A county effort to preserve a nearly 10-acre parcel of vacant land on the south side of Peconic Bay Boulevard in South Jamesport has run into resistance at Riverhead Town Hall.

The property, part woodland and part fallow farm field, is located between a residential subdivision and the town boat ramp.

County Legislator Greg Doroski met with the Town Board at its work session Thursday to discuss preservation of the site as open space. Doroski said the county wanted the town to partner in the acquisition by agreeing to maintain the site for passive recreation use.

That got pushback from board members, who said they’d prefer to see a development rights purchase rather than outright acquisition, so the property could be farmed. Some members objected to its conversion to county parkland, expressing concern that the use could be disruptive in a quiet residential area. Others voiced concerns about the cost of establishing and maintaining amenities like the walking trail and gravel parking area suggested by Doroski.

The town last year approved a four-lot residential subdivision of the site. It was the second time the Riverhead Planning Board approved a subdivision of the land. The board granted preliminary approval for a six-lot subdivision in November 2023.

The property owner, Peconic Farms LLC, returned to the Planning Board last summer with a revised plan, scaled down to four lots. After a new public hearing, the Planning Board granted preliminary approval to the four-lot map on Sept. 4.

At public hearings on each of the subdivision plans, neighboring residents turned out to oppose residential development of the site, citing the property’s low elevation, its location in the flood plain and frequent flooding — issues already affecting nearby homes. Neighbors argued that development would worsen existing conditions, which include frequent flooding of properties and homes.

Attorney Patricia Moore of Southold, representing the Great Meadow Property Owners Association, a community of 54 homes adjoining the Peconic Farms property on the west, told the Planning Board at the Aug. 7 public hearing that, because of the site’s low elevation and proximity to East Creek, people who buy the lots are “going to be buying a pig in a poke when they find out that the entire property is so low.” Moore said they will either need to import a “significant amount of soil to elevate the properties” or build the homes on piles. Planners don’t “generally create lots that would be developed with those kinds of restrictions. It goes against your subdivision rules and regulations,” Moore said.

Existing flooding conditions in the adjoining community will only get worse if the town allows the site to be developed, Moore predicted.

Dean Gandley, a representative of then-Legislator Catherine Stark, told the Planning Board during the Aug. 7 hearing that the legislator had written to the property owner about the county’s interest in preserving the property as open space and was waiting for a reply.

Source: RiverheadLOCAL