The Town of Smithtown, Kings Park Central School District and Rite Aid successfully hosted a satellite vaccine site for residents, ages 50+ and school employees over the weekend. On Saturday, April 17, a temporary COVID-19 vaccine site was implemented at Kings Park High School. Rite Aid facilitated and administered 180 Moderna vaccines for the appointment-only event. Emergency response support for the day was provided by the Kings Park Fire Department. Assisting with logistics and registration at the event were roughly a dozen KPHS National Honor Society students, staff from the Smithtown Senior Center and Supervisor Ed Wehrheim’s office.
“The stars must truly align in order to implement an initiative of this magnitude. Without the assistance from Rite Aid, a fantastic relationship with surrounding School Districts, a phenomenal team in my office and our compassionate Senior Center staff, our volunteer first responders, and the leadership of Dr. Timothy Eagen at Kings Park Central School District, we could not help our local residents and school staff. This vital service was a success because we united together; the private sector, the public and various government agencies, to protect our community,” said Supervisor Wehrheim.
Several weeks ago, the Kings Park Central School District officially designated Kings Park High School as a potential vaccination site for the community. While most teachers throughout the township had been successful in obtaining vaccine appointments, many support staff such as School Aids and Bus Drivers were in need of a convenient process to suit their individual schedules.
“The purpose of this event was to provide an important public health service for our employees and local area Senior Citizens. Many employees and residents have experienced a significant amount of frustration and anxiety while trying to make a vaccination appointment. We wanted to take this potential roadblock away for those who are eligible and willing to be vaccinated,” said Dr. Timothy Eagen, KPCSD Superintendent of Schools
An important objective was to provide an easy registration process for those individuals who may have previously struggled with the online method. Eligible Smithtown residents and school faculty in the four surrounding districts were able to book appointments by phone or through email. Additionally, a dozen KPHS National Honor Society students were on hand, volunteering their time to assist in the registration and logistical process.
“You will not find a place on Earth where students embrace service more than in Kings Park. It was heartwarming to see about a dozen students give up a portion of their Saturday to assist in this public health effort, added Eagen.
Approximately 180 Moderna vaccines were supplied and administered to Smithtown residents and surrounding school district employees courtesy of Rite Aid Pharmacy. Individuals who received the vaccine on Saturday will return to Kings Park High School in 28 days to receive the Moderna booster shot.
DID YOU KNOW?:
If you receive either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, you will need a booster shot to be fully protected.
COVID-19 vaccines are not interchangeable. If you received a Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, you must get the same product/brand booster shot.
The CDC recommends getting your second shot even if you have side effects after the first, unless a vaccination provider or your doctor tells you not to get it.
When you book an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine it is critical that you show up or give ample notice of cancellation.
When you do not cancel for a vaccine, you could be taking a vaccine from as many as nine other people.
A proposed sewage treatment plant on the Gyrodyne property in St. James has been the topic of rallies in the past, such as the above in March of 2020, and is still a concern for residents. File photo by Rita J. Egan
By Chris Cumella
Future ideas and recommendations being made for Smithtown’s Master Comprehensive Plan by town officials and residents have been public and viewable on the town’s website, but there is still miscommunication occurring on both ends.
Open recreational spaces, private lands for sewage treatment facilities, and renovation of outdated structures only scrape the surface of the expansive vision that the Smithtown government sees for the numerous town hamlets that the plan is expected to partake in. To display full transparency of the plan’s elongated efforts and strategies of achieving them, gaining public feedback was essential to the process of a collaborative effort of compromises between the town government and residents alike.
“In 2019, we began these public meetings in each hamlet,” said Smithtown Public Information Officer Nicole Garguilo in a phone interview. “We had maps, interactive sessions, we also did an online questionnaire.”
Smithtown officials began their public outreach through questionnaires created on publicinput.com, a community engagement software creator, which allowed the town to extend requests of feedback and concerns or questions from the residents.
However, while public information sessions have managed to keep the town up to date, it has also created problematic tensions for one group of residents in particular who are actively opposing certain aspects of the plan. Garguilo commented that the mentioned opposition is primarily against the waste-water management facility proposed for the Gyrodyne property in St. James but that the real issues stem from people “fearing what they don’t understand.”
The Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition represents one of the groups of town citizens criticizing and opposing specific sections of the plan unless favorable compromises can be reached between the coalition and the town government. The coalition is a volunteer organization based in Head of the Harbor. It is composed of neighborhood residents in Head of the Harbor and St. James dedicated to the preservation of their environment, heritage and history.
