Riverhead Town Board officially drops idea for booze at the beach
A proposed pilot program to allow alcohol and live music at Riverhead Town’s South Jamesport Beach for 14 weekends this summer is officially dead.
The Town Board decided last Thursday not to proceed with the proposal and called off a public forum on the issue that had been scheduled for Tuesday night.
Board members said the feedback they received via emails and letters from residents was almost entirely opposed to the idea.
Residents who attended a Greater Jamesport Civic Association meeting April 20 also were almost unanimously opposed.
Councilman Tim Hubbard said that boaters who docked at the town’s East Creek marina and residents who use the beach had suggested various improvements, starting with the concession stand, which needs about $100,000 in upgrades and can currently serve only ice cream and packaged food.
Town parks superintendent Ray Coyne brought up the idea of allowing local beer and wines, and cooked food from local food trucks, on Friday and Saturday nights for a 14-week period.
Mr. Hubbard said “99 percent” of the emails he received objected to that idea.
He and Councilwoman Jodi Giglio said going ahead with the forum was a “moot point” and would be wasting people’s time, since the decision had already been made.
