Suffolk County Water Authority Sues Riverhead Over North Fork Pipeline

The Suffolk County Water Authority has sued the Town of Riverhead in Suffolk County Supreme Court, asking a judge to declare the North Fork Water Main Project exempt from Riverhead zoning and to block the town from enforcing land-use rules against the authority. The complaint, filed in early February and reported by court records as filed Feb. 6 and publicly posted Feb. 13, argues Riverhead’s Monroe balancing-test determination is legally flawed and must be overturned.

SCWA’s board framed the case as necessary to protect water reliability on the North Fork. “The Suffolk County Water Authority has adopted a Monroe determination confirming that the North Fork Water Main Project is not subject to local zoning. While we remain committed to working with the Town of Riverhead, their Monroe determination is legally flawed and leaves us with no choice but to seek relief in court. Public authorities are specifically designed to carry out critical infrastructure work efficiently and without municipal obstruction; imposing local zoning requirements can delay projects that directly affect water reliability. SCWA has clear statutory authority and longstanding case law on its side. We are taking this step to ensure the delivery of reliable, high-quality drinking water to our customers on the North Fork,” the board said in its public release accompanying the filing.

The authority’s legal theory rests on its status as a public-benefit corporation under the state Public Authorities Law and on Monroe balancing-test precedent for immunity from municipal zoning. Counsel for SCWA in the litigation is Kathleen Bennett of Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, named in the court filing reported in local accounts. The relief sought includes a judgment declaring the project exempt from Riverhead zoning, overturning the town’s Monroe determination and barring enforcement of local land-use requirements against SCWA.

Riverhead officials have taken the opposite view. Riverhead determined late last year that the pipeline is not exempt from local review and notified SCWA that, as the host community, the town would perform the Monroe balancing test for any part of the project inside town borders. “the town hasn’t been served yet,” Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard said, and “to the extent that we're the host community for any portion of their proposed scope of work, the Monroe [balancing test] would be done by us,” adding, “I think that’s consistent with guidance from the state.” Town leaders have said town review is necessary to evaluate impacts on traffic, roadways and neighborhoods.

SCWA describes the project as a transmission line from Flanders Road across the Peconic River, north along Cross River Drive and Northville Turnpike, and east on Sound Avenue to the Southold town line, with a 24-inch main and a new booster station. Sources differ on total length: National Today and SCWA summaries pair that route with an 8.15-mile figure; Newsday described the proposal as an 8.5-mile transmission line; the Riverhead News Review ran a 12-mile figure in its lede while citing 8.15 miles elsewhere. The project is reported to cost about $35 million and, according to the Riverhead News Review, would supply roughly 9,500 Southold customers.

SCWA and town officials also disagree on permitting: Riverhead has listed utility easements, special permits, a highway road opening permit, site-plan approval, a fire marshal construction permit, wetlands permits and other construction, excavation and grading permits that it says SCWA would need if local zoning applies. The court complaint, as reported, alleges Riverhead’s Monroe determination “was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion and affected by error of law because the Monroe Balancing Test clearly weighs in favor of immunity.”

As of the latest reporting, Riverhead officials say the town had not been served and no return date or court schedule has been reported; SCWA has publicly posted its complaint. The case will hinge on the Monroe balancing-test analysis and on whether the court accepts SCWA’s contention that constructing a 24-inch transmission main and booster station is an essential public-authority function immune from local zoning.