Town Board poised to approve PBMC women and infants center site plan

Peconic Bay Medical Center is advancing plans for its new women and infants center as a major piece of its long-term expansion of specialized care in Riverhead. The Town Board reviewed site and facade improvements tied to the project during its Aug. 27 work session and is poised to take up a resolution granting administrative approval to the hospital’s site plan.

The application before the board focuses on exterior work at the hospital’s main campus at 1 Heroes Way: relocating maternity services to the first floor of the three-story wing near the Route 58 traffic circle, reworking the maternity entrance, improving pedestrian and vehicle circulation, adding drainage and landscaping, and modernizing the facade of part of the building.

PBMC’s planned Emilie Roy Corey Center for Women and Infants is part of a $92 million hospital expansion plan first announced in 2023. PBMC has said the center is intended to expand comprehensive women’s health services in eastern Suffolk County, including private rooms, breast health, urogynecology, tele-neonatology and a goal of developing a Level II neonatal intensive care unit on site.

Senior Planner Matt Charters told board members the hospital is undertaking “a substantial amount of work” sitewide, but said the item before the board centered on the maternity expansion and related exterior improvements.

PBMC began planning the center after closing its skilled nursing facility in December 2022, freeing space for other growing clinical needs, including women’s healthcare.

“Advancing women’s health in Eastern Suffolk County is a driving force in our expansion plans,” PBMC President Amy Loeb said in July 2024, “and we are excited about the benefits the Center for Women and Infants will provide families throughout Eastern Suffolk County by making high-quality, patient-centered care closer to home.”

The center is part of a broader effort to bring more specialized care to the East End and reduce the need for patients to travel farther west for services, she said.

The center was named in 2024 after longtime PBMC donors Emilie and Michael Corey made a $10 million gift to support its development. A 2025 PBMC gala raised more than $1.1 million for the center, which the hospital then said was slated to open in early 2027.

At the work session, Joseph Garrity, identified on the agenda as Northwell Health’s in-house architect, said the maternity unit would occupy the entire first floor of the three-story building facing the traffic circle. He said the project would “reskin” three sides of the building, with new exterior materials and new windows throughout to improve energy efficiency for patient rooms on the upper floors.

Garrity said the maternity entrance would be located toward the rear of the building and would include a curved clear-glass overhang for the women’s health center.

Council Member Ken Rothwell asked whether the work would move the building closer to the road. Garrity said the distance from the road would remain the same, though some brick may have to be removed as part of waterproofing and facade work.

Charters said the facade improvements would address what he called the “old brick portion of the building” facing Route 58 near the traffic circle. He said the work would create “a nice, clean, modern-looking hospital.” Charters  noted that “the grapes will remain” along Route 58, referring to grape vines donated years ago by Paumanok Vineyards of Aquebogue as a nod to the North Fork wine region.

The project will also screen mechanical equipment visible from the roadway. Charters said some “unsightly mechanicals” along the road side of the hospital would be covered as part of the project. Garrity said rooftop mechanical units near the front of the hospital would be hidden by parapets or screening.

The project area covers 30,698 square feet of PBMC’s 8.1966-acre parcel, which is in the town’s Hospital zoning district, according to the staff report. The report says the application is a Type II action under SEQRA and the town code, meaning no further environmental review is required.

The staff report notes several conditions and agency comments. The town engineer requested a soil boring to be completed and shown on the plans. The Riverhead fire marshal’s office had no comments. The Architectural Review Board granted conditional approval July 22, with final elevations expected to be reviewed Aug. 25.

Because the project involves minor widening of the existing curb cut on County Road 58, Suffolk County Department of Public Works reviewed the application. The county said a highway work permit will be required for the proposed access and any improvements required along the county right-of-way. The county also asked for pavement details, a stop sign and stop bar at the access, and replacement of broken curb and sidewalk along the CR 58 frontage.

Planning staff also said the proposed bollard lighting must be revised to show compliant, fully shielded fixtures under the town’s exterior lighting code.

Charters told the board that planning staff had prepared a draft resolution granting administrative approval, subject to the conditions in the staff report. He said the resolution could be placed on the board’s Sept. 1 agenda if board members were comfortable moving it forward. There were no objections.

The Planning Department staff report describes the application as a site plan for widening the entrance road, adding new pedestrian access, curbing, a drop-off area, concrete walks, a sitting area, asphalt pavement, drainage, landscaping, pavement markings and facade improvements to part of the building.