meeting minutes

april 24, 2003

I. Opening

Meeting opened with a moment of silence in honor of Katie Stadnicki and Ed Lapham and the Pledge of Allegiance.

II. Reading of the Minutes

Minutes of March 27, 2003 meeting were distributed, read through, and approved.

III. Treasurer’s Report

$2,894.61 in Civic Account, $1,839.88 in Duck Pond account.

IV. Committee Reports

A. Pondscape Committee – Still working on gaining cooperation between Riverhead and Brookhaven towns to get this project moving. On May 3 there will be a Duck Pond “clean up.”
B. Energy Committee – Bill Gunther met with representatives from PPL regarding noise level report. More studies will be done this summer.
C. BNL – Helga Guthy reported on the latest research being done at Brookhaven National Laboratory. There was a report from the April 10 CAC meeting distributed.

V. Correspondence

Letters were received from Councilwoman Esposito (regarding press conference on code revisions), Supervisor La Valle (on PRC’s) and Wading River Historical Society (regarding the upcoming craft fair).

VI. Unfinished Business

A. Grace Ionetas is trying to get legislation passed (both state and county) on regulating substance abuse group homes. There has been no further information regarding this legislation.

B. Last Chance Riverhead! Jill Lewis updated the group on Riverhead’s latest progress on the Master Plan. The coalition is concerned that public input is not actually being considered. The coalition submitted its list of concerns and as of 4/24/03 had not heard from the town regarding them. The coalition supports a three month moratorium versus a 6 month moratorium, which would bring Riverhead town beyond November elections.

C. Status of “Airpark” rules and regulations: The April 15 public hearing was a discussion of proposed airpark rules. Many residents of WR came out to support speakers not in favor of the broader allowances suggestion by this draft. Councilwoman Barbara Blass seeks to clarify inconsistencies in current zoning of the property. May 15th there will be “scoping hearings”. Ms. Blass understood aviation was to be used as an accessory use, but the wording in the zoning doesn’t clarify what uses are permitted. The town board is still open to public comments on the rules and regulations until May 15.

VII. New Business

A. Member Concerns: Carol Mishkin suggested renovating the Wading River sign at the intersection of North Wading River Road and North Country Road. She asked the group if anyone was interested in repainting the sign. Also, Sid thanked the girl scouts for putting up yellow ribbons at the duck ponds.

B. There is a possibility of a new Planned Retirement Community (PRC) in Wading River. The approximately 11 acre farm at the corner of Randall Road and 25A may have been sold to a Rocky Point developer – Manzi Homes. If regular houses – there would be about 8 new homes. But PRC zoning allows between 3 and 15 units per acre. Based on Lee Koppleman’s study of this kind of development, Brookhaven had discussed the possibility of a moratorium on PRC’s. And although the recent Shoreham hamlet study showed that the public would like to see such property remain a farm. A change of zone would be required for a PRC. The Civic Association asked Brookhaven in October to review this parcel and consider acquiring it with community preservation funds.

C. Guest Speaker: Jim Powell, Vice President Rocky Point Civic Association

There has been a YMCA proposed to be located in Calverton near “Splish Splash”. Joe Van de Wetering has spearheaded Riverhead’s effort to get this going. Mr. Powell began his own crusade for a Y in the Rocky Point area. There is no facility east of Huntington on the north shore with an Olympic size swimming pool.

There would be many positive programs at the Y including child care, elder day care, aquatic therapy, learning programs, performing arts. There could be incorporation into school programs. There could be local swim teams practicing there, including Rocky Point, and Shoreham/ Wading River. YMCA’s do not load into the tax base. The programs are funded by membership fees. There would need to be a major fundraising effort first to purchase the 8 to 10 acres needed to build the facility.

This concludes the minutes of the WRCA for April 24, 2003.