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Richard Rosenberg, left, and Michael Dubb, attorney and principal respectively at the Jericho-based Beechwood Organization during a May 1 public hearing at Port Jefferson Village Hall. Photo by Raymond Janis

Ten minutes before 6 p.m., every chair in the house was already taken. Behind the gallery, some sat on tables, others on desks. A standing crowd began to form. Younger attendees yielded their seats to their elder counterparts. All were in for a long night.

The board room at Village Hall could not contain the audience gathered on Monday night, May 1, for the Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees public hearing on the Maryhaven Center of Hope property on Myrtle Avenue.

“It’s great to see a full room,” said Mayor Margot Garant. “That means this community is engaged.”

The village board is considering modifying the zoning code and proposing an incentives package to encourage the historic preservation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings and structures.

The Maryhaven property is currently zoned as a Professional Office P-O District. Under the existing zoning code, an applicant within the P-O District can request a special-use permit for Moderate-Density Residence R-M District development.

Village attorney Brian Egan explained the motivations guiding these potential code changes.

The Maryhaven “building is certainly worth keeping,” he told the sea of residents in attendance. 

Convincing the owners of that building to preserve it, however, represents a quandary for village officials. The existing zoning code lacks a mechanism to sway developers toward historic preservation.

“There is no obligation to save that building,” Egan said.

The proposed code amendment would create such a mechanism — a special permit application. Egan referred to this application process as “another layer of control” for the village board, enabling it to designate specific parcels that contribute to the village’s architectural or aesthetic character.

If a parcel meets these criteria, determined by the Board of Trustees, then the applicant would qualify for “slightly relaxed standards” under the R-M code, Egan stated. 

In the previous week’s work session, they agreed those relaxed standards would be allowances for additional height and stories but no additional clearing — a tradeoff of density for historical preservation and conservation.

Developers from the Jericho-based Beechwood Organization, the firm negotiating with Catholic Health to acquire the Maryhaven property, attended the public hearing. Michael Dubb, principal at Beechwood, stated his intention to preserve the historic building on-site.

“It would be easier for me as the developer to knock that building down … but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do,” he said.

Richard Rosenberg, an attorney for Beechwood, expanded upon the firm’s vision for the site.

“The intention is to keep the original part of the structure, which is around 40-45,000 square feet, demolish the rest,” he said. “There is asbestos, there is lead-based paint. We have to clean it up according to regulations.” He added, “It’s a big ticket item.”

Public input

Following the presentations by Egan and Beechwood, the board took comments from the public. During that period, community members expressed a recurring message:

“I think the big problem that many of us have is density,” resident Eric Sackstein told board members. This general sentiment echoed throughout the evening.

Former village trustee Virginia Capon, who had chaired the Comprehensive Plan Committee, expressed her appreciation for the board in its willingness to preserve the historic structure.

But she objected to the board’s proposed remedy to the problem, suggesting that the board consider the village in its entirety before changing the zoning code.

“That building is beautiful, but I don’t think this is the way to preserve it,” she said.

The former trustee added that numerous other factors weigh into the Maryhaven calculation, such as its nearby steep slopes, which can cause issues with flooding. Capon advised the board to explore options that do not incentivize greater density.

“If you can come up with a way of preserving this building that maybe doesn’t overdevelop the parcel, that would be my recommendation,” she said.

Several other differing proposals were offered for the adaptive reuse of the site. Michael Mart, citing the flooding concerns over the Port Jefferson Fire Department building on Maple Place, proposed relocating the fire station to the higher elevation at the Maryhaven property. 

Another resident, Steve Velazquez, proposed selling Village Hall and headquartering the village’s municipal operations at Maryhaven.

Discussions over Maryhaven remain ongoing as the board left the public comment period open for 21 days following Monday’s meeting.

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Members of Smithtown’s Town Board listened to concerns regarding the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement, Summer Nights event on Lake Avenue and the special exemption removal for assisted living facilities. Photo by Daniel Febrizio

At the May 2 Smithtown Town Board meeting, local residents came to speak, raising issues and concerns to the board members.

Comprehensive plan concerns

Local resident William Holst spoke, addressing his statement to a resolution passed on May 2 that read: “Town Board to accept as complete for purposes of SEQRA review the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the firm of H2M Architects & Engineers for the Town of Smithtown 2020 Comprehensive Plan, and to authorize the town clerk to advertise same with a public comment period to close at 5p.m. on Friday, June 23.”

“I do have questions as to whether or not people who aren’t comfortable making written comments are going to have an opportunity to speak regarding the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement,” Holst said. “I hope you give the chance for the public to make comments not necessarily in written form.”

He added, “We’re in a very different place the last time there was a comprehensive review of planning the future of Smithtown.” Because of this, he intends to make written comments after he gets a chance to look through the environmental impact statement. 

He concluded by saying, “I hope that when you review the comprehensive plan that foremost in your mind is what is good for the majority of residential homeowners in the Town of Smithtown.”

Summer Nights worries

The next speaker was Meg Shutka, representing Eddie’s Power Equipment, located at 553 Lake Ave., St. James. She expressed concerns with the Summer Nights event which is held once every month on Wednesday evenings in June, July and August. The event closes down Lake Avenue.

Shutka said their business commonly stays open until 7 p.m. on these nights, and that the shutting down of Lake Avenue negatively affects operation of their business. “Closing the road hinders people being able to pick up or drop off their equipment after their own work hours,” she said.

According to her, in the prior year the Town Board attempted to help in moving the event to a new location, but resistance came from the Community Association of Greater St. James — the Summer Nights organizers. A compromise was to move the start time back to 6 p.m. This year it is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

“All we are asking of the town is to require that the road closure occurs no earlier than 6 p.m. and that the event set up not occurs before 5 p.m.,” Shutka said. “I think that is more than reasonable.” 

