A plan to build a new 13-store outlet center on undeveloped land in the middle of Tanger Outlets is back in front of the Riverhead Town Board, after previous approvals for the plan lapsed.
William Dries and Anthony Specchio, owners of the four-acre parcel wedged between Tanger I and Tanger II, are seeking a special permit and site plan approval to construct 31,000 square feet of manufacturer’s outlet retail space with parking, lighting, landscaping and utility connections.
Dries and Specchio owned the property before brothers Stanley and Steven Tanger bought the property where they developed their outlet center. The Tanger brothers tried to buy the site, but Dries and Specchio would not sell, real estate broker Bill Talmage, who brought the Tangers to Riverhead, said today.
Plans to develop the land were proposed in 2004 and gained approvals, but nothing was ever constructed, Planner Greg Bergman told the town board during Thursday’s work session.
Bergman said the major concern about development of the site is access. The current plan proposes the outlet will be accessed through entrances on Tanger Drive. The applicants must address “potential traffic congestion and unsafe turning movements” prior to the issuance of a State Environmental Quality Review Act determination of significance, Bergman said in a written staff report presented to the board.
The report states that although a traffic impact study will not be required by the New York State Department of Transportation, “the proposed intersection configuration has the potential for significant negative impacts, especially during peak traffic times, i.e. holiday shopping season” and the town board or planning board may wish to require a study.
Bergman explained that Dries-Specchio has an easement agreement, dating back to 1985, with Tanger Properties Limited Partnership that granted Tanger permission to make improvements and plantings within the easement and facilitated the construction of Tanger Drive. Bergman wrote in his report that Dries and Specchio’s plans may interfere with the easement agreement in various ways, including by grading the easement with a plan to construct a sidewalk and the removal of existing trees and shrubs Tanger has planted.
“The applicant needs to indicate how these issues will be addressed,” the report states. Tanger should agree to allowing the construction of two curb cuts prior to site plan approval, Bergman’s report recommends.
Town Board members expressed concerns about the impacts the new outlet store development may have on surrounding retail or Tanger Outlets. Bergman said he was analyzing if the application “meets the special permit criteria” and “not if the market supports the demand for the proposed use.”
“Are we addressing this in the comp plan, so that we don’t allow these places, whether it’s this new place, or Tanger they go out of business because they can’t rent to retail, or lease to retail?” Councilman Bob Kern asked.
Building and Planning Administrator Jefferson Murphree said he heard from Tanger about diversifying uses on the property, but the town doesn’t want Tanger “to be a one-stop shop” because it would take away from the rest of Route 58. He said the comprehensive plan will look at diversifying the zoning to include personal services, health care, recreation and indoor recreation.
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