The Heart of Riverhead Civic Association is hosting the EPCAL Watch group at the civic’s monthly meeting Thursday evening for an update on plans at the Calverton Enterprise Park.
The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall on Peconic Avenue from 6:30 to 8 p.m. (Doors open at 6 p.m.)
“With EPCAL headlining our news for much of the past seven years and EPCAL Watch keeping a close eye on developments for just as long, who better to explain the current plans and potential impact on Riverhead and our surrounding towns? It’s a hot topic and we’re grateful for the chance to be better informed,” the leaders of Heart of Riverhead said in an email inviting members to the meeting.
Thursday’s presentation by members of EPCAL Watch and their invited panelist will discuss plans aired by Calverton Aviation & Technology, a Triple Five Group company, for vacant land at the former Grumman manufacturing plant. Calverton Aviation & Technology is in contract to purchase, 1,644 acres of vacant land, including the site’s two runways, from the Town of Riverhead for $40 million.
The meeting comes as debate over CAT’s proposed uses for the site heats up in the run-up to the 2023 local election.
The sale to CAT and their plans have been controversial from the start.
MORE COVERAGE: The $40 million land deal between Riverhead and Triple Five affiliate ‘CAT’: a look back
Controversy boiled over after the CAT development team presented the company’s plans at the Sept. 21 Riverhead Industrial Development Agency meeting. It was the first the plans were publicly aired — and Town Board members later said, even though they authorized a joint application with CAT for IDA tax benefits, they had not seen the plans prior to that presentation.
The plans presented in September detailed 10 million square feet of proposed development surrounding the runways, to be built in phases.
They depict 8.24 million square feet of multilevel distribution and logistics buildings constructed along the site’s two runways, and one 400,000-square-foot single-story rail distribution building. The plans show new aprons adjoining the distribution and logistics buildings on both runways to accommodate cargo planes, and new taxiways that will link the aprons to the runways.
The plans also show three two-story “flex” buildings, set back from the eastern runway, that would house “tenants in the aeronautics, industrial, aviation, environmental, energy…medical (and) educational…fields,” as CAT attorney Peter Curry described the uses during the IDA meeting.
Two parking structures, each 4.32 million square feet in size and each providing 4,320 parking spaces. Additional surface parking areas seem to be depicted around the “flex” buildings.
MORE COVERAGE: Air cargo logistics hub in Calverton planned by Triple Five affiliate to enhance package delivery services on Long Island
CAT’s engineer and architect both described the potential for the site to be used to fly cargo into the region, which lacks air cargo capacity for package handling east of JFK airport, the only downtstate airport that handles cargo.
“This would be an incredible opportunity to bring that here…to provide that on Long Island and help feed Long Island from that end of it, versus all of the trucking that currently comes…from points west,” CAT engineer Chris Robinson said.
Architect Alex Badalamenti said the company intended to get the now-inactive 7,000-foot runway reactivated.
“We’ll be using both runways eventually, for cargo and also for testing at the site,” Badalamenti said.
Robinson said Amazon is an example of the kind of customer the warehouses on the runway would serve. Amazon is building or leasing “last-mile” distribution centers throughout Long Island to get online purchases to consumers, he said. Goods are delivered to the last-mile centers by tractor-trailers, which are bringing them from larger warehouses or airports.
Potential use of the site for air freight was also discussed in the cover letter CAT’s attorneys submitted with the application to the IDA and in an August 2022 market report and economic benefits analysis prepared by CAT’s consultant James Lima Planning + Development.
Watch Town of Riverhead video of Sept. 21 presentation to Riverhead IDA:
The Sept. 21 presentation drew major blowback from the community, which was alarmed by the prospect of an air cargo facility at EPCAL.
Since then, the developers have sought to re-characterize the company’s plans for the site, beginning with a statement issued two days later to News 12 to media outlets stating CAT “has absolutely no plans to create an air freight cargo terminal” at the enterprise park.
