Town Board Approves Consulting Contract for EPCAL

As expected, the town board on Tuesday voted to approve a contract with a Hauppauge-based consulting firm aimed at overcoming hurdles that Supervisor Sean Walter has argued are working against meaningful economic development and job creation at Enterprise Park at Calverton, the 2,200-acre former Grumman aircraft assembly and testing complex that was transferred to town ownership in 1998.

The 16-page contract – which was approved 4-1, with only Councilman John Dunleavy voting against it – mandates that VHB Engineering, Surveying and Landscape Architecture PC conduct a number of studies and draw up a series of plans for a total fee not to exceed $458,000.

The firm’s directives – spelled out by Walter at a – include updating a land-use plan for EPCAL and drafting new zoning codes.

The firm will also be responsible for drawing up a subdivision map that will divide the property into smaller parcels, an undertaking which, along with updated zoning, should make investing at EPCAL more attractive to developers, according to Walter.

VHB will also conduct an extensive study and develop a plan to mitigate environmental concerns as mandated by the State Environmental Review Act, known as SEQRA. This will be the most expensive piece of VHB's assignment, carrying a price tag not to exceed $160,000.

At last week’s press conference, Dunleavy seemed to indicate  he would endorse the contract. But on Tuesday, he said he was against the spending the money because the town could accomplish what needs to be done without outside help.

“We’ve done a lot studies,” he said. “We’re surveyed this property three times and now we’re hiring another engineering and surveying firm to do another survey? What we need is a committee to go talk to the Department of Environment Development.

“A new plan needs to be formulated,” he admitted, “but I don’t know why individuals on this town board or in this town can’t get a committee together and go talk to the DEC and say, ‘Listen, we want to get this thing going. What do you want us to do?'”

Walter suggested that what Dunleavy wants to do has already been done, but to no avail.

“I spent hours and hours and hours with the DEC and in meetings with the county health department and the county executive,” Walter said, “and you know what they said at every meeting? That you have to do what our board is poised to do today. Nothing more and nothing less.

“Here’s the thing folks,” he continued. “For 12 years we’ve had this property, and if you think we got it right, than I guess you’d be happy with what we have there, which is not a whole heck of a lot.”

Walter said the cost for the project could easily be covered by money the town has already brought in from EPCAL, including $7.5 million from Riverhead Resorts in the form of contract extension payments. after it failed to live up to stipulations in contract with the town, but the money it had already paid was nonrefundable.

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio addressed the money issue, saying, “This town board is mindful of the cost of this agreement. But to those against this plan, I say there is another cost, and that is the cost of missed opportunities.

“Just a few short years ago,” she said, “we went through the largest land boom in the history of Long Island. And while everyone else prospered, we never sold one acre at EPCAL because we must first do what the state has been telling us to do since 2005.”

Councilmen George Gabrielsen and Jim Wooten also expressed enthusiasm for the contract.

“This should have been done a long, long time ago,” Gabrielsen said. “We will finally be able to subdivide and market these parcels off. We all know that we have a lot bigger audience for 10 acres than you will for 755 acres. So the game is going to widen.”

Wooten said that what needs to be done “has been done piecemeal by a lot of different people over the years for a lot of different reasons.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “the mindset years ago was, ‘We’d like to have it done, but who’s going to pay for it?’ The town never really stepped up to the plate and realized what a gem they had.

“Sometimes, “ he said, “you’ve got to polish the rock yourself."

Walter said that the consultant’s work would take between a year and a half to two years to complete, but argued that the delay wouldn’t work against the town.

 “We’re now at an historic low in the real estate market, so there’s no sense in trying to market the property at a low point,” he said. “So this is an ideal time to do this work.”