The middle-ground between these two groups is uncertain, especially amid claims that there is improper regard to the community’s voices speaking out against the plan.
“They receive [our] letters, but we don’t receive any acknowledgment from the town that there are community concerns,” said Judy Ogden, trustee of the Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Coalition. “When the draft Comprehensive Plan came out, it was supposed to be a chance to speak of the conflict in some of the points being made.”
Ogden, along with other members of the coalition, attended the St. James hamlet meeting to raise questions. Their most recent attendance during a Zoom conference held Jan. 28 about St. James found familiar questions and ponderance directed toward the details of the plan for the hamlet.
One topic of conversation was the Gyrodyne sewage treatment plan proposed for the commercial property in St. James.
All over Suffolk County, according to Garguilo, various places are operating off of outdated sewage systems. If the town had to build even one sewer treatment facility with taxpayer money, the total amount of required finances would roughly estimate $157 million, according to the PIO. Even if the funds were acquired federally, the debate of where it should be placed would supposedly cause further complications and delays for set-up.
Garguilo said that it is a matter of a 20-to-30-year option vs. a three-year option. The latter being a route that costs the taxpayers of Smithtown nothing since the said sewer treatment facility would be developed in a private sector of land.
“Gyrodyne has owners that want to do right by the community,” Garguilo said. “Most of the representatives are St. James residents, and they care about the community and pay attention to what the concerns are. I think that when it’s all said and done, people will be pleased.”
In addition to sewage treatment, Smithtown officials had reached a deal that H2M, the multi-disciplined professional consulting and design firm, whose hired land developers stated if ten homes were built in a single square mile, a plot of land within a square mile would have to be preserved for open space.
Garguilo affirmed that this action followed part of the town’s decision to make certain areas of the town more family-oriented by associating outdoor-recreational environments that all age-demographics can enjoy.
Smithtown’s famous monument, a bull statue named Whisper, has remained across from developments that have come and gone for over a century. Across the street from the statue is currently the gentlemen’s club Oasis, among other outdated developments, which the town envisions as future open recreational spaces for the general public to use.
It is a mission statement of the town of Smithtown and a drive behind the Comprehensive Plan to preserve as much wildlife space and to never build on it if possible. That is where the town’s “Open-Space Fund” can take effect — renovating the land inside the town instead of constructing new developments on the other side of the Nissequogue River, which are primarily untouched wetlands and marshlands home to various species of wildlife.
The need to connect with the community follows a hope of Garguilo that there can be common ground between the opposition and the town as the Comprehensive Plan continues to unravel and expand.
Others like Ogden say they hope there will be a win-win for everybody, “If we can reconsider some parts, then it would feel like we’re being listened to.”
Through a Zoom meeting Feb. 4, the Smithtown Town Board and residents gathered together virtually to elaborate on the efforts of the town and H2M Architects and Engineers, of Melville, to implement a comprehensive master plan within the next couple of years. The meeting followed other public outreach meetings that have been held since the middle of January to discuss specific plans for Commack, Hauppauge, Nesconset, Kings Park and St. James.
On December 15, 2020, the town released a draft comprehensive plan and initiated the State Environmental Quality Review process.
Directing participants through a slideshow of statistics and ambitions allowed Allyson Murray, principal planner of the Planning Department, to detail the progress of their collaborative efforts with H2M.
Murray said that the town’s former plan “is outdated,” considering the last time it had been adopted was 1957 — and once more before that in 1949. She especially elucidated that the plan’s proposals were only hypothetical and subject to alteration at any point in the next two years.
“There have been questions in some of the past presentations where people thought some of the made recommendations in the plan were 100 percent going to happen,” Murray said. “That’s not really the case — these are guiding policy recommendations that may be implemented.”
The town extended its public outreach to the community in advance in 2019. Murray emphasized that announcements had been made at each of the Town Board meetings, fliers distributed in the downtown areas and in schools, and mentioned the various articles featured in local newspapers.
The presentation made available to those on the call had been made possible from the result of public outreach that the Town Board extended. In addition to the 1,200 responses that the town had garnered in the spring of 2019, it also hosted 370 participants over the course of six community-planning workshops.
“This is the public input over the course of months we were taking it,” Murray said. “H2M took these comments, met with the town, and began preparing that draft plan.”
