Town of Riverhead contemplating zone change to allow "agritourism" resorts

Long Island Morning Edition

The Town of Riverhead is contemplating a zone change that could allow agritourism resorts on the north side of Sound Avenue. Resorts could be built on minimum 100-acre properties and must preserve 70% of the land for farming. Some farmers are wary of the proposal, which would restrict the type of agriculture allowed on the resort properties. Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that the Town of Riverhead is considering a zoning change to allow construction of luxury hotels on the north side of Sound Avenue, a move that could alter the town's rural landscape and challenge the future of farming. Town officials say the measure will grow the town's tax base, but it has ignited debates over traffic, noise and environmental impacts — and raised existential questions about the North Fork's identity even as neighboring Southold took another approach recently by approving a temporary pause on new hotels. A public forum on the proposal is set for Sept. 18 at 6 p.m., after Riverhead Town officials canceled a hearing last week "in response to an unusually high volume" of opposition, Supervisor Tim Hubbard said Thursday. By town estimates, Riverhead has 7,000 acres of open space, or developable farmland, but it lacks funds to buy those properties. Officials hope the proposal will preserve some of that acreage. “We want to preserve land, but that means there’s no income coming in,” said Councilman Ken Rothwell, who estimated one resort could generate $200,000 in annual tax revenue for the town.

The proposal also restricts how developers can farm the preserved land that some farmers say are “deal breakers." The proposed law says farming must be “dependent on the use of agricultural soils," or in the ground.

Seven properties, totaling over 700 acres, could be eligible for such developments, according to town planner Matt Charters. Properties for agritourism resorts must have a single owner under the proposed code.

That could lead to 1,050 or more hotel rooms on Sound Avenue in Riverhead.

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The owner of the Route 58 building occupied by Friendly’s Restaurant in Riverhead is seeking approvals to renovate the building to create two separate restaurants, raising questions about the future of the last Friendly’s location on the East End. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that a Friendly’s Restaurant has operated out of the location at 949 Old Country Road, just east of the traffic circle, for nearly 40 years. It has been run by J&B Restaurant Partners, the franchisee that runs Friendly’s restaurants across Long Island.

Bell Boulevard Realty LLC, owner of the property has filed a site plan application with the Riverhead Planning Department detailing plans to renovate the existing 4,268 square-foot building and divide it into two separate restaurants. The east side of the building would be made into a QDOBA, a national Mexican restaurant chain, with 38 indoor seats, eight outdoor seats and a drive-through. The west side of the building would be converted into a restaurant with 50 indoor seats. No information was provided about the restaurant that would occupy that part of the building.

There are 10 Friendly’s across Long Island, including the Riverhead location. The first “Friendly” ice cream shop was founded by the Blake Brothers in 1935. There are 104 Friendly’s locations in the U.S., most of them in the northeast, according to the data company ScrapeHero.

The Riverhead Planning Board last Thursday unanimously approved a resolution setting a public hearing on the project’s site plan application for Sept. 5 at 6 p.m.

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The Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton presents –

A Visit with WLIW's Ann Liguori, author of Life on the Green, Lessons and Wisdom from Legends of Golf

That’s this coming Wednesday from 1pm – 2:30pm in the Morris Meeting Room of the R.M.L.

In her new book, renowned sports talk show host and interviewer Ann Liguori shares insights and life lessons from twelve of the most interesting and compelling figures in the history of golf. Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, Nancy Lopez, Dottie Pepper, Amy Alcott, Gary Player, Ben Crenshaw, Jan Stephenson, Padraig Harrington, Annika Sorenstam, Renee Powell and Jack Nicklaus reveal fascinating stories about their lives and careers on and off the course. There is something for everyone as these legends touch upon the universal themes of passion, integrity, sportsmanship, fear, success, humility, goal setting, preparation, positive thinking and family life.

Ms. Liguori will be available to sign books afterward.

There is no charge for this event. Registration is suggested.

Further info and registration are here.

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It's in an empty lot at the end of New Suffolk Avenue-Main Street in New Suffolk, along a small stretch of beachfront on Cutchogue Harbor.

A historic marker marks the spot.

