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Three Village Civic Association

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The Gamecock Cottage exterior will soon undergo renovations. File photo

A popular landmark in the Three Village area is about to get a facelift.

Local architect John Cunniffe updated attendees at the Three Village Civic Association April 3 meeting on the renovations that are set to begin at the end of May or early June on the historic Gamecock Cottage at Shipman’s Point at the tip of the West Meadow Beach peninsula.

Renovations

Cunniffe estimated the work on the cottage would take two to three months. Once the cottage restoration is completed, the Three Village Community Trust will take over as steward. TVCT officially entered a stewardship agreement with the Town of Brookhaven in 2010.

Work on the cottage will be supervised by the town. Cunniffe said a maintenance program would be developed for Brookhaven and the trust. The architect said the allotted budget for the work is $175,000.

“From 1990 to today, there was very little maintenance and upkeep on the building, and we’re at a 30-year lifespan on material, paint, with dilapidation. I think we’ve all seen what has happened to the Gamecock Cottage, and it seems to be getting progressively worse, exponentially by the month.”

William J. Solan Contracting, of Stony Brook, with Walter Dwan will be responsible for all decorative work. Solan and Dwan worked on the 1990 renovation, according to Cunniffe. Statewide Roofing, of Ronkonkoma, will be in charge of roofing, while the town’s Parks & Recreation Department will work on siding, painting and additional work.

Cunniffe added material will be pre-primed or pre-painted, so there will be no staging or scaffolding at the site. Custom-milled material will provide the full length needed so the roof and seams allow no water penetration.

Currently, the budget covers exterior renovations. While many have voiced concerns about beach erosion in the area and possibly elevating the cottage, Cunniffe said after talking to town historian, Barbara Russell, he feels it may be best to keep it at its current level for now.

Robert Reuter, a local architect, added that the building for decades flooded and dried. “It was designed essentially to do that,” he said, adding the salt water may have helped preserve it.

Cunniffe said the current staircase on the building doesn’t belong there architecturally, but it was added for utilitarian needs. As for an ADA-compliant ramp, that would be something for a future conversation, the architect said.

Herb Mones, community trust president, added once the trust takes over as steward, part of an agreement with the town is to aim to have a seasonal caretaker living in the second-floor apartment.

History

Cunniffe said Ward Melville bought the Gamecock Cottage in the 1940s and sold it to the town. The Ward Melville Heritage Organization took stewardship over the lease in the mid-1980s and in 1990 the cottage was renovated. Cunniffe said the roof was replaced, the cupola, gingerbread trim and windows were rebuilt, and 45% of siding was removed and replaced.

For decades, Gamecock Cottage was a boat storage facility, honeymoon getaway and rental unit, according to the TVCT website. WMHO relinquished the lease after 2004, and soon afterward the trust offered to assume stewardship. While the nonprofit was in discussion with the town, Brookhaven applied for and received the State and National Registers of Historic Places designation for the 1870s Gamecock. Cunniffe said Russell was instrumental in securing the designation for the town.

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Carl Mills, assistant vice president for government relations at SBU, above in tie, met with the members of the Three Village Civic Association. Photo by George Hoffman

Three Village Civic Association meeting attendees received news Feb. 6 on recent developments at Stony Brook University.

Carl Mills, assistant vice president for government relations at SBU, answers questions from members of the Three Village Civic Association. Photo by George Hoffman

Carl Mills, assistant vice president for government relations at SBU, was on hand for the meeting to provide university updates, answer questions and receive feedback from members.

Mills said it was important for the university to have a dialogue with the civic association, calling them “the voice of the community.”

He added, “From the president on down, it’s very important for us to be good neighbors and to really be a strong beacon for the community.”

Local improvements and developments

Mills informed the group that the federal government approved a grant for a pedestrian bridge that will be constructed over Nicholls Road. It would enable pedestrians to safely walk from the university’s main entrance to the hospital side and back again. Separate funds will also be used for safety and structural improvements  for an existing underpass that Mills said many pedestrians don’t use because it’s further south on campus and, instead, cross the main intersection. The pedestrian bridge, with provision for cyclists, is currently in the process stage.

In April, the new Stony Brook Medicine Lake Grove facility at the Smith Haven Mall will open. He said the facility will be similar to the 500 Commack Road location in Commack. After the current roadwork by the state along Route 347, traffic concerns are not anticipated.