The plan’s formulation took one year following community feedback.
Smithtown residents felt there was an increased need for safety and renovations, also people needed high quality to be upheld and refurbishments made in several areas of the town.
Pedestrian safety was highlighted as a significant concern, which included enhancing walkability along Main Street as well as the general streetscape. The community also wanted to see the removal of fences that separate the town, county and state parks, and more buildings added to the National and State Registers of Historic Places.
Murray advised what the next steps of the plan would entail for the town and community. In March, a public hearing on the draft plan is set to occur with a date to be determined, which would allow for further public feedback and revision of the plan as necessary. Another hearing will occur in May when the final comprehensive plan will be formatted.
The Town Board recommends that the community continues to provide as much feedback as possible by utilizing its website and to see what the comprehensive plan holds in store for Smithtown’s future.
The 4th Precinct of the Suffolk County Police Department has partnered with the Town of Smithtown Horizons Counseling and Education Center and the Smithtown Youth Bureau to host the “Operation Medicine Cabinet” medicine take back event. This drive thru event will take place on Monday, February 8, from 10 am. to 1 p.m. in the back parking lot of the Town of Smithtown Horizons Center, located at 161 E. Main Street in Smithtown. This event will give residents an additional location to dispose of medication safely.
Residents are encouraged to bring any expired or unused medication in a Ziploc type bag to the Horizons Center for proper disposal by the Suffolk County Police Department. No syringes, auto-injectors, or liquids will be accepted. Safe disposal of medications helps to prevent both potential abuse and the environmental damage caused by medications in water systems.
Residents can additionally dispose of medication at all times at the Department of Public Safety, located at 65 Maple Avenue in Smithtown. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, please call the Department of Public Safety at 631-360-7553 prior to arriving in order to ensure availability.
A drone shot of Long Island Innovation Park in Hauppauge. Photo from Town of Smithtown
The Town of Smithtown is asking the courts to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Hauppauge Union Free School District.
Earlier this month, the district filed a lawsuit against the town. The case, which would be heard in the Suffolk County Supreme Court, asked that the court annuls town zoning that would allow developers for the first time to build apartments in an overlay district in the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge.
The district alleged that the Town Board didn’t conduct a meaningful environmental review or consider potential impacts related to traffic, wastewater and an increase in enrollment in the Hauppauge school district.
In August, the Town Board approved a plan for developers to apply for special exceptions for mixed-use buildings that would include retail and restaurant space as well as apartments. Any apartments built would be on main roadways in the industrial park such as Motor Parkway and New Highway, and there would have to have a 1,000 square-foot buffer between a residential and commercial property.
Smithtown spokesperson Nicole Garguilo said the town is asking for a dismissal as it is believed that many residents have misunderstood reports about the upcoming development. While there are 13 light-industry lots in that park where mixed-use buildings might be a viable option in the future, news of 1,000 units and a possible 300 new students in the district have been misreported.
She said if developers wanted to flip a property, they would have to go through an environmental review process which includes soil and water samples, among other requirements. Developers would also have to go before the town’s Planning Board and Board of Zoning Appeals before any building could start — a process that could take a few years.
Any possible development will most likely feature studio and one-bedroom units.
That’s “either kids out of college or people who are just starting out in life, or the 55-and-older community who might want to downsize to an apartment who work in the area,” Garguilo said.
She noted that studies show young people who rent in an area tend to buy houses in the same neighborhood when they are ready, and numbers such as 300 new students were speculation of what could happen over a few decades.
Hauppauge Industrial Association of Long Island and the Long Island Builders Institute released a joint statement supporting the town’s zoning change after hearing of the school district’s legal challenge.
“The town engaged in a fair, open and transparent process all along the way,” said Terri Alessi-Miceli, president and CEO of HIA-LI. “I applaud Supervisor Ed Wehrheim [R] and the Town Board for including input from a broad spectrum of community stakeholders before voting for this zoning change.”
Mitch Pally, CEO of LIBI, said it was essential “to create conditions for sustained economic growth on Long Island” and to act strategically “to promote workforce attraction and retention.”
“Modern businesses are mobile, and we’re competing every day with other parts of the country to maintain and grow our business base here,” he said.
Pally added that more real property taxes from the industrial park in the future lower “the amount of real property taxes paid by residential property owners in the district.”
