CCA & KPCA Unite To Tell Town Board "JUST SAY NO"

Click to enlargeBy Erica Jackson

The Kings Park Civic Association and the Commack Community Association have recently banded together to fight a proposal by the Town of Smithtown to rezone the Kings Park Industrial Park.

“We appreciate that the town is moving forward with an amendment to fix the problems that exist, but as the statute stands right now, we do not support it,” said Mike Rosato, member of the Kings Park Civic Association.

Bruce Ettenburg, president of the Commack Community Association agreed: “The proposal is too broad. It needs to be fine tuned. "

The zoning proposal, which will effect some 70 properties, has actually been in the works for several years.  It was subject to a public hearing in October 2009, but came to a standstill after the November town board elections. The town is now looking to revisit the issue and Smithtown Town Planner Frank DeRubies recently met with members of the Kings Park Civic Association and Commack Community Association to discuss the proposition.

According to Frank DeRubies, in an effort to bring numerous businesses in the industrial park into compliance, the town is proposing to create a zoning statue that would require companies using their property for heavy industry to obtain a special permit from the town. 

Under current zoning regulations, DeRubies says most businesses in the Kings Park Industrial Park are only zoned for light industry, however, many are managing heavy industrial businesses, which means, said DeRubies that they are conducting most of their business outdoors.  “Outdoors is the difference between light and heavy industry,” said DeRubies.

DeRubies said the town attempted to gain control over the Kings Park Industrial park in the past, but was unsuccessful. He said, “We took the businesses to court and lost. It’s like the wild, wild west over there.”

According to DeRubies, many of the businesses have been illegally operating heavy industrial businesses for so long without the town stepping in that the courts sided with the businesses.

DeRubies said, “The problem occurred when the town was not as developed as it is now.  Going back to the fifties and sixties, the businesses there were smaller, but they have grown and there wasn’t any enforcement.”

Now, however, there are residential homes abutting the industrial park and noise and truck traffic has become a constant complaint.

To remedy the situation, DeRubies says the town’s proposed statue would require the businesses to obtain a special exception permit, which would regulate heavy industries by requiring them to for example, create buffers and operate only during certain hours.

If they don’t comply, DeRubies said, the town will have more clout with the court system. 

“It will really help us clean up the area and improve the aesthetics of the location,” said Smithtown Councilman Ed Wehrheim.  “We don’t want to put the businesses out of business, burt rather legalize them.”

Bringing existing businesses into compliance is noble, said Rosato, but there is concern that newer businesses will also be able to obtain special permits for heavy industry. “Do what they are suggesting to allow the existing land owners to continue to use their properties consistent with current uses, but don’t encourage the proliferation of heavy industry,” said Rosato.

Rosato suggests instead limiting the heavy industrial uses that would be permitted under the town’s proposed special exception permit.  For example, he said, concrete manufacturing and asphalt manufacturing should be excluded from the document.  He reasoned, most landowners that are not in compliance are using their properties for outdoor storage.

“If we make the whole area heavy industrial, we are not going to improve the situation, said Ettenburg.  “We are going to feel and increase in traffic.”

Rosato and Ettenburg said they have formed a joint task force and plan on going to the town with ideas in an effort to work out a zoning proposal that everyone can be happy with including businesses. 

SmithtownMatters.com attempted to contact some of the effected businesses, but none returned phone calls as of press time.

Maple Avenue Sidewalks Not Walkable?

By Erica Jackson

Anyone who has attempted to drive down Maple Avenue in Smithtown recently, realized very quickly to avoid the road in the future:  The Town of Smithtown is in the process of not only resurfacing the street, but adding new crosswalks and sidewalks.  When complete, the thoroughfare will be revitalized with one glitch — the new sidewalks will feature oak trees and telephone poles smack in the middle of them.

“What mindless, middling, mid-management level bureaucratic planner decided to preserve the old, outdated, rotting wood telephone poles and maintain them smack-dab in the middle of the brand spanking new, masterfully graded and expertly installed sidewalks?” asked Kings Park resident and Democratic candidate for state assembly Richard Macellaro in a letter to SmithtownMatters.com. 

“These newly installed sidewalks are impassable and where necessary, must be ripped-up, redone and replaced. What a waste of scarce government resources while causing further and unexpected delays to the project’s overdue completion.”

To respond, Mitchell Crowley, director of traffic safety for the Town of Smithtown said, “It was something that we couldn’t avoid. It just wasn’t feasible to wait for the utility companies to relocate the poles.”  And “yes,” he said, “it doesn’t look the best,” but he said, “there will be sufficient access around the poles.”
That includes he said, the poles that have tether’s attached.  Those tie-downs, he said will be removed before the project is complete.  However, the poles will have to stay put for a while.  As will the numerous, large oak trees that line Maple Avenue.“The existing road has some unfortunate features that we can’t straighten out.  The oak trees are not in our budget to rip out and plant new ones. But, it will be easy to walk around them.”

Crowley noted that the sidewalks will be in line with American Disabilities Act guidelines which, according to Glen Donnelly, education coordinator for Suffolk County Handicapped Services, require a 36 inch clearance for wheel-chairs and scooters.  If there isn’t sufficient access, Donnelly said the sidewalks will have to be adjusted.