He said legislation passed both houses in the state Legislature last year to make Flax Pond in Old Field an estuary, but Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) asked for revisions and Mills said the bill will have to pass both houses again. The Flax Pond Marine Laboratory is operated for research purposes by SBU’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. The laboratory building and the Flax Pond Tidal Wetland Area are owned by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Bill A10187, sponsored by former State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and state Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James), establishes the tidal wetland area as a sanctuary. Initially, the intent was to amend the navigation laws to prohibit the use of motorboats within Flax Pond. Mills said with the revisions, motorboats up to 10 horsepower and certain hunting will be allowed. However, jet skiing will be prohibited as well as commercial fishing, hunting and trapping.

In conjunction with Englebright, university officials have been working to clean up and improve a parcel of land at the end of Dogwood Drive that SBU owns, near the house of 19th-century painter William Sidney Mount. Within that parcel is 635 square feet of land that belongs to a woman, who until recently, didn’t realize she owned it. The land is a gravesite where it is believed slaves and Native Americans are buried. Two of the gravestones are at the Long Island Museum and grave markers stand in their place

Englebright, who was in attendance for the civic meeting, said one gravestone is significant as a fiddle is carved into it. 

“It’s also unique to have an apparent slave given this much dignity,” he said.

Many of Mount’s paintings featured musicians, including those who were enslaved.

SBU is working to acquire the property with the gravestones and also contact homeowners who have encroached on the parcel. The hope, Mills said, is to produce a documentary or podcasts about the people buried at the site.

“We’re not going to exhume the bodies but make sure that they’re protected and dignified,” he said.

State matters

SBU is one of the State University of New York’s flagship schools, along with the University at Buffalo.

“We have felt we’ve been for a long time, but that designation has profound impacts on where we can go and really what we can bring back to the local community,” Mills said.

U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Colleges publication rated SBU as No. 77 nationally and No. 31 among public universities.

While SBU tuition has been flat since 2019, and it’s one of the lowest in the country, Mills said Hochul has proposed a 3% tuition increase in SUNY schools and then up to 6% for University at Albany, Binghamton University, Buffalo and SBU.

“But we look at that in the context of the fact that we have not gotten an increase in operating aid since 2012,” he said. “Since 2012, the state has funded us at the same amount to keep the lights on, to pay salaries, when all of those costs, as we all know, will increase each year.”

Last year, SBU received state capital funding due to being designated as a flagship. A new engineering building will be constructed from $100 million of funding and another $25 million will be used for a neuroAI facility that will be part of the engineering building.

“One of the big determinants of whether you’re successful as a higher education institution is how much federal research dollars you can bring in,” he said. “Stony Brook by far has the most research dollars of any SUNY campus, even more so than Buffalo, but our facilities, many of them are very, very outdated.”

He gave the example of the 1960s chemistry building where specific lab/spaces in particular need to be brought up to best practices and codes. 

He said Hochul’s affordable housing proposal, which includes increasing multi-home developments by transit hubs, would affect the university the same as the community.

In her State of the State message in January, Hochul proposed a housing strategy calling for 800,000 new homes to be built in the state over the course of a decade to address the lack of affordable housing. Among the plan’s requirements would be municipalities with Metropolitan Transportation Authority railroad stations to rezone to make way for higher-density residential development. All downstate cities, towns and villages served by the MTA would have a new home creation target over three years of 3%, compared to upstate counties that would need to build 1% more new homes over the same period.

“With Stony Brook train station there’s not a lot of room, but how that plays out, will be very important to the issues that you guys care about but also for us,” he said.

Concerns by local town supervisors of planning controls possibly being taken out of their hands were noted by the audience. 

Mills added, “Off-campus housing is a challenge not just for the university faculty or for students, I’m sure for you in the community to find affordable housing as well.”

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The property in question, outlined in blue, sits behind Village Automotive Service on North Country Road, 250 feet north of Route 25A. Image by Town of Brookhaven Board of Zoning Appeals

At the April 27 Town of Brookhaven Board of Zoning Appeals public hearing, a decision about property at 63 N. Country Road, Setauket, was put on hold until its next meeting, May 25.

Known by many in the area as the former Caropelo property, the current applicant, listed as 63 N. Country Road LLC, c/o Jennifer Leeds with a P.O. box in Coram, is seeking several variances on the 3.3-acre property on the east side of North Country Road and north of Route 25A.

The owner is seeking approval to subdivide the 144,452 square-foot parcel into four lots. The proposal is to build single-family residences on each plot after the division of the property. The smaller parcels of land will range from 32,648 square feet to 40,000 square feet. A shared driveway for lots 1 through 3 would exit onto North Country Road and a second driveway for lot 4 would be from the town arterial.

