Town mulls offering food, wine, beer and live music on summer weekends at South Jamesport beach

Riverhead officials are thinking about offering food, wine and beer and live music at the South Jamesport Beach concession facility.

The town would enter into a license agreements with vendors to provide food and beverages on Friday and Saturday evenings from 5 to 9 p.m. from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

The Riverhead Recreation Department is proposing to begin the weekend programming on a pilot basis for the coming summer season.

Food would be served by two food truck vendors until the town secures a vendor to operate the concession from the building at the site, which is in need of renovations and an upgrade in order for food to be prepared and sold there.

The idea is to provide a family-friendly atmosphere with food, local wines, local craft beer and music, Recreation Superintendent Ray Coyne said. It’s a beautiful place at sunset, Coyne noted. “I think people will enjoy it.”

Some town board members expressed concern about amplified music at the waterfront site and the possibility of the site drawing a larger-than-anticipated crowd.

“Music travels over the water,” Councilwoman Catherine Kent said.

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio said she was concerned about how noise limits would be enforced.

The sound system will be in the control of the recreation department staff and the plan is to have a police officer stationed there each night, Coyne said.

The vendor fees will cover the program costs for the summer, he said.

Greater Jamesport Civic Association president William Van Helmond and Jon Troyan, owner of Cuddy’s in South Jamesport attended the town board work session today to discuss community concerns.

Troyan was concerned the town’s operation on the beach would be “direct competition” for his bar and hurt his business.

“We’re thinking more of a family atmosphere,” Councilman Tim Hubbard said. “People at the beach with their kids.” He said he couldn’t see how that would compete with Cuddy’s. Troyan agreed, saying he thought it was going to be something different that would be competitive.

Van Helmond said the civic association’s membership is concerned the beach concession might become a regional attraction.

“This plan is small enough and soft encough that I don’t think it will have the impacts we’re perceiving down the road,” Councilman James Wooten said. He said he personally wouldn’t object to something larger and livelier. “I would hope it would become a Meschutt type of thing,” he said, referring to the county-owned beach concession in Hampton Bays, where the vendor operates a restaurant and bar with live music.

Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith said she thinks the concept is “really nice” but wants to get community input before agreeing to go ahead with it. She suggested holding a community forum at the community center to hear from residents. Giglio agreed.

The town will schedule a community forum on Tuesday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the senior center on Shade Tree Lane, Jens-Smith said.