Cannabis clash highlights Southold election forum

The Southold American Legion hall was filled with voters Monday night as 23 local candidates once again made their pitches ahead of the Nov. 4 election. In one of the few moments of disagreement, they clashed over cannabis.

The forum, hosted by the nonpartisan North Fork Chamber of Commerce, included pre-submitted questions to those running for county legislature, town board, trustee, assessor, highway supervisor and clerk, that were answered by designated representatives from each party.

The sharpest divide came over the thorny issue of pot dispensaries as Town Board candidates Chris Talbot and Kate Stevens offered different views on whether Southold should opt into cannabis sales.

Mr. Talbot, a Republican and former Town Board member, was vehemently opposed to any incursion into Southold.

“Because New York state has an issue with revenue and with spending, we’re pushing pot and marijuana onto our kids and onto the rest of the people in this state,” Mr. Talbot said during his allotted five minutes. “I don’t like it. I take offense to it. I think cannabis sales are good in Riverhead, not in Southold.”

Mr. Talbot thinks the state will start tightening regulations in the next 10 to 15 years anyway.

Ms. Stevens, a Democrat running for the Fishers Island seat on the board, said Southold was smart to opt out back in 2021 when there was confusion about zoning and distance requirements from schools, but now the town should reconsider.

She pointed to Babylon, which collected $2.6 million from cannabis sales this year — money that went straight to parks and boat ramps.

“It’s good that Southold dodged a bullet and didn’t adopt too early,” Ms. Stevens said. “But it’s still a valid idea and should be pursued in the future.”

Southold opted out of cannabis sales in 2021. On the East End, only Riverhead — which currently has a controversial moratorium on new dispensaries — and Southampton decided to opt in.

Another key topic was the long-delayed redevelopment proposal from Strong’s Marine for a yacht yard on Mattituck Inlet, which has been under town review for nearly a decade.

Democratic challenger Alexa Suess said she couldn’t really weigh in on something that might come before the town board if she gets elected, but acknowledged the long delay is a problem.

“It has taken too long for this decision to be made,” the Greenport resident and business owner said. “This is really a conversation of how we work with our county, how we work with our nonprofits, how we work with our environmental protection agencies so that we can get these decisions made sooner.”

Mr. Talbot, who served on the board from 2009 to 2013, said he supports the project. He said board members can’t get directly involved in planning board decisions, but they can appoint people who support business.

“You can appoint people that will think along the same lines that you do to promote business in this town, to expand an existing site that is fantastic and … needed by boat owners,” he said.

Aside from those two issues, there was plenty of agreement from Democrats and Republicans on other hot topics, including the desperate need for affordable housing and smart development.

Ms. Suess and Republican Nicholas Planamento both acknowledged the importance of tourism on the North Fork. Republican Stephanie Hall, the other candidate for the Fishers Island seat being vacated by GOP incumbent Louisa Evans, and Democrat incumbent Brian Mealy both spoke about balancing growth with housing for working families.

When asked about concerns that Mattituck is getting stuck with development the rest of town doesn’t want — including a proposed storage center on Main Road — Mr. Mealy said he wants Mattituck to become an economic center, but a smart one.

“We have to have a development where it’s thoughtful and it lifts all boats, and small business owners are protected and that we don’t just have big box stores that come in and blow everybody out of the water,” he said. 

Mr. Planamento admitted he wasn’t familiar with the proposed storage center project, but after getting filled in by the crowd, he had similar sentiments to Mr. Mealy.

“We don’t want to see that sort of development as a community,” he said.

In other races, Republican Suffolk County Legislator Catherine Stark and Democratic challenger Greg Doroski both praised the new working waterfront bill. Ms. Stark was a co-sponsor of the landmark legislation, but Mr. Doroski said more needs to be done to protect marine industries.

All six trustee candidates — Democratic incumbents Eric Sepenoski and Liz Gillooly, along with challenger Joe Finora, and Republicans candidates Terri Boyle Romanelli, Nathan Andruski and Pindar Damianos — hit similar themes: protecting the waterfront, handling zoning responsibly and explaining why they’re qualified.

The nearly three-hour event, moderated by Eric Dantes, ended with one-minute pitches from all the candidates. Current Southold assessor Charles Sanders, who is deployed in Kuwait, had his statement read by his wife, Alina.

Early voting begins Saturday, Oct. 25, and runs through Sunday, Nov. 2.