Riverhead to Hold Comprehensive Plan Workshop
Riverhead Town will be holding a public workshop on its Comprehensive Plan Update on Saturday, April 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., at the Suffolk Theater at 118 East Main Street in Riverhead.
After two years of delays, the town terminated a contract with its former consultants working on the Comprehensive Plan Update, AKRF, in 2022, and in January of this year hired a new firm, BFJ Planning, to complete the update. The town’s current Comprehensive Plan was adopted 20 years ago, in 2003.
The town plans to incorporate several planning studies conducted since 2003 into the update, including policies from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and the Downtown Riverhead Pattern Book.
The Comprehensive Plan “is an official, long-range ‘blueprint’ for the future of the town. It details the community’s vision for the future and guides Riverhead on a wide range of issues such as future decisions on land use and development, capital spending, and general policy direction,” according to the town’s announcement of the public meeting. “The Comprehensive Plan also provides strategies addressing economic development, farmland preservation and the agricultural economy, housing, revitalization of Main Street and Hamlet centers, transportation, sustainable development, climate resiliency, and natural resource preservation and water quality.”
“The purpose of this workshop is to present a summary of work completed to date and to discuss priority issues and opportunities that the town should address,” according to the announcement. “We urge all residents and businesses to participate in this effort. The feedback will help to ensure that the Comprehensive Plan is representative of the community as a whole and that it includes realistic and publicly supported goals and objectives. There will be a second public workshop in the fall and subsequent public hearings before the plan is considered for adoption.”
A recording of the presentation will also be posted on the project website, townofriverheadcomprehensiveplanupdate.com for those that are unable to attend in person, where Riverhead invites residents, business owners, property owners and other interested parties to share their ideas about how Riverhead should change and which of its assets should be protected over the next 10 years.
Comments can be sent to compplan@townofriverheadny.gov.
