Proposed code revision would ban cargo, passenger flights and flight training and some other aviation uses at Calverton

A proposed amendment to the Planned Development District, the zoning that applies to the vacant land outside of the “industrial core” portion of the Calverton Enterprise Park, would expressly ban use of the site’s two runways for a “commercial passenger airport or a cargo airport.”

The amendment would also ban flight instruction, flight training, aircraft rental and aeronautical services, except for fueling, hangaring, tie-down, parking and maintenance “ancillary” to a permitted principal use.

It would also prohibit registration or licensing of any portion of the property with any federal, state or local government entity or agency thereof, or the listing of the property on aviation charts or maps for any of the uses prohibited by the proposed amendment.

All new owners, lessees or applicants will be required to file covenants restricting the use of property in the PD district consistent with the terms of the amended code.

Read the proposed code amendment here.

The Town of Riverhead Community Development Agency owns the two runways and taxiways at the enterprise park, a site previously owned by the U.S. Navy and leased to Northrop Grumman, a defense contractor that assembled and tested fighter jets at the site between 1956 and 1996.

The town sold the 493-acre “industrial core” — an area that was already mostly developed with buildings, hangars and infrastructure but excluding the two runways — to developer Lazarus-Burman for $17 million in 2001. The developer completed a land subdivision and sold lots, many already improved with buildings, to individual businesses.

The town retained ownership and control of the site’s two runways — 10,000 linear feet and 7,000 linear feet respectively.

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Between 2001 and 2017, the town entertained many offers for the remaining 2,100 acres of vacant land it still owned “inside the fence” at the enterprise park. It adopted a new zoning district to govern development of the vacant land, focusing on recreational and entertainment uses, and even entered into a contract to sell 755 acres for $155 million to a joint venture called Riverhead Resorts, a deal that imploded after several years in 2010.

After that deal fell through, the town prepared a new land use plan for the vacant acreage, adopted new industrial zoning and was pursuing a 50-lot industrial subdivision of roughly 600 acres.

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The town abandoned that pursuit in 2017, before the subdivision was completed, for a new suitor in the person of Daniel Preston, owner of startup Luminati Aerospace. The town in 2017 signed a letter of intent to sell nearly all of its remaining vacant land to Luminati Aerospace for $40 million. The Town Board in December 2017 approved a contract with Luminati Aerospace and Triple Five. Under that contract, signed in 2018, the town agreed to sell 1,644 acres of the vacant land surrounding the industrial core, including both runways to a new entity formed by Triple Five and Luminati called Calverton Aviation & Technology.

The Town Board terminated the contract with Calverton Aviation & Technology in October. Board members have said that selling the runways to a developer, at least without covenants to prevent aviation uses, such as air cargo or passenger flights, was a mistake.

The pending code revision seeks to protect the town from those types of uses going forward and ensure that control of the runways is not given over to an agency like the Federal Aviation Administration which could supersede the town’s local zoning and land use regulations.

A public hearing on that code amendment is scheduled for Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. at Riverhead Town Hall, 4 West Second Street, Riverhead.

Correction 12/06/23: This article has been amended to correct an error regarding what land at EPCAL is governed by the Planned Development district. The zoning applies to the district outside of the “industrial core” portion of the Calverton Enterprise Park, which is currently not developed. The article originally incorrectly stated the zoning district covered the land inside the industrial core.