TOS Officials Say Kings Park Is The Answer To Downtown Smithtown's Sewage Problem

By Stacey Altherr

A 17-acre site located inside Nissequogue River State Park may be the answer to downtown Smithtown’s sewage problem. Town officials have proposed the building of drainage basins in Kings Park to address the sewage issues that that are holding up the revitalization of Main Street, Smithtown.

The proposed drainage basins are part of Smithtown’s proposal to address downtown revitalization. The plan will allow for increased development on Main Street by pumping sewage to Suffolk County’s sewage treatment plant in Kings Park where it will be treated. Due to restrictions on the release of treated water into the LI Sound the construction of drainage basins which collect the treated water before it drains into the ground are necessary.

While town officials and some business leaders are in favor of the proposed drainage site to advance the long-awaited sewer project in the town, others, including longtime proponents of the park, say it is the wrong place for it. 

“It is literally in the middle of the park,” says John McQuaid, president of the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation, which raises money and is working with the state on the development of the park for public use.

At first, officials said the water would be piped underground and not pool on the surface, which would have been more acceptable, McQuaid said. He even talked to county and town officials about finding a less obtrusive location on the 527-acre park. “This is so much good going on here. It doesn’t make sense.”

Town officials say they looked at six possible sites to transfer excess treated sewer water, but for one reason or another, the other sites didn’t work. The Kings Park site was the most agreeable, according to town officials for several reasons, including proximity to sewer plant and topography. About 90 percent of the town is currently using cesspools and septic systems, which lead to large amount of nitrogen and other contaminants into the ground.

Some of the other sites considered and rejected were the St. Catherine of Sienna site, which was too close to well water and had topography problems, and St. Johnland Nursing Home, which is too close to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Corridor, according to officials.

While the rest of the park is owned by New York State Parks Department and was legislated as parkland in 2000/01, a small part of the property known to residents as Building 1, is owned by the Dormitory Authority for the State of NY which oversees construction projects and financing of those projects. The land was once owned by the state’s Office of Mental Health.

Environmental guidelines for sumps used for treated sewer water only allows the town to dump 600,000 gallons a day of effluent into the Long Island Sound. The drainage basin would accommodate the extra treated water.

“It is not a done deal,” said Peter Hans, Smithtown Planning Director. The master plan up on the state website currently does not include the leeching pools.

Approximately 1.5 to two acres will be used for the drainage basins, with the other acreage used for a continuation of a planned bike path and other recreational uses. The sewer money, provided mostly by state and county funds, would pay for the remediation of the site including removal of the abandoned building on site.

Hans said the sump will be camouflaged with landscaping to fit in the other beautification efforts of the park, with a chain-link fence around the sump, and with berms and other landscaping. He added that it would not emit any smell.

Smithtown's Master Plan Moving Forward Despite Setbacks

By Stacey Altherr

Despite Covid-19 and other setbacks, public commenting is still ongoing while the Town of Smithtown continues the process of creating a new Master Plan for its hamlets.

The town has not had a comprehensive master plan adopted in more than 50 years. The town board, under the new administration of Edward Wehrheim as supervisor, funded $700,000 for studies to come up with a plan.  H2M of New Jersey was given the contract to work with the town planners and put it together.

While the town says the response has been better than it expected, some in the town felt it could have been more widely advertised.

Last fall, before the pandemic locked down of the town and country, the town officials held “scoping” meetings in each of the hamlets – Smithtown, Kings Park, Nesconset, St. James, Hauppauge, and Commack – to find out what residents saw in their community’s future. The town also took comments and questions on its website, and asked residents to fill out a 15-page survey on issues of traffic, environment, open space, and other land use issues. Some questions targeted specific communities, according to town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo.

After that first set of meetings, H2M compiled the information, and using it, came up with a draft. 

