A draft vision statement for Riverhead Town, describing “where the town is and where the town wants to be,” envisions “a vibrant and sustainable community that balances economic growth, environmental stewardship, and quality of life for all residents.”
The vision statement, described by the town’s planning consultants as “aspirational,” forms the foundation for the comprehensive plan update document, chapter by chapter.
The overall vision includes a thriving downtown, continued support for farming and agriculture, improved economic opportunities for residents, and minimizing the adverse “impacts of expanding tourism and economic development to ensure … that the community remains enjoyable for both residents and visitors.”
The statement outlines the focus of the eight chapters comprising the substance of the planning document, titled: housing; economic development; transportation and mobility; community facilities, parks, and recreation; natural resources and agricultural lands; infrastructure and utilities scenic and historic resources; and sustainability and resilience.
BFJ Planning, the consulting firm hired to write Riverhead’s comp plan update, presented the draft vision statement to the Town Board at last week’s work session, when they also reviewed their work on since they last met with the full board in January.
The draft vision statement was provided to the board in advance of the meeting, where the consultants sought board members’ feedback, said BFJ’s lead planner on the Riverhead project, Noah Levine.
Board members did not discuss the substance of the vision statement during the work session.
In interviews this week, a majority of board members, including the two members who are liaisons to the comp plan steering committee, acknowledged they had not yet read the six-page document.
The steering committee liaisons, council members Tim Hubbard and Bob Kern, said in separate interviews they have not yet read the document, though Kern said he’s “perused” it but has not looked at it closely. “So far what I see is good,” Kern said.
Both Hubbard and Kern said they think BFJ is doing a good job.
Council Member Ken Rothwell also said he has not yet read the vision statement and would get back to a reporter once he had.
Supervisor Yvette Aguiar, who is a member of the steering committee, and Council Member Frank Beyrodt did not return calls seeking comment about the vision statement.
Read the draft vision statement here:
Levine also updated the board on the work the firm has completed so far.
Representatives have met several times with the comp plan steering committee, as well as with focus groups made up of community stakeholders. Videos of those meetings are available on the comprehensive plan update website.
The firm has also developed a summary of public outreach and planning work previously completed by consultants and town staff, including the work done by AKRF— the planning firm initially hired to update the comp plan but fired last summer, the work of Urban Design Associates, which developed the downtown pattern book and worked on the town square design, documents produced by traffic consultants LKMA, the Downtown Riverhead Activation Plan, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) application, the Transit-Oriented Development Plan, downtown parking studies, and the Peconic River/Route 25 and Wading River/Route 25A corridor studies.
“We tried to kind of just pull everything from everywhere into one place,” Levine told the board.
“So it’s kind of a good starting point for us,” he said. “We encourage you to read all that if we’ve expressed anything inaccurately it would be good to know.”
BFJ has also asked town advisory committees to respond to a questionnaire about the issues they believe should be tackled by the plan; the responses are posted on the website. BFJ has also distributed a questionnaire to civic organizations and will meet with them for their input, Levine said.
BFJ will write the draft chapters of the comprehensive plan over the next two months. “[W]e’re going to put them in a place where the [steering] committee and department heads and so on [can] review them for accuracy and to make sure that we’re going in the right direction,” he said.
The comprehensive plan will include a “general cleanup” of the zoning identified by town officials, according to Levine. This includes “improving” the zoning of downtown Riverhead, and looking at industrial zoning and Route 58. There would be a “few tweaks” to residential zoning, and the town’s transfer of development rights program — a long standing priority for farmers and advocates of preservation — will also be revised.
Certain zoning use districts in the town don’t work as intended, Levine said. He mentioned the Commercial/Residential Campus district, which is meant to support higher density residential development, as an example; the zoning itself is written so that only single-family dwellings can be built, Levine said.
The town is also looking to improve the Peconic River Corridor zoning district, which includes West Main Street west from Griffing Avenue to Mill Road.
The consultant is also “looking at ways to just kind of make sure the zoning is responsive to what’s already there,” Levine said, using marinas located in nonconforming zoning districts as an example.
New laws surrounding short-term rentals and accessory dwelling units are also being discussed.
BFJ representatives asked the Town Board to begin the plan’s environmental review process under the State Environmental Quality and Review Act, which the town did on Tuesday during its regular meeting. BFJ Principal Sarah Yackel said a generic environmental impact statement, or GEIS for short, is needed for the review of the plan. New zoning or amendments to the town code adopted after the comprehensive plan will be follow up actions.
The consultants will continue meeting with the comprehensive plan steering committee. “We’re hopeful that we can have a joint meeting in September, with the town council and with the steering committee, so we can have kind of a group discussion about some of the land use concepts,” Levine said.
The town will host another town-wide public-input event at the Suffolk Theater in the fall, Levine said, although a date is not set.
Rothwell asked whether BFJ could host a comprehensive plan meeting on the west side of town so residents in hamlets like Wading River can express their thoughts for the plan. Most meetings have been through online video chat, Levine said. BFJ is amenable to having the next public outreach meeting elsewhere, but considered the Suffolk Theater a “central location” that could accommodate many people.
Correction: The caption in the photo has been amended to correct a misidentification of Ray DiBiase of LKMA.
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