Riverhead allowed Scott’s Pointe to open without groundwater monitoring agreement town required

An agreement to test for ground water contamination at the Scott’s Pointe site in Calverton was only recently signed by both the town and the park operator, despite the fact that it was required to be signed before certificates of occupancy were issued by the town, allowing the park to legally open.

The requirement for monitoring wells on the site and an agreement to test the groundwater every two years for 20 years was included in the approval at request of Riverhead Water District Superintendent Frank Mancini, who was concerned about potential groundwater contamination at the site; the water park, which features a man made, 12.5-acre groundwater-fed pond, is located within the short-term capture zone of a public water supply well.

The project’s February 2022 site plan approval required the monitoring well agreement to be signed and a covenant reciting its terms to be recorded in the Suffolk County Clerk’s Office prior to the town issuing a certificate of occupancy for the facility.

But the agreement was not signed and the covenants not recorded before the town issued three certificates of occupancy for the facility last fall, which allowed the park to legally open.

“I do not know who authorized the issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy but it appears that it was issued without confirming that the Monitoring Well agreement and covenants were in place,” Town Attorney Erik Howard said in an email last week. “In any event, that is being addressed now, IWP [Island Water Park] staff are cooperating, and I expect that the [covenants] will be recorded soon.”

The town issued the C.O. for the park a few months after the operator, Island Water Park Corp, was issued a notice of violation by the Riverhead Town Fire Marshal in July 2023 for hosting a gathering at the site, including having a fireworks display, without the required C.O.s or a fireworks permit. The notice resulted in no summonses or monetary penalties, according to documents obtained by RiverheadLOCAL through a Freedom of Information Law request.

MORE COVERAGE: Social media posts showing parties at Calverton water park without C.O. lead to violation notice

Since the park opened, several incidents at the Scott’s Pointe site have occurred or come to light that raise concerns about potential groundwater contamination, including the unauthorized dumping and use of solid waste during the project’s development, the construction of a go-kart race track at the site and violations issued by the state Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the use of the man made pond for recreation.

RiverheadLOCAL requested the groundwater monitoring well agreement earlier this year and in July received a copy of an earlier, undated, draft of the agreement. It was signed by Island Water Park president Eric Scott, but not by any town official.

Mancini said in an interview at the time that he had seen an unsigned draft of the agreement months before but never heard anything more about it until Manorville resident Kelly McClinchy and RiverheadLOCAL submitted Freedom of Information Law requests for copies of the document. Mancini said he had only received a copy of the version signed by Scott on the day his office responded to the FOIL requests.

Mancini asked the Planning Department and the Town Board to require groundwater monitoring wells on the Island Water Park site before he learned that, as first reported by RiverheadLOCAL last month, Island Water Park had in 2017 illegally accepted some 6,000 cubic yards of solid waste materials at the site, resulting in the State Department of Environmental Conservation issuing a notice of violation in May 2018.

MORE COVERAGE: Scott’s Pointe operator accepted solid waste during construction at site, state records show

Mancini said in an interview last month he’s thankful the town required a groundwater monitoring well be installed on the Island Water Park site. If a monitoring well wasn’t already there, the buried wastes there would have been reason to install one, he said. 

The presence of the waste materials on-site increases his concerns about potential future contamination of the water district’s supply well, Mancini said last month. The DEC documented materials dumped there, such as textiles, which commonly contain PFAS, he said. PFAS is a contaminant subject to strict new federal and state limits for drinking water due to known health hazards.

The requirement for groundwater monitoring also came before Island Water Park constructed, without an amended site plan approval or building permits, an asphalt go-kart track on land that juts out into the man made pond. Social media posts by the park operator and others included video of gas-powered go-karts and motor vehicles racing on the track. That addition raised concerns among residents and town officials about potential groundwater pollution from runoff or spills. 

Riverhead Town in early June issued an order prohibiting the use of the track and also issued appearance tickets for town code violations. Island Water Park in August pleaded guilty to the violations in Riverhead Justice Court and paid $5,700 in fines.  

On July 3, the town filed an action in State Supreme Court seeking an injunction against use of the site and an order requiring the go-kart track to be removed. It also seeks a penalty of at least $100,000. Island Water Park filed an answer to the town’s complaint on Aug. 16, in large part denying the town’s allegations. An attorney for Island Water Park on Sept. 11 asked the court to schedule a preliminary conference in the lawsuit. The court record does not indicate anything further. 

Island Water Park in July filed an application with the town for approval of an amended site plan to legalize the as-built illegal structures, including the go-kart track. The application was deemed incomplete by town planners, who on Aug. 2 requested additional documents and information. Riverhead Senior Planner Greg Bergman said yesterday Island Water Park had submitted additional documents and he was reviewing them to ensure the application is complete. He will then write a staff report to the Town Board, for discussion at a work session, he said. 

The signed monitoring well agreement requires “a base-line sampling within 60 days,” the town attorney said last week. The prior version didn’t have that requirement. Mancini said he’d been told by the town attorney’s office that the water district would have to wait two years from the date the agreement was signed before the town could mandate sampling and testing. He preferred to have baseline sampling and testing done sooner, Mancini said.

The revised version of the agreement requires sampling and testing of one groundwater monitoring well on site, instead of two monitoring wells required by the earlier version of the agreement and as depicted in the site plan drawings. 

Howard said the site plan approval resolution does not have to be modified because “it contemplates a monitoring well, an agreement and covenants as to same.”