Long-vacant commercial site slated for improvement: Planning Board wrap-up

The Riverhead Planning Board last week granted administrative approval for a site plan application for parking and site access improvements at the site of a long-vacant commercial building on Route 58, opposite the Target shopping center.

Applicant Bargain Moulding of Bohemia plans to use the 3.6-acre site, currently improved with a one-story, 8,976-square-foot commercial building as a retail showroom for its products consisting of windows, doors and moldings.

The site was previously occupied by Maximum Motorsports and before that by Sargent’s Recreational Center.

Also at last week’s meeting, the Planning Board granted preliminary site plan approval, with conditions, to the Atrium Café, a proposed 2,382-square-foot restaurant with 34 indoor seats and eight outdoor seats at 206 Edgar Avenue in Aquebogue. The site is located opposite Aquebogue Elementary School.

The board also scheduled an April 3 public hearing on the site plan application of Daniel Cox to convert a single-family dwelling at 5284

Route 25A in Wading River into a place of worship and to add a 3,600-plot church cemetery on the approximately five-acre site. The board also adopted a resolution classifying the action as an unlisted action pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act and issued a negative declaration, meaning the project will not require additional environmental review. The public hearing is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on April 3 at Riverhead Town Hall.

At Thursday’s meeting, the board discussed a proposed residential subdivision of approximately 30 acres on Peconic Bay Boulevard in Aquebogue that would create 19 separate lots for single-family residences. The board at its last meeting approved a yield map showing that the property can yield the 19 separate lots. The developer presented a sketch plan map Thursday that Planning Board members criticized the layout of, expressing safety concerns about access from four of the lots onto Peconic Bay Boulevard. 

The builder, Vincent Calvosa, said the layout of the subdivision was designed to maximize open space and prime agricultural soils conservation. He said the proposed access locations on Peconic Bay Boulevard meet or exceed all applicable safety standards established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

The Planning Board is waiting for comments on the sketch plan from its engineer, Vincent Guadiello of The Raynor Group and will discuss the application further at a future meeting after those comments are received. 

The board also discussed the application of Guddha LLC which seeks approval to construct a 1,496-square-foot  medical office building with on-site parking and other related site improvements on a 13,617-square-foot parcel of vacant land at 365 Harrison Avenue, on the northeast corner of Route 58. 

The proposed building and site layout would require variances from the minimum setback from the property line required by the zoning ordinance from the minimum buffer. The plan proposes a setback of five feet from the property line with the adjoining Taco Bell site, where the code requires 25 feet, and a buffer of 25 feet instead of the required 35 feet from Route 58. The applicant will apply to the Zoning Board of Appeals for variances and, if successful there, will return to the Planning Board for site plan approval.