Planning Board - Regular Meeting

two public hearings. Could you all rise for the pledge of allegiance? Yikica, could you lead us in the pledge, please? United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Attendance. Patrick Alton, present. Julianne Nolan. Gerald O'Neal present. Edwin present. Dan Tushian present. Frank Santos present. Yumiko Healey present. Greg Gaxiola present. Matt Espazito. And Rich Shaker. Casey. Sorry. Okay. Rich Case. Do we have a quorum? Yes, we do.

Okay. We have a quorum. Uh before we start the public hearing, I'm required to read this statement into the record. The planning board shall have the right to rely on any information that is presented by the applicant. If any such information is later found to be inaccurate or incorrect, the planning board may determine that any approvals, building permits, or other actions previously granted in connection with the application are null and void. A public hearing site plan review is job 2338A. ABBX Group LLC proposes to legal legally maintain an industrial building for four tenants to include two warehouse tenants and a public garage tenant and an automobile sales tenant.

Okay. Who's here on behalf of the applicant? Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. For the record, Nicole Bland. I'm an attorney at Bazelle Bllandanda Viscanti with offices at 535 Broad Hollow Road in Melville. Okay, good. Have you had the opportunity to review the memorandum regarding this application uh from the planning commissioner Denise Graciano? Yes. Do you have any issues, any concerns, anything that you would like to bring to our attention regarding anything in this memorandum, but especially any of the covenants and restrictions?

The only slight issue um is with the hours of operation. Um, one of the tenants does come to the site in early morning hours, but as I go through my presentation, I'll point that out. All right, fine. It might be a non-issue, but I want to make the board aware of it. All right, fair enough. Thank you. We'll we'll pay attention. Okay. Especially carefully at that point. Okay. Um, are we ready? Yeah. Okay, you may begin.

Okay. I'm here tonight seeking site plan approval to maintain this existing industrial building that presently has four tenants. It's located on the northwest corner of Wellwood Avenue and Gear Avenue in Lindenhurst. It has a lot area of just over an acre at 44,753 square ft. It has street frontage on both Wellwood Avenue and on Gear Avenue. Uh Gear Avenue is an industrial road that dead ends. Um, all the properties over here are zoned industry G. This building does have a CO dating back to 1967. Um, at the same this configuration that you currently see. Um, the survey that's on file with the town matches the building that is there. Now, this industrial building has a square footage of 22,028 square ft. Um, the C the 67 CO indicates that it was for light industrial. Um there was also a prior ZBA approval from 1967 which granted relief from the landscaping requirements at this site um at that time and allowed front yard parking and also permitted some front loading off of Wellwood Avenue. Then in 1971 there was a ZBA approval that allowed a portion of the building to be utilized as a public auto garage. That CO was issued then in 1971 and another CO was issued in 74 uh for new and used auto parts. Doesn't specifically say if that was for storage of those parts or for sale, but it says new and used auto parts. So there is a history of COS being issued to this building. I just wanted to point that out because obviously as the board can see the building is tight uh for the site. Um it is uh an Lshape but the parcel itself is an irregular shape. So, it does present some site issues. Um, but the purpose of this site plan application was to resolve the issues as

best as uh the property owner can. So, the application is essentially to legalize the current uses as part of the overall site plan approval. There are currently four tenants utilizing this building. I'll go through each tenants's use for the board. But first, I'll briefly go through the overall site plan and then if there's any questions that I cannot answer, I do have with me tonight our engineer, Rich Muse. Um he can come up and talk to the board about any engineering or design questions. The site does have multiple curb cuts. So, there's a curb cut on the northerly side of the building off of Wellwood Avenue. Um it is an existing curb cut and we are um proposing that it be made a one-way entrance into the site and so there'll be a do not enter sign um added so that traffic cannot exit from the site from that curb cut. The idea is for the site circulation to flow from that curb cut then on the north around the back of the building um and to the southwesterly curb cut. If a vehicle comes in from that northerly spot, they can then exit from the southerntherly curb cut. There is also an existing dropped curb in front of the L-shape along Wellwood Avenue. Cars coming into the site do have the option to either utilize some of those parking spaces that are in front of the building or if a car is being dropped off for the auto body shop. Um, an employee can take the car south through the little there's a Yes. If you follow the little hand going through the site plan, um cars can be brought southerntherly and then there's overhead doors where the cars to be repaired will be brought inside the building. Um so, you know, customers can then travel that same way and exit onto Gear Avenue if they if they choose to. Um otherwise, they could if they're us utilizing those spaces, they can back out and go back onto Wellwood Avenue. Um

the two curb cuts that are on gear are going to be one entrance coming in and then one will be an exit going out. Both will have um signs indicating, you know, do not enter for for their respective ways that you do not want them to enter. Um so there are parking spaces along the perimeter of the site. Um the ones that are along the perimeter are parallel parking spaces. They have been updated to meet town specs in terms of dimensions. There are also five parking spaces in front of the building. Um, where I'm calling out the kind of L-shape, they're tucked in there. In total, the site is providing 24 spaces. 48 are required. Um, we will be seeking a parking variance from the zoning board of appeals and we um did have a parking and traffic study prepared. Uh Rebecca Goldberg from IMEG is here tonight to talk to the board about her traffic and parking study and provide her expert testimony um as soon as I finish walking you through the site plan. Uh so the drainage on the site there obviously is existing drainage but that will be upgraded and there will be additional drainage added to the site all to meet town specs. All site lighting will be um dark sky compliant also to town spec specs. uh landscaping is going to be added to the site. So, right now there there is no landscaping, but we are proposing landscaping at the corner of Wellwood and Gear. Um and then also there's a strip um that's along the building in the northerly portion uh facing Wellwood that will have some landscaping as well. So, there'll be a little green on the site. The refuge enclosure is located in the northwest corner of the site. Um there has been a uh traffic circulation plan to show that the trucks can uh make their way around the building and as far as I'm aware um the town uh DEEC office has accepted the

