Suffolk County greenlights $4.42M purchase to preserve Venezia Square property
The Suffolk County Legislature approved its $4.42 million purchase of the Venezia Square retail property in Wading River to preserve it as open space.
For the last two decades, the 6.34-acre parcel was in development to become a 37,000 square-foot commercial shopping center on Route 25A. However, over the last two years, former Legislator Catherine Stark and members of the Riverhead Town Board have worked together to pursue this property for preservation.
Ms. Stark’s office notified the Riverhead Planning Board last summer of the county’s move to issue an appraisal on the five parcels. While the county’s acquisition effort was underway, the Riverhead Planning Board granted preliminary site plan approval for Venezia Square in September last year.
In light of concerns on how the major development may impact the quality of life of Wading River residents, town officials and local civic leaders backed Suffolk County’s pursuit, as it would preserve this “gateway” to Riverhead’s agricultural corridor.
Councilman Kenneth Rothwell and Councilwoman Denise Merrifield, who both live in Wading River, both spoke at the county legislature’s general meeting on Tuesday to urge county leaders to go forward with the purchase.
“Traffic has been a growing problem in Wading River and the addition of this shopping center would have caused severe congestion with an additional traffic light that was required by the developer,” Mr. Rothwell said at the meeting. “I’m a proponent of smart development to ease the tax burden on our residents — this particular project would have caused too much stress on our small town of Wading River, and complicated the Route 25A corridor.”
The purchase was made under the Suffolk County Drinking Water Protection Program, which is designed to provide funding for sewer district tax rate stabilization, environmental protection, and property tax mitigation through 2060. It allows for the use of 31.10% of sales and compensating use tax proceeds generated annually for specific environmental protection, including the acquisition of open space.
The proposal for Venezia Square consisted of 37,000 square feet of retail space within two 10,000 square-foot buildings and one 7,000 square-foot building. It included a drive-through bank, a 76-seat restaurant and two takeout restaurants, which, when combined, contributed an additional 10,000 square feet to the proposed commercial center.
The applicants previously proposed that a traffic signal be installed at the intersection of Route 25A and Dogwood Drive.
The land will now be transferred to the Suffolk County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation for passive recreational use.
Both council members credited former Legislator Catherine Stark for pushing the preservation effort forward.
“If you go between Sound Avenue and 25A, and count all the lights that take you to the bypass to take you into Rocky Point — with this new addition, it would have been 11 traffic lights in a very short distance, which would have been extremely difficult for all the residents of Wading River,” Ms. Merrifield said. “It’s several years of work, so I thank everyone, and especially Catherine Stark, for those efforts.”
