Town Board delays adoption of Comprehensive Plan
Wednesday night’s special meeting of the Riverhead Town Board got off to a rather awkward start thanks to an unexpected announcement from Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard.
“We are here tonight to talk about the Comprehensive Plan and and the possibility of the town adopting it,” Mr. Hubbard said to the crowd of residents and public officials packed inside Town Hall. “And I say possibility because it’s not going to happen.”
The decision to postpone the approval, which was met with audible groans from many in the audience, came about because an outdated version of the plan had apparently been posted for public review on the town’s website in advance of Wednesday’s meeting. As a result of the error, the board decided to reschedule the adoption hearing until its next regular meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 2 p.m.
“In a turn of events within the past 45 minutes,” Mr. Hubbard said, “we realized that there was a version before posted online and it was incorrect and we need to amend it to make it correct, and we thought the best way to do that would be to put the adoption of this off for two weeks for the Sept. 4 meeting.”
Mr. Hubbard said that the board had received “a lot of complaints” from residents who felt there wasn’t enough time to review the plan ahead of the hearing and that delaying the adoption vote, “is kind of a blessing in disguise.”
The audience was clearly disappointed that the vote was postponed, which also had the effect of further delaying discussion of a controversial zoning change proposal to allow for the development of so-called agri-resorts along Sound Avenue. Several residents nonetheless shared comments on the issue at Wednesday’s meeting.
“Sound Avenue is the last rural part of the North Fork. Once it gets commercialized, then what happens?” asked Joann Carron, a resident of the Willow Ponds on the Sound condominium complex that is adjacent to a potential resort development site. His neighbor, Don Jozwiak, chimed in “Eventually we will lose because money speaks louder.”
Riverhead resident Kevin D’Amato said he was willing to listen to what the Town Board had to say about the proposed rezoning, but was also suspicious of the decision to change the day of the public hearing. “We never got to see the latest comp plan. When I bought my home here, it was based on the zoning laws of the time. Now, 40 years later, they want to change the very idea of what I invested in.”
Mr. Hubbard said the town has received, “hundreds and hundreds of letters opposing the [resort] development and not a single letter in support of it.” He added that every letter has been read by the board. A petition against the zoning change, circulated by the Greater Jamesport Civic Association, has collected some 1,500 signatures; 765 of them from Riverhead residents.
