East Wind catering hall and hotel owner Kenn Barra chastised Supervisor Sean Walter at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting Thursday for "stalling" his retail plan for the corner of Sound Avenue and Park Road near Reeves Park.
"It's been going on for eight years. I beat you twice in court already and it looks like we're going to court again and I will beat you again," Barra said during a question and answer period following the supervisor's remarks at the business group's monthly "Eggs and Issues" meeting.
"One thing I commend you on is yes, the town won't make a decision. The court's going to approve my site plan and I will build," Barra said.
Barra spoke after Walter answered a question by Chamber of Commerce board member Monique Gablenz regarding proposed commercial development plans in Wading River, which include a separate proposal by Barra to build 25 retail shops on the beer distributor site next to Barra's hotel and catering facility. The plan, along with others in various stages of development along Route 25A, has drawn mounting community opposition.
"It seems to someone who doesn't have all the information that these are opportunities for tax base growth," Gablenz said. "Can you tell us what's happening with those?"
"I'm not happy about the zoning in Wading River," Walter replied. "I do not believe we should be constructing Business CR along the length of the 25A corridor." The supervisor said he believes the 2003 master plan was "not well thought-out" and he wants "a comprehensive GEIS" done for Route 25A.
"If after everything is built we need a four-lane road, don't you think the developers should share in that cost," Walter asked.
"It may be unpalatable to some, but I believe the development should be in the Route 58 corridor, it should be downtown and it should be at EPCAL. I cannot preserve the rural character of Wading River and continue to develop it the way it is proposed," Walter said.
Barra answered the supervisor's statement by saying the town keeps putting up road blocks and stalling developers.
"Every time I turn around, the Town of Riverhead comes up with another problem," Barra said. "This is crazy. The light you see at the end of the tunnel, it's going to be a train. You cannot keep stopping everybody."
Barra said his proposal for the property next to East Wind would create construction jobs, tax base and "a lot of opportunities for local people to have employment." The site, he said, has been zoned commercially and in commercial use for many, many years.
Walter was the featured speaker at this month's breakfast meeting, where he gave a reprise of the state of the town speech he delivered to Riverhead's three service clubs on March 2.
Up next for Wading River: A touch of Venice?
Another Route 25A commercial development application was filed in Town Hall last week, this one for a 6.75-acre parcel between May's Farm and Alexander Tuthill Funeral Home. Dubbed "Venezia Square," the plan calls for 40,000 square feet of retail space spread among five buildings, including a restaurant and a free-standing bank pad.
The newest application — the fourth commercial development now proposed for the 25A corridor — brings to 130,000 square feet the total proposed new commercial space for the stretch of state highway in Wading River, roughly doubling that which currently exists, according to Wading River Civic Association first vice president Sid Bail. There still remain another 20 or so acres of commercially zoned land in that corridor, where, Bail said, an estimated 100,000 square feet of additional retail space could potentially be built.
"The purpose and intent of the Business CR zoning use district was to serve the needs of the local residents," Bail said. The Riverhead portion of Wading River — the hamlet straddles the Riverhead-Brookhaven town line - has a population of 8,000 people, Bail said.
"How much commercial space do 8,000 people need?" he asked.
The Wading River Civic Association, the Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition and the Group for the East End have called for a moratorium to allow additional study of traffic and other impacts. They have vowed to fight commercial plans which they say will "permanently destroy" the hamlet's character and identity.