Residents who live near a 30-acre property on Peconic Bay Boulevard raised concerns about stormwater design, traffic safety and the long-term enforceability of subdivision restrictions during a public hearing on the proposed Summerwind Farm cluster subdivision before the Riverhead Planning Board last night at Town Hall.
The project, proposed for 200 Peconic Bay Boulevard, would create 16 lots, including two agricultural lots that would preserve 13.6 acres of farmland. A new road built to town standards and offered for dedication to the town would serve eight lots, while a private driveway would serve five lots. Two lots would be accessed by Sunup Trail, an existing town roadway. The remaining lot, with frontage on Peconic Bay Boulevard, is planned to contain a recharge basin lot intended to receive stormwater conveyed by pipe from Peconic Bay Boulevard to mitigate flooding.
The property totals 30.12 acres and is split-zoned residence B-40 and residence B-80. Senior planner Greg Bergman said the board previously established an as-of-right yield of 19 lots and later selected a 16-lot cluster layout as the preferred concept. The subdivision would preserve 70% of the prime agricultural soils on the site, he said.
Asked by a resident why the building lots shown are smaller than the two-acre minimum required by zoning, Bergman explained that clustering is designed to preserve open space.
“When you cluster a subdivision, when you do a major subdivision, you identify the as-of-right yield” — the total number of lots allowed where all comply with the dimensional regulations of the town code, Bergman said. When a subdivision map is designed to preserve open space, the building lots “are inherently going to get smaller,” he said. “That’s just the nature of a clustered subdivision. That’s how you preserve the land.”
Neighbors, including residents of Fox Chaser Place and Sunup Trail, urged the board to require recorded covenants to eliminate what several described as “gray areas” and to protect nearby homes from impacts over time. Concerns focused on lighting along the private driveway and near homes, headlight impacts and buffer planting, long-term protection of preserved wooded areas, fencing details near stormwater facilities and potential future agricultural uses on the preserved lots, including greenhouse-related lighting and cannabis cultivation.
“We’re asking the Board to require covenants that clearly define how the right away is governed and enforced.
Board chairperson Ed Densieski asked the applicant’s attorney whether the owner would agree to voluntarily prohibit cannabis cultivation on the agricultural lots.
The applicant’s attorney, Alison LaPointe of Certilman Balin, said the owner would not agree to eliminate a permitted agricultural use.
“We know that agricultural uses are difficult to keep running on Long Island, and, as we are seeking to aggressively maintain more than the 70% of ag land at this time, we are not amenable to eliminating a permitted use on the site,” LaPointe said.
Stormwater design and groundwater protection were also a major focus of the hearing, with several residents questioning the location and function of the recharge basin.
Kevin Nohejl of Peconic Bay Boulevard, who said he lives next to the proposed basin lot, asked why it was placed where shown, how groundwater conditions were assessed, whether tidal influences and storm conditions were fully considered and how runoff — including potential roadway contaminants and salt — would be handled. He also said he was concerned the basin could attract mosquitoes and vermin, and asked who would be responsible for maintenance.
The lot with the recharge basin will be owned by the town and will be the town’s responsibility to maintain, Densieski told him.
The applicant’s engineer, Andrew Stolzenberg of ALS Engineers in Melville, said the plan was designed to meet the required separation between the recharge basin and the groundwater table. Nearby monitoring wells were used to “calculate the estimated historic high water level,” he said.
As for groundwater quality, Stolzenberg said, “all the inlets will be equipped with water quality volume devices to pre-treat the water before discharge to either the recharge basin or the dry wells on the site,” which he said was “all per DEC requirements.”
The site is adjacent to Reeves Creek and includes tidal wetlands on a portion of one of the agricultural lots, requiring DEC permits.
During the discussion, Densieski directed the applicant’s team to remove barbed wire shown around the recharge basin on the plans.
“We don’t need barbed wire there,” he said.
A number of residents also objected to lighting proposed in the subdivision, saying they were concerned lights would shine onto their properties. Others raised concerns about where both the new road and the private driveway would intersect with Peconic Bay Boulevard, saying the access points are near curves with limited sight distance.
“Our concern is the two proposed access points come out onto Peconic Bay Boulevard adjacent to sharp curves with limited sight distance,” said Ray Stefanowicz of Bay Harbor Road in Aquebogue. Both access points are “an accident waiting to happen,” he said.
The Planning Board voted unanimously to close the public hearing after comment concluded.
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