Riverhead urged to enforce zoning rules for Suffolk water authority project

A battle is brewing between Riverhead Town and the Suffolk County Water Authority over regulatory control of the authority’s planned 8.5-mile water pipeline to bring more supply to Southold.

The $35 million project would pump up to 6,000 gallons per minute from the pine barrens in Flanders through Riverhead to Southold, where water authority officials say their shallow wells are failing to meet demand.

Riverhead officials are wary of the project, which they say would disrupt traffic on Sound Avenue and potentially harm the agricultural corridor, a big driver of the local economy.

Jeff Seeman, an environmental consultant for Riverhead, said the SCWA should not be immune from local zoning regulations as it seeks to build the pipeline.

Seeman made the recommendation Tuesday as part of an analysis known as the Monroe Balancing Test. The method is used to resolve intergovernmental disputes by reviewing the project’s impacts and benefits, whether the host community has had input in the process and if alternatives were considered, according to New York's Department of State.

At odds with SCWA

Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said at Tuesday's hearing the project would "step all over Riverhead with no benefit to us whatsoever."

But water authority officials said they saw broader needs and benefits. 

Brody Smith, a real estate attorney for the SCWA at Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, said "regional planning priorities ... sometimes take precedent over local land use regulations" and urged the town to allow the project to bypass site plan reviews.

In a statement Wednesday, SCWA officials said the project is "necessary and environmentally responsible" and pushed back against the idea of seeking town approvals.

"SCWA has clear statutory authority to construct and operate water supply projects, and long-standing legal precedent affirms that our work is not subject to local jurisdiction," officials said in the statement.

Smith said past SCWA projects in Riverhead's town lines have been exempt, including recent efforts to connect homes in Manorville to public water.

But those projects, Hubbard said, had inherent benefits to Riverhead residents. 

Seeman said the town's site plan process would give Riverhead more agency over the project's design, including proposed construction of a pump station on Pier Avenue in Jamesport and approvals of various permits for opening roads, crossing wetlands and excavation.

Communication and information on the project has been "lackluster" so far, Seeman said, adding the town has no specifics on what side of the street pipes would be laid and other critical information.

Difficult to assess

"It's been very difficult for our team to assess not only what the impacts would be, but where the location of this project is physically placed," he said Tuesday.

The SCWA is in the midst of a state-mandated environmental review of the project, but Riverhead officials want more of a say in the process. The authority listed Riverhead as an "interested party" rather than an "involved agency," effectively limiting the role the town can play in the review.

The proposed pipeline would traverse entirely through Riverhead from Flanders, drilling beneath the Peconic Estuary and traveling north on local roads until turning east on Sound Avenue.

Board members raised concerns about the route since many of the area's farms and wineries line Sound Avenue, and worry the project would disrupt traffic and tourism.

"Our farmers, they need to be able to have their businesses open," Councilwoman Joann Waski said. "This isn't something that's just going to be one or two weekends. This is going to be months, years."

If the project were to move forward, town attorney Erik Howard said at a forum last week, Riverhead would seek a community benefit agreement that could include payments or an emergency interconnection for its water district.

Though the authority project would benefit about 9,500 Southold residents connected to public water, some residents, local officials and environmental groups say that supplying more could be a boon for development on the North Fork.

Water supply worries

Meanwhile, some of the region’s easternmost residents see the need for the project, which could pave the way for a second-phase extension into Orient, where some private wells are contaminated by PFAS.

At last week's forum, Southold Supervisor Al Krupski raised concerns about resource management and whether supply is plentiful enough in Flanders.

"If there’s a big wildfire in the pine barrens, it’s going to take quite a bit of water to fight that effectively," Krupski said. "There’s a lot of money that’s going to be spent here. It’s going to have a lot of long-lasting impacts."

Data from the SCWA suggests up to 70% of water pumped is used for lawn irrigation — a statistic that frustrates water suppliers and heightens the need for conservation.

Southold recently enacted new irrigation laws. The SCWA, which has urged customers to avoid watering their lawns amid dry conditions, is easing up on the appeal because of improving conditions, but like other area leaders, urged residents to water sparingly.

Riverhead did not make a final decision on whether to exempt the project from local approvals. Meanwhile, the SCWA is drafting an environmental report expected by the end of the year. Smith said more public input will be sought when the report is complete.