Argument heats up over development in Wading River

All is definitely not quiet on the western front.

A skirmish erupted yesterday between Wading River businessman Kenn Barra and environmentalist Richard Amper following a press conference on Route 25A called to announce plans to preserve an 18-acre site just east of the CVS Pharmacy.

The two went at it after Amper remarked during the press conference, “Developers are going to hear the voices of the community. Development is not the route in Wading River.”

Barra was in the audience, standing next to Mary Zoumas, whose husband John owns the property that was the subject of the press conference, which the county will attempt to acquire for use as a hamlet park.

“The small business person is what keeps this community alive. Small business is keeping the whole country alive,” Barra said in an interview immediately after the press conference ended.

“It’s crazy. The craziness you put people through,” Barra said to Amper as the environmentalist walked past. “You can’t keep changing the rules as people go along,”

Amper confronted him.

“Your property is destination retail, sir. And it’s just not appropriate for the hamlet of Wading River. The people of Wading River don’t want it and you are going to have to listen to the people,” Amper said, his voice rising. “People want to protect this community, to preserve its rural character. People see you as an offender of that,” Amper said.

“I am a pillar of this community, sir,” Barra responded, his voice also rising. “I support this community. I support the hospital and other organizations in this community. And I live in this town,” he said.

“People think what you want to do is wrong and I agree with them,” Amper said.

Barra owns two commercial properties in Wading River, one on 25A east of the Zoumas site and the other farther east, on the corner of 25A and Sound Avenue, next to Barra’s hotel and catering complex, where he has pending a controversial application to build 25 small retail shops and a restaurant.

Barra also owns property on the corner of Park Road and Sound Avenue slated for retail development that the county also wants to purchase. He has refused to consent to an appraisal of the site, insisting that he will build. Supervisor Sean Walter said during the press conference that Barra had changed his mind and would now allow the appraisal.

“John [Zoumas] is like myself,” Barra said in an interview before his argument with Amper. “We are willing to sell if the price is right,” he said. He confirmed he had changed his mind and agreed to have the county appraise the Sound Avenue property.

But at the end of his confrontation with Amper, he angrily said to Amper, “I’m building. You mark my words. I am building.”

Walter jumped into the fray, too, telling Barra the traffic impact study he’d submitted for the proposed Sound Avenue shopping center had “bad traffic counts,” and that he still had to file an environmental impact statement for the plan. Their conversation also became heated.

“Do you want to sell it,” Walter asked.

“I will sell it if you give me what I invested in it,” Barra replied.

“It’s not going to happen,” responded the supervisor. “You know the number is not going to come in. You’re living in a fantasy world.”

Through it all, Mary Zoumas stood by quietly.

“I worry about it [selling to the county],” she said. “After these things are said, it’s in the process but it takes years and years. We said we were willing to sell a few years ago, but the town wasn’t interested,” she said, noting they’ve owned the property for 15 years. “We would develop it in a responsible manner.”

The press conference was called by Legislator Ed Romaine, who has introduced a “planning steps” resolution in the County Legislature, the first step in the acquisition process. It authorizes the county real estate department to do an appraisal and begin negotiations with the owner. It was on the agenda of the legislature’s environment, planning and agriculture committee this week, but was tabled. The committee is expected to act on it at its April meeting, Romaine said.

All four members of the Town Board attended the press conference along with the supervisor, Assemblyman Dan Losquadro, Amper, Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition president Dominique Mendez, Wading River Civic Association president Mike Harrigan and Group for the East End environmental advocate Jenn Hartnagel. All spoke in favor of public acquisition of the site.

Mendez, whose organization is heading up a campaign dubbed “Save Wading River,” calling for a moratorium on commercial development in the Wading River corridor and a study of the cumulative impacts of commercial development along Route 25A, said after yesterday’s news conference the Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition would continue to press for the moratorium and study.

“The vast majority of these purchases don’t get made,” Mendez said, noting it’s a long way from the adoption of a planning steps resolution to closing on a sale. “There’s a very good chance it won’t happen,” she said. “We still have the same need for a moratorium and study to assess the impacts of more than 100,000 square feet of potential additional commercial development in the Wading River hamlet.”