Retail cannabis shop planned for car dealer site at Route 58 and Ostrander Avenue

A used car dealership on the corner of Route 58 and Ostrander Avenue is slated to become a retail cannabis dispensary, according to a site plan application pending before the Riverhead Planning Board.

The Planning Board reviewed the application at its May 15 meeting and scheduled a public hearing on it for June 5 at 6 p.m. 

The applicant 840 Old Country Road LLC proposes a 6,060-square-foot addition to an existing 8,308-square-foot commercial building, currently occupied by CarZmetics Auto Salon. 

The site meets the location requirements of the town’s cannabis code, Riverhead Senior Planner Matt Charters said.  It is within a designated commercial corridor as required by the code and is not within 500 feet of any residential uses. The town has given location approval to the state licensing authority, the Office of Cannabis Management.

A proposed retail cannabis dispensary for a former bank branch on Ostrander Avenue was rejected by town officials because it is outside one of the designated commercial corridors and within 1,000 feet of residential uses, which is prohibited by town code. The applicant has sued seeking to overturn the town’s decision.

MORE COVERAGE: Riverhead Town sued after zoning board of appeals rejects plan for cannabis dispensary at former bank building

Another proposed cannabis dispensary on Route 58 just west of the traffic circle — the former Paints Plus/Aboff’s Paints location — requires a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals because it is less than 1,000 feet from the property line of a Riverhead public school. The ZBA held a hearing on the application but has not yet issued its decision.

MORE COVERAGE: Proposed cannabis dispensary site on Route 58 is criticized by Riverhead ZBA members

The property owner of the site at Route 58 and Ostrander Avenue will need approval of a change of use, Charters said. The 1.83-acre site is owned by Moutafis Motors Ltd. Principal Pete Moutafis attended the Planning Board meeting last week. 

The board issued a negative declaration for purposes of review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, meaning no further environmental review is required.

The application has been referred to the Suffolk County Planning Commission and Suffolk County Department of Public Works for comments, Charters said. 

The property is already served by the Riverhead Water District. The applicant will be required to connect the property to the Riverhead Sewer District, Charters said. He said he has already confirmed availability with the sewer district superintendent.

Parking on site will be reconfigured and the number of parking spaces will be reduced but will fully comply with the requirements of the town code. The Ostrander Avenue access point will be moved to the north, Charters said. There is an existing cross-easement with the site to the east, he said. That property is improved with medical and other office buildings.

The proposed site plan increases landscaping and buffer areas, Charter said.

The application is on the Architectural Review Board’s May 28 agenda, he said. 

In other action at its May 15 meeting, the Planning Board:

• Granted final site plan approval to the Dries-Spechio Manufacturers Outlet Center  at 2009 Old Country Road, a 4.1-acre parcel located between Tanger I and Tanger II. The approval grants permission to constrict 31,000 square feet of manufacturers outlet center retail space. The Town Board approved a special permit for the use on Aug. 16. 2022 and the Planning Board gave its preliminary approval to the site plan on March 2, 2023. The Planning Board has twice granted six-month extensions of the preliminary approval.

• Granted preliminary site plan approval for the application of Akhirah Place of Worship (formerly Cox Place of Worship) at 5284 Route 25A, Wading River. The approval allows the conversion of an existing single-family dwelling on a five-acre site into a place of worship and the addition of a 3,600-plot cemetery, along with certain site improvements,  including a one-way access road, parking and paving, a new sanitary system, on-site drainage, lighting, landscaping, and an ADA-complaint path and ramp. 

• Granted final approval for the site plan application of Paul Pawlowski to construct a 2.295-square-foot medical office building with on-site parking on a 1.35-acre parcel that is already improved with a 9,300-square-foot commercial building at 1125 Old Country Road.

• Granted approval for a farm stand for Pendleton’s Harvest Moon, located at 5558 Sound Avenue in Riverhead. 

• Discussed a site plan application for “minor modifications” to the existing BJ’s gas station site on the corner of Old Country Road and Ostrander Avenue, for the purpose of improving internal traffic circulation on the 0.66-acre parcel.

• Discussed a site plan application for improvements to an existing National Grid facility on Mill Road, just north of West Main Street, which seeks approval to demolish two existing buildings and certain utility sheds, construction of a new access driveway, installing compressed natural gas distribution and collection equipment and creating trailer parking spaces for a total of 24 compressed natural gas trucks.

“The purpose of this site is during the coldest days of the winter months, they will bring in natural gas from out of state. And essentially, what this site is going to do is they supplement the existing natural gas system to ensure that customers in the area have natural gas,” Riverhead Senior Planner Greg Bergman said. “This site’s only anticipated to be used on the coldest days, when it gets like below 20, where there’s a real peak demand for natural gas,” he said. “There will not be trucks parked there all the time.”

The project requires a special permit from the Town Board, which has already issued a negative declaration for purposes of SEQRA. The Town Board will hold a public hearing on the special permit application on Wednesday, May 21 at 6 p.m.