The Three Village Civic Association recently sent to members a copy of a letter, written by Land Use Chairman Herb Mones and addressed to Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), to notify them of the variance application.

According to the civic association, the wooded property adjacent to the Thompson-Detmer Farm and behind Village Automotive Center and the old phone company building is one of the few remaining open parcels of land along the Route 25A corridor.

In his letter, Mones summarized other points why the parcel “bears an ‘outsized’ significance”:

  • It is highly visible due to it bordering “our busiest roadway” — Route 25A.
  • It is part of the Old Setauket Historic District.
  • It has a natural grade/slope to the existing farmland that needs to be protected.
  • Any exit from this property is onto Brookhaven’s historic “first road” — North Country Road.

According to BZA planner, Christopher Wrede, during the April 27 meeting prior applications included lot divisions and a change of zone application to provide for J Business throughout the parcel in 2013. The current applicant purchased the property in 2021 and was not part of prior applications.

Wrede said 77.4% of the property is zoned for A-1 residence and the remaining is J Business. The most restrictive zoning classification, A-1 residence, would apply. Residence zoning requires lots of at least 40,000 square feet and three of the four lots do not meet the requirement.

The town’s Historic District Advisory Committee had an opportunity to review the application, and one of the recommendations was a cluster plan to help prevent “suburban sprawl.” Such a plan means building homes closer together to preserve more open space.

At the BZA meeting, attorney Larry Davis represented Leeds and answered some concerns and board members’ questions. Wrede said during the meeting the Environmental Assessment Form had inaccuracies regarding wetlands near the property. Davis said the owner reached out to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and it is believed that nearby wetlands do not affect the property.

Davis said the three lots that do not meet the square-footage criteria do not have a detrimental effect on the nearby neighborhood. He said there is more than sufficient frontage on Route 25A, and the owner doesn’t want to access the state road, which the NYS Department of Transportation will not allow.

Davis also said regarding an alternative plan that Wrede created, the owner wasn’t opposed to the property being divided into three lots and moving two houses closer.

Mones, in a phone interview, said civic association members are concerned because, despite prior development proposals by previous owners being brought to the attention of the civic association or Brookhaven Planning Board, this one wasn’t. While it is not required, it gives either the civic association or Planning Board an opportunity to weigh in and provide better options if necessary. Mones said, currently, proposals such as this one that involves four houses or less “jumps right from a developer’s sketch pad right to the board of zoning appeals for approval” in Brookhaven.

Mones said the civic association would like to see the best use of the property with the least impact to the 25A corridor.

“We see over and over again developers looking to build what is a traditional suburban sprawl or footprint on parcels of land that are better served if the houses were placed a little bit closer together and most of the land left open,” Mones said, adding the best resolution would be to preserve and protect it as part of the Thompson legacy.

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Attorney Joseph Bollhofer describes the legalities surrounding the lawsuit aimed at the Town of Smithtown that would delay the Gyrodyne subdivision approval on the Flowerfield site. Photo by Chris Mellides
Three Village Civic Association member Herb Mones (left) and Jessica Jones, civic board member (right), show their support for protecting the Flowerfield site. Photo by Chris Mellides
Head of the Harbor village trustee and neighborhood preservation coalition spokesperson, Judy Ogden, speaks in favor of a lawsuit aimed at delaying the Gyrodyne subdivision approval on the Flowerfield site. Photo by Chris Mellides

By Chris Mellides

[email protected]

Concerned local property owners were joined by members of Saint James-Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition and other representatives to block the planned subdivision by Gyrodyne to repurpose the 63-acre Flowerfield site. A legal challenge was filed April 26 to overturn the March 30 preliminary subdivision approval by the Town of Smithtown Planning Board.

The application proposal from Gyrodyne included a multistory 125-room hotel along with 250 assisted living housing units, 175,000 square feet of office space, parking to accommodate over 2,000 cars and a 7-acre sewage plant. 

Among those who spoke at Tuesday’s press conference on the corner of Mills Pond Road and Route 25A outside of Flowerfield were local attorney Joseph Bollhofer; Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook); legal counselor E. Christopher Murray; and Judy Ogden, Head of the Harbor village trustee and neighborhood preservation coalition spokesperson. 

“Our lawsuit has been filed and the decision to file this litigation against the Smithtown government was not made lightly,” Bollhofer said. “Like many of you, I love this town. I grew up here, my wife was born in St. James. In the 1970s, I did my Eagle Scout project for the benefit of the people in this town.”