Bull Run Farm confirmation

As the town meeting concluded, the subject was broached regarding the special exception removal for assisted living facilities in residential zoning areas. A resident wanted to know if it was official that there was no way that an assisted living facility could go up on the Bull Run Farm property located on Mills Pond Road.

Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) confirmed that “the local law has been adopted — that use will not be permitted on residential development properties.”

Holst queried whether the developer had withdrawn the application but the town attorney, Matthew Jakubowski, confirmed the application is “no longer a permitted use.”

The next Town Board meeting will take place at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 18, at Smithtown Town Hall.

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Illustration by Kyle Horne: @kylehorneart • kylehorneart.com

Last week’s special election for the Town of Brookhaven’s 3rd Council District has both major political parties finding silver linings.

Former Brookhaven Councilman Kevin LaValle (R-Selden) vacated his seat in February following a January special election for town clerk. To fill the vacancy and complete LaValle’s unexpired term ending in December, Republican Neil Manzella — also of Selden — defeated Democrat Alyson Bass from Centereach on Tuesday, April 25, by a 57-43% margin, according to an unofficial tally by the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

Manzella’s win reinforces his party’s stronghold on the town government. Republicans again hold a 6-1 majority on the Town Board and occupy nine of the 10 elected offices townwide. Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (Stony Brook) is the lone Democrat.

“While I wish that there were more people that did vote,” Manzella said, “I am very happy with the decent size turnout for a special election,” which was just over 2,800 ballots cast. “I think both sides did a great job of getting that vote out.”

To Bass, he added, “I think that she should be very proud. They held an incredibly respectable campaign.”

Since the establishment of councilmanic districts in 2002, a Democrat has never held the 3rd District. Despite their historical struggles, there are some positive takeaways for the losing side. 

LaValle won CD3 in 2019 by more than 30 points. Bass cut that margin by more than half.

“Given the fact that my campaign was more of a grassroots campaign, I feel very proud for the level of fundraising that we did and with the outcome,” Bass told TBR News Media. “We were way outspent, we were outmanned. And I think that our numbers were very strong.”

Two-part election

Manzella’s victory celebration will be short-lived as both CD3 candidates are already back on the campaign trail for the general election.

“While I did win now, I will be the acting councilman but only through [December],” Manzella said. “This doesn’t stop. This campaigning continues straight through November.”

Bass also had this understanding, indicating that when she accepted the nomination for the special election, she committed to running in November regardless of its outcome.

“The four-year term was always the goal,” she said, adding that her campaign will continue through November.

Heads of the ticket

The CD3 race provides an early measure of public moods ahead of the townwide elections later this year. As the focus shifts away from the 3rd District, all eyes are on the top of the ticket, where there is an open contest.

Incumbent Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) will not headline the ticket for the first time in over a decade, instead pursuing the county’s top office in the race to succeed Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D), who is term-limited. Romaine’s opponent will be Democratic nominee, Dave Calone.

Brookhaven Deputy Supervisor Dan Panico (R-Manorville) and Village of Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant, a Democrat, have each secured their party’s nod for town supervisor.

In separate interviews, both candidates reflected upon the outcome in Middle Country and its implications for their respective quests to succeed Romaine.

“I think Ms. Bass should be extremely proud of herself,” Garant said, referring to the 14% margin of victory. “That’s a pretty significant gain, especially in a special election where you only had about 3 percent voter turnout overall in that district.”

Despite her favored candidate coming up short, Garant said she and her party are “encouraged by that result, and we’re going to continue to work on the messaging and the issues as they exist and continue to make sure we’re knocking on doors, making people aware of what the existing conditions are.”

Panico sang a slightly different tune than his opponent, though also optimistic for November. The deputy supervisor referred to the outcome as “a very strong message for our team” as the party pivots to the general election.

Manzella’s win, Panico said, reflected the strength of the Republican committee’s efforts and the resonance of its platform with Brookhaven voters. He further regarded the outcome as a vote of confidence for the current Town Board.

“When you’re doing the right thing by the residents — and the residents are very aware — they take notice,” Panico said. “The members of the Town Board on my team, I expect, will be reelected as well” in November.

Six months out of the general election, Panico said he has already begun campaigning townwide, expressing confidence that his campaign is registering with Brookhaven residents and forecasting a favorable outcome.

“I expect to be victorious in November and plan on running a vigorous campaign on the issues that matter to the residents of Brookhaven Town,” he said.

Based on recent electoral history, Garant’s campaign faces certain obstacles this election cycle. Her party has not held the supervisor’s chair since 2012 when Mark Lesko resigned mid-term, to be replaced by Romaine. 

The Port Jeff mayor nonetheless remained hopeful about her prospects, viewing her platform as appealing to the centrist wing of the town — a faction she believes will determine the victor.

“We think that we have a good platform,” she said. “We’re going to do our best to make sure that it resonates with the people not on the extremes, but with the majority of people who live here, which are the more moderate voters.”

Assessing political strategies

Anthony Portesy is chair of the Brookhaven Town Democratic Committee. Like Garant and Bass, he regarded the election result in CD3 as promising for the Democratic slate come November. The Brookhaven Town Republican Committee did not respond to requests for comment.

“I’m very, very encouraged” by last week’s outcome, Portesy said. “When you take out the conservative line, their margin of victory was a mere 73 votes. That is incredible for that district, and it shows the quality of the candidate that we put up in Alyson Bass.”

Panico viewed Manzella’s elevation to the Town Board as favorable for Republicans. Citing his party’s sizable majority in town government, he added why he believes Republicans are registering with the electorate.

“There’s no secret recipe,” the Republican supervisor candidate said. “There’s not one thing that I would point to with regard to the electoral edge. With regard to the political composition of the town representatives, it’s simply that the people who are elected do the job they were elected to do.”

