College Students See Peconic River and Rural Roots in Downtown Visions

Eight separate student groups from the SUNY Center for Brownfield Studies in Syracuse pitched ideas for a revitalized downtown Riverhead to town officials and residents Monday afternoon, many of whom saw a year-round farmer's market and mixed-use space hugging the Peconic River along East Main Street as vital parts of downtown Riverhead.

Professor Emanuel Carter of the SUNY Landscape Architecture department, one of the lead faculty advisers for the project, said he asked students to focus on three main areas: reconnecting the town with the Peconic River, economic growth in the town and landscape design.

With the presentations all focusing on these main ideas, the eight groups presented unique designs for the area downtown from the Peconic River to Main Street. While the designs were unique most integrated some of the same elements including a year round farmers' market, a mixed used building and housing.

The student groups, including second-year Master of Landscape Architecture students, fifth-year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture students, seniors in Environmental Engineering and seniors in the Urban Ecology Minor, largely focused on the idea of biophilia.

They had previously come to Riverhead at the beginning of their semester and taken a site visit of downtown. Each group pitched ideas that worked to integrate residents with the ecological system already in place in Riverhead.

Before the students began the presentation, town Supervisor Sean Walter explained his approach to the town's revitalization.

"My approach has been store by store, block by block," Walter said, citing seven new stores between Main Street. and Polish Town.

Carter welcomed Walter's approach but said that his students would probably present something a little different.

"We like to think design is a medium of exploration," Carter said. Citing cities like Boston, Philadelphia and New York where the future is always being discussed while the present is happening, he continued, "Design is constantly in motion."

The year round farmers' market was often presented with an attached or adjacent greenhouse. The farmers' market, in the students' plans, would be inside a building with glass doors that would open in warmer months to allow the market to expand outside. The greenhouse, the students said, would allow visitors to see exactly where the produce was coming from.

Mixed-use buildings containing parking garages, housing, restaurants or retail space were present throughout the presentations. 

Making the area directly in front of the Peconic River more eye catching was also a part of many presentations. Some groups proposed the idea of a staging area for events to be held at on the water while others suggested making prominent alley ways directly from Main Street to the river. One group also suggested turning the waterfront area into a reconstructed wetland with a nature walk.

All of the ideas were well received by town board members with Walter and John Dunleavey both stepping forward to thank the students for their time and effort with the project.

The SUNY Center for Brownfield Studies donated all of the presentation boards used during the meeting to the town. Walter said that following East End Arts Council Executive Director Pat Snyder's suggestion, he will try to have the boards displayed in vacant storefronts downtown for public viewing.