Sign up for our weekly newsletter!

Residents have filled the auditorium at St. John the Baptist Church in Wading River to overflowing for a pubilc planning workshop on a proposed update to the 2003 comprehensive plan as it affects the Route 25A commercial corridor.
The session is scheduled to continue until noon today, though planners say they will stay "as long as needed" to answer questions and hear comments.
Planning consultants hired by the town are presenting their initial recommendations to the community to gather input. The recommendations were presented to the Town Board at its Jan. 12 work session. See Jan 13 story, "Planners: Eliminate retail zoning along eastern Rt. 25A."
Frank Fish of the consulting firm BFJ Planning expressed surprise at the huge turnout.
"Obviously this is a community that's very concerned about its quality of life," he said to the applause of the crowd.
The planners' goal in the corridor study was to "make a more compact Wading River that serves the needs of Wading River residents but is no bigger than that," Fish said, and the crowd erupted in applause.
Excessive commercial develoment — retail in particular — has been a complaint of and criticism levied by residents.
Civic leader Dominique Mendez, a Wading River resident, cofounder and president of the Riverhead Neighborhood Preservation Coalition has consistently criticized the town's commercial zoning aong the corridor as excessive compared to the community's needs. In particular, she and other civic activists, have slammed the proposed Knightland commercial development planned for the intersection of Route 25A and Sound Avenue, as "destination retail." The day after the town Planning Board approved the Knightland site plan application in December, the RNPC filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the approval.