Southold Town Republicans have chosen Christopher Talbot, a former Town Board member and Southampton Village Building Inspector, and real estate agent and Southold Zoning Board of Appeals member Nicholas Planamento to run for two seats on the Southold Town Board this fall.
“This year we have the most dynamic and exciting slate of candidates we have seen in a long time,” said Southold GOP Chairman Peter Ganley. “We are very proud that in nominating Chris and Nick, we are presenting the voters with the most qualified team that will put Town Hall back on track.”
Pictured Above: Left: Nick Planamento; Right: Chris Talbot
The seats are currently held by Democrats Brian Mealy and Greg Doroski. Mr. Doroski announced Monday that he will seek a seat on the Suffolk County Legislature this fall, while Mr. Mealy, who has served one term as Councilman, confirmed Wednesday that he is running for re-election. Town Democrats will officially unveil their candidates this Friday, March 7 at Touch of Venice restaurant in Cutchogue.
Mr. Talbot served on the Southold Town Board from 2010 to 2013 and is currently the Senior Building and Zoning Inspector for the Village of Southampton. He was an 18-year member of the Mattituck Fire Department and is now an active member and elected Commissioner at the Cutchogue Fire Department. He’s a lifelong Southold Town resident and graduate of Mattituck High School.
Mr. Planamento, who had owned a shop on Love Lane in the early 2000s, has been a real estate agent for 18 years, affiliated with Town & Country Real Estate, which recently joined the Connecticut-based real estate firm William Raveis.
In addition to serving on the Zoning Board, Mr. Planamento has served as the town’s liaison to the Suffolk County Planning Commission, as Vice Chair of the Southold Board of Assessment Review, a member of the town’s Architectural Review Board and 375th Anniversary Committee.
Republican Fishers Island Councilwoman and Town Justice Louisa Evans, the longest-serving member of the Town Board, will not be seeking re-election. Ms. Evans’ seat is an unusual one — the Southold Town Board has six members, instead of the customary five, and one seat must be held by a resident of Fishers Island, though the candidate is elected by town voters at large. Ms. Evans has held the seat since 1994.
Mr. Ganley said town Republicans have a candidate to fill the Fishers Island seat, who will be announced along with the party’s other candidates in the upcoming weeks ahead of their March 27 campaign kickoff party, which will also be held at Touch of Venice.
Southold Democratic Party Chair Emeritus and Communications Director Sandra Benedetto said Wednesday that the Democrats are also fielding a candidate for the Fishers Island seat, along with “an outstanding slate that we can’t wait to announce Friday,” with candidates for all 11 seats up for election this year.
“It’s an honor to be selected by the Southold Democratic Committee for another opportunity to represent the great people of Southold,” said Mr. Mealy, the Democratic incumbent Town Board member seeking re-election, on Wednesday, adding that he’s blessed to be working with the current town board “on the important issues affecting our residents like safeguarding our Peconic Estuary, safe affordable housing and evolving quality of life issues.”
Both Republican candidates pledged to do more to address affordable housing in Southold, and touted their professional experience with zoning codes as Southold is undergoing a major overhaul of its zoning code this year.
“We really need to take a hard look at affordable housing,” said Mr. Talbot. “We have had a lot of talk, but we haven’t had a lot of success in moving too many projects forward. Cutchogue is one of the only communities that hasn’t had any projects, and we probably have some good parcels in the HALO zones [around the center of the hamlet].”
“We need something, in my mind, for the youth,” he said, adding that “one of the most defeating thins for me was when Southold did not approve that project in Mattituck,” referring to a proposal about a decade ago for a sports complex on the Main Road just west of the Mattituck shopping plaza.
“I think it’s a priority for the East End to keep young people here,” agreed Mr. Planamento. “People are very much excited about accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The code allows any full-time resident to develop an accessory structure with an ADU in it, but that structure needs to have a certificate of occupancy that’s three years old.That’s a hot button topic that’s very easily resolved.”
He added that he would also be supportive of allowing second homeowners to convert space on their property to accessory dwelling units, and that he would “like to see more follow-up” to ensure the units are being used for affordable housing.
The Southold Town Board is currently in the process of interviewing candidates for a housing administrator position — that person would be charged with the day-to-day operations of the town’s new Community Housing Fund.
Southold Town is also currently in the midst of drafting a much-anticipated update to its zoning code, with public input sessions expected later this spring.
“The zoning update has been a very long process,” said Mr. Planamento. “I come from the private sector, where things happen quickly, and I would argue this is a long time coming.”
He added that, as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, he is charged with protecting the existing zoning code, and is “obligated to grant the minimum relief possible.”
“As a Town Board member, my role would switch, and I would help determine the code issues that need to be addressed,” he said. “I’d have a better seat at the table.”
“Zoning updates are a good thing,” said Mr. Talbot. “They’re needed. Some particular uses have been in place for 50 years. I always thought it would be good to get a group of people together and talk about new uses in town — what new things need to be put in the code so they’ll be allowable and people don’t have to work too hard and spend a lot of money to get a project approved.”
Mr. Talbot said he’s winding down his career as a building department official, and now that his kids are grown he feels he has the time to return to a role in government in the town where he’s lived all his life.
“There’s been a change of demographics in town, but everyone that’s out here wants the same thing — a safe community, open air, farming, and I think I’d be in a good position to continue to push that forward,” he said.
Mr. Planamento, who grew up in Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, remembers how his small town became “really heavily developed. That left a big mark on me as far as how I view development.”
He had family in Southold when he was a kid, and decided after college that “sleepy little quiet Southold was the right place to be.”
“I miss the farm fields of cauliflower and potatoes,” he said of the Southold he remembers from his youth. “But the horse is out of the barn, and we need to reflect on where we are today… It’s a changed community. My heart is in our community. I’m here for everyone.”
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