Attorneys for Surrey Lane Vineyard in Southold have brought another lawsuit against the Southold Town Planning Board, seeking to overturn a recently imposed requirement for a traffic analysis as “arbitrary and capricious” and ordering the members of the planning board to attend training classes in the standards of the state Open Meetings Law. The suit also asks the court to enjoin the planning board from violating the Open Meetings law in the future.
Surrey Lane, located on Route 25 just east of South Harbor Road, is seeking approval to build a 3,589 square-foot winery on a 1.8-acre parcel that will merge with its 43.7 acres of farmland. The vineyard applied to the planning board for site plan approval last August. In October, the planning board issued a State Environmental Quality Review Act determination that the proposed action would have no significant environmental impact and did not require further review under SEQRA.
In January, the planning board attempted to refer the application to the Zoning Board of Appeals for an interpretation as to whether Surrey Lane’s proposed site plan constitutes a “winery” and a permitted use and to determine what activities constitute “wine production,” “wine tastings,” and “wine tasting rooms.”
Surrey Lane brought a court action challenging the referral to the ZBA, arguing that the planning board had not taken an official action making the referral. Surrey Lane argued that the board violated the Open Meetings Law. The action was settled in May after the planning board withdrew the memorandum making the referral to the ZBA, according to court papers filed in State Supreme Court yesterday by Mattituck attorney Eric Bressler.
The board held a final public hearing on the subdivision application in early June and at a subsequent work session announced that Surrey Lane would be required to have a traffic analysis prepared, according to the court papers.
The court papers cite Supervisor Scott Russell’s call for a moratorium on winery approvals and for changes to the town code with respect to wineries. Russell pitched the idea to the town board last fall, but got no support. This spring, the town board appointed an alcohol farm products working group to look at whether the town code is adequate to regulate the evolving alcohol farm products industry in Southold, including wineries and to make recommendations for any code changes it deems needed.
The lawsuit accuses the planning board failure to act has the application “stalled.” Imposing a requirement for a traffic study after issuing a negative declaration under SEQRA is effectively reopening the SEQRA process, which the lawsuit claims was done ”in response to political pressure to delay approvals of farm wineries.” It notes “at least 15 wineries have been approved in Southold Town without a traffic analysis” of the type sought from Surrey Lane.
The applicant is challenging the traffic analysis requirement and is asking the court to annul the letter imposing the requirement without a vote of the board and, as in the prior action, asking the court to order members of the planning board to attend training classes concerning their obligations under the Public Officers Law pertaining to the conduct of meetings required to be open to the public.
Russell declined comment on the specifics of the pending action.
“What I will say is that, generally, the planning board is required to review applications based on issues of public health, safety and welfare,” he said. “Both pedestrian and traffic flow within the site and traffic into and out of the site are key to those considerations. Further, it is required to mitigate any impacts, if any, on the community. I just hope that those issues are as important to the applicant as they are to the town.”