circulation plan and has said that that refuge enclosure can be accessed properly by uh sanitation trucks. Um and so as you can see like I said before if if a truck comes in off that northwesterly curb cut they can come around the building. Um, the calculations have been done to ascertain whether or not the trucks can actually make it, and I'm told they can, and then they can proceed south through that, uh, southerntherly curb cut to exit the site. Um, the four tenants that are currently on this site, uh, the first tenant is Dent Buster. Uh, they're an auto body shop providing full service auto body collision repairs. They have eight employees and their hours of operation are Monday to Friday, 7:00 a.m. for employees, 8:00 a.m. for customers to come in and they're open till 5:00 p.m. And then on Saturdays from 7 to 2. So on Sundays that particular tenant is closed. As you can see from the uh floor plan, um there's overhead doors. There'll be cars brought inside for repairs. Um the owner understands that there's a covenant no outside storage of vehicles and that there will be no repairs done outside in the parking lot. So all work will be done indoors. Um the second tenant is DB car rental doing business as DB auto sales. It's related to uh Dentbuster. Sales are arranged online. So there are some cars kept inside this unit. Um, but really there's not like a normal um, auto sales lot where you have all these cars parked outside and you have customers coming and going. The point of sale is really done online. Maybe you'll have someone come and see something inside, but it would be by appointment only.

How many employees?

Uh, one to two employees depending on any particular day. Um, but for the most part I'm told it would be one employee and again everything's by appointment only. Um, the electrician is the third tenant. It's one employee, no visits from the public. Mostly he's storing his electrical um equipment and what have you in that uh unit. And then the fourth tenant is first class truck hauling. Um they store their truck cabs inside the building and they work on them. They do repairs on their cabs. They don't and they're not supposed to keep their trailers on site. Um there has been an issue uh between the landlord and the tenant and he's been telling them that they have to remove um any trailers from the site that that will no longer be allowed to be there. The lease is up this spring I'm told. So the landlord has the leverage to say if you can't comply then you have to leave. So um we you know they have been spoken to about that. This is the use that I just wanted to point out to the board in terms of the hours of operation. So during the day the hours of operation are fine. They're there. They they fix their cabs um and they leave. I'm told they might even leave by 2 pm or 3 pm. Um at night, someone comes to the site, they take a cab, it could be 8:00 at night. They leave. They go to another site and they pick up the trailer that they'll be using to deliver their their goods. They then when they're done making their deliveries, they bring that trailer to again another site and then they come back with the cab. So, there could be days that they come back with the cab at 7 am and then we don't have a problem. Or there could be days where they come back with the cab at 5:00 am or 6 a.m., they don't stay. It's not like the lights are on inside and they're actually conducting business. They're simply there to drop off their cab because they're done with their overnight deliveries. So, when I saw the hours of operation, you know, obviously I don't want anyone to get in trouble in the future should this tenant stay. So,

I wanted to point that out to the board. Um but that really is it's a very limited um you know activity. Um again it's not like somebody staying there overnight and actually occupying the space. It really is just to drop off the vehicle in the morning but it could be Could you repeat the hours of operations again? I lost track of that of this particular tenant.

So this tenant would be fine with the hours of operation that the board is requesting in terms of during the day. Normally 7:00 a.m. to I think it was uh 900 p.m. at night. Let's see. Monday to Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. is fine for their normal business, which is to fix their cabs. There are deliveries that um I guess you would say originate from this site. So, if I'm the if I'm the truck driver, I might come in at 8, pick up my cab, I leave, I go to another site, I pick up my trailer, attach it to my cab, I go make my deliveries. I then have to drop my trailer off another site, not this site, and I'm going to bring my cab back to this site. I could be bringing my cab back to this site at 5 in the morning, which is obviously prior to the covenant, which says 7:00 a.m. So, I I I just don't know how to work that out. Um I'm not saying we have to work it out tonight, but I want to make the board aware of it and we can discuss it further with planning. Okay. Um but again, it's very limited. Um, in terms of the variances that we need, we haven't been, uh, written up for our denial yet. So, I can't specifically say each of the variances, um, obviously there are we have cos and so I don't believe we'll be written up for any kind of setback variances, but, uh, we will need a special permit for the auto body. We will need a special permit for the auto sales. Um, there are or there is a spray booth in here, so I believe we'll need a special permit, but that would all be in conjunction with the same uh, user. So, um, those applications will be applied for once we get to that, uh, step. Um, so if we look at the surrounding area, this is an industrial block. I'm sure you know, just from traveling around this area, you might be familiar with it. You have New Horizons to the west, which is the planned industrial park. Um, but this is industrial, uh, simply industrial. Over here, we're north of the tracks. Um, you have a gas station to the north of us.

You have V&J Auto Body to the south. So, you know, similar uses and like I said on Gear Avenue, you could see there's other I believe there's Amandola Fence, there's other manufacturing uses and it just deadends over there. Um, so if the board has questions for me right now, I'm happy to answer. Otherwise, I would have Rebecca Goldberg, our traffic engineer, come up and she could go over her traffic and parking study with the board. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted not sure we have it for the record. Uh but I did ask if you reviewed uh this with your client. This is the memo from Denise Graziano on the 25th and you did and yes and you brought to our attention uh the issue with the That's the only issue. Yeah.

All right. Very good. Do any of the board members have any questions? Julia. Um, so when I went to inspect the building in January when this was originally scheduled, what you are saying for the direction of the vehicle flow on the north where that cab, there was no access around this building whatsoever. There was a tractor trailer in that area.

