The incumbent Riverhead Republican candidates for Town Supervisor and Town Board declined to appear at two candidate forums in Jamesport and downtown Riverhead this past week, giving Democrats a chance to hone their pitches for why they would be better leaders for the town.
All six candidates from both parties have agreed to participate in a forum sponsored by the Greater Calverton Civic Association and the Wading River Civic Association on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Riley Avenue Elementary School, 374 Riley Ave. in Calverton.
Incumbent Republican Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard is running to keep his seat, along with Councilmen Kenneth Rothwell and Bob Kern. Mr. Hubbard had argued that this week’s civic association forums would not be fair because their leadership included prominent town Democrats.
Pastor Jerry Halpin of the North Shore Christian Church is running for Supervisor on the Democratic line, along with retired New York City firefighter Kevin Shea and Mark Woolley, a Riverhead native and longtime congressional staffer, mostly for Republican congressmen.
Mr. Woolley cast out zinger after zinger at both debates — demanding a forensic audit of the town’s budget — town taxes are set to increase 6.74 percent in 2026, saying the town should “stop doing pet projects for donors and political cronies,” and asking why “a guy who was involved in a Ponzi scheme” was given Industrial Development Agency benefits to build a “huge monstrosity next to the library.”
He was also critical of the town’s agreement to make J. Petrocelli Contracting the master developer for the downtown town square project, which includes a five-story hotel. Incumbent Supervisor Tim Hubbard had said “What’s best for the Town of Riverhead is the golden hand of Mr. Petrocelli” when the town board deemed his company qualified and eligible to build the project this summer.
“This guy with the golden hand — I’m not sure if he’s a developer or a proctologist,” said Mr. Woolley.
“I will be that no vote,” he said when asked at the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association’s forum at the Riverhead Library on Saturday how he would differ from his opponents. “‘Forward thinking’ doesn’t mean you’re a rubber stamp on all the things that come before you… Everybody here has to follow the rules. That applies to everyone across the board, especially the folks coming in from the west thinking they’re going to overdevelop Riverhead. My job is actually to say no to these folks.”
He also said he would allow people to bring signs back into the town board meeting room — they were prohibited by the current town board earlier this year.
“There are no signs allowed in Town Hall anymore. It’s allowed on the floor of the house in Congress. I don’t know how you square that,” he said.
Mr. Halpin’s most memorable moments were in urging compassion. When asked at the Heart of Riverhead forum about the future of Riverhead’s Industrial Development Agency, he said he often hears the line from businesses that receive tax abatements that the town is receiving more tax money if their projects are built than it would if they were never built.
“That is what the person with a full table of food says to people with no food,” he said. “That is absolutely a terrible way to live in our community.”
When asked about whether he would continue the town’s ongoing emergency order prohibiting migrants from being housed at hotels in town at the Greater Jamesport Civic Association on Sept. 30 at the Jamesport Meeting House, he said he’d discuss whether it was necessary with the town’s police department, but “if it’s not needed, it’s just perpetuating fear.”
“I believe in servant leadership,” he said in Jamesport, adding that he would take a pay cut if elected. “We take care of each other. We’re not divided. When this town needs each other, we’re always there for each other…. When you’re here in Riverhead, no matter where you came from, you are our family and it’s our job to take care of you.”
Mr. Shea, the quietest of the candidates, highlighted his background in public safety and his ability to work on a team.
“I want to focus on prevention, so when disaster happens, you’re well protected,” he said at the Jamesport forum. “I’ll rush in when there’s an emergency to try to help out. There’s an emergency going on with the depletion of our resources. People are living paycheck to paycheck. Someone has to show up for the resistance and make sure they get the services they need. I’m not going to be doing this alone. I’m going to be doing this with you.”
He added that, not being a politician, “I didn’t learn all those bad habits they have,” referring to his opponents. “Not listening is one of them.”
