Planning Board to take closer look at riding academy site
Members of the Southold Town Planning Board plan to take a closer look at the G.W. Meade farm on Ackerly Pond Lane before a public hearing on an application for a riding academy at the site scheduled for Oct. 17.
The board members plan to walk through the Southold site as a group after several neighbors voiced concerns about the proposed riding academy, which is currently before both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals for review.
Town Planner Brian Cummings told board members at a work session on Monday that there are several issues with the proposal to add a 14,400-square-foot indoor arena and a 5,200-square-foot barn to the existing 10-acre horse farm, including the fact that the property is accessed by a shared one-way driveway that is used by three neighboring residential property owners.
The farm is currently owned by William Bergrath, but Brian Glenn and Lucille Sullivan of Riverhead plan to buy the farm, which has a small farmhouse and three barns.
Mr. Cummings said that Mr. Bergrath likely violated covenants and restrictions on the property when building some of the outbuildings on the site.
“It needs a lot of scrutiny. We need to walk the road and walk the driveway,” said Town Planning Director Heather Lanza at Monday’s work session.
The Oct. 17 public hearing will begin at 6 p.m.
