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Apartment plans move forward for East Main, Polish Town

Two mixed-use apartment proposals took steps forward at last Thursday’s Riverhead Planning Board meeting.

The Planning Board voted to issue what’s known as a negative declaration, meaning an environmental study will not be needed, for a proposed two-story apartment complex on the northeast corner of East Main Street and Prospect Place.

The application, called 836 East Main Street, calls for building a two-story, 13,338-square-foot mixed-use building at that address, which is across the street from the River Pointe apartments. The land is currently wooded.

The plans call for building 6,558 square feet of retail on the ground level and an exercise studio, and 6,780 square feet of residential apartments and eight dwelling units, ranging in size from 532 square feet to 980 square feet.

At a public hearing in September 2017, residents of Prospect Place objected to the part of the plan that called for access to the new building to come from Prospect Place.

The application has since been changed so that the access will come only from East Main Street, according to Tom Cramer, a representative for the applicant, Dream Land Builders.

At a June 27 Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on two variances being sought for the project, only two people spoke and both were in support.

The ZBA must rule on the variance requests before the Planning Board can act on the site plan, officials said.

Another project by Dream Land Builders also got a negative declaration at the meeting.

This one is located on 406 Osborn Ave., at the northwest corner of Pulaski Street and Osborn Avenue.

It is currently vacant, and had been used for parts of the Polish Town Fair in the past. The applicant plans to keep the “Polish Town USA” sign that is currently on the site, and relocate it to the corner.

Dream Land is seeking to build a two-story, 9,199-square-foot mixed use building with 3,983 square feet of ground floor retail uses and six residential apartments on the second floor.

This project is also awaiting ZBA approval on variances, according to Mr. Cramer. In this case, they are seeking to building two fewer parking spaces than the 27 required.

There were two speakers at the June 27 ZBA hearing and both opposed the project, although the ZBA is only ruling on the variance.

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