New meeting rules approved, Scott’s Pointe clears environmental review hurdle: March 4 Town Board wrap-up

The Riverhead Town Board adopted new meeting rules Tuesday to reduce the time speakers have to comment on resolutions concerning the town, and ban the use of signs in the meeting room. 

Comments on resolutions and open comments on any topic will be limited to three minutes, rather than the current five minutes. Changes to the meeting rules were first discussed in January, but were amended last month to continue to allow people to speak through Zoom or another teleconferencing app — a benefit the board had considered removing. 

The board unanimously approved the resolution adopting the new meeting rules 4-0, with Supervisor Tim Hubbard absent, after hearing objections from several residents. The Town Board’s rules were last amended in 2019.

MORE COVERAGE: Vote on Town Board meeting rules expected Tuesday, with changes to initial proposal

The new meeting rules also ban “signs, signboards, posters, banners and the like,” and the distribution of flyers in the meeting room, because they can “distract, disrupt and/or obstruct viewing of the meeting.”

Cindy Clifford, president of the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association, urged the board before its vote to allow residents to keep bringing signs. She said people often have a fear of speaking publicly at the podium. 

“Holding up a sign is how they’ll know that you see where they stand and what they want or don’t want. That’s something sending a letter won’t accomplish,” Clifford said. “Prohibiting residents from holding up a sign robs them of being able to continue to contribute their opinions, to give input into any of the issues discussed or decisions about to be made, thereby limiting their participation in our local government.” 

“It’s worth noting that only the really big issues bring out that level of opposition — EPCAL, warehouses.” Clifford added. “A Heart of Riverhead Civic survey showed an overwhelming support for the right to use signs in Town Board meetings. The note was that out of concern for them not blocking views, you could simply require that signs be limited to the back of the room.”

John McAuliff of Riverhead said the board prohibiting signs doesn’t have to do with disrupting the meeting, but about “visual politics” and limiting the impact of opposition to particular board actions. People usually don’t bring large signs that block views to board meetings, he noted. 

“When you’re trying to push something through — and oftentimes you’ve generated this opposition that’s shown up in signs when you’re trying to push something through — the last thing you want to have is an article in the News-Review or RiverheadLOCAL which has, as the graphic of that article, a bunch of people from Riverhead with signs up, because that’s the most interesting new visual of a particular board meeting,” he said.

“This is our tax money that is often being decided upon. I think the people of Riverhead have a right to be heard,” McAuliff said. “I don’t think people that live outside of Riverhead have any right to be heard by the board.” 

Council Member Ken Rothwell pushed back on McAuliff’s suggestion to only allow town residents to speak. “I disagree [because of] the simple fact [that] there are projects close to border lines that affect people to our left and to our right, and that they need to be heard on different projects. And they have a right to come to speak. That’s what free speech is all about.”

Those who protested the new meeting rules argued that the board is against free speech. The New York State Open Meetings Law does not require the board to provide an opportunity for public comment on resolutions or on any matter during public meetings. Town Attorney Erik Howard noted that prohibiting signs at meetings was ruled  constitutional by the court system and that boards have “the ability to implement rules at their meetings, provided those rules are reasonable and content neutral,” he said.

Scott’s Pointe site plan overcomes environmental review hurdle

The effort to legalize an already-built go-kart track and other amenities at Scott’s Pointe amusement park in Calverton took a big step forward this week when the Town Board ruled that the project would not require a detailed environmental review. 

Instead, the Town Board’s resolution imposes six “enforceable conditions” on the revised site plan application, aimed at mitigating potential environmental impacts — an action known as a “conditional negative declaration” under state environmental review law. Residents, civic organizations and environmental advocates had asked the board to require an environmental impact statement for the project which would have assessed alternatives and identified ways to avoid or reduce adverse environmental impacts.

MORE COVERAGE: Town Board resolution: No additional environmental review for Scott’s Pointe as-built features, including race track

The conditions for the board’s negative declaration mainly seek to protect the groundwater-fed pond on the site, according to the resolution. The conditions include:

• an amended grading and drainage plan showing that stormwater runoff will be prevented from entering the pond;  
• a requirement that use of the track be limited to go-karts; 
• the identification of a fuel storage area, with spill prevention measures and an on-site spill response kit required; 
• continued groundwater monitoring as required by an agreement recorded with the county clerk in October 2024 (a condition of the site’s prior revised site plan approval); 
• a determination by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding wetlands on site, as required by a recent revision to state wetlands regulations; and
• approval by the Suffolk County health department wastewater management division.

Island Water Park Corp., owner and operator of Scott’s Pointe, is seeking approval of an amended site plan to legalize a 113,470-square-foot paved racetrack and a 13,000-square-foot asphalt pickleball court area, and to convert a 3,500-square-foot storage room on the second floor of its building to an assembly area that the company wants to use as a 250-seat catering facility. All of the uses Island Water Park wants to legalize are allowed uses in the Planned Recreational Park zoning district, in which the site is located.