Bollhofer went on to say that the “Smithtown government is doing a very good job” yet its handling of the Gyrodyne application has been bungled. “It’s been our hope that we are able to preserve this property,” he added. “We’ve been doing our best to get the people involved with this to come together to try and find a way to get the money to pay Gyrodyne fair compensation for this open space.”

Representing Three Village Civic Association was Herb Mones. “Smithtown has to go back and review its determinations on this property,” he said, while also saying that in the opinion of many in the civic association, the Town of Smithtown did not pay close enough attention to the law that required them to “carefully review what the buildout would mean to the surrounding community.”

Living just 600 feet up the road from Flowerfield, Ogden spoke on behalf of residents in the communities of both St. James and Head of the Harbor. Together, Ogden said community members have been speaking publicly against the Gyrodyne subdivision application for the past two years.

“We’ve been speaking at public forums, at Zoom meetings, writing letters and sending emails at every opportunity that has been provided to express our concerns with the proposed Gyrodyne megadevelopment,” she said. “But no matter what we say or how many people show up, our voices have been ignored.”

For more than a year, opponents to the subdivision application have said that the environmental impacts of changes Gyrodyne made to its original plan after the initial environmental review was completed have not been evaluated and “did not comply with state law,” according to a press release issued on the day of the event.

“The role of government is to show leadership, which represents all people of the community and follows a comprehensive plan steering development in the right direction, while preserving and enhancing the nature of our community and natural resources,” said Ogden.

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Herb Mones, of the Three Village Civic Association, presents Superintendent of Highways Dan Losquadro with a certificate of community appreciation. Photo from George Hoffman

Attendees of the Dec. 6 Three Village Civic Association had local roads on their minds.

Town of Brookhaven Superintendent of Highways Dan Losquadro (R) was on hand for the meeting at the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library to talk about what was going on with Brookhaven roads and answered a few questions from attendees and those who sent in inquiries before the meeting.

The job is one that he described as “the best job I’ve ever had” as well as the hardest. Regarding making decisions about what gets done, he said it’s all about funding availability and prioritizing.

“I steal Supervisor [Ed] Romaine’s [R] line every chance that I get when he says every issue of government is an issue of budget,” he said. “It’s just that simple. If I had unlimited funds, I would do all the work. This year, we all know that’s not the case.”

Losquadro said deciding what needs to be done is a mixture of listening to the community and balancing it against engineering assessments and needs.

“What may not seem obvious to the average resident, when we select a road or a neighborhood or a project to complete, it usually serves a greater purpose,” he said. “If we don’t do that, we may suffer deterioration … that might cause us to have to spend more money if we waited another couple of years to do it.”

Streetlights

Losquadro said recently he has worked with The Ward Melville Heritage Organization in Stony Brook which has brought a lot of concerns to his attention, including problems with streetlights. WMHO is currently working with state-elected representatives to see if there is funding to restore the sidewalks that need to be disrupted to fix underground wiring.

He said one thing residents need to know is that when post top streetlights go out, it’s not as simple as changing a bulb.

“In a lot of older communities, we get a lot of underground breaks,” he said. “When these areas were put in, they just did direct burial cables. They didn’t put any conduit in the ground. This wire is aging out.”

He said with supply chain disruptions this year, the department has not been able to get enough poles and streetlights needed to accelerate the town’s LED replacement program. However, because money wasn’t spent in that area, he was able to repurpose the money to replace a lot of underground wiring next year.

“I’d more than double our budget from $150,000 to $300,000 for next year to replace underground wiring,” he said, adding the wiring problem is significant and townwide.

Stony Brook Road and 347

Nelson + Pope, a Melville engineering firm, has been brought “on board to begin the engineering process for the improvements at Stony Brook Road and 347,” Losquadro said.

“It’s a very important project,” he added. “One that obviously we’re going to have to coordinate with New York State, because we’re just talking about the improvements on the Stony Brook Road side, but with the businesses there, especially the expansion of the medical park to the west side of the road there, you get a lot of cross traffic.”

The highway superintendent said there have been a large number of collisions at the intersection and the goal is to make it safer and more efficient. He added there will be traffic studies conducted in the area.

“We’re going to measure all the turning movements, in and out, of those businesses and see how we can best improve again the efficiency and the safety of moving vehicles through that confined and heavily traveled space,” he said.

Losquadro added that a physical barrier between the north and southbound traffic on Stony Brook Road could also be possible, hopefully something stone stamped like the barriers on 347 which are more aesthetically pleasing.

