Business

Walmart owners seek approval for 96-square foot directory sign

TIM GANNON PHOTO | The new Walmart on Route 58 is scheduled to open Jan. 15 and will include an expanded line of groceries.
TIM GANNON PHOTO | The new Walmart on Route 58 is scheduled to open Jan. 15. The owners are seeking approval to install a directory sign on the adjacent lot where Applebess is located.

The owners of the new Walmart store on the west end of Route 58 are seeking variances from the Riverhead Town Zoning Board of Appeals to allow an off-premise directory sign on the adjacent Applebees lot to advertise and identify the new shopping center and the stores located there.

They are also seeking ZBA variance to allow that sign to be larger than what the Town Code permits.

The ZBA has scheduled a hearing on the proposal for its Jan. 9 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m.

The new Walmart shopping center, which is being called Gateway Plaza, includes the Walmart store and several smaller stores under construction on the eastern portion of the 21-acre property.

The proposed directory sign would be located on the Applebees’ lot, according to to the application. The sign would be 96 square feet, 36 square feet more than is currently allowed. It would feature 8-foot panel signs when the limit is currently 4 feet. The sign would be 15 feet tall, nearly three times the current limit of 6 feet. The sign would also have more than the maximum of three businesses displayed on it, would be less than 100 feet from another sign and would be internally lit.

The shopping center is just west of the Applebees restaurant property, which has similar ownership.

The Walmart lot is owned by Headriver LLC and the Applebees’ lot is owned by OC Riverhead 58 LLC, according to town records, but both have the same address in Closter, N.J. That address is also the address of Lerner-Heidenberg Properties, which is advertising space for lease at both the Walmart and Applebees sites on its website.

The new Walmart store is scheduled to open on Jan. 15, and will eventually replace the existing Walmart further east on Route 58.

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