He criticized the opposition party’s messaging, stating its recent electoral track record reflects an unpopular platform with voters.

“I think the state of the local Democratic Party is part and parcel of their platform,” he said. “As they embrace a platform that has been rejected by the vast majority of residents — regardless of political affiliation — in the Town of Brookhaven, I think that is going to continue to be a problem for their party, and it shows in their elections.”

Garant rejected this notion entirely, pointing to Bass’ narrowing of the gap in CD3 as a testament to her party’s upward trajectory. The mayor suggested that the current board has not adequately addressed Brookhaven’s multiplying quality-of-life concerns, which may begin cutting into its majority.

“I think there are a lot of people who are very concerned with the declining lifestyle and the declining quality of life and the conditions in their neighborhoods,” she said.

Portesy centered his focus around the town landfill, which constitutes a significant chunk of the town’s overall public revenue and is set to close in the coming years. 

The party leader contended that the current board is ill-prepared for the looming budgetary shortfall precipitating from the facility’s eventual closure.

“The town dropped the ball on replacing the revenue for the landfill,” the Democratic committee chair said. “They love to tell you about the AAA bond rating, but the AAA bond rating doesn’t go into discussing the fact that that’s based on their present finances, not after the landfill closes and we’re losing millions and millions of dollars.”

Still, Portesy committed to recalibrating his party’s messaging over the coming weeks, working on expanding the Democratic get-out-the-vote initiative through additional door-knocking volunteers and other measures to generate voter interest and boost turnout.

“We’re going to be retooling our message over the next couple of months, making sure that we’re hitting the doors that we have to hit and making sure we’re convincing voters that our path is the path forward for Brookhaven Town,” he said.

Though beaten in round one, Bass kept an upbeat attitude for round two. “There are enough Democrats in this district and in this town to make us victorious,” she said. “We need to come across with messaging that resonates, and I think there are some strategic things we need to work on as far as unity and approach.”

She added that the small sample size last week was unreflective of the public will overall, suggesting a larger turnout in November could work in her favor.

Manzella, a former member of the town Republican committee, attributes much of his success to the party operation.

“Getting out there and spreading the word about an election, and then spreading the word of the candidate, is the most crucial part of any campaign,” the councilman-elect said. “Our committee has a lot of volunteers, a lot of people who are passionate about this. It’s that strength, as a unified whole, that is able to get this message out to the voters.”

Portesy viewed Romaine’s run for county executive as a unique opening for town Democrats. Given the scope of the town supervisor’s powers, the party chair maintained that filling that seat with a Democrat would be the committee’s primary objective.

“The vision for the town always comes from the executive,” he said. “Making sure that we get Margot Garant elected in November is going to go a long way,” adding, “Our number one goal is to take back the town supervisor.”

Both parties have just over six months before voters hit the polls on Nov. 7.

Illustration by Kyle Horne

@kylehorneart • kylehorneart.com

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Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich, center, swears in Ira Costell, right, and Carolyn Sagliocca as president and vice president of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association. Photo by Raymond Janis

The newly reconfigured executive board of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association went straight to work Tuesday night during the body’s general meeting April 25.

Nearly six dozen people turned out as former civic president Ed Garboski and vice president Sal Pitti left their posts, transitioning leadership authority to Ira Costell and Carolyn Sagliocca, respectively. 

Village of Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant, former New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and representatives of state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) and Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) were all in attendance.

Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) officiated over a formal swearing-in ceremony for the newly elected civic officers. He thanked the departing civic leaders and congratulated their successors.

“There’s an energy in this community that we haven’t felt in years,” he said. “It’s a whole new optimism, and in large part, that’s because of the drive out of this civic organization.”

To Garboski and Pitti, the councilmember added, “You two are fantastic civic leaders, and I have every confidence that the new board will continue to focus and do the work that you’ve done.”

The newly reconfigured executive board of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association during a general meeting on Tuesday, April 25. Photo by Raymond Janis

Land use

Costell quickly got moving, announcing the creation of a land use committee headed by Sagliocca, which will monitor development and related land use activities within the hamlet.

Further expanding on this theme, Costell articulated his vision for overseeing the redevelopment of the area, narrowing his focus around the projected $100 million proposed investment into Jefferson Plaza, owned by Staller Associates.

“The Staller project is the keystone, if you will, about the entire development of our little hamlet,” he said.

Between the Jefferson Plaza proposal, several planned retirement communities throughout the hamlet and significant residential development in Upper Port, Costell described PJS/T as looking at challenges associated with population density.

“I think it’s incumbent upon us as an organization to register our desire and intention to seek new planning overall, to bring a traffic study and some of the impacts of all of these things cumulatively,” the civic president said. 

He added, “I’d like to go in front of the [Brookhaven] Town Board and express our concern that our little hamlet needs some attention, that we’ve gotten a whole lot of multifamily activity here that we welcome but want done in a fashion and manner that’s going to ameliorate the impacts on existing residents and invite new people in.”

Kornreich concurred with this assessment in part, stating that overdevelopment represents a danger to the quality of life in the area.

“I agree with you that overdevelopment is one of the gravest threats that we face in the destruction of the suburbs, both in respect to our way of life and from an environmental standpoint,” the councilmember said.

Town natural gas program

Kornreich informed the body on a cost-savings strategy for consumers of natural gas. 

Recently, the town launched its Community Choice Aggregation program, partnering with Manhattan-based Good Energy to deliver a fixed rate on natural gas at 69 cents per therm. [See story, “Community Choice Aggregation: Town of Brookhaven joins energy revolution,” March 9, TBR News Media website.]

The councilmember said ratepayers could potentially save hundreds of dollars per year by strategically opting in and out of the CCA program based on the gas price from National Grid.

“Essentially, you can opt in and out at any time as many times as you want for free,” he said.

