Riverhead Town Board may form downtown revitalization committee

The Riverhead Town Board is considering creating a committee with an eye on revitalizing downtown Riverhead.

In the new board’s first work session last Tuesday, newly elected Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith proposed an advisory committee that would look at ways to improve downtown — a theme that Jens-Smith made a key issue in her 2017 election campaign.

“There’s obviously a lot of issues downtown,” Jens-Smith said, adding that such a committee could help the town obtain future state grants that could be used for downtown revitalization.

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio suggested possibly having the town board liaison to the Parking Advisory Committee and the Riverhead Business Improvement District also serve as the board’s liaison to an advisory committee to streamline all downtown issues through one person.

However, Jens-Smith said it might be better to keep them separate to avoid having one person handle all of those responsibilities.

After questions from the board on what the committee would do and how to define it, Jens-Smith said the board would continue discussing the issue.