According to the HIA-LI and LIBI statement, Hauppauge industrial park businesses pay more than $44 million in real property taxes to the school district every year, translating into the Hauppauge school district tax rate being 40% lower per residence than the average tax rate in Suffolk County.
The Town of Smithtown Town Board unanimously approved the 2021 capital budget on Thursday January 21st. Capital improvements for the upcoming year are heavily focused on Parks and Recreation projects, in an effort to improve quality of life amid the coronavirus pandemic. Highlights of the plan include improvements to the pool area at Landing Country Club, renovating East Hills & Laurel Drive parks and replacing the turf soccer fields at Moriches Park.
By the end of 2021, the Town of Smithtown will have completed the renovation and restoration process of over 75% of the town’s parks and beaches in a four-year period. The 2021 capital budget continues these efforts with the planned revitalization of parks like East Hills and Laurel Drive, along with replacing the turf fields at Moriches Soccer Complex and the replacement and relocation of the playground at Flynn Memorial Ballpark.
Additionally, the installation of permanent shade structures at the Landing Country Club pool will complement the recently completed new surfacing and stairwell replacement. The Parks department is also in the process of installing a new bathroom and small concession area at the entrance to the country club to accommodate golfers. The golf course was recently renovated (2019) which included the repaving of the golf cart paths and roadway, constructing a custom-built starter shack and halfway house, all new landscaping of the entryway island as well as brand new sidewalks, benches and fencing.
Capital Budget Highlights:
Replacement of Turf Soccer Fields at Moriches Park Soccer Complex
Renovations to the playground, resurfacing of tennis courts, new fencing, handball courts and walkways at Laurel Drive Park
New playgrounds, refurbished Handball Courts and new walkways at East Hill Park
Replacement and repositioning of playground and repaving of the parking lot and curbing at Flynn Memorial Ballpark
Permanent shade structure awnings around the Smithtown Landing Country Club Pools
A Solar Farm development & Solar Array Feasibility Study to evaluate placing solar arrays on Town Property
Replacement of heavy-duty trucks and equipment for snow removal
Replacement of the Kings Park Salt Barn to mitigate environmental impacts of road salt storage
Refinancing of 2013 outstanding bonds resulting in estimated aggregate savings of approximately $115,000.
“Providing residents with improved facilities and parks has never been more vital to the wellbeing and quality of life of our quaint community. In these uncertain times, the people of this great community can rest assured of this administration’s steadfast commitment to restoring and maintaining the parks system for all to enjoy,” said Supervisor Ed Wehrheim.
The Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County Sheriff Department honored frontline workers, including the town’s Health and Human Services Department and its contracted food workers from Florian Foods. Photo from TOB
It would be impossible to commemorate every government worker in a single article, but the massive number of people busting their back in the midst of the pandemic helped an immeasurable number of residents when the worst was underway, whether they were custodial staff cleaning buildings for people to work in, or post office workers delivering mail, there are innumerable people the community owes their thanks to.
In this case, it was a collective of government workers from the federal government on down whose job it was to keep those of us in pandemic hot zones up to date. For that, local municipalities depended on small communication offices to relay the most up-to-date and accurate information to both government and citizens, while residents were aided by public safety and food programs for homebound seniors.
Communications
In any battle or crisis, those on the ground will tell you what helps most is having the latest information possible.
Lisa Santeramo, assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs under Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), was at the lead in getting the information from New York State on down to the local governments on Long Island. Her office included Theresa Santoro, a Miller Place native who was in charge of reaching out to Suffolk, and Andrew Mulvey, who was in charge of Nassau.
Lisa Santeramo, assistant secretary for the state intergovernmental affairs office, worked alongside Theresa Santoro and Andrew Mulvey to get up-to-date info about the pandemic out to local municipalities. Photo from Santeramo
Santeramo was just coming back from maternity leave at the end of March but suddenly, as infections grew and places started to shut down, the small intergovernmental office was a focal point for every county, town, village, as well as the dozens of civic and chamber of commerce organizations for learning about new regulations, protocols, closings and reopenings. For months, Santeramo said her office was performing multiple daily calls with different groups from town supervisors to village leadership. They were also sending out constant email updates to inform what changes were happening, even during the middle of the day.
“On Long Island, we have these nuances we have to work through, such as all the different layers of government,” she said. “I joked with electeds that we were spamming their inboxes, but more information is better.”
