Patchogue Riverfront Residents: Dublin Deck Expansion

A month ago I blogged the first entry in this series. In that entry I said that the Patchogue Riverfront Residents group (PRR) has among its goals controlling noise on the riverfront and also advocating for neighborhoods facing developmental pressure from nearby businesses. in a very short time all these issues are going to come into focus when the owners of the Dublin Deck a complex of club, restaurant, marina and other related businesses located near the south end of River Avenue heads to the Village Planning Board for approval for a site plan.

What is this process? Why is it important to the public?

What is happening here is that the owners of the Dublin Deck have expanded their business over the past few years. Normally before such expansions occur owners go to the village Planning Board and lay out basically a master plan for their business. This gives the Planning Board a chance to address issues that need review. For example parking for the amount of visitors to the site that can be expected. Noise issues that might arise from music, or other forms of activity that could produce intrusive noise on nearby neighbors.

In the case of the Dublin Deck it appears that about two years ago an application for changes was made to the Planning Board, then withdrawn. Also true that the Dublin Deck then got necessary permits for work that was done later to expand their business. Some residents have raised questions about why the Dublin Deck owners were not compelled to return to the Planning Board long ago for site plan approvals before those permits were issued. The owners and their attorney have argued that all that was done was legal.

Recently when the owners applied to raise their occupancy level village officials insisted that the owners bring their request before the Planning Board for its approval.  Once they agreed this re-started and re-opened the process of looking at the entire site plan for the club, the marina, and all related uses on this large property reportedly worth millions of dollars.No doubt this issue of whether the changes that were made should have come before the Planning Board earlier  will come up for further comment  but practically speaking what is done is done except that now those changes will have to be reconciled with existing rules for example parking.

But there are  indeed actually rules relating to occupancy and parking. There can be concerns about issues such as the noise associated with an active volleyball league and concessions that might need to be made to mitigate noise issues. There could be concerns about just how much noise that starts as music is actually being generated and trespassing on nearby neighbors. The list of potential concerns is actually quite long.

What the Planning Board does is make sure first of all that laws are being upheld and where they are but there still might be negative effects on neighbors then it can act to gain “buffering” concessions For example time limits on when the volley ball league is active. Protections from lighting that might be intrusive on others. Limits on the use of loud persistent whistles used to referee volley ball games. The options that the Board can create are many.

In general though it has been the usual goal of the Planning Board to support business development as in this case while also making sure that nearby neighborhoods are not unduly burdened with nuisances that can be abated with some preventive steps.

There are actually two upcoming dates of interest.On Monday August 20th at 7 p.m. at village hall a “work session” will be  held. In this kind of session the owners make an informal  presentation to the Planning Board regarding what it is that they are seeking approvals for. Members of the Board are then allowed to ask questions. The public is present but can not speak on any issues that are raised.

Unresolved issues are then left to be resolved by the time of the public hearing which in this case is going to be held on Tuesday 8-28-12. On the meeting of the 28th the owners will formally present their plan. Board members will then raise whatever issues they feel needed. The meeting is then open to the public for comment. It is at that time that the public can express support or disapproval, ask questions, seek answers, demand relief from problems if there are problems to be mitigated.

Public participation is vital to the Planning Board addressing issues that currently exist or potentially might exist early on. Depending on what issues are raised final approval might take several months if not longer depending on the complexity of any needed solutions. Those attending either night should also be prepared to stay a while. Public hearings may draw a number of speakers with multiple questions that might take some time to process. Yet despite the wait for the public this is probably the most important moment to make changes if needed to insure that when the business site plan is finally approved that when that occurs all benefit including those who live nearby.

It should also be noted that the Village Board of Trustees has recently enacted a new law: concessions made as part of a planning Board approval if not followed through on by an owner are now subject to penalty: i.e. fines until they are complied with. Incredibly in the past no enforcement mechanism existed to guarantee that concessions made were actually complied with leading to many complaints of broken promises. Now there is teeth in the law for the first time a long overdue and badly needed change that the trustees at long last determined to be needed to protect the public interest.