Riverhead Ciderhouse is back before the Planning Board, seeking to legalize already-built expansions to its tasting room and outdoor patio on the seven-acre site at the corner of Sound and Osborn avenues in Baiting Hollow.
The Planning Board last week scheduled a public hearing on the new site plan application for Thursday, Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. at Riverehad Town Hall.
Riverhead Ciderhouse is seeking approval of a 5,150-square-foot expansion of its existing tasting room and a 1,294-square-foot expansion of its existing 3,186 square-foot outdoor patio area, for a total outdoor patio area of 4,480 square feet. Both the tasting room expansion and the outdoor patio expansion have already been constructed. The applicant is also seeking approval to construct 36 additional parking spaces on the site, to provide required parking for the expansions.
The Planning Board last Thursday designated the application as “unlisted” for purposes of review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act and issued a declaration of non-significance, which is a finding that the proposal will have no significant adverse impacts and is not required to have further study under the State Environmental Quality Review Act.
The remainder of the 108,178-square-foot, single-story building not used for a cider processing and bottling center and tasting room will remain in use as agricultural storage, according to the site plan prepared by the property owner’s architect.
The 7.2-acre site was once the home of the Treat Potato Chip factory, which operated there in the 1950s and 1960s. The property was later included in the Agricultural Protection Zone, which limits uses to agricultural uses.
The Riverhead Zoning Board of Appeals in 2000 granted Blackman Plumbing a use variance, allowing the massive building to be uses as a warehouse, as well as for customary accessory uses to the warehouse use.
In May 2012, the town building department issued a use permit to John King for “agrucultural sic processing and warehouse.”
Upon the petition of a neighbor challenging the building permit, the ZBA ruled that cutting, washing, processing and packaging produce was a customary accessory use to the warehouse use, and upheld the building department permit.
In March 2015, the property owner sought site plan approval from the Planning Board for the addition of a hard cider production facility and the accessory use of a tasting room on the site. The proposal sparked controversy among area residents, who worried that the ciderhouse would draw large crowds, cause road hazards and negatively affect residents’ quality of life. The Planning Board approved the site plan in December 2015, conditioning the approval on legal covenants prohibiting outdoor music and events, and requiring the premises to close at 9 p.m.
On Nov. 2, 2017, the Planning Board approved an amended site plan to legalize certain “as-built” changes on the site, including a reconfigured “grab and go” snack bar and the addition of two pizza ovens inside; the addition of a 3,186-square-foot outdoor patio area, adjacent masonry block wall and 56 parking spaces outside, as well as landscaping changes and two wall-mounted speakers for outdoor music. The property owner later withdrew his request for approval of the outdoor speakers and removed them, according to town documents.
Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard said he only recently learned of the expansions without permits at the site. The Code Enforcement Division never received a complaint on any non-permitted construction, Howard said.
Howard said he expects the Code Enforcement Division will open an investigation and anticipates “violations will be forthcoming,” he said.
“In my view, legalizing alterations after the fact does not excuse the conduct/construction in violation of Town Code or prior site plan approvals,” Howard said. “We would seek to prosecute the violations the same as we would as against a homeowner that finished/built out a basement without the benefit of a building permit.”
2023_0111_Ciderhouse-amended-site-planClick here to view/download PDF.
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