In Jamesport, where the forum was moderated by GJCA Vice President Steve Green, the conversation turned to the current Town Board’s support for allowing agritourism resorts north of Sound Avenue — after a great deal of public outcry, a recommendation to create those resorts was taken out of the town’s Comprehensive Plan just before it was adopted last fall. The town had based its code proposal allowing the resorts on code language provided by a developer.
“If this current board is allowed to be brought back, they’re going to bring back agritourism resorts,” said Mr. Woolley, who added that he was “halfway to inking the paperwork for my retirement” when the agritourism resort proposal was first released to the public, and it convinced him to run for office.
“They’re coming back. It’s going to be another fight. You can’t have the same Town Board in there,” he said. “I have one magical word. It’s no. They’re gonna get used to that… It’s no, goodbye. It’s not going to happen on my watch.”
“They were claiming they were going to be protecting land that was already protected,” said Mr. Shea. “The idea of agritourism for me is trying to make sure the visitors who are coming get to see what’s unique about Riverhead. We have a lot of people here who really know what it’s like to be a farmer.”
He added that the agritourism resorts, which relied on a resort manager hiring a farmer to farm some of their land, is not the same as the farms that naturally occur here.
“Be honest and bring an honest project to us,” he said.
Mr. Halpin said it’s time for the town to “codify its Comprehensive Plan,” in other words create the zoning that implements the recommendations in the plan.
“Will I be changing a code to match a developer? No. Will I be working with farmers? Yes,” he said.
He added, when asked if he would support hamlet studies for Jamesport and Aquebogue, that the town has “run to mile 18 of a marathon with our Comp Plan and we just don’t want to bring it across the finish line,” adding that it could be funded by a community benefit fund paid into by developers, or by the Suffolk County Water Authority, which is planning to bring a major pipeline through Riverhead’s town roads to the Southold Town line. He added that the town should soon be receiving revenue from allowing cannabis dispensaries within its boundaries.
“If you look at the zoning that was put in place here between Aquebogue and Jamesport, I think the ones who drew it up were probably the same ones who were in Albany years ago doing redistricting in a Holiday Inn after drinking about a bottle of Jack,” said Mr. Woolley. “Look at the way the zoning is laid out here? It doesn’t even make any sense. We want hamlet studies.”
At the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association debate, moderated by former Republican Suffolk County Legislator Greg Blass, all three candidates were critical of the redevelopment of downtown Riverhead, whether the town should have a police substation there and if there will be enough handicapped parking after the redevelopment is complete.
“The police substation has been discussed in the past, and it’s gone nowhere,” said Mr. Woolley. “The Armory [on Route 58] is going to be a YMCA… during an election season. I don’t trust their budgeting anyway.”
“Why don’t we dredge the Peconic? You can barely get your boat down there anyway,” he said, adding that the parking plan “is probably one of the most ill-conceived plans they’ve got.”
“We don’t even have a life preserver on the side [of the bulkhead by the river],” said Mr. Shea. “We need to work on prevention, so we don’t have some kind of water disaster.”
He added that parking for the apartment buildings downtown, and those being built, will likely make it more difficult for potential customers for downtown businesses to park there.
Mr. Halpin said the town has one bay constable to patrol the town’s miles of shoreline, and a substation downtown would require the creation of another police sector.
“You would need four people to man it all the time,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s not possible, but we need to speak to the people who’ve been doing this for 25 to 30 years.”
He questioned the Town Square’s centerpiece, an adaptive playground for people who are differently abled, when the town has not yet found a place for all the cars that will be displaced by the parking lot that’s there now.
“If we have to be forced to a parking garage, we need to make sure there are shuttles to get to the services that make our town amazing,” he said.
“We’re not Kevin Costner. This isn’t ‘Field of Dreams’ where we build it, make a movie, walk away,” he added. “If we’re going to build something down there, we have to change that narrative and we have to do the best thing for our downtown to succeed.”
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