looming disaster
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Construction Halted At Box Store Site
By Aliza Israel / aisrael@longislandernews.com
Politicians and activists took their battle over the 377,000-sq-ft box
store development, planned along the border of Smithtown and
Huntington, one step further on Monday, when candidate for Suffolk
County Legislator Frank Gargano announced a that he’d obtained a
Temporary Restraining Order that will halt the commercial development
at the corner of Crooked Hill Road and the Long Island Expressway’s
North Service Road.
Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice William Rebolini, a former
Huntington Councilman, granted this restraining order against the Town
of Smithtown and PJ Venture II, LLC on Friday, and the Town of
Huntington filed its own lawsuit against the Town of Smithtown on
Monday.
The Smithtown planning board voted to re-zone this Commack property,
thereby allowing developer PJ Venture II, LLC to begin constructing a
Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Kohl’s department store on 43 acres of
property adjacent to a Target Greatland store, Guitar Center, Costco,
Home Goods and Expo Design Center.
Gargano said the Town of Smithtown did not adequately address the
environmental impact of the zoning change and planned construction,
nor did it adequately address the Suffolk County Planning Commission’s
concerns when they objected to the zoning change and project. Gargano
also said the Town of Smithtown did not give adequate notice to the
Town of Huntington, and therefore did not give Huntington and
Smithtown residents enough of a window to object to the project.
Don Dornfeld, the attorney handling Gargano’s Temporary Restraining
Order, said the Town of Smithtown did not acknowledge the deep
environmental impact that the construction of this shopping center
will create. “We are in an environmentally sensitive area. The Town of
Smithtown reached the conclusion that [this construction] would have
no impact on the groundwater … how can you say that?” he said, adding
that area traffic along streets such as the two-lane Crooked Hill Road
would also become increasingly congested. “You take the three [stores]
and you’re talking about tens of thousands of additional cars each
week.”
Town of Huntington spokesman Don McKay said the Suffolk County
Planning Commission notified the town of this construction in a “very
vague” letter on March 7, the last day on which an objection to the
project could be filed. “It just … had three pages … which basically
told us exactly where the property was, and one page of conditions
that the town board approved as part of the rezoning,” he said. “But
there was no mention of any stores going in, or anything like that.”
The Town of Huntington is requesting that the New York State Supreme
Court deem the re-zoning of this construction site null and void, as
the Town of Smithtown did not conduct a thorough review and analysis
of potential environmental and traffic impacts, and direct that all
construction and land clearing cease until a ruling.
Dix Hills resident Andrew Glass established a website
(www.loomingdisaster.com) in protest of the development. He and fellow
activists were present at Monday’s press conference, held at the site
of the project. “It takes 20 minutes to go a mile on Commack Road at
certain times of the day … There are literally thousands of children,
like my own, who can only get to school each day on Commack Road or by
passing Commack Road in intersections. There is absolutely no plan at
all … covering the real traffic projections,” Glass said, adding that
his 14-year-old daughter was already in two school bus accidents last
year. Glass claimed that thousands of additional vehicles would travel
Commack Road each day, should the shopping center be completed. “You
simply can’t put this kind of a destination on non-limited access,
non-divided highways. For me, it’s 90 percent about the safety and
security of our children.”
Ed Lynch, organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers’ New
York division (known as Local 1500), was also present at the press
conference — but for a different reason. He is opposed to increased
development within the Commack area but, more than that, he is opposed
to Wal-Mart’s treatment of employees. “We’re looking for responsible
development,” he said. “Wal-Mart, historically, is an anti-labor,
anti-worker large employer.”
Gargano reminded Glass, Lynch and other supporters that this is “round
one” of the fight against this Crooked Hill Road development, and he
needs the help of residents and politicians to make this temporary
restraining order permanent. “David has defeated Goliath, but only for
today,” he said.
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