Kings Park wins $10M from Downtown Revitalization Initiative

By Aidan Johnson

Kings Park will receive $10 million after Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced the hamlet as the Long Island winner of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative’s seventh round.

Hochul, who shared this information on Jan. 18 at Kings Park High School, congratulated Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R), along with everyone who was involved in applying for the grant. 

“I look forward to coming out and seeing the realization of not my vision, not Albany’s vision, but your vision,” Hochul said.

The Downtown Revitalization Initiative was started in 2016 to allow downtown areas across the state that won the grant money “to undertake a bottom-up community planning process and to implement key projects recommended by the community,” the DRI Guidebook explained.

According to an announcement from the governor on the New York State website, the Town of Smithtown has already taken “significant steps toward revitalizing Kings Park that will support Governor Hochul’s housing and economic development goals and catalyze future transformation through the DRI.”

These steps include the township making zoning changes in the DRI designated area that will enable 300 more housing units and more future development, along with applying for a Pro-Housing Community designation from the New York State Office of Homes and Community Renewal, the press release states.

Wehrheim believes that Kings Park, which applied three other times for the DRI grant, was chosen due to its business district having a Long Island Rail Road station in it, along with its location between two state parks. Additionally, the installation of sewers — due for completion around the end of 2025 — will allow for more revitalization of the area.

“The first order of business with the DRI grant is to put together a committee of community members, civics, chambers of commerce, town planning professionals, and then my understanding is that the state also brings in a number of folks on that committee as well, and then we will start the planning process,” Wehrheim said in an interview.

“When we get the committee together, we’ll be contacting the state and then we can begin to move forward from there,” he said.

Kings Park isn’t the only place that will receive grant money. Mineola and North Bellport were each awarded $4.5 million from the NY Forward Program. 

“My administration has made the redevelopment of North Bellport a priority and we are deeply appreciative of the governor’s commitment to this mutual goal,” Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico (R) was quoted as saying in Hochul’s press release. 

“We must work to lift up our communities and the people who reside within them, and this grant will take us a step closer to realizing the bright future that North Bellport so rightfully deserves,” Panico added.