A large mixed-use project on Middle Country Road in Calverton gained preliminary site plan approval from the Riverhead Planning Board Thursday.
The board split 3-2 on the resolution granting the approval, with members Ken Zilnicki and Joe Baier dissenting.
The site plan for the roughly 16-acre parcel on the north side of Middle Country Road, calls for a subdivision to create seven single-family home lots and a commercial lot fronting the roadway to be developed with 30,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 36 one-bedroom apartments on the second story, as well as a private roadway and sewage treatment plant.
Zilnicki said he’s not against the project but “just had a problem with the site plan.” He didn’t elaborate. At a meeting in November, Zilnicki indicated he favored orienting the building in a way so that the apartments would be further away from Middle Country Road. An alternative considered in the Environmental Impact Statement would rotate the horseshoe-shaped structure so that the commercial wings face Route 25 but the apartments sit farther from the highway. In the site plan preferred by the developer, some apartments would be set back just 25 feet from the state road, a heavily trafficked thoroughfare.
Behr said he was voting no because he thinks the site plan is an “over-intensification of the use,” although he acknowledged the plan meets the density requirements of the town code. “I still think like 36 apartments in the front is just too much,” he said.
Board Chairperson Ed Densieski disagreed. “This project meets the criteria of the town code, and I suspect that Mr. Kelly [the developer] is a lot better businessman than me, and he probably knows what’s going to make his business work. So in that respect, I will vote yes,” he said, adding that he understood why the other two members voted no.
The Planning Board at its Feb. 4 meeting took several other actions.
It approved a 33-lot sketch plan for the proposed major residential subdivision application titled “Anderson Acres,” seeking to subdivide approximately 69.9 acres of land located at 1945 and 1967 Main Road in Laurel.
The project site consists of four separate parcels of land, which front on Main Road, extend south to Peconic Bay Boulevard and are bisected by the Long Island Railroad tracks. The properties are split-zoned located in both the Residence B-80 and Residence B-40 zoning use districts.
The board unanimously granted final site plan approval to East End Commons for BJ’s fueling station and the wholesale club’s expansion.
The Planning Board scheduled a March 5 (6 p.m.) public hearing on the site plan application of Hampton Jitney for approval to develop a battery energy storage system (BESS) at the company’s existing bus terminal on Edwards Avenue in Calverton. The BESS would be constructed in a 5,000-square-foot. area of Hampton Jitney’s 13.9-acre parcel there, which is in the Calverton Industrial Zoning Use District located at 253 Edwards Avenue, Calverton.
The BESS will store energy generated by the roof mounted solar array at the terminal to optimize energy availability for use when demand is highest, according to a discussion of the project by company representatives with the Town Board at its Jan. 15 work session. The energy will be used for charging the company’s electric bus fleet, Town Planner Heather Trojanowski said during the work session.
The BESS also requires a special permit from the Town Board , which is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the special permit application on Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.
The board also scheduled a Feb. 19 (3 p.m.) public hearing on an application for a lot line modification for the town square hotel project on East Main Street. The application seeks to change lot lines involving six parcels. It will result in a reconfiguration that will create a unified town square parcel, a hotel parcel and a modified East End Arts campus parcel.
The properties are currently owned by the town, but subject to a contract of sale with J.Petrocelli Riverhead Town Square and a master developer agreement with Petrocelli. All costs are borne by the master developer, Riverhead Senior Planner Matt Charters told the board during a discussion prior to the vote. The resolution adopted by the board classified the lot line modification as a Type II action for purposes of review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, meaning it is not expected to have significant adverse environmental impacts and therefore does not require additional environmental review.
The board held a public hearing Thursday on a proposed 16-lot subdivision on Peconic Bay Boulevard near Reeves Creek in Aquebogue that drew neighboring residents out to express their concerns about the design. See prior story.
Editor’s note: This article has been amended to correct an error in the number of lots in the proposed “Anderson Acres” sketch plan approved by the Planning Board on Feb. 5. It is 33 lots, not 35, as originally reported.
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