Riverhead board ponders possible 6-month building moratorium for Calverton

 As Riverhead weighs whether to enact a building moratorium on projects within the Calverton hamlet, town officials seem to be deciding between two potential options, including one that may allow some construction there.

While the Riverhead Town Board is moving away from putting an 18-month freeze on any applications or ongoing building projects in Calverton considered weeks ago, they are weighing two potential resolutions. These include a six-month full halting of all such applications and ongoing projects, or a six-month moratorium that would allow the town to consider certain proposals.

Riverhead Councilman Tim Hubbard has proposed a six-month blanket freeze on all such projects and applications, which would stop any ongoing projects with applications already in to build in Calverton and freeze any incoming project applications.

“It’s too much coming in at one time, and we have the comprehensive plan that’s just about to start,” Hubbard told Newsday this week. “We’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the comprehensive plan, and the idea of that is to go over the zoning in all the areas and look at some of the items that should or shouldn’t go into town. And if we’re paying for that, let’s get that and then we can make decisions from there.”

The comprehensive plan, a document outlining future town development in the town, is now being updated.

The other option, proposed by Councilman Bob Kern, calls for a six-month moratorium that would allow for the town to consider some potential projects. Kern told Newsday this week he is concerned several projects with benign uses — such as battery storage or solar projects — would be excluded in a full moratorium.

“There are some projects on a list that would not qualify for what the intent of the moratorium is,” Kern said. “I certainly understand the concerns of the civics, but I also understand the concerns of some existing businesses. One of the examples I gave was battery storage. It has no impact, and it’s needed all over Long Island … to include something like benign uses would be crazy.”

Toqui Terchun, president of the Greater Calverton Civic Association, said while she thinks Hubbard’s proposal comes closest to an agreeable solution, she prefers the town adopt the original 18-month moratorium and feels the board could have spent more time considering a solution.

“They’re gaslighting the public by not presenting a resolution arrived at by good counsel and thorough discussion even if that takes longer than an hour or two at a work session,” Terchun said.