Furious Route 48 Neighbor To Town: 'Buy My Home, I'll Leave'

CUTCHOGUE, NY - A resident who's been pleading with the Southold Town board for years, begging for relief from quality of life issues and dangers on County Road 48 has had enough — he's ready to pack it in.

"Buy my home. I'll leave," Cutchogue resident Bill Shipman said at last week's Southold town board meeting.

For months after last July's deadly limo crash on Route 48 in Cutchogue, Shipman has been begging the town to take even further action before tragedy strikes again.

The limo accident was arguable the worst tragedy the North Fork has ever seen: On July 18, 2015, a limo, while making a U-turn at the intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue, was broadsided by a pickup truck.

Brittney Schulman, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, both of Smithtown, Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park, and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack, all lost their lives.

Injured in the accident were Joelle M. Dimonte, 25, of Ellwood, Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale, Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket, and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn.

Shipman came before the board to raise his concerns about what he perceives as a lack of town enforcement at Vineyard 48 and what he says are unsafe conditions caused by limos and buses on Route 48.

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell reminded that when the town discovered the business was selling cigars, something not a permitted use on the parcel, "we took immediate action."

But, he said to Shipman, "My concern is your singular focus on code enforcement on one property in Southold Town. You can drive down any road in Southold Town," and find individuals who may be violating town code, the supervisor said. "Your focus is very singular."

Shipman said all his efforts have been on defending his home.

Russell said, of Vineyard 48, that Shipman "seems to ignore the fact that the town has committed a substantial amount of resources to get them into compliance. We have gotten significant compliance and you haven't give us credit for that. It's not the operation it used to be."

And, Russell added, when the town learns about issues, "We take action."

Shipman referred to alleged incidents of alcohol poisoning at the establishment. Last month, Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley told Patch that he'd heard of at least one such incident.

"This doesn't happen at any other tasting room," Shipman said.

"You are trying to get us to use all of our resources to focus on one business," Russell said.

Shipman said he gets tired of "complaining week after week."

"All of your anger is understandable and we feel the same way," Russell said. He added, however, that Shipman should not be raising complaints if the business has four cars over its allowable number parked there. Ten cars would be egregious, he said. "I used to go by that property and I didn't see evidence" of Shipman's complaints about cars, he said.

"Now, when we have parking violations and we find out about it we take legal action," Russell said. "It's a global perception on what you expect us to do there. We can't sit there with a code enforcement officer baby-sitting. We can't be arbitrary or capricious. We can't bring an extra layer of code enforcement because of prior bad acts."

Shipman, referring to a past article in Patch, asked Russell what other town resources the supervisor believed he was exploiting, or how he was using the town's resources to harass and intimidate the business.

"I don't think you're exploiting, I think you are trying to urge us to use our resources with micromanagement on the site. I think you want code enforcement on the property every weekend, and that's unreasonable, unrealistic and not the way the town should govern itself," Russell said.

Shipman said he's asked for enforcement on County Road 48 between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. when limos and buses present the most "concerning" conditions on the weekends.

"I agree with everything you are saying but under the changing nature of the North Fork, buses and limos present huge dangers all over Southold Town," the supervisor said.

For example, he said, there are limos exceeding weight limits in areas such as Bridge Lane in Cutchogue. "It's unsafe, very dangerous. It's not an easy solution," Russell said, adding that limos and buses are an issue townwide.

Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley told Patch that last summer's tragic accident the police department has added another officer to its highway patrol unit, "affording us better coverage for all traffic enforcement. These units, along with our normal sector cars, have been assigned for enforcement at this location and have written summonses for unsafe U turns at this location as well as other infractions."

Unfortunately, Flatley said, "we cannot assign an officer all day long throughout the weekend at this one location, but we are attempting to cover it to the best of our ability, realizing that with no presence at this site, the likelihood of unsafe U turns increases. We have also witnessed countless limousines and buses avoiding this intersection by traveling to alternate locations to perform safer turns to direct them westbound safely."

After further discussion, Shipman told Russell, "I live there, Scott." He pointed to the town board and said none lived on Route 48 and have had to endure what he and his family have during past years.

"I know that, and I understand all this anger, and I was fighting for you for years," Russell said. "I think we've won for the most part."

Definition of tasting room

Shipman then brought up the definition of tasting room, which is still being developed. "Their tasting is a beach bucket. If Magic Fountain served that, instead of a small spoonful, they'd be out of business," Shipman said.

Russell said townwide, there is a lot of "exploitation of codes that is not clearly defined. It takes place everywhere, not just there, and we try to address it where we can."

With the one year mark of Route 48's limo crash, Shipman said he'd been warning for years that tragedy would strike. "And then something does happen. That something unfortunately happened to four people. They died. They're not here. It could have been any one of our family involved in that, at that time. My wife leaves the house to go to the store multiple times to take the kids where they are going."

Russell said the town has allocated a great deal of resources to the issue and had successes. "We're not getting complaints for the most part."

Buy my house, please

Shipman came up with a new solution: "I know the town is looking for affordable housing. Please, let's figure out how the town can get through the red tape. Buy my home. I will leave."

Shipman said he's lived in the home for 16 years, since moving from his home in Mattituck.

"My wife will leave in a heartbeat. That's how much this stinks for us. But I can't sell my house, which I purchased in an opportune time to have an affordable mortgage, where I don't have to work three jobs — I can work two and pay my mortgage and taxes . Buy my home," he said again. "I'll leave."

Meanwhile, almost one year after the crash, residents have been demanding answerson the green turning arrow they believe could prevent tragedy at the corner of Route 48 and Depot Lane.

A call for comment to Vineyard 48 was not immediately returned.