To save money, he encouraged residents to closely monitor National Grid’s service rates, published at the beginning of every month. “When that price is lower than 69 cents, you stay on National Grid,” he said. “When it goes over, you switch over.”

Based on a model he had conducted for his bill measuring the CCA against the National Grid price, Kornreich projected he would have saved approximately $250 last year.

“This month, in the month of April, National Grid’s price is 35 cents a therm,” he said, adding, “It’s half the price of the CCA … so I’m opting out.”

Reports

A Suffolk County Police Department officer delivered a report on public safety, noting that the phenomenon of catalytic converter theft within the area remains ongoing. The 6th Precinct also observed a slight increase in petit larcenies from this time last year.

He remarked on the new speed cameras installed on the Long Island Expressway. [See story, “New York implements new work-zone enforcement program.”] . The officer reported that during testing, the cameras generated roughly 6,500 summons within a 45-minute window. 

“Please be careful when you get on the LIE,” he said, adding jokingly, “That’s not a county thing. That’s a state thing, so please don’t call us and complain.”

Comsewogue High School students Kylie and Max updated the civic on various developments within the school district. The Spanish Honor Society at the high school recently held a fundraiser to buy Progresso soup donated to the Pax Christi Hospitality Center in Port Jefferson.

Andrea Malchiodi, assistant director of Comsewogue Public Library, announced that the library is conducting a raffle for all cardholders as part of National Library Week. “We’re doing a huge raffle basket, so anybody who is a library card holder can go and put in a raffle to win this fun basket,” she said.

The library is also collecting pet food for a collection drive through Long Island Cares.

PJSTCA corresponding secretary, Charlie McAteer, reported that the town would be holding a Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 29, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Train Car Park in Port Jefferson Station.

McAteer also said that the Friends of the Greenway would conduct their next cleanup on Saturday, May 13, at 9 a.m. at the Port Jefferson Station trailhead. This cleanup will coincide with this year’s iteration of the Great Brookhaven Cleanup.

PJSTCA will meet again on Tuesday, May 23, at 7 p.m. at Comsewogue Public Library.

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Village attorney Brian Egan, above, during a Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees work session on Tuesday, April 25. Photo by Raymond Janis

Conversations on the Maryhaven Center of Hope property at Myrtle Avenue picked up on Tuesday, April 25, to be followed by a public hearing scheduled for next week on Monday, May 1.

During a work session of the Port Jefferson Village Board of Trustees, the Maryhaven debate evolved into a game of tradeoffs and compromises, the board working to encourage the preservation and adaptive reuse of the historic building on-site through incentives.

Among the agreed-upon incentives package to preserve the structure, the board settled upon allowing for additional stories and height. The board, primarily at the direction of trustee Rebecca Kassay, remained unwilling to allow for further clearing of woodlands on the property.

The building “has a lot of meaning to the community, the Maryhaven complex,” said Mayor Margot Garant in an interview. She added the board’s current direction represents “an effort to give incentives so that the Planning Board can do their job with the applicant while preserving a historic building.”

The board is working on revising Section 250-15 of the Village Code. Village attorney Brian Egan clarified the proposed code changes. While Maryhaven is currently zoned as a Professional Office P-O District, the existing zoning code enables applicants within the P-O district to apply for rezoning for Moderate-Density Residence R-M District development through a special-use permit.

The proposed new section of the code aims to encourage applicants to preserve historic buildings and structures on their properties.

The Maryhaven “building is pretty special with the red and the views and the copper — it’s a special place,” Egan said. “But developers don’t care about that. Developers don’t care about special, so how do you give them an idea to motivate them to be special?”

To do that, the village attorney proposed a modification to the zoning code that covers the conditions of the special-use permit for parcels that contribute to the architectural or aesthetic character of the village. 

“It’s kind of giving a tradeoff,” he said. “We say that if you have a contributing, architecturally and aesthetically important parcel or building … then you can have a proposed loosening of some of the standards that would normally apply in R-M.”

The loosening of those standards went under scrutiny during the meeting, with board members going back and forth over which incentives are permissible. 

“If we don’t provide enough of an incentive, they’re just going to take this building down,” Garant said. “And if not this applicant, the next one.”

Going through each of the zoning parameters under the code, the board fixed its attention on clearing permits in particular.

Throughout the exchanges, the trustees wrestled with establishing a coherent policy that accounts for the competing values of preserving historic structures, limiting clearing and making such redevelopment initiatives cost-effective for developers.

The current P-O limit for clearing is 65%. Noting some of the general trends on clearing allowances as well as the recent village history, Kassay remained firm on not granting developers any additional allowances on clearing.

“This is something that we’ve seen our community get very upset over,” the trustee said, expressing zero tolerance for additional clearing “because we are offering these other incentives.”

Those perks would be an extra story and added height on the property, a tradeoff of density for environmental conservation and historic preservation. The board agreed to change the maximum number of stories to four and the maximum height of the structure to 47 feet.

Following the meeting, Garant summarized the conclusions of the work session. “We did not permit additional clearing” under the new incentives package, the mayor said. “If you can’t give more clearing and you want to have something built there, another tradeoff instead of sprawling it is making it more dense, giving it height.”

The mayor added that the incentives allow for “something that conforms to the preexisting building.”

The board will continue this conversation in just days with a scheduled public hearing on the matter on Monday, May 1. The general meeting of the board will begin at 6 p.m.

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Sound Beach Civic Association President Bea Ruberto, left, and Dorothy Cavalier, Democratic candidate for Suffolk County’s 6th Legislative District, celebrate during the hamlet’s 2nd annual Spring Festival. Photo by Raymond Janis

Along New York Avenue in Sound Beach, before rows of storefronts and restaurant spaces — some filled, others not — thousands gathered on Saturday, April 22, for the 2nd annual Sound Beach Spring Festival and Street Fair.

The event featured dozens of local businesses and merchants tabling outside, along with food stands, face painting, music and other festivities.

