Comprehensive plan

Guest column: The tens of thousands of trucks that will move to and from the multiple logistics and distribution centers planned in Riverhead, will make our already unsafe air quality much worse.

The town must hit the pause button on all development while it finishes the comprehensive plan update begun in January 2020. The delay in its completion has allowed too many massive developments to move forward under outdated land use rules.

The town board Thursday discussed the traffic consulting firm's recommendations for potential solutions to traffic on Sound Avenue, including the unpopular idea of a two-way center turning lane.

The Town of Riverhead’s traffic planning consultants, hired in connection with the comprehensive plan update, have proposed widening Sound Avenue from about 28 feet to about 43 feet in order to create a two-way center turning lane and a five-foot bike lane on both sides of the roadway.

The six civic associations active in the Town of Riverhead are asking the town board to enact a moratorium pending completion of the long-delayed comprehensive plan update, citing the number and scope of new development applications being filed while planning continues.

Riverhead Town’s lead planner and planning consultants will discuss their progress on the update to the town's comprehensive plan during the fourth...

Riverhead Town’s chief planner, who is leading the town’s comprehensive plan update, says he’s never personally experienced the heavy traffic on Sound Avenue on a fall weekend — and doesn't want to. The Sag Harbor resident told a Greater Jamesport Civic Association meeting traffic issues on the South Fork make it hard to visit the North Fork on weekends.

The new projected completion date is at least seven months beyond the completion date set forth in an amendment, approved by the town board last July, to the Jan. 2, 2020 agreement with planning consultants AKRF. The July 2021 amendment extended the contract period 12 months, to Aug. 31, 2022.

Transportation, the environment, downtown Riverhead, Route 58, economic development, housing and agriculture are among the topics for discussion at five separate "topic-oriented" meetings with the planners working on Riverhead’s comprehensive plan update.

Community meetings for the comprehensive plan update resume this evening and continue through Wednesday. Each community meeting focuses on...