Riverhead authorizes $6.5 million in borrowing to fund renovation of old town hall for justice court

Riverhead Town is moving forward with the conversion of the former town hall to its justice court.

The Town Board this afternoon unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the issuance of $6.5 million in bonds to finance the construction of the new justice court facility.

The board plans to gut the existing building at 200 Howell Avenue, located next to the building at 210 Howell which currently houses both the town justice court and town police department headquarters.

The renovation of the former town hall will result in two courtrooms and additional office and conference room space for the busy town court, which long ago outgrew the space it occupies in the shared building, Supervisor Tim Hubbard said in an interview after today’s meeting. 

The renovated courthouse will provide a secure environment for judicial proceedings, including a secure, enclosed space for the transfer of prisoners from the police headquarters or county jail to the town courthouse, he said.

After today’s vote to authorize $6.5 million in borrowing, the supervisor said the town had not yet hired architects to draw plans for the building renovation. Instead, Hubbard said, Council Member Bob Kern was working with builder Joe Petrocelli on the new building layout, and they were consulting with state officials on the proper design and construction of a secure justice court facility.  Petrocelli has been working on the project “gratis,” Hubbard said.

The supervisor said the town is hoping to begin renovation work on the former town hall shortly after the new year.

The existing courthouse has a host of security issues, according to a 2006 assessment by the State Office of Court Administration, which said the town court facility did not meet safety and security standards. The state at the time said the town must install outdoor video cameras, bullet-resistant exterior glass, locked gates to restrict access to the sides and rear of the building and more. The recommendations have mainly gone unaddressed in the two decades since, even as town justices, led by the late Justice Allen Smith, a former town supervisor, pressed board after board to address the problems.

MORE COVERAGE: ‘Woefully inadequate’ facilities: the case for replacing Riverhead Justice Court

For more than two decades, town officials have looked at a variety of options for replacing the court with a larger, secure facility and providing more space with increased security for the police department.  Both the court and the police department occupy the cramped one-story, 16,900-square-foot building built in 1985. 

The Town Board has been discussing expanding or replacing the justice court since at least 2003, when it hired engineering firm H2M to draw up plans to add a second-story and two first-floor additions to the 210 Howell Avenue building.

In 2009, the board had plans drawn to expand the town hall building at 200 Howell to accommodate the court facility, allowing the police department to occupy the entire 210 Howell Avenue building next door. 

In 2011, the town successfully sought the transfer of the former state armory site on Route 58 for use as a new police and court complex. That 5.7-acre site, improved with a 32,000-square-foot building built in the 1950s, was transferred to the town by the state in 2011 for $1.

In 2013, the board had an architect draw up plans — at a cost of $87,500 — for redeveloping the armory, but in 2014, when confronted with a potential price tag nearing $12 million, balked.

In 2021, the town considered purchasing the former Kmart site on Route 58 to house almost all its department and town hall offices, the Riverhead Senior Center and the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps new headquarters. That would have freed up the building at 200 Howell Avenue for occupancy by the justice court. But when the Kmart property owner wanted at least a 10-year lease with an option to purchase the building, the town decided against the site. Leasing the building didn’t make good fiscal sense for the town, Hubbard, then a councilman said in an interview at the time. 

In 2022, the town considered building a three-story building on the corner of Brook Street and Howell Avenue, where town departments could be consolidated, also freeing up 200 Howell Avenue for renovation as a new justice court facility. Riverhead architect Martin Sendlewski put together informal plans for that building, which carried for an estimated price tag of about $31 million, then-Council Member Hubbard said at the time. 

Hubbard at the time called the plan “probably the most economically feasible” of the many options the town had investigated. It “makes the most sense,” he said, “and allows the expansions to be done without upsetting normal business days for either the police department, justice court or the town board.”

Instead, in January 2023, the town purchased the Peconic Bay Medical Center’s Second Street campus for $20 million, to utilize as a new Town Hall, with an eye toward renovating the Howell Avenue building for use as a new justice court and the subsequent renovation of the combined police/justice court building next door for use by the police department alone.

In October 2023, town officials dedicated the former town hall building in memory of Town Justice Allen Smith, who fought for a new justice court facility through many years on the town bench. Joined first by Justice Richard Ehlers and, after Ehlers’ retirement, by Justice Lori Hulse, Smith repeatedly pressed the Town Board over many years to replace the existing justice court. Smith died in 2020.

Last year, the town was exploring the feasibility of moving the police department and court to the Second Street campus, Hubbard said. That site, besides the three-story Town Hall building, is also improved with a two-story brick building the court could occupy and a bank branch building that could house the police department. Both would need to be renovated to accomplish their conversion. The town could then sell the property at 200 and 210 Howell Avenue to help pay for the work at the Second Street campus.

Hubbard also said at the time the town was still considering the renovation of 200 Howell Avenue and had asked its engineering consultant, H2M Group, to assess the feasibility of renovating the former town hall building for use as a justice court. 

The 200 Howell Avenue building, a former supermarket, was converted for use by town offices decades ago. It has a host of known structural and systems issues in dire need of repair or replacement, including its roof, HVAC system and mold in the basement. Repurposing it for justice court use will likely be a very costly proposition and may not make financial sense, Hubbard said last year. He said in a July 2024 interview the board thinks “it would cost so much that you’d have to rip it down, demolish it and then start over again.”

H2M is “in the process of giving us a report,” Hubbard said last year.

There have been no further public discussions of the building renovations or of the report H2M prepared for the town. 

“This will be a state-of-the-art justice court,” Kern said today before voting in favor of the bond issuance.

Council Member Ken Rothwell said the town is being “extremely fiscally responsible for this project” and added, the town is “obligated by the State of New York court system” to follow certain design guidelines for safety and security.  “It is a lot of money,” Rothwell acknowledged, “but we are finally getting our justice court the proper facilities it needs.”