A large mixed-use project in Calverton is a step closer to approval, after the Riverhead Planning Board on Thursday voted unanimously to accept the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement.
TJOC Real Estate Holdings of Stony Brook proposes a mixed-use development on a roughly 16-acre parcel on the north side of Middle Country Road, 485 feet west of Fresh Pond Avenue.
The site would be subdivided into seven single-family home lots and a commercial lot fronting Route 25, where the developer plans about 30,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space with 36 one-bedroom apartments above, served by a private roadway and sewage treatment plant.
Town Senior Planner Greg Bergman told the board there were relatively few public comments on the Draft EIS and that the applicant had addressed traffic consultant concerns and made some changes to the site plan. Those include pulling back a fence on the western property line about 75 feet from Middle Country Road to preserve visibility for the neighboring Miloski’s Poultry Farm business while still providing a vegetated buffer, and adding an eastbound left-turn lane into the site, to be reviewed by the state Department of Transportation.
One unresolved question is how the two-story mixed-use building should be oriented on the site. An alternative considered in the EIS would rotate the horseshoe-shaped structure so that the commercial wings face Route 25 but the apartments sit farther from the highway.
“In this orientation, with the apartments on the upper floors on this wing, anyone living in those apartments, they open their windows, you’re basically opening your window to a main highway,” Bergman said, suggesting the alternative could improve quality of life for residents and provide more queuing distance if Miloski’s poultry farm is ever redeveloped to share the access road.
Board member Ken Zilicki said he’s heard the same concern from residents.
“I probably spoke to at least 20 people,” Zilnicki said. “The first thing they say to me is… who would want to live just 25 feet off of [State Route] 25 in the top apartment?… I would lean towards going the other way.”
The applicant’s team objected to rotating the building, arguing that the current layout is critical for retail visibility and separates residential and commercial parking.
“Retail visibility on Route 25 is key,” consultant Chick Voorhees said, warning that turning the building would create a blank wall to the road and obscure storefronts. TJOC principal Mike Kelly cited a Brookhaven project where a similar design left retail space “dead” because passing drivers couldn’t see what businesses were inside.
Kelly also said he is confident the Route 25 frontage will not hurt demand for the apartments.
“Would you rent an apartment on 25 at 25 feet away?” Zilnicki asked.
“In a heartbeat, in this day and age, all day long, because there are none,” Kelly replied, pointing to the lack of available housing in the region.
Consultant Victor Prusinowski backed his client’s point of view, saying comparable units on Main Street and elsewhere in Riverhead have waiting lists and that employees at Peconic Bay Medical Center and its planned expansion are driving demand.
“The market for these rental units, when they go on the market, they have a waiting list to get in,” Prusinowski said, adding that the project complies with the town’s zoning and will help support the tax base.
Board member Joe Baier reiterated his view that the project represents an “over-intensification” of the front of the property, saying he preferred an alternative that would keep a smaller commercial building on Route 25 and create more single-family lots, eliminating the need for a sewage treatment plant.
Acceptance of the FEIS does not approve the project; the board must still adopt SEQRA findings and act on the subdivision and site plan applications.
Board reviews Fedun warehouse proposal for Main Road
The board discussed but took no action on a proposal by Patrick Fedun to build a 3,900-square-foot warehouse at 52 Main Road, just west of the All-Star.
The half-acre property lies in the Commercial Residential Campus (CRC) zone on the north side of Route 25 adjacent to Tara Lane, a 21-foot private gravel right-of-way that provides access to three houses north of the Fedun site.
Bergman said a warehouse is not a permitted use in the zone and that the applicant will need a use variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals before the planning board can act.
A two-story, 36,000-square-foot self-storage building on a 3.4-acre site at 61 Main Road is presently under construction across from the proposed warehouse site, also in the Commercial Residential Campus zoning use district. That project obtained a use variance from the ZBA to allow it to move forward.
Fedun’s concept plan shows a one-story warehouse with nine parking spaces along the east side of the building, backing directly onto Tara Lane, an IA wastewater system and a new four-foot sidewalk along Main Road.
Board members focused mainly on buffering the nearest home to the north from noise and activity.
“There’s a residence behind that on the north side of the property,” Densieski said, pointing to the dumpster enclosure near the rear lot line. “I’m just curious about the location of the dumpster… I just [don’t like] putting a dumpster in somebody’s backyard.”