The board voted 3-1 to issue the conditional negative declaration, with Council Member Denise Merrifield dissenting and Supervisor Tim Hubbard absent.

Merrifield previously voted against other resolutions concerning the amended site application, as well as the Jan. 7 settlement of the lawsuit brought by the town against Island Water Park for its violations of the Town Code. The company promised in the settlement to pay $50,000 in exchange for the town’s promise to process its application to legalize the amenities.

“I think an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Merrifield said. 

Merrifield also cited the arguments presented by Barbara Blass of Jamesport, a former town council and planning board member, as the reason for her decision. Blass said before the board took its vote that its actions so far on the site plan amendment have run afoul of state environmental review law.

“I acknowledge that there are times that we’re not necessarily on the same page, but in this case, I dare say we are not even reading the same book,” Blass said.

She said the board should table the resolution until Island Water Park submits its required applications to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services and the state Department of Environmental Conservation. 

Blass argued that the board’s actions on the site plan amendment run afoul of state environmental review law in several ways. 

“Actions speak louder than words, you have consistently said this man abuses the rules and regulations, and today you’re about to vote and give him permission to continue to do so,” Claudette Bianco of Baiting Hollow told the board before its vote. “Personally, I disagree. I think he should be held to account. He’s done it repeatedly. He doesn’t care about the rules and regulations, and now you’ve given him carte blanche to continue to do so.”

Clifford asked how the board “will count on the management to follow through with the enforceable conditions they’re reportedly agreeing to and what will you do the next time, given their record for stating the rules now and asking for forgiveness later?” 

“Yours is not the responsibility to secure financial stability for a business, but to secure safety and protocols and compliance within the town,” Clifford said. Town officials did not respond to her question.

In other action at the March 4 meeting, the Town Board:

• Ratified the authorization of an agreement between the Town of Riverhead and the Riverhead Police Benevolent Association, the union representing police officers and detectives employed with the town’s police department, for the contract period from Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2026. 
• Ratified the rescinding of two Town board resolutions. The first resolution, passed in February 2022, designated RXR and Georgica Green Ventures the joint master developers of the projects. The second resolution, passed in October 2022 following a public hearing, deemed the developers “qualified and eligible” under state Urban Renewal Law to build the projects and authorized an agreement with the master developers. Read more here.
• Held public hearings on a law to allow commercial solar facilities and battery energy storage systems in the Light Industrial and Calverton Industrial zoning districts, The amendments were proposed by planning staff after the board rezoned all industrial land in the town to one of those two zoning districts. Those changes came out of the comprehensive plan update.
• Held a public hearing on a law to increase the fees for the excavation, exportation or importation of materials for development to $3 per cubic feet, from $2 per cubic feet.
• Held a public hearing on a law to allow governmental authorities and related entities to erect electronic signs at municipal buildings with the permission of the Town Board.
• Held a public hearing on a law to allow developers with preliminary site plan approval to apply for up to two six-month long extensions to their approval. Developers can currently apply for just one six-month long extension.
• Adopted a budget adjustment for the emergency access road between Veterans Memorial Park and Scott’s Point. The town has received $70,183 to pay for the road from Island Water Park Corp, the owner of Scott’s Pointe, the resolution says.
• Adopted a budget adjustment for a capital project for the construction of a new water treatment building and new treatment system at the Riverhead Water District’s plant on Middle Road. The board is establishing the budget adjustment in anticipation of a state grant, the resolution says.
• Reappointed Diane Burke, Connie Lassandro, Lee Mendelson, and Monique Parsons to one year terms on the Riverhead Business Advisory Committee that expire at the end of the year. The board also appointed Dean Del Prete as a new member of the committee and designated Parsons the committee’s chairperson.
• Appointed Ken Zilnicki to a two-year term on the Riverhead Farmland Preservation Committee.
• Ratified the authorization to purchase and install new CalRes 2109, a filtering media, for the Riverhead Water District’s Calgon water treatment system at a total cost of $186,000.
• Approved a special event application for St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church to host a car show on May 24 at the church’s parking lot on Pond View Road.
• Approved a special event application for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to conduct a bike tour on May 31 called the CF Cycle for Life, with a 15 mile route through Aquebogue and Jamesport.
• Awarded a request for qualifications for engineering services during the construction of the Riverhead Sewer District’s Class A Biosolids upgrade project to H2M Architects and Engineers. 
• Authorized the town’s community development department to submit a grant application to the Code Enforcement Officer Safety Foundation for 10 body armor vests for the town’s Code Enforcement Department and Fire Marshal’s Office.