Councilman John Dunleavy's proposal to overhaul the town's retirement community zoning code to allow for the construction of assisted living facilities — a proposal slated for a second public hearing at Riverhead Town Hall this afternoon — has drawn opposition from the Long Island Farm Bureau.*
The proposed code revision, inspired by a developer who'd like to build a 200-unit assisted living complex on Mill Road between Route 58 and Middle Road, would allow up to eight dwelling units per acre without requiring the developer to purchase and transfer any development rights from farmland.
"This is a giveaway and we're opposed to it," Joseph Gergela, executive director of the Long Island Farm Bureau said in a phone interview Tuesday morning.
Gergela said he and Mitchell Pally of the Long Island Builders Institute wrote a joint letter yesterday to the Riverhead Town Board expressing strong opposition to the code revision. The letter, written by Gergela, indicates LIBI opposes the code revision, but Pally told RiverheadLOCAL Tuesday his organization has taken no official position on the proposal. He said there was some misunderstanding between the two groups. LIBI joins Farm Bureau in seeking an assessment by the town of the viability of the TDR program, Pally said.
Farm Bureau will give testimony in opposition at today's public hearing, Gergela said.
"The success of the TDR program and the success of farmland preservation, is dependent on having the right amount of sending and receiving areas," Gergela said. The transfer of development rights program is a central feature of the 2003 master plan, which called for the town to do an assessment of the TDR program after a few years, Gergela said. That hasn't been done and should be done now.
The town code does not currently allow for assisted living communities. Dunleavy has pushed for the revision because he says Riverhead needs affordable ass
isted living facilities.
"We have a lot of seniors here who have to go far away for these types of facilities," Dunleavy said. "It makes it hard for their families and friends to visit them." He is urging the town to act on the code change to clear the way for Concordia to move ahead.
"This has been going on for three years," Dunleavy told his colleagues at a December work session. "Every time they come back, there's something new." Click on the image above to view a PDF of its proposed site plan.
Dunleavy does not agree that the new code revision will hurt the TDR program. He says the proposal would provide "a public benefit to the community" and called on the Farm Bureau to support it. Riverhead has done a lot to help farmers, the councilman said. "But they have to help us too. It can't be a one-way street all the time."
If the zoning amendment is approved by the board, Concordia would then seek a change of zone. The parcels on which Concordia would like to build the project are currently zoned "destination retail" and "agricultural protection zone."
The proposed code amendment had a public hearing in April 2011. After the hearing, the board decided the code needed more work. The board formed an ad hoc committee, with community members including the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Peconic Bay Medical Center, to advise the town on the subject of assisted living. The committee met once and its members, including hospital president Andrew Mitchell and Jamesport civic leader Angela DeVito, have said they never heard anything more of the proposal after the initial meeting.
The town has focused its attention on the possible impacts of assisted living zoning on the ambulance district. Dunleavy, a charter member of the volunteer ambulance corps, says he does not believe the facility will have a big impact on the ambulance district. But he and the developer met with RVAC representatives to discuss impact fees the developer would pay to the district to help offset increased demand for ambulance services. The councilman said in December the ambulance corps had reached an agreement with Concordia about impact fees for the district. See story.
* Editor's note: A previously published version of this story, written before Pally could be reached for comment, indicated LIBI is opposed to the proposed code amendment.
Comments of L.I. Farm Bureau on proposed assisted living code