The Suffolk Industrial Development Agency today postponed a decision on the application of Culinary Arts Riverhead LLC for a new 10-year tax abatement.
The agency adjourned action on the application, which was on their regular meeting agenda today, until its Dec. 14 meeting, Riverhead town attorney Robert Kozakiewicz said tonight.
Suffolk IDA executive director Anthony Catapano yesterday conducted a public hearing on the application, which seeks a 100-percent tax abatement for 10 more years, covering the balance of the 20-year lease term between the company, a Parr Organization affiliate, and Suffolk County Community College. Under its lease with the company, the college would be responsible for paying all taxes and payments in lieu of taxes, SCCC legislative affairs director Ben Zwirn said
Riverhead Town and school district officials objected to the application at the public hearing yesterday. Kozakiewicz, who attended the IDA board meeting in Hauppauge today, said during the hearing yesterday the proposed abatement would be “going backwards.” A payment in lieu of taxes agreement just ending had phased in graduated, increasing payments over the initial 10-year term.
Riverhead Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith testified that the college facility on Main Street “is not an economic generator for downtown.”
She said the facility “no longer conforms to what we’re looking to do downtown,” noting that it is “closed on weekends, leaving a blank, open space” and during the summer. Students attending classes there take prime parking spaces that would otherwise be available to visitors, she said.
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