A pilot program to test a paid program in downtown Riverhead has been postponed to allow the town’s Parking District Advisory Committee to weigh in on the program.
The Town Board at its regular monthly meeting last week tabled a resolution authorizing a contract with vendor HonkMobile that would have allowed the town to begin a 30-day trial in the downtown district commencing at the end of this month, as discussed at the Town Board’s work session on Oct. 3.
The resolution would have approved a contract for a 90-day trial period, according to the contract document attached to the resolution.
“They’re going to delay the trial because they want to discuss the 30-day trial with the parking district advisory committee,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said last week.
The Town Board in April hired a Port Jefferson-based parking consultant to develop a “comprehensive managed downtown parking plan” that incorporates a planned parking garage in the First Street parking lot. The consultant, Parking and Mobility Consultants Inc., headed up by Kevin Wood of Shoreham, the former parking administrator for the Village of Port Jefferson.
CPF Fund Project Plan amended
A measure to allow Riverhead’s Community Preservation Fund revenues to be spent on Riverhead Water District water main extension projects was approved by the Town Board at its regular monthly meeting last week.
The board unanimously authorized the amendment to the Community Preservation Fund Project Plan, adopted in 2021, at the request of town staff, including Water District Superintendent Frank Mancini, Economic Development and Planning Director Dawn Thomas and Deputy Town Attorney Annemarie Prudenti. The staff working group said access to the revenues, generated by the 2% transfer tax on real estate, would expedite the completion of water main extensions in three areas of Calverton where residential drinking water wells are contaminated. The funds will be used “to pay for the upfront engineering costs that are non reimbursable” by state or federal grants, Mancini said.
The proposal got pushback from the L.I. Farm Bureau and a subcommittee of the Riverhead Farmland Preservation Committee during a public hearing on the amendment. L.I. Farm Bureau Director Rob Carpenter and Farmland Preservation Committee member Richard Wines expressed concerns about diversion of CPF revenues to purposes other than land preservation.
MORE COVERAGE: Farmland preservation advocates air concerns about use of real property transfer tax money for water projects
Limited English Proficiency Policy adopted
The board last week adopted a Limited English Proficiency Policy, which the town is required to have in place as a condition of federal grants, Riverhead’s Director of Planning, Economic and Community Development Dawn Thomas told the Town Board at its Oct. 10 work session.
“This is something that we probably ought to have already done. It’s going to be required for our grants. We’re getting federal grant money. And so in order to get those federal dollars, we do need to have a limited English proficiency policy,” Thomas said.
The adopted policy defines limited English proficiency persons as “Individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English.”
With the aim of ensuring that residents with limited English proficiency have adequate and fair access to town services, the town government will provide language interpretation services through a professional telephone interpretation service identified as LanguageLine Solutions, according to the policy.
“We’re thinking about implementing the language line system that the police department and Justice Court currently use and making it town wide in all of our offices,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said during the work session. “It’s fairly inexpensive to do.”
The town had an estimated population of 35,723 as of July 1, 2023, as reported by the American Community Survey published by the U.S. Census. Of that number, nearly 18% speak a language other than English, the policy states, quoting the census’s 2018-2022 estimate.
Of the individuals speaking a language other than English, 3,937 individuals speak Spanish, 1,781 other Indo-European languages, 124 speak Asian and Pacific Island languages and 230 speak other languages.
According to the policy, there are 14,007 households in the Town of Riverhead and 2,274 households have residents who speak languages other than English. The other languages spoken include the following, which are identified as having some limited English-speaking households): 1,061 Spanish-speaking households (278 limited English-speaking households); 419 households speaking Russian, Polish and other Slavic languages (131 limited English speaking); 492 households speaking other Indo-European languages, which include Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Iranian, Hindi (111 limited English-speaking households); 54 Korean-speaking households (5 limited English-speaking households); 979 households speaking other Indo-European languages, 96 households speaking Asian and Pacific Island languages and 138 households speaking other languages. Other households speak languages other than English, such as French, Haitian or Cajun (13 households) and German (55 households) but have zero residents who are limited English-speaking individuals.
Thomas said there is currently no immediate plan to translate various forms used by the town into other languages, but that is something that would be done on an as-needed basis.
Town officials are also looking into having the content on the town website available in the various languages spoken in the town.
In other action at last week’s meeting, the Town Board:
Rescinded a resolution approved on April 18, 2023 that authorized the expenditure of American Rescue Act funds to the purchase of a software module to digitize the residential rental permit process in the code enforcement division.
Authorized a license agreement with Race Track Not Street to allow the use of up to 2,000 feet of runway 5/23 (7,000-foot runway) at the Calverton Enterprise Park for storage of equipment from Nov. 1, 2024 to July 31 for the sum of $700 per month.
Authorized an agreement with Hendrickson Fire rescue Equipment for a 2025 Ford E-450 chassis and the remount of a 2013 body supplied by the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps at a total cost of $281,676.39.
Tabled a resolution accepting the resignation of Riverhead Industrial Development Agency board member Anthony Barresi and appointing Barbara Rizzi to fill the vacancy created by his resignation.
Public hearings scheduled
The board also scheduled the following public hearings:
Nov. 7 at 2 p.m.: Hearing on a proposed local law to override the tax levy limit for 2025 and on the proposed 2025 preliminary town budget.
Nov. 7 at 2 p.m.: Hearing on a proposed amendment to Chapter 293 of the Riverhead Town Code, “Waterway And Waterway-Related Activities, Article X, General Requirements” to increase the limit on the maximum length of a dock from 15% to 25% of the width of the waterway, if certain conditions are met, including a maximum length of 150 feet, continued navigability and use of the waterway.
Nov. 7 at 2:10 p.m.: Hearing on a proposed local law amending Chapter 103 of the Riverhead Town Code, “Town Officers And Employees.” The proposed legislation would continue the practice of holding biennial elections of town officers on odd-numbered years.
Nov. 7 at 2 p.m.: Hearing on a proposed amendment to Chapter 301 of the Riverhead Town Code “Zoning and Land Development, Attachment 1 – Parking Schedule,” and “Article XLV – Supplementary Use Regulations.” The intent of the proposed legislation is to amend the parking schedule for one- and two-family residences.
Nov. 19 at 6:10 p.m.: Hearing on a proposed code amendment to increase the penalties for violations of Chapter 263 of the town code (“Rental Dwelling Units”), raising the minimum penalty from $500 to $2,000 and the maximum penalty for a first offense from $1,500 to $3,000. The penalties for second offenses would be raised to a minimum of $3,000 and maximum of $4,000 and the minimum for third and subsequent offenses would be $4,000 with a maximum of $6,000.
Nov. 19 at 6:05 p.m.: Hearing on a proposed code amendment to increase the penalties for violations of Chapter 217 of the town code (“Property Maintenance Code”) from $500 to $1,000, to a maximum of $3,000 for each violation.
All hearings will take place at Riverhead Town Hall, 4 West Second Street, Riverhead.
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