This all isn’t to say, said Councilman Ed Wehrheim, that the poles can’t be moved in the near future. He said, “The way the project was designed there were a couple issues with the utility poles. Rather than hold up the work, we decided to go around the poles. It is not a huge problem or expense to repair the sidewalk once the poles are moved.”
According to Crowley, the town contacted Verizon and the Long Island Power Authority, asking them to relocate their poles, but he said due to the companies’ time constraints, the poles would not be able to be moved in time for the commencement of Maple project.
LIPA, however, says it has determined after an inspection this week, that none of the poles belong to them.  Verizon representatives did not return phone calls as of press time. 

The $2 million Maple Avenue Project was made possible via a $1.2 Million grant from the Federal Highway Administration(FHWA) several years ago. Those funds were threatened to be taken away in 2008, unless the town got the project underway. At the time, Congressman Tim Bishop and Suffolk County Legislator John Kennedy worked with the FHWA to dissuade the agency from re-appropriating the monies.

Kennedy confirmed that there are strict time constraints when it comes to using the federal funding, but he said he was disappointed to learn that the poles were not able to be moved in time. He said, “I don’t understand why they [the town] did what they did. I am mystified.”
Kennedy said he plans to contact the town and find what happened.  “As I have with many other types of ventures, I will be happy to assist and work with the town to make this project beneficial and safe.”
Congressman Bishop did not return calls as of press time.

Once the funding was safe, Crowley said plans were drawn up and the town hired J. Anthony Enterprises of Bohemia via request for proposal process to expedite the project.  Rendered in the project plans are drainage upgrades; a drainage structure at Miller’s Pond to treat water before it enters the waterway; new concrete sidewalks; the repaving and re-grading of Maple Avenue; decorative crosswalks at Millers Pond; driveway aprons for all driveways on Maple Avenue, and curb repair.

The town has also, said Crowley, applied for additional grant monies to help ease the remaining 20 percent of the bill that the town must foot. He said the town is expected to receive at least 15 percent of the town’s share though a state Marchaselli grant.  The town is also working with the Suffolk County to “dress-up” Millers Pond, which it owns, with a concrete apron and some gravel so it looks “aesthetically better.”

Looking on the bright side,” Maple Avenue resident Helen Ammann said. “I appreciate that this is going to be nice and new when it is finished.” 

Memorial Day - 2010

The Town of Smithtown came out in a big way to honor the men and women who died in the service of their country.  Memorial Day 2010 - Go to Photo Gallery to see pictures of Commack, Kings Park, Saint James, Smithtown Memorial Day Parades.  

War is Peace

By John Dennehy

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been showing up in the nation’s news headlines over the past several weeks for an unusual reason; he wants to cut military spending.  He wants to trim spending by cutting a few archaic and failed programs and by reducing bureaucratic costs in the top heavy military he commands.  That may not seem like such a bold move until you consider this; Robert Gates was appointed Defense Secretary by George W. Bush, a president who had declared himself a “war president”. 

In the year-long debate over healthcare reform the question that came up again and again was; how can we afford it?  Even though about half of our federal taxes go into military spending*, diverting some of that money to help defray health costs was barely even mentioned.  During the current recession local school districts around Smithtown, Kings Park, and just about everywhere else have had to lay off teachers and cut programs because of cuts in education funding – and the notion that money would be better spent on books rather than bombs is still little more than a catchy bumper sticker.  ** And, now even the Defense Secretary is talking about trimming the fat – what more will it take? 

Data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies shows that, the US military spending in 2010 will roughly equal the rest of the world combined.  Still, according to an article in the Washington Post here congress may override reason and the Defense Secretary and pour even more money into the war machine.  Why? Well, for one it’s about jobs.  High tech fighter planes don’t build themselves.  It’s also about money and public perception.  The mostly faceless corporations that get the lion’s share of those hundreds of billions of tax dollars have a lot of spare change to throw around and money wins elections.  Plus, it’s political suicide to look weak on Defense.  So even at the cost of the nation’s health and education and now perhaps even over the protest of the Defense Secretary, our tax dollars continue to be spent on blowing things up.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children...
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

* This figure combines the Dept. of Defense, military spending in other departments and military costs in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

** The U.S. Department of Defense employees around two million people, combined civilian and military.  The U.S. department of Education employees around five thousand people. 

Richard Smythe acquires Smithtown from Lyon Gardiner in 1663….

By Bradley Harris

    Legend has it that Richard Smythe rode a bull on a jaunt around the boundaries of Smithtown when he staked out his claim to the land.  To ride this bull a distance of some 35 miles through an untracked wilderness, in one day’s time, would have required a superhuman effort on the part of Richard Smythe, to say nothing of what would have been required of the bull. The most ardent supporters of the legendary ride look for ways in which Richard Smythe could have accomplished such a superhuman feat.  Some say Richard Smythe wisely chose the longest day of the year, carefully plotted his course, trained his bull, built up his endurance and then made his mad dash.  But the legendary account never provides an explanation of how ownership of the land passed from the Nesaquakes to Richard Smythe.  For that explanation one has to look at the historical record.

