County eyes preservation of Venezia Square site in Wading River, as Riverhead Town continues review of shopping center plan

While the Riverhead Planning Board continues its review of the site plan application for a 37,000-square-foot commercial development on Route 25A in Wading River, Suffolk County is considering preserving the site as open space.

The long-planned development known as Venezia Square was the subject of a public hearing before the Planning Board on Aug. 7. Dean Gandley, an aide to Legis. Catherine Stark (R-Riverhead), told the Planning Board that the property owner may receive an offer on the property “as early as this fall.”

Two days earlier, the County Legislature authorized an appraisal of the five parcels comprising the Venezia Square site located on the south side of Route 25A, approximately 790 feet west of the intersection of 25A and Wading River-Manor Road, between May’s Farm and Alexander Rothwell Funeral Home.

“Given that preservation is an option, it seems better for all parties that the land be preserved,” Gandley said, reading a letter from Stark. “It protects the interests of the neighboring landowners, some of whom have expressed a desire to see it get preserved and the current Venezia property land owner could be made whole by selling the land to the county.”

The area of the site totals 6.34 acres, located within the Business CR (“Rural Neighborhood Business”) zoning district, which was adopted in 2004, pursuant to the 2003 Comprehensive Plan update. Retail stores, restaurants and banks are allowed uses as of right in the Business CR zoning district.

The site plan was originally submitted in 2008, but has been substantially revised since, in part to conform to code changes resulting from the 2012 Wading River Corridor Study, including a maximum building size of 10,000 square feet.

The Venezia Square proposal, like other shopping center plans for the 25A corridor in Wading River, has met with community opposition since it was first unveiled.

During Thursday’s Planning Board hearing, several residents voiced support for preserving the property.

Sid Bail, president of the Wading River Civic Association, said county acquisition “would be an ideal situation for the community — to preserve the rural character of the community — and it would resolve some of the traffic issues that some of us who live in Wading River are very concerned about.”

But a planning consultant for the Venezia Square developer said the potential for county acquisition and preservation, should not be a consideration in the Planning Board’s review of the site plan.

The property owner received an “unsolicited letter seeking to move forward with a potential acquisition process,” Charles Voorhis of Nelson Pope Voorhis told the Planning Board.

“As you know, it’s a willing buyer, willing seller situation,” Voorhis said, referring to the county acquisition process, reminding the board that any acquisition must be under a negotiated agreement between the county and the property owner. Voorhis said his client will consider the county’s offer “as that process moves forward,” adding, “It shouldn’t really be part of the site plan process, as you know.”

The Venezia Square site plan proposes a campus-style shopping center, which would include:

• Two 1,500-square-foot, 16-seat take out restaurants
• One 3,000-square-foot, 76-seat restaurant. 
• One 4,000-square-foot bank building.
• Two 10,000-square-foot retail stores. 
• One 7,000-square-foot retail store.
• 171 parking stalls 

The site plan proposes roughly 36% of the property to remain vegetated and undisturbed.

The development would require a new traffic light at the intersection of Route 25A and Dogwood Drive, allowing plaza visitors to exit west on Route 25A and north on Dogwood Drive. Potential traffic impacts from the development and the addition of a traffic light on a stretch of Route 25A that already suffers traffic backups has been a prime concern of area residents. The Planning Board retained Louis K. McLean Associates to conduct a traffic impact analysis for the proposed development.

Also during its Aug. 7 meeting, the Planning Board:

• Held a public hearing on the site plan application of an expansion of BJ’s wholesale club, and the addition of a 16-vehicle gas station there. Christopher Kent of Farrell Friz, the attorney for the project, said the new gas station will attract club members who frequent the off-site BJs gas station on the corner of Ostrander Avenue and Route 58, and reduce traffic there.
• Held a public hearing on the site plan application to redevelop 940-946 West Main Street with a three-story, 110,400 square foot self-storage building and a one-story 33,040 square foot wholesale business with a basement, along with related site improvements. Owner Fisher Realty had originally proposed a plan that required three substantial variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals and developed the site with 200,000 square feet, but withdrew that plan.
• Granted administrative site plan approval to the Planet Nugg cannabis dispensary at 720 Main Road in Aquebogue, across the street from Woodside Orchards. With the approval, the dispensary would be exempt from the one-year moratorium the Town Board is pursuing on the construction of new cannabis shops.
• Adopted a resolution classifying the site plan application of Bolla 1575 OCR Car Wash as a Type II Action Pursuant to the State Environmental Quality and Review Act. The application seeks to demolish an existing 650 square foot self-service car wash building and construct a new 2,700 square foot self-service car wash tunnel, locate eight new vehicle service stalls with vacuum stations proximate to the proposed car wash tunnel, relocate an existing fuel pump station, and reconfigure the parking lot.
• Held a public hearing on a minor subdivision application that seeks to subdivide an existing vacant 9.576 acre parcel of land at 1161 Peconic Bay Boulevard in South Jamesport and create four new residential building lots.

Denise Civiletti contributed to this story.