Smithtown's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event Scheduled For April 24

Smithtown is hosting a Household Hazardous Waste Collection event on Saturday, April 24th. This free event will be held at the Smithtown Municipal Services Facility, located at 85 Old Northport Road in Kings Park, from 7:00 AM through 3:00 PM. Residents are asked to wear face masks and not to leave their cars, to protect everyone’s wellbeing amid the coronavirus pandemic. This event is for Smithtown Township residents only. Proof of residency is strictly enforced.

Approximately 490 Smithtown households participated at the October 2020 event. Collected waste included waste oil based paints/ flammable paints, gasoline, paint thinners, waste gases, petroleum distillates, flammable solids, oxidizers liquids and solids, sodium/potassium nitrates, acids, corrosives, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, misc. toxic liquids (i.e. Chlordane, etc.) and solids, lacquers, lithium batteries, battery acids and various other toxic compounds.

New York State DEC is expected to reimburse the Town for 50% of the contractor expense for this event. Materials are collected and manifested for disposal by Care Environmental Corp.

***Silver Alert Missing Selden Man***

Silver Alert- Cathal Schlageter

Suffolk County Police have issued a Silver Alert for a missing Selden man who suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and may be suicidal.

Cathal Schlageter, 27Cathal Schlageter, 27, was last seen by a family member at Independence Plaza in Selden on March 20 at approximately 3 p.m. He was driving a red 1999 Toyota Corolla, license plate GXB 7544. He was reported missing today at approximately 11 a.m.

Schlageter is white, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 145 pounds with light brown hair and blue eyes.

Detectives are asking anyone with information on Schlageter’s location is asked to call 911 or the Sixth Squad at 631-854-8652.

Silver Alert is a program implemented in Suffolk County that allows local law enforcement to share information with media outlets about individuals with special needs who have been reported missing.

Update on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 9:57PM by .

Cathal Schlageter has been located unharmed.

Making Their Voices Heard Black Lives Matter And Blue Lives Matter Rally

Is the black flag with a thin blue line a symbol of support for police or a symbol of racism?

A group of Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters staged a protest rally/march in Smithtown, Saturday, March 6th demanding the removal of the black and white flag with a thin blue line from Smithtown Fire Department equipment. 

A small group of BLM supporters began their march at the Smithtown train station and marched to Elm Ave. by way of Maple Ave. The group chanted “hey,hey,ho,ho racists flags have got to go” and “black lives matter” as they marched.

A group, estimated by police to be more than 100, who support the use of the thin blue line flag staged their own rally at the intersection of Elm and Jericho then proceeded down to the Smithtown Fire House on Elm. 

According to BLM attendees the flag is too often seen at events where Black Lives Matter supporters are protesting the use of force by police against people of color. The thin blue line flag is seen by protestors as a symbol of racial injustice similar to the confederate flag. 

Not so, say people waving the thin blue line flag. The flag represents support for police who have a difficult job and show courage and integrity in the line of duty. 

There were plenty of interactions between the two groups. Chanting of “black lives matter” was met with chants of “all lives matter”.  In the middle were police who had the challenging job of ensuring the peaceful rally remained peaceful.

Despite the loud exchanges from both sides there were several civil conversations between individuals challenging and explaining positions. A Viet Nam veteran from Nissequogue said he had no problem with the flag being placed on fire department equipment and he had no problem with the dual rallies saying that free speech and peaceful protest is an American way of life.

The protests were loud and mostly peaceful until late afternoon. According to police three arrests were made.  A fight broke out among protesters at approximately 4:10 p.m. Brandon Felton, 47, of East Meadow, was charged with Disorderly Conduct and Resisting Arrest.  Derek Bolster, 45, of West Islip, was charged with Disorderly Conduct and an outstanding warrant. Matthew Baranski, 46, of East Norwich, NY, was charged with Disorderly Conduct and an outstanding warrant. The three men will be arraigned at a later date.

