Riverhead Town Offices are on the Move
Riverhead Town is in the process this week of relocating its offices into the former Peconic Bay Medical Center Foundation Entenmann Campus at 2-4 West Second Street. The transition is expected to be completed by Friday, Sept. 29, and an official dedication will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 11:30 a.m.
Town Board meetings and work sessions will continue to be held at the current town hall at 200 Howell Avenue “until further notice,” according to Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar.
The former town hall building will become a justice court, a long-needed upgrade. The justice court currently shares space with the town’s also-outdated police station on Howell Avenue, a cramped space where the crowd spills out the door during justice court sessions, which has been cited for not meeting needs required by the New York State Office of Court Administration.
“The catalyst for this project was to get our justice court into a safe and secure environment,” said Councilman Tim Hubbard when the town board voted to approve the property purchase last August.
“The Justice Court will move into this building and have a courtroom ready to function,” said Mr. Hubbard, referring to the current town board meeting room. “They won’t have to work in portable trailers. In the Justice Court now, you see boxes to the ceiling. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
The new town hall building is 36,000 square feet, and the property includes the former bank branch on the corner of Second Street and Roanoke Avenue. The town board agreed in August of 2022 to buy the property for $20 million, and to issue $1.5 million in bonds to pay for renovations there.
The telephone numbers for department offices are expected to remain the same during the transition. Any questions about where to visit department offices can be directed to the town’s main switchboard at 631.727.3200.
The town hall meeting room will be located at the new building, along with offices of the Town Supervisor, Town Council, Tax Receiver & Assessor, Town Clerk, Community Development, Code Enforcement, Building and Planning, Town Attorney, Information Technology, Accounting, Engineering, Purchasing, Town Historian and Human Resources.
