some redundancy now .
23 AUDIENCE : And can I just say
24 that the --
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Oh,
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 122
1 no, ma ' am . Let him finish . Thank
2 you .
3 TOM KENNEDY : No, I said my --
4 you know, but I wanted to say my
5 point . It ' s just, I think you need
6 to look at this issue . You can ' t
7 just say, oh, it ' s in Planning now .
8 I think you really need to look hard
9 and devote as much effort as you are
10 putting the Public Safety Task Force ,
11 you know, into this issue . Because
12 it is , it is multi-dimensional .
13 There are a lot of concerns . You can
14 read that statement that I read to
15 you, and you can take " federal
16 immigration" out, and you can put in
17 the "proposed chicken farm factory . "
18 And I think you can have the health
19 -- right , the safety, and the welfare
20 of the community . And that ' s what
21 I ' m asking . Thank you .
22 AUDIENCE : Just one thing to his
23 point --
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No ,
25 no . I ' m going to give everyone a
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 123
1 chance at the end before we have them
2 on the second side . So anyone else
3 like --
4 ROBERT DUNN : Me . Robert Dunn,
5 Peconic . The word you don ' t like to
6 hear goes from its inlet . This stone
7 we had was a double-barreled shotgun
8 on it . It brought in all of
9 Connecticut ' s spare lumber . The
10 rivers from Connecticut brought the
11 trees in, and the trees flowed over
12 to our side . And both sides of the
13 beach now are now loaded with large
14 trees . Worse than that . That ' s
15 the -- the Sound side of the channel .
16 On the pond side of the channel
17 there ' s an even bigger pile that ' s
18 just got a dam . I mean the channel
19 itself has a natural damming effect .
20 As the channel comes in and the
21 velocity goes down, the sand falls .
22 I ' m sure you ' re familiar . There ' s
23 always been that little hill in the
24 middle of the channel . Well , right
25 at the end of that now is a huge pile
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 124
1 of trees that floated in, in the
2 storm . And that ' s just gonna create
3 pockets for more sand . So if you
4 call the channel a double barrel
5 shotgun that can close the channel ,
6 it ' s cocked and loaded . And it ' s --
7 it ' s -- it ' s just gonna be -- if it
8 closes , you got six houses five or
9 six right on the border there that
10 will all be susceptible to flooding
11 in addition to Middle Lane, both in
12 front of my house . I ' m not worried
13 about that . I spent up on the grand
14 and I raised my house . So I ' m fine .
15 Your house will go before my house .
16 But there ' s -- on the pond side ,
17 further south, there ' s several houses
18 that are just above the water . I
19 keep calling it squids , it ' s not a
20 tail . But those houses are all just
21 barely above the shore . So if it was
22 to close , you have two problems .
23 Number one , there ' s nothing coming
24 in, but there ' s nothing going out
25 every time it rains . I mean, as it
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 125
1 is now at the intersection of Mill
2 and Soundview, that road floods in
3 bad rain as it is . Very unlikely,
4 but it floods . If you give it more
5 water, it ' s going to flood more
6 people . So I just -- that ' s
7 basically it .
8 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Go
9 take a look at it .
10 ROBERT DUNN : That ' s basically
11 it . I mean, you need some serious
12 luck . Jim had a real good, yeah --
13 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : He
14 kept up with that .
15 ROBERT DUNN : Yeah, he just --
16 he just knew everything about
17 Goldsmith . Mike is -- Mike is good,
18 but somebody should look . You
19 know --
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
21 That ' s too bad . I looked at it
22 before that, because he said it was
23 short -- So I went to look at that .
24 I looked at it before the storm and
25 it looked -- the mouth was beautiful .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 126
1 ROBERT DUNN : Yeah, I ' m going to
2 show you some pictures . You wouldn ' t
3 see them from here , but yeah, it ' s
4 just -- it ' s going to be
5 catastrophic . I mean, all we ' re
6 going to accept Goldsmith ' s bond and
7 there will be no inlet and that ' ll be
8 that . But eventually the -- if left
9 to that, eventually the water in the
10 pond will rise . And it will , you
11 know, it ' ll be kind of an equal
12 thing . As much sand that comes in to
13 block it is how high it ' s going to
14 get here . And if it gets as high as
15 your basement to those people that
16 live right there, it ' s scary . So it
17 just -- it needs to be looked and
18 addressed . There ' s nothing you can
19 do this year because the dredge
20 dwindle and all that ' s already
21 closed . So it ' s for the Fall , but
22 the debris could be removed . But it
23 should be concentrated -- The other
24 thing is the wood on the beach, the
25 kids will play with it and it becomes
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 127
1 a danger to them because it ' s on a
2 slope . And if they ' re on the wrong
3 side of one of those logs rolls ,
4 they ' re now under water when the tide
5 comes back in . Case closed . And
6 you ' re not going to get three 9
7 year-olds to be able to pull one of
8 these off their buddy .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So ,
10 with that said, anyone else not
11 spoken who would like to address the
12 Board? Would anyone like to address
13 the Board a second time?
