SCWA sues Riverhead Town over North Fork pipeline project

The Suffolk County Water Authority has sued the Town of Riverhead in State Supreme Court, challenging the Town Board’s determination that SCWA must comply with local zoning and land-use requirements for its proposed North Fork Water Main Project. The agency announced the lawsuit in a press release Friday afternoon.

SCWA is seeking a judgment declaring the project exempt from Riverhead zoning and land-use regulation, annulling the Riverhead Town Board’s Oct. 7, 2025 resolution on the issue, and barring the town from enforcing zoning and related local approvals against the project.

SCWA’s North Fork Water Main Project would install about 8.15 miles of 24-inch main from Flanders Road, across the Peconic River, north along Cross River Drive and Northville Turnpike, then east on Sound Avenue to the Southold town line. A new booster station would be built on SCWA-owned property on Pier Avenue, just north of Sound Avenue in Riverhead. The rest of the main to be built in Southold during the first phase of the project would serve SCWA customers. A second phase, described as long-range planning, would extend smaller-diameter mains about 3.8 miles from East Marion to Orient. 

The dispute centers on the Monroe balancing test, a legal standard used by New York courts to determine when a governmental entity is immune from municipal zoning. SCWA argues that, as a public benefit corporation created under the state Public Authorities Law to provide water service and carry out what it describes as an essential governmental function, it is exempt from local zoning and land-use controls for the infrastructure project. Riverhead contends the town can apply its zoning and land-use rules to the project.

After holding a Monroe hearing, the Riverhead Town Board determined on Oct. 7 that the project was not immune from local regulation and asserted SCWA would need a series of town approvals, including a special permit, road opening permit, site plan approval, building permits and certificate of occupancy/compliance for the booster station, a fire marshal construction permit, wetlands permits, and excavation and grading permits, among other requirements.

The water authority held a series of three Monroe hearings in October and determined that it is exempt from Riverhead zoning and land-use regulations. In a resolution dated Nov. 20, the SCWA board applied the state’s Monroe “balancing of public interests” test and concluded the North Fork Water Main Project is “undisputably” immune from municipal jurisdiction, including the Town of Riverhead’s zoning, site plan and permit requirements. 

SCWA contends in its complaint that the Town Board’s determination was arbitrary and legally flawed, arguing that the Monroe factors weigh in favor of immunity because the project serves a public purpose related to reliable potable water supply and that local regulation would impair SCWA’s ability to carry out its statutory mission.

The court fight over the North Fork pipeline comes against a backdrop of periodic Riverhead–SCWA clashes over water-service authority and local control — disputes that have surfaced in different forms for more than a decade, including the still-unresolved EPCAL service-territory issue. Both sides say they’re following the law and protecting the public interest; the immediate question now is whether Riverhead can require local permits for the project or whether SCWA is immune under the Monroe balancing test.

Background: Riverhead’s stated objections and route dispute

Riverhead officials and residents have argued that, regardless of the project’s regional benefits, Riverhead would bear most of the construction impacts because the main would be installed on a stretch of Sound Avenue from Northville Turnpike to the Southold town line. 

Read more: Suffolk County Water Authority’s proposed North Fork pipeline: officials, residents question needs and benefits at Riverhead Town forum

Town officials have described Sound Avenue as heavily trafficked with narrow shoulders and have warned that trenching, lane closures and staging could cause major backups — especially during peak summer and fall weekends when farm stands, wineries and other agritourism destinations draw large crowds.

Read more: ‘No benefit to us whatsoever’: Riverhead supervisor slams water authority pipeline plan during hearing

At public hearings, Town Board members and residents raised concerns that prolonged disruption on Sound Avenue could harm local businesses and agriculture, and that congestion on one of the North Fork’s primary east-west routes could create public-safety concerns, including maintaining emergency access during construction.

Town officials have also argued that an alternative alignment should be more fully evaluated, including routing the transmission main along Route 25 (Main Road) instead of Sound Avenue.

They have also questioned why SCWA and/or the Town of Southold did not implement water conservation measures prior to evaluating the need for the new transmission main. 

Southold has its own concerns about the plan

Opposition and skepticism have also surfaced within Southold, where some residents and town officials have questioned whether a major new transmission main could spur additional development if public water becomes more readily available and have urged aggressive conservation measures, noting water authority statements that a significant share of seasonal demand is tied to lawn irrigation. Southold officials have also pushed back on process and oversight, including the scope of local review.

SCWA’s project status

The North Fork Water Main Project is currently undergoing environmental review by the water authority, which the DEC designated as lead agency for that purpose in November 2024, rejecting a bid by Riverhead Town to assume lead agency for the project.

SCWA determined the project to be a Type I action for the purpose of analysis pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act and directed the preparation of an environmental impact statement. The authority held scoping hearings to determine the issues to be addressed in the impact statement and on Dec. 1 issued its final scope for the draft environmental impact statement. SCWA officials said at the time the DEIS could be ready as soon as late January, but it has not yet been released.  

The water authority yesterday in a statement about the lawsuit said it had “confirmed” in its Monroe determination that the North Fork Water Main Project is not subject to local zoning.

“While we remain committed to working with the Town of Riverhead, their Monroe determination is legally flawed and leaves us with no choice but to seek relief in court,” the statement said.

“Public authorities are specifically designed to carry out critical infrastructure work efficiently and without municipal obstruction; imposing local zoning requirements can delay projects that directly affect water reliability,” the statement said. The water authority said it has “clear statutory authority and longstanding case law on its side.”