Riverhead Town officials debate outdoor auto storage as a new use in industrial zones

Town officials are considering a zoning code change to allow outside automobile storage as a special permit use in industrial zones, to help auto dealers with inventories too large to store at their dealerships.

But officials disagree over which of the town’s industrial zones should allow outdoor auto storage.

Riverhead auto dealers have told officials they lack adequate storage space for their business needs. It’s an issue shared by essentially all of the new car dealers in Riverhead, which are concentrated on Route 58.

The town board’s code revision committee has been working on a recommendation to allow outdoor auto storage in the Industrial A zoning use district. But Councilwoman Jodi Giglio advocated for allowing outdoor auto storage in the Industrial C zone as well.

Industrial A zoning is found on the east side of Kroemer Avenue north of the railroad track to a point south of Route 58, where the zoning is Destination Retail. It is also found in the area around exit 72 of the Long Island Expressway, encompassing the land north of Route 25 to Manor Road and south of Route 25 to the expressway.

Giglio said there is not enough land zoned Industrial A to meet the dealers’ needs and most of the land zoned Industrial A is located in the Route 25 corridor nearly the Calverton Enterprise Park.

“If what happens at EPCAL is what’s supposed to happen, I see all the industrial A properties along 25 getting filled in with manufacturers in support of what’s going to go at EPCAL,” Giglio said, referring to the stated plans of Calverton Aviation and Technology to build up to 10 million square feet for aviation and high-tech industrial uses on the 1,644 acres the company is purchasing from the Town of Riverhead Community Development Agency for $40 million.

“So I don’t want to lock up Industrial A for car storage when it could have the heavier uses of manufacturing,” Giglio said.

Land zoned Industrial A is more valuable because of the broader range of industrial uses allowed in the Industrial A zone, Giglio argued.

“I mean Industrial A, you’re looking at a half a million dollars an acre to buy industrial A, whereas you might be looking at a couple hundred thousand to buy Industrial C, because the uses are much more intense [in Industrial A],” Giglio said. “So, you know, there’s got to be some return on investment,” Giglio said, arguing for allowing structures on land used for outdoor auto storage. In adding the outdoor auto storage use, the town should not strip the land of uses that are already allowed by the Industrial A code, Giglio said.

Industrial A, like the Planned Development Zoning Use District within the enterprise park being sold to Calverton Aviation and Technology, allows a broad range of industrial uses.

Industrial C zoning is found along the south side of Pulaski Street west of Marcy Avenue, south to Route 25 on the eastern end of Pulaski and to the railroad track on the western end. In this corridor Industrial C butts up against the Riverfront Corridor zoning, which runs along the Peconic River, which is protected by state law.

Industrial C zoning allows a more limited range of industrial uses — “a mix of light industrial, warehouse development, and office campuses,” according to the zoning code. “The Industrial C Zoning Use District is intended for moderate-sized businesses generally defined as those with less than 40 employees. In addition, the district allows and encourages commercial recreation businesses. The use of generous landscaping and open space buffers is intended to help protect the rural appearance and minimize views of development from the expressway and arterial roads,” according to the code.

Councilman James Wooten said outdoor auto storage is more akin to the uses currently allowed in the Industrial C zoning than in Industrial A.

Councilwoman Catherine Kent said the code committee limited the outdoor auto storage proposal to Industrial A-zoned land after discussions with the auto dealers in town.

“The code committee has worked on this a long time,” Kent said. “I really don’t want to reverse it because one person is calling up someone and complaining. We got to a good place with this with the dealers,” she said.

“It’s not complaints by the dealers — it’s desperation,” Giglio countered.

After some back-and-forth, board members agreed the issue would go back to the town board code revision committee, which includes Kent, town attorney Robert Kozakiewicz, building and planning department administrator Jefferson Murphree and planning aide Greg Bergman.

The code committee will discuss ways to allow outdoor auto storage in some, but not all, areas zoned Industrial C. It will also take up the issue of allowing structures with outdoor auto storage.

“It’s unfortunate that a lot of work put into this and going back to code revision will delay it,” Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith said. She expressed reservations about the amount of land zoned Industrial C that would be opened up to outdoor auto storage if the town allows that as a use in the Industrial C district.

Editor’s note: This story has been amended to clarify that the resolutions discussed by the board Aug. 29 did not come out of the code committee but were brought forward by Councilwoman Jodi Giglio as an alternative to what the code committee has developed.