Town Hall Notes: Proposal Considered to Mandate Public Hearings for All Site Plan Applications

The Town Board spent time at its work session Thursday fine-tuning a proposal that would change town codes to mandate that the Planning Board hold public hearings on all commercial and residential site plan applications.

The board is now only required to conduct public hearings for residential subdivisions. And while the board’s long-time chairman, Dick O’Dea, has maintained that public input had always been welcomed on all types of applications, leaders of the Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition have be pressing to make such public hearings a matter of local law.

Under proposed legislation, which will be subject to its own public hearing at the Aug. 2 Town Board meeting, site plan applicants would be required to post notices of public hearings on their property and inform owners of adjacent parcels as to the time and date of the hearings. 

The procedures would be similar to those taken in advance of hearings before the town's Zoning Board of Appeals.

New uses sought for train station

Supervisor Sean Walter wants the Metropolitan Transit Authority to allow the town to offer the renovated but vacant railroad station on Railroad Avenue to private sector bidders for use as a restaurant, store or other for-profit venture as a way to bring new commercial life to a blighted area.

Under a contract that will expire Sept. 30, the MTA leases the structure to the town at no cost but with the stipulation that the building only be sublet to not-for-profit groups.

Earlier in the year, the town declined to renew a sublease by the First Baptist Church of Riverhead, which had turned the station into a soup kitchen for the homeless and others in need. Walter at the time called the use “not a good fit” and one that was contributing to public perceptions that the station and its surroundings were unsafe.

Walter on Thursday directed Town Attorney Bob Kozakiewicz to inform the MTA that the town would not renew its lease unless the agency changed covenants to make subleasing the building alluring to businesses.

Should the MTA agree to the changes, Walter said the town would issue a request for proposals from both not-for-profit and for-profit groups on how they would use the building.

Road improvements at EPCAL underway

Riverhead intends to hold developer Jan Burman’s feet to the fire to force him to complete the public improvements – such as road paving and drainage – that he promised but never finished when he purchased 470 acres at Enterprise Park at Calverton in 2001 and then subdivided the property into an industrial park.

Town Board members said they would pass a resolution on July 19 that would give the town the right to attach part of a $3 million letter of credit Burman had pledged as a performance security.

The town actually tried to collect $70,000 of the guarantee a few weeks ago. Burman quickly sued to block the action, but then agreed to sign a statement guaranteeing the work will be done.

According to Walter, work on the improvements is already well underway, which would render the resolution moot.