Board spars over spur

The town is spending $4 million on a rail spur that will serve only two businesses at EPCAL and should reconfigure some parts of it to make sure the tracks efficiently serve the entire industrial park, according to Supervisor Sean Walter.

“I’m furious, quite honestly, that we’ve spent $4 million to service two businesses,” Walter said. “That’s the Sarah Palin bridge to nowhere.”

That statement sparked a two-hour, sometimes heated, debate at the Town Board work session yesterday, with Councilwoman Jodi Giglio and Councilman John Dunleavy sparring with Walter over the idea of redesigning the some of the track work and switch locations.

Walter said a meeting he and Councilman James Wooten had on Wednesday with New York & Atlantic railway, the LIRR’s authorized freight carrier, convinced him that spending money to rehabilitate an existing old siding on the former Grumman site would be a waste of money, because its size and location on the track make its usefulness very limited.

Walter said a brand new rail siding — also called a “runaround” — should be built at a location more readily accessible by more EPCAL business sites, rather than putting money into rehabilitating the old siding that Grumman built 50 years ago on a portion of the track that is effectively a “dead end.”

Dunleavy and Giglio, both miffed that they were not included in the meeting — which they said should have taken place at a work session — strenuously objected to making any changes to the planned design of the EPCAL rail spur rehabilitation project.

Giglio said the two businesses Water referred to — Eastern Fence and Metro Biofuels — both located their businesses at Calverton Enterprise Park because of promises made to them about the rail spur by the town, and both had “made business decisions predicated on those promises.” To change the plans now, she argued, would be wrong.

“If we change the runaround location and install a new switch, then more businesses can use this track,” Walter said. “If you dead end it here, you are spending $2.5 million on one business.”

“That was the agreement,” Giglio retorted.

“The way this is set up it’s a $5 million rail spur project for two businesses,” Walter shot back, which elicited loud objections from Dunleavy, Giglio and Community Development Director Christine Kempner.

“It’s not for two businesses. Don’t say that,” Dunleavy said, his emotion and voice rising. “It’s to bring the rail to the entire EPCAL site.”

The project was funded by a $4.8  million federal recovery act grant and the town is eligible to seek another $500,000 in recovery act funds to put toward the rail spur rehabilitation project. What to do with the additional half-million dollars was the issue d’jour, because Kempner had to file a request for the additional funding yesterday, Sept. 23, in order to meet a federal deadline.

“Last minute, everything’s always at the last minute,” said an exasperated Dunleavy, slapping his hand on the board room table.

Wooten told board members he agreed with the supervisor’s proposal so that the town would position itself better for the future. “We always think only of the here and now,” he said. “We are never thinking about 20 or 30 years from now.”

In the end, Walter elicited agreement from a majority of board members to try to relocate the siding and build less track on a “dead end” serving Metro Bio Fuels and Eastern Fence, in the hope that the additional $500,000, if granted, could be spent making improvements that would benefit the central core of the industrial site.

Giglio seemed to agree to the plan, but only if the two businesses in question agreed. “They were the ones who lobbied for this money,” she said.

“As an elected official, I have to watch the taxpayers money. I can’t allow in my mind that we’re going to spend $3.5 million or $4 million to service two businesses,” Walter said. “We’re the watchdogs. I don’t care who lobbied. We’re the watchdogs for that money.”