Supervisor and Town Board members, the people of Riverhead don’t believe you, nor do we trust you. Your impassioned, unsupported assertions at the Town Board meeting on Oct. 3 that you will not allow a cargo airport at EPCAL are a day late and a dollar short. Where was this opposition more than a year ago when the Ghermezians revealed their plans to build nearly 10 million square feet of distribution warehouses along both runways at EPCAL and use those runways to fly in freight to fill those warehouses? They even had pictures for those who couldn’t be bothered to read the business plan. It’s clear you didn’t read their detailed plan, but are you telling us now you didn’t even take the time to look at the pictures?
We all saw and understood the plan, why didn’t you? And now as Election Day approaches you are telling us there will be no cargo airport and you belittle those of us who oppose this plan saying we are simply fear mongering. You tell us that instead of buying signs we should be donating to the food pantry, and you insist that raising money to file a lawsuit has got to stop. When last we looked, we live in a democracy. How dare you, the pawns of developers, tell us — the people who care more about the quality of life in this town than you do — to stop exercising our rights.
You are in contract to sell 1,600 acres of land and the two runways at EPCAL. The purchasers have the right under the zoning code to build warehouses there and arguably to use those runways to fill those warehouses with cargo. The Ghermezians have very savvy lawyers who know the law. They obviously believe, based on the plan they submitted to the IDA, that they can use those runways to fly in cargo. You have failed to convince us they can’t.
If this deal goes through you will have lost control of those runways. The buyers can go to the FAA to seek funding — and once that happens, the FAA will be in the driver’s seat. Game over. As the Ghermezians’ consultants told the IDA, New York airports can’t handle all the cargo flights needed to serve the greater New York metropolitan area. Shifting that air traffic to EPCAL is the logical answer.
No, Town Board members, we have paid more attention to this deal than you have — and we don’t believe you nor do we trust you. We ask that you refrain from belittling and demeaning those who are sincerely trying to save Riverhead from your ill-advised deal to sell this land to Calverton Aviation and Technology.
Kathleen McGraw is a member of EPCAL Watch. She is a resident of Northville.
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