The Riverhead Town Board heard mixed public comment Wednesday night at a sparsely attended hearing on the site plan and special permit applications for the proposed Peconic River Hotel, a five-story, 94-room hotel planned for East Main Street next to the town square.
The project, proposed by J. Petrocelli Riverhead Town Square LLC, calls for a 69,738-square-foot hotel building on a 0.42-acre site at 117-127 E. Main St. The building would include a first-floor restaurant, coffee shop, retail space, hotel lobby and amenities, with hotel rooms on the upper four floors and nine parking spaces on the lower level for hotel staff.
No action was taken Wednesday. The board kept the written comment period open for 10 days, until June 20.
The special meeting, called solely for the hotel hearing, drew about a dozen members of the public to Town Hall, though several people also spoke via Zoom. The small turnout became a point of discussion during the hearing, which at times was marked by sharp exchanges between board members and some speakers.
Attorney Eric Russo, representing the applicant, said the hotel would be a Tapestry by Hilton brand hotel, with 80 guest rooms and 14 suites. The first floor would include a roughly 5,100-square-foot restaurant and bar with terrace seating, a coffee shop and retail space, he said.
Russo said the project complies with the zoning requirements for the Downtown Center 1 Main Street district, including lot area, frontage, building coverage, height and floor-area ratio.
VHB engineer Angelo Leno said the hotel would front East Main Street, border the planned town square to the west and south and abut existing commercial property to the east. The adjoining property on the east is owned by the town and leased to the East End Arts and Humanities Council. It is developed with five historic buildings.
The main hotel entrance would be on Main Street, with valet service for hotel guests and patrons. Entrances to the first-floor restaurant and retail spaces would also open onto the town square, he said.
A 12-foot-wide accessway on the east side of the building would serve back-of-house functions including utilities, loading, deliveries and refuse collection, Leno said. Access to the lower-level parking area would be from Heidi Behr Way through the proposed town square parcel, under an agreement with the town.
Leno said the southern portion of the site is within a FEMA AE flood zone, with a base flood elevation of 7 feet. Habitable space must be at least 3.5 feet above that elevation, and the proposed finished floor elevation for habitable space is 13.5 feet, he said.
Source: RiverheadLOCAL
