Town Board members see owner-occupied condominiums and more five-story mixed-use buildings in downtown Riverhead’s future.
Board members said on Thursday that they would like to see condos exempted from the current town law that prohibits town officials from issuing certificates of occupancy for dwelling units in mixed-use buildings along Main Street in the core downtown area, if the number of units exceed 500.
The most recent draft of the town’s updated comprehensive plan recommends evaluating an increase to the 500 unit cap, which has been “essentially reached,” and says the town anticipates even more development in the downtown area.
“The greatest density and housing growth has been focused, appropriately, in the downtown,” the plan says. “In the next five years, a wave of new development is anticipated in this area, which is anticipated to exhaust the 500-unit cap on residential in the DC-1 district.”
Town Board members were also opposed to reducing the maximum building height in the downtown area from five stories/60 feet to four-stories/50 feet, with a 45-degree step back on the fourth floor. That was a key recommendation of the pattern book, a planning document for downtown the draft comprehensive plan had called to implement into the town’s zoning law. Although the pattern book was adopted by the Town Board in January 2021, a proposal to codify the document’s recommendations was rejected after developers voiced objections.
Town Board members discussed the sections in the draft plan with town staff at Thursday’s work session after several residents voiced their thoughts during a public hearing about possibly removing the 500 dwelling unit cap. Town planners said it was not the intent of the plan to recommend lifting the cap.
“No, I think the intent, at least from my perspective, was we let the 500 [unit] build out occur and then we reevaluate after that,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said. “Because 500 may be it. Maybe it won’t be. But to limit it one way or the other right now, I think it’s premature. And I think if we let the 500 happen and then we take a look at it, we have a better idea of how the 500 actually impacted everything downtown, and whether or not we need more or we’re just fine where we’re at.”
Town officials noted that if every development currently being planned is approved, dwelling units would exceed the cap.
Town law does not distinguish between an apartment or a condominium when it discusses a dwelling unit. All of the mixed-use residential development downtown has so far been apartments that are either market rate or subsidized based on the renter’s income.
“When we talk about the cap — that’s rentals. We did talk about condos that could go over that 500, because that would be homeownership,” Council Member Bob Kern said. He’s referring to the draft plan recommendation that says developers can redeem farmland preservation credits in the downtown area to exceed the cap “but only for homeownership developments,” as well as “age-restricted living.”
“I appreciate that, but I think part of the thinking and the conversations was the fact it’s a lot less expensive to gain equity by buying a condo than it is renting and having no equity,” Kern said. “And I know that that’s what was part of the conversation, so I would like to continue that part of the conversation.”
Other Town Board members agreed that developers that build owner-occupied condos should be exempted from cap.
“I don’t think the condo should be considered within that 500 count,” Council Member Ken Rothwell said. He said a condo is a “stepping stone to home ownership” for the younger generation.
Council Member Denise Merrifield agreed. She raised whether existing buildings that are converted into dwelling units would be exempted from the cap. That is also a recommendation of the draft plan.
“I think in general concept…the fear of the overabundance of apartments downtown was that we don’t have currently, as of right now as we speak, we don’t have the necessary infrastructure — we need the parking, really,” Rothwell said. “But granted, we’ve just received a $24 million grant when we put a parking garage into place and we upgrade things downstairs downtown, we’re building the infrastructure that’s probably needed to support these apartments and condominium units.”
Bergman said that whether a condo or an apartment is built, it is still a dwelling unit and the impact on the town’s infrastructure, as well as the Riverhead Central School District, is the same. Bergman said dwelling units in the area also contribute to the town’s goals for Main Street, which is to revitalize the area to be an economic driver with foot traffic.
Noah Levine of BFJ Planning, the town’s planning consultants, said that although there was some resistance from the public to the possibility of exceeding the cap, previous planning studies on downtown recommended increasing residential options in the area.
Riverhead Senior Planner Matt Charters said the board should decide whether it wants to reassess the cap before or after development hits 500 dwelling units. Kern said the cap should be reassessed before everything is built. “We’re good at waiting years and years and years and getting nowhere,” Kern said.
