[Adopted 10-14-1997 by L.L. No. 14-1997 (Ch. 44, § 44-6, of the 1976 Code)]
[Amended 2-6-2008 by L.L. No. 3-2008]
The Farmland Preservation Committee shall be composed of seven members appointed by the Town Board for staggered two-year terms as follows:
A. 
Four members of the agricultural community of the Town who are actively engaged in the ownership and/or operation of a farm located on the agricultural lands within the Town of Riverhead, as appointed by the Town Board.
[Amended 11-18-2008 by L.L. No. 45-2008; 8-18-2009 by L.L. No. 43-2009]
B. 
A member of the Riverhead Planning Board.
C. 
Two at-large members as appointed by the Town Board.
The Farmland Preservation Committee shall:
A. 
Review and approve an inventory of agricultural lands within the Town of Riverhead, as prepared by the Planning Board, to be employed as a resource in the decisionmaking process of the Committee in the prioritization of agricultural lands to be preserved or acquired.
B. 
Recommend agricultural lands from which development rights should be purchased by the Town Board or the County of Suffolk.
C. 
Review applications for construction permits to allow the erection of structures upon agricultural lands from which development rights have been severed and acquired by the Town.
D. 
Propose rules and regulations, subject to the approval of the Town Board, governing its own activities and procedures for review of permit applications.
E. 
Review any matters relevant to development issues being considered by any agency of the Town with regard to agricultural lands or the agricultural industry.
F. 
Report annually to the Town Board in the month of January. The annual report shall provide information pertinent to the agricultural lands from which development rights have been acquired, the construction permits reviewed, the major decisions reached by the Committee and an outline of its rationale, as well as any other information the Committee deems relevant.
G. 
Act as the clearinghouse advisory board.
The Committee shall consider the following criteria in its recommendations to the Town Board with respect to the acquisition of development rights:
A. 
Soil suitability for future agricultural land use.
B. 
History or agricultural production.
C. 
Contiguity with other agricultural lands from which development rights have been severed or plan to be severed.
D. 
Appraised value of the development rights.
E. 
Frontage on major thoroughfares.
Erection of structure subsequent to purchase of development rights. No structures of any kind shall be permitted to be erected or maintained, except for structures legally existing on the date of transfer subsequent to the purchase of development rights by the Town, except as specifically set forth as follows:
A. 
The Farmland Preservation Committee shall be empowered to authorize construction by the issuance of a waiver letter for the following specified items:
(1) 
Repair or replacement in kind of structures lawfully existing as of the date of purchase.
(2) 
Installation of fences, irrigation wells and pumps.
(3) 
Special events of a recreational or charitable nature for a term of no more than 90 days which require no permanent structures other than those specifically permitted in this subsection.
B. 
The Committee shall be empowered to issue a permit for the construction of buildings and other structures customarily accessory and incidental to agricultural production as the same is or shall hereafter be defined in § 301 of the New York State Agriculture and Markets Law, in accordance with the following procedure:
(1) 
An application, in a form approved by the Committee, and a survey or plot plan outlining the proposed construction shall be submitted to the Town Clerk for transmittal to the Committee for review.
(2) 
The Committee shall by formal resolution grant or deny the construction permit. The Committee shall, in granting the construction permit, have authority to impose such conditions and restrictions as it shall see fit in the reasonable exercise of its discretion to impose; provided, however, that no permit shall be issued for the erection or maintenance of any building or other structure intended for human habitation.
(3) 
Notwithstanding the provisions of this article or Chapter 201, Agricultural Lands, to the contrary, the granting of a construction permit by the Committee shall enable the applicant to apply for a building permit without further site plan review by the Town Board.
(4) 
No structures of any kind whatsoever shall be permitted to be erected or maintained on lands which have been preserved for agricultural purposes as a condition of subdivision or site plan approval by grant of easement, covenant, deed of developmental rights, lease or other property interest granted to the Town, except those structures that may be permitted by the Farmland Preservation Committee pursuant to the same procedural requirements as set forth herein.