Sidewalks

Losquadro said there isn’t room in the budget for new sidewalks in the town. He said when sidewalks are added, it’s usually due to federal, county or state grants.

“We’ll certainly work with the councilman [Jonathan Kornreich (D)] to identify them and find funding sources,” he said. “I assure you, whenever I get the money for something, I build it.”

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Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn speaks at a May 13 press conference while George Hoffman and Herb Mones from the Three Village Civic Association and Judith Ogden, spokesperson for Saint James-Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition, look on. Photo by Rita J. Egan

On a bright spring day May 13, community advocates were joined by a Suffolk legislator in St. James to shine some light on one county commission’s procedures.

At the Suffolk County Planning Commission’s May 5 meeting, the commission members reviewed revisions to a proposal to subdivide the 75-acre Flowerfield property in St. James owned by Gyrodyne LLC for development. Despite residents from Brookhaven and Head of the Harbor, which is a village in the Town of Smithtown, submitting letters and speaking during the public session, remarks from people in those areas were discarded according to the committee’s guidelines.

The county commission ultimately didn’t pass the resolution, 5-4, and the decision goes back to Smithtown’s Planning Board without a recommendation from the county.

Suffolk County legislator and deputy presiding officer, Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), and community advocates called for reforms at the May 13 press conference.

Hahn exploring options

“As chair of the Legislature’s Economic Development, Planning and Housing committee, I was deeply disappointed in the planning that has been on display during the review of this proposed project,” Hahn said. “I am exploring options as to what can be done legislatively to fix the key problem identified during the Gyrodyne planning debacle.”

Hahn said she believes conditions need to be broadened so neighboring municipalities can object to a project being reviewed. She also suggested that the distance from 500 feet of a proposed development should be changed regarding those whose comments could be considered.

“I would imagine there could be a size and scope scale that would be maybe up to a 2-mile radius of important projects,” she said. “If I can run it in less than a couple of minutes, you can travel in the car in a split second, and it will impact neighboring communities.”

She added that rules need to be changed as far as public participation, which she said may involve a change to state law.

“Right now, my understanding is that only paperwork from the referring municipalities can be considered, and this is ridiculous,” the legislator said. “I am calling for a full review of the rules to maximize community input, and opportunity for neighboring municipalities to have their concerns addressed for the benefit of the planning process.”

Community groups speak out

George Hoffman, president of the Three Village Civic Association, said people made the effort to speak to the commissioners at the meeting only to find that their concerns were disregarded.

“We just couldn’t believe the rules they claimed bound them to discount everything that the public said during the hearing,” Hoffman said.

He added concerns range from the failure to consider the county’s new subwatershed plan; whether the proposed sewage treatment plant would release nitrogen into Stony Brook Harbor; and traffic increases on the Route 25A corridor that both towns share.

Hoffman called it a bad day in Suffolk planning and that concerns from Brookhaven and Head of the Harbor should have been considered.

Judith Ogden, Head of the Harbor trustee and spokesperson for the Saint James-Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition, said she lives right down the street from the proposed development. Ogden was one of the people who wrote a letter to the town Planning Board stating Head of the Harbor’s concerns about the proposed development, which it feels doesn’t fit Smithtown’s current development plan.

“I’m currently standing in the historic district, Mills Pond Historic District,” she said. “My property is included in part of that and part of the Gyrodyne application, one-third of it, is in the historic district, and it includes putting a hotel and parking lot in the historic district.”

Cindy Smith, of United Communities Against Gyrodyne, said when she was in high school in 1976 she worked on a project asking residents what they wanted to see in their town. She said community members listed more parks and open spaces, more arts and culture that families could participate in. On the top of the list, they wanted residents to be heard by their elected officials.

“Flash forward to today and what happened last week at the Suffolk County Planning Commission, right up front, we were told, your voices would not be heard,” she said.

Herb Mones, head of the Three Village Civic Association land committee, said it felt as if they were told to sit down and shut up, and when a project is so vital such as Gyrodyne, he said he feels all concerns should be considered.

“You would think everyone would want to hear the voices of concern about the specifics as to how it impacts the community — not Suffolk County Planning Commission,” he said.

James Bouklas, president of We Are Smithtown said the various concerns need to be heard by Suffolk planning.

“That means a collaborative process where town officials, residents and civic leaders, environmental groups and others are brought to the table with developers to make sure proposals are vetted through a citizens advisory board — as part of the commission’s process — and that means real public hearings that have real impacts on projects and not kangaroo courts where the fix is in before the hearing even starts,” he said.

