Riverhead settles lawsuit with Scott’s Pointe operator over new uses without approvals

Riverhead Town has reached an agreement with the operator of Scott’s Pointe to settle the lawsuit brought by the town after the park operator built a go-kart track and pickle ball courts at the site, and converted a second-floor storage room into a place of public assembly, without permits.

Island Water Park Corp. has agreed to pay the town $50,000 in penalties to settle the lawsuit, brought by the town in July, after town staffers learned of the construction of the track from social media posts by the park and others. The town issued a stop-work order and issued five justice court tickets for violating town laws for those actions, as well as for failing to install an emergency responder radio coverage system mandated by the fire marshal. 

The operator settled the justice court actions with guilty pleas and payment of fines totaling $5,700.

Supervisor Tim Hubbard called the water park’s acts “brazen.” He said the town should impose harsher financial penalties for violations connected to building without permission. 

“If we have to take them to court, we take them to court,” Hubbard said during the June 18 Town Board meeting. “We got to do what we got to do. This won’t be stood for anymore in a town while I’m here. I can’t stand that,” Hubbard said.

The town asked the court to order Scott’s Pointe shut down until the property complied with town codes. It also asked the court  to order Scott’s Pointe to remove the unlawfully built go-kart track and pickleball courts. It sought a financial penalty of at least $100,000. The town did not seek a temporary restraining order while the lawsuit was pending, and Scott’s Pointe continued to operate through the summer season.

The stipulation of settlement was signed by Eric Scott, owner and president of Island Water Park, on Dec. 31, by Island Water Park’s attorney on Jan. 2, and by Deputy Town attorney Danielle Hurley today, the day it was filed with the court.

A resolution ratifying the execution of the stipulation of settlement with Island Water Park was added to the Jan. 7 Town Board meeting agenda today. 

The town supervisor said he is supportive of the settlement. “I am ok with a $50k settlement plus justice court fines. This should send a loud message to future developers that try to do business in the town improperly,” Hubbard said in a text. “Plus we got the $70k for the access road so that can be settled. I am planning on voting for it,” Hubbard said.

The town in the stipulation does not promise to approve the amended site plan application. Instead, it has agreed to process Island Water Park’s amended site plan application, which seeks approval for the go-kart track, pickle ball courts and conversion of the second-floor storage room. The town planning department has already begun processing the application.

The stipulation prohibits the park from using the second-floor space for anything other than office/storage until it complies with town code. It also prohibits the park from nursing the go-kart track and pickle ball courts until the property complies with town code.

Should Island Water Park not secure approval of the amended site plan application within 18 months, or in the event it abandons the application, Island Water Park will remove the go-kart track and pickleball courts and restore the areas “to the prior wooded condition by any legal means.” That work must be completed within 90 days after any denial.

In the stipulation, Island Water Park also agrees to pay the town $70,183.45 it owes for the construction of an emergency access road required by a previous site plan approval. The stipulation states that the town owes the same amount to a contractor hired to put the emergency access road in. The access road cuts through a portion of Veterans Memorial Park, along the west side of the baseball fields, providing access for fire trucks and emergency vehicles to the water park site.

Island Water Park was required by the settlement to submit a certified check or attorney’s escrow check to the town for the $50,000 penalty, simultaneously with the signing of the stipulation. The check will not be deposited until the court has signed off on the settlement, according to the document. Should the judge decline, the terms and conditions of the stipulation remain binding upon the parties and the check will be deposited upon filing of a duly executed stipulation of discontinuance of the action, according to the settlement. The settlement did not say whether the stipulation of discontinuance has already been signed.

The $70,183 payment for the access road was also to be made by certified check or attorney’s escrow check simultaneously with the signing of the stipulation, but the town agreed not to deposit that check until 30 days after the stipulation is signed by both parties.

Island Water Park in the stipulation also agreed to indemnify the town against any claims by any party for personal injury or death, or damages to or loss of property during the period of time while the park is obtaining the required approvals and permits for use and occupancy of the premises outside of the scope of the previous site plan approval and permits granted to the park operator by the town. 

The State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a notice of violation to Island Water Park Corp. and owner Eric Scott in late June. The DEC said in its notice that the asphalt track and parking lot built by the operator violated its mined permit plan. The DEC also ordered the business to cease use of the inflatable aquapark and other public recreation in its groundwater-fed, man-made pond; the business was not allowed to recreate in the pond while the mining permit used to excavate it was still active, the DEC said. 

But Island Water Park Corp. did not stop recreation activities in the pond, according to the DEC, which issued tickets to Scott and Island Water Park on July 3. The DEC charges would be administratively adjudicated by the state agency, a DEC spokesperson told RiverheadLOCAL at the time. No further information has been provided by the DEC in response to multiple requests for status updates. It is unclear whether the DEC’s adjudication process has been completed.