Some big changes are coming next year to the Riverhead Planning Board, the appointed board of residents whose responsibilities include reviewing and approving plans for new commercial development in town.
Councilman George Gabrielsen, who did not seek re-election to the town board this year, will replace longtime planning board vice chairman Joseph Baier effective January 1, if a resolution being offered by Supervisor Sean Walter has majority support.
“These are not appointments for life,” Walter said today after work session. “To have some fresh new blood in there is important.”
Walter is also asking the town board to name Stan Carey as planning board chairman, replacing Richard O’Dea, who has held the position since 2002. O’Dea, whose term is not expiring, would remain on the board as a member.
Walter is asking that planning board member Ed Densieski be named vice chairman.
The changes, Walter says, are a result of his dissatisfaction with “the direction of the planning board” in recent years.
“We’ve had several problems that probably shouldn’t have come to pass, and we’ve had several lawsuits that probably shouldn’t have come to pass, because of things that have happened,” Walter said. “I’ll leave it at that.”
He denied that his request to replace O’Dea with Carey as planning board chairman was politically motivated. O’Dea and Baier, both Riverhead Republican committee members, voted last spring to give the party nomination to Jodi Giglio instead of Walter, while Carey voted to support him.
“Stan has a tremendous record as a leader, from the water district to the fire department,” Walter said. “I’m going to do the right thing for the town regardless of political parties.”
But the vacancy on the board that Walter is asking Gabrielsen to fill was not advertised to residents, something that civic association president Sid Bail took issue with at this morning’s work session.
“I thought this would be one of those good government things that Sean was very supportive of,” Bail said after the meeting. “This whole thing gives the appearance that it smacks of politics.”
Gabrielsen, however, said he was just as surprised as Bail that the resolution was introduced during work session today.
“Sean approached me on this just a few weeks ago,” he said. “It wasn’t something I was pursuing. I was totally unaware that it would come up today.”
Gabrielsen added that he was considering the position only because his experience as a town board member would help him contribute in “positive ways” to the planning board.
“I wouldn’t take it just to take it,” Gabrielsen said. “Sean knew I would take it seriously and try to do the right things.”
As for the town’s decision not to advertise the position, Walter said that’s because he wanted to appoint someone from the agricultural community, making Gabrielsen a perfect candidate for the job.
“There’s very few people that I would ever put above George Gabrielsen,” Walter said. “Being a farmer, his work ethic, being on the town board – he’s a diligent and genuinely good man.”
He added that Gabrielsen has “deep knowledge” of the EPCAL property and the subdivision that the town is pursuing, which the planning board must approve in order for it to move forward.
“We can interview a lot of people,” Walter said, “but if George put his resumé in, this is a guy that I like.”
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