Town Board poised to hire Manhattan-based firm to complete comprehensive plan

The Riverhead Town Board is expected to vote Tuesday to formally hire BFJ Planning to complete the remainder of the town’s comprehensive plan, which came to a halt when the Town Board fired AKRF — the company it originally hired for the job — on July 2, 2021.

The Town Board’s draft resolution for the Tuesday, Dec. 20 meeting has a resolution hiring Manhattan-based BFJ for $422,000.

AKRF had been paid $320,780 up to the time it was fired. The original AKRF contract was for $675,000. 

What took so long to sign the contract with BFJ Planning?

“It was a lot of back and forth with particulars,” Councilman Tim Hubbard said. “We got very specific in our contract because we didn’t feel that the last contract was quite as well done, so we wanted to make sure we had milestones they had to meet, and it went back and forth for some time.”

Mr. Hubbard said the company fired AKRF because “there were milestones in the contract that we didn’t feel they had reached in due time, and even when the milestones where reached, we didn’t feel we got all of the information that we were paying for.” 

In other Town Board news:

• The board will not be scheduling a public hearing on a six-month referendum on development on Industrial A, B and C zoning on Tuesday. 

Mr. Hubbard had submitted a resolution to do so, but said he later learned that Councilman Frank Beyrodt would not be in attendance Tuesday and has withdrawn the draft resolution.

Mr. Hubbard said he felt that issue, which has been controversial, should be voted on by the full board. 

Calverton residents have called on the board to approve the moratorium in light of the number of large industrial projects being proposed in their hamlet.