Island Water Park has completed its application to legalize changes and new construction on the amusement park site it operates as Scott’s Pointe in Calverton.
Town officials are about to commence formal review of an amended site plan application, which seeks to legalize construction of a 113,470-square-foot, paved go-kart track, a 13,000-square-foot pickleball court, and the conversion of a 3,500-square-foot, second-floor storage area to a 250-seat catering space.
Riverhead Senior Planner Greg Bergman reviewed the application and his staff report with the Town Board and town attorney at last week’s work session, with Island Water Park manager Ken Myers in attendance.
Jurisdiction over the site plan application rests with the Town Board rather than the Planning Board, because the property, within the Calverton Enterprise Park site, is located in a designated Urban Renewal Area.
The track, pickleball courts and second-floor catering space built without permits drew the attention of Riverhead Town officials after social media posts by the park operator and guests this spring depicted the new attractions. As a result, the town issued five appearance tickets to Island Water Park Corp. on June 3 for town code violations in connection with the construction.
MORE COVERAGE: Scott’s Pointe issued stop-work order, cited by town for building race track without approvals
On July 3, the town brought an action in State Supreme Court seeking an injunction prohibiting use of the illegal structures/uses and an order requiring the park to remove the track and pickleball courts — restoring the property to “pre-violation status.” It also asked the court to impose a financial penalty of at least $100,000 on the company. The lawsuit remains pending.
Town Attorney Erik Howard said the pending lawsuit does not prevent the town from reviewing the new site plan application. “The two things aren’t tied to each other. It’s an application that’s filed with the Planning Department. They’re obliged to process it in the normal course. …And so the planning department is moving it through the normal process, separate and apart from how we proceed with the litigation,” Howard said.
Island Water Park pleaded guilty on Aug. 6 in Riverhead Justice Court to the town code tickets and was ordered to pay $5,700 in fines.
The water park has been the subject of enforcement action by the State Department of Environmental Conservation this year in connection with the use of the groundwater-fed pond built pursuant to a mined land reclamation permit issued by the DEC.
The DEC in June ordered Island Water Park to cease use of an inflatable aquapark and other public recreation in its groundwater-fed man-made pond.
Those activities violate terms of its DEC permit, the agency said in a June 26 notice of violation. On July 3, the DEC issued tickets to Island Water Park Corp. and its owner, Eric Scott, for allegedly failing to comply with the conditions of its mined land use plan. The violations carry civil penalties of $8,000 for each violation of its mined land use plan and $2,000 per day for each day the violation continues, according to the June 26 notice.
A DEC spokesperson said the tickets would be administratively adjudicated by the state agency.
MORE COVERAGE: Legal woes mount for Scott’s Pointe as DEC issues tickets to operator for allegedly violating permit conditions
Bergman told the Town Board at last week’s work session that the water uses to which the DEC initially objected, including the inflatable aquapark, are no longer an issue for the DEC.
Bergman told the board that when the company’s last site plan amendment application was under review by the town — it gained final approval in February 2022 — he had met with Myers and DEC employee Bob Yager in the Division of Mineral Resources, which regulates mining in the state and issued Island Water Park’s mined land reclamation permit.
“Mr. Yager was well aware of what the proposed plan was,” Bergman said, referring to recreational uses in the manmade pond, “and I understand that Mr. Myers is sort of working to square that up with the DEC,” he said.
“So I guess when Mr. Yager retired, you had a couple of new people in there who sort of took over the case and weren’t aware of the prior conversations and the prior discussions,” Bergman said.
“Greg and I had an email from Bob Yager saying his only concern is the footprint of the lake,” Myers told the Town Board. “He did not care about parking, building, anything else with the site. The DEC’s focus is making sure the lake is stable and OK,” Myers said.
As far as the town is concerned, the existing aquapark is considered a non-motorized use of the lake and is permitted under Island Water Park’s existing approvals, according to Bergman’s staff report. It does not contradict any covenants and restrictions on the subject property, the report states.
A groundwater monitoring well agreement required by the February 2022 site plan approval has now been signed, the town attorney told the board, and covenants memorializing its terms have been filed with the county clerk, Howard said. The covenants were also required by the February 2022 site plan approval.
Myers said the well’s first water test was scheduled for Friday. He predicted the results would be “fantastic.”
“I can tell you, when you’re a bathing beach, the health department tests you every week of the summer, and they said it’s the cleanest water they’ve ever seen,” Myers said of the groundwater-fed pond.
Bergman’s staff report on the current application makes note that, during a planning department site visit on Nov. 4, “it was noted that there were drainage inlets installed in close proximity to the go-kart track, which appear to outfall on the sand banks directly adjacent to the on-site lake.” With the operation of gas-powered motor vehicles on the paved track, [t]hese drainage inlets and outfalls have the potential to introduce contaminants into the lake,” the report states.
