Developer suggests race is factor in planning board’s lack of support

A Westhampton Beach man’s plan to build a two-story, 24-seat restaurant on a triangle of land on the corner of Route 58 and Harrison Avenue was shot down by a 3-2 vote of the Riverhead Planning Board Thursday afternoon.

The developer, angered by the board’s decision is threatening litigation against the town, questioning the town’s motives for denial after, he said, he spent years and more than $100,000 pursuing the application.

Chuck Chockalingam, a principal in Guddha LLC, wondered aloud if race was a factor in the planning board’s reluctance to approve his site plan, which prompted a hostile exchange with planning board attorney William Duffy.

“Are you saying the board is prejudiced and biased against you because of your race?” Duffy asked.

“I don’t want to say that,” Chockalingam replied.

“So if they approve it, they’re not biased, but if they don’t they are?” Duffy asked.

Duffy and planning director Rick Hanley both told Chockalingam his site plan does not conform to zoning code guidelines, including guidelines for on-site parking.

The wedge-shaped lot, just shy of a third of an acre in area, would be developed with a 3,200-square-foot fast-food restaurant adjacent to the existing Taco Bell. The restaurant would have first-floor seating for 24 people. Its cooking and prep area would be on the second story. There would be 15 parking spots, according to the site plan.

In order to build the structure on the small, triangular lot, Chockalingam had to obtain several variances from zoning code requirements from the Zoning Board of Appeals, including minimum front and rear yards. The ZBA in August granted variances to allow a front yard depth of five feet instead of the required 50 feet and a rear yard depth of five feet instead of 25 feet. The ZBA also allowed three feet of unoccupied front yard landscaping instead of the 35 feet required by code.

Chockalingam, noting that he had also obtained approval from  the town’s architectural review board, the county planning commission and the county department of public works, complained that the planning board had no reason to deny his application.

Planning board member Lyle Wells disagreed. “The size of the lot, the shape of the lot, the fact that it’s inaccessible from other lots so we can’t do cross-easements,” Wells said. He noted that other towns may approve commercial development of lots as small as the one in question, but, he said, “I’m not of the mindset that we need lots of this size in the Town of Riverhead developed in a commercial fashion.”

“I think your asking for an over-intensification of the lot,” Wells said.

“The [county] planning commission didn’t think so,” Chockalingam told him.

“They don’t live in Riverhead,” Wells shot back.

With yesterday’s vote, board members rejected a resolution that would have approved Chockalingam’s site plan. A resolution denying approval will be drafted and presented to the board for a future vote, Hanley said. Planning Board chairman Richard O’Dea and vice chairman Joseph Baier voted in favor of approval, with members Wells, Ed Densieski and Stan Carey voting against.