At Tuesday night’s Meet the Candidates forum hosted by the North Fork Civics of Southold, candidates for Town Board and Fishers Island justice split over both pace and philosophy. Some, like Democrats Brian Mealy and Alexa Suess, pressed for expanding housing overlays, strengthening partnerships and putting newly raised transfer-tax funds to work immediately. Others, like Republicans Nicholas Planamento and Christopher Talbot, said the real obstacle was bureaucracy — and that Southold must clear a direct path for builders while protecting the small-scale character that defines the town.
On Fishers Island, where both Republican Stephanie Hall and Democrat Kate Stevens are vying for the justice seat that doubles as a Town Board vote, housing was a matter of community survival. “If there’s no place to live,” Stevens said flatly, “then nothing else works.”
The candidates’ differences were real, but through-lines emerged: housing drives the economy, resiliency demands coordination and transparency is the currency that buys consent for the big bills to come.
The Town Board candidates were asked four questions — based on submissions from the community — on affordable housing, coastal resiliency, budget issues and the town’s economic future. None of the candidates knew the questions in advance. The evening’s forums were moderated by Dave Bergen and Carol Lindley.
Affordable/Attainable Housing and the zoning update
Question: “The Southold Town Comprehensive Plan states that the lack of affordable housing is at crisis proportions. What aspects of the zoning update do you believe will help incentivize a substantial increase in affordable housing? What would you change in the proposed code to allow for new development projects, including multiple-unit housing?”
Mealy, a Town Board member, leaned heavily on work already underway — accessory dwelling units, new housing transfer-tax revenue and two projects he said he helped advance. “If you’re concerned about housing, I’m the most consistent supporter of community housing that’s on this dais,” he said, noting that the board has “supported a local plan on Love Lane for 12 rental units” and is “hoping for … 22 ownership units on Carroll Avenue.” He said the town has “about $5 million in the housing plan,” a coordinator in place, and a team that’s “starting to synergize the effort to have results.”
Hall, running for Fishers Island justice, focused on the island she hopes to represent. “On Fishers Island, affordable housing is … a critical need, and without it, we’re not going to be able to grow our year-round population,” she said.
Stevens, who is seeking the same seat, endorsed the draft code’s island-specific provisions — such as extending the Hamlet Residential Zone to legalize or encourage year-round units. She supported a community housing overlay “if not in this initial phase, [then] as a subsequent immediate effort.” “If there’s no place to live,” she said, “then nothing else works.”
Candidate Planamento argued that the code needs to move faster and more decisively. He questioned why the Love Lane units Mealy mentioned have stalled and said the path for builders isn’t clear. “Everything really starts with zoning and town code,” he said, calling for “a variety of housing stock” and a “fast-tracked, easy process for all,” while warning against “death by committee.”
Candidate Suess called housing “the most pressing issue in Southold.” She backed expanding the housing overlay beyond “halo zones” and creating a local housing land trust. “I would also love to see partnerships with nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations to create a housing trust,” she said.
Candidate Talbot emphasized location and scale — supporting downtown “halo” siting but rejecting tall buildings. “I’m not supportive … of multi-story buildings in Southold Town,” he said. “I don’t want us to start looking like Riverhead.” He favored cottages and more public-private partnerships with Community Preservation Fund-backed affordability covenants.
Rising sea levels and coastal resiliency
Question: “Climate change and rising sea levels present current and future challenges to public safety and property in Southold. How will you make coastal-resiliency analysis, vulnerability assessment and planning a short-term priority for town action?”
Talbot prioritized raising chronically flooded roads, citing his firsthand experience with storm response. “I would push, with our county partners, to get any funding we can from the state and the feds to help raise those roadways up,” he said.
Mealy described a multi-level approach with county and state collaboration, noting town staff who track floods in real time and issue multilingual emergency alerts. “The town is on the case,” he said, “drawing all the resources” and ensuring notices go out “on WLNG, Instagram, in multiple languages.”
Hall supported funding for elevation projects and natural defenses. “I agree with what’s been said — to use federal agencies to get funding to raise the roads and prevent flooding — and also the use of natural barriers to prevent erosion,” she said.
Stevens pressed for structured planning and data collection. “Preparedness and planning are key,” she said, citing a Nature Conservancy resiliency workshop and the value of citizen science. She called for “creating a mitigation toolkit so we can adapt, protect — and retract where necessary — natural barrier features … our eelgrass is an enormous resource for us, as are our wetlands and marshlands.”