The annual festival is hosted by the Rocky Point Sound Beach Chamber of Commerce, an organization founded in 2018 to draw businesses and economic development into the neighboring hamlets.

Gary Pollakusky, president and executive director of RPSBCC, said there was a two-year gap in the first and second festivals due to COVID-19. With public health concerns abating, the chamber picked up where it had left off before the pandemic.

“We had, I’d say, over 65 vendors, and we had thousands of people come through, all seeing for the first time some of the new businesses in Sound Beach,” he said.

Bea Ruberto is president of the Sound Beach Civic Association, the leading advocacy group representing the hamlet’s roughly 7,000 residents. She has been a leader in raising awareness for this private beach community.

“One of the things that we as a civic have tried to do for years is make people aware that we exist, make our representatives aware that we exist,” she said. 

To do that, Ruberto has been forceful in distinguishing Sound Beach for its unique history and local identity. She authored “Sound Beach: Our Town, Our Story,” which was recently adapted into the documentary film, “The History Upon Our Shores: Sound Beach, NY.” 

Gary Pollakusky, above, president and executive director of the Rocky Point Sound Beach Chamber of Commerce. Photo by Raymond Janis

The historical uniqueness of Sound Beach established, Ruberto has her sights on the future. She said the annual spring festival represents a vital organ in drawing attention to the area. 

“I love it because it brings people outside of Sound Beach into Sound Beach,” she said. “We want people to get to know about our community.”

Though several restaurants and merchants are in business, the commercial strip is a ways away from a fully formed, traditional main street. That, Pollakusky said, will require additional advocacy work to keep occupants of the storefronts commercially viable.

“Seeing businesses come and go is heartbreaking sometimes because those are families that are local and that are losing their livelihoods,” he said. “To see a business that did everything that it could to survive and then fail, it’s heartbreaking.”

Pollakusky indicated that countering these trends will take time and effort from local organizations and government. He outlined his aspirations for the hamlet.

“I’d like to see that our storefronts are filled,” he said. “I’d like to see that people want to come to Sound Beach to live and to patronize our businesses.” The chamber president added, “I’d like to see that we have a robust business community that is self-sustaining.”

Putting this vision into action is not so cut and dry. Consistently, Sound Beach has competed for and lost out on limited grant funding against established downtown districts also debilitated by the pandemic. 

The commercial district’s small size is another limiting factor, cutting the hamlet off from certain types of grants.

“Sound Beach does not have a downtown,” Ruberto said. “We have two commercial nodes. Therefore, a lot of the downtown revitalization grant funding we can’t have.” The civic president added, “That has to be fixed.”

The Sound Beach commercial district is currently zoned J-2, a general business zoning classification typical for retail spaces. For Sound Beach to qualify for downtown revitalization funding, the Town of Brookhaven would have to rezone the hamlet to J-6, a Main Street Business classification.

Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner (R-Rocky Point) represents Sound Beach on the Town Board. Reached by phone, she commented on the difficulties of Sound Beach making use of those granting opportunities, stressing that Suffolk County should consider easing the criteria for qualification.

“Those funds are hard to come by,” she said. “I think the onus is on the county in being a little more flexible” in dispersing downtown revitalization funds.

 

Map of the Sound Beach commercial district, which is currently zoned J-2, a general business classification. Graphic from the Town of Brookhaven website

Currently, Sound Beach has much of the look and feel of a traditional downtown despite lacking the zoning classification of one. Bonner nonetheless remained open to the proposal to rezone the commercial district to J-6, potentially giving the hamlet a proper downtown and opening it to grants. 

“If any business owner wanted to come in to become J-6, it’s certainly something that we would obviously entertain,” the councilwoman said.

The U.S. Census Bureau indicates that Sound Beach’s population shrunk by more than 2.5% between 2010 and 2020. This population decline is comparable to those of neighboring hamlets in the area, including Rocky Point, Miller Place and Mount Sinai.

Dorothy Cavalier, legislative aide to Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai), is running to fill the seat of her boss this November as Anker is term limited. 

The candidate remarked upon the need for a larger governmental initiative to return small businesses to the area and keep residents from leaving the county for the Sun Belt. 

“We’re losing a lot of people to Down South and other places, and we really need to figure out how to get them to stay here,” Cavalier said. “We need to get the small businesses back here because once we get the businesses to come back, the people will follow. They’ll stay.”

In the meantime, Bonner emphasized that the businesses in Sound Beach are still recovering from the aftermath of the pandemic. To support those businesses, she encouraged the community to continue patronizing local mom-and-pops in their hour of need.

“The pandemic really brought a lot of people to their knees financially, and our small businesses are the ones that suffered the most,” she said. “That’s why we have to invest with our dollars, to shop locally and support them.”

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Left to right: Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich, Scott Declue, Joe Cristino and Neil DeVine at the town-operated Port Jefferson Boat Ramp. Photo by Raymond Janis

On a rainy evening in April 2017, Smithtown resident Joe Cristino drove north on Barnum Avenue in Port Jefferson when he approached the intersection of West Broadway.

Between poor visibility and unfamiliarity with the sideroads, Cristino continued straight as the light turned green. This decision would prove to be nearly fatal.

Within seconds, Cristino’s vehicle was in the Port Jefferson Harbor, having plunged off the Brookhaven Town boat ramp just west of the marina. Six years later, he and two indivduals who helped save his life met with Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornriech (D-Stony Brook) at the scene to discuss potential progress.

Cristino recalled the moment he drove off the dock. “I see that I’m in the water, so I screamed out, ‘Help, please help,’ and I saw two people at the dock, and they came running into the water,” he remembered. “Next thing I know, I’m in the hospital.”

Cristino lost consciousness for hours, placed in a medically induced coma. Doctors did not know if he would be brain dead. He remained hospitalized for five days following the incident. 

