Town Hall Notes: Giglio Proposes Downtown Zoning Change

A proposal by Councilwoman Jodi Giglio to permit professional offices on the first floors of homes in Downtown Center 5 was the focus of a public hearing at Tuesday’s Town Board meeting.

Land-use rules in the DC5 district — a small neighborhood just west and north of the Main Street business district — currently prohibit such offices, permitting only single-family and two-family residences and town houses.

Giglio argued that opening the district to professional offices could attract new investments to a blighted area.

“I saw this as an opportunity to fix up those houses and maintain the historical integrity of downtown,” she said. “Now that the courts are in full operation and we have lawyers visiting us from up west and out east, I also saw it as an employment opportunity for local residents.”

Her proposal would stipulate that homes with first-floor offices would not be required to be owner-occupied, meaning that an owner who chose not to live in the building could rent out the top floors as residential apartments.

That provision, Giglio noted, would be similar to what is permitted elsewhere downtown, such as on Second Street, where there is a large number of professional offices.

Another provision would require that any residence with a first-floor office be on property measuring at least .17 acres to allow for sufficient parking. Houses on smaller lots, she said, could be assembled and clustered to reach the minimum acreage requirement.

Dominique Mendez of the Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition cautioned that the clustering idea could result in larger buildings than would be appropriate, but Giglio said she didn’t see that as a problem.

“We’re actually encouraging the lots to be merged together to provide for additional parking, if needed,” Giglio said. In addition, she said, any renovations to retrofit homes for office space would have to pass muster with the town’s architectural review board.

Larry Oxman, a local commercial developer and member of the Business Improvement District board of directors, urged the board to pass the legislation, noting that Riverhead is fortunate to have a court system.

He said that while many retail businesses had deserted downtown, attorneys had not. Instead, he said, they bought houses that were rundown and completely restored them.

Kids honored for National Night Out posters

Youngsters taking part in the town’s summer camp program were honored at the start of Tuesday’s Town Board meeting for the anti-crime posters they had prepared in support of National Night Out, which took place in the evening.

The annual event has been a Riverhead tradition for 28 years was established to encourage residents to organize outdoor neighborhood gatherings so that people can get to know one another better as well as meet and greet local police officers who drop in on the gatherings.

Residents are also encouraged to form Crime Watch groups.

Youngsters with winning entries in the poster contest were awarded prizes, including free passes to the Splish Splash water park, provided by Bob Dunegan of Schwing Electric.

As he has done for the last 24 years, Dunegan also made the rounds of neighborhood events, handing out free light bulbs.