I couldn't see down the back alleyway because there were are all cars as there are here now. a lot of parking and also um in front of dent busters. Tons of parking all over the sidewalks, the road up against the building. Ironically, the parking spaces in front of the building, that's where I parked. They were open. Um so, I just want to make sure that what this plan is is that it's going to be adhered to that there aren't cars and tractor trailers all over the place and overflowing onto the sidewalks and the street.

Yes. And there is an actual covenant that addresses um cars overflowing. Um it says that um they can't be in any pedestrian areas or any sidewalks or anything of that nature. Um I've gone over it with the property owner. Like I said, the truck hauling tenant might be leaving um and that would alleviate any trailer issue, but it's also been made clear to this tenant that they cannot keep their trailers there any longer and that it's illegal to do so. So, we're hopeful that that will get cleared up. As far as cars um in other areas, this is the site plan they have to adhere to. So any spillover um I also pointed out that there is the covenant or u maybe it's in the conditions which is a typical condition when you need a parking variance that if there's any complaints or if the town has any issues with spillover parking whether it's in the streets or if the site just looks too packed that they'll be brought back before this board and they'll have to either show that they can lease off-site space for additional parking or they'll have to show that they can actually adhere to the site plan. Um but right now this is the site plan we're proposing and um they understand that this is once this is approved this is what they have to adhere to.

Thank you. Matt, could you do me a favor and go back uh to is it possible to split the screen and have this new site plan uh with the aerial photo? All right. Very good. Uh so and and if you don't mind, Matt, could you walk us through with the aerial photo and and describe it? this that how this is going to work with the flow with the one way all the way around and start where you see uh you know one 965 if I may just point one thing out right now on the aerial that's angled parking in the back we're proposing parallel parking

no I I understand that I do understand that I noticed what's the distance is what 10 feet I noticed that uh from I'm sorry is it 18 feet from the back of the building or Yeah. And then you have that area about 10 feet or so from the from the fence for the Okay, Matt, could you just

I don't know how this is going to work. Thank you for asking that question, Matt. If you could just grab the microphone and walk us all through this, how this is going to flow and use your your arrow not on the not on the u on the proposed, but what exists now with this satellite photo. So, we'll get a better feel for this. Uh yes. Um so I'll start in the northeast corner of the site. Uh I'll kind of point out on the map and

uh on the plan uh but this is a oneway entrance only one way travel aisle around the back of the building as shown on the site plan. Um, the existing curb cut in the front provides access to the five parking stalls and the the overhead doors for these tenant spaces. There's also the ability to drive around the side of the building here. Um, this will be oneway travel on Gear Avenue uh with limited parking and access to the overhead doors. And then the curb cuts on Gear Avenue will be reduced to two. One entrance only on the east side and one exit only on the west side.

Okay. Anybody have follow-up questions? Jerry? No, I'm good. I do. So, the area I guess it would be on the corner of Wellwood and Gear. So, we're also we're eliminating all that parking there, too. Unfortunately, we're not. Yeah. I mean, it's not my call, but we were asked to put landscaping there um

on that, you know, that corner that you see. And so, you'll still have an aisle. You can kind of see it outlined right now where where it's between the existing parking. Um but then you're going to have, I guess, a grasped over area. Um and then there'll be a few spaces. You could see that there's going to be an inset with um a couple of spaces including handicap. Um there'll be an ADA compliant uh ramp curb um drop down at the corner. So that'll be an improvement. Uh but yes, you will be losing those spaces and that asphalt. Okay. And I don't know if you know or not, but the way it is right now, the cars that are back there, do you know what business that is? The cars that are parked cars that are parked out. Yeah.

Um I don't know when this picture was taken, so I'm not I'm not really certain it's from. Right. Thank you, Matt. Just so where you see the uh the number 965, is that a tractor trailer truck there? Oh, there we go. Let's get that street view, Matt, if you don't mind. Oh, that gives us a pretty good picture. So, you're telling me that that's not going to happen anymore? Correct. You're telling this board, not me, the board. It has to stop because we're agreeing to have it stop and we don't have outside storage, so it can't be parked there. But they had outside storage and they were allowed to do this with the current. No, they didn't have outside storage. They didn't have permission to have outside storage. So they broke that they didn't have permission to have outside. Correct. They were not compliant. Correct.

But they're out there who whenever this they receive summones and so this is before it's fixing everything. One right behind. Okay. Y Well, I hope enforcement pays a lot of attention to what actually happens. Any other questions? Can I just share an observation? What year was this building built? You I know you said it for the record. 67. 1967. Yes.

I'll never forget my first job. I was working with the supervisor of Bablin when the then councilman Ray Almondinger, later supervisor, said the town should should uh buy Zans's airport. And they said, "We're going to build, we being the town of Babel, we're going to create a zone that allows you to have a a beautiful modern, heavy industrial area that doesn't look like this."

Back then, terrible things happened. As you know, from a zoning and development standpoint, basically, as you can see, it was non-existent virtually. And part of a big responsibility that this board has is to fix these things when they come before us. So, uh my concern is um is this going to work right given the tenants? Yes. That you have here. So, please have your expert come up. Be happy if they try to address that. And who is that? I'm going to have my traffic engineer come up first. how you want to do it. Sure. Okay.

Rebecca, please state your name and address for the record. Sure. Rebecca Goldberg with Imeg, formerly known as Cameron Engineering. Our business address is 177 Crossways Park Drive in Woodbury. Okay. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Okay. Please proceed.

