Planning Board approves site plan for Hawkins Inn breezeway

In a 4-1 vote, the Riverhead Planning Board Thursday night approved a site plan for a breezeway connecting two buildings on the Jedediah Hawkins Inn property in Jamesport.

The owners now only need building permit approvals to move forward with construction on the breezeway, which they expect to start this winter.

The breezeway would connect six existing guest rooms and a restaurant in the main building — which is a restored 19th century Victorian-style house on Manor Lane — to a large barn behind it, where the owners envision building an additional eight guest rooms.

The run-up to the site plan approval has stirred controversy because, under town code, the breezeway allows the two structures to be considered as one building. The town’s country inn code allows for a maximum 20 rooms, providing a building has enough room for them, in a country inn.

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