Baiting Hollow residents turned out to voice objection to the application by Ivy Acres for a license to operate a medical marijuana growing and production facility on Edwards Avenue.
Ivy Acres is one of 43 applicants to the state health department for one of five such licenses to be issued by the state later this year under a law passed in 2014 to allow the production and sale in New York of marijuana for medical treatment purposes.
Ivy Acres principal Jack Van de Wetering appeared before the Riverhead Town Board at its last meeting seeking a resolution of support from the board, which it declined to provide. Individual board members said they would consider writing individual letters of support and Supervisor Sean Walter said he had already written one, indicating his support for the Van de Wetering family but “moral opposition” to the legalization of marijuana.
Last night, under questioning by Baiting Hollow resident Beth Cornacchio, Walter said he didn’t send the letter.
“In the end, when I looked at what the letter said, it made no sense,” Walter said after last night’s meeting. “I do support them, they’re a great family, but I can’t support their application.”
Councilman James Wooten said he did send in a letter of support “for medical marijuana but not for this location.” His letter, he said, was “very general” and should not “be misconstrued as support” for the Ivy Acres site. “I don’t think that location is a proper location,” Wooten said.
Councilman John Dunleavy, who at the last meeting said he supports medical marijuana, last night said he did not send a letter of support for the Ivy Acres application.
Marilyn Fricke Marsilio of Southampton, who grew up in a house next door the Ivy Acres site on Edwards Avenue, where her mother still lives, asked the board to oppose the application and consider a zoning code amendment to prohibit it.
“I encourage and implore all council members to please take into consideration this is a production facility, not just a growing facility,” Fricke Marsilio said. The surrounding area is a residential area, she said. “This is truly a zoning issue.”
She also cited security concerns heightened by the fact that “this is a cash business.”
Walter said the town attorney is researching whether state law allowing such facilities would pre-empt the town from legislating to restrict where they might be located. If the town is not pre-empted, he said, “I will proffer zoning that will prohibit it any place but the industrial corridor at EPCAL,” he said.
Calverton resident Gary Pelis, who said he was speaking on behalf of his father, who lives near the site, told the board the Boy Scout camp was only “700 feet or so away” from the proposed production facility.
If it’s within 1,000 feet that would also be a problem under the state regulations, which prohibit such facilities within 1,000 feet from schools, day care center and camps, the supervisor said.
A pair of public hearings on code amendments intended to allow microbreweries in the Downtown Center 1 zoning use district drew no public comment last night at the Riverhead Town Board meeting.
A code to define and regulate downtown microbreweries
The code amendments would define “micro” breweries, cideries and wineries as establishments where beer and malt beverages, cider and wine is made in limited quantities for sale for off-site consumption, with on-site “tastings” as allowed under state law. The location of such a facility within the DC-1 district would require a special permit from the Riverhead Town Board. http://riverhead.enotices.org/planning/public-hearing-amend-ch-108-zoning-article-lvi-downtown-center-1
The DC-1 zone is the zoning use district along Main Street from west of Griffing Avenue to east of Ostrander Avenue. Last fall the town board expanded the zoning to include the former firehouse on East Second Street, which the town sold to Suffolk Theater developer Robert Castaldi. Castaldi has said he would like to see the site used, at least in part, as a microbrewery.
The hearing record remains open for written comment until June 26.
Fire prevention inspector hired
Andrew Smith, a current Riverhead Water District employee, was appointed to the new position of fire prevention inspector. The position was created to assist the town’s fire marshals with inspections. Local fire departments and the Riverhead Fire Chiefs Council urged the town to restore a third fire marshal to the office. The town board decided to hire another fire marshal, citing budget constraints and decided to hire an inspector instead. The new post pays $50,000 annually, somewhat less than the $59,000 starting salary for an entry-level fire marshal.
There was no Civil Service list for the fire prevention inspector position, allowing the board to hire someone provisionally following public posting and publication of the opening.
Smith, 27, lives in Riverhead and is a volunteer firefighter with the Riverhead Fire Department. Before joining the water district staff in 2014, he was a fire and building code inspector in the Village of Port Jefferson.
Recreation Trail at Calverton Enterprise Park named for Vietnam vets
The recreation trail at the Calverton Enterprise Park will be called the “Vietnam Veterans Bicycle And Walking Trail” under a resolution passed last night by the town board.
The trail is currently about three miles long. When completed it will extend completely around the enterprise park.
Sale of Eastlawn Building authorized
The board OK-ed the sale of the town-owned Eastlawn Building to I’m A Ruralpolitan Inc. for $130,000. The purchaser will be required to complete historic restoration of the property within six months. The property is to be used for residential and commercial (cultural center) uses and the new owner is to provide rent-free space for the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce and Town Historian.
I’m a Ruralpolitan Inc. was the second of two bids received by the town in response to an RFP issued last October. The town board initially awarded the bid to Robert Castaldi’s Castle Restoration and Construction, but Castaldi subsequently withdrew his bid.
Walter voted against the sale to I’m a Ruralpolitan. He has recently advocated listing the property for sale with Cushman-Wakefield, a commercial real estate brokerage firm hired by the town this year to market the Calverton Enterprise Park.
The measure passed 4-1.
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