RV park pitched for EPCAL is ‘dead in the water’

The RV park pitched for the former Grumman site in Calverton last month apparently lacks support on the Riverhead Town Board.

The concept, proposed to include a 100-acre manmade lake and more than 100 campsites, was presented to the Town Board at its March 21 work session.

At the work session, Council Member Ken Rothwell was the only board member to express concerns about the idea, which, despite his concerns, he called “a great idea.”

Supervisor Tim Hubbard, who has an RV and said it’s difficult to secure RV campsites on Long Island, called the concept “a home run” and “good stuff.”

At today’s regular Town Board meeting, Riverhead resident John McAuliff, a member of the EPCAL Watch group, asked the board about the future of EPCAL and when the EPCAL advisory committee, which the supervisor said would be formed to plan the future of the site, would be appointed. 

During his comments from the podium, McAuliff said, “We understand the RV park is dead in the water.” Hubbard did not dispute that statement.

After the meeting, the supervisor acknowledged that McAuliff’s comment was accurate.

The board does not favor moving forward with the proposal, he said. It called for a land lease, not a purchase, so the lessee would be mining sand that belongs to the town, for a profit.

That’s not right, Hubbard said, because “that sand is a town asset,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard said the board was surprised by the proposal for a 100-acre lake. He said he’d heard references to a 40-acre lake prior to the March 21 work session.

In any case, Hubbard told McAuliff during Tuesday afternoon’s meeting, bringing people in to discuss development concepts at work sessions is consistent with his pledge to increase transparency in town government. 

Steven Losquadro, attorney for Mark Lembo of Wading River, managing member of SEA Systems, the company that pitched the RV park to the Town Board, declined comment Tuesday evening.

The supervisor said after the meeting that the EPCAL advisory committee would not be appointed until the town has a better understanding of where the lawsuit brought by Calverton Aviation & Technology stands, and how long it will take to be resolved.

The town in 2018 entered into a contract with Calverton Aviation & Technology, an affiliate of Triple Five Group, to sell 1,644 acres of vacant industrial land inside the Calverton Enterprise Park for $40 million. 

The Town Board in October declared the contract null and void after the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency denied the company’s application for financial assistance. Calverton Aviation & Technology brought a lawsuit against the town and the Riverhead IDA in January, seeking to enforce the contract of sale. The suit remains pending in Suffolk Supreme Court. 

Calverton Aviation & Technology also filed a notice of pendency on the town-owned land, which notifies prospective buyers and tenants that a claim exists against the title that could affect conveyances of the property, including leases.

The lawsuit could tie the property up for years, Hubbard told McAuliff at today’s meeting, explaining that he would not want to waste the time of residents volunteering to serve on an advisory committee when the fate of the site remained uncertain.