The plan was to deal with outdated business zones and land use issues, said Wehrheim. Because the residents have vested interests in what happens in their towns, he said, the town advertised and held online Zoom meetings with the major town planners. Residents could comment there or send in comments after watching it live or on youtube.com.

“We took the basic parts of opposition to it in each hamlet so we can work on those issues,” he said. “It was 12 or so issues. So now we are working with our planning officials to work on those.”

The town supervisor pointed to Northport Road as an example. H2M suggested that the light use area be changed to heavy use since many of the businesses are heavy industrial use, even if done so illegally for decades. But civic groups and other residents complained, so the town is working with each of the owners to “clean up” environmental issues and revert new and some existing businesses to comply with light use, and encouraging less hard use. New applicants include a new soccer field complex by Agape Inc., a solar farm, a medical facility, and a new daycare center.

“We may just keep [most if it] light industry,” Wehrheim said. “We think the residents’ concerns had some validity… We are going to each one [of the businesses] to have them clean up. We’ve been successful. That being said, there will be some we may need to zone heavy industry.”

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Most important to residents, according to survey results, were downtown revitalization, traffic, and overdevelopment of certain business use areas.

Town officials say they used many different avenues to announce meetings; social media, press coverage, its own website homepage, and GTV ads. Residents say that it should have considered a mailing to each home, but Garguilo said the cost would be prohibitive; about $50,000 for printing and mailing.

Instead, it piggybacked on annual tax mailings and recycling calendars with an informational insert, mailings were given to schools to bring home to parents, flyers put in the town’s libraries, and large posters were taped in businesses across town. About 100 residents have called to ask for a copy of the survey to be sent to their homes, and the town obliged.

According to the town’s count, 577 residents went to one of the six town meetings in 2019 pre-Covid for the scoping meetings; 921 watched the zoom meetings, 1,259 participants filled out the online survey, and 77,278 residents did not fill out the full survey but used the link to answer the some of the questions (usually the area concerning their town) and an additional 2,034 comments were sent via the link who did not fill out part or all of the survey.

When the next public input meeting is yet to be determined. The sudden death of H2M project leader, Jeffrey Janota, last month will stall the project until a new project manager is put in place, Garguilo said.  Next will come the Environmental Impact Plan which addresses traffic, water usage, and other environmental issues, which will mandate another round of public input and meetings, and then the final draft of the plan. Wehrheim says he believes it can still get done by the end of the year.

Residents still have time to voice their opinions, questions, and concerns she said, on the town website; smithtownny.gov (look halfway down on the right and click on “Smithtown Draft Master Plan” to read the plan and comment). 

“It’s fluid,” Wehrheim said. “We want to hear how they want their town to move into the future.”

A Lot To Think About In Smithtown's Revamped Master Plan

SMITHTOWN GETS A FIRST LOOK AT REVAMPED MASTER PLAN

December 18, 2020

By Richard Murdocco

A summary of findings from the Town of Smithtown’s latest draft comprehensive plan were first offered to elected officials and the public during a December 15^th virtual town board session. 

The presentation given by Jeff Janota, a planning representative from Melville-based H2M architects+engineers, served as the first time both policymakers and residents heard of the newest plan’s recommendations for the future of housing, transportation, land use, recreation and more. 

According to local officials, the presentation was the first step of a lengthy formal approval process that includes an environmental review, the scheduling of additional public hearings, targeted community meetings, potential revisions, and an eventual vote of final adoption by the town.

The $490,000 effort first launched back in December 2018, when the Town of Smithtown contracted with H2M to craft the plan. Since then, the engineering firm conducted numerous resident surveys, meetings, and community outreach charettes in an effort to take the public’s temperature on issues such as the revitalization of Smithtown’s downtown areas and hamlet centers, as well as allowing additional residential development in key areas. 

This isn’t the first time Smithtown has tried to update its current master plan, which has been in use since 1961. 

A previous planning effort in 2015 was received coolly by the region’s business groups and real estate developers, who felt that the resulting developmental roadmap was uninspiring.  At the time, builders argued that the 2015 plan fell “woefully short of properly addressing downtown development and the area’s increasing exodus of young people.”

