A proposed resolution authorizing the transfer of land at the Calverton Enterprise Park to the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency will not be on tonight’s town board and CDA meeting agendas.
The town board was set to vote on the resolution tonight, as per a town board discussion at Thursday’s work session and subsequent press release. The resolution was not available Thursday and had not been included in the resolution packet released to the press yesterday.
Between Thursday’s work session and this morning, the town clerk received 52 letters asking that the resolution be tabled and seeking another public meeting where the plan could be further explained to the community. RiverheadLOCAL obtained copies of the letters through a Freedom of Information Law request.
In an announcement posted on the town website shortly before 3:30 this afternoon, the supervisor’s office said the town is still working out the details of the plan with Calverton Aviation and Technology.
The effort “could not be completed in time to give reasonable notice to members of the public who may wish to review the proposed resolution prior to tonight’s meeting,” the announcement said.
The town board wants to “ensure the public has every opportunity to review the details of a proposed transfer prior to vote,” the town supervisor’s office said today.
Supervisor Yvette Aguiar at Thursday’s work session announced that the town board and Calverton Aviation and Technology had agreed on a new path forward for closing the $40 million sale of vacant industrial land in the Calverton Enterprise Park.
Under its 2018 contract of sale with CAT, the town is required to subdivide 2,100 acres of town-owned land so it can sell 1,644 acres to the buyer.
The subdivision has been stalled by the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s refusal to accept as complete the town’s application for permits it needs under the State Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act and state wetlands regulations. Both permits are required as conditions to final site plan approval.
The State DEC has required additional information from the town before it will accept the application as complete, among them a demonstration that the town water district can clear up regulatory issues surrounding the district’s water supply infrastructure and that the water district demonstrate is has the capacity to provide water to the proposed development. After a lengthy standoff, the town sued the DEC, asking a court to set aside the agency’s “notice of incomplete application,” but the court ruled the town’s lawsuit was premature and dismissed the case.
As explained Thursday by the town’s outside counsel Frank Isler, Riverhead and CAT have worked out an arrangement whereby the town will convey its land to the Riverhead IDA, and CAT will assume responsibility for obtaining subdivision approval. The IDA, meanwhile will entertain CAT’s application for IDA assistance and examine the purchaser’s financial ability to both close the deal and develop the site in accordance with the 2018 contract terms, Isler said. If the IDA is satisfied, the deal will move forward — the IDA would lease the property to CAT, the town would be paid the balance of the $40 million purchase price, which could happen within six months, the lawyer said, and CAT would pursue the subdivision application.
The complex arrangements would be spelled out in a “lease and project agreement” among the town, the IDA and CAT.
Tonight’s town board and CDA meeting will be live-streamed on the town website and will be accessible via Zoom for public comments. See instructions.
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