A boutique hotel proposed for the former Peconic Paddler site will need a temporary hookup to the Riverhead sewage treatment facility to move forward.
The developer’s representatives pitched their proposal to the Riverhead Town Board at this morning’s work session. The site is located in Riverside, in the Town of Southampton, and while plans are in the works to build a sewage treatment facility to serve Riverside, such a facility won’t be available until June 2020, Southampton Town Deputy Supervisor Frank Zappone said at today’s meeting.
The four-and-a-half-story Grangebel Hotel will offer 100 guest rooms, an outdoor pool, a rooftop restaurant and both on-site and off-site parking, Brendan Fredette of developer Fredette Svendsen told board members.
The conceptual site plan presented to the board today by attorney John Prudenti calls for public greenspace and a boardwalk on the northwestern portion of the site that will, in effect, be an extension of the existing municipal park — connecting the Riverhead parkland with Southampton Town parkland fronting Nugent Drive, where Southampton plans to construct a new park entrance.
The developers did not have renderings of the building to present, but Fredette said it would be “stately” with a “neoclassical look” reminiscent of the National Hotel on Block Island.
The ground floor would have an “open look” to make it feel open to the park and green space beyond.
Prudenti said the developer estimates the use will generate about 10,000 gallons per day in sanitary flow to the Riverhead treatment facility.
Councilwoman Jodi Giglio said before making a decision on the application, she wants to confer with Riverhead Sewer District Superintendent Michael Reichel, who attended the work session but didn’t offer an opinion about the proposal.
Councilwoman Catherine Kent, who said she is “not thrilled with five-story development” downtown, also said she was not ready to make a decision.
“I have no problem with this whatsoever,” Councilman James Wooten said.
Southampton Town officials and Sean McLean of Riverside master developer Renaissance Downtowns briefed the Riverhead board on the status of Riverside revitalization plans. Development in the overlay district the sewage treatment plant, Zappone said.
The facility, designed to treat 800,000 gallons per day, is planned for the old drive-in site off Flanders Road, near the Suffolk Federal Credit Union branch.
“We’re looking to pick up as many of the mobile home communities and single-family homes in the area as possible,” McLean said. “Everything is on septic tanks or not even — just leaching rings,” he said.
The old diner site, which is being developed with medical offices and four workforce apartments, is being designed to conform to the standards of the new overlay district so that when the sewage treatment facility is online, the owner will have the option of further development. The current plan for the site conforms to current zoning and health department regulations; it can be built with a septic system, McLean said.
Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith asked what plans exist for the east side of Peconic Avenue, expressing concern that a five-story building in that location would, with the hotel on the west side of the street, “create a tunnel effect.”
The parcels on the east side of Peconic Avenue are not large enough for high-density development under the standards of the form-based zoning code adopted by the Town of Southampton, McLean said.
Kent expressed concern, too, about the impact on the school district of high-density housing development in Riverside.
The town studied the potential impacts in its environmental review process, McLean said. The development, at full buildout, is expected to have about 400 school-age residents, he said. Since current residents will be given a preference for the housing, only some of those 400 students will be new to the district, he said.
McLean noted that the Riverside development will greatly increase tax base in the district. He also noted that investments made by Renaissance Downtowns in early childhood education programs will benefit the school district — and ultimately reduce the district’s costs — because children will be better prepared for kindergarten.
“We have invested heavily in the community, as we do everywhere,” McLean said.
Southampton planning and development administrator Kyle Collins said Riverhead Town will
be included in the review of the hotel proposal, which is within 500 feet of the town’s boundary.
If Riverhead officials are inclined to approve a temporary connection — something they did not commit to this morning — the town would have to set rates for out-of-district connections, Jens-Smith said. “Some decisions have to be made,” the supervisor said.
“We have limited capacity in our sewer district and we are not at full buildout yet,” Giglio said. “I don’t want to see a flood of applications for temporary hookups.”
Because Southampton conducted a “very robust” environmental review for its new zoning code, the hotel use is an as-of-right use in that location — as long as a municipal sewage treatment hookup is available, McLean said. Approval can be expected within 90 days of a complete application, he said.
Board members stopped short of giving the Grangebel Hotel a green light for the sewage hookup because they said they wanted Southampton to nail down more precise wastewater flow numbers and discuss the question further.
“We recognize that success in Southampton is our success here as well,” Jens-Smith said.
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