TOWN OF SMITHTOWN
Board Meeting
8/12/08

The Town Board meeting had many resolutions apparently due to the fact that the last meeting
was on 7/15/08 and the next meeting is not
until September.
Planning Department Director Frank DeRubeis outlined two amendments to Codes;
one on Nursing homes and Assisted Living that would have a provision that lessened the code requirements for those facilities when in or adjacent to the downtown area.
It, in fact, left it to the Supervisor to wave requirements for a 75,000 square foot facility when he deems it warranted in that location.
  The second was on underground parking in the downtown area now, and later in other
commercial areas - as well as raising the issue
of eliminating the parking garage ordinance
that is currently not being used.
The public portion of the meeting had civic activist Lenore Cernitz speaking on the
purpose of the Freedom of Information Law and the elected officials use of their position
of power to thwart, to stall, and to block the efforts of private citizens. In this she called to mind the Founding Fathers that recognized
the problem of power, and knew there was a
need to limit power and control it.