Water pipeline brings debate to Riverhead over construction impacts

The Suffolk County Water Authority’s new route for its proposed 7.5-mile pipeline from Flanders to Southold is reviving longstanding concerns about construction through Riverhead.

Town officials and residents pushed back against the plan during a hearing in Riverhead Tuesday. They argued the project could create traffic, environmental, infrastructure and quality of life issues during its 12-to-18-month construction period.

The proposed transmission line would pump more water from deeper supplies in the pine barrens to Southold, where water authority officials say current demand is outpacing  supply.  The water authority unveiled a new route using Main Road instead of Sound Avenue in July after public opposition.

Though Main Road is a preferable route, Riverhead officials still have concerns about the project and want the authority to comply with local zoning and secure town approvals.

“That solution may not work for the community because they’re merely shifting the impacts from one major east-west thoroughfare to the other,” Jeff Seeman, the town’s environmental consultant, said Tuesday.

Seeman said the route passes through hamlet centers that have historic homes and buildings. Construction could also impact Aquebogue Elementary School on Main Road.

Water authority officials have said construction would be planned to avoid the busy fall season and include overnight work to reduce disruptions.

The SCWA sued Riverhead last year after the town determined the authority should not be immune from local zoning; the SCWA reached the opposite conclusion.

Despite the worst of the traffic coming in the fall, Supervisor Jerry Halpin pushed back against the view that Riverhead is a seasonal community. He said the town is a major regional economic hub for residents across the East End.

“We service so much of the shopping, so much of people’s everyday life, their quality of life,” Halpin said. “We’re not looking to impede people’s quality of life or stop them from having clean water.”

Instead, Riverhead wants the SCWA to offer a direct public benefit to its residents, who are served by an independent municipal water district.

“The full disruption is in the town of Riverhead,” said Councilman Ken Rothwell, suggesting the water authority provide a connection or potential funding for parks and recreation for the construction impacts.

Riverhead held Tuesday’s hearing as part of a Monroe balancing test, which is used to determine whether one government should be exempt from another’s zoning rules. The test weighs nine factors, including potential public benefits.

The water authority has said the project contains an overarching public benefit: providing clean water to Southold residents.

Brody Smith, an attorney for SCWA from the firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, said construction impacts should be mitigated, but should not hold up the project.

“The long-term benefit of providing people with safe drinking water and fire safety … is going to outweigh short-term construction oriented inconveniences,” Smith said Tuesday.

Town officials also raised concerns about the pipeline’s proximity to an ongoing $2.2 million wetlands restoration project in Meetinghouse Creek and potential conflicts with existing utilities.

Riverhead Water District Superintendent Frank Mancini warned against installing the proposed pipeline too close to existing utilities, which he said could cause settling and line failures.

“This will make our water service more complicated and more expensive,” Mancini said. He urged the SCWA to consider 10 feet of separation between existing water infrastructure to avoid damage.