A Week After Meeting With Town Board, Civic Group Takes Town to Court

Less than a week after meeting with members of the Town Board to , members of the Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition decided to take matters into their own hands and sue the town over what it says is "the straw that broke the camel's back."

The RNPC filed suit against the Town Board, the Planning Board, and Great Rock Golf Club over plans to add over 7,000 square feet in new catering space, stating that original covenants attached to the subdivision prevent the addition.

“What Riverhead is doing is not merely irresponsible, it’s also against the law,” said RNPC President Dominique Mendez. “And it’s a sorry state of affairs when citizens have to sue their own government to stop them from breaking the law.”

Supervisor Sean Walter said that following last week's meeting he had asked members of the RNPC if they wanted to meet with their lawyers and town lawyers to try and settle the issues. 

"Clearly that's not going to happen now," he said.

Mendez said that they've "been there and done that."

"I've talked to the lawyers, I've talked to Sean, and I've talked to individual board members for eight months," she said on Thursday. "At this point it doesn't make sense to keep having the same conversations over and over. We've had them before."

The suit asks the court to prohibit Planning Board review of the proposed project that would more than double the size of the existing clubhouse. Because the RNPC asserts a zone change is required, the suit asks that the decision be left to the Town Board, which can only approve zone changes.

At last Thursday's meeting, Mendez, Sid Bail, and Phil Barbato of the RNPC, and Dick Amper of the Pine Barrens Society, said that development in Wading River needs a "time out" and an impact study should be done before further commercial development moves forward.