It was a constant rush of sending information up and down the chain of government. Down the line was Nicole Amendola, the director of intergovernmental affairs for Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D). Amendola rose through the ranks to become director in April, and where she and others in the executive’s office worked long hours to supply local government with the latest information.
Amendola, who reiterated it was a team effort, said that along with her communication work, she was also on the side of making sure different bodies such as fire departments or hospitals were getting the PPE or resources they needed.
“Things were changing so rapidly, not even from the state but even from the federal level, so we had to make sure that we were able to communicate properly and efficiently to all levels of government,” she said. “The work, definitely, was very, very top heavy in terms of hours in the beginning of everything because there was just so much we didn’t know and understand, and things were literally constantly changing.”
Once new regulations and lockdowns were underway, any new information coming in from the governor’s office was immediately poured through. Both state and county offices watched every one of the governor’s daily press conferences to make sure they could get that info to local government.
Even with such things as trick-or-treating for Halloween, Amendola said they made it their jobs to let people know what was permitted and what was not. When people complained about what was or wasn’t allowed to open and which businesses were included in which reopening phases, their office also sent those complaints back up the chain as well.
Others in local governing offices made consistent remarks to TBR News Media on the good job both Santeramo and Amendola’s offices did during this hectic time. Their near-daily updates on COVID-19, what regulations and what restrictions may have changed, was a huge boon for people struggling to make heads or tails of what they needed to do.
Now that numbers are spiking, both offices are on constant calls about what may or may not be coming down the pike. And with vaccines also in play, a new kind of communications blitz is incoming.
“I never thought I’d have to deal with people’s safety,” Santeramo said. “But this year and the work we did, it will be the most important work I think I’ll ever do in my life.”
Public Safety
The year 2020 is going to go down in the record books locally not just because of the pandemic but because of other major events throughout the year. The May killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd sparked waves of protests throughout the country, including several largely peaceful demonstrations on Long Island. Interactions between law enforcement and protesters in Suffolk were mostly harmonious, but in a few places the reaction to those protests grew into a hotbed of misinformation and rumor, especially in the Town of Smithtown. While officials tried to quash those rumors, it was the Smithtown Department of Public Safety that was in the middle of the storm, both figuratively — and it turned out later in 2020 — quite literally.
The Town of Smithtown Public Safety Department made several water rescues during the summer 2020; just one of a few complications to a complicated year. Photo from Thomas Lohmann Jr.
Thomas Lohmann Jr., director of the town public safety office, said when the pandemic first hit, their office was in charge of restricting who could and could not enter town buildings, as well as handling the distribution of PPE throughout Smithtown. While other offices were being cut or shut down, Lohmann’s, with his 55 or so sworn officers and 50 additional civilian staff, was seeing a rapid need for more assistance.
“Everybody here really had to step up and work,” he said. “The communications section, which not only do they dispatch — we also serve three fire departments in the township — and they were extremely busy handling alarms for COVID-19 calls.”
Once things started to reopen, they were there in the local community enforcing restrictions on beaches and in parks. This year, with more boaters out on the water, they completed several water rescues. In enforcing compliance, Lohmann said it was not so much about shutting down businesses as much as talking with owners face-to-face to get them to meet restrictions.
“We recognize the businesses were faced with challenges, and from early onset what we focused on was voluntary compliance,” he said.
During Tropical Storm Isaias in August, the town safety office also became engaged in the work of checking up on people who lacked power. The year 2020 has been fraught with challenges, but for many law enforcement out there, as COVID numbers have risen dramatically in the past two months, the work does not stop.
“We can’t hang a shingle and say we’re shutting down,” Lohmann said, “We’re doing everything we can.”
Government Meal Programs
When the pandemic was at its zenith in late March and early April, the thousands of people who relied on government meal programs found themselves at an even greater loss, unable to get out of the house to even go to the local deli. As senior centers and government offices closed, the many people responsible for getting people food did not back down.
The Suffolk County Office for the Aging works with towns throughout Suffolk in their weekly meal programs. Holly Rhodes-Teague, who heads up the office, is not only in charge of a network of meal programs throughout the 10 towns, she had to keep up with case management, home care, transportation and home repair to allow older adults to remain at home while the pandemic raged outside.
The Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County Sheriff Department honored frontline workers, including the town’s Health and Human Services Department and its contracted food workers from Florian Foods. Photo from TOB
Before COVID hit, the office was helping to arrange meals for around 2,700 seniors in congregate programs and home deliveries. Once the shutdowns occurred, that jumped to 4,200 people. To this day, those numbers have only slightly dropped to a little over 4,000 folks who depend on these daily meals.