Sure. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, board members. Um, I prepared a traffic and parking report dated February 11th. So uh just as a a highle sidebar um that does conform with the prior site plan and does not reflect the site plan that you have here. So I can just summarize any differences here tonight. Um the over the overall report approach that we had was deter if to determine if granting the parking variance that's going to be needed will satisfy the genuine need and then to gauge if there would be any traffic or circulation negative impacts with the proposed plan. Um the the traffic aspect, I'll cover that first. It's very straightforward. Um there's no real proposed change in outside traffic or use. So there's is no traffic impact from this application or impact to the surrounding streets. Um and then just in combination with the February 25th memo from the planning department, um it could result in a net benefit with respect to condition number 14. Um, and that reads that the applicant would have to contribute to the fund for the installation and maintenance of emergency vehicle optical preeemption equipment on traffic signals in the area. So, just for the record, what that term emergency preeemption means is that you modify the controller of a traffic signal so that when there is an emergency vehicle that is approaching with its license and siren activated, the responders traffic light either stays green until it gets past the intersection or if it's approaching a red light, the other direction's green light will transition early to red so that the first responder will get the green light sooner. either situation. It helps reduce emergency response time which is an improvement in overall safety. Um predominant part of my report was based on parking. The revised plan and the new plan has the same proposed

number of spaces 24. Um the variance is however reduced because of the different space within the building and the mezzanine. So the new plan requires 48 spaces by our calculation again pending the notice of disapproval when we believe the variance is required to be 24 with 24 spaces provided. Um the other parking features would satisfy code. Um parking stalls themselves would be 9 ft by 19 or the parallels would be 10 x 22. Um the drive aisles are sufficient. uh minimum is 12 foot for the one-way operation on the south side of the building. Um also there are two handicapped accessible spaces whereas one is required for the proposed parking. Um so again similar to traffic the genuine parking demand isn't changing with the application um nor is the fact that the demand is predominantly from the body shop. It has the highest number of employees and the highest chance for customers to come into the building. Um, this particular body shop, it's similar to others that I've studied from an engineering standpoint. Um, similar to others that I patronized from time to time. Um, they're almost never customers in the building except for very periodic short visits. Someone drops off a vehicle, someone picks up a vehicle, or someone is waiting for a car rental. Uh, peak times for drop off tends to be Monday or Tuesday morning, but again, it's random. Uh pickups are pre-arranged in advance depending on when someone's vehicle is ready and completed with service. Most of the activity at the site throughout the day is comprised of employees if they're moving cars within the property or in and out of the indoor service bays. The other tenants typically have no customers or there might be one customer at a sporadic time. So based on the reported staffing and activity for the four tenants is in my report. I calculated a demands for 18

spaces for the employees and customers in addition to cars that might be worked on or pending sale for two of the tenants. The numbers include three or four spaces for customers and there are seven spaces along the east side of the building in the area where customers would park. So, because that number is higher than the customer count, that means that customers would not be in a difficult search for parking. And then the 24 spaces should satisfy the day-to-day demand. Um I also note in my report there is on street parking permitted on the north side of Gear Avenue along the frontage. That would not change and then demand for on street parking would be the same with or without the application. Um I understand employees can and do use that street parking to leave the site more open and again that would continue. Um, so my team, we performed uh parking counts at the site on a Monday afternoon and a Tuesday after Tuesday Monday morning, pardon me, and a Tuesday afternoon in January and February. Um, there had been no active snow or recent snow for two days prior to either of our counts, which this winter that was a challenge,

for sure.

Um, we did not happen to observe any customers. Um, traffic-wise, we saw one truck at a time entering or exiting the property. Um, I did see the tractor cabs. So th those cabs are actually included in my count and I would not hopefully they would not be included going forward once the application and its covenants become active. So we did see 24 to 25 vehicles that were parked in the publicly accessible areas in line with the proposed plan. And then when we include the gated area around the west side of the building, that was up to 35. and that includes vehicles being worked on for the body shop that employees would be able to move to a service bay or out front when it was ready. Um the function at a valet at a body shop is very similar to what I call a valet operation. Um cars being worked on, they're being stored in areas that are not accessible to the public. Um they could be stacked temporarily in these controlled areas without blocking any customers, without blocking anyone in. and employees have vehicle key access at all times. So there's no concern with any interactions from again from the customers. So the traffic flow for the customers is separate from any traffic flow from vehicles being moved into and out of the service base. Um there okay and then I think Nicole mentioned just the context of Gear Avenue. It is a short end, a short deadend industrial street. Little to no bypassing traffic. Um, just based on where this site is, it's obviously between Route 109 and Town Hall. I've driven past or through this intersection I don't know how many hundreds of times. Um, have never seen a traffic backup at the intersection or through the intersection. Um, and I would expect that to continue. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you very much.

All right. Do any of the board members have any questions? Okay. Any Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um, is there anyone else that's going to be addressing the board regarding this application? If the board has any um more site design questions, we do have our engineer, but if there are no questions, then uh Rich M. Okay. No. All right. Okay. All right. Um, are there any plans to um make this a little bit more inviting from the standpoint of the facades? The facade was recently improved. Rich, do you want to come up and kind of talk about what happened with the facade with the elevations?

All right, there we go. Is that so recently? I mean, the board can see that is what um was done. It was new stucco. Um, it was painted and then obviously the landscaping, the idea behind it would be that it would dress up the asphalt. It looks better than some of the other buildings that are on Gear. Um, it's an interesting neighborhood. Let's put it that way. Um, so can can you go back to that picture you just had? Now, obviously, we don't know when this was taken, but again, there's that big tractor trailer. So what what you're saying is um is that they'll be there not they they'll be storing the the trailer someplace else. Is that

so the trailer right now once it's gone that is actually going to be a grass or a landscaped area. Okay. So right you see exactly where that rectangle is uh where the trailer is currently parked. He's got to go because we have to plant uh landscaping over there in order to get RCO. So, he's gone and if he can't comply, then his lease is over.

