Riverhead Church Project Receives Funding, Needs Rezoning

An affordable housing project proposed on the North Fork more than a decade ago received a funding boost from the state. It just needs a rezoning to propel it forward.

New York provided developers of an affordable housing project at the First Baptist Church of Riverhead with $1 million earmarked for infrastructure improvements, Newsday reported. That’s a small piece of the $52 million puzzle of the project, which is being spearheaded by the church and nonprofit developer Georgica Green Ventures.

That funding will likely go towards an on-site sewage treatment plant, sidewalk improvements and landscaping.

Dubbed Northville Commons, the project would include 80 affordable rental apartments and eight for-sale condos. The development would also include a 10,000-square-foot community center.

The one- and two-bedroom units will be reserved for those earning between 50 percent and 80 percent of the area median income.

The church land spans 12 acres, so the congregation has plenty of room to coexist with a housing community. Georgica Green Ventures will lease the land needed for the housing for 99 years and hopes to get construction going by late next year.

But a zoning change is still needed to turn the project into a reality. The developer is seeking a change that would mandate 10 percent of units built in a community benefit zoning use district to be allocated for sale, rather than rent, which will help owners build more equity in their properties.

Units in those zoned districts would need to be sold for between 50 percent and 130 percent of the area median income.

A public hearing for the zoning change is scheduled for early next month. A possible vote on the change could come by the end of August.

The origins of the project date back more than a decade. In 2013, a proposal in front of the town board would have led to the development of 132 apartments. The board rejected that project.

— Holden Walter-Warner