The developer of The Shops at Riverhead was granted a permit by the town board last night to excavate and remove 26,041 cubic yards of soils from the Route 58 site. Last week the planning board approved a revised site plan for the construction of 120,450 square feet of new retail and accessory uses in five buildings on the site; a 150,000-square foot Costco warehouse opened on the site in 2014.
Riverhead Town will collect a fee of $2 per cubic yard for the exportation of those soils, pursuant to town code — a total of $52,182. Brixmor, the developer, will pay the cost of an on-site monitor to certify the quantities of soils removed.
The town regulates both the importation and exportation of soils from sites within its boundaries. Riverhead has banned sand-mining and exportation of soils is illegal without a town permit.
The planning board allowed Brixmor to clear-cut the previously wooded 42-acre site, including the northern 11 acres adjoining the Foxwood community, even though there were no plans to develop that area of the site. The site plan approved in 2012 allowed the developer to move 187,000 cubic yards of sand and soil from the higher elevation northern area to other lower-lying areas on the site in what was termed a “balanced cut and fill plan.” This allowed the developer to fill and grade low-lying areas without buying and importing soils — saving the developer very significant expense.
Now Brixmor will be allowed to sell off that relocated soil.
“We’re going to get $52,000 for this and we need it in our budget,” Councilman John Dunleavy said before voting to approve the permit. The measure passed unanimously.
The developer told the planning board in 2012 the northern 11 acres may be developed in the future (as its original site plan approval in 2007 showed) and it would be better not to have to disturb that area in the future, after the first two phases of development were already completed. The developer now says it has no plans for future development in that area. Since the nearly 271,000 square feet of development already approved is the site’s full buildout under the zoning code, any future development will require the owner to purchase development rights through the farmland protection program.
Brixmor returned to the planning board for a revised site plan approval for phase two of construction: 120,450 square feet of retail and accessory uses in five new buildings on the east side of the property.
The clear-cutting, which left no natural vegetated buffer along the northern and eastern boundaries, which border residential communities, sparked much controversy. Foxwood residents complained about town-approved screening along the northern border: a wooden fence, a berm and shrubbery. The condition of the plantings and fencing led to an eventual agreement to replace the fence and dead evergreens.
The revised site plan calls for the construction of a 10-foot high sound wall along the eastern border, which adjoins the Millbrook mobile home park.
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