Luckily for him, there were two good Samaritans — Scott Declue and Neil DeVine — who helped to pull him from the water, saving his life.

Declue, who had braved the 38-degree water to pull Cristino from the car, remembered the trauma of looking into the eyes of a seemingly dying man.

“It’s something you never forget,” he said. “All I remember was looking at him and seeing those eyes, like, ‘You’re my only hope.’” 

Declue recalled Cristino’s precarious physical condition: “He was foaming at the mouth, and when they pulled him out, he was in a [near] rigor mortis form, frozen.” 

DeVine had jumped into the water as well. Along with Tony Barton and Wayne Rampone Jr., DeVine helped to pull a life-rescue line and ring carrying Cristino and Declue, lifting them from the frigid water.

DeVine, a Port Jefferson resident, remarked upon the severity of the moment. “To fail at this attempt would have changed our lives dramatically,” he said.

Cristino, Declue and DeVine remain friends, united by shared trauma. 

Town of Brookhaven officials are working to alleviate longtime public safety concerns over the intersection of Barnum Avenue and West Broadway in Port Jefferson. Under the new plan, above, the town aims to redesign its boat ramp exit while adding landscaping and signage. Graphic courtesy Jonathan Kornreich

Layout changes

In December, Nassau resident Stuart Dorfman was pronounced dead at the scene after driving off the same dock. [See story, “Man suffers medical emergency, drives off dock in Port Jefferson,” TBR News Media website.] Six years after the original incident, the boat ramp remains the same.

DeVine, who passes by the intersection frequently, described an unnerving feeling of hearing about another tragedy. “Reading that in the paper definitely stirred up some feelings there,” he said. 

‘This hopefully will never happen again.’

— Jonathan Kornreich

The Town of Brookhaven is taking tangible steps toward remediating the issue. Kornreich, whose 1st Council District includes Port Jefferson, attended the dock reunion with Cristino, Declue and DeVine.

Kornreich noted that the dock issue first came to his attention after reading about the most recent fatality at the site, after which he approached the town parks commissioner, Edward Morris, asking for a redesign. The commissioner complied with the request. 

“There have been a number of these kinds of incidents,” the councilmember said. “We’re getting ready to repave over here, so as part of that I asked the parks commissioner, and we’ve redesigned” the intersection.

Kornreich presented engineering plans for the redesign, which include closing off much of the existing exit to traffic while adding trees and additional signage. The councilmember said the proposed layout changes should go into effect in the coming months.

Resolutions

Upon hearing the story of Cristino’s near-death experience, Kornreich expressed both consolation for the victim and optimism for the site’s future.

“This hopefully will never happen again,” he said to Cristino. “What you went through, no one should have to endure.”

Assessing the engineering plans, Declue remarked, “This is amazing compared to what’s going on here now.”

‘The only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner.’

— Neil DeVine

On why the safety hazard has stood unchanged for so many years, Kornreich suggested that simple solutions require the necessary public attention and political initiative. “It’s not politics, it’s not complicated,” the councilmember said. “It’s just that someone has to say, ‘Hey, there’s a problem here, and let’s fix it.’”

DeVine conveyed his confidence in the new plan. “The only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner,” he said. “But I’m happy that things are going to get done now, and I’m so thankful that Joe is here with us today.”

Declue noted that tragic events do not always come to tidy resolutions. He thanked Kornreich and the town for recognizing the public’s concern and putting a plan in place. 

“You don’t have good outcomes like this all the time,” he said.

As for Cristino, who opted not to sue the town for the injuries he sustained, he remained appreciative of the potential remedy, though reminding the town not to let up until the intersection is made safe for all.

“Let’s try to get the ball rolling so that no one else will have to suffer a horrible event as I had,” he said.

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VHB landscape architect Andrew Kelly, above, presented three concept plans to the Six Acre Park Committee and the Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees. Photo by Raymond Janis

With an approaching May 1 public hearing on the Maryhaven Center of Hope property on Myrtle Avenue, tensions are simmering within the Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees.

During an April 18 business meeting, trustee Lauren Sheprow clashed with Mayor Margot Garant and members of her administration over “the process” in which potential zoning code changes have been handled to date. This dispute comes as the village enters the heart of election season, with decisions over term extensions, term limits and election administration hanging in the balance.

The Six Acre Park Committee also inched closer toward a concept plan for the last remaining tract of undeveloped open space in Upper Port.

Maryhaven

‘We’d like to see the building be maintained or preserved somehow.’

— Margot Garant

As the village board prepares for the highly anticipated May 1 public hearing, Sheprow is at odds with some of her colleagues over how decisions with the property have been advanced. “I’m wondering about the process,” she said.

Responding, Garant said deliberations over Maryhaven predate Sheprow’s entry to the board in July 2022 as the previous board held a work session approximately 18 months ago with Alison LaPointe, former special village attorney for building and planning. At the time, LaPointe had advised the board to consider rezoning the property, the mayor said.

Gradually, the matter has become a question of historic preservation as maintaining the existing building is in the village’s interest, Garant added. 

“We’d like to see the building be maintained or preserved somehow,” the mayor said.

Village attorney Brian Egan gave additional context, saying the process began in 2019 when Catholic Health notified the village it would sell the property. The issue, Egan noted, lingered for some time though Garant started pushing for the structure’s preservation.

“It became the village’s initiative — the mayor’s initiative — of engaging with Catholic Health, saying, ‘We’re going to work toward trying to save that building,’” Egan said. “That was really impetuous and got us to this point to say, ‘How can we save the building for an adaptive reuse as opposed to putting it all into a landfill.’”

He continued, “The policy of the Village of Port Jefferson — hopefully, if this board adopts it — is to preserve the historic building that’s on it and encourage its adaptive reuse as opposed to demolition.” Egan added, “The ideal process is to draft the zoning that this board wants to see, and make the developers work to that standard.”

