YMCA may be built on Riverhead school district campus under new plan aired by Y’s new CEO

The Peconic YMCA might not be built at EPCAL after all.

Supervisor Sean Walter has put lease negotiations with the Y on hold, after a phone call last Friday afternoon from Anne Brigis, the new CEO of YMCA of Long Island.

“She said they had a new plan and I was going to be excited about it,” Walter said Wednesday. “When she was done explaining it, I said I wasn’t that excited about it. But if that’s their decision, that’s their decision.”

The “new plan” is to build the facility on the central campus of the Riverhead Central School District, Walter said.

The supervisor said he’d rather see the Y built in Calverton, on a 7.3-acre lot in the proposed industrial subdivision. The town board agreed to donate the lot to Peconic YMCA and approved the Y as a “qualified and eligible sponsor” in August, following a July public hearing at which YMCA of Long Island board members expressed support of the Calverton plan.

The Calverton location has the demographics to support the facility, according to the supervisor. “The bulk of the population is in the west end of town, in Wading River and Calverton,” Walter said, “and it would draw from eastern Brookhaven.”

Walter said he intends to inform the town board of the new development at today’s work session. He has told the town’s attorneys to put lease negotiation and drafting on hold, he said.

The supervisor said the YMCA’s apparent change in plans have nothing to do with any problems or delays with the town’s EPCAL subdivision plans. The town intended to lease the site to the Y so the group wouldn’t have to wait until the subdivision was finalized to begin the permit application process.

The possible change in location was not the idea of Peconic YMCA founder Joseph Van de Wetering, who is not happy with it, according to sources.

Van de Wetering did not return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday.

YMCA of Long Island’s strategic planner Trinklein said in a phone interview he knew about the idea but didn’t think it was “that far along” and was surprised the supervisor would be talking to the town board about it publicly. Trinklein said he didn’t know if the Peconic YMCA board had embraced the idea.

“It would be very unusual for this to be driven from the top down, from YMCA corporate,” Trinklein said. He said he believed Van de Wetering was meeting with the local board about it, but said he didn’t know any more than that.

Riverhead Schools Superintendent Nancy Carney said yesterday she’s been contacted by the YMCA of Long Island and would be very excited about siting the YMCA on the district’s central campus.

“I think the Y has some concerns about Calverton being a little bit far removed from things,” Carney said.

“I’d love to see a Y centrally located in Riverhead,” Carney said. “If the school district can be a part of that I would certainly be a proponent.”

The school district campus has plenty of room to accomodate the YMCA facility, Carney said, noting it will have even more space once the bus barn is relocated as planned.

“The Y offers so many programs and services that are great for kids and the whole community, ” Carney said. The idea of a pre-K, gym and indoor pool on the district campus is very exciting, she said. “I’d love the school district to be the hub of the community, with a beautiful campus that adults and kids can enjoy.” Having a Y on campus fits perfectly, she said.

But the decision is up to the YMCA, Carney said. The discussion was so preliminary, and she was asked to keep it confidential, so she hadn’t even brought it to the Board of Education.

“As far as I know, the Y has not made any decision whether they’re going to pursue anything different [than Calverton],” Carney said. They contacted me, Mr. Walter and Mr. Van de Wetering.” She said both the supervisor and the Peconic Y founder called her after that and both were “very upset.”

Walter said the shift in plans “comes as a complete shock.” But he said he supports the YMCA and “if this is what they think is best for them, I wish them the best of luck.”

Peconic YMCA has been searching for a site for more than 16 years. It sought to build on sites that were to be donated by developers in conjunction with proposed developments that were never approved. Last winter, the group said it would to purchase a tract of land on Main Road in Aquebogue, but when that drew fire from residents and civic groups, the town offered the group a lot in the EPCAL subdivision.

The lot, with frontage on a new interior roadway, would be immediately west of the Stony Brook University Business Incubator site, from which the Y could have temporary access to Route 25, pending subdivision approval and construction of the interior road.

The town plans to retain title to the 10-acre lot immediately west of the lot designated for the YMCA, “for future fire/ambulance facilities,” according to the town’s subdivision map.

The town’s subdivision map depicts a total of 40 lots, but the number and location of lots in the industrial subdivision is yet to be determined and subject to the approval of the state DEC. The DEC has informally told the town it would not approve the town’s subdivision map as is, and it has marked large swaths of acreage as off-limits to development because of environmental sensitivity. The town has not yet filed its subdivision application with the state DEC and is locked in a disagreement over which entity — the town or the DEC — will have lead agency status for the coordinated state environmental quality act review.

Peconic YMCA plans to build a 40,000-square-foot facility, with an Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool. The group has donations of $6.5 million “committed in writing” to fund the estimated $8 million construction cost, Trinklein said at the July public hearing.

Peter Blasl contributed reporting to this story.