Can a Riverhead school house become a microbrewery?

Does a microbrewery constitute “agricultural production?”

That’s the question the Riverhead Zoning Board of appeals will have to answer following an upcoming hearing on turning a nearly 100-year-old former Sound Avenue school house into a microbrewery.

A company called McCarthy’s on the Green is seeking to convert the old Northville School House into the “Old School House Brewery,” said attorney John Ciarelli, who represents property owner John Reeve Jr.

Town planning director Rick Hanley rejected the company’s application on March 21 on the grounds that the brewery would be an accessory use to agricultural production and as such the 3.9-acre property falls short of the town’s seven acre minimum.

The hearing is scheduled for the ZBA’s May 24 meeting beginning at 7 p.m. at Riverhead Town Hall.

For additional information read next week’s edition of The Suffolk Times.