As several recent steps have moved forward the redevelopment of Riverside, Southampton Town has received a $19 million grant for its Riverside sewage treatment plant through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The funding was approved on Oct. 30, 2025 by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) as part of a statewide $135 million initiative to support critical water infrastructure projects, announced the town in early November.
“This award from EFC will allow the town to proceed with this critical infrastructure project that will enhance water quality by removing thousands of pounds of nitrogen from our waterways each year and will aid in revitalizing the Riverside community,” said Town Supervisor Maria Moore in the Nov. 4 announcement.
This new funding comes just after a mid-October court decision throwing out Riverhead Town’s 2024 lawsuit against Southampton Town over the creation of the sewer district. Riverhead has appealed that decision.
It also comes on the heels of the Southampton Town Board’s Oct. 14 approval of $2.4 million in Community Housing Fund (CHF) funding to purchase a property near the center of Riverside where Georgica Green Ventures plans to build a mixed-use apartment complex, which could not be built without sewage treatment.
The project had initially been proposed to have 40 units, but the developer has “said he is willing to reduce the number somewhat” and also set a minimum of 60 percent of Area Median Income, Ms. Moore said as the board approved the use of CHF funds for the project on Oct. 14.
Southampton Town’s 2014 Riverside Revitalization Action Plan (RRAP), prepared by the firm Renaissance Downtowns after lengthy engagement with the community, would have allowed for about 2,300 new housing units to be built in Riverside.
This sewage treatment plant is smaller than the system the town had originally planned, and the town has since scaled down that plan to allow 967 housing units in Riverside.
Southampton Town Planning and Development Administrator Janice Scherer told the Town Board at a recent work session that the average density of the new design would be seven units per acre.
The town is working with consultant Historical Concepts to update the RRAP, and signed an $82,500 contract with the company Oct. 28 to prepare a pattern book for the implementation of the RRAP.
The new award for the sewage treatment plant is in addition to a $5 million grant awarded to the Town in October through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Community Grants program, approved by Congress as one of 715 water infrastructure projects under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.
The treatment plant is expected to cost about $35 million.
“Janice Scherer and her team have been relentless in their pursuit of funding for this initiative,” said Ms. Moore. “Their diligence and expertise have been instrumental in positioning Southampton to receive this historic level of investment.”
The changes to the redevelopment proposal have not been without detractors in the neighborhood.
Beverly Perkowski of Northampton told the Town Board at its Oct. 28 meeting that “the Historical Concepts Plan is redoing what Renaissance Downtowns had started, this time without input from the community.”
“We were told the original concept was unrealistic. Did they just hire someone new who doesn’t live here and doesn’t reflect what we want to see?” she asked. “We want our voices to matter. We’ve been involved with the process from the beginning, and we deserve to be part of the decisions that shape our own community.”
The site of the proposed 7-Eleven on the Riverside traffic circle.
Other residents have expressed concern over the past several months about a new 7-Eleven and gas station proposed at one of the entrances to the traffic circle at the center of Riverside. It would stand at a blighted corner that had once been home to a gas station, but there are already two gas stations with convenience stores on the circle.
That project must go before the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals for review.
The property’s owner, Andrew Slepoy, will be discussing the project with the community at the Flanders, Riverside Northampton Community Association’s (FRNCA) Nov. 19 meeting at 7 p.m. at the Crohan Community Center at 655 Flanders Road.
Ms. Moore said at the Oct. 28 meeting that town board representatives will also be attending FRNCA’s January meeting to discuss the town’s work with the community.
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