Automobiles using the track — as depicted in social media posts by the park operator and others —are a concern, more so than go karts, Bergman said. If there’s an automobile crash, “there’s a lot more potentially hazardous materials in an automobile than in a go kart,” Bergman said. “I think that is something that the board really should consider on what’s appropriate,” he said.
Bergman noted that there are oil separators and structures that can “catch materials and filter them out before they discharge to groundwater or are allowed to recharge.” Bergman said. “That is something we need to consider.”
Council Member Joann Waski said she thinks the town does need to consider that, “especially when you’re saying, Ken, that you know this water is going to be tested as so clean, and I want to keep it that way.”
Myers said use of the cars on the track, as depicted in videos, was “really obviously unfortunate, but it was for a social media thing.”
The track is going to be a go kart track, Myers said. “It’s too small for a race track,” he said. “So the common use is absolutely going to just be, like, 10 go karts at a time.” Myers noted that the site has “a parking lot already that facilitates 500 cars, so that’s right next to the lake as well.”
He assured the board the company will comply with whatever rules are necessary to “make sure the water’s pristine,” adding, “We need it pristine as much as you guys do, for our guests’ safety and perception. 100%.”
The proposed action is an unlisted action for purposes of review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act. The Town Board should adopt a resolution for SEQRA coordination and the Planning Department will send the application out to involved agencies — the DEC, the Suffolk County health department and the Suffolk County Planning Commission — wait 30 days before assuming lead agency status for review, and making the determination of significance, Bergman said.
“I’d like to see written confirmation from the DEC that they’re reviewing it and detail exactly what they need to close out their mined land permit, and confirmation that they’re okay with the proposals,” Bergman said.
The Town Board has discretion as to whether it wants to hold a public hearing while it waits for the conclusion of the 30-day review period. Board members expressed a desire to hold the hearing. Bergman reminded the board that, should it require any additional environmental review, there would be an additional public hearing.
Myers said he welcomes a public hearing. “I would like to dismiss some of the rumors and everything like that. I would love for them to see how clean the water is. The test will be in by then,” he said. “So I think it would be good for everybody, so we could dispel some of this —”
“I agree,” Waski said. “I think they’ve had a lot of negative press and I hear from residents that are kind of saying to me, ‘come on, like, you know, we want to be able to bring our kids there,” she said.
“They leave here ecstatic,” Myers said. “It’s a nice place. Most of you have been there and seeing what we do. It’s good food, it’s a good place, it’s healthy, it’s safe, it’s a nice environment. And obviously, week in and week out, these articles that regurgitate the same hate towards us, I just think they’re not in the proper light.”
“I think we deserve a hearing and to try to dispel some of this and let us speak up for once,” he said.
“I agree,” Waski answered.
“I think you built something without approval,” Council Member Denise Merrifield told him.
“I agree, but I think it’s – now be honest, it’s every week, it’s just — and it’s regurgitating the same things, things from 10 years ago,” Myers said.
“So yes, we made a mistake. That I understand,” he said. “I apologize for that, and I have apologized for that. But we’re here now,” Myers said.
“This project, if someone had built a garage on their house, would you make them tear down the whole garage? You would make them get into compliance. This track, in relation to our project, is about the size of putting a shutter. You know what I’m saying?”
Merrifield said she disagrees and noted the park is still “subject to DEC” and whether the DEC is going to allow the track.
Merrifield also inquired about an emergency access road between the amusement park property and Veterans Memorial Park the town required as a condition of the prior site plan approval.
“We’re in review. It went far over budget by something that’s way above standards,” Myers replied. “So we’re discussing with our counsel, like, who’s responsible for that. There’s parts of it that the town has accepted. I’ve been working with [Deputy Town Attorney Annemarie Prudenti], and I’m supposed to have an answer to her by tomorrow,” he said.
“I just don’t see why we’re going forward on any other additional changes if they hadn’t complied with the emergency road access first, which was part of the original agreement,” Merrifield said. Island Water Park has not paid all it has owed to the town for the construction of the access road, Merrifield said in an interview after the meeting.
Myers said Island Water Park has already paid $187,000 for the work to construct the roadway, which he said should have covered it. But it came in over-budget. “If I were managing it, I promise you, it wouldn’t come in 18% over budget. So it did come in that high. So it’s something that we’re looking at, as to what happened,” Myers said. “We weren’t in charge of who did the site plan, the surveying, so I don’t know how it went this far off of rails. So throwing around $35,000 is a lot of money to me, and we’re just reviewing that part of it. But the town has had $187,000 for over a year now.” He said he was confident the matter would be resolved as soon as the following day.
Supervisor Tim Hubbard said he agreed with Merrifield that the issue should be resolved before the town acts on the new application.
All agreed that the Town Board will hold a public hearing on the application during the 30-day SEQRA coordination period, which will commence once the board adopts a resolution initiating coordinated review.
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