Riverhead Council Member Buys 107-Acre Jamesport Horse Farm, Plans Equestrian Use

Ken Rothwell, a sitting Riverhead Town Council member, and his wife Debra purchased B.J. Farms, a 107.8-acre preserved horse farm at 1394 Main Road in Jamesport, with plans to rename the property Thunder Road Stables and continue its equestrian tradition.

The farm has been shielded from development since 1979, when Suffolk County purchased its development rights. County records show Brian and Jennifer Nixon had owned the property since 1993, most recently through living trusts. The Nixons, now in their 80s, were ready to step back after decades of running the operation, and the Rothwells said the prospect of the farm going dark was a driving concern.

"We just wanted to make sure that, God forbid something happens to one of them, that that farm will continue on to the next generation," Ken Rothwell said in a March 5 interview.

Debra Rothwell struck a similarly protective note about the land and the animals already living there. "We're gonna keep it. It's preserved land, so that's always gonna have that beauty and no development, which is fantastic," she said. "I just hope to be a good steward to the land and a guardian to the horses living there."

The purchase drew scrutiny at the March 3 Riverhead Town Board meeting, where Aquebogue resident Ron Hariri argued that Rothwell should recuse himself from any board matters that could affect the property and urged both the board and the town attorney to seek a formal opinion on potential conflicts of interest. Rothwell countered that the land's development rights had already been sold to Suffolk County and that the property will remain restricted to farming regardless of who owns it. Whether the town attorney or board pursues a formal ethics opinion remains unresolved in public record.

The preservation framework Rothwell cited dates to nearly half a century ago. Suffolk County's 1979 purchase of the development rights means the 107.8 acres cannot be converted to residential or commercial use, a restriction that runs with the land through any ownership change. That protection, originally secured through the county's farmland preservation program, now frames the Rothwells' stewardship of what will become Thunder Road Stables.