Riverhead weighs Main Road zoning change amid spot-zoning concerns
Bob Kern’s Main Road zoning push would open a 14-lot Riverhead corridor to retail and trade shops, drawing spot-zoning warnings from town planners.
Riverhead is weighing a Main Road zoning change that would open a narrow stretch of Route 25 to retail stores and trade shops, a move town planners say could clash with the town’s long-term land-use plan and invite spot-zoning concerns.
Council Member Bob Kern proposed the amendment for properties with frontage on either side of New York State Route 25 between Doctors Path and County Route 105 and their logical extensions. The corridor includes 14 separate tax lots, but only three are undeveloped. One of those vacant parcels is a 225-acre agricultural tract that fronts Main Road in two places and extends north; seven lots are already commercial and four are single-family residential.
Kern said he was not targeting a particular owner or project. Instead, he said he has been looking for land that has sat unused or underused for years and wants to see whether zoning changes could strengthen Riverhead’s tax base. His proposal lands in the middle of a familiar Suffolk County fight: whether local governments should loosen zoning to chase more taxable development or hold the line on land-use rules meant to shape a corridor’s future.
Senior planners Greg Bergman and Matt Charters pressed the issue during the May 7 Town Board work session. They argued that the proposal does not fit the Commercial/Residential Campus district’s purpose and could weaken Riverhead’s broader planning goals. Under town code, the CRC district is intended to provide locations for offices and professional offices offering essential services, such as legal, medical, accounting, real estate and travel, along with additional housing alternatives near services and arterial roads.
That is why the idea has drawn scrutiny. The amendment would steer part of Main Road toward retail and trade-shop activity, even though the CRC district was written as a transitional office and residential zone, not a retail or contractor-use corridor. Planners said that mismatch raises the kind of spot-zoning questions that can unsettle nearby property owners and complicate how traffic and future investment play out along one of Riverhead’s most important commercial roadways.
The debate also comes as Riverhead works under a new comprehensive plan adopted in 2024, which is meant to guide development and land-use decisions for the next 10 to 20 years. The town’s 2003 plan warned that growth could bring traffic congestion, sprawl and the loss of open space, concerns that still shadow major zoning shifts on Main Road and across the town.
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