“We were able to transition overnight to adding onto home delivery — we took the current program and made it into a grab-and-go type program for meals,” Rhodes-Teague said. “It was amazing how fast they did that. They didn’t skip more than a day.”
And it wasn’t just food. Through the towns, Holly-Teague said they managed to give out items like hand sanitizer and toilet paper, especially when such items were vacant on store shelves. In between everything, her office was calling elders, some of whom are over 100 years old, to just check up and see how they were doing. In one instance, a caseworker could not get a hold of one of their clients after August’s tropical storm. After visiting the elder at home, the caseworker found the electricity was gone, and the person’s life support had gone out.
“All our people stepped up to the plate,” she said.
In the individual towns, the separate Meals on Wheels programs were suddenly inundated. Laura Greif, Smithtown’s senior citizens program director, said the number of seniors they service doubled during the beginning stages of the pandemic, to over 320 meals a day. What made the situation harder was they had half the staff on, and half off. Other staff within the town came through to help instead. With the Smithtown Senior Center closed to visitors, she said they were making over 2,000 calls to elder folk within the town to check up on them regularly.
Once things calmed down, she said her crew even started taking some seniors food shopping. She thanked everyone who worked with her.
“In the beginning it was difficult as we were half-staffed,” Greif said. “Without such an amazing staff and town, it would have been difficult to get it all done. We’re very happy to do this much-needed service.”
Alison Karppi, commissioner of Housing & Human Services at the Town of Brookhaven, said before the pandemic they were supplying meals to 130 homebound seniors, plus those in their congregate program. Once the senior centers closed, that number jumped to over 500 seniors a day. Additionally, the town’s senior citizen division delivered 208 boxes of food to residents in need through Suffolk County’s food insecurity program.
It would take a whole host of Brookhaven employees to reach every single one of those who needed food every day, and not just those from HHS. Workers from other town offices such as the parks department would become drivers to get meals out to seniors spread throughout over 500 square miles. Karppi said unlike other municipalities that were forced to make meals cold, thanks to the town’s cafeteria in Town Hall and its food contractor, Florian Food Service, Brookhaven was regularly sending out warm meals to its seniors.
Making sure the food stayed warm took a whole lot of effort on the part of multiple employees, and Karppi wanted to thank all those drivers whose constant work provided such a necessary service, as well as Dawn Marcasia, who created the route list for drivers every day of the week. Delivering meals also served as a way to check up on seniors, and when there was no response at the door, that information was passed onto the senior citizen division.
Through all of that, the town workers helped deliver over 75,000 meals to seniors at their homes from March through December.
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) expressed how this service has been critical, even as we’re still not out of the woods yet.
“This pandemic is far from over, we’re at least another year anywhere back to where we were before,” he said. “This has been a lifeline to so many of these people.”
An aerial view of Smithtown captures the Smithtown Main Street area. Photo from Town of Smithtown
By Chris Cumella
Updates on the Town of Smithtown’s upcoming master plan were at the forefront of discussions during the Town Board meeting held virtually Dec. 15.
The board and H2M Architects & Engineers collaborated during the meeting as a means of addressing the town’s Comprehensive Plan, a development project in the works of improving facilities, outdoor spaces and town amenities.
A draft of the Comprehensive Plan — a town infrastructure revival over several different areas in the vicinity — was presented by H2M planning representative Jeffrey Janota. He said it was “an enjoyable project, and I want to thank all the residents that came during the public outreach.”
He explained that the Comprehensive Plan was designed to revamp specific downtown areas of Suffolk County that the Town Board deemed necessary. Among those locations being considered in alignment with the Comprehensive Plan were Smithtown proper, Kings Park and St. James.
Those downtowns will be the main demographics for new placements of office spaces, increased retail stores and transit-oriented development, according to Janota. The necessity of reviving the downtown areas come in response to public opinion.
In downtown Smithtown, 34% of polltakers see the community as average, 32% below average and 17% thinking it is poor. Downtown Kings Park and downtown St. James saw similar results.
“The public came out and met with us, and want to make sure that their concerns are heard,” Janota said.