Sheprow expressed her appreciation for Egan’s clarification, adding, “I appreciate that explanation very much, just would have loved to have had that before opening it up for a public hearing so that we all kind of understood the entirety of the concept.”

The board agreed to set a work session on Tuesday, April 25, at 2 p.m. to discuss the matter further.

Elections

Trustee Rebecca Kassay reported she had received resident interest in creating a task force to oversee the restructuring of village government and elections, exploring issues such as term limits and extensions, change of election month and counting ballots by hand or machine.

Sheprow shared that PJV is working to obtain a document from the Village of Southampton for reference. Southampton “had a panel that went through this process,” she said. “So maybe we can use that document as a guide to help look at best practices.”

Conversations surrounding election changes were prompted by a notification from the Suffolk County Board of Elections that its electronic voting machines would not be made available to the village, to be used instead for primary elections this June.

Sheprow inquired whether the village could rent or purchase voting machines to administer the upcoming June 20 election for village mayor and trustees, especially as at least two other Long Island villages will be using such devices.

Egan clarified the legality of this proposal. The village attorney cited the New York State Election Law, which bars villages from renting machines from vendors outside their county BOE.

“It’s not a question of the integrity of the machines,” the village attorney said. “It’s a question about whether the Election Law will allow us to do it, and the Election Law is very clear that it does not, and [the New York Conference of Mayors] is very clear that it does not.”

Six Acre Park

The Six Acre Park Committee met with the board, along with representatives of the Hauppauge-based civil engineering company VHB, toward finalizing conceptual plans for the 6-acre parcel along Highlands Boulevard.

‘Projects like this have been proven to greatly increase the safety and security of an area.’

— Rebecca Kassay

Garant outlined the committee’s purpose and the current status of the project. “The whole reason why we got this structure in place with the committee and the design team of VHB is because there’s a New York State grant that we are positioning ourselves to make an application for,” the mayor said. “We’re just trying to get to that point where we have what we need to make a submission.”

Andrew Kelly, a VHB landscape architect, presented three concept plans to the committee and board. Kelly said most spaces within the 6 acres would be open, tree-lined areas with native plantings. All options accommodate a realignment of, and on-street parking along, Highlands Boulevard.

Plans are to include security lighting, Kelly said. Kassay, trustee liaison to the Six Acre Park Committee, added that transitioning this area into parkland would discourage people from camping on-site.

“Projects like this have been proven to greatly increase the safety and security of an area,” she said.

The next steps are to decide upon a conceptual plan, likely integrating elements of all three concept proposals presented during the meeting. The mayor added that the board would soon return for a final round of public input as it completes the conceptual planning phase.

To watch the entire presentation on Six Acre Park, see the video above.

Correction: In the print version of this story, we reported an incorrect time for the upcoming Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees work session on the Maryhaven Center of Hope property.
The work session will take place on Tuesday, April 25, at 2 p.m. at Port Jefferson Village Hall. We apologize for the error.

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The Huntington Planning Board approved development on the property of the Indian Hills Country Club. File photo by Sara-Megan Walsh

On the evening of Wednesday, April 12, the Huntington Town Planning Board approved The Northwind Group’s development proposal at Indian Hills Country Club in Fort Salonga.

Throughout the meeting, a recording of which can be viewed at huntingtonny.gov/meetings, residents can be seen in the background holding up “Vote No” signs in a show of disapproval of the proposal. Signs also read, “Let Us Speak on Indian Hills,” since members of the public were not permitted to speak openly at this meeting.

At the outset, Anthony Aloisio, the town’s director of Planning & Environment, said,      “What I would want to do is just point out some of the improvements that we’ve made in the plan since the last plan that you approved was the preliminary plan.” 

“In the revised plan we’ve asked for some depressions to be built on the property,” he added. “This was to capture stormwater runoff from the proposed development areas as well as from the golf course.”

Board chairman Paul Ehrlich defended      the plan. “We’ve taken a long hard look at every aspect of this plan,” he said. “We’ve allowed the maximum amount of public input by having multiple public hearings, and even extending the comment period for months, well beyond those public hearings.” At this point  rumblings could be heard from the crowd.

Ehrlich said in the beginning of the process, the Planning Board passed a resolution directing The Northwind Group      and the planning staff to perform “a  broad and comprehensive environmental review. ”     

According to Ehrlich, at Northwind’s expense the town also brought in outside consultants to review their engineering study.

 “As a result of all of this, important aspects of the environmental conditions that currently exist are being significantly improved,” he said. “This application could have easily moved forward without any of these actions.” He also said that the “proposed resolution will ensure that the land of the golf course remains open space in perpetuity.”

Planning Board member Joseph Tantillo said that he has done extensive research on this project. “I would like the record
to note that I feel confident that I can make an objective decision on this plan,”
Tantillo said.

Judge Robert Lifson also said  he had done research into this project. “I feel no reason not to participate and vote, and I would vote to approve the project,” he said.

Judge Mara Manin Amendola addressed some of the residents present at the meeting.      “I see your signs,” Amendola said. “I understand how the neighbors feel.” She went on to say that “you have to agree it is an improvement” from the original proposal, adding, “Yes, we see you’re not happy, and we’re sorry for that.”

The proposal passed 4-0. The building then erupted in a chorus of boos. Chants of “shame on you” echoed throughout the room for several minutes. This then led to Ehrlich banging the gavel several times with requests for everyone to “clear the room” since the board still had more business to attend to.     

As the disturbances continued, Amendola said to a uniformed individual, “Can you make them leave? This is unacceptable.” While the yelling gradually quieted as the room was cleared, Amendola said to other members of the Planning Board: “I do feel bad for them, I do,” and then said, “This is bugging me,” in response to one individual shouting, “Corruption!”

