HK Ventures loses lawsuit against Town
HK Ventures, a proposed 425,000-square-foot industrial complex off Route 25 in Calverton, was on the short end of a State Supreme Court ruling in December.
The lawsuit sought to overturn conditions imposed on the project by the Riverhead Town Planning Board earlier in 2023.
The lawsuit, filed in May by HK Ventures, whose sole member is listed as Arik Kislin of Manhattan, challenged a Planning Board condition that HK Ventures’ approvals for the industrial complex would be contingent upon the the New York State Department of Transportation upgrading the intersection of Route 25 and Edwards Avenue in Calverton prior to any building permits being issued.
Officials said at the time that the DOT was not expected to complete the reconstruction “until at least 2025,” the lawsuit stated.
HK Ventures is proposed to be built on 30 acres of vacant farmland just east of Tractor Supply.
In the lawsuit, HK Ventures states, “the Planning Board has tied the petitioner’s hands and placed the proposed development in jeopardy.”
In his decision issued in December, Judge Joseph Santorelli wrote, “upon reviewing the resolution of the Planning Board dated April 20, 2023, as well as the record from the public hearings and prior resolutions, the Court is satisfied that the Planning Board took a hard look at the relevant areas of environmental concern and made a reasoned elaboration for their basis of approving a positive Findings Statement and then subsequently delineating seven conditions that the petitioner must meet before the project would be considered to ‘not have significant negative environmental impacts.'”
HK Ventures is one of several large industrial projects in Calverton that has met with opposition from residents and speakers at public hearings. HK Ventures was the first one filed, and it is further along in the approval process than the others.