Rothwell said Riverhead Town has “more of its share” of affordable housing on the East End. He asked how the town can ensure new housing is market rate. “Because that’s what’s needed,” he said. “We need people with the ability to spend money downtown, to visit those restaurants, that go to those stores and those shops and to spend money downtown.”
Hubbard said all of the incoming apartment buildings in downtown Riverhead are being built as market rate apartments.
The Town Board decided to reassess the 500 unit cap on a yearly basis.
The 500-unit cap applies only to the Downtown Center-1 zoning district, which governs most of East Main Street and West Main Street in the core downtown business district. More than 500 apartments have either been constructed or proposed within the Downtown Center-1 zoning district; There are currently 268 apartments downtown and another 202 apartments have site plan approvals. A 45 unit apartment building is still in the site plan review stage.
The possibility of removing the 500-dwelling unit cap received pushback from civic leaders during the public hearing for the draft comprehensive plan. “According to the comp plan, based on completed and approved projects, the cap has effectively been reached,” Cindy Clifford, president of the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association said during the hearing. “So additional apartments are unlikely unless this restriction has changed.”
“Osborn Avenue, Vue and TOD buildings will add another 413 units when they’re done, for a total of 929 apartments in our downtown area — nearly doubling the cap,” Clifford said. “We wonder if this comp plan addresses how much growth we want or need or will permit. And where is the benefit for residents in adding all these apartments, especially if the [Industrial Development Agency] continues to grant tax abatements on additional buildings?”
The 500-unit cap does not apply to areas surrounding the Long Island Rail Road Station, which is governed by an overlay district that allows five-story mixed-use buildings. More than 400 apartments are proposed in that area.
The topic of the pattern book was raised later in the discussion by Merrifield, who pointed out that codifying the pattern book’s recommendations would put buildings downtown out of compliance with the town code. “I don’t think that’s what we want to do,” she said.
Kern agreed. “It limits us,” he said. “If somebody wants a fifth story and they’re going to buy TDRs to get it, get it.”
Bergman said the most recent mixed-use projects on East Main Street have been incorporating the pattern book, which, in addition to recommending the reduction of height, recommends the architectural design of new development in the area.
“Maybe take out the words ‘codify’ and say it should be utilized as a tool,” Rothwell said. Board members agreed.
Board members got a little push back from town staff.
“Some of the elements, I think the Town Board would want to have for their downtown,” Deputy Town Attorney Annemarie Prudenti said. “The massing, the height of the first floor, the design of the windows — that’s a lot of things I think you would want.”
Prudenti said the Town Board “always gave the indication” that it was willing to allow five-story buildings, if the fifth story is stepped back.
Planning staff said certain elements of the pattern book could be codified. Rothwell pushed back, insisting the recommendation be that the town use it as a “guiding document.” Charters said not codifying the pattern book makes it “almost useless;” codifying the guidelines make them enforceable.
“If it’s a recommendation we’ve adopted, how do we hold people to that?” Charters said.
The pattern book also proposes developers be able to build on 100% of the lot, rather than the current 80%, because it maintains “approximately the same permitted developable square footage” downtown. Board members said they are opposed to 100% lot coverage.
Several speakers at the hearing on the draft comprehensive plan applauded the recommendation to codify the pattern book.
The pattern book was commissioned by the Town Board at the request of the Downtown Revitalization Committee. The town awarded a $175,000 contract to the planning firm Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh to develop the document in August 2019. The firm held various public input sessions and conducted surveys. The document was unanimously adopted by the Town Board in January 2021.
The Town Board held a hearing in May 2022 to make the pattern book’s recommendations law in the Downtown Center-1 zoning district, but board members halted the code’s passage after the town’s Business Advisory Committee, whose members include influential members of the business and development community, objected to parts of the legislation. The Business Advisory Committee was tasked to meet with members of the Downtown Revitalization Committee to compromise on a new code, but that would never happen.
Roughly a year later, in March 2023, the Business Advisory Committee came before the Town Board to present its recommendations for the new downtown development code. Town officials said they were not ready to set aside major recommendations of the document and postponed the substance of the conversation to a late date. The code hasn’t been discussed with the board since, but became a recommendation in the updated comprehensive plan.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