When presenting the topic of improving Smithtown’s mobility, a survey outreach was utilized again to receive direct answers from the community. A majority, 75% of those surveyed, said they wish to see improvement in biking and walking conditions. Other major factors in mobility improvement included adding more parking spaces, increasing streetscape amenities, better traffic signals and lights, and more.
As Janota recapped how the town could enhance existing park amenities, he suggested adding additional play elements such as jungle gyms and swing sets while maintaining the current ones to withstand upcoming brutal weather conditions. H2M’s statistics detail that 12% of Smithtown residents use the parks for the playgrounds and swings.
In addition to keeping the youth content, H2M would set their sights on attracting residents who use parks for outdoor recreational activities by improving pathway quality and building new ones. Their data tells that a larger portion of citizens, 17%, make up those who use the parks for walking and running for exercise.
Based on a New York State recreation guide survey, the Town Board’s greatest number of requests were directed toward the need for expanded and modernized amenities along with revamped facilities in parks, such as parking and restrooms.
As well as preserving the existing parks, H2M unveiled their plans to create new ones, and presented a map of five scattered pinpoints soon to be outdoor spaces. On the list were proposed parks at Half Hollow Road in Commack; Donald Drive and Hillside-Gramercy Gardens in Kings Park; also 3rd Street and Astor Avenue in St. James.
Town Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) encouraged Smithtown residents to be active in their board meetings by responding to the board’s outreach programs when possible.
The Town of Smithtown Town Hall. File photo by Phil Corso
Smithtown town officials presented its 2021 tentative budget of $107.6 million to residents last week during a virtual public town hall meeting. A budget vote is scheduled for November.
“2020 has certainly been a whirlwind throwing challenges our way that are expected to continue throughout 2021,” Town Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) said during the meeting. “It has made our jobs as municipal managers much more difficult in both overseeing the operating results for 2020 and projecting the budget for 2021.”
He said that early on in the pandemic, the town “weathered the storm” and created adequate reserves to keep things intact and continued to complete advantageous projects including the Lake Avenue Business District, among others. “The economic benefits of these projects will last long into the future, allowing for generations to come benefit greatly,” he said.
Wehrheim added that this year the town decreased overtime and decided to cut discretionary spending by 15%.
“If we should experience this again, we can promise you that town board, myself and our town employees will be ready after all the town endures.”
— Ed Wehrheim
The upcoming budget claims it will maintain municipal services while trimming payroll and increasing property taxes on the typical non-village home less than 1%.
“In 2020, we looked to reducing expenditures by reinventing our own ways of doing business and created new opportunities to make up for the pandemic-related shortfall,” the supervisor said. “This enabled me to deliver a budget it stays within a mandated allowable New York state tax cap limitation this year of 1.5%, which is becoming increasingly more difficult for municipal managers.”
Some highlights included an overall decrease in salaries accounting for a little over $600,000.
“Due to the retirement incentive we instituted during the pandemic, we did not utilize any fund balance to balance this budget,” he said. “It is a structurally balanced budget.”
Wehrheim said that overall taxes increased by less than 1% with the exception of residents within the St. James water district who experienced a slightly greater increase due to the water mains along Lake Avenue. The Lake Avenue Project cost $8 million, and includes a dry sewer line that officials home could connect to a sewage treatment plant at the Gyrodyne site near the town’s Brookhaven border.
The 2021 tentative budget meeting broke down expenses by type. The bulk of expenses at 34% goes towards salaries, 30% to contractual agreements, 29% to employee benefits, 5% to debt service and 2% to equipment.
It also states the Town’s General fund will see an increase of $22.57 for a home assessed at $5,500 or 3.74%. The same residence will see a reduction in their highway taxes of $4.51 or 3.61% for a net increase of $18.06 per residence valued at $5,500 or 2.48% increase.
Residents not within village boundaries will see taxes increase by $10.48 for a home assessed at $5,500 or 0.81% higher. Wehrheim said no use of fund balance in any of those funds were used to balance the budget.
After officials broke down the plan, residents voiced their concerns. Members from the civic group We Are Smithtown brought up issues surrounding the Lake Avenue Project, the Master Plan and questions involving the town’s School Age Child Care Program.
The group criticized that the budget seemed to show the town was profiting off of the program with the tentative budget showing revenue exceeded expenses by $548,264 in 2019. However, it shows that the program is expected to operate at a $226,846 loss this year, and that revenue is expected to exceed costs by $100,000 in 2021.
