News

‘Save Main Road’ lawsuit dismissed in state supreme court

BARBARAELLEN KOCH FILE PHOTO | Save Main Road had hoped to overturn the special permit issues by the Riverhead Town Board that would allow Jul-Bet Enterprises to build in Jamesport.

A lawsuit seeking to overturn two special permit approvals the Riverhead Town Board gave to Jul-Bet Enterprises last year for a commercial development in Jamesport was dismissed in state supreme court last week.

In addition, that application is now on for discussion at Thursday’s Riverhead Town Planning Board meeting, which starts at 3 p.m., and the Planning Board is scheduled to vote on a resolution Thursday to set a Feb. 7 public hearing on the Jul-Bet Enterprises proposal, which is called Village at Jamesport.

Save Main Road, an unincorporated Jamesport civic organization that claims to have 250 members, filed the lawsuit in August seeking to overturn the Town Board’s April 3 special permit approvals that allowed Jul-Bet Enterprises to have two bistros and two professional offices in its proposed Village at Jamesport development.

That project calls for 10 buildings totaling 42,000 square feet on about 10 acres on the north side of Route 25 in Jamesport, across from the Elbow Room restaurant.

The Save the Main Road lawsuit sough to overturn the decision on the grounds that the application doesn’t represent the property’s owners, and that the town’s review of the project is “segmented” in violation of state law because it doesn’t take into account the entire property, which is close to 50 acres and only the 10 acres by the road is zoned commercially.

The property owner was listed as Jul-Bet Enterprises when the application was first filed about eight years ago, but in 2007 ownership was transferred to Jamesport Development LLC, whose ownership comprised 50 percent of Jul-Bet Enterprises and 25 percent each of RBR Equities and SW Consulting.

Charles Cuddy, the attorney on the Village at Jamesport application, said that Jul-Bet Enterprises principal Julius Klein has the backing of the property owners to seek to develop the site.

“He’s a 50 percent owner and he’s an applicant and he’s certainly entitled to make that application,” Mr. Cuddy told the Planning Board last year. “The application was made with the consent of his other partners. There should be no question that he is an owner, is going to be an owner, and is going to get this project finished.”

Larry Simms, one of the leaders of Save Main Road, said Justice Hector LaSalle’s ruling dismissing the case was made on Jan. 4 and by Monday he had yet to see the decision.

“The way the system works is that the attorney receiving the favorable decision is responsible for serving the opposing counsel,” Mr. Simms said. “Today is Jan. 14, the decision was made on Jan. 4. We still have not seen the substance of the decision.”

The decision was listed on E-Track, an electronic system that notifies people of actions in court cases by email. However, neither E-track nor the state’s Unified Court System contained an actual decision from the judge as of Monday.

The News-Review left a message with the judge’s chambers requesting a copy of the decision.

Town officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

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