Calverton Aviation and Technology

A coalition of citizens, civic groups and environmental organizations is calling on town officials to pull the plug on a $40 million...

Calverton Aviation & Technology, the company in contract with the Town of Riverhead to purchase most of its remaining vacant land at the former Grumman site in Calverton, will submit updated financial documents to the town to demonstrate its ability to close the deal and develop the property.

Riverhead Town must have additional maps prepared for the DEC before the state agency will agree to review the town's application. The new maps must provide detailed information about sensitive environmental areas on the 2,324 acres being subdivided to complete a $40 million sale.

The town's $40 million deal with Calverton Aviation and Technology requires the town to file a final subdivision map by mid-May. But the town needs approval from the DEC — and so far, it's not forthcoming.

The new town supervisor says she is focused on the pending sale of 1,644 acres of vacant land at the Calverton Enterprise Park and will do everything in her power to ensure that environmentally sensitive lands are preserved.

A week after the long-delayed partial opening of its American Dream project in the Meadowlands, New Jersey, Triple Five has announced a joint venture with a Saudi real estate company to build “the world’s largest entertainment and shopping center” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

By including this land in the contract without conservation protections, there is no definitive assurance that this land will forever be safe from development.

Riverhead Town has canceled the runway use agreement it signed with Luminati Aerospace and has authorized a license agreement with tech start-up Launcher Inc. for use of part of the runway taxiway.

Calverton Aviation and Technology representatives are scheduled to return to a Riverhead Town Board work session on Oct. 17 to update the board on the company's development plans for the Calverton Enterprise Park.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the “Great Grumman Giveaway” election campaign of Republicans running for town board in 1999 on the platform that the Democratic majority in office had sold off the town’s most valuable asset for a song.