Current plan changes

Recently, Gyrodyne’s plans were changed to include the preservation of slightly more than 15 acres to be a separate lot, and a proposed sewage treatment plant to be on a separate lot of more than 7 acres instead of on the open space lot. While a proposed medical building will take up more square feet, and there will be an increase of units for an assisted living building, the revised plan also includes a reduction of rooms in a hotel structure.

Gyrodyne has also eliminated from the plan a proposed 150-seat restaurant, a foot day spa and a 500-seat conference center for the hotel from the plan. Instead, the hotel will include a 133-seat, 4,000-square-foot multipurpose room.

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Photo from Deposit Photos

By Chris Cumella

Three Village Civic Association hosted an online informational meeting Feb. 1, designed to address details about the COVID-19 vaccine with current and future plans for distribution and administration for the general public. There were over 40 participants Monday evening.

“We recognize that there is a lot of frustration from people trying to obtain vaccines,” said George Hoffman, acting TVCA president. “This is an opportunity to hear from Suffolk County. They’ll explain what the plans are for the distribution.”

First, a representative from Stony Brook Children’s Hospital gave details of the vaccine, including dismissing preconceived notions about its effects and clarifying plans for major distribution moving forward.

Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at SBCH and director of the office of clinical trials at Renaissance School of Medicine, offered her expertise on infectious diseases, immunizations and the coronavirus by highlighting the efficacy of three different types of vaccines.

“There have been no deaths from the COVID treatment arms,” she explained to the virtual audience, about the lack of fatalities from the group of vaccine participants. She noted that there were deaths recorded of those that were treated with a placebo.

Nachman illustrated the details of three different types of vaccines being implemented in clinical trials of treatment for COVID-19. Among them were the mRNA vaccine being utilized and distributed by pharmaceutical giants Moderna and Pfizer; the nonreplicating viral vector vaccine created by the English-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca; and the protein plus vaccine developed by Novavax — an American vaccine development corporation.

With each explanation, she walked the listeners through the process of how the vaccines are administered, their chemical components and any complications or potential side effects.

According to SBU, the most common symptoms shown in those who received both doses of the Pfizer vaccines were fatigue and headache.

“Information is available on the Stony Brook website if anyone is interested in enrolling,” Nachman said. “However, the clock is ticking. We’re enrolling about 5,000 patients per week.”

The sense of urgency comes following the New York State mandate of vaccine distribution, which according to Assistant Deputy County Executive Vanessa Baird-Streeter, has caused a flagging distribution rate toward those in need of the vaccine in Long Island.

She said about 90,000 Suffolk County residents eligible in the “essential” 1a group received their vaccines in late December. Plans are in progress to distribute 600,000 more to the 1b group, including those 65 and over.

“We do believe that as time continues, we will see an expedited rate of distribution of doses,” she said. “New York State is only receiving 250,000 vaccines per week, and that is for the entire state.”

Jay Gardiner award

Jay Gardiner File photo by Phil Corso

TVCA took the opportunity to recognize one of its longtime members, Jay Gardiner — former Setauket fire commissioner and chairman of the board, who is set to retire this month after 50 years of service.

During his years with the fire department, Gardiner amassed an impressive résumé of reputable deeds. These included teaching medical professionalism at Stony Brook Hospital, carrying out emergency medical services throughout the Long Island area and delivering eight newborn babies.

“To everybody I ever taught, and more importantly from everyone I ever learned from, I want to thank you,” Gardiner said to the virtual audience. “There is an excitement to be in emergency services. I’m confident that my brothers and sisters in the department are out there doing the job tonight helping those who need medical attention.”

TVCA awarded Gardiner a plaque for his services throughout the years which his wife presented to him in a surprise during the call. He said that with his newfound free time, he will be getting back to his passions of “Scotch, cigars and golf.”

The meeting was described as a “very timely and important forum” by Hoffman.

He is currently heading the TVCA in place of president Jonathan Kornreich, who is running for Brookhaven Town Council in a special election in March.

Recording secretary Charles Tramontano said now is the time to be involved with the civic association.

“If anyone is interested in becoming a board member, all you have to do is reach out and send us your contact information on our website,” he said. “We welcome all people who want to get involved with our association.”

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Former Three Village Civic Association president and school district board trustee Jonathan Kornreich announced earlier this year he was running for Brookhaven Town Council in a special election March 23. Photo from candidate

One of the names on the ballot for a special election in Brookhaven March 23 is a familiar one to many Three Village residents.

