The hearing on a proposed law to allow resorts on land north of Sound Avenue in Riverhead Town has been canceled “in response to the unusually high volume of opposition and commentary received” on the topic by Town Board members, Supervisor Tim Hubbard said this morning.
The supervisor said the board is not abandoning the idea of adopting the legislation, known as Agritourism Inn and Resort zoning. Hubbard said the town will hold a public forum on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, where residents are invited to come discuss the legislation with town officials.
The announcement comes after a local civic group launched a letter writing and petition campaign this week against the legislation. A public hearing on the legislation was scheduled for Tuesday’s Town Board meeting.
“Supervisor Hubbard and the entire town board have agreed it would be beneficial and productive to host the public forum on the subject, rather than simply add the topic to an upcoming work session wherein members of the public cannot engage freely with town board members and/or planning staff,” Hubbard said at this morning’s work session, reading a statement. “The forum format is intended to foster dialogue so that all sides of the issue can be freely discussed.“
Hubbard said some of the emails, calls and texts board members have received about the legislation “reflect a misunderstanding of the intent and or extent of the proposed change.”
“There will be a forum where the public, the farmers, everybody, can come and learn about it and also ask questions about it, because there does seem to be a lot of misunderstanding out there about it,” Hubbard said. “Some of the letters that have come in are not accurate. Most of them are [accurate], but there are some things that have kind of gotten twisted a little bit.”
Council Member Ken Rothwell, an advocate for the legislation, said the board is willing to make changes to the code based on the public’s feedback. “We’re willing to make adjustments, take all considerations and all points of view,” he said. “And if we can come to some type of compromise and something works, we can move forward. If not, it is what it is.”
“We’re also willing to hear from the public and the farmers, or anybody who wants to, if you have ideas on preserving the farmland. [If] you have thoughts or ideas how you think it can be done, we want to hear that,” Hubbard said. “The purpose of this really was developed to preserve more farmland.”
The Greater Jamesport Civic Association this week launched a Change.org petition and web page titled “Save Sound Avenue” to urge residents to attend the public hearing and oppose the proposed code. At the time of this article’s publication, the petition has more than 800 signatures.
MORE COVERAGE: Civic group launches petition against resort uses on land along Long Island Sound
This is the second time a public hearing on the agri-tourism inn and resort law has been canceled. A public hearing on a draft of the legislation in February was canceled after disagreements with some local farmers.
The proposed zoning code would allow the construction of resort hotels with up to 150 rooms in the RA-80 zoning district, which takes in most of the land north of Sound Avenue from Baiting Hollow to the Southold Town line. Development under the code would require a special permit from the Town Board.
The resort hotel uses would be allowed only on tracts of land (one or more parcels) of 100 acres of land or more; at least 70% of that land would have to be preserved for agricultural uses, while the other acreage could be built as a resort with a spa, restaurant, conference rooms and other amenities. The proposed code would allow up to 300,000 square feet of structures on the agricultural land, which could include greenhouses, barns, farming structures and agricultural worker housing. The code includes a 35-foot height limit for all buildings, agricultural and non-agricultural.
Town officials have argued in favor of the legislation as both a farmland preservation and economic development tool. The RA-80 zoning district currently allows the development of one dwelling unit per roughly two acres of land, as well as limited commercial uses such as agricultural production.
Alfred Weissman Real Estate, a Westchester based development firm, is interested in building a resort on a 105-acre tract of land between Sound Avenue and the Long Island Sound, located adjacent to the Willow Ponds condo complex. Early drafts of the code were created with the input of Weissman’s attorney and planning consultants, according to emails obtained by RiverheadLOCAL earlier this year.
Town officials said that the developer did not have input on recent drafts of the code.
Weissman had featured the proposed North Fork Resort, a “luxury resort and spa” on the Long Island Sound, in the “new development” section of its website last summer. The proposal came to light through an examination of the campaign finance disclosure statements last year. The firm, a company associated with the firm, and one of the firm’s executives have made contributions to Supervisor Tim Hubbard’s and Council Member Ken Rothwell’s campaigns.
For complete coverage of this subject visit the Sound-front resorts topic page.
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