As a result, the massive draft went nowhere because the town board declined to formally adopt it. However, parts of the previous plan did find a second life in providing data for the 2020 effort’s land use analysis and community inventory.

Chief among the recommendations of this latest iteration include amending the town’s zoning regulations to bring them more aligned with current land usage, as well as allowing developers greater flexibility in changing permitted uses as appropriate. The plan also stresses the need for more transit-oriented development near area Long Island Rail Road stations, enhanced improvements to recreational facilities town-wide, as well as preserving the integrity of Smithtown’s existing single-family neighborhoods, which make up 51% of Smithtown’s overall land usage.

A key recommendation being made is that policymakers create a new zoning designation called a Multi-Family Zone that allows for low to mid-rise residential development in hamlets with underutilized lots, including areas located along West Jericho Turnpike in Commack or various vacant wooded parcels in Nesconset. 

“The Town of Smithtown should encourage, where appropriate, the construction of a diverse housing stock beyond the single-family home to meet the needs of all ages and abilities,” the document states. “Housing types could include townhome, apartment, assisted living, senior living, or traditional mixed-use,” it continues, adding that smaller-scale housing options should also be integrated into areas surrounding transit hubs and designated town centers.

In addition, the draft charted recent growth trends and key demographic metrics throughout Smithtown.

According to the document, traffic growth was relatively modest throughout the township from the period between 2015 to 2018, with the data showing that the number of total vehicle trips on town roads increased by 6%. In addition, the plan identified an 18% decline in overall school district enrollment town-wide, a figure averaged across the Smithtown, Kings Park, Hauppauge, and Commack school districts.

For the 75-acre Gyrodyne property, one of the last large tracts of developable land in western Suffolk County, the plan suggests that Smithtown residents are supportive of recent efforts to redevelop the former industrial parcel. “When asked how they’d like to see Gyrodyne redeveloped, comprehensive plan survey commenters believed the current proposed plans for a hotel, assisted living, and medical office was appropriate, and they additionally desired a sewage treatment plant, walking trails, green space, and in some instances, residential,” the draft writes. The plan goes on to recommend a buffer of parkland on the site, and suggests that elected officials keep a watchful eye on developmental happenings on the Brookhaven side of the property. 

At public hearings on Gyrodyne’s redevelopment earlier this year, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine argued against the latest projects being proposed on the Town of Smithtown portion of the Gyrodyne property due to their potential negative impacts to the environment and quality-of-life.

Concerning recreation, H2M said that the town should work to create new neighborhood parks in areas such as Half Hollow Road in Commack; Donald Drive and Hillside-Gramercy Gardens in Kings Park and at 3rd Street and Astor Avenue in St. James. The document found that surveyed local residents strongly favor additional investment being made in Smithtown’s recreational facilities, and were supportive of additional parks being built. In total, the plan reports that there were 1,159 survey responses from residents, who left over 2,000 comments.

According to Allyson Murray, Smithtown’s project manager for the comprehensive plan update, the next steps will be the scheduling of additional public workshops to solicit feedback and dedicated hearings as the plan’s environmental impact statements are being authored. “There is a considerable amount of public outreach that is to occur,” Murray said, who noted that the level of resident participation in the planning process reflects local civic pride. “We have a large and stable residential community of people who care about where they live.” 

Murray says that the public is welcome to comment on the draft plan anytime between now and February, when official hearings on the document will likely be scheduled. If the public is generally supportive of the draft recommendations, the town is aiming to formally adopt the 2020 comprehensive plan sometime in late spring or early summer next year.

Richard Murdocco is an award-winning columnist and adjunct professor in Stony Brook University’s public policy graduate program. He regularly writes and speaks about Long Island’s real estate development issues. You can email Murdocco at Rich@TheFoggiestIdea.org.