Bergman recommended a six-foot stockade fence with a row of evergreens along that line “just to soften” the view for the neighbor.
DOT has instructed the applicant to apply for an access permit on Main Road. The fire marshal and town engineer had no objections to the site plan, and the Architectural Review Board has asked for more front-yard landscaping and some tweaks to the building façade.
‘Cauliflower Square’ Chick-fil-A seeks site plan revision
The board also reviewed a requested amendment to the approved site plan for Cauliflower Square, the former Long Island Cauliflower Association property on Mill Road and Route 58, where a Chick-fil-A restaurant and several medical offices are planned.
The changes affect only the Chick-fil-A portion of the seven-acre site. The restaurant building would be reduced from 5,840 square feet to 5,423 square feet; seating would drop from 108 seats (70 indoors, 38 outdoors) to 87 indoor seats, eliminating outdoor dining. Parking for the Chick-fil-A pad would be reduced from 98 spaces to 90.
The building would be shifted toward the southern edge of the pad and turned so its long side runs more east-west, and the drive-through would be reconfigured from three lanes to two while still accommodating about 24 cars in the queue, Bergman said.
The plan also relocates dumpster enclosures and offers to dedicate the Mill Road frontage containing new sidewalks to the town so pedestrians are kept out of the intersection area.
Bergman flagged a potential internal traffic conflict where vehicles entering the drive-through could intersect with those trying to exit and said the applicant has sketched a revision that would close that cut-through and leave only a mountable curb for emergency access. He is also looking for “significant” additional landscaping to screen a required RPZ enclosure near Route 58, which sits close to the street because water service had to be jacked under Route 58 to meet fire-flow requirements.
Board members asked about traffic flow at the MIll Road entrance, which will be aligned with the Home Depot driveway at a signalized intersection with coordinated timing and a dedicated left-turn lane on northbound Mill Road, as recommended in a traffic study.
Board member John Hogan and Bergman both raised the idea of cross-access for pedestrians or vehicles from the office and retail buildings along Commerce Drive so workers could more easily walk to Chick-fil-A, but property owner Richard Israel said that would be difficult.
“All of those buildings are leased, and in order for me to get that covenant through would be extremely difficult,” Israel said, citing 30-year leases, a retaining wall and liability concerns. “Most tenants today would like to know the privacy… we’re constructing a fence along that entire westerly boundary, so that… people don’t traverse through.”
Bergman noted that Commerce Drive was built out without sidewalks under earlier standards.
“Unfortunately, the entire Commerce Drive subdivision… would never happen now if that were vacant,” he said, adding that Route 58 itself “is not really what I call a pedestrian friendly roadway.”
No vote was taken. Bergman said he wants to work with the applicant on revised landscaping and circulation before bringing a formal amendment resolution back to the board.
Board approves preserved vineyard farm stand
The planning board approved a farm stand for Terramare LLC on a preserved vineyard at 480 Tuthills Lane in Jamesport.
The roughly 19.5-acre parcel is in the Agricultural Protection district, with its development rights owned by Suffolk County. The county’s Farmland Committee has already signed off on the farm stand and associated improvements, and the town’s agricultural advisory committee also endorsed the plan.
The project consists of a 987-square-foot farm stand building with a covered display area, a gravel parking lot with 24 spaces, including two handicapped spaces, a new curb cut on Tuthills Lane, landscaping, drainage, a new septic system and a small additional barn at the rear of the property for agricultural storage only.
Planner Heather Trojanowski said the county’s approval strictly limits how the farm stand can operate because the land is preserved.
“It can’t be a tasting room,” she told the board. The county’s conditions require that at least 60 percent of items sold be derived from crops grown on the site, such as finished wine, low- or no-alcohol wine and dried fruit products, while up to 40 percent may be Long Island food and beverage items from other farms.
The owner said visitors would be able to sample products, but the building would not function as a traditional wine-tasting room or event space. He also described a planned “farm education center” area where “school kids could come out and understand a little bit more about farming and farming practices,” though details have not been developed.
To meet both Suffolk County’s preference for permeable surfaces and ADA requirements, the parking area will use a honeycomb-style permeable gravel system that is wheelchair-compliant, with permeable pavers on the accessible walkway to the building. A private well will continue to serve irrigation and farm equipment, while the farm stand will connect to public water.
The board adopted a resolution classifying the farm stand as a Type II action under SEQRA and granting site plan approval.
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