All right. Okay. Any other questions, comments? All right. Thank you. And there's no one else who would like to address the board regarding this application. All right. Since there is no one else uh here to address the board regarding this application, I'm going to request a motion from the board to close the hearing and to reserve decision. So, could I have a motion uh from the board uh to close the hearing and reserve decision? Motion by Jerry. Motion. Second by Julianne. Second. All in favor?

Approved. So, the public hearing is now closed. The decision though has been reserved in order for us to review the feedback uh any questions that anybody might have regarding the site plan. The record will remain open for written comments. uh to follow up on the status of the application or to submit additional written comments. You can contact the planning department a number of different ways. You can do it in person. Planning is located at the west wing of town hall. Application documents and plans are available for inspection between 9:00 a.m. and 4 p.m. or by phone 631-957313 or by email planning comments at townofbny.gov. Thank you.

Thank you. Have a great night. You're welcome. Thank you. Now you have anformational hearing. Okay. Next is anformationalformational hearing. Job 2532A aromatic Gardens proposes an interior of alterations to an existing 12,13t warehouse in order to change the use to an adult use cannabis dispensary. All right. Who's here on behalf of the applicant?

Good evening, chairman and members of the board. My name is Janice Whan. I'm an attorney with offices at 23 Green Street, Huntington, New York, and I represent Aromatic Gardens seeking to change the use of an existing warehouse at 231 Edison Avenue in West Babylon to an adult use cannabis dispensary with site improvements and interior alterations uh shown on the latest site plan prepared by Spaces Architecture dated January 8th, 2026. Okay, before you go any further, uh there's a um memo from the planning commissioner, Denise Graciano, regarding this application dated the 25th of February, 2026. Uh have you had the opportunity to review this with your client?

I have not seen the February. Is that corre correct? Uh Matt, that sounds about right, but uh we because we haven't had any meetings since during the month of February. And are there any big changes on this? I know that we reviewed the last memo from Nunio and we agree with all of those conditions. Thank you. We agree with all the conditions and the covenants and restrictions. All right. So, Nunio, have any of those things changed? I'm sorry. Does anybody know any of those conditions or Okay. All right. Can you Can you take a quick look to see if

you know what? We have seen this and we agree to it fully. All of the conditions and the uh CNRS were from the previous memo. Um fine. Thank you very much. But we have that for the record. Okay. Please proceed.

Appearing with me tonight in support of this application is George uh Badger, registered architect and principal of spaces architecture. He prepared the site plan and revisions in response to all the departmental um comments. He's here to answer any questions about the site plan, the design, or the elevations that you may have. Um, also Mr. Liry Tinto, who is the operator. Um, he's the licensed the he holds the license from New York State. Mr. Tinto is a lifelong SuffK resident and a uh a four-year football coach to a local football club. He's very interested in um in bringing the site to West Babylon and to the town of Babylon. Also appearing is Michael James, the applicant state licensing attorney in case you have any questions with that regard. And finally, Mr. Sean Mul Ryan of M Ryan Engineering who performed the traffic assessments and will present his conclusions to the board. Um first of all uh thank you to the planning commissioner and the staff with whom we've worked very closely for the past seven months. This Thursday, we have a board of appeals hearing requesting the special exception for the use, the parking variance for the number and location of parking spaces and very small area variances relating to the existing building conditions.

Okay. Could you just uh tell us exactly what those variances will be? First, we request a parking variance where uh the calculation is that we require 35 spaces and that's divided between the 4200 square ft for the retail use and the 7,000 square ft for the warehouse use. But important to note, the warehouse is going to be completely vacant, empty, not used for storage. It's dead space.

So, because of the one per 700 for warehouse parking count, and one for 200 for office. The town calculates that we require 35 spaces when we can only provide 22. But I'm going to defer to Mr. M Ryan who will go into details with his conclusion that we um that the available parking will meet or exceed uh that which what we need during peak parking hours. Okay.

Um another variance that we need is for the building area. The building exists with 43% um lot coverage. The code requires a maximum of 40%. It's a very dimminimous uh request. Another variance is for the location of three parking spaces in the front yard setback. And uh the last variance is for a front yard setback of 29 ft 10 in where the code requires 30. And I guess the this these are existing uh conditions that we're not creating here. Um Mr. Badger provided a professional certification on July 7th and that certification confirms that the location of this site meets all of the requirements of section uh 2131 1663. It's more than the required distance from the protected uses of residences, religious uses, educational facilities, playground, child care area, um any area where youth would um would would um come to visit and uh not within 500 ft of another cannabis establishment. Um, I'll go through our site details and improvements and then into our operational details which have been relayed to be both by Mr. James and Mr. Tinto who will be operating the site. Um, just by way of an overview, there's absolutely no on-site consumption ever permitted on this site in the building or in the parking lot. There's no special events that would be permitted on the site or outside. Um, we will have 24 hours, 7 day a week surveillance. We understand this board's concern with security and safety. Age verification will be done in a an enclosed vestibule by a guard before anyone can even enter the retail facility. Yeah.

Why don't you walk us through the uh absolutely the layout now that you've mentioned it. Uh well, public access is going to be on Eid Street, which is the side street.

Um there is office access on Edison, but the public is not going to enter the building uh through that entrance. Um the cannabis retail area will be 4798 square feet. It includes us uh the backroom area, the offices, the vestibule for the security which checks the age before a patron would enter the site. Um counter space. Um there is a partition which separates the retail area from the uh from the vault where uh packages are created. There's a window where um a processor would deliver the um the package to the counterperson and then um then to the client. Again, the warehouse space of 7200 square ft. It's not going to be any storage. There's no parking. Uh nothing will happen in that area. Um there's no employee parking or delivery in that area. As I said, um the two delivery vehicles that we propose, they're going to be taken home by u by employees. So, there'll be no outdoor storage at the site. Um, again, the secure vestibule, it's an area right off right as you enter the site off of Eid Street. There's a guard and um the the guard will check for age and then if that person meets the age requirements, that person, the customer would get buzzed into the retail area. No one can enter that retail area unless they see the guard first. Um there's a defined sale and retail area with counters, displays, there'll be TV monitors which show the products available for purchase, the price, the weight. Um we have ADA customer restrooms. Uh again, I mentioned the partitions. We have a secure waste room in accordance with New

York State standards. Um outside in the rear parking area, we've got a receiving dock with secure building access. There's a receiving staging area, a control office, um offices for uh the operators, the re a reception area for online phone orders, administration, security, and again secure access from the warehouse to all unused space. Um, at this point I'd like to go through the description of operations, if you'd let me. Sure.