This quaint patch of seldom-visited Long Island, sandwiched between Great Peconic Bay and Little Peconic Bay, is to the history of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force — the "Silent Service" — what the Wright Brothers and the windblown sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, are to the world of aviation.

The birthplace of where imagination became reality.

John Valenti in NEWSDAY reports that it was here in 1899 that an Irish immigrant inventor named John Philip Holland came to New Suffolk to test his submarines, then called torpedo boats.

For six years, from 1899 to 1905, the site was home to the Holland Torpedo Boat Company and the Holland Torpedo Boat Station, the first submarine base in America.

It was during this time that Holland tested a series of seven submarine prototypes. And, it was during this time that the Holland Torpedo Boat merged with the Electric Boat Company, the firm later moving to Groton, Connecticut, where it eventually became General Dynamics Electric Boat — today, a leading-edge builder of nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy.

While submarine developments also took place in a host of other nations — Germany, England, France and Japan, to name a few — the lineage of American submarines and submariner history can all trace their roots to that one small overlooked lot on the water in New Suffolk.

"I think that is why people who do know find it so fascinating," said Wendy Polhemus-Annibell, head librarian at the Riverhead-based Suffolk County Historical Society. "It’s an iconic historical fact about New Suffolk, a part of our incredible military history on Long Island."

Cutchogue-New Suffolk Free Library local history librarian Mariella Ostroski noted it happened in New Suffolk at that time, “because they had just the right spot for it ... It just shows how important one little community can be to history."

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will soon decide whether to approve a controversial bill that would force oil, natural-gas and coal companies to fork over billions of dollars to the state for contributing to climate change. Carl Campanile reports in THE NY POST that backers liken the plan — the proposed Climate Change Superfund — to the federal Superfund program that has been trying to hold polluters responsible for abandoned toxic-waste sites for decades.

But critics claim that New York’s climate-change version — which passed both the Assembly and Senate in the spring — is unworkable, would only end up costing customers in the long run and will be tied up in the courts for years if approved.

An analysis conducted for the bill’s sponsors - state Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) - and obtained by The Post shows foreign-owned and American companies together would pay about $3 billion a year — or $75 billion over 25 years — under the plan.

Gov. Hochul has yet to say whether she will sign the bill into law, with a rep telling The Post that the governor is still reviewing the proposed legislation.

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In August of 1839, the schooner Amistad anchored off the shore at Culloden Point in Montauk, and a small landing party disembarked in a rowboat looking for food and water. They were no ordinary crew, but a group of Africans who had been kidnapped in Sierra Leone to be sold into slavery in the new world. They had overthrown their captors and demanded they be taken back to Africa, but were steered instead up the East Coast of the United States.

For the first time, this coming week, the Connecticut-based replica of the storied Amistad schooner will be coming to Montauk for a series of educational events and celebrations of freedom. Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that Georgette Grier-Key, Executive Director of the Eastville Community Historical Society in Sag Harbor, and Brenda Simmons, Executive Director of the Southampton African American Museum, were instrumental in working with the Montauk Historical Society to have a historic marker commemorating Montauk’s role in the Amistad story placed at Culloden Point on Aug. 26 of 2023, the anniversary date the people aboard the ship came ashore there.

Ms. Simmons said last week that educators these days are facing conflict when they try to teach about the history of slavery in America, but part of the Amistad’s mission is to help teachers overcome those difficulties, and they’ll receive tools to do that at a professional development day on board the ship while it’s in Montauk. This is the ship’s first visit to Montauk, though it had come to the South Fork before, docking at Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf in 2002.

After landing at Culloden, Amistad will be at the Town Dock at 73 Star Island Road Aug. 23 through Aug. 27, for a series of events.

A welcoming reception will be held on Aug. 24 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. (tickets range from $75 to $350), Amistad Family Day will be held on Sunday, Aug. 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., a professional development day for teachers to gain skills to teach about slavery will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by a panel discussion at the Oceans Institute at the Montauk Point Lighthouse that evening from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Open tours will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 2 to 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 26 and Wednesday, Aug. 28.

More details about the schedule of events are on the Montauk Historical Society’s website.