Featured Story

Board delays vote on EPCAL land transfer as public requests more information at hearing

The Riverhead Town Board opted to pull a resolution from Tuesday night’s meeting related to the sale of land at the Enterprise Park at Calverton to Calverton Aviation & Technology.

The Town Board at Thursday’s work session outlined a plan to transfer the land to the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency. CAT, which is controlled by Triple Five Group, would have to show the IDA that it has the ability to purchase and develop the land or the deal could be terminated.

A press release from the supervisor’s office Tuesday afternoon said efforts to work through the proposed transfer are ongoing and “could not be completed in time to give reasonable notice to members of the public who may wish to review the proposed resolution, prior to tonight’s meeting.”

The resolution will likely be considered at a future meeting, the release says.

“Supervisor Aguiar and the Town Board know how critically important the EPCAL property is to the residents of Riverhead, and want to ensure the public has every opportunity to review the details of a proposed transfer prior to vote,” the release says.

The Town Board received a bevy of emails from community members requesting more information prior to the vote on the resolution and for the board to delay the vote.

“The proposed terms are unclear and many of us would like the opportunity to review them directly with the Town,” wrote Karen Blumer of Calverton.

Jeanine Zeltmann of Riverhead urged the board to “break all contracts and ties with the Triple Five Group.”

Several letters contained the same text signed by different residents, all “requesting that the Board table the resolution at the Board Meeting on Tuesday, February 15.”

The Town Board meeting begins at 6 p.m. and can be information on accessing the meeting via Zoom can be found here.