Two new stores approved for Applebee’s site; Sound Avenue cidery plan poised for approval later this month

Two new stores will be built in the parking lot of the Applebee’s restaurant, following the Riverhead Planning Board’s approval last week of a revised version of a site plan originally approved in 1999.

The site plan originally approved by the town depicted a “retail pad” in the restaurant’s parking lot for four storefronts. The revised plan is for two storefronts. They will be occupied by a vision center and a wireless communications store, according to representatives of the property owner.

The new construction will occupy a currently undeveloped grassy area of the site, which was reserved for the retail pad when the first site plan was approved.

The new stores are not expected to require much parking during the restaurant’s peak hours, according to the site owner. Planning board members, who conducted a site inspection in the early evening, when the restaurant is serving dinner, noted that parking was scarce — at 5 p.m. on a weeknight there were only five parking spaces available, planning board chairman Richard O’Dea said.

Nevertheless, after the new building is constructed, the site, which will have 114 parking spaces, will still meet town code requirements for parking for the restaurant and new shops. With O’Dea casting the sole vote in opposition — he sought a covenant requiring the shops to close by 6 p.m. but could not get support of other members for that idea — the board granted site plan approval.

“I don’t like how this area unfolded,” member Stan Carey said before voting yes on the motion to approve the site plan. Carey noted that the board OK-ed a site plan amendment for the adjacent Wal-Mart/Bob’s Furniture plaza to allow Peconic Bay Medical Center to build a freestanding “hospital annex” in the parking lot there. Carey voted against that plan. “I think it’s a horrible intersection,” he said. “But they had approval before anyone else.”

The owner of the former Walmart shopping center, west of Ostrander Avenue, currently has a site plan application pending to allow construction of two free-standing restaurants in the parking lot east of the Firestone tire and repair shop. Riverhead PGC has been in discussion with a national movie theater chain to rent the former Wal-Mart site for a multiplex cinema. That use would require a zoning code change from the town board, whose members say they would support the change. Approval of the restaurant uses would help the owner attract a movie theater to the site, PGC director of sales and leasing told RiverheadLOCAL in April. “It would be synergistic,” PGC’s Andrew Aberham said.

Riverhead Plaza, home to King Kullen and Wal-Mart before the retail giant moved west on Rt. 58, was built decades ago when the town zoning code’s parking schedule required many more parking spaces for such uses than it currently requires. The parking schedule requirements have long since been scaled down, allowing owners of the “over parked” older centers like Riverhead Plaza room to site new structures and still meet current parking schedule requirements.

Cidery plan poised for approval

The owner of the Grapes and Greens site on Sound Avenue met with the planning board last week to work out final details of a site plan revision to allow the establishment of a hard cider production/bottling facility and tasting room on the 7.3-acre site currently used by J. Kings Food Service as a warehouse and distribution center.

A draft resolution approving the plan will be on the board’s Sept. 17 meeting agenda.

Board members decided it is not necessary to ban left-hand turns into the site — from the westbound lane of traffic. The Sound Avenue driveway will remain enter-only. The board also demurred on establishing a ban on street parking along Sound Avenue, though that might be imposed in the future if it proves to be a problem.

The applicant was asked to analyze traffic data to address the potential for rear-end collisions if left turns into the site are allowed.

“We did a complete accident evaluation and looked at three years of accident history in that area,” traffic engineer Patrick Lenihan of VHB told the board. ”There’s no history of rear-end accidents, even for left-turns onto Osborn from Sound Avenue,” he said.

Cars waiting to turn left into the site should not cause westbound traffic to back up on Sound Avenue, because the width of the paved road surface is sufficient to allow westbound cars to pass on the right without driving on the unpaved land adjacent to the roadway, Lenihan said. He noted that state law allows passing on the right when a vehicle is stopped in the lane of travel to make a left turn.

Board member Joe Baier asked whether the road should be widened to accommodate a turning lane.

“It’s an apple cider place. It’s not Costco,” member Ed Densieski said.

The town is requiring the applicant to file covenants prohibiting outdoor music at the site. The owner also will not be able to obtain a town board permit for special events that include outdoor music.

Building and planning administrator Jefferson Murphree noted that the covenants also prohibit live music after 9 p.m. at night.

“I’m fne with it. We want to be good citizens,” property owner John King said.

“Well I don’t think we should be telling any busines owner what time he should operate,” Densieski said. “I think that’s wrong and I’m against that.”

Phil Barbato of the Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition argued against the site plan approval.

“How in the world did you determine that the use is OK for that location?” he demanded. The Zoning Board of Appeals in May 2012 said repacking vegetables was accessory to the existing warehouse use on the site, Barbato said. “Not a tavern, distillery or tasting room.”

“This board does not make zoning use determinations,” planning board counsel William Duffy said. That’s the purview of the building department and the ZBA, he said.

“Making cider is processing agricultural products and a tasting room is accessory to processing,” he said.

Barbato said the board was allowing the site to be used as a tavern. “I’m disappointed, I really am. You’re supposed to be the planning board, planning for the future of the town.”

“It’s a good location and a great addition to Riverhead, just like the wineries and breweries,” Densieski answered. “Why should we just keep an empty warehouse?”