The Riverhead Town Board set public hearings during its meeting Tuesday on both the 2023 preliminary budget and on a local law authorizing the town to override the 2% tax cap. The local law must be passed in order to adopt a budget that pierces the cap.
The hearing on a local law to pierce the tax cap, is scheduled for the board’s regular meeting on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m.
Supervisor Yvette Aguiar, in her tentative budget, proposed a 3.31% levy increase for the three town-wide funds.
Aguiar’s tentative budget, which will become the preliminary budget if it is not amended by the board, proposes $103 million in total spending, a 3% increase from the $100 million budget adopted last year. The hearing on the budget will take place on Nov. 1 during the board’s 2 p.m. meeting.
The board received Supervisor Yvette Aguiar’s tentative 2023 budget from the town clerk during the meeting, as required by state law. The board also received the budgets of the four fire districts in the town and the budget of the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Town Board also:
- Accepted the resignation of Thomas Cruso as a board member of the Riverhead IDA and filled the vacancy with Douglas Williams. Williams previously applied to the IDA board, according to the resolution.
- Held a public hearing on how to allocate up to $200,000 the town is receiving from the Community Development Block Grant program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Eligible activities include housing rehabilitation; elimination of physical barriers to the handicapped; public facilities and improvements; street improvements; public service activities; and neighborhood improvement programs. The Town Board heard from representatives from several community organizations vying for the money, including Maureen’s Haven homeless outreach, Riverhead CAP, Bread and More Kitchen, Church of the Harvest food pantry, the Butterfly Effect Project and The Retreat. Community Development Director Dawn Thomas also read letters aloud from two organizations who were unable to attend the meeting: the Open Arms Care Center food pantry and from Catholic Health’s Helping Hands program, which provides non-medical support services in the homes of elderly and disabled people.
- Held a public hearing on the site plan for the Zenith Building, a four-story mixed use building proposed for McDermott Avenue opposite Riverview Lofts. The building would have nine market-rate rental apartments above two ground-floor commercial spaces totaling more than 2,100-square-feet. The board received no public comments.
- Held a public hearing for the acquisition of a 37.37-acre property called the Saw Mill Creek Addition, located on the south side of Old Country Road and east of Northville Turnpike. The property was identified by the Suffolk County Environment, Parks and Agriculture committee in March as a target property for preservation. The Town Board would purchase the property with Suffolk County, with the town paying 10% of the purchase price of the land with community preservation funds — not more than $500,000 — and the county paying the rest, Town Attorney Erik Howard said. The hearing drew no comments from the public. Council Member Frank Beyrodt said during the hearing that the town’s Open Space Committee supports the purchase.
- Set a public hearing on a local amendment to the New York State Open Meetings Law that would allow members of the board to attend meetings virtually, as long as a quorum is present in-person. The hearing is scheduled for the board’s meeting on Nov. 1 at 2:05 p.m..
- Determined and declared a property at 330 Baywood Drive in Calverton blighted, and directed town code enforcement officials to enter the building and remedy the violations. The cost or expense of the remediation will be levied against the owner.
- Proclaimed the second Friday of every October as PFC Garfield M. Langhorn Day in Riverhead, to celebrate the town’s only Medal of Honor recipient who died jumping on a grenade to the lives of his comrades during an attempted rescue mission in Vietnam 53 years ago.
MORE COVERAGE: PFC Garfield M. Langhorn Day set aside to remember Riverhead Medal of Honor recipient |
- Authorized an agreement between the Town Board and the highway superintendent for the town’s loose leaf pickup program. The Town Board and former Highway Superintendent Gio Woodson had an ongoing dispute over whether the loose leaf pickup program conducted by the highway department should be paid for out of the highway fund, and decided earlier in the year with Woodson’s successor, Mike Zaleski, to seek a legal opinion. The program will be initially funded at $219,018.88 in 2023, through the town general fund, and increase each year according to a rate schedule published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to the agreement.
MORE COVERAGE: Loose leaf pickup program to continue in Riverhead indefinitely, after state comptroller’s opinion resolves conflict over funding |
- Authorized an agreement with the Peconic Hockey Foundation to bring an NHL-sized domed ice rink to Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton. Peconic Hockey Foundation will donate the rink to the town in exchange for the right to occupy, operate and manage the facility on town-owned land, under the terms of the 15-year agreement unanimously approved by the board.
MORE COVERAGE: Riverhead approves deal for domed ice rink facility at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton |
- Retained law firm Smith, FInkelstein, Lundberg, Isler & Yakaboski LLC as special counsel to the Community Development Agency for the joint application with Calverton Aviation & Technology to the Riverhead IDA to facilitate the sale and transfer of more than 1,600 acres of land at the Calverton Enterprise Park. The fees for the lawyers will be paid by CAT, pursuant to the terms of the preliminary agreement with the IDA.
MORE COVERAGE: Air cargo logistics hub in Calverton planned by Triple Five affiliate to enhance package delivery services on Long Island |
- Designated joint master developers RXR and Georgica Green Ventures as qualified and eligible sponsors for the purchase and development of two municipal parking lots — one owned by Riverhead Town opposite the Long Island Rail Road Station and the other a Suffolk County-owned parking lot on Griffing Avenue opposite the Suffolk County Supreme Court house.
Two mixed-use apartment buildings are proposed for RXR and GGV’s transit-oriented development project, one on each parking lot. A multi-story public parking garage is proposed on the Griffing Avenue parking lot behind the street-facing development. The qualified and eligible status allows the town to enter a master developer agreement with the firms.
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