Never mind: Krupski plans to seek end to agreement with ABATE

Suffolk County officials faced an angry crowd of residents at last night’s Calverton Civic Association meeting, where opposition to a plan for use of the former L.I. Beagle Club site by a motorcycle group was fierce and loud.

And First District Legis. Al Krupski got the message loud and clear.

Krupski told RiverheadLOCAL this morning he intends to “end any agreement with ABATE.” He said he will introduce a resolution rescinding the legislature’s May 13 measure, which authorized a lease or license agreement with L.I. ABATE to allow the 800-member motorcycle group to use the county park site on Edwards Avenue.

“The community was very clear about their objections to the plan,” Krupski said. “I wanted to hear what they’d think of the idea and I did.” His objective was always to find a way to open up the preserved 150-acre site for public use, Krupski said.

He said he has already put in a call to the county executive’s office to let Steve Bellone know his intention and he plans to write to his colleagues on the legislature to seek support of the rescission. Krupski said he does not expect any opposition from legislators or the administration. “It’s an intensely local issue,” he said. The site is within Krupski’s legislative district and he sponsored the original resolution passed 14-0 by the legislature last month.

“The second thing I’m going to do is find out directly from the parks commissioner exactly what work the parks department employees have been doing at the site,” Krupski said. “I don’t want to make any assumptions and I want to know exactly what’s been going on.”

Krupski was surprised yesterday when informed by a RiverheadLOCAL reporter that four county work vans were on site and several county workers were working inside the clubhouse at the Beagle Club. See prior story. Neighbors said county workers have been working there on and off since the legislature approved the agreement with ABATE — but not before.

Krupski said yesterday he wanted to know why the county was working at a facility that had not been worked on in years and has been falling into disrepair. Having ABATE volunteers work on the facility to make needed repairs and maintenance — in lieu of rent or usage fees — was part of the rationale for the deal with the motorcycle group, according to both Krupski and the group’s president, Jim Barr.

Barr is employed as Suffolk superintendent of parks, a job that includes supervision of the county’s parks and recreational facilities — and the county workers who maintain and repair them.

The legislator said he’s demanding some answers from Barr’s boss, parks commissioner Greg Dawson, who attended the Calverton Civic Association meeting with Krupski and Barr last night. Krupski, Dawson and Barr withstood a barrage of questions and accusations at last night’s meeting, which grew occasionally raucous.

“I want to know what’s been going on there and why,” Krupski said today.

Riverhead Town officials have registered their objections to the plan to let ABATE use the site, complaining that it’s an inappropriate location due to its proximity to a residential area and its acquisition as parkland for passive recreational uses.

Town board members agreed at this morning’s work session to approve a resolution at Tuesday’s town board meeting asking the county legislature to rescind the resolution authorizing the ABATE contract.