Don McKay, who is running for a Town Board seat, attended the meeting and was not pleased with the way the approval was handled. In a phone interview, he said, “My primary objection is I think the entire application should have been a change of zone application.”

“Why this application did not go to the Town Board for full review and instead went to the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board, I believe was inappropriate. It should have gone to the Town Board as a change of zone application.”

“The way that this community was treated by the town was reprehensible,” McKay said. “They should have been given a lot more respect, courtesy, and they weren’t. That needs to change.”     

“I understand the fact that the developer does have a right to build some residential units on the property if he wants to,” McKay said. “But what he has proposed is too intense, too high of a density for this property.”

John Hayes, president of the Fort Salonga Property Owners Association, which was founded specifically for the project, was      also not pleased with how the Planning Board handled the situation.

“It was a so-called public hearing at which the public could not be heard,” Hayes said of the meeting in a phone interview.

“This hearing originally took place in February of 2022, and it was adjourned,” Hayes explained.      

“In the meantime, three new plans had been filed by the developer, considerably different in grading, drainage, tree preservation. And we were not allowed to speak on any of this. No public input allowed on it.”

Hayes also said that they are not completely opposed to development at this location, only that the proposed plans go “way too far” and that there have not been any concessions made that he would consider reasonable. “We’ve never ever said no development,” Hayes said. “But we are very passionate about the fact that it should be minimal, and the houses should be placed away from existing residents.”

Hayes went on to explain that some residents that own homes by the golf course would now have several more houses adjacent to their properties. Some of these residents obtained professional appraisals to investigate what the potential effects of these new houses would be, and they were told their property values could decrease by as much as 10%. 

In a phone interview, Jim Tsunis, CEO of The Northwind Group, disagreed with this claim. “The homes in the area will actually go up [in value] as a result of this community being built,” he said.

Tsunis, who has been in the real estate business for over 30 years, explained that “being in real estate for as long as I have and building communities in other areas, the homes in the area will benefit from this community being built.”

Tsunis said The Northwind Group has “met every single condition imposed by the Town of Huntington” and has “spent years studying and analyzing the site.” He also said that he has met multiple times with a different group, the Fort Salonga Association, a Fort Salonga-based civic association. “They helped me shape the community and they were able to endorse the community when the plans were completed,” he said.     

“The Fort Salonga Association has approved every iteration of the plan since it came into being,” Hayes countered. “We can understand why the Fort Salonga Association was not opposed to the principle of developing on the golf course. What we do not understand is how they could endorse the fact that these houses were right next door to existing properties rather than in the interior of the course.”

Additionally, when asked about the Fort Salonga Property Owners Association, Tsunis said that members have not been in contact for over four years to discuss the proposal to come to some sort of compromise. He indicated he would be more than willing to meet with the organization to discuss the situation.

Hayes said the association had negotiated with Tsunis years ago, adding, “We mutually agreed that we were too far apart. Since then, we haven’t had any contact, but he hasn’t had any contact with us either.” Hayes said that when they talked “there was really no attempt to reduce the number [of houses] that had already agreed on with the town.”

The Fort Salonga Property Owners Association is undergoing the process of filing lawsuits against both the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board. “This is not a frivolous filing by any means,” Hayes said. “We would not be doing that if we didn’t think we had a very good chance of winning.”

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A development proposal has caused uproar over the past month among residents of St. James, as reported in The Times of Smithtown. Mills Pond Group, owned by Fort Salonga developer Frank Amicizia, proposed the construction of an assisted living facility on the former Bull Run Farm on Mills Pond Road.     

The proposal included a two-story, 97-bed assisted living facility to be built on the property, which is 9.02 acres in total and is in residential zoning. At a public meeting with lawyers of the developers of the project in March, many residents were outspoken in their disapproval of the proposal. This ultimately resulted in Town of Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) announcing that a special exception would not be made for the assisted living facility.

Additionally, Wehrheim intends to legislate that assisted living homes will not be approved to be built in areas zoned residential. Smithtown public information officer, Nicole Garguilo, said that “for the longest time there was this loophole in the town’s code” which provided an opportunity for a “special exception” for developers when attempting to gain the rights to build on a piece of land.

“One of the most common criticisms was that developers often used this loophole to get through the process without having to go through a zone change,” Garguilo said. 

This special exception essentially enables them to “go right to the Town Board rather than going through all of the zoning boards and environmental reviews — it was very frustrating to residents.”

Garguilo went on to explain that the Town Board intended to propose legislation to remove the loophole even before this issue arose with the Bull Run Farm proposal. She said she believes this would reflect the interests of the community.

“You’re going to be hard pressed to get anybody in the whole hamlet of St. James to support an assisted living [facility] on that land,” Garguilo said. “That land people want to see preserved. They want to see it maybe become an active farm again.”

Garguilo went on to explain that “a lot of it has to do with the sentimental value of the farm and the history there.” People remember when the farm was active, she said. Some might have fond memories such as sleigh riding or feeding carrots to the horses. Garguilo herself used to spend her allowance money on Blow Pops from the farm stand, and her family would frequently buy pies from the Elderkins — the family that ran the farm.

As there does not seem to be a path to building this assisted living facility at that location, an alternative option that the developers could turn to is building homes on the property.

“When they originally presented their plan, they had presented a backup plan with it, which was to build a subdivision of homes,” Garguilo said     .

She went on to say that while members of the community would likely prefer the land simply preserved, they may be more willing to accept this alternative as it would be in line with the town’s codes.

“I think it’s a pill easier for them to swallow rather than seeing assisted living go up on that land.”

The next Town Board meeting will be held Thursday, April 20, at 2 p.m. at Smithtown Town Hall, 99 W. Main St. Garguilo said it is unlikely that the board will be prepared to vote on removing the special exception loophole at this meeting, but that residents should expect a vote in the near future.

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