Siller pulls application, charging personal bias: Councilman calls accusations ‘absurd’ 

Charges of bias by some Town Board members were made by a former Town supervisor who had an application pending before the Board for a business site. After Gerry Siller wrote to the Board withdrawing his application and making the charges, he forwarded the letter to the Reporter, adding: “Upon advice of counsel, I will be looking at all my options going forward.”  

The application withdrawal came just hours before the Town Board was expected to vote on Mr. Siller’s site plan application to relocate his Grady Riley Gardens business from North Menantic Road to share space with Mary Lou Eichhorn’s Cornucopia gift shop on West Neck Road.

“The discussions and treatment of the matter suggested a degree of personal bias that made it unlikely that the application would receive an objective review based on its actual merits,” Mr. Siller wrote to the Board.

“Over the past year, the current composition of the Town Board has, in multiple situations, demonstrated a posture that appears increasingly unsupportive of local businesses,” he wrote. “This lack of support — whether direct or indirect — ultimately affects the livelihoods of many individuals who have no involvement in the application process itself. It is a perspective that some members of the Board appear to overlook, despite its real impact on the community.”

Mr. Siller didn’t respond to the Reporter’s request for further comment.

Principal Building Inspector Reed Karen, who had allowed Mr Siller to continue his activities at the Cornucopia site pending a decision, said he will be issuing a violation allowing 30 days for the former supervisor to clear his materials from the site. If Mr. Siller were to fail to take the necessary action, an appearance ticket would land him in court.

Mr. Siller originally heard solid support for his application, but faced increasing criticism in successive sessions. It started with neighbor Helene Starzee asking for the Town Board to reject the application citing her concerns about the view from her pool area overlooking the site and noise from trucks making deliveries, along with accusations that mulch and other materials outside the site could attract rats.

There were also questions about zoning, although that was found not to be an issue.

Public sentiment shifted to Ms. Starzee and questions started arising from speakers about how a former supervisor could not know a site plan review was necessary before he could move his business to the Cornucopia site.

The one piece of good news that went Mr. Siller’s way was attorney Thomas Crouch, serving the Town Board, announcing the Suffolk County Department of Health Services saw no requirement for expanding septics on the property based on the site plan.

But Councilman Gordon Gooding said of the application, “We’ve got too much going on at a small space. I have a problem with this application.” 

There were also concerns brought up by Councilman Benjamin Dyett about delivery hours that Deputy Supervisor Meg Larsen said could not be enforced. His request to ban night deliveries is something unnecessary since deliveries generally happen during the day and no matter what a business may request, a delivery will be made at a time convenient to those making the delivery, Ms. Larsen said.

Mr. Dyett also questioned if the Fire Department had said its trucks could maneuver in the space. Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams said a Fire Department member had informally said there was no concern of that nature. But there was never a request for an official examination to assure that firefighter’s statement was accurate, Mr. Gooding said.

Mr. Dyett made no statement about his vote. Past votes during the year had, with rare exceptions, been along party lines with Democrats Mr. Gooding, Mr. Dyett and Councilman Albert Dickson generally voting together, and the Republican supervisor and deputy supervisor voting together. Votes tended to split across party lines if they were not unanimous.

That left Mr. Siller presumably considering he was not likely to have his application approved with or without Mr. Dickson. A 2-2 vote would see the application doomed, lacking the majority needed to pass the resolution.

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Dyett told the Reporter Mr. Siller’s letter was “vague and absurd.” As for Mr. Siller’s decision that on advice of his counsel he would be looking at all the options going forward, Mr. Dyett said he was glad the application was pulled from further consideration at this time. “You want these things to go away and this one did,” the councilman said.

Responding to the letter from Mr. Siller withdrawing the application, Mr. Gooding said he was surprised by the action. That there was no official word from the Fire Department about whether its vehicles could effectively maneuver on the site, no requirement for the applicant to file plans with Suffolk County on whether septics were sufficient or should be upgraded, were questions, Mr. Gooding told the Reporter, that needed explanations.

No one wants to give an applicant a hard time, but sometimes you have to say no, Mr. Gooding added.

The written resolution that was to be voted on Monday night contained two conditions that appeared to be satisfactory to both sides, but it didn’t foretell how the vote would go.