Group opposed to plans for the former Grumman site in Calverton gears up for court fight, launches fundraising campaign for legal fees

The EPCAL Watch coalition expects a court challenge will be needed to stop Calverton Aviation & Technology’s plans for the former Grumman site in Calverton.

The group has launched a campaign to raise funds for a lawsuit.

EPCAL Watch founder Rex Farr announced the fundraising effort to the audience at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall Thursday evening, where the group pitched its case for opposing the development at a Heart of Riverhead Civic Association meeting.

EPCAL Watch Coordinator John McAuliff said after the meeting the group anticipates having to bring an action in State Supreme Court challenging any forthcoming approvals by the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency of the application for tax exemptions jointly filed by Calverton Aviation & Technology and the Riverhead Community Development Agency, which owns the land CAT is seeking to develop.

If the Riverhead IDA votes to approve CAT’s application the without environmental review required by state law, the legal action would likely challenge the agency’s action on that basis, McAuliff said. At this point, he said, it’s hard to predict what the legal action may look like.

Any legal action will be very costly, McAuliff said.

Members of the group have already met with several lawyers to discuss the EPCAL situation, he said.

Calverton Aviation & Technology, an affiliate of Triple Five Group, 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 sale to CAT and their plans for the site have been controversial from the start, but 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 time 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.

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 downstate airport that handles cargo.

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 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.

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.

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 presented its “current vision” for the site at public information session following the Riverhead IDA’s regular meeting on Aug. 10. Ghermezian apologized for “the confusion that was created when it was referenced by a professional consultant as a hypothetical concept of full buildout.” He 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.”

Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said she would pursue a code amendment to prevent use of the site for air cargo, but then said the Town Board was advised by its attorney that such a change is not possible. The November 2018 contract of sale prohibits the town from changing the zoning at the site for a period of five years after closing of title.

Chris Kent, one of CAT’s attorneys, did not respond to an email requesting comment for this article.

Paul Thompson, a resident in the Windcrest East community off Middle Road in Calverton, and a former member of the Riverhead IDA board of directors, said he is opposed to the plans CAT presented last September.

Thompson was an IDA board member for 10 years, he said.

“I’m very concerned,” Thompson said in an interview. “I’m concerned about the traffic. I’m concerned about airplanes flying 300 feet over my house. I’m concerned about the pollution that it’ll cause. And I’m concerned that it’s going to change our way of life living here in Riverhead and Calverton,” Thompson said.

“The IDA needs a lot more information before they can make a decision,” he said.

Typically, an applicant for IDA benefits has already completed or nearly completed the town’s approval process, Thompson said.

“They’ve got all their ducks lined up,” he said. “In this particular scenario, they don’t have all their ducks lined up. So I don’t see how the IDA can make a decision,” Thompson said.

The IDA this weekend announced a public information session scheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Town Hall.

The session, which the Riverhead IDA said it requested, is “intended to provide an opportunity for the CAT team to describe its proposed financial structure for the acquisition and development of the project, as well provide an opportunity to demonstrate their market presence,” the IDA said in the press release Saturday night announcing the upcoming session.

This week’s session is the third public information session hosted by the IDA about CAT’s application. The first one, on May 3 at the Hotel Indigo, drew a large crowd and ended in frustration for residents as well as for the developer. CAT’s representatives did not have a chance to present their plans after the audience grew impatient and restless during their attorney’s remarks about the history of the site.

The second session took place on Aug. 10 at Town Hall.

McAuliff said outreach by EPCAL Watch has been effective and residents are very much engaged in the issues.

At Thursday’s meeting, a representative of the union that represents United Parcel Service drivers, spoke to the crowd.

Dave Carew, of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 804, pledged the union’s support to help organize against CAT’s plans. The union is very concerned about any expansion of Amazon in the region because the retail giant is notoriously anti-union and its workforce is paid at significantly lower rates than other private industry.

“When Amazon opens a large facility, the average compensation for the workforce, the workers in the county, declines more than 6% after two years,” Carew said. “Can any of us here afford that?”

Carew spoke of his union’s involvement in fighting an Amazon facility in Nassau County, where Amazon attempted to buy 17 acres in Freeport for $40 million.

“The Teamsters in the Freeport community got together. We built out a network, a coalition, and worked with them to fight,” Carew said. “We held rallies, we went out, we knocked doors, we made lawn signs, we had palm cards, we made sure that people were informed as to what was going on in their own neighborhoods,” he said. “And that’s one of the ways we were able to stop them.”

Carew told the audience “we’re here to help you.”

“We can do this again,” he said.

Farr told crowd last week the community needs to band together to oppose the sale to CAT.

“We are not red, or blue. We are Riverhead,” Farr said.

“The bottom line, it looks like we’re going to end up down the legal road. So tonight I’m here begging for you to reach into your pocket. We need help. We need to set up a legal fund,” he said. “I promise you — we’re going to need a lawyer.”

EPCAL Watch is also collecting signatures on a petition against the plans.