7-Eleven

Local residents again voiced objections — this time at a ZBA hearing Thursday night — to a proposed 7-Eleven gas station and convenience store on the Riverside roundabout, where a blighted, long-abandoned gas station now stands.

Worried about the impacts of a proposed 7-Eleven gas gas station and convenience store on the Riverside Revitalization Action Plan, residents ask the Town of Southampton for a one-year moratorium on new gas stations and related uses in the Riverside hamlet center.

The developer will demolish an existing vacant building on the one-acre site situated on the Peconic River and build a 3,075-square-foot one-story building to be occupied as a 7-Eleven convenience store.

The site of a vacant former auto repair shop and used car dealer on West Main Street is proposed for a new 7-Eleven store. The existing building would be razed and a new 3,060-square-foot retail store would be built there.

The board: approved Nile Rodgers' FOLD Festival, set for Aug. 12-14, adopted a ban on 24-hour retail operations in certain zoning districts, one affecting the proposed 7-Eleven in Aquebogue, set hearings on proposed laws to set term limits for the town board, extend the supervisor's term to four years and allow for high-density rental apartments in a new 'floating' zone that will allow for the development of the Family Community Life Center on Northville Turnpike.

As Riverhead considers banning businesses from operating overnight in certain areas of town, a lawyer representing 7-Eleven told town board members last week that the ban would be “illegal” and would likely be struck down in court.

Residents are circulating a petition opposing proposed 7-Eleven in Aquebogue, pledging not to shop there.

A ban on 24-hour operations for many retail businesses located outside the Route 58 corridor is supported by the town board, which is considering the ban in response to the possibility of a 7-Eleven setting up shop in an Aquebogue shopping center.

Protesters at Town Hall yesterday said that the national convenience store could create a “nightmare” for both police and neighbors, drawing drunks and criminals to an area of town that is largely residential.