County officials have finalized a 10-year agreement with the Warrior Ranch Foundation, which works with veterans suffering from PTSD, to utilize the site of the former Beagle Club in Calverton as its new headquarters.
County Executive Steve Bellone announced the agreement in a press release Tuesday.
The Warrior Ranch Foundation, established in 2016, teaches military veterans and first responders to train horses, establishing a mutually beneficial relationship for all involved, organization cofounder and president Eileen Shanahan said in an interview last summer, when .
RiverheadLOCAL first reported that the organization and the county were working out an agreement for use of the site.
“Horses are magnificent animals that are very healing and therapeutic,” Shanahan said in the interview. “When you’re around a horse, you have to be very aware, because they are large animals. So you have no choice but to be in the moment. It’s very good for everyone — veterans and first responders especially.”
Warrior Ranch holds clinics and workshops to help veterans and first responders cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. They learn horse-training exercises from experts. And at the same time the group retrains horses so they can be adopted out, Shanahan said.
“It’s a second chance for both human and horse,” she said.
“I have seen first-hand the amazing work being done for veterans and first responders at the Warrior Ranch and couldn’t be more excited that they will be able to use this property, which has been vacant for decades, to help our heroes,” Bellone said in the press release. “Our veterans and first responders go above and beyond, sacrificing both physically and mentally for the good of us all. We must continue to do all that we can to help repay our debt to these heroes,” he said.
The terms of the license agreement do not include an annual payment but require the organization to be responsible for utility costs and ensuring that the property is maintained, cleaned, and operated safely at its own expense.
The two barns on the Edwards Avenue site, formerly utilized as dog kennels, will be restored and retrofitted as horse stalls and paddocks to care for a maximum of 15 horses, according to the press release from the county executive’s office. The Warrior Ranch Foundation will also establish pastures and rings for grazing and training horses.
The Warrior Ranch Foundation, a tax-exempt nonprofit, is required by the license agreement to complete $100,000 worth of capital improvements such as installation of an HVAC system, certified electrical wiring and other investments. Under the agreement, the public will have equal access to the facility at no cost to the taxpayers.
Suffolk County acquired the property in 2012 for $8.9 million.
In 2014, the county agreed to lease the 150-acre site to L.I. Abate, a nonprofit education and advocacy group dedicated to motorcycle safety and awareness that was headed by the county superintendent of parks. About a dozen county parks department workers made capital improvements to the clubhouse on county time (see prior story), using county funds to purchase materials and supplies. After a contentious meeting of the Calverton Civic Association in June 2014, the county scuttled the deal with the motorcycle group.
The county parks department thereafter issued a request for expressions of interest in the site, without result. The property has since been used by licensed bow-hunters during deer season.
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