Brookhaven Approves Preliminary Home Development Plans at Wading River Farm
Landowners were unanimously granted approval of plans Aug. 17 by the Brookhaven Planning Board for a housing development on land in Wading River currently in use by the local Bakewicz Farms.
The preliminary plans revolve around 13 subdivisions for homes at the corner of Route 25A and Randall Road in Wading River. This is in addition to a recharge basin to be located at the westmost corner between the two roads.
The Rocky Point-based Manzi family owns the property but is being represented by Rocky Point-based attorney Steven Losquadro.
Losquadro said in a phone interview that the family is not immediately going with the housing development, but is instead “keeping their options open” regarding any future plans, whether or not it becomes a new housing development or something else. He did not wish to comment on the record about what future plans could be.
The site is currently being leased by Justin Bakewicz and his mother Marianne of Bakewicz Farms. The small 11-acre farm is active in the summer and autumn months supplying local produce, giving a place for children to pet a few farm animals and allowing children into their corn maze filled with cut out wood characters from pop culture such as Harry Potter and Buzz and Woody from “Toy Story.”
Losquadro said the property owners are not at all immune to calls from the community for the farm’s preservation. Nothing has been officially determined yet.
“Many people in the community would like to see it preserved as a farm,” the attorney said.
Bakewicz did not wish to comment fully on the record about what could be happening in the future, but did mention there could be positive news coming down the pike.
“This is what I’ve been hoping for,” he said.
Last year property owners proposed putting down a large solar storage battery on an unused portion of the property. Those plans were opposed by the local civic groups, and Losquadro said at the time that without the solar battery the land could instead turn into a residential development.
The preliminary plans themselves call for the creation of a new street that ends in a court called Dante Way. The road allows both a left and right turn onto Randall Road but no access onto Route 25A. Plans show the land redesigned for 13 single family homes, which would be located in the Shoreham-Wading River school district. The development also abuts the ongoing construction of the North Shore Rail Trail projects which when finished will create a 10-mile walking and bicycle path from Wading River to Mount Sinai.
Revised plans after comments from the planning board also maintain a 40-foot proposed buffer on the north end of the proposed development and a 75-foot buffer on the southern end. Both buffers would be granted to the town for open space purposes. In the proposed development, 10 feet off the western end would be left to the town for adding a real shoulder to the side of Randall Road.
