Skip Barber pitches driving school for runway at EPCAL to Riverhead Town Board

A driving school is interested in holding classes on a town-owned runway at the Calverton Enterprise Park.

Executives from Skip Barber, a racing and driving school company, pitched locating a driving school on the 10,000-linear-foot runway to the Riverhead Town Board at its April 18 work session.

“We operate one of the largest and most proficient driving academies in the United States,” Dan DeMonte, chief marketing officer and part-owner of the school, told the board. The classes are for “anybody, from a young person with permits all the way up through people who are 75, 85, 90 years old,” he said.

Automobile accidents are the largest killer of people ages 16-21 in the U.S., DeMonte said. “Unfortunately, the training in our systems, in our high schools — for a series of reasons — doesn’t get these young people to a place where they can be safe, secure, comfortable and confident,” DeMonte said.

The program operates every month in 10 different locations across the U.S., the closest at Nassau Coliseum, DeMonte said. Drivers learn skills related to accident avoidance and car control, chief revenue officer Joe Monitto said. 

“We’re working in the classroom to start, talking about theory, we’re talking about contact management of the tire, we talk about how to move weight around the car when needed,” Monitto said. “But really the primary part of the class is being in the car and experiencing these situations.”

Some insurance companies give a discount for taking the course, DeMonte said. He said the business is also looking at opportunities to subsidize classes for people who can’t afford them.

“There’s a portion of the population that can afford to do this and they should be engaged with this, then we should find a way to help support the people that can’t, but can benefit from it,” DeMonte said.

Supervisor Tim Hubbard likened the skills taught by the school to the emergency vehicle operations course (EVOC) training he received as a Riverhead Police officer. The training “increases your ability to safely drive tremendously,” he said.  

“It’s a great opportunity, especially for our kids,” Council Member Joann Waski said.

Council Member Ken Rothwell said the driving school is “a way to utilize all of the assets that are currently in place over there, mainly in your particular case, it’s the runway in itself — without any serious, major development that is going to cause traffic issues,” he said. “And I think you fit the parameters very well in terms of like — we are not looking for Amazon trucks going in and out…”

DeMonte said Skip `Barber has met with the firm conducting a sports complex feasibility study for EPCAL. He said that while there might be potential for a bigger facility or a racing facility down the road, “this is where we could start.” The company owns its own racing series, SRX, he said.

Council Member Bob Kern said during the conversation that he met with DeMonte last year, while the town was still in contract with Calverton Aviation and Technology, to talk about leasing the runway.

”It’s not going to disrupt the property at all. And they’re not leaving anything on the runway except what they’re utilizing,” Kern said.

“They are aware that it’s an active runway, even though it hasn’t been used for who knows how long,” Kern said. “But it is an active runway for an emergency landing, if somebody needs that.”

Supervisor Tim Hubbard asked whether the school would be able to clear the runway if there needed to be an emergency landing at EPCAL. Monitto said the school would be “primarily cones” that are “easy to move.”

“At some point I’d like the ability to put some simple permanent [structures] in the sense of a classroom,” DeMonte said. 

“This is an opportunity [that’s] good for us, it’s good for you. We are going to pay you to rent that space,” DeMonte said. Kern told the executives he would put them in touch with the town’s legal staff to draft an agreement.

“We would really like to have you there,” Hubbard said.

The meeting between Skip Barber executives and town officials comes while the town faces a lawsuit from Calverton Aviation and Technology, an affiliate of the Alberta, Canada-based development conglomerate Triple Five, which is seeking to enforce the $40 million purchasing agreement between the town and the firm for more than 1,600 acres at the EPCAL property — including the 10,000-foot runway. The Town Board canceled the sale last October and has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. 

Despite CAT’s lawsuit having the potential to tie up development of the land, the town has continued to hear proposals for the town-owned property since the litigation began. In March, the Town Board heard a proposal for a 165-acre RV park and man-made lake at the site; although originally embraced by town officials, the supervisor later said the Town Board did not support moving forward with the proposal.

The town has also continued to license the runways to two businesses for the purpose of hosting drag racing events.