So, the requested days and hours of operations are in accordance with the other uh cannabis dispensaries that this board has approved. We'd like to um to be open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Deliveries, which I'll discuss in a little bit, will end 1 hour before the business closes. We propose 8 to 10 employees. Um we anticipate some will drive, some will carpool, some will take public transportation. Again, there is no on-site consumption. Um staff is tasked with monitoring the site to ensure compliance with that regulation by uh New York State. Um how is product delivered to the site? Goods are sold prepackaged and delivered to the site maybe five days a week in very small minivans. There's no big trucks. We anticipate that deliveries will literally take minutes. um uh product would be automatically inventoried and stored in the vault that's in the retail section that's separated from the counters by a partition. Um again, patrons enter and exit through that guarded vestibule on Eids. Um after identification is checked, the customer is buzzed into the area. We'll employ two levels of security. an in-person in-person security and digital security. Um, physical in-person security will be managed by a security company that's fully licensed and insured. We'll have two unarmed guards, one in the checkin area checking the uh the ages and another one guarding the retail floor. In the event of any issue requiring security intervention, the guards will deescalate any situation, remove the patron and

call police if that's if that's necessary. Many security companies employ former law enforcement for their guards as well. So the guards will have the proper training, they'll know protocol, and based on their experience, they'll be able to address any situation, which we are not anticipating. Um a separate company perhaps one uh that we looking into called secure tech will handle digital security and alarms. Surveillance will happen 24 hours a day 7 days a week of the interior all access points and the building per perimeter both during working hours and off hours. Um tapes have to be retained for 60 days per state requirements. Um, and the state licensing has access to all of the surveillance that we would be providing. Um, I'm sure you want to know how transactions are handled. After a patron's age is verified, a customer service employee would greet that patron at the counter area where samples are displayed for viewing and uh, handling. Again, we have TV menus which would describe pricing, uh, the type of product and the weight. After a customer decides on an order, um the order is placed through the partition. Another uh employee would deliver that product through the window. Um the processor hands the order to the employee. The customer pays, obtains the product, and then exits the facility through the same vestibule they walked in. Um there is no drive up. There is no curbside delivery. Um, in terms of online orders and delivery, online orders will be placed through the uh company website which entails a system check after creating an account, identification and age, again verified um with the same protocol as a

walk-in patron. Delivery orders will be processed through the business website with verification um uh protocols in place. online and delivery orders are paid for in the same manner as store purchases. How are pro how are purchases paid for? Through cash, debit, and um AC a transaction in uh the vestibule area before entering the retail site. We're going to have an ATM machine there. And again, there's a security guard there for for good uh for security reasons. Um so with delivery a delivery order is processed in store and assigned to a driver. The delivery is tracked through a GPS system called onfleet which provides a driver application visibility and tracking for that driver to the main office proof of delivery and a client portal. The customers upon delivery are required to present identification who they are and that delivery information is uploaded to the delivery application for verification and recordkeeping purposes. Delivery will occur in small vehicles with no marking or commercially identifiable markers. Does the board have any questions about the site plan or the elevations? I I didn't get to say so, but everything's going to be taken care of to bring the site into compliance. The site's going to be fully ADA compliant. It's going to have a fire alarm system. It'll have a sprinkler system. Uh the drainage will be upgraded. The elevations are a tremendous improvement over what the building looks like now. Um there'll be ephus, new new windows, new entry doors both on Edison for the operators and on eids for the um for the patrons. The

parking lot's going to be completely um repaved. There's going to be new sidewalks, uh curbing, um again drainage. There'll be existing drainage and upgraded drainage. Mike, could you pull up the existing uh site just so we can compare it? Okay. Okay.

So, if you see that area, you're going to pave that over. Why? It looks so beautiful.

We're actually able to site three parking spaces there. The site will have two handicap spaces. One will be in the front on Edison and the second handicap handicap space will be on the side on the Eids site. There's going to be a lot of landscaping added. There's going to be a lot of grass. There'll be street trees. And in the rear in the parking lot right by our new refuge enclosure, we're going to have a very pretty planting area with um very decorative. It'll be a tremendous improvement. Now, I didn't get to mention that we're removing the loading dock at a very tremendous expense in order to put three more parking spaces. We've really done everything to maximize the parking on the site.

Okay.

Um we've uh Mr. Badger has u indicated that there's sufficient turning radius for sanitation vehicles. He's cleared fire truck access with the fire marshall. Again, we are completely ADA compliant in our spaces and uh curb drops. Um we are let's see there's no parking in the building or overnight storage outside. Uh fully automated fire sprinkler system and fire alarm. The existing building uh there the on-site sanitary system was reapproved by Suffach County Department of Health Services. Um the existing and rear drainage will be um upgraded. New landscaping, all lighting both on the building and in the parking lot will be dark sky compliant. The building address will be visible on Edison with the name of the business above it and signage will be uh undertaken by separate application but fully compliant with town requirements. Okay,

questions. Sure. You mentioned that the warehouse was not going to be used for anything. Nothing. Number 21 says the rear warehouse shall be limited to storage and vehicles. We have elected not to even take advantage of that. The delivery vehicles are going to go home with the employees. We're not we're not storing the delivery vehicles in the building. But it says you can store product back there. Product is not going to be stored back there. it. Well, we may be given that opportunity. Product is only going to be stored in the area where it can be secured by the vault. Okay. And that's not in the warehouse.

