UPDATE: Planners Set Time, Place for 25A Public Workshop

Under pressure from Councilmen Jim Wooten and John Dunleavy – and with the – the consultants along the Route 25A corridor from the Brookhaven town line to Sound Avenue have agreed to hold a public workshop in Wading River on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Update: Supervisor Sean Walter announced on Wednesday that the workshop, open to the entire public, will be held at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church from 10 a.m. to noon.

Frank Fish, a principal of BFJ Planning, a Manhattan-based consulting firm, agreed to the added date during a Town Board work session Thursday afternoon at which both Wooten and Dunleavy, along with Dominique Mendez and Sid Bail of the coalition, complained that members of the public – particularly residents of Wading River – had not been given ample opportunity to be heard.

Previously, two feedback sessions had been held by BFJ before Thursday's presentation: one with property owners along the stretch, and another with roughly a dozen individuals invited by civic leaders.

The original plan, according to an April letter sent by BFJ to Supervisor Sean Walter, called for "a public workshop that will be expanded to include residents and business owners within the entire hamlet of Wading River."

Members of the public started to speak out after BFJ announced that in addition to the first two meetings, it was planning a public briefing before a Town Board meeting at Town Hall on Feb. 22 - the date some considered would be official public hearing date, leaving no opportunity for the entire public to provide input before the study was put up for public comment.

On Thursday, Mendez and others - pointing to the original plan - argued that a meeting at a Wading River venue and on a Saturday was needed to ensure the fullest participation of hamlet residents who would be most affected by any proposed zone changes.

In his presentation, which Fish described as a very preliminary look at what he and his colleagues were thinking, Fish showed slides recommending that 24 acres along 25A be rezoned from retail use to residential and office building use.

He emphasized that any proposed zoning changes would by law necessitate a formal public hearing, but agreed that another public workshop to consider mid-course corrections would be beneficial and that he was more than willing to hold it on a Saturday.

Though the date and time of the added work shop have been agreed to, its actual location will have to be worked out and publicized once a venue is set. Under the new arrangement, a second public session at the Feb. 22 Town Board meeting would still be held.