James Bouklas, president of the group, argued that the Town of Smithtown brings in $1.413 million in revenue for the program each year, yet the budget shows the program’s cost is $828,000 – a profit of almost $600,000 yearly.
“If you look at the cost, you can see it’s pretty comprehensive,” he said. “This is not its own fund, it’s part of the general fund … In my opinion, it’s pretty comprehensive. There’s not a lot of shared services.”
He added that the group called for an accounting for every dollar coming into the program. “All profits should be refunded to the families of the program,” Bouklas said.
Patty Stoddard, a Nesconset resident and board member of the group, said this program is essential to working parents and should be accounted for.
“This is a program that is a lifeline for working parents often work long hours to be able to afford to live in Smithtown and send their kids to excellence,” she said at the meeting. “This is not the first time we’ve addressed issues with this program. It came to our attention earlier this year that many childcare workers in the towns program were earning less than minimum wage. We pressured the town into doing the right thing and the town agreed to increase wages.”
However, Town Comptroller Donald Musgnug said the budget does not break down the program’s cost provided by other town departments including payroll, insurance, accounting and Parks and Recreation.
“If you add them to the direct costs, would greatly diminish what you’re perceiving to be, quote, a profit,” he said. “We don’t measure profit and losses within a governmental entity. We’re not viewing it as a business per say. We’re not trying to make money off of that, and the fact of the matter is between 2020, because of the diminished revenues, we’re anticipating a loss of $227,000.”
Despite the problems 2020 caused for everyone locally and across the country, Wehrheim said he hopes the town will never have to witness circumstances like this again.
“If we should experience this again, we can promise you that town board, myself and our town employees will be ready after all the town endures,” he said.
Kings Park restaurant owners and Smithtown election officials celebrate businesses receiving new propane heater lamps. Photo from Town of Smithtown
By Julianne Mosher
With the changes in how customers shop and dine across the region, PSEG Long Island wanted to step in and help.
Relish in Kings Park, above, was one of the eight restaurants gifted outdoor propane heaters thanks to the grant given to local chambers from PSEG Long Island. ‘I’m so excited that we were given them,’ manager Kristy Ludeman said. ‘It helps keep everyone at night warm and the guests are really enjoying it.’ Photo by Julianne Mosher
John Keating, manager of economic development with PSEGLI, said that the company began its Main Street Revitalization Program about two years ago with the goal to bring business back downtown. But because of the COVID-19 crisis, PSEGLI saw an opportunity to help out during the changing times.
“We saw a lot of areas were looking at outdoor dining and outdoor shopping,” Keating said. “It has become a lifeline for them to stay in business.”
The Chamber of Commerce Main Street Revitalization Award grants up to $5,000 to chambers and business improvement districts to help purchase durable goods that support outdoor commerce.
“It’s our small way to help businesses thrive,” Keating said.
To date, PSEGLI has paid or preapproved grants for 20 Chambers or BIDs in towns and villages across Long Island — from Sag Harbor to Great Neck — totaling nearly $100,000.
Keating said that when a chamber or BID is approved, the funds are based on a reimbursement process.
“We want to make sure the money goes to durable material that supports outdoor shopping,” he said. “Once approved, they can make the purchase, send us the receipts and then we reimburse them.”
And many of the local chambers have either applied or are considering it. The Town of Smithtown announced last week that the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce was awarded the grant and was then gifted new outdoor propane heaters — the first chamber to do so.
Diane Motherway, executive director of the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce, said that she was surprised to hear that they were the first to use the money for heat. Other recipients used the funds to purchase outdoor tables, chairs, umbrellas or planters, but Kings Park saw what was already implemented and decided to add to what shops have established outside.
“Some restaurants were set up already,” she said. “So, we were trying to think of ways to help since that was taken care of.”
That’s when they thought of the heaters, especially since Town of Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) made an announcement Sept. 17 extending the temporary outdoor dining permit to Dec. 31.
“We’re trying to do our part in any way that we can,” Motherway said.
It was announced that the Nesconset Chamber of Commerce is also a recipient of the award and will be using the funds to gift outdoor heaters, as well.
“We’re trying to help businesses through their chambers,” Keating said. “It’s been a very positive experience because most chambers don’t have a lot of funds to work with — this was something that they could help make a difference.”
Keating added that 90 percent of the Long Island economy comes from small business, so the pandemic caused stress for small shops.
“Our end game is keeping more businesses surviving during the pandemic,” he said.
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