Live Blog: Patchogue Village Board of Trustees Meeting

Patchogue Patch will be live updating this article from Village Hall. The agenda for the Monday meeting is at this

7:33 p.m.: Pledge of allegiance.

7:35 p.m. Village bills approved. Public hearings begin. Notice to consider a special request to consider moving Michael’s Tires.

“As many of you know on East Main Street at Bay Avenue that construction has started. Therefore, Michaels Tires is going to be moving,” Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri said.

Pontieri said that the business is planning on moving to 26 Potter Ave., away from its current location in the area of the construction.

7:39 p.m. Notice that a hearing held during tonight's meeting is to request approval to amend zoning that would establish a moratorium on new apartment houses, garden apartments, townhouses, residential untis and buildings over three stories tall.

“The crux of the proposal will allow some breathing room to evaluate and consider the impact of the Tritec project. As we know that was a 4-3 vote, somewhat contentious, and it will be incumbent on the board to see how that plays out,” said Deputy Mayor Stephen McGiff.

Brian Egan, village attorney, said that part of the application to the board is to provide a six month period to give the village the opportunity to hire a professional planner.

Village trustee William Hilton said he is concerned that six months may not be enough time to evaluate the situation.

7:47 p.m. A member of the public spoke concerned that such move would stifle growth.

Village trustee Gerard Crean responded that the moratorium gives the board breathing room to review what the impact new construct would have on the village.

McGiff further clarified that the only type of growth this would stifle is that involving apartments and housing.

8:09 p.m. Discussion is continuing regarding the motion. Crean said that the board would want to see the impact of the Tritec plan on parking in the village.

The previous member of the public returned to speak concerned that placing a hold on these types of projects would prevent the processes from running since negotiations between the various village boards usually run from start to finish.

McGiff said that the growth is halted on the particular residential use to see if any more developments with a residential use will be appropriate with the Tritec New Village project coming.

8:21 p.m.: Motion was approved unanimously.

8:22 p.m.: A request for approval to accept the 2010 Service Award program list of all active volunteer ambulance workers of the Patchogue Ambulance company was unanimously approved.

8:24 p.m.: A request for approval to authorize the execution of an ammended agreement between the Village and Ol Blue Point LLC was unanimously approved. Pontieri said that the agreement will help fund the sewer district. The agreement was supposed to take place four years ago, but the down turn in the economy slowed the agreement. The agreement will fund $2 million to the sewer district.

8:28 p.m.: Gail Hoag is presenting the Chamber of Commerce report. Hoag announced that Tuesday will be the $5 Perfect Plates event in Patchogue where many local restaurants will be serving $5 meals.

8:30 p.m.: Village Trustee Jack Krieger is giving the theatre report. Saturday was the Patchogue Folk Festival. Krieger congratulated Christopher Capobianco for running the event. Bret Michaels's Friday concert is nearly sold out with only a few single seats remaining.

8:34 p.m.: Crean says that the Business Imporvement District will be discussing parking solutions and where they could try to place a tiered parking solution. A budget hearing will be held Monday at 5:30 p.m.. Crean requested and had approved the awarding of a garden maintenance bid by Rolling Rock Landscaping in the amount of $7,000 from April 15, 2011, to April 14, 2012, and for the Patchogue Gardne Club to hang a banner on Main Street to promote their 11th annual garden tour on July 9.

8:37 p.m.: Village Trustee William Hilton announced that Saturday at 10 a.m. is the Brookhaven Clean Up at Shorefront Park.

Hilton requested and had approved the annual Memorial Day Parade on May 30 at 11 a.m.

Also approved is a request to change dock security salary and to hold a summer youth volleyball league.

8:42 p.m.: McGiff sought board approval to set a public hearing to repeal sections of village code regarding valet and professional parking services.

“The mayor and I met with Lombardi’s on concerns regading valet parking and hope to develop a committee to find some kind of solution,” McGiff said. He said that he hopes to curtail valet parking completely from the street due to safety issues typically seen on South Ocean Avenue in the summer.

8:44 p.m.: Village trustee Lori Devlin said that student art is on display in the village.

Trustee Joseph Keyes is giving the Department of Public Works report and said that free mulch is being given away.

Keyes requested and had approved to have the Village bus declared as a surplus and to go out to bid for the sale of the bus, to bid for the purchase of a bucket truck, for Joe Dean to attend the Annual School for Highway Superintendents at Ithaca College in June at a cost not to exceed $500, to hire Universal Fireproof Door to install new doors at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts at a cost not to exceed $26,500, a request to accept change orders for general construction at 380 Bay Avenue at a cost not to exceed $50,000, a request to purchase a GPS from NY Precision not to exceed $15,100 and a request to hire Tiderunner Engineering to perform a Traffic Volume Study on Oak Street at a cost not to exceed $2,400.

8:53 p.m. Public comment section has begun. 

Resident of Gilbert Street said she is disappointed the bus is going away, and suggests that a shuttle that can take residents to restaurants could be a good replacement.

8:56 p.m. Public comments regarding feral cats are being opened. Pontieri said that he had received a number of emails berating him and the board regarding a decision at the previous board meeting regarding the discontinuation of feeding feral cats on public property.

Pontieri reported that he and Keyes found raw fish and opened cans of cat food left on the fields of Shorefront Park, where children play as part of youth programs.

"This wasn’t about feral cats but about the health and safety of the children in this community," Pontieri said.

9:03 p.m.: Michael Buck spoke first. Buck says that there is a colony of 11 cats that are spayed and neutered that are taken care of by three women at Shorefront Park.

Buck said that, as far as he was aware, that the raw fish was left by a man who left them there for the seagulls and the issue was taken out of control.

9:10 p.m.: Resident Sue Greer said that she bought the house from a woman who had the cats but had to move to West Islip. Greer said that the woman had to abandon the cats, but often comes back to feed them.

Egan said that the woman could be guilty of abandonment, punishable by misdeameanor with a penalty of potentially one year in jail or $5,000.

Greer said that she would like to work amicably so a solution can be found that would be good for everyone; including taking the cats back to her. Greer said that when purchasing the house, she had the cats spayed and neutered for the previous homeowner.

9:19 p.m.: A woman who said she is one of the caregivers of the cats said that there is a problem with people dumping additional cats at Shorefront Park that are not spayed nor neutered. She said that there have been groups helping to get those cats to shelters or where they can be adopted, and they have been working so the only cats at the park are the colony that are spayed and neutered.

9:32 p.m.: Trap, neuter and release programs are being presented to the village board.

A veterinarian pharmacist from Holbrook is explaining that ending the feeding of the colony would actually enlarge the territory for the cats. She claimed that the village is actually a good example of a colony on Long Island.

9:38 p.m. Meeting adjourned.