Kornreich, left, with former Councilwoman Valerie Cartright and town Supervisor Ed Romaine at a 2017 press conference. Photo by Rita J. Egan

With the Town of Brookhaven Council District 1 seat vacant, after Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) won her run as a judge for the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the town called for a special election. While the Republican candidate has not yet been officially named, Jonathan Kornreich has been announced as the Democrat in the race. Kornreich has been a Three Village Central School District trustee for more than a dozen years and is president of the Three Village Civic Association.

When he first heard Cartright was vacating the seat, he said he didn’t even think of running.

“A few people contacted me, and they were like, ‘What are you doing?’ Kornreich said. “So, I agreed to think it over.”

He added the argument many made to him was that it would allow him to continue doing the work he has been doing through the years, but more effectively. Although he had considered a run for the seat in the past, it had been many years since he had considered entering politics.

“I just have been focused on doing the work,” he said.

Kornreich said he feels his experience as both a board of education trustee and a civic president will be an asset to the position as he regularly interacts with residents and listens to their concerns.

“Over the years, having been a civic president for so many years and being involved in the community as a school board member, I’ve just learned how to serve the public, and how to listen, so it’s not going to be a hard adjustment for me,” he said. “I’m used to hearing from people.”

The 51-year-old, who lives in Stony Brook with his wife, Linda, and his two daughters, first became involved with school boards when his children attended the North Shore Montessori School in Stony Brook.

“It was important for me to be involved in their education so I got very active in their school, and eventually I joined the board of the Montessori school,” he said. “Soon after that I became the president of that board, and that’s where I really got my start in civic involvement.”

When his children left to attend school in the Three Village district, Kornreich said he decided to run for its school board in 2008. While he will take a leave of absence from his role in the Three Village Civic Association, he plans to continue with the school board.

A lifetime Long Islander, he grew up in Hauppauge and graduated from the local high school in 1987. He went on to study at SUNY Albany where he majored in English and minored in philosophy. After graduating from college, he developed an entrepreneurial spirit and started up a pool business that he ran for 20 years before selling it. He then transitioned into construction and real estate. Through the years, in addition to the pool business, he has started a computer company, an importing company and has invested in a restaurant in Thailand and a farm in Cambodia.

Kornreich said during his years of community involvement he has worked with Cartright regularly.

“What I admire was her ability to bring stakeholders together, and just make sure that everyone was heard,” Kornreich said. “Even if she didn’t agree with them, she always made sure that everyone felt heard.”

He added he never wants constituents to be frustrated with their representation, and he feels it’s important for all residents to be given the opportunity to be heard as Cartright did.

“I think that a lot of the issues that we face in the town, there’s no Republican or Democrat way to conduct town business. And I think that a lot of those national issues don’t really come into play — they don’t apply.”

— Jonathan Kornreich

“It’s time consuming and it can be difficult, but you have to go slowly and give people a chance to weigh in on things,” he said.

Kornreich said it’s important to continue the work that Cartright started including making sure the ideas gathered from area residents a few years ago for the Route 25A Three Village Area Visioning Report are implemented, and a similar study for redeveloping Upper Port Jefferson is continued. He said planning is important for the future of the district, especially regarding keeping each area’s personality.

“To maintain that sense of place is a result of planning,” he said. “In the Three Village area, for example, the 25A area is clearly in need of redevelopment. It’s not all that it could be, and I think it doesn’t have the kind of amenities that people in this community expect.”

He gave the example of the East Setauket Pond Park area, which once was a traditional waterfront where residents could see boats.

“But now it’s all overgrown with weeds, and in that park, you can’t really see out,” he said. “There’s buildings there that are vacant and have been vacant for years, and that’s an area that really needs to be redeveloped. And, I don’t mean to build buildings, I mean that’s a good place for public spaces, for parks, for preservation.”

He said Upper Port, with access to Route 347 and having a Long Island Rail Road station, is an example of where a vibrant, walkable downtown area can be developed.

“That’s a place where it’s OK to build buildings and have a nice walkable downtown area with affordable housing,” he said. “A place where young people can live and seniors, and have shops and that feeling of being in a place. There’s a lot of opportunities for that in the Upper Port Jefferson Station area.”

If elected, Kornreich — as with Cartright — will be the only Democrat on the Town Board, but he said with his work with the civic and school district, he has worked with elected officials from different parties.

“I think that a lot of the issues that we face in the town, there’s no Republican or Democrat way to conduct town business,” he said. “And I think that a lot of those national issues don’t really come into play — they don’t apply.”

He said he’s worked frequently with town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R), and he admires Romaine’s respect for the environment.

