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Fresh & Co. greenhouse gets conditional approval

Nearly a month after the Southold Planning Board approved the controversial Tenedios Agricultural Barn, known as Fresh & Co., the property will likely see even more changes.

The amended site plan would add a 1,440-square-foot greenhouse to the 34.5-acre farmland at the corner of Narrow River Road and Route 25 in Orient.

The greenhouse, intended to keep animals warm during winter months as another site plan is processed, will be located in the five-acre area which has development rights intact in the R-200 zoning district. The other 29.5 acres have development rights held by Southold Town.

“The [board] has determined that this proposed action is consistent with the policies of the town of Southold local Waterfront Revitalization Program,” Planning Board member Mary Eisenstein said.

However, the board determined that the proposal can only be endorsed by the board under certain conditions. The conditions have not yet been made available to the public. Once the conditions are met, the board can approve the amended plan.

The other initial proposal, which requested a 8,664-square-foot building to house livestock and store feed, supplies and farm equipment on 34.5 acres of farmland was approved last month.

That decision came after residents voiced their environmental concerns at numerous public hearings due to the close proximity of the parcel to wetlands. Orient residents addressed similar concerns about the greenhouse at a Jan. 14 public hearing.

In December, Town Code Enforcement, responsible for the investigation and enforcement of code violations in Southold, issued three separate stop work orders after the Manhattan-based restaurant chain began constructing the greenhouse prior to site plan approval and DEC or building permits.

At a previous work session, attorney Patricia Moore, who represented Mr. Tenedios, said he had lost animals last winter because they did not expect the application for the first barn to take nearly two years to be approved, the Suffolk Times previously reported. The planning board refused to lift one of the stop work orders last month as they could not proceed until DEC permits have been issued.

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Photo caption: Planner Brian Cummings and Principal Planner Mark Terry at Monday’s Planning Board meeting.