No accord on Wading River development plan

After years of heated debate over the future of Wading River, environmental activist Richard Amper was given two hours Thursday to find common ground among residents, developers and the Riverhead Town Board on plans to change zoning for undeveloped properties on Route 25A, the main route through the community.

He couldn't do that, but at the end of the Riverhead Town Board's work session, one point became very clear: Nobody liked the current plan being drafted by the town's consultants, Manhattan-based BFJ Planning.

That left current plans in need of a major revision. "Everyone agreed we shouldn't do a SEQR [State Environmental Quality Review Act] review on it," Amper said.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter said something else became clear at the meeting. "We thought the plan would be finished by June. It probably won't be finished until the end of summer," he noted.

Dominique Mendez, a longtime resident, complained that such development would lead to "the loss of irreplaceable small-town charm and rural character that makes Wading River special." She has been active in demanding a town moratorium on development for the past year.

Wading River, a North Shore community of about 7,700 people that is split by the Brookhaven-Riverhead town line, has been aggressive about keeping its rural character, which many residents feel is threatened by the possibility that -- under current zoning -- 140,000 square feet of retail development could be built along Route 25A.

But planning for future growth -- the last zoning update was done in 2003 -- exposes several knotty problems.

While local residents want to stop new shopping centers, they are also wary of large housing developments that could lead to more children and higher school taxes. Meanwhile, the owners of land now zoned for commercial use have already threatened to sue if the town makes such drastic changes in zoning that their land loses much of its commercial value.

And, while Wading River residents want to keep their still-unspoiled community as unchanged as possible -- with any new stores limited to meeting local community needs -- Walter and others on the town board see Wading River as the gateway to the town's farms and vineyards, with thousands of new summer tourists coming through each year.

Walter also said that, in a few years, major construction will be taking place at the town-owned Enterprise Park at Calverton, leading to thousands more people who will want to go to Wading River for lunch or shopping.