Should this be changed? I mean, if they say they're not going to use it and some of the parking is because of that, uh, we could take a look at the condition based off the presentation, but we can't not accommodate for this space and the parking calculations just for potential future users of the building. But I thought they're getting a variance for parking because that warehouse is not going to be used. No, no. Well, the variance if you Matt, do you want to answer? Uh, no. The variance we're required is because the calculation of the retail space and the warehouse space equals 35. Okay.

But we're not going to use the warehouse. So, but the code still requires 35 spaces. But I'm going to defer to Mr. Ryan who will present his findings that um that the available parking that we do provide and the available parking in the area will exceed what the peak parking demand is even counting using the warehouse. We're not counting using the warehouse. Okay. Okay. Are you asking for a variance from the 35 spaces? Correct. Yes. Is that because you're saying you're not going to use the warehouse? I don't believe so. No. Can I ask a question? So you you need 35 spaces because of the square footage of the whole property. Correct.

The square footage of the building. Correct. Right. So whether you use it or not doesn't matter. It's based on the square footage. Correct. Correct. So it's not like we're chopping off the end of the building. They have to have it based on square footage whether used or not. But the variance based on square footage, not based on the use. I'll listen to him. The variance will be based on the total square footage. They may take account use of storage or dead space, but that's only we didn't count those the two delivery spaces in the building. We didn't even count it. So, we didn't take a credit for it. We didn't um we didn't count it at all. Okay. All right. Good. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record. Sean Moran, Moran Engineering, 1225 Franklin Avenue, Garden City, New York. I'm sorry, what's your name? Oh, I'm looking at the wrong person here. Okay, there you go. Sean, it's the Irish one. It's almost St. Patrick's Day. You know, don't worry. I like you already. You didn't have to tell me. I was trying to buddy up.

You didn't have That doesn't work. You I understand my roots. We But you better do a good job anyway. But go ahead. Um, so I I just wanted to to speak up because the question was about the parking variance. Obviously, this week we're also going to before the uh zoning board to ask for a parking variance. The parking variance is based on the size of the building. We had originally requested the use of the warehouse for storage of vehicles. We proposed the two delivery vehicles will be in there and we wanted to put employee parking in there. We were told by the planning department that that would not be allowed. So the warehouse is now not going to be used. That creates uh for us an issue in terms of the parking. So one of the things that we did is go out to the subject site and review the parking on the streets surrounding the property. This property is in a very industrial area. There are three cemeteries, one to the north, one directly to the south, and one to the west. So this is a heavy heavily heavily industrial area. The properties behind the site are industrial. There's the delicates next to us. And we're proposing a retail store

that proposes somewhat of an offset uh use in terms of retail uses will tend to be busier maybe later in the day where industrial uses they start early in the morning, they leave early in the afternoon and on Saturdays these areas are very underutilized. Um there certainly be still be cars coming in and out but not as heavily as during the week. We believe that based on the Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation that the subject's site and the parking on the streets surrounding it will be sufficient to satisfy the demand based on the retail store that's being proposed. Again, to the warehouse space, we are not proposing any use within within that building, but we are still subject to the parking that is required based on square footage of that portion of the site.

Okay, any questions? No, I'm good. You said no, but I'm good. Okay, you're good. No, but I'm good. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. I I have a question and maybe you're not the right person to to answer this. Uh how long is a typical transaction for somebody who's coming in to the retail space? And um and what percentage of your business do you anticipate will be uh online uh ver versus a customer coming in? I'm going to refer back to the team and Okay, he's right behind you.

I'm going to bring up Mr. James who is uh the state licensing attorney. So, the two questions are how long um do you anticipate or generally speaking would each transaction take? And the second question is um what percentage of your business will be online and therefore delivery versus retail. So, can you come up and state your name for the for the record? Michael James appearing for the uh proposed Okay. So, you're you're an attorney. Yes. We don't have to swear in attorney as you know. I'm we Okay. Everybody else I asked to tell the truth, but you're but you're a court officer. So, you must tell the truth. So, anyway, go ahead, Mr.

Okay. Good evening, board. Uh so, the typical transaction will take between five and 10 minutes. U most of the the customers will know exactly what they want based on the uh online menu. um if they are coming in to to review uh products, then the customer service representative will be able to walk them through the the uh product selection within five to 10 minutes. Okay. Um and cash them out. All right. So, I have a question now that as as I'm thinking about being there, uh not that I smoked pot, I might have done it once, but you didn't, but I didn't. Uh, so does a retail person get to smell the uh the Yes, based on uh marijuana. Yes, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Based on regulations, they can smell it. They can they can also view it and touch it um within the confines of of the dispensary. Uh there are products that allow the person to smell it but not actually touch the the actual product. um and it will be secured whether it's by tether or um the the uh the uh customer service representative can open the uh display and then and give it to them and then put it back in. But they they will be able to to touch and or smell. But I just want to make a point. A customer is never left alone to their own devices with product. Exactly. They're always supervised by an employee of the operation. Correct. And you asked the second question of the percentage.

