Impacts of a developer’s plans for the hamlet of Riverside will be aired tomorrow night at a public hearing at Phillips Avenue Elementary School.
Renaissance Downtown’s ambitious revitalization plan envisions a total transformation of the struggling hamlet, which — despite its four miles of waterfront, 1,000 acres of preserved lands and proximity to ocean, bay, sound and freshwater beaches, vineyards, farms,the Long Island Aquarium, world-class shopping and one of the top tourist destinations in the world — is ranked as the most economically distressed community in Suffolk County.
The proposed new form-based zoning for the 468-acre study area consists of voluntary overlay districts intended to incentivize development of new commercial and residential uses in the plan’s study area.
If the proposed zoning is adopted and built out, there would be development of 133,517 square feet of new retail space, 37,000 square feet of professional office space, 25,000 square feet of medical office space, 97 hotel rooms and 2,267 dwelling units — as well as 63,910 of adult care/nursing home facilities, 11,032 square feet of cultural facilities, a 550-space parking garage, and an indoor ice rink.
The 2,267 residential dwelling units would consist of 1,134 one-bedroom, 907 two-bedroom and 226 studio apartments. Upon full buildout, it would generate some 3,899 residents, which include approximately 283 school-aged children, according to the draft generic environmental impact statement prepared by Renaissance Downtowns.
The projected 283 additional school-aged children would not enter the Riverhead Central School District all at once, but will be phased in over the 10-year construction period, at an estimated rate of 28 new children per year, according to the DGEIS, representing an annual enrollment increase of 0.6 percent. Enrollment is projected to be distributed across the various grade levels served by the district.
Development is dependent on either the capacity of an existing sewage treatment plant to accept new wastewater flows, or — more likely — the construction of a new sewage treatment plant to serve the area, which is located in or adjacent to a number of designated critical environmental areas, including the central pine barrens and the Peconic Estuary and contains many state-listed freshwater wetlands.
The DGEIS attempts to identify all environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the plan proposed by Renaissance Downtowns, which the Town of Southampton designated as master developer for the study area. It then discusses possible mitigation measures and alternatives, as required by the State Environmental Quality Review Act, known as SEQRA.
The purpose of tomorrow night’s public hearing is to provide residents and stakeholders with the chance to comment on the DGEIS. The developer will then respond to comments in a final generic environmental statement. Once the environment review process is complete, the Southampton Town Board can move forward with adopting the proposed zoning overlay districts.
The full draft GEIS can be read and downloaded here.
The hearing begins at 6 p.m. at Phillips Avenue Elementary School.
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