The Riverhead Police Department seized fireworks at Scott’s Pointe in Calverton this week.
“We’ve confiscated a quantity of fireworks, and the matter is under investigation right now,” Police Chief Ed Frost said in an interview Thursday. He declined to disclose the quantity or types of fireworks seized.
Frost said the town fire marshal was doing a test of the site’s emergency response system Tuesday morning when he alerted the police department to “what he believed to be illegal fireworks” at Scott’s Pointe.
No charges have been filed, Frost said. “It got assigned to crime control, our unit that investigates matters like this, and once they finish their investigation they’ll come up with a resolution,” he added.
Chief Fire Marshal Andrew Smith confirmed the discovery of the fireworks, but declined to comment further due to the ongoing police investigation.
Eric Scott, president and owner of Island Water Park Corp. — the operator of Scott’s Pointe — did not respond to a text message requesting comment.
Possessing or using fireworks in New York State without a permit is illegal and constitutes a violation under the State Penal Law. If the value of the fireworks exceeds $150, the individual in possession is presumed to be offering them for sale — a misdemeanor offense. Repeat violations may result in a class E felony charge.
The state also requires pyrotechnic operators in charge of a fireworks display to have a state certification, in addition to following safety standards outlined in state law.
The possession or display of fireworks without a permit is also a violation of the fire prevention chapter of the Riverhead Town Code. Violations of that chapter’s provisions are classified as misdemeanors punishable by a fine between $250-$2,500, and/or by imprisonment of no more than 15 days.
On July 5, Scott’s Pointe owner Island Water Park Corp. held a fireworks show with a permit from Riverhead Town during the park’s Independence Day event. The Town Board on July 1 passed a resolution approving their application, which stated that the display would be conducted by Brookhaven-based pyrotechnics company Special FX Wizard. It is not clear whether the fireworks found at the site this week had anything to do with the July 5 event. [Editor’s note: Subsequent to the publication of this article, Special FX Wizard owner Edward Rubio said in an interview that the fireworks found at the Scott’s Pointe site had nothing to do with his company’s display there on July 5. Rubio’s company did not leave behind any fireworks at the venue, the Riverhead Town Fire Marshal confirmed on Aug. 5. ]
In 2023, while the property was still under construction, Island Water Park hosted an Independence Day party and fireworks show, which resulted in the fire marshal issuing a notice of violation. Social media posts showed that the party was not the first time the facility was occupied without the certificate of occupancy required by town code. It also landed a helicopter on the property. Island Water Park President Eric Scott claimed the activities were all legal.
How the park evolved in spite of continued legal woes
Island Water Park was first conceived and permitted by the state as a water-ski venue built around two bentonite-clay-lined ponds that would be filled with municipal water to shield the Pine Barrens aquifer beneath the 42-acre site. When excavation contractors dug into the water table, the State Department of Environmental Conservation revised the mined-land reclamation permit, allowing the single enlarged pit to serve as the official reclamation feature and letting it fill naturally as a groundwater-fed lake instead of a lined, closed system. To safeguard groundwater, the agency limited recreation on the lake to an electric cable-tow ski system and other non-motorized craft, explicitly prohibiting gas-powered boats or similar motor vehicles.
In 2021, the town issued a stop-work order after officials determined that Island Water Park had done grading and drainage work, and interior construction without permits or final site plan approval.
More recently, the developer/operator has expanded the site’s uses and amenities to include an inflatable aqua park for recreation in the lake, a catering hall, a race track for gas-powered go-karts built on land that juts out into the lake and pickleball courts. These additions and improvements, built without permits, resulted in multiple legal actions by both the Town of Riverhead and the State DEC.
Last summer the DEC ordered Island Water Park to cease use of the inflatable aquapark and other public recreation in the lake. The company later agreed to pay $55,000 to the DEC to settle violations of environmental regulations, including for violations of its mining permit conditions. The DEC initially assessed a $186,000 penalty but suspended the remainder on the condition that the company complies with the settlement order.
The town issued a stop-work order and tickets last summer after it discovered that Island Water Park built the race track and pickleball courts, and converted part of its building into a catering hall without first obtaining necessary permits and approvals. The town also brought a lawsuit against the operator in State Supreme Court. The lawsuit and tickets were later settled. The company agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty to settle the lawsuit and pleaded guilty in Riverhead Town Justice Court to Town Code violations, paying $5,700 in fines to settle the tickets.
The Riverhead Town Board voted 4-1 last month to legalize the already-built amenities.
Also, while the project was still in development and without required approvals, the company accepted about 6,000 cubic yards of materials classified as solid waste for use as fill at the building site. That violated state environmental laws, according to DEC documents. The company settled with the DEC in 2020, agreeing to remediate the site and pay a fine.
Violations of state and local laws are also grounds for the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency (IDA) to revoke its tax benefits granted to the project. The IDA recently voted 4-1 to continue its tax benefits despite the company’s violations of its agreement with the agency, which included violating local and state laws, as well as failing to deliver the jobs it had originally promised to generate for the town.
Town officials have hailed Island Water Park/Scott’s Pointe as a major new attraction and economic activity generator in Riverhead, with former supervisor Yvette Aguiar touting it as a “smaller version of Disney” to major news outlets like the New York Post and a regional TV station, claiming that it would produce 500 jobs.
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