The Riverhead Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously denied an application Thursday night seeking permission to operate an ambulance storage and maintenance facility in a portion of the former Big Lots store at Staples Plaza on Route 58.
In a 4-0 vote, with one board member absent, the ZBA approved a resolution denying both an interpretation request and a use variance sought by property owner 1099 Royal LLC for the proposed Stony Brook Medicine facility at the shopping center.
The application had sparked contentious hearings and public debate, pitting Stony Brook Medicine against Peconic Bay Medical Center over the future of advanced stroke care on the East End.
“This is one of the longest cases we’ve ever had,” ZBA Chairman Otto Wittmeier said before the vote. “We did listen. We read everything. We got pounds of paper.”
Board member John Porchia read portions of the board’s 23-page decision into the record before the vote.
The board rejected the applicant’s argument that the proposed ambulance center qualified as a permitted use within the shopping center zoning district. The proposed use included ambulance storage for up to eight ambulances and one mobile stroke unit, and warehousing, offices, a teaching center for ambulance personnel and dispatch operations for the mobile stroke unit.
In its findings, the board concluded those uses are fundamentally inconsistent with the purpose of the town’s shopping center zoning district, which is intended for retail and customer-oriented businesses.
“The proposed uses do not serve as a location for the residents to shop and purchase or receive services from,” the decision states, “and instead, none of the uses are open to the public.”
The board cited both the town’s 2003 and 2024 comprehensive plans, which describe shopping center zoning as intended for retail uses and public-facing services such as stores, restaurants, banks and personal services.
The ZBA also found the applicant failed to meet the legal standards required for a use variance.
Source: RiverheadLOCAL
