Greenport October Planning Board meeting

Town of Greenport, NY, October 28 — No drama was on display at the October Planning Board meeting as Bob MacGiffert, in his penultimate Planning Board meeting, did an admirable job standing in for former chair Ed Stiffler, who had passed away on October 7.

The project proposing 104 new units on 540 Joslen Blvd was voided according to the Planning Board's three-strike rule. MacGiffert remarked that the forfeiture should have happened after the September meeting when the applicant hadn't shown up to three consecutive Planning Board meetings without providing notice. If at some later point the applicant wants to resuscitate the project, they will have to re-apply from scratch.

Another project that came close to administrative death is the subdivision on Anthony Ave in Lorenz Park but applicant Anthony Concra had the foresight to provide notice to the Planning Board asking for recess till the meeting in November.

Subdivisions can be pretty dull and uninteresting things, but this proposed subdivision of a 6.3 acres lot on Anthony Ave is not. It proposes to carve out three separate lots of between 0.34 and 0.44 acres for the purpose of constructing three new residential buildings.

Neighbors are concerned with what has always been Lorenz Park's Achilles heel: sewage and wastewater. Another complicating factor is that the lot to be subdivided contains a retention pond and in case of heavy rain effectively acts like a floodplain as the lot lies slightly below the adjacent streets.

Two cannabis stores on the agenda

Goldleaf Cannabis on James St continues to ask for refinements to their retail location. After receiving approval for a separate delivery driveway on the east side of the building in June, they now want five employee parking spots on the south side.

What sounds harmless and benign is seen by some as as a covert attempt to create a drive-through made up of smaller puzzle pieces that, once combined, will form a complete drive-through lane wrapped around the south side of the building.

It seems like an ill-advised plan considering that Greenport's town code is very clear on this matter in § 60-4 (B)(2): "No drive-through or walk-up window sales to the public shall be permitted at a dispensary."

Greenleaf dispensary on 167 Union Tpke might meanwhile be running into a different legal issue. They intend to lease out one half of the building to a retail tenant. In their site plan they unfortunately marked that half with "COFFEE/ICE CREAM" which prompted MacGiffert to point out that NY State regulations prohibit dispensaries the on-premise sale of non-cannabis products.

Planning Board attorney Rob Fitzsimmons pointed out that there are ways for the applicant to clearly delineate the dispensary from the non-cannabis retail business which could get around these rules.

The final agenda item was the Lucky gas station at 505 Fairview Ave and the addition of a foyer to the main building. The applicant was told that their site plan renderings were incomplete as they did not include a hair cutting truck that is permanently situated at that site.

Greenport Budget-related news

Unrelated to Planning Board business that evening, I learned from Highway Superintendent John Mausolf that there will be a special town board meeting on Thursday, October 29, at 9 AM for the purpose of accepting the tentative 2027 budget and moving the budgeting process forward.

The town board meeting, initially scheduled for November 4, is now happening on November 10 at 5 PM. The rescheduling had become necessary after town board member Jim Dolan suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this week and remains in critical condition. As Deputy Supervisor Clayton Clark won't be able to attend the meeting on the 4th either, there would be no quorum on November 4.

ERRATA

October 29, 2026: The initially announced date of November 12 for the budget meeting was corrected by the town to November 10. I've updated it in the article.