Yeah. The breakdown. Most of most of customers are going to visit uh the store uh but they will see an online menu. They're able to uh to to access an online menu and so they're quick transactions uh once again and then pickup orders are a large part of it as well. Uh so they'll come in pick up the orders very quickly and then Okay. Any other questions operations? Anything? Okay. Your delivery people uh they won't be handling cash will they? No. So, so delivery they'll the mo the payment methods are a essentially you think of PayPal um just be a transaction or they'll be able to phone in uh a debit card uh payment over the phone so no cash

good any other questions we have the delivery uh vehicles the vans do they have any type of advertising on them no uh there's absolutely no commercial markings on them and I believe that that's a state requirement as well again like not to attract attention not to um be enticing to youth, but no, there's no markings on. Thank you. I just think this is the most thorough presentation we had regarding this type of presentation and given the benefit of everybody else's application. Okay. I'm just I'm just saying that was great. Thank you.

Oh, thank you for the full presentation. Now, I have a question for whoever the most appropriate person is. is I mean obviously you're legal, you've been licensed, uh you have you you have all of these standards that you have to meet and probably will exceed. Uh what are all the requirements? How do how does um your your industry fully legal paying taxes and all that how do you compete against the underground economy? the underground. I think that's a business risk and decision that the operator has made, right?

That he um you know wants to do everything the way it has been set forth by New York State and he wants to have a legitimate business. He's as as I said he's a lifelong Suffach resident, right? And he wants to uh do good in his community.

Okay, good answer, attorney. My question is really more of from a from a this isn't this is not a a planning board question. It's really a or a town board question because the town of course adopted uh this law that permits this use. It's really a question of the I guess the business question which is how do you how do you make a profit considering that you have this underground economy out there uh that is still strong and vibrant. Hold on. Do you want to do you want to say well this is Mr. Larry. Okay. Please state your name and address for the record. Larry Tinsel 191 Timalon Drop. I'm in New York. Are you an attorney? No sir. Do you swear to tell the truth? The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. Yes sir.

Okay. Please proceed. Tell us to answer that question. Um Oh, by the by by the way be you can't get into your presentation, but we're going to need you to fill this out so we have all your information there. But anyway, don't get distracted. You could do it after you. To answer that question, um we just looking to clean up the communities. There's a lot of people that like to indulge in marijuana and by presenting a new storefront where they can say our community is more cleaner that we can go purchase it um legally instead of it having to be underground or or creating a a nuisance in our community. So that's that's really the

Now talk to me about this whole thing from seed to sale. Okay. um which is required right and the product has to come from New York I presume. Is that a better qu is that a better answer for the or for Okay. Yes. So I first I want to add to to the question um add to his answer about how do you compete against the black market. um in and the opportunity that we have here is to present tested product.

Um you know the source, you know exactly what's in it. The issue with the black market is you're never certain exactly what's in that product, where it comes from, where it originates from. And the things that we have, we take for granted to be able to hold someone accountable for our food products. We don't have that. Well, you know, they don't have that. Um in the cannabis black market, you don't have that opportunity. So, uh, his his his business would allow us to to have some accountability in what we're consuming. Um, well, whoever does consume it, um, what we're consuming, um, as well. Now, with with, uh, seed to sale tracking, uh, that that is a system metric, it's called metric, and this the state has implemented it. Um, we did work on it. He is fully um, signed up on it. Even though he has not even opened yet, he's he's fully um, signed up on the platform. Um, that will track, it's called seed to sale. will track it from the time it goes into the ground and and grows to the time it goes off to that customer and places it in their hands. So once he opens, he'll be fully compliant um with seed to sale and every every product will be tracked by the state.

Exactly. The state has very strict microphone. Oh, the state has inventorying mandates even as much as if there's waste how that waste is disposed of. So, even from seed to uh to going in the garbage, there's there's rules about everything. And of course, with things like fentanyl around and all these other things, it doesn't take much to kill somebody. And I think that that to um to follow up on what Mr. James said

for people that want to use this product or even to buy the topical pain cream, they would feel more secure knowing that they're buying it from somebody licensed, who's been vetted, who's b who's um getting it from a legitimate source. So, I think that is the biggest distinction about why go to the store versus a more nefarious way.

Okay. So, did you want to add something or you're good? No, I I actually I kind of knew the answer to the question I was asking, but I like to get that on the record because uh people need to understand um just how highly regulated and controlled uh the cannabis marketplace in New York State and for that matter virtually every other state that has legalized it is as compared to um the open black market that isn't right. There's no quality control in an unregulated market. his quality control in how Mr. Tinto is going to get his products. Exactly. Okay, great. Thank you. Do you have any other questions? I have Mr. Badger. Any questions? No. I just want

Hold on. We're good. Are you okay? I just want to confirm that that last condition I don't think it's correct um with regard to rear house warehouse area storage shall be limited to storage. We couldn't store any product in there um in accordance with the state compliance. Yeah, we'll we'll go over that. Be and and get that modified as a condition so that that's explicit. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. If um does the board have any other questions? All right. Thank you. Hold on. Um Okay. Is there anyone I think you're done? Unless you want to say something. No, I'm sorry. Thank you. By the way, you've done a good job. I hope they're paying you enough.

Anyway, is there anyone else that would like to address the board regarding this application? Sir, did you want to add a job for me? Okay. All right. All right. Very good. All right. Is there any No one else would like to address the board? Fine. I'm going to request a motion from the board to close the hearing and reserve decision. Uh so let's see. We'll have a motion by Dan. Motion to close the hearing and reserve decision. Second by Unique. I'm sorry. Second by Ed. Second. All in favor? I.

Approved. Now the public hearing is closed. The decision though has been reserved in order for us to review any feedback we received this evening or any open issues. Uh the record will remain open for written comments and for anyone to follow up on the status of this application or to submit any comments. You can contact the planning department in a number of different ways in person. Planning is located on the west wing of town hall. documents, plans are all available for inspection between 9:00 a.m. and 4 p.m. or by phone 631-957-3103 or by email planning comments at townofblin.gov. Thank you very much. Thank you.

We have that pass that Thank you. Okay. Uh that concludes uh the live stream of our hearing. So, we're now going to