            The historical record of deeds and conveyances involving the Nesaquake lands show that Richard Smythe went through an involved and protracted struggle to legally acquire the land that is Smithtown today.  His struggle began when he approached Lyon Gardiner about buying land that Gardiner had been given by the Montauk Chieftain Wyandanch.  That land was owned by the Nesaquake Indians who lived along both banks of the Nissequogue River.  Sometime in 1663, Richard Smythe got a conveyance for the Nesaquake lands along the Nissequogue River from Lyon Gardiner.  Unfortunately we don’t know what this deed said because the deed has been lost.  But we do know how Lyon Gardiner came into the possession of the Smithtown lands.

            Lyon Gardiner of Gardiner’s Island fame, was the first Englishman to settle on eastern Long Island in 1639, and he was given the lands along the river as a gift from the Montauk chieftain Wyandanch.  As the chief or sachem of the Montauks, the largest tribe of Indians on Long Island, Wyandanch was recognized as “the acknowledged ruler of all other sachems on the east end of Long Island.  All the smaller tribes paid tribute to him, and it was generally understood that no conveyance of land was valid without his concurrence. In many instances, he held title to the lands by gift or purchase from the subordinate chief, and conveyed those lands to whites in his own name.”  In 1659, Wyandanch did this with the Nesaquake lands when he presented them to Gardiner as a gift.  Why he chose to do this is interesting.  (William S. Pelletreau, A History of Long Island, New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903, p. 200.)

            According to William Pelletreau, after settling on Gardiner’s Island in 1639, Lyon Gardiner had been a friend to Wyandanch and the Montauks and had served as a “counselor in all their troubles.”  (Pelletreau, op.cit., p. 201.)  One of the troubles that the Montauk tribe encountered happened in 1653 when Narragansett Indians paddled across Long Island Sound in their war canoes to attack the Montauks.  The Montauks were celebrating the marriage of Wyandanch’s daughter, Princess Momone – the “Heather Flower” – to a Shinnecock Indian chief and were not prepared for the vicious attack that followed.  In the ensuing battle that took place in “Massacre Valley” in the hills north of Fort Pond Bay in Montauk, half the Montauk tribe, estimated to have been about 1000 Indians, were killed and Wyandance’s daughter,  the “Heather Flower,” was kidnapped and taken across the Sound.  Wyandance sought Lyon Gardiner’s help in getting his daughter back from the Narragansett Indians.

            Lyon Gardiner appealed to the “British to pressure the Narragansetts into returning the Princess Momone.  The Narragansett chief ‘Ninigret’ agreed to release the Heather Flower … in exchange for a huge pile of wampum.”  Lyon Gardiner helped Wyandance gather the required wampum.  (Barbara Marhoefer, Witches, Whales, Petticoats, and Sails, Port Washington, New York: Ira J. Friedman Division of Kennikat Press, 1971, pgs. 7-9.)  The “ransom was sent to Ninigret in Montauk war canoes” only to be intercepted by agents of John Winthrop, governor of the Connecticut colonies.”  Again Wyandanch appealed to Lyon Gardiner to intercede on his behalf and Lyon “intervened with Winthrop” who “saw to it that the wampum was delivered to Ninigret.”  (Barbara Marhoefer, op. cit., pgs. 7-9.)  The Heather Flower was finally released by Ninigret and “tradition has it that the restoration of Wyandanch’s daughter to her father … took place at “Richard Smythe’s residence at Setauket.”  (Frederick Kinsman Smith, The Family of Richard Smith of Smithtown, L.I., Smithtown, New York: Smithtown Historical Society, 1967, p. 21.)

            A grateful father and sachem then decided to give Lyon Gardiner a token of his appreciation for all that Lyon Gardiner had done for him.  At East Hampton on July 14, 1659, in a very unique deed called the “deed of friendship” that has a unique drawing of two stick figures shaking hands, Wyandanch conveyed the Nesaquake lands along the Nissequogue River to  Lyon Gardiner.  What is interesting about this particular deed is that Richard Smythe’s name appears on this document as a witness to the deed.  And four years later, Lyon Gardiner sold these very same lands to Richard Smythe.

            The question that arises is whether Richard Smythe’s interest in the Nesaquake lands was awakened by his witnessing the signing of this deed or whether “he may have had something to do with bringing about the transaction” in the first place.  (Frederick Kinsman Smith, op. cit., pg. 11.)  William Pelletreau felt that there was “little doubt but that the whole affair had been prearranged between Gardiner and Smith.”  (Pelletreau, A History of Long Island, op. cit., p. 201.)  

            So it would seem that Richard Smythe may have been the instigator of the famous “deed of friendship” between Wyandanch and Lyon Gardiner and that his interest in the whole affair was to gain title to the Nesaquake lands from Lyon Gardiner.  When the Nesaquake lands were conveyed to Richard Smythe by Lyon Gardiner in 1663, Richard Smythe set about securing undisputed possession of the land.  This was to take him the next 12 years of his life.  More about Richard Smythe’s struggle to secure the Nesaquake lands as his own next time….