Resolution calling public hearing on Calverton moratorium pulled from Town Board’s agenda

Updated-10:40 a.m.: The resolution calling a public hearing on a proposed moratorium on industrial development in Calverton has been pulled from the packet of resolutions scheduled to be acted on by the Town Board Tuesday night.

There was no discussion of that resolution — or any of the 30 resolutions in the Dec. 20 meeting packet — during a public work session that lasted under 10 minutes this morning. The work session consisted of Deputy Supervisor Devon Higgins reading the list of resolutions to board members, who listened without comment. When Higgins got to resolution 27, scheduling a Jan. 18 public hearing on a proposed six-moth moratorium, she said, “We already established we’re going to remove that from the queue.” Council Member Tim Hubbard, who had proposed the board move forward with a moratorium on industrial development in Calverton, replied, “Yes.”

At the beginning of the meeting Hubbard said he was unaware Council Member Frank Beyrodt would not be present for Tuesday’s meeting. He said he thinks it’s important to have the full board in attendance for such an important resolution.

Supervisor Yvette Aguiar then asked for a motion to recess the meeting to enter into an executive session to discuss labor union contract negotiations with the town’s labor counsel and the possible purchase of real property, the identity of which was not disclosed.

“It’s a short meeting today. Unfortunately we had nothing to discuss,” Aguiar said.

Check back later for more updates.

Original story:

Riverhead Town is poised to move forward on two items residents have been demanding action on for months: an agreement with planning consultants for the completion of the long-stalled comprehensive plan update and a public hearing on a law establishing a moratorium on industrial development in Calverton.

The Town Board at this morning’s work session is scheduled to review a resolution authorizing a contract with NYC planning firm BFJ Planning to complete the comprehensive plan update. The consultants will be paid $422,000, according to the proposed agreement, released yesterday afternoon by the town clerk as part of the resolution packet to be discussed at today’s work session.

BFJ Planning is to complete its work within 14 months from the date the contract is signed, according to the agreement. The fee includes: a comprehensive plan, a transportation plan, and a generic environmental impact statement (from draft to findings statement; a digitized land use map, a digitized existing zoning map, and a digitized existing zoning map for the Riverhead Hamlet. A detailed scope of work for the project is referenced in the agreement as an attached Exhibit A, but the exhibit was not provided with the agreement released by the town clerk.

L.K. McLean Associates, a traffic engineering firm that was working with AKRF, the planning consultants hired by the town in 2019 and let go in July, will continue as subcontractors for BFJ, according to the draft agreement. The $422,000 fee includes services to be performed by LKMA. The specifics of those services and the amount to be paid LKMA are not detailed in the agreement, but are spelled out in the Exhibit A attachment, which has not yet been released.

The town has been negotiating the agreement with BFJ since at least early October, when the Town Board agreed to hire the firm. BFJ was one of three planning firms chosen by Building and Planning Administrator Jefferson Murphree to pitch their services to the Town Board at its Aug. 18 work session. Two of those firms were invited back to present detailed proposals, and the board chose BFJ.

If a board majority assents, a resolution authorizing the supervisor to sign the agreement with BFJ will be on the agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting.

The other action that’s been the focus of intense community interest is a moratorium on industrial development in the hamlet of Calverton.

A resolution to be reviewed by the Town Board today sets a Jan. 18 public hearing at 6:05 p.m. on a local law establishing a six-month moratorium on the processing, review, and action on all development applications in the Industrial A, Industrial B and Industrial C zoning districts in the hamlet of Calverton (zip code 11933). The six-month period would begin on the day the local law takes effect. The proposed moratorium does not include the industrial zoning districts inside the Calverton Enterprise Park.

The purpose of the moratorium, according to the local law, is to afford the town “the opportunity to study the currently unprecedented industrial development within the Hamlet of Calverton, and allow for Town decision makers to engage in a comprehensive analysis as well as review, draft and adopt amendments for any new, resultant laws that may arise during the planning process.”

After the Planning Board on Oct. 20 unanimously endorsed a broad moratorium on industrial development in Calverton, Council Member Tim Hubbard proposed an 18-month moratorium on industrial development in Calverton, but a pause of that length did not find support on the board. The Planning Board on Nov. 3 passed a formal resolution recommending the moratorium to the Town Board.

The proposed moratorium does not contain exemptions for pending applications, as was advocated by Supervisor Yvette Aguiar, or for certain types of actions deemed “benign” or without major negative impacts, as was advocated by Council Member Robert Kern.

The board had previously agreed to move forward with public hearings on both versions of a moratorium — one with and one without exemptions, but only one version of the moratorium legislation was in the resolution packet for the Dec. 20 meeting released by the town clerk yesterday. A second measure could still be added to the agenda if board members consent.