Town Board majority agrees to axe agri-tourism resorts from Riverhead comp plan, supervisor says

The agri-tourism resort roller coaster ride continues. 

The agri-tourism resort use is being removed from the comprehensive plan update that’s on the Town Board’s agenda for adoption tomorrow afternoon, the town supervisor’s office announced late this afternoon.  

A Town Board majority has agreed to remove the controversial recommendation prior to the vote to make the plan final, according to the press release.

“Supervisor Hubbard and the Town Board are committed to land preservation that upholds the integrity of Riverhead’s rich agricultural heritage and soils and will continue its commitment to Land Preservation efforts,” the release said. “That said, after careful consideration of the proposed Comprehensive Plan Update, specifically the language related to Agritourism Inns & Resorts, the Town Board, by majority, has determined that those provisions should be removed from the Comprehensive Plan Update,” it said.

The announcement comes after local civic groups organized a letter writing campaign and online petition in opposition to the resorts on residentially zoned lands between Sound Avenue and the bluffs of the Long Island Sound. The draft comprehensive plan recommended allowing them “in appropriate locations” as a way to “preserve farmland and/or capture” farmland preservation credits.  

MORE COVERAGE: Agri-tourism resort hearing canceled

“I’ve been trying to work with the other board members to get them to have it removed from the comp plan. And finally today, at the [eleventh] hour, we accomplish that,” Hubbard said in a phone call late Tuesday.

The Town Board began publicly discussing legislation to allow agri-tourism resorts in November, after working with Westchester County developer Alfred Weissman Real Estate to draft the legislation. 

“As far as this goes — the agritourism resort situation — it’s, to me, gone. It’s done,” he said of the legislation. 

It’s not clear whether a Town Board majority agrees with Hubbard’s position on the future of the legislation. 

Alfred Weissman Real Estate wants to build a high-end resort and spa it dubbed the “North Fork Resort” on land east of the Willow Ponds condo complex. 

An executive from Weissman did not immediately return an email requesting comment.

A public hearing on the code to allow the resorts was canceled last month “in response to the unusually high volume of opposition and commentary received,” Hubbard said on Aug. 15. The code would have allowed 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.

“I’m very glad that they have removed it,” said Laura Jens-Smith, president of the Greater Jamesport Civic Association, which led the opposition campaign. 

“I think I speak for all of the civics when I say that we’re also very interested in being able to preserve farmland and maintain the open vistas that we have,” she said, but that land north of Sound Avenue should stay either farmland or residences. 

Local civic groups were scheduled to hold a press conference in front of Town Hall tomorrow objecting to the resort recommendation, with speakers including Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski and Group for the East End’s Conservation Advocacy Director Jenn Hartnagel.

Krupski said this afternoon he welcomed the news. “Anything they do in Riverhead affects us in Southold,” he said. “I know they’re concerned about what Southampton’s doing and how it affects them. Well, it’s the same. When they do something, it affects us,” Krupski said. 

“One thing that did concern me a lot is like, there’s two uses there — the hotel, and then there’s agriculture, and a hotel has nothing to do with field production in agriculture, or, you know, a commercial production. And they never should have coupled those two together,” he said, because they are fundamentally incompatible.

The Town Board is still scheduled to adopt the comprehensive plan at its meeting tomorrow, according to the supervisor.

Council Member Joann Waski said in a phone call Tuesday that she is against allowing agri-tourism resorts. 

“The idea is something that I really thought about, and gave a considerable amount of thought about,” Waski said. “However, it’s been pointed out [by] people within the town [that] this is not something that they want. They don’t want to entertain this idea. So as a person that has been voted in by the residents of Riverhead, I have no choice but to listen to them and say I really don’t want this at this point.”

It is not clear what other members of the board are for removing the agri-tourism recommendations. Council members Bob Kern, Ken Rothwell and Denise Merrifield did not immediately return calls requesting comment.

“You’re probably going to find a 5-0 vote tomorrow,” Hubbard said.

Waski said it wasn’t clear to her whether or not the board will go forward with the agri-tourism resort legislation or hold a public forum that was scheduled to discuss it on Sept. 18.

The zoning code that was considered by the Town Board last month would have allowed resort hotels with up to 150 rooms 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.

Joan Cear of Jamesport, who started the online petition at Change.org., said she was “glad the town board came to their senses,” but that the decision “does not resolve the other issues that Civic associations and residents raised that were not addressed in the comp plan.”