Planners to provide update on comprehensive plan progress Monday; third round of public outreach meetings scheduled

Riverhead Town’s lead planner and planning consultants will discuss their progress on the update to the town’s comprehensive plan during the fourth meeting of the project’s central advisory committee from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Monday.

The meeting will feature an update by Building and Planning Administrator Jefferson Murphree on the project’s progress, an “issues and opportunities summary” by the project’s consulting firm AKRF, and a transportation presentation by L.K. McLean Associates, the consulting firm focused on the traffic analysis for the plan update, according to a meeting agenda posted on the town’s website.

The meeting will take place in the Town Hall meeting room in-person and virtually through zoom.

The town hired AKRF in October 2019 to assist the town with updating the plan, last amended in 2003, that was created to guide the future of the town. The process to update the plan was originally scheduled to launch in February 2020, before being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The contract to complete the plan update has since been extended two times and is scheduled to be complete spring of 2023. 

A third round of public outreach meetings, which are focused on specific topics to be outlined in the plan, is scheduled for dates throughout April, both in-person at Riley Avenue Elementary School in Calverton and virtually through Zoom. 

The dates and topics for the meetings are:

• Environment, Sustainability, and Renewable Energy, April 12 at 5:45pm 
• Economic Development: Downtown and Route 58, April 14 at 5:45pm
• Housing and Community Services, April 25 at 5:45pm 
• Transportation and Utilities/Infrastructure, April 26 at 5:45pm
• Agriculture and Farmland and Historic Resources Preservation, April 27 at 5:45pm 

Zoom links and passcodes for the meetings can be found on the town’s comprehensive plan update website.

The first round of public outreach meetings was conducted in September and focused on issues specific to the 11 hamlets in Riverhead.  A second round of meetings, focusing on the topics listed above was held in November and December.

The planners’ goal is to have a first draft of goals, policies and recommendations for the update to the town board at the beginning of June and a draft plan ready for review by the end of summer, Murphree said last month. The planners will then prepare a generic environmental impact statement throughout the fall and winter, in anticipation for the adoption of the plan by the town board next spring.

The advisory committee for the comprehensive plan update was formed by Supervisor Yvette Aguiar to review recommendations from the town’s consultants, and offer feedback and recommendations to the town board about the progress of the update.