Riverhead gives final site plan approval to Scott’s Pointe go-kart track

The Riverhead Town Board granted final site plan approval to an already-built go-kart track and pickleball courts at Scott’s Pointe yesterday, despite the amusement park’s operator not meeting all of the conditions previously imposed by the board.

As part of its preliminary approval resolution, the Town Board required that Island Water Park Corp., the operator of the Calverton amusement park, resolve outstanding issues with the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) prior to receiving final approval. These issues included addressing ongoing violations with the DEC and closing a mine reclamation permit issued by the agency, which was used to create the site’s 19-acre lake.

Although the resolution passed Tuesday says those conditions and others have been “adequately addressed,” the mine on the property has yet to be fully reclaimed.

According to the resolution, Island Water Park has entered into a settlement agreement with the DEC — known as a consent order — which satisfies the board’s conditions related to the outstanding violations and the mine permit closure.

The Town Board also required Island Water Park obtain a freshwater wetlands jurisdictional determination from the DEC, which determines whether an area meets the criteria for protection under the law. The town cites an email from DEC official Kevin Jennings, who is quoted as saying that “activities that took place before 1/1/25 would not have needed a Freshwater Wetlands Permit at your site.” 

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The town did not include in its resolution the full email, or what question Jenning’s statement was in response to. In the full interaction, which RiverheadLOCAL obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, an Island Water Park official asks whether Jennings can help get the determination. 

Jennings responded: “Not much I can do about the determination since they are handled through Albany. But activities that took place before 1/1/25 would not have needed a Freshwater Wetlands Permit at your site.” 

The DEC did not return an email requesting a clarification on Jennings’s statement before this article was published.

“The Town considers this email as adequately addressing condition No. 2 of the preliminary site plan approval, with the caveat that if the NYSDEC requires further review and approval under Freshwater Wetlands regulations, the applicant must abide by same,” the resolution states. 

The resolution granting final site plan approval was not discussed by the Town Board prior to the vote and was only added to Tuesday’s meeting agenda on Monday. 

Northville resident Kathy McGraw criticized the board’s decision to vote on a resolution, calling the  meeting them “entirely inadequate.” 

“So why are you giving final approval to the site plan when at least two of your conditions have not been met?” McGraw asked. “This board sometimes positions itself as being tough with Island Water Park. This approval is anything but tough, just another cave-in to the serial offender.”

Supervisor Tim Hubbard said he met with DEC representatives and Assembly Member Jodi Giglio on Monday to discuss the project. The DEC “gave their full blessing to Island Water Park to continue to do what they’re doing in terms of remediation, and that’s what we required as a Town Board for them to do — to get authorization from the DEC,” he said.

“The DEC gave the authorization, hence we have the resolution on for tonight,” Hubbard added.

The Town Board voted 4-1 to give Island Water Park final site plan approval. Council Member Denise Merrifield, who has opposed the expansion of Scott’s Pointe since the operator built without town permits, was the lone dissenting vote.

At the May 15 work session, Island Water Park project manager Ken Myers objected to linking approval of the new amenities to the mine permit status. Myers argued that fulfilling the permit’s closure requirements could take up to a year and a half, as the DEC requires more vegetation on the lake slopes. “We’d be losing almost two seasons,” he said.

Senior Planner Greg Bergman had included those requirements in the resolution to protect the town. However, he noted that if the DEC approved the use of the lake and go-kart track, “I would have no problem addressing that in a final approval.”

“But until we have something concrete from the DEC stating that they’re ok with those uses in that site, I just don’t see how we can approve a site plan without any of those conditions being addressed,” Bergman said.

Council Member Ken Rothwell disagreed with linking the town’s approval to the mine permit.. “To hold them back from opening — to wait for the grass to grow — I think would be an unfair request,” Rothwell said. 

Scott’s Pointe settles violations with DEC

Island Water Park Corp. and the DEC entered into a consent order on Friday that settles the company’s violations of environmental regulations and authorizes the use of the lake for recreational activities while the mine permit is still active.

The DEC issued a notice of violation to Island Water Park Corp. and owner Eric Scott last June for building the asphalt track and parking lot on the site in violation of its mined permit plan. It also ordered the business to cease recreational use of the lake — including the inflatable aquapark, one of the park’s main attractions — because the mining permit was still active. After allegedly violating that order, the company and Scott were issued tickets.

According to a DEC spokesperson, the consent order resolved “violations that included operating and continuing to operate a commercial aquapark within the excavation pond at the mine.”

The go-kart track and pickleball areas were “determined to be outside the mine area,” a DEC spokesperson said.

The DEC assessed a $186,000 penalty for Island Water Park’s activities. Under the consent order’s terms, the company will have to pay $55,000, with the remainder suspended so long as it complies with the order.

The consent order includes a compliance schedule outlining the steps Island Water Park must take to complete its mine reclamation and close its permit. 

“Slope revegetation must be established enough to be considered acceptable vegetative cover… before DEC issues a final reclamation approval,” the compliance schedule states. The slope of the lake is required to be “revegetated” and will continue at the direction of the DEC “until such time as the final reclamation approval is granted.”

Island Water Park President Eric Scott did not return a text message Wednesday requesting comment.