Town Board votes to abandon plan for easement on Route 25A in Wading River

The Riverhead Town Board voted last Wednesday to abandon plans for a 24-foot-wide easement that was intended to create an interior road running parallel to the businesses on the south side of Route 25A. 

The proposed road was first suggested in a 1988 Wading River Hamlet Study. It would have run south of the businesses along Route 25A, allowing cars to travel go from one business to another without having to re-enter Route 25A. 

The Town Board voted 4-1 to abandon the easement, which was suggested by business owners in the area. Councilwoman Catherine Kent was opposed. 

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio said the proposed easement wouldn’t work anymore because the McDonald’s and the Walgreens stores had been built on land that was to be part of the road. 

She said the town can achieve the same goal by requiring individual cross-easement agreements between land owners. 

The town planning department had also recommended dropping the easement plan.