“From what I’ve seen of the other people on the Town Council, their hearts are in the right place,” the candidate said.

In addition to working with those on the town level through the years, Kornreich has worked with elected officials on the county, state and federal levels, and said he has a good working relationship with many of them. He said when residents come into an elected official’s office, many don’t know if the issue falls under town, county or state jurisdiction.

“They don’t need to, because as an elected official, if someone has a problem with their road or with this or that, they don’t care,” Kornreich said. … “They want to know: ‘Who do I talk to, how do I get this problem fixed?’ … So, having those relationships — I just want to be able to help people solve problems.”

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In March Three Village Civic Association volunteers, including board member Sotiria Tzakas, delivered food to the Three Village Central School District food pantry. Photo from Three Village Civic Association

The Three Village Civic Association is doing its part to help the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The civic association sent an email April 10 to inform members that the group established a Helping Hands program with the aim to deliver up to $100 groceries per week to anyone who needs them.

Those who are unable to leave the house because they may be infected, are one of the people at high risk or are having financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic, can reach out to the civic association for help. Volunteers will shop, pay for and deliver the groceries. Residents who receive assistance are asked to contribute to the program if they can do so.

TVCA President Jonathan Kornreich said more than a dozen people asked for assistance during the first week of the program. He said that more than 20 people have offered to volunteer to help.

“The community is so amazing and ready to help,” Kornreich said, adding that local residents have sent in donations totaling $2,500 so far.

In March the civic association also picked up bags of donated items from residents’ curbs for the Three Village Central School District food pantry.

For more information, visit www.threevillagecivics.org.

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Stony Brook Trauma Center staff member Colby Rowe and Wang Center Building Manager Scott LaMarsh accept donations for the COVID-19 Donation Center. Photo from SBU

Grateful for donations ranging from chapstick to gum to tissues and coveted personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks and goggles, Stony Brook University is asking for residents to donate iPads, which they plan to repurpose to provide more telehealth services to the community.

Stony Brook Trauma Center staff member Colby Rowe and Wang Center Building Manager Scott LaMarsh accept donations for the COVID-19 Donation Center. Photo from SBU

The university asked for donations starting on Sunday and has received a constant stream of email requests to deliver goods to help the medical staff that are offering vital comfort and care during the coronavirus crisis. Interested donors can contact Joan Dickinson, the Stony Brook University Community Relations Director at COVID19donations@stonybrookmedicine.edu or call (631) 219-0603.

Stony Brook is asking donors to clean the device, reset it and place it in a ziplock bag with a usable power chord.

Telehealth medical services will “reduce the need for personal protective equipment,” Dickinson said.

Dickinson has requested that interested donors make an appointment before bringing any items to support the busy medical community. Community members can make donations between 10 am and 1 pm.

“Even though we’re asking the public to respond, we are very diligent about social distancing and everyone’s safety,” Dickinson said.

For anyone who might get the urge to make a home cooked meal or bring in cookies made from scratch, Dickinson said the school appreciates the gesture but can’t accept any such personalized dishes, as they seek to protect staff. The school can is accepting pre-packaged food.

People who don’t have access to medical supplies or comfort items they can donate can send in video messages. Indeed, numerous community members have shared messages of thanks.

The variety of home-made donations has delighted and surprised Dickinson. People have sent in knitted stress balls and crocheted blankets, as well as hand-made masks.

“All the donations are evaluated by folks from environmental health and safety,” Dickinson said. A mask that’s “not surgical grade wouldn’t make it into an operating room, but there are other uses.”

The donation channel started because community leaders eager to help reached out to Dickinson, whose job in community relations has put her in touch with these groups over the years.

“We decided we better put a process in place so everybody stays safe and we know what’s coming in,” Dickinson said.

Donors can bring their contributions into the assigned building or can leave it in the parking lot if they want to minimize contact or don’t want to enter a building.

When Dickinson logs off each night, she comes back to her computer the next morning to find over 100 requests for donation times in her email.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said.

The Three Village Civic Association and numerous Facebook groups have reached out to her on a regular basis to see what else she might need.

Dickinson said one of the many people who reached out to her expressed her appreciation for how Stony Brook reacted when she had an issue with the university. The resident was frustrated with equipment on campus that was causing a humming noise in her house.

“We were able to modify how much sound came out” of the equipment, Dickinson said. As the university manages through a crisis that strains their staff and resources, the resident said she wanted to return the favor.

The resident told Dickinson, “you were so helpful to me. Now, we want to help you,” Dickinson said.
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