Riverhead Board Raises Concerns Over Pulaski Street Battery Storage Facility

A proposal to build a standalone battery energy storage facility at the corner of Pulaski Street and JT Boulevard drew pointed skepticism from Riverhead Town Board members Thursday, with Supervisor Jerry Halpin and two council members raising objections about wetlands encroachment and the site's closeness to neighboring homes.

The project, called Pulaski Street Storage, would place an approximately 5-megawatt, 20-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system on a 1.03-acre parcel at 1281 Pulaski St. in the town's Light Industrial zoning district. Town planning staff describe the battery system as the principal use of the property, not an accessory to any solar project or other development on the site.

The sharpest criticism centered on a proposed access road that falls within the town wetlands jurisdictional area. Planning staff had already flagged the issue, recommending the applicant relocate the driveway to Pulaski Street rather than JT Boulevard specifically to move it outside that jurisdictional boundary. The staff report also requires the applicant to submit a letter of non-jurisdiction from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation before the project advances.

Those procedural requirements did not satisfy Board members. Council Member Bob Kern said he was troubled that the town's Conservation Advisory Council had not pressed the applicant to pull the project further back from the wetlands. "I don't want it near the wetlands," Kern said, adding that he was surprised the advisory council had not sought to move it farther away. Supervisor Halpin shared that view. "I definitely am not thrilled about the road in the wetlands," Halpin agreed. Council Member Joann Waski directed concern toward a different but related issue, raising the project's proximity to homes near the site.

The identity of the applicant and the project's permitting timeline were not included in available materials. It also remains unclear whether the Conservation Advisory Council has issued any formal written recommendation or whether the required DEC non-jurisdiction letter has been requested or received. The project has drawn attention to broader questions about where large-scale energy storage facilities belong within Riverhead's Light Industrial corridors, particularly when those parcels border residential areas and regulated wetlands.