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Recap: Church says transfer requirement would kill Community Life Center

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First Baptist Church would have to pay $6.4 million worth of farmland development right credits for a proposed Community Life Center on their Northville Turnpike property under the formula that the Long Island Farm Bureau supports, which would only permit one unit per acre to be developed unless transfer of development right credits were used.

Cleveland Johnson Jr., executive vice president of Strategic Fundraising Inc., which is working with the church on the project, told the Riverhead Town Board at its work session Thursday that this “will almost surely kill the project.”  The proposed Community Life Center consists of a gym and swimming pool among other things. The project also calls for 110 affordable apartment units.

Board members also have considered requiring half that amount, or just waiving the TDR altogether because the units would be affordable housing. Supervisor Sean Walter asked Mr. Johnson how many TDR credits they’d be willing to buy. He said he would get back to the board with that answer next week.

Also at the work session, representatives of the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance said they are not currently equipped to begin doing third-party billing of insurance companies for ambulance calls, a plan Mr. Walter has called for, saying there “is money being left on the table” without it.

The ambulance officials did say they have met with Manorville ambulance about a mutual aid plan between the two districts.

To read the recap of Tim Gannon’s live blog of the rest of Thursday’s Town Board work session, click below.

See the full meeting agenda below the blog box.

 

June_13,_2013_-_Agenda(1) by rnews_review