Update: 16.08., 13:20
The Riverhead City Council Office has canceled a public hearing originally scheduled for next Tuesday, Aug. 20, on adding a zoning plan for “agritourism inns and resorts” to the city ordinance “in response to the unusually large amount of opposition and comments received from all members of the City Council,” according to a statement released by the City Council Office Thursday afternoon.
The statement said the calls, texts and emails received by board members “may reflect a misunderstanding as to the intent and/or extent of the proposed change.”
“Supervisor Hubbard and the entire City Council agreed that it would be beneficial and productive to host a public forum on this issue,” the statement said. “Rather than simply adding the issue to an upcoming work session — where the public cannot speak freely with City Council members and/or planning staff — the forum format is intended to encourage dialogue so that all sides of the issue can be freely discussed.”
The public forum will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 18, in the City Hall meeting room at 4 West Second Street and will also be broadcast on Channel 22, livestreamed on the City’s website, and via Zoom. Access information will be posted on the City’s website prior to the forum.
The original story follows:
A week before the Riverhead City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on its zoning proposal for agritourism inns and resorts in the area north of Sound Avenue, the Greater Jamesport Civic Association has launched the Save Sound Avenue initiative to raise awareness of the city’s proposal to allow these uses along the historic corridor.
Pictured above: Farmland on Sound Avenue where the zone could be established for an agritourism resort. |. Photo by Greater Jamesport Civic Association
“Riverhead Town residents may not be aware of the problem or threat the proposed rezoning poses to the scenic beauty of our area and its rural character,” said Laura Jens-Smith, president of the Greater Jamesport Civic Association and former Democratic Riverhead Town Councilwoman, in an announcement of the initiative. “Town Council members promote the proposed ordinance change as a tool to preserve farmland, but have not provided any evidence or data to support the claim that hotel development along Long Island Sound will preserve more farmland and open space than the current two-acre residential development. This proposed rezoning would open the doors to the potential development of more than 2,000 hotel rooms on Sound Avenue.”
A public hearing is scheduled for the next Riverhead Town Council meeting on August 20 at 6 p.m. The full text of the bill can be found here.
The proposal would allow the construction of agritourism inns and resorts on land of more than 100 acres in the city’s RA-80 zoning area north of Sound Avenue. The resorts would be limited in size to 150 rooms, buildings would be 35 feet or less in height, and 70 percent of the land would have to be used for agricultural purposes.
This would also require the farmland to be adjacent to Sound Avenue, a state-designated scenic and historic corridor, with the resort located closer to Long Island Sound and not visible from Sound Avenue.
Controversy over the proposal began to flare up earlier this year after the website riverheadlocal.com reported that the website of Westchester-based Alfred Weissman Real Estate was touting the construction of a planned five-star resort on a 105-acre oceanfront site and that the project’s developers had offered to help the city draft the building codes that would allow their project to go ahead.
According to the real estate website, the property includes more than 600 feet of shoreline on Sound Avenue and a 60-acre organic farm. The five-star resort, located north of Sound Avenue next to the Willow Ponds Sound Condominiums, will offer “an organic farm-to-table experience.”
Representatives of the real estate company recently offered Willow Ponds a compensation for connecting to the residential complex’s sewage treatment plant.
The Greater Jamesport Civic Association claims that “commercial hotel development does not belong on Sound Avenue and would destroy the area’s rural charm. Furthermore, the proposed amendment does nothing to preserve the Sound Avenue Scenic and Historic Corridor, which was created by the state Legislature in 1975.”
The civic group has posted more details about its efforts on its website, www.greaterjamesportcivic.org, which includes a link to an online petition, a sample letter to the Riverhead City Council, and email addresses for the City Council and City Council members.
Some members of the Riverhead Board have publicly stated that they take residents’ concerns to heart.
“There is a lot of opposition in the city,” Councilman Tim Hubbard told the Southold City Council at a joint work session in mid-July. “It’s far from over. At this point, it’s still a discussion. The farmers don’t agree with it for various reasons, and the community doesn’t seem to be on board either.”
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