Owner of site next to Taco Bell gains Planning Board OK for office building

The owner of a tiny parcel on the northeast corner of Route 58 and Harrison Avenue finally has approval to develop it with a commercial building.

Guddha LLC has been trying to get Planning Board approval to develop the triangle-shaped lot, just shy of a third of an acre in size, for more than a decade. The company had been pursuing development of the site with a two-story restaurant, but plans were twice rejected by the Planning Board, though the Zoning Board of Appeals granted variances that would have allowed development of a restaurant there in July 2013. A Planning Board majority deemed the proposed development too intense for the size and location of the property.

Company principal Chuck Chocaklingam of Westhampton Beach revised his plans to seek approval of a one-story office building instead of a restaurant.

The Planning Board on Thursday granted final site plan approval for the construction of a 1,359-square-foot office building with on-site parking on the 13,617-square-foot vacant parcel.

In other action Thursday, the Planning Board:

• Granted preliminary approval to a site plan application seeking to redevelop an existing commercial site at 940-946 W. Main Street, with two new buildings: a three-story, 110,400-square-foot  self-storage building, and a a one-story 33,040-square-foot  wholesale business with basement, along with related improvements including parking, paving, drainage, access, and landscaping. The site plan application also seeks approval for the demolition of all existing structures on site. The application has been amended to eliminate the need for any variances from the dimensional regulations of the PRC zoning use district in which it is located. The Zoning Board of Appeals in March denied the developer’s application for those variances.

• Classified as a Type II action pursuant to SEQRA and scheduled a public hearing on a minor subdivision application for a 3.3-acre parcel of land at 506 Sound Shore Road,to create two residential lots. One will be 71,016.5 square feet and is improved with a one-story single family residence and accessory structures. The other lot will be 72,016.5 square feet and is currently vacant land. The property is in the Residence A-40 zoning use district. The public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 18 at 3 p.m.

• Classified as Type II actions pursuant to SEQRA and scheduled public hearings on two minor subdivisions of more than 92 acres of farmland on the east side of Roanoke Avenue in Riverhead, north of Joyce Drive, owned and farmed by members of the Anderson family, who have an agreement with Suffolk County to sell the development rights to the county on roughly 85 acres. The subdivisions would create two four-acre lots that could each be developed with a single-family residence. The public hearings are scheduled for Sept. 18 at 3 p.m.