14 LESLIE HERRLIN : I just had one
15 more thing to say . And it was , you
16 know, it ' s when the gentleman spoke,
17 Kennedy? And right before he was
18 speaking, I had been hearing about
19 with this task force . And I just
20 thought, why isn ' t there , you know, a
21 community agricultural task force?
22 And then he gets up and speaks about
23 it . And I just think that would be a
24 great idea . And in lieu of that,
25 right now, I would say SEQRA is a
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 128
1 great way to, you know, help the
2 community feel that, you know, due
3 diligence has been really taken into
4 effect here about every aspect of
5 this farm . Just the thought I had, I
6 really like the idea of that task
7 force . Thanks .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
9 Would anyone else like to address the
10 Board?
11 TOM KENNEDY : Again, Tom
12 Kennedy, just to make my point,
13 again, about the -- yes , agriculture
14 is looking at it, but it is , you
15 know, to your response . This is a
16 multi-dimensional problem . And it ' s
17 setting a precedent, right? The
18 health, the taxes , land usage . So
19 yes , just like you did with the task
20 force for public safety, and you
21 pulled in a wide variety of people
22 from, you know, existing committees ,
23 Board members , police advisory,
24 school board members , you should do
25 the same with this issue . Because
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 129
1 it ' s not just about somebody wanting
2 to use the land to farm . It is about
3 the impacts on this community and the
4 precedent that you ' re going to set
5 for other business entities that are
6 not part of the community to come in
7 and set this up . So that ' s , you
8 know -- again, if this is -- you
9 know, the path that the -- you know,
10 the Town Board is choosing to look
11 at, you know, some issues that have
12 broad ranging impacts for our town, I
13 think this is one that it can ' t just
14 be solely agriculture . There ' s a lot
15 of -- again, a lot of people spoke
16 for different reasons about it, and
17 this is a perfect example . And I
18 think it would be, you know, I think
19 the time is now to get that done .
20 Thank you .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
22 Thank you .
23 DON BRACKEN : Just an extra
24 information, because the Planning
25 Board has its hands tied in some
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 130
1 ways . They can ' t go past a SEQRA
2 route . Like if I was going to put a
3 road in there, I ' d have a full SEQRA
4 route, but for farming, it ' s just
5 stage one . They pass that . It ' s
6 simple . Oh, you can do that . So
7 what they ' re saying isn ' t out of
8 hand, but the law isn ' t written in a
9 way they can do that . So you may
10 want to look at that law and say,
11 it ' s just the situation is like this .
12 Not to stop farming, but to make sure
13 that we ' re not hurting the land .
14 Ackerly Pond is on the aquifer .
15 That ' s why it ' s called Ackerly Pond
16 Road . That ' s all I want to say .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
18 Thank you .
19 JOHN REICHERT : I ' ve read it in
20 the paper about a farmer who said
21 that if you stop this project , it
22 lights out for farming in Southold .
23 Give me a break . Farming is
24 protected in Southold . It ' s not
25 going to go, everybody knows that .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 131
1 The farms are here to stay .
2 Everybody likes the farms . We get
3 accused of everything . All we ' re
4 trying to do is save lives , save
5 property values , and save the
6 community . We ' re not looking to put
7 the lights out of the farming . It
8 was a statement I heard . Thank you .
9 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
10 Thank you . Well , there ' s no other
11 comment, and I don ' t see any comment
12 on Zoom . And I think we made all our
13 announcements before the public
14 portion . But I ' ll entertain a motion
15 to adjourn .
16 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : I ' ll
17 make a motion to adjourn .
18 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Second .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
20 in favor?
21 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
22 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
23 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
24 COUNCILWOMAN ALEXA SUESS : Aye .
25 JUSTICE KATE STEVENS : Aye .
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 132
1 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
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3 (Whereupon, the meeting was
4 adjourned at this time . )
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FEBRUARY 26, 2026 REGULAR MEETING 133
1 C E R T I F I C A T I O N
2
3 I , Jessica DiLallo , a Notary
4 Public for and within the State of
5 New York, do 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
10 to any of the parties to this action;
11 and that I am in no way interested in
12 the outcome of this matter .
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have
14 hereunto set my hand this day,
15 February 26 , 2026 .
16
17
18 (Jes( ica iLallo)
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