“CAT’s intent is to utilize the runways for the purpose of encouraging aeronautical startups to design and test their designs on site, to allow corporate jets to bring in executives to connect with their investments, and to provide a means for urgent or time=sensitive supply chain components to be flown in…” the statement said. The full text of the statement was confirmed by RiverheadLOCAL with CAT’s attorney, Christopher Kent.
In response to a question about the development plans posed by EPCAL Watch member John McAuliff at an East End Supervisors roundtable meeting Oct. 6, Kent said neither his client not the town is “proposing an air cargo jetport.”
“We are proposing a mixed-use industrial high technology park at Calverton,” Kent said at the supervisors’ meeting. “We’re looking to utilize the infrastructure at Calverton as accessory to principal uses that will be developed at the property. The principal uses will be related to aviation, aeronautics, academics, energy, environmental uses. We’re looking to do research and development, and the runways will be used accessory to those principal uses,” Kent said. “We are not planning and have no intent to develop an air cargo jetport, okay?” Kent said.
Kent repeated those denials at a May 3 forum hosted by the IDA at the Hotel Indigo, but a boisterous standing-room only crowd posed questions and was not satisfied by Kent’s answers.
Last month, Council Member Tim Hubbard in a guest column published by RiverheadLOCAL, came out against a potential air cargo hub at EPCAL.
“There is no way that I or any other responsible public official would ever approve any plan that would have this type of significant negative environmental impact on our town’s quality of life,” Hubbard wrote. “I will never let that happen. Not on my watch, and I am watching closely.”
Less than a week later, Triple Five Vice Chairman and CAT Chief Executive Officer Justin Ghermezian responded to Hubbard’s column with one of his own.
“As the town’s designated developer of this site, CAT recognizes Councilman Hubbard’s concerns and respects his position about any such potential use, and further appreciates the similar concerns voiced by a number of Riverhead residents at the recent public forum hosted by the IDA,” Ghermezian wrote.
“CAT will continue to work with the town to create a plan for a project that is consistent with the town’s vision for EPCAL and in compliance with the adopted studies and regulations that govern its use. We look forward to presenting our development plan at a future public hearing when we seek the required town approvals for the development of EPCAL,” he wrote.
“Rest assured, these development plans will not include a cargo jetport,” Ghermezian said in the guest column.
CAT presented its “current vision” for the site at a Riverhead IDA meeting last week.
MORE COVERAGE: EPCAL buyers work to distance themselves from air cargo hub plan, but residents remain skeptical
Ghermezian spoke at the Aug. 7 meeting. ““I personally apologize for the confusion that was created when it was referenced by a professional consultant as a hypothetical concept of full buildout,” Ghermezian said. “We should have immediately flagged it for what it was, and more importantly, what it is not. Those concepts are not included in any plan we are placing before the IDA or the Town Board.”
“In addition to any aviation use that is specifically prohibited in the agreement of sale or under the zoning, the development of the EPCAL property will specifically exclude any aviation use of the runways by shipping and or delivery companies seeking to use aviation as a principal use to transport goods to offsite consumers,” CAT attorney Chris Kent said at the Aug. 7 Riverhead IDA meeting.
In announcing the Aug. 7 public information session, Riverhead IDA Executive Director Tracy James said at the agency’s July 17 meeting, said more sessions would follow. “We’ll be scheduling several information sessions…within the next few weeks for further consideration, and for the benefit of the public to hear about the plans and comment on them,” James said. No additional sessions have yet been announced.
EPCAL Watch announced a tentative program for Thursday’s presentation. Speakers listed include McAuliff, Andrew Leven, Ed Reiter, Kelly McClinchy, Pat Aitken, Barbara Blass, Toqui Terchun, Dave Carew, and Rex Farr. There will be a question-and-answer period at the end of the program. See draft program details here.
“Speakers will describe the impact on home owners, roads and the environment of an air cargo distribution hub at EPCAL, the former Grumman plant in Calverton,” EPCAL Watch wrote in its description of the program. “The plans presented by Calverton Aviation and Technology in September 2022 and revisions by the Ghermezian family in response to community opposition will be reviewed. The process underway of the Industrial Development Agency, the ultimate responsibility of the Town Board, public mobilization and potential legal action will be discussed.”
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