The final site plan for a four-story, 36-unit apartment building was unanimously approved by the town board Tuesday. The resolution approving the site plan allows the developer to demolish a historic 19th Century house currently on the property at 331 East Main Street. However, if the town is able to find a suitable new location for the 1855 Norton House, the developer will pay up to $70,000 towards the relocation costs.
So far, the town’s efforts to move the building to a new location have not borne fruit, despite the efforts of Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, whom other board members commended for her pursuit of a new site for the home.
Giglio said she is not giving up, though she acknowledged the barriers to moving the house are high. It requires not just a suitable site but the temporary removal of utility lines, lights and street trees in order to get the house off-site and move it to a new location.
The councilwoman said the owner of the former Second Street firehouse would take the building and renovate it at a cost of $250,000 to $300,000 if the town would have the building moved to the area of the parking lot north of the former firehouse, which fronts on Third Street.
The developer’s attorney said at last week’s work session his client was aiming to close title on the property within a week or so and would seek to expeditiously move forward with site preparation, including demolition of existing structures, in order to meet its goal for project completion and occupancy.
Riverhead police union contracts extended
Riverhead Town has negotiated and approved labor agreements with its two police unions, extending their existing contracts through Dec. 31, 2022. Both were expiring at the end of this year. Stipulations setting forth the changes were approved by the town board at its meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Members of the Riverhead Police Benevolent Association and the Superior Officers Association will receive a 2% increase in base pay in each of the two contract years (2021 and 2022.()
The existing contracts are amended to allow the town the option to pay out over a period of four years — rather than the current three years — unused compensatory time, overtime, holiday pay and vacation pay to members who retire or resign or die. The contract revision will sunset at 11:59:59 on Dec. 31, 2022.
The change could save a cash outlay the town almost $900,000 next year, Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said at last week’s work session. The unions were “very receptive to our financial conditions” due to the COVID crisis, the supervisor said.
“It helps our budget become more stable,” she said.
Vehicle charging stations coming to downtown Riverhead
Downtown Riverhead will get its first bank of electric vehicle charging stations under an agreement with the New York Power Authority approved by the town board Tuesday.
Four charging stations will be supplied, installed and maintained by the New York Power Authority at no cost to the town, according to a contract approved by the town board Tuesday. The charging stations will be sited at four exciting parking spaces the northeast corner of the First Street parking lot (adjacent to a town-owned building on East Avenue.) A fifth space will be striped for ADA access.
The town will be responsible for installing and maintaining directional way-finding signs to direct the public to the charging stations and for keeping the parking spaces clear of debris, snow and ice so that the stations remain accessible. The town will also be required to maintain general liability and automobile liability insurance policies endorsed to the power authority.
The contract term is 10 years with the option of two five-year extensions.
Riverhead Holiday Light Show to return
The Riverhead Holiday Light Show will return to the Long Island Sports Park in Calverton again this year, with evening shows running from Nov. 19 through Dec. 30.
The producer of the show, Bold Broadcasting, expects attendance of 2,000 people, in “waves” of no more than 300 cars per hour.
The show meets all requirements of New York State COVID restrictions, officials said.
Town justice gets temporary pay boost
Town Justice Lori Hulse will get a 50% boost in pay to compensate her for the extra workload she’s taken on following the sudden death of Justice Allen Smith in July. She will receive 50% of her current salary of $84,571, prorated for a 102-day period ending on Nov. 4, when a successor to Smith will be elected in the general election.
In other action Tuesday, the town board:
- scheduled a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 2:15 p.m. on the special permit application of LI Solar Generation (Nextera Solar) to site a 22.0 megawatt solar energy production facility no two industrially zoned properties located at 149 Edwards Avenue — the current site of the Long Island Sports Park;
- scheduled a public hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 2:05 p.m. on a proposed Riverhead Water District capital project, the painting of the district’s Plant 10 water tank at an estimated maximum cost of $1.8 million. The tank is located on Sound Shore Road in Riverhead. It was built in 1989 and has never been repainted, Riverhead Water District Superintendent Frank Mancini said.
- scheduled a public hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 2:20 p.m. on the appeal of the Conservation Advisory Council’s denial of a wetlands permit application by Phoenix Home Builders of Mastic for premises located at 48 Willow Street, Aquebogue.
- appointed two automotive equipment operator to the highway department, Louis Kaiser and Wayne Merkel, at an annual salary of $46,687.54 pursuant to the Civil Service Employees Union contract.
- appointed a part-time Spanish-speaking clerk to the town clerk’s office, Jose Nieves-Torres, at an hourly rate of $15.
- accepted the resignation of a part-time office assistant in the town supervisor’s office, Frances Shackel, effective Sept. 17.
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