Speaking Out Against Smithtown's Master Plan "A Love Letter To Density"

By Stacey Altherr

*Updated March 5th

While the Town of Smithtown is forging ahead with its master plan, some in the community are concerned with what they see as a future of overdevelopment and a loss of the town’s unique historical and suburban character.

Especially worrisome is the development of sites such as the Gyrodyne property and the Hauppauge Industrial Park, which have been thorny issues for years.

The master plan is a forward-looking document that looks at zoning regulations and future development of the town. Smithtown has not updated its plan since 1960. It hopes to have it finished by the end of the year.

James Bouklas, President of the We Are Smithtown organization, called the master plan as it is drafted now  “a love letter to density.”

“The plan is dedicated to apartments and large, tall buildings that are completely out of character for the town,” he said. 

Bouklas says the town doesn’t need apartments, because those would be priced around $2,000, out of the range of entry-level jobs anyway. He also says the idea of walkable areas, where people don’t use cars as often because people will shop and run errands within walking distance is “parochial.”

“Route 25a is already highly trafficked,” he said. “Add 200 units here and 300 there… We live in suburbia. We are being sold a pipe dream.”

Instead, members of We Are Smithtown would like to see smaller more affordable single-family homes built for starter homes, something Bouklas said is under-stocked in the town, and have downtown support small consumer-driven shops.

THE GYRODYNE PLANS

The Gyrodyne property, located on the Brookhaven town line and currently zoned light industry, is under consideration to be divided into seven different lots. Bouklas and others would like to see that property reverted back to residential, as it was in 1960s, and made into half or one-acre properties.

Judy Ogden, head of the St. James/Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Coalition and a trustee in the Head of the Harbor village board, says her members would like something similar.

“One of the other elephants in the room is the sewer treatment plan has been used to sell Gyrodyne as a savoir of Lake Avenue,” Ogden said. The Mills Pond Historic District is on the edge of the 5-acre defunct plant, and Head of the Harbor residents worry the wrong type of development there would change it. (Lake Avenue Smithtown’s 8.2 Million Dollar Road Part III Gyrodyne Problem)

“It is part of the last vestige of farmland, it’s historic… Once the change is made, there will be no turning back.”

Town officials say that reverting back to residential after decades, and with a current owner in place, would not be feasible, and would most likely trigger lawsuits. Instead, said Nicole Garguilo, town spokeswoman, the town is working with the Gyrodyne board to work within the zoning guidelines. The one thing the town wants there is a sewer treatment plant, which would allow St. James’ business district to hook up to it. 

“Something with a residential component is not off the table,” Garguilo said. “They may want to do something like Jefferson Ferry (a senior citizen assisted living facility in Port Jefferson), but single-family homes on one-acre lots? Not going to do that.”

Residents against the project site worry about the treatment plan emissions into the bay, but the town says single family homes have more issues because they have their own septic system which leaches into the ground, a heavier impact than a newly constructed treatment plant.

WAIT ON BIG PROJECTS, THEY SAY

Until these issues can be fleshed out, Odgen says a moratorium on all large developments should be in place until the town residents can digest the comprehensive plan. Then, she said, “you can look back at the projects and see if they fit what they are putting in the plan.”

But Garguilo says that could cause a spike in developers filing plans before the time it would take to put a moratorium in place, which could cement plans too early in the process. Instead, town officials say they are working each case individually and personally.

Ogden says that is “hogwash.” “Town governments doing comprehensive plans use moratoriums all the time to make sure projects don’t move forward that conflict with their comprehensive plans and have absolute authority to make sure bad projects don’t sneak through,” she said.

MORE MEETINGS NEEDED

Residents are hoping the town hold more meetings- as well as with the individual stakeholder groups -to listen to all concerns. Many residents did not know about last month’s Zoom meetings. Garguilo said the town is still in the process of listening to concerns. “The town is 100 percent dedicated to keeping Smithtown as Smithtown.”

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.”

****

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.”