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Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge

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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.

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A public hearing will be held May 21 to discuss the possibility of apartments in Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge. File photo

By Leah Chiappino

A local civic group is protesting a proposal to develop an overlay district that would add apartments to the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge.

Nesconset resident James Bouklas, the president of the civic group We Are Smithtown, is leading the efforts a couple of weeks before a public hearing.

Bouklas said the group started in 2017, as the Nesconset Civic Association, in order to advocate for residents.

“We looked around at what was going on in our hamlet and saw untethered development at all costs,” he said. “We also saw that sidewalks were in disrepair, intersections were treacherous, and people died, and we saw that we had a bunch of new buildings going up, yet there was no restraint. We began to advocate for what we felt was the right path forward for Nesconset.”

He added that as the organization grew, the members started to see that things that were happening in other hamlets affected the entire town as he feels they set precedent the town to support similar developments. The group has led protests against subdividing the Gyrodyne development in St. James, which would make room to build a hotel, medical offices and assisted living homes on the Flowerfield property. They also took a stand against the proposal to build a boutique hotel on the site of the Watermill catering hall in Smithtown. Subsequently, the group changed its name to We are Smithtown in January.

Bouklas said the latest proposal to build apartments in the industrial park is poorly timed with COVID-19.

“Instead of trying to make sure Smithtown families are fed, food banks are in stock, and residents have the resources that they need, the town is spending time trying to figure out how to get developers to profit for building what we think is going to be Co-op City in Smithtown,” he said, referencing the cooperative housing development in the Bronx.

“People moved out from Queens so they can have some space,” he said. “We didn’t sign up for density. If they wanted density, then they would move to Queens.”

Town of Smithtown spokesperson Nicole Garguilo said that the group is putting out “a tremendous amount of bad information.” She confirmed that the project is just a proposal and is not in development.

“This is a public hearing to create an overlay district at the park so the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge can evolve and sustain as the economic engine it has been for the state for the next 20 to 30 years,” she said.

Garguilo said that if the apartments are built, there would likely not be an increase in traffic during peak times as they are seeking to create a “walkable workforce community,” so residents can walk to jobs in the industrial park. She added the town traffic director believes that the weekend may cause an uptick in traffic, as “young professionals may choose to head to the beach, parks or other fun recreational activities.” However, the town believes it would be “primarily unnoticeable,” as weekends are usually quiet in the park.”

Bouklas said that he has doubts that the apartments will be affordable and worries the town will give tax breaks to the developers of the property.

“A lot of people are going to make a lot of money,” he said.

He said he has additional concerns that the development will overwhelm the school system, the police department and the fire department. Garguilo said apartments would not be targeted to families with school-aged children, but rather millennials looking to start their careers. The town hopes that this would attract high-tech businesses such as Google, Apple and Facebook, companies college graduates are looking for jobs at.

“[Young people] want to enjoy the start of their careers, put together savings for a future home in the town where they were raised,” she said. “In addition to affordable living — that’s not their parents’ basement apartment — they want to find the perfect career.”

The proposal came from a 2019 report conducted by James Lima Planning + Development strategists to grow the industrial park.

According to the report, the park already accounts for 8.2 percent of Long Island’s gross domestic product and houses more than 55,000 employees of 1,350 companies. Currently, it generates $65 million in property taxes.

The report suggested that “a residential component within the peripheral areas of the park would not only provide potential housing for Hauppauge’s workforce but would enable the park to retain vitality and dynamism that could go beyond business hours and into the weekends.” It listed Motor Parkway and the sections of Old Willets Path that lies between Engineer road and Motor Parkway.

A public hearing will be held via Zoom May 21 at 2 p.m. Visit www.smithtownny.gov for more information.

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Paule Pachter stands on the roof of the Harry Chapin Food Bank in front of a community solar array that will energize households facing hardships.

Long Island Cares — one of Long Island’s well-known charitable institutions — is completing the installation of solar panels on the 35,000 square-foot roof of its headquarters at Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge.

The $414,000 project is expected to generate 350,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy annually and 100 percent of it will be directed off-site to serve the electrical needs of households experiencing hardship and food insecurity. Long Island Cares is paying for system out of its reserves and available funds in its budget. 

“This solar project represents a direct extension of the humanitarian work of Long Island Cares,” said Paule Pachter, the organization’s CEO. “Part of Long Island Cares’ energy focuses on providing emergency food relief to hungry and food insecure Long Islanders through the Harry Chapin Regional Food Bank. But we also engage in direct service programs that address the humanitarian human needs of veterans, seniors, immigrants and others struggling with economic and social challenges.” 

The project is one of the first initiatives that are expected to help the industrial park meet by 2040 New York State’s ambitious goal of converting to 100 percent renewable energy. 

The power pass along is facilitated through an energy management practice called “community solar,” whereby electricity generated by a solar power installation is shared by multiple households, companies or institutions. It’s an initiative of the Hauppauge Industrial Association, a prominent Long Island business group, and its solar task force, which was launched last year.

Co-chairs Scott Maskin, CEO of SUNation Solar Systems, one of Long Island’s largest installers of solar panels and equipment, and Jack Kulka, president and founder of Kulka LLC, a major development and construction firm, are behind the initiative. 

“By taking the entire energy output of our solar installation and sending it off-site to provide discounted power to homes occupied by our lower-income neighbors, these households will have new found income to address some of their immediate needs,” Maskin said. “As such, it has a unique opportunity to bring forward both technology and value in a substantial way. From an energy perspective, the park can act as a responsible, shining example for all of Long Island.” 

Long Island Innovation Park, formerly known as the Hauppauge Industrial Park, is the second largest industrial center in the United States after California’s Silicon Valley, and the largest in the Northeast corridor. The park is recognized as a major driver of the region’s economy and is a focus of the regional development plan of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). 

“Through the successful embrace of this program,” Maskin added, “our park can distinguish itself as Long Island’s single largest energy producer, delivering revenue to its building owners while helping achieve New York State’s renewable energy goals. It’s a win-win all around.” 

The Long Island Cares project is expecting to be up and running in October, but Pachter said that the project has recently encountered several obstacles.

“When PSEG inspected our site, they said that the transformer needs to be changed and wiring upgraded to handle the energy,” he said. 

Maskin said in a telephone interview that the issues are relatively common and protection equipment upgrades are something that will need be addressed as the industrial park  expands its renewable projects. The transformer, he noted, will be covered by a maintenance agreement it has for this specific project.  The additional $11,000 wiring cost, Pachter said, will be the responsibility of L.I. Cares.

“We are building a power plant on the rooftop,” Maskin said. “If you think of the complexity of it all, delays are to be expected. We’re still pushing to have the system up and running in October.”

Pachter said that the construction phase has been underway for the last few months. 

PSEGLI representative Elizabeth Flagler said that Community Distributed Generation makes renewable energy, particularly solar, more accessible to renters and apartment dwellers. The array, she said, is connected to the grid and managed by a host who serves as a liaison with PSEGLI. The pass through is accomplished through accounting, rather than through wiring a system to beneficiaries. 

The project is the first community solar project in the industrial complex.

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