Charter School lays out plans for new campus

Although formal site plans have yet to be submitted to Riverhead Town, officials from the Riverhead Charter School and Young & Young engineering firm met with town planners at a pre-submission conference on Oct. 22 to discuss potentially building a high school, middle school and athletic fields at the school’s newly acquired Calverton property.

Back in August, the school’s officials announced they were in the final stages of acquiring a 13.7-acre parcel of land for roughly $4.1 million located at 4314 Middle Country Road in Calverton, on the corner of Route 25 and Fresh Pond Avenue. The charter school is looking to develop the front part of the acreage for the school building — close to where J&R’s Steakhouse resides — which would need to be subdivided.

A site plan obtained from the Riverhead Town Planning Department shows a two-story middle school totaling 15,000 square feet on the west Fresh Pond Avenue side of the property. The front part of the plot closest to Route 25 features a two-story, 44,600-square foot high school building. There are also two proposed athletic fields — one for soccer and the other for track and football — and 108 parking spaces included in the concept plan.

The property lies within the Rural Corridor (RLC) Zoning Use District, which allows for educational uses, according to the Riverhead Town code. By definition, this zone allows for a “limited range of roadside shops and services that are compatible with the agricultural and rural setting along major arterial roads, such as New York State Route 25.”

Since the land is currently zoned for a school, the presented site plan would not require any variances, which is a “significant” advantage for the charter school to move forward in Calverton, Superintendent Raymond Ankrum said in an email.

Other discussion points in this meeting included a potential collaboration with HK Ventures focusing on synchronizing outlets to optimize traffic flow, requirements from Suffolk County and the importance of maintaining the area’s rural aesthetics in the project’s design.

HK Ventures is one of several large industrial projects in Calverton that has been met with opposition from residents and speakers at public hearings. The company recently lost a lawsuit to overturn conditions imposed on the project by the Riverhead Town Planning Board earlier in 2023.

This is the fourth property in five years that the Riverhead Charter School has been in negotiations to purchase. The school recently dropped an earlier plan to expand its high school on 12.3 acres on Sound Avenue due to public opposition and town zoning concerns. The charter school had previously identified another property for potential development, but the Town Board nixed a proposition to allow private schools — including charter schools — on industrial-zoned land. 

Charter school officials sought permit approval to install three temporary trailers to address capacity issues at the Sound Avenue high school campus. The lease for that building is up in six years and the school’s goal is to eventually move out of that location. The town’s decision on the permits is still pending. 

In total, the charter school expected 165 students plus 24 adult staffers at the high school this year and are looking to install the temporary trailers to deal with the growing enrollment numbers. The superintendent previously said he anticipates further growth over the next six years, assuming most students will seek to complete their K-12 education at the charter school. This could mean up to 363 students enrolled in the charter high school by the 2029-30 academic year.

“We are incredibly excited to be at this stage in the process, where we can realistically envision a new school that truly provides our scholars with the space and resources they need to thrive,” Mr. Ankrum wrote. “This is a significant step towards fulfilling our commitment to providing a high-quality education that empowers every student to reach their full potential.”