Buzz Chew Goes Before Planning Board for Site Plan Review as Friction With Neighbors Continues

The owners of the Buzz Chew Chevrolet dealership on County Road 39A in Southampton Village, along with lawyer David Gilmartin Jr., came before the Southampton Village Planning Board on Monday night seeking to make tweaks to its site plan and associated covenants.

The changes would include putting in electric car charging stations, establishing areas to drop off disabled cars that come in from towing companies, changing the covenant to reflect an agreement for garbage pick-up to happen after 10 a.m. and before 6 p.m. on weekdays, and allowing for parts deliveries outside of regular business hours but at a side entrance near the front of the building instead of the rear, which abuts the Dunes of Southampton neighborhood on Meadowgrass Lane.

Residents of that neighborhood have expressed frustrations with the dealership for years over noise violations outside of business hours, from the loud banging noise of garbage pick-up, to the backup beeping noise of tow trucks delivering disabled vehicles, often in the middle of the night, and the same type of noise from parts delivery trucks that arrive at 7 a.m. or earlier.

They have also expressed frustration with the sight lines from their homes, saying there is not enough landscaping or any wall or fence that could sufficiently block the sight of commercial vehicles and trucks from their homes.

The residents say that the late-night and early-morning noise and activity that has occurred in recent years is in direct violation of a declarations, covenants and restrictions agreement the business signed back in 2000, when the dealership first moved into its current home at 656 County Road 39A in the village, agreeing to keep deliveries between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and never on Sundays.

Brian Chew, the owner of the dealership, spoke at the meeting about the measures he has already taken to mitigate the noise, such as alerting the towing companies that any cars that come in outside of office hours have to be dropped in designated spots, using cones to block off access to the rear of the property, telling car carriers that dropoffs must happen within business hours, and telling the garbage companies they need to pick up between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Chew currently is having parts dropped off at an offsite location in Riverhead; he said he pays rent on the site but would like to have the parts delivered directly to the dealership again.

The parts company, which is hired and contracted by General Motors and not by the dealership itself, comes from Pennsylvania and has to deliver in the early morning in order to not get timed out — the delivery drivers have a cap on the number of hours they can be on the road — and make it back to Pennsylvania on time, Chew explained.

The site plan tweak includes a plan to have the parts truck drop off parts at a porte cochere in the side front area of the building, so it would not impact the rear of the building, which abuts the neighborhood.

Several residents who have been outspoken about the noise and sight issues created by the dealership spoke at the meeting, including Loreen Enright, who forcefully objected to the request to allow for parts delivery outside regular business hours, saying it would be “unduly burdensome and disruptive” to the community and further negatively impact their property values.

Gilmartin said the dealership owners are open to making further “tweaks” to their site plan, and the board members had several questions about the possibility of moving a dumpster to a different location on the property, which could mitigate the noise — although it might not be to code — and also batted back and forth suggestions about further landscaping and other measures that could address both the noise and sight lines, such as walls or fencing.

Ultimately, the board voted to keep the public hearing open until the next Planning Board meeting, set for Monday, May 6. At that time, Gilmartin said he and his clients will hear what more the board and the public have to say, and will make any changes to the plan based on what is hashed out at the meeting.