Riverhead revises rules for sale of land at enterprise park

Riverhead has a new set of rules to follow for determining whether a prospective purchaser of land at the Calverton Enterprise Park is “qualified and eligible” under New York State General Municipal Law.

The town board today adopted an amendment to rules it put in place in 2004, eliminating all reference to the Riverhead Development Corporation, a local development corporation created by the town in 1996 that was dissolved more than a decade ago.

Former councilwoman Barbara Blass, who was on the town board when it adopted the rules in 2004, asked the board to amend its revision to require the town to make the “qualified and eligible” determination prior to commencing contract negotiations with a prospective purchaser. That requirement was in the original set of rules but omitted from the version before the board today.

Phil Barbato of the Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition asked the board to describe the contents of a legal memorandum referred to in the rules, prepared for the town by outside counsel Wilkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in 2004.

“We’ll get you a copy of the memorandum,” Supervisor Sean Walter told Barbato, who asked a few times what the memorandum said, but got no answer beyond a promise to provide him with a copy.

The board voted 3-2 to adopt the revised rules, with Councilwoman Jodi Giglio and Councilman John Dunleavy voting no.

Dunleavy said the rules were “an important document” that he thinks the board should hold a public hearing on before revising.

Giglio offered no comment before casting her dissenting vote.

In an interview after the meeting, she said she thought it was a matter that should have been discussed more thoroughly at a work session. Supervisor Sean Walter and deputy town attorney Annmarie Prudenti presented the resolution at Thursday’s work session. Giglio had no comment and expressed no objection at the work session.

“I think we should have had an opportunity to discuss it with our attorneys first,” Giglio said this afternoon.

A municipality may lease or sell property within a designated urban renewal zone  — such as the Calverton Enterprise Park — without an appraisal or sealed bids, according to New York State General Municipal Law. The municipality must first make a determination that the prospective lessee or purchaser is “qualified and eligible” pursuant to rules it has adopted for making such a determination. The municipality must hold a public hearing prior to making the “qualified and eligible” determination.

The Town of Riverhead is currently negotiating with Luminati Aerospace to sell most of its remaining land at the Calverton Enterprise Park, the former U.S. Navy site leased to the Grumman Corporation, which developed, tested and built military aircraft there for more than 40 years before it left the site in 1996. The town has not yet scheduled a “qualified and eligible sponsor” hearing on Luminati for the purpose of the sale.  The board found the company to be a “qualified and eligible sponsor” in November 2015 prior to entering into a license agreement granting Luminati exclusive use of the town’s active runway at the site.