Planamento urged deference to professionals. “We have great ideas, but the responsibility is to turn to the engineers and designers who understand coastal resistance,” he said. Raising a road to save a home “sounds like a great idea,” he added, but it can be met with resistance from neighbors.
Suess underscored the urgency. “By 2050, we expect a 16-inch sea rise right by Town Beach in Southold, and that’s a pretty dire statistic,” she said. Some residents might resist elevation projects, she added, but “we won’t have much of a choice … or we will be underwater.” She advocated for “shoreline softening, trusting our trustees to do their jobs well, and working with other municipalities.”
Budget clarity, capital projects and long-term costs
Question: “The town budget serves not only as a financial planning tool but as a key policy document impacting critical services such as public safety. How will you make the budget more understandable to residents and communicate the board’s goals on large capital projects that require long-term bonding and tax increases?”
Suess pointed to the current $62.3 million budget and said it meets state recommendations for reserves. “We are actually doing the right thing,” she said, but added that years of deferred maintenance now require catch-up work. “I would never tell you your taxes will never go up,” she said. “However, we will be efficient and fair in our taxation.”
Talbot said budgets only make sense at the “nuts-and-bolts” level and cited declining student enrollment as a future opportunity for cost savings. He floated combining school districts to save money, saying, “I believe you could find savings in the savings that we’re going to get from the schools to keep our budget in check.”
Mealy said civics groups could help educate residents about the budget process. “It’s continuing education on how it affects taxpayers,” he said. Defending plans to build a new police station, he added, “It’s about the safety of the men and women who protect our community.”
Hall said Fishers Island’s infrastructure has been “neglected for decades” and backed Mealy’s call for outreach. “Communication is key,” she said, endorsing efforts to enlist civic groups to promote understanding.
Stevens reframed the question. “It’s not the board’s goals and priorities but the community’s,” she said. “The Town Board is essentially a board of listeners that reflects the community vision.”
Planamento boiled it down to transparency. “Capital improvements and infrastructure projects are key,” he said, “but the question ultimately is really about transparency.” He recalled lobbying to restore Channel 22 after losing access with a switch to fiber optics. “I can proudly say today I turned on the TV, and Channel 22 was, in fact, playing.”
Southold’s economic future
Question: “Former State Assemblyman Fred Thiele once said, ‘Our environment is our economy.’ Describe your view of Southold’s economic future. Will it be a year-round economy or a seasonal one, and what changes are needed to help local businesses succeed?”
Planamento said growth pressures are already here. “We have more tourists now than ever,” he said. “We have clogged roadways and a lot of frustration on so many levels.” He called for proactive planning: “We need to be mindful … and have zoning in place … to be proactive, as opposed to responding.”
Suess, a small business owner, linked business health to housing. “If you want to support small businesses, you need to support affordable housing,” she said. She called for streamlining multi-board processes and building trade pipelines with BOCES. “It’s all about balance,” she said.
Talbot offered a personal perspective, recalling the shift from farms to wineries and agritainment. “I 100 percent agree with Alexa,” he said. “The trade industry out here is an economy in itself.” He urged young people to hold on to family homes: “Keep it in the family, and don’t sell to somebody who’s going to come visit once a month.”
Mealy tied youth training, living wages and housing together. “You’re looking at your local Eastern Suffolk BOCES board member,” he said. “Why can’t where a hotel is … be a biomedical center that can provide high-paying jobs?”
Hall described Fishers Island as seasonal but full of potential. “We don’t have tourism,” she said. “My hope is that if we can generate housing stock and increase our year-round population, maybe we’ll be able to create opportunities for small businesses.”
Stevens drew a bright line between community and visitation. “Community is where you live, not where you visit,” she said. Her vision: “a thriving, year-round community that has tourism.” She warned against “sprawl space” and urged defending open space “in the ways trustees, town boards and community members have been doing.”
The coalition that makes up the North Fork Civics of Southold includes the Orient Association; the East Marion Community Association; the Greenport Civic Association; the Southold–Peconic Civic Association; the Cutchogue Civic Association; the New Suffolk Civic Association; the Mattituck–Laurel Civic Association and the Fishers Island Community Board.