Westhampton Beach Village Tells Developer: No Supermarket For You!

The Westhampton Beach Village Board has denied a developer’s request that it consider modifying the municipality’s zoning code in order to allow him to build a supermarket along the west side of Old Riverhead Road in the village.

At last week’s work session, board members informed Westhampton developer Andrew Mendelson that they would not entertain his petition, which was hand-delivered to Village Hall last month and seeks to alter the village code to permit the construction of a grocery store on two adjoining properties that he owns. The two properties, at 107 Old Riverhead Road and 105 Old Riverhead Road, are zoned B-3 Business and Industrial, respectively; neither zoning currently permits supermarkets.

When reached earlier this week, Mr. Mendelson said he will attend the next Village Board meeting, scheduled for Thursday, March 1, with a zoning map so he can point out to the trustees just how few properties his proposed change would impact.

“We are talking about a tiny corner,” Mr. Mendelson added. “It’s not a big deal.”

Mayor Conrad Teller, who did not address the developer during last week’s work session, said on Wednesday that Mr. Mendelson did not follow proper protocol.

“Mr. Mendelson is a developer and he knows how to proceed in this legal matter,” Mr. Teller said. “Taking the issue to the public is not the proper way to go about it.”

Mr. Mendelson wants to build a 35,000- to 40,000-square-foot supermarket on the estimated 4.3 acres that he owns along the west side of Old Riverhead Road, south of the train tracks. As part of his argument, the developer said the current village code essentially prohibits the opening of new supermarkets in Westhampton Beach, which is now served only by Waldbaum’s.

But Westhampton Beach Village Attorney Richard T. Haefeli informed him during last week’s work session that the board will not entertain his request.

“It’s nothing more than an attempt to avoid a request to rezone those two districts,” Mr. Haefeli said of Mr. Mendelson’s petition. “To permit that opens up all the other issues that are involved.”

He later added: “The application requires a full rezoning of two zoning districts and that’s only if the board wants to consider it.”

The Waldbaum’s on Sunset Avenue is the only such supermarket in the village and, as a result, Mr. Mendelson believes it maintains an unfair monopoly. Local shoppers who do not want to frequent the business must now do their shopping at the Stop & Shop in Hampton Bays, the King Kullen in Eastport or along Route 58 in Riverhead.

Mr. Haefeli explained that Waldbaum’s falls within the village’s B-1 Business district and that a grocery store, while under different ownership, has been in that location for more than 50 years. Both Mr. Teller and Mr. Haefeli pointed out that new supermarkets are allowed in the village, but they must be built in the B-1 Business district.

According to a survey that Mr. Mendelson recently presented to the board, more than half of 339 Westhampton Beach residents he polled said they do not like Waldbaum’s, while 40 percent of another 484 people who live in the surrounding hamlets also said they don’t like the supermarket.

Paul Houlihan, the building and zoning administrator for Westhampton Beach, said the village spent two years, beginning in April 2006, working on its master plan update. He added that the village’s 2006 Business District Comprehensive Plan was developed based on the input of local business owners, private citizens and developers. Mr. Houlihan also noted that Mr. Mendelson, who owned his two properties at the time, never offered any input back then.

“He owned that land then and he was nowhere to be found,” Mr. Houlihan said. “After all the work that the village put into the process it is disingenuous to go about it in this way.

“This isn’t about fighting with anyone,” he added. “This is about good government and developing a master plan.”

At least one Village Board member, meanwhile, commended Mr. Mendelson for his persistence. Patricia DiBenedetto also said that she, like many others, thinks the conditions at the Waldbaum’s are deplorable.

“It would be great to have another supermarket, but it is unfortunate that his property involves two different zones,” Ms. DiBenedetto said.

Noting that the zoning issue complicates things, she encouraged residents to tell the board if they want it to consider the developer’s request.

In November, Mr. Teller said he would not discuss Mr. Mendelson’s request until he filed a formal application to change the zoning of his property with the village. But rather than file an application, the developer last month filed a request that the village consider amending its zoning code.

When asked about recent comments he made to Westhampton-Hampton Bays Patch, in which he stated that he would bring his fight to the residents while also pointing out that there is a village election in June, Mr. Mendelson declined to discuss his position. Mr. Teller and his two running mates from two years ago—Village Board members Toni-Jo Birk and Leola “Sue” Farrell—control the board’s majority and all are up for reelection this June. All three ran on the Village Unit Party line in 2010.