The people of Riverhead are not fools. They read, they discuss, they share good information and they demand good governance from elected officials.
Unfortunately, Council Member Tim Hubbard believes we are fools.
His most recent effort, his opinion piece about EPCAL, is a disappointing but predictable effort to win back voters who have stepped away from him either because they have come to believe he lies or that he just is plain ignorant about the role of an elected official.
Right now, town residents are angry and appalled at the cargo airport proposal of September 2022 for EPCAL development. And they made their voices heard, not just at the public forum on May 3, but consistently for the past six years. Again and again, individuals and community groups have stepped forward and asked that the town pull the plug on this deal that will forever transform Riverhead.
And each time from 2017 until now, what have we heard from Tim Hubbard? Double talk.
We need to separate fact from fiction.
Fiction: Tim Hubbard does not support development of EPCAL as a cargo airport. “I would never let that happen, not on my watch, and I am watching closely.”
Facts:
Sept. 21, 2022: CAT presents its development plan for EPCAL to the IDA.
April 2023: Tim Hubbard claims, six months after the proposal’s unveiling, that he was unaware of the proposal for a cargo airport.
July 2023: Tim Hubbard cries out to all who will listen that he will not allow a cargo airport to happen. Nine months late and a dollar short — nine months of nothing but going along to get along.
Looking back over the last six years, certain facts cannot be ignored or changed.
Fact:
Tim Hubbard cast two significant votes.
- A “no” to the 11th-hour contract between the town and CAT on Dec. 19, 2017.
- A “yes” to finding CAT to be “qualified and eligible” on Nov. 7, 2018.
Fiction:
The two votes are separate and distinct.
How can anyone vote no to a contract and then yes to putting in motion the process for the contract to be realized. His 2018 vote is the vote that set this whole circus into action.
He chose at that time to vote the party line, thinking he would screw over newly elected Town Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith, but the only one screwed over was the entire Town of Riverhead.
He never asked publicly for details of land development and management. The CAT love-fest was fully joined and embraced by him. Land speculation is OK by Tim for Riverhead’s future.
Now, fast-forward to 2019-2020.
Fact:
The Town receives two letters from DEC informing it that its application for a Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act permit (needed for the land subdivision it must complete in order to sell the land) could not go forward without details of a development plan.
Tim Hubbard is silent on this — he never once asked publicly how the town would respond.
The town fails to get the permit. The land cannot be subdivided. The 2017 contract stays in place — even though the contract allows the town to cancel if it cannot get subdivision approval. The deal remains in limbo.
Now, let’s move on to 2022.
Fact:
No permits, no deal, so what does Tim do? Punt! He supports shifting the entire process to the IDA:
Supports a joint application between the town and the CAT.
Supports the town giving its responsibility to an agency that it cannot control and cannot influence.
Tim is on safe ground — or is he?
And here we are in 2023.
Tim tells us he thinks the IDA will not approve the joint application made by CAT and the town.
A modified plan will be shared during the IDA public hearing, he believes, but says he can’t verify it.
He knows that if the IDA rejects the application, it all comes back to the Town Board.
But does he say he will vote at that time to finally end this deal? That he will follow through with the promise to the public made when the deal was transferred to the IDA?
No, he does not.
Instead, he now proposes, a “new plan:”
Go back and put up individual parcels for sale.
Look into what it would cost if the town retains ownership — and control over — the two runways.
So, under Tim’s “new plan,” the town will be right back where it was in January 2017, after it paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a planning consulting firm to pursue a 50-lot subdivision of the site. That subdivision went out the window when the Town Board, including Tim Hubbard, in April 2017 voted unanimously to sign a letter of intent to sell the whole property to Luminati Aerospace — leading the town to where it is today.
What’s missing from Hubbard’s “new plan?”
The steps to secure the Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act permit from the DEC, necessary to finalize the subdivision that’s needed before the town can sell any land at EPCAL.
A promise to retain and maintain the 1,000+ acres free of future development.
I do not know about you, but all this sounds like a desperate attempt to win back votes lost because of his six-year failure to watch closely over the future of Riverhead, and his failure to demonstrate he has the necessary leadership qualities for public office.
The emperor’s new clothes have been revealed — as in the children’s story, he is wearing nothing.
The people of Riverhead cannot be fooled. Our eyes are wide open.
Angela DeVito is the Democratic candidate for Riverhead town supervisor. She lives in South Jamesport.
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