A scaled-back plan to site a restaurant on the small lot at the corner of Route 58 and Harrison Avenue was rejected — again — by the Riverhead Planning Board yesterday.
A Westhampton Beach developer originally sought to build a 3,200-square-foot, two-story, 24-seat restaurant on the wedge-shaped lot on the northwest corner of the intersection next to the Taco Bell. That plan was rejected by the planning board in March 2014. The developer then returned with a revised plan for a 1,610-square-foot, 16-seat plan, but the planning board took no action on that plan and he revised the plan again, proposing instead a 1,298-square-foot building.
But a majority of the five-member planning board rejected the Guddha LLC plan again yesterday in a split vote.
“I am a strong supporter of people’s property rights, but I believe this is the epitome of poor planning,” member Ed Densieski said before casting his no vote.
“It’s a sliver of a piece,” he said. “I do believe public safety is going to be an issue. Unfortunately I’m going to have to vote no.”
The proposed resolution to approve the plan failed 3-2, with board chairman Richard O’Dea and vice chairman Joseph Baier voting yes.
The lot in question is just shy of a third of an acre. Guddha LLC obtained the variances needed from the Zoning Board of Appeals in order to develop the original plan, including minimum front and rear yard variances. The ZBA in August 2013 granted variances to allow a front-yard depth of five feet instead of the required 50 feet and a rear-yard depth of five feet instead of 25 feet. The ZBA also allowed three